The Sunday Drive - 05/07/2023 Edition
Musings and Meanderings of a Financial Provocateur
👋🏼 Hello friends,
Greetings from Saratoga Springs, NY. Let's take it easy and enjoy a leisurely Sunday Drive around the internet.
Vibin'
This week saw yet another interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve Bank and a continuation of fears in the markets of an expanding crisis in the banking sector - a contagion which could finally drive the economy into the recession that so many have been predicting in the wake of the Fed’s epic interest rate hikes.
Unfortunately for the banks - and for us - the Fed remains hellbent on “fighting inflation”, completely ignoring the massively deflationary impact of the decreasing availability of credit across the economy, courtesy of those rate hikes. The credit crunch is coming at us fast and furious (see the Charts of the Week below).
So this week I’m vibin’ to One Thing Leads to Another, the title track from The Fixx’s 1983 album of the same name.
💭 Quote of the Week
“A healthy man wants a thousand things, but a sick man only wants one.”
- Confucious
💭 Bonus Quote of the Week
“There’s never just one cockroach in the kitchen.”
- Warren Buffett
📈 Charts of the Week
The credit crunch seems to be accelerating. It goes without saying that a sickly banking sector does not make for a growing economy.
That being said, the more quickly the banks lead us into recession, the more quickly the Fed will be forced to start lowering interest rates which should give sustenance to a new bull run in the markets.
🚙 Interesting Drive-By's
🤔 6 Financial Tips I’d Give My 18-Year-Old Self - from Jon Miltimore of the Foundation for Economic Education
I sometimes wonder what it would be like if my 40-something self talked to my 18-year-old self. I think I’d tell my younger self, Congratulations, you didn’t totally screw up!
I say this because I’ve always feared failure. Some people are afraid of heights or public speaking; I was always motivated by fear that I’d fail at important things. Fortunately, life has been pretty good to me, and I’m grateful for that. I have a happy marriage, three healthy children, a job I love, and a nice house to live in. We eat well and save well, take vacations every year, and soon we’ll be debt free.
📚 Why Trust Matters: An Economist's Guide to the Ties That Bind Us - from the book by economist Benjamin Ho (Disclosure: I haven’t finished reading it yet.)
Have economists neglected trust? The economy is fundamentally a network of relationships built on mutual expectations. More than that, trust is the glue that holds civilization together. Every time we interact with another person—to make a purchase, work on a project, or share a living space—we rely on trust. Institutions and relationships function because people place confidence in them. Retailers seek to become trusted brands; employers put their trust in their employees; and democracy works only when we trust our government.
🥰 How Can You Not Love a Sunset - from Chip Conley, Founder of the Modern Elder Academy (Note: I am an MEA alum and highly recommend it.)
According to a study published this year by a pair of British researchers, sunsets are unmatched in their ability to inspire awe among people. They surpass the majesty of storms, the beauty of rainbows, clear blue skies, and even breathtaking nightscapes.
👍🏼 Excellent Advice for Living - a short video from David Perell riffing on Kevin Kelley’s new book. His favorite quotes from the book are:
What you do instead of work might become your work.
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Don't be the best. Be the only.
📉 Twitter’s Killer App: Real-Time Search - Interesting article by Andre Plaut
Real-time search. Google doesn’t have it. Neither does ChatGPT. Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook probably wish they had it, but they don’t. Twitter, Silicon Valley’s favorite sh*tshow, is the only one with this power. And for some inexplicable reason, it’s not doing anything with it.
Twitter has a tremendous amount of live, real-time data about what’s happening where. This makes Twitter unique as a service—it encourages its users to create in-and-of-the-moment content. They share what they’re seeing, thinking, feeling, and experiencing now—for example, millions of people tweeting during the World Cup final, thousands posting about a Taylor Swift concert, or hundreds discussing an emergency in their town. Something happens, and seconds later, people turn to Twitter.
👋🏼 Parting Thought
Congratulations to the Skidmore College Riding Team who for the NINTH time are National Champions! 🐴 🙌🏼
Our daughter, Melanie, was a member of the 2018 Championship team and was a team captain her senior year in 2020 - a season sadly cut short by COVID. Later this month, Melanie will compete for a national championship of her own in the Alumni Tournament of Champions. Go SkidEq!!
If you have any cool articles or ideas that might be interesting for future Sunday Drive-by's, please send them along or tweet 'em at me.
I hope you have a relaxing weekend and a great week ahead. See you next Sunday...
Your faithful financial provocateur,
-Mike
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