Weekend reading: Anti-capitalism attitudes don’t add up – Beragampengetahuan

What caught my eye this week.

One of the most dismaying aspects of the past decade’s political shift is seeing people who’ve thrived under ‘the system’ now shaking their fists at it.

From Donald Trump railing against corporations after presiding over several occasionally bankrupt ones, to the Chinese state turning on its most successful tech firms, to Barry Blimp and his friends criticising the elites from their exclusive spa and pool complex in Berkshire, hostility towards free market economics is everywhere. We see the consequences in rising US protectionism and the diminishment of Great Britain PLC and her citizens thanks to that vote.

It’s one thing to bemoan globalisation if you’re an artisanal farmer in Africa displaced by cheap calories from China, or a former industrial worker with now-redundant skills in Scunthorpe or Flint.

But well-to-do Brits decrying the shadowy forces of international trade that paid for their pensions? With zero evidence except a few half-baked statistics from fringe economists talking out of their Agas?

I’d take Citizen Smith over them any day.

Down with prosperity!

Combine the increasing antipathy towards global trade on the right with the age-old hostility towards enterprise on the left, whiz it in a social media blender, and you get this:

We could quibble over Zitelmann’s definitions I’m sure. But you only need to spend 20 minutes on Twitter or to listen to certain popular populist politicians to know the anti-capitalism vibe is real.

Yet as Joachim Klement argued when he shared Zitelmann’s graph this week:

Capitalism is responsible for creating more wealth and progress than any other economic system ever invented. It has lifted more people out of poverty than all charitable efforts and aid organisations put together. It has taken us out of the Malthusian trap and increased agricultural productivity to a level where we can feed more than eight billion people on the planet, most of whom would have died of starvation or never been born without the financial means to develop modern agriculture. And it has provided the foundations on which health standards have increased so much that global life expectancy has more than doubled in the last 100 years.

Few would say everything is perfect. Certainly not me. Just look at the other graph in this week’s Weekend Reading below.

But most of our problems stem from political choices and voter selfishness, wishful thinking, or even outright incredulity, rather than unfixable issues with capitalism.

Capitalism provides a framework for incentives to work. But it’s up to governments and voters to decide the rules of the game, what to reward, and how to divvy up the proceeds.

Capitalism isn’t dead. But it needs to fix itself. More of us should learn how to be capitalists, and to understand the source of our wider prosperity.

Quant fund pioneer Jim Simons, who died this past week, once said: “I did a lot of math. I made a lot of money, and I gave almost all of it away.”

Not a bad template for the ideal capitalist. But many people might start with simply doing the maths.

Have a great weekend!

From beragampengetahuan

Inflation hedges: what works and what doesn’t – beragampengetahuan

A question of trust – beragampengetahuan

From the archive-ator: holiday strategies to refresh a frugal soul – beragampengetahuan

News

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LSE boss says IPOs are on the way as Shein and Rasberry Pi ready floats – CityAM

Takeover interest in UK companies hits highest since 2018 [Search result] – FT

Reddit strikes deal with OpenAI to train LLPs on Reddit content – The Verge

Meme stock mania returns… – NBC via Yahoo Finance

…with this EV company rising 3,500% [!] in the week – Sherwood

US brothers arrested for stealing $25m in crypto in just 12 seconds – BBC

Brexit border IT outages delay import of perishable items to UK by up to 20 hours – Guardian

The percentage of US firms requiring workers-in-work is falling – Sherwood

Man told he is not British after 42 years in the UK – BBC

Why Britain is the world’s worst on homelessness [Search result] – FT

Products and services

High Street banks start to cut the cost of fixed-rate mortgages again – Guardian

Santander has brought back its £175 bank switch deal – Which

Get £200 cashback with an Interactive Investor SIPP. New customers only. Minimum £15,000 account size. Terms apply – Interactive Investor

Owners of period properties spend twice as much on maintenance – This Is Money

Cheaper Spotify Basic plans launched – Be Clever With Your Cash

Santander’s very popular 5.2% easy account rate drops to 4.2% next week – This Is Money

