The Art of Being Fat
I have my essay title 😎
Conversation
Maybe I should NFT this essay and financialize it 🤣
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There’s a broader economic-philosophical point here.
Lean is a natural expression of growthism, which is growth-for-the-sake-of-growth *as measured by money* because in a time-averaged sense, under low-uncertainty conditions, money is the most fungible asset *on average*
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Money is the best way to hold wealth if there’s a veil of ignorance on future. Yes, sometimes for days/weeks, hand sanitizer may be more liquid (heh!) but on average you’re best off holding money.
But what if... the veil were not opaque? And what if days/weeks turn into months?
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If the future is such that you can expect the world to be in unusual regimes for long periods (months, even years), and you can partly predict it, you think of holding wealth differently. Like they did materials in WW2, or the way governments think about food/energy security now.
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“Vaccine nationalism” is a sudden rude rediscovery of these principles. Countries are now randomly, anxiously hoarding things like plastic bioreaction bags they way they’re only used to holding oil and corn. It’s like toilet-paper-hoarding mentality at national scale.
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Note I’m not really talking about strategic reserves, bilateral supply deals, or export controls. Those mechanisms are designed for a narrow class of military/geopolitical risks. I’m talking all forms of material atom wealth at all levels from individual to nation. Aka “fat.”
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The “degrowth” movement is equally stupid. It’s a reactionary retreat based on first-world consumption guilt. What we need is a growth portfolio. Hold wealth in a variety of forms at a variety of places/political levels to reflect knowledge of an uncertain future.
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