1/ I want to sketch out a difference between two kinds of 'good for business' environments that people usually don't appreciate
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2/ A central fact of free-market capitalism is that capital does not care HOW it gains a return, and has no natural "time horizon"
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3/ Like evolution, capital-seeking-returns is a blind and means-agnostic process. The sole justification for what works is that it works
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4/ It takes a human investor to care about a) how a return is generated b) over what time period it is generated
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5/ There are two kinds of "good for business" environments, which I think of as "stacked for profiteering" and "stacked for innovation"
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6/ In stacked-for-profiteering environment, main asset you need to do business is large pile of concentrated capital. Bigger is better. Why?
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7/ To jumpstart very rapid economic performance you need BIG numbers quickly. It takes a big bump to create growth on a $13 trillion base.
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8/ That's why the go-to is energy (gas, oil, coal) and dismantling public sector institutions (allowing a "prime contractor" economy)
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9/ A stacked-for-profiteering economy isn't growing wealth. It is moving it around in very large chunks, creating illusion of wealth-making
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10/ The logic is mercantilist, zero-sum, even if it doesn't have a legible basis like land or mineral rights.
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11/ But there is another kind of good-for-business: stacked for innovation. You need some capital, but more capital is not linearly "better"
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12/ As modern startup tropes go, you don't even need 2 guys in garage with circuit boards anymore. 1 guy with a laptop at starbucks will do.
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13/ What you *do* need is safe, liberal environment that rewards curiosity, allows people with diverse identities to live cheaply, together
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