I knew this day would come 😢. Unfortunately, due to several busier days than anticipated, I’m not going to publish RRR7 until next week. Though I expected to be back in Connecticut come this past Tuesday, I’ve stuck around in Philadelphia and now it appears I won’t see home until Sunday night. It’s been difficult to find the time to write at night while traveling, especially here in my former home where I have to pay visits to many of my beloved friends.
On the other hand, I’ve still been able to read quite a bit before bed, which is why I wanted to come on here and drop a few more quick hits, as I did at the end of RRR6. If writing is exhaling, then reading is a deep inhale. I need to hold my breath a bit longer, and for that I apologize!
Before I get into the quick hits, I also wanted to mention that I have been giving more thought to ways I can improve the newsletter. Most of the feedback I have received is that jumping around between many topics has actually been a positive, not a negative. That’s fantastic! I plan to keep it that way.
I wouldn’t enjoy writing at all if I shoe-boxed myself into a narrow space 👞📦.
However, I do want to make the newsletter a bit more engaging, and will be experimenting with ways to do so. For now, I’m incredibly happy that some of you (hopefully all of you) have found the content worthwhile. Thank you so much for staying patient with me while I figure out this whole writing thing 🥂.
Quick Hits
U.S. Credit Downgraded
The U.S. credit rating took a hit thanks to a downgrade from Fitch.
The rating downgrade of the United States reflects the expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years, a high and growing general government debt burden, and the erosion of governance relative to 'AA' and 'AAA' rated peers over the last two decades that has manifested in repeated debt limit standoffs and last-minute resolutions.
But, sure, let’s keep celebrating increases to the debt ceiling instead of any sort of austerity 🥴🥴.
I encourage anyone who is interested to read the full breakdown from Fitch which highlights all the factors that went into the decision.
The OG Building Code
In a previous edition, I opined that the first usage of zoning law can be credited to Germany. With that being said, it seems building standards (not zoning) started ages ago 🤣.
Incentives, incentives, incentives. I bet Mesopotamia had reliable construction! Either that or they had no builders 😂.
It isn’t RRR without a zoning thought… I had a friend who is familiar with my stance on the issue send me this tweet:
I think that I disagree with the argument (it’s oddly specific and doesn’t seem to get at the essence of what I think the actual issue is), but we agreed to talk more about it over a coffee ☕. I’ll circle back with the results of the discussion.
New “Book” Alert
Amazon gave me two free audio books on Audible for being a prime member. I downloaded a book I should’ve gotten a long time ago, which is “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William L. Shirer. The book is over 1,200 pages and so I think listening to the audio on 1.5X speed will be better for me 😅. So far, Shirer has spent a good deal of time on Hitler’s early life. What’s interesting to me thus far is that nothing about his early upbringing was jarring, or could lead one to believe he possessed so much evil within his soul. I guess based on that alone, the outer bounds of human nature are horrifying…
55 more hours to go and I’ll get back to you guys with a report!
“BPC’s Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy Launches New Executive Council for Housing Affordability”
The Executive Council will help the Terwilliger Center:
Elevate housing affordability as a national priority by highlighting its vital importance to corporate America, the U.S. workforce, and the overall economy.
Demonstrate how the lack of affordable homes negatively impacts labor mobility, productivity, economic growth, and opportunity.
Identify and share best practices for corporate engagement on housing affordability.
Build momentum for comprehensive federal action by leveraging corporate support and connections.
🎤 “Going Deep on Cloudflare and Datadog with Mostly Borrowed Ideas (MBI)” 🎤
This is an oldie but a goodie. Liberty and MBI discuss two compelling companies. I’m glad they focus most of their analysis on the tech and business side of things without getting too lasered in on an investment thesis. They did an awesome job with this 🥂.
Trump Indicted for 2020 Election Interference
One could be forgiven for pinching themselves to ensure they’re living in reality. The frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024 is trying to dodge serious legal bullets as fast as he can.
I will need to read up on what comes next (he plead not guilty an hour ago as of writing), but I am eager for the day he is gone from the forefront of the political scene. It’s time for the U.S. to heal together, and we’re actually doing a decent job of that right now. That momentum can definitely continue with the next president, but Trump is uniquely ill-fit in my view to cool political tensions that have plagued the country for a long time. He seems to get all of his energy from stoking embers of dissention and anger 😡.
“What Is Happening in Niger? What to Know About the Coup” by Gabriele Steinhauser
Officers from Niger’s elite presidential guard last week detained the West African country’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, and declared themselves the nation’s new leaders. The coup came as a shock to U.S. and European governments that have worked closely with Bazoum and Niger’s military in the fight against Islamist militants in Africa’s Sahel region.
Some of Niger’s West African neighbors, mostly aligned with the U.S. and Europe, have threatened to use force to reinstate Bazoum. Others, allied with Russia, have said they would defend Niger’s new military junta.
Sometimes geopolitics seems like an impossible game to understand, and sometimes it is almost too cookie cutter. Instability occurs, and mostly self-interested actors team up to take sides, and from there the strategy and tactics dictate the next courses of action.
Maybe the complexity occurs when there is relatively more stability…
I’ll have my work cut out for me when I get back to Connecticut on Sunday. Until then, please stay safe, and have a wonderful weekend 🥂.
I have the Shirer book on my shelf but haven’t read it yet. It’s intimidating!
Glad you enjoyed the pod, thanks for listening!