Another great one. Just makes me want to buy, hold, and ignore the Wall Street talking heads even more. It’s almost impossible for me to find the signal through the noise so I’ll just stick with my simple plan. Thanks Kyla.
I’ve started to write down the predictions of various talking heads, bulls and bears alike, in the notes app on my phone. Things like “watch this earnings season, it could be bad” or whatever. I’m this close to beginning to slice these talking heads out of my life, because they are so often wrong.
Oh yeah, at least 90% of my nw is locked into low cost index funds. I play with the rest. But I have this suspicion I’d do much better with the ten percent just learning to read shipping reports. The internet and media hasn’t gotten anything right for as long as I’ve been paying attention. Time to cut it out.
I dig it...I was thinking about, "People are so anti-establishment that they forget to stand for something." and I also see it as people having a hard time expressing what they are aspiring towards cause they feel so powerless. It showed up a lot in my journalism and was always painful to observe. I do think there is a collective sense of despair that feels really evident to me but also seems elusive.
The discussion about a lack of community is something I have seen in other media. Are we as a country headed to something resembling the 4 walls of tv from “Fahrenheit 451” where people interact with avatars and AI but not actual people. Other news has shown how church attendance has been dropping year over year, a historically significant location for community building that is seemingly going by the wayside. I’m not advocating for people to go to church, what I am wondering is how do we as a society maintain cohesion when community gathering centers continue to fade away. Your favorite subreddit or discord server cannot replace the chemical releasing effect that in person community events provide. The US Surgeon General has spoken about a lack of community and the impact that it has on the growing epidemic of loneliness in this country.
I think the lack of community also speaks to Kyla’s comments about insensitive comments. When you have no community then shame and embarrassment no longer exist, leaving people to go even farther with the insults that are lobbed on social media platforms.
I don’t know how we get a sense of community back and would love to see others’ thoughts on what can be done to address this issue.
Perhaps community is hard to achieve because it is dependent on someone being open-hearted enough or having the energy (time, money, whatever) to reach out and metaphorically reach out and embrace a new person. As someone who seems to naturally be a bit of a community maker, I find smiles, warm hellos, listening to what people say in response and being willing to give up a vulnerable/honest/humorous response, can go a long way to begin a journey. As someone who loves to cook (and doesn't mind the work), community can be built around a table. We also have to spend the energy to reach out to our friends. Does it really matter who calls first? And finally, as someone who prefers the company of people, learning, and doing, passively consuming "entertainment" as a way to fill time just isn't on my list. Have we modeled to our children (as they become/became adults) how to have a life of engagement? Or did the parents even know how?
Phenomenal. Thank you for writing this. When we put money in a bank ~ any bank ~ it may not be obvious, but we are also putting in belief and confidence in our society, our system, our ways of knowing and being. I think of this, sometimes. Your piece goes into much greater depth ~ things are not as bad or as good as they appear, often. And in the attempt, we are solidifying our connections to 'the all.' I also totally agree that branding should not be the focus of culture ~ other places are more aware of that in some respects, but also, have their tradeoffs. Mature, thoughtful, and beautiful writing that clarifies many, many important things we are all mulling over and about, whether consciously, or not. Thanks again.
Thank you, Kyla, for your thoughtful and entertaining work. I highly recommend the Hulu series, "Reservation Dogs". In one of the early episodes, our heroes steal a truckload of snack food, "Flaming Flamers", which doesn't really solve any problems.
Great post! I agree that thing that are always available, whether that be food, entertainment etc. loses value just by always being there. I get that feeling all the time with thing that are always available.
@kyla : Congratulations on the century! And on your choice to focus on the process, to stay alive awake alert (enthusiastic?) in each tiny dot of the present, which taken together from afar form the experience. "It was hard." lol five-star review :) but as a three-word summary, sounds about right.
To just exist is not to live. How can we deal with nostalgia, fleetingness, and the crushing burden of the future. These are not easy questions of course.
Just love your compositions Ms. Kyla. Your thoughts are incredibly wide-ranging and so much fun to think about as is your voracious reading list! Thanks for the sermon; thanks for the community of beautiful thoughts!
I'd like to see a soft landing and low inflation but I think the gambling party went too long. The intoxication of easy money/rising asset prices means that mistakes outside of SVB were made and putting the inflation and debt genie back into the bottle will be hard.
Jamie Dimon's firm makes money from being bullish even when it may be in their client's best interest to sit on a pile of gold and snarl at passers by - you may consider such behaviour antisocial but a true friend will tell you the truth if it will help you even when it's difficult for you to hear it.
The ADP data you’re quoting is largely driven by leisure and hospitality jobs // not high paying IT, finance & other jobs. Also we slashed mfg jobs by a big margin.
Likely there’s no soft landing, it’ll be a hard one in the coming 12-18mo.
Self-Pity
by DH Lawrence
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
funny how ubiquitous bird imagery has become for freedom to the point where it has lost a lot of it's meaning. "Put a Bird on It!"
Another great one. Just makes me want to buy, hold, and ignore the Wall Street talking heads even more. It’s almost impossible for me to find the signal through the noise so I’ll just stick with my simple plan. Thanks Kyla.