Transfer your ISA to InvestEngine by 31 May and you could get up to £2,500 as a cashback bonus (T&Cs apply. Capital at risk) – InvestEngine

Why would it take 30 days for Companies House to remove a fraudulent address? – This Is Money

Over 6,000 UK bank branches closed since 2015 – Which

Deliveroo has hiked delivery costs for all customers – Be Clever With Your Cash

Flats for sale with outside space, in pictures – Guardian

Long-term mortgages mini-special

Are 25-year mortgages a thing of the past? – Guardian

‘Serious questions’ for lenders over surge in ultra-long mortgages – Sky

Should you run away from marathon mortgages? – Which

You probably won’t be paying a 40-year mortgage into old age – Simple Living in Somerset

Comment and opinion

25-years old and with a 13.2% chance of living to 100. What to do? – Fidelity

Diversification is about decades – A Wealth of Common Sense

Happy conclusion – Humble Dollar

Three assets that might not diversify as well as you think… – Morningstar

…plus Bitcoin and gold won’t save you in the end times – Of Dollars and Data

An interview with Tyler from Portfolio Charts [Podcast] – Many Happy Returns

Understanding the inflation-protection of TIPS and similar bonds – Elm

Managing £1m property portfolios in an hour a month [Podcast] – The Property Podcast

Why active ETFs are better for fund managers than for you – Money Marketing

The long run is just a collection of short runs [Podcast] – Morgan Housel

Naughty corner: Active antics

Portfolio construction and the lower middle market – Permanent Equity

Starbucks’ digital dilemma – SatPost

BP and Shell go back to basics to boost shareholder returns [Search result] – FT

Small cap quality shares are currently good value – Verdad

Compounding made simple [Podcast] – Far From The Finishing Post via Apple

A deep dive into closed-end fund pricing versus NAVs – Acadian

Kindle book bargains

How to Own the World by Andrew Craig – £0.99 on Kindle

The Great Post Office Scandal by Nick Wallis – £0.99 on Kindle

Number Go Up by Zeke Faux – £0.99 on Kindle

Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK by Simon Kuper – £2.89 on Kindle

Environmental factors

Businesses are struggling with reusable packaging – Guardian

Calpers to direct $25bn to green private market investments [Search result] – FT

Glimmer of hope for the mountain chicken frog which was once a national dish – BBC

Ancient trees reveal last summer was the hottest in past 2,000 years… – BBC

…despair is understandable, but stubborn optimism may be our only hope – Guardian

Robot overlord roundup

OpenAI introduces GPT-4o and more for ChatGPT free users – Open AI

10 mildly mind-blowing examples of what the new ChatGPT can do… – via X

…meanwhile Google responds with an AI that can find lost spectacles – BBC

The great flattening – Stratechery

AI can replace stock analysts [Research] – SSRN

How AI turned a Ukrainian YouTuber into a Russian – BBC

Jim Simons RIP

Quant investing pioneer and philanthropist James Simons dies at 86 – Reuters via Yahoo

Our man in East Setauket – Institutional Investor

The algorithm behind Jim Simons’s success – The Alchemy of Money

RIP to the man who beat the efficient market hypothesis – The Intrinsic Perspective

Off our beat

Johann Hari and the new ‘miracle’ weight-loss drugs – Tim Ferris

Building embryos – Aeon

UFOs, God, and the edge of understanding – Vox

Suddenly there aren’t enough babies. Birth rates are crashing – WSJ

NASA Black Hole simulator takes viewers beyond the brink… [With video] – NASA

…while Google and Harvard unveil most detailed ever map of human brain – CNN

Steve Albini, 1962-2024: the engineer who shaped rock’s most visceral moments – NME

The 15 greatest video games magazines of all-time – Guardian

And finally…

“Today’s economy is good at generating three things: wealth, the ability to show off wealth, and great envy for other people’s wealth.”
– Morgan Housel, Same As Ever

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