Music, Technology, Art, Economy

We’ve underinvested severely, for example, in next-gen transportation and green construction.

So the positions of “high-speed train network manager” or “renewable materials engineer” don’t exist yet. Nor do the skills that make them up. Because: nor do the companies that could offer them.

That’s neither “structural” nor “cyclical” - it’s institutional.

With stellar credit and a solid job, Dr. Budde said she had been notified via e-mail that she was approved for a loan on June 15.

But that note prompted an automatic, “out of the office” e-mail reply from Dr. Budde’s work account, which said she was out on maternity leave.

The next day, Dr. Budde received a second e-mail message from the lender, this time denying her loan approval.

I can’t help but see this move in the context of the slow but steady crumbling of institutions that held power by their control of the distribution system.

But now when the most talented players have brands that are as big or bigger than the teams they play on, when more and more young people are rooting for their fantasy team and assembling it on their xbox, this move makes total sense to me.

Let’s say you want a loaf of bread.

How many of us will pay an extra 15-30% for a loaf from the local baker, versus a loaf from the local hypermarket?

Yet, because we won’t, the bakery - and its jobs - vanish. After all, why would you pay a slight premium, for goods that are substitutes?

Except, of course, they’re not - really. Your bakery has radically different incentives than your local hypermarket, and might just offer you a significantly higher level of artisanship, skill, service - and trust.

Yet, it’s exactly those we don’t seem to value.

In his tweets, Attorney General Shurtleff implicitly references these views and combines them with portentous religious language.

Recognizing that it is a “solemn day,” Shurtleff tweets, “Utