Boundless Reads #115

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Boundless Reads #115

#1 History: What can we learn from history? Morgan Housel offers some reflections:

It is too easy to examine history and say, “Look, if you just held on and took a long-term view, things recovered and life went on,” without realizing that mindsets are harder to repair than buildings and cash flows.

I’ve really enjoyed his writing and essays. Last week, I quoted his essay on having enough in my other newsletter:

The hard part is becoming satisfied with spending less. It’s not easy. It’s a behavioral trait, not analytical skill, and investing attracts more of the latter. Some are better at it than others, but virtually everyone is primed to at least assume they’ll be happier if they spent more.

+also check out “How This All Happened” on our modern economic moment

#2 Taxes: Bruce Bartlett talks about the magical thinking of the laffer curve andhow it is similar to the emerging thinking around Modern Monetary Thinking.

#3 Media vs. Searches: Fascinating chart mapping causes of death versus google searches versus media coverage (H/T Amir Sariaslan on twitter):

#4 Solitude: Is there such thing as too much of a social life?

It is not out of callousness, then, that I say this: the opposite of loneliness — for which the English language has no satisfying noun — has its curses too. It is possible to have too much company.

+My favorite essay on solitude from William Deresiewicz

#5 China: China sees itself as an unbroken 5,000 year civilization with claims of dominance all throughout Asia. This essay dives into how the ruling Communist Party thinks about history, power, influence and global dominance.