I’ve started to write down the predictions of various talking heads, bulls and bears alike, in the notes app on my phone. Things like “watch this earnings season, it could be bad” or whatever. I’m this close to beginning to slice these talking heads out of my life, because they are so often wrong.
They might be right once but very few are consecutively right from call to call. That’s why passive investing always beats active investing over time.
Oh yeah, at least 90% of my nw is locked into low cost index funds. I play with the rest. But I have this suspicion I’d do much better with the ten percent just learning to read shipping reports. The internet and media hasn’t gotten anything right for as long as I’ve been paying attention. Time to cut it out.
I dig it...I was thinking about, "People are so anti-establishment that they forget to stand for something." and I also see it as people having a hard time expressing what they are aspiring towards cause they feel so powerless. It showed up a lot in my journalism and was always painful to observe. I do think there is a collective sense of despair that feels really evident to me but also seems elusive.
a collective failure of imagination
Insightful, as always. Thank you.
The discussion about a lack of community is something I have seen in other media. Are we as a country headed to something resembling the 4 walls of tv from “Fahrenheit 451” where people interact with avatars and AI but not actual people. Other news has shown how church attendance has been dropping year over year, a historically significant location for community building that is seemingly going by the wayside. I’m not advocating for people to go to church, what I am wondering is how do we as a society maintain cohesion when community gathering centers continue to fade away. Your favorite subreddit or discord server cannot replace the chemical releasing effect that in person community events provide. The US Surgeon General has spoken about a lack of community and the impact that it has on the growing epidemic of loneliness in this country.
I think the lack of community also speaks to Kyla’s comments about insensitive comments. When you have no community then shame and embarrassment no longer exist, leaving people to go even farther with the insults that are lobbed on social media platforms.
I don’t know how we get a sense of community back and would love to see others’ thoughts on what can be done to address this issue.
Perhaps community is hard to achieve because it is dependent on someone being open-hearted enough or having the energy (time, money, whatever) to reach out and metaphorically reach out and embrace a new person. As someone who seems to naturally be a bit of a community maker, I find smiles, warm hellos, listening to what people say in response and being willing to give up a vulnerable/honest/humorous response, can go a long way to begin a journey. As someone who loves to cook (and doesn't mind the work), community can be built around a table. We also have to spend the energy to reach out to our friends. Does it really matter who calls first? And finally, as someone who prefers the company of people, learning, and doing, passively consuming "entertainment" as a way to fill time just isn't on my list. Have we modeled to our children (as they become/became adults) how to have a life of engagement? Or did the parents even know how?
Phenomenal. Thank you for writing this. When we put money in a bank ~ any bank ~ it may not be obvious, but we are also putting in belief and confidence in our society, our system, our ways of knowing and being. I think of this, sometimes. Your piece goes into much greater depth ~ things are not as bad or as good as they appear, often. And in the attempt, we are solidifying our connections to 'the all.' I also totally agree that branding should not be the focus of culture ~ other places are more aware of that in some respects, but also, have their tradeoffs. Mature, thoughtful, and beautiful writing that clarifies many, many important things we are all mulling over and about, whether consciously, or not. Thanks again.
"All I can hear, I me mine
I me mine, I me mine
Even those tears, I me mine
I me mine, I me mine
No-one's frightened of playing it
Everyone's saying it
Flowing more freely than wine
All through your life I me mine"
-- George Harrison, "I Me Mine"
Thank you, Kyla, for your thoughtful and entertaining work. I highly recommend the Hulu series, "Reservation Dogs". In one of the early episodes, our heroes steal a truckload of snack food, "Flaming Flamers", which doesn't really solve any problems.
Great post! I agree that thing that are always available, whether that be food, entertainment etc. loses value just by always being there. I get that feeling all the time with thing that are always available.
The people who are the establishment like to pretend they are anti-establishment.
@kyla : Congratulations on the century! And on your choice to focus on the process, to stay alive awake alert (enthusiastic?) in each tiny dot of the present, which taken together from afar form the experience. "It was hard." lol five-star review :) but as a three-word summary, sounds about right.
To just exist is not to live. How can we deal with nostalgia, fleetingness, and the crushing burden of the future. These are not easy questions of course.
In my opinion this was a brilliant piece. Thanks for including the Toni Morrison long quote.
Just love your compositions Ms. Kyla. Your thoughts are incredibly wide-ranging and so much fun to think about as is your voracious reading list! Thanks for the sermon; thanks for the community of beautiful thoughts!
I'd like to see a soft landing and low inflation but I think the gambling party went too long. The intoxication of easy money/rising asset prices means that mistakes outside of SVB were made and putting the inflation and debt genie back into the bottle will be hard.
Jamie Dimon's firm makes money from being bullish even when it may be in their client's best interest to sit on a pile of gold and snarl at passers by - you may consider such behaviour antisocial but a true friend will tell you the truth if it will help you even when it's difficult for you to hear it.
The ADP data you’re quoting is largely driven by leisure and hospitality jobs // not high paying IT, finance & other jobs. Also we slashed mfg jobs by a big margin.
Likely there’s no soft landing, it’ll be a hard one in the coming 12-18mo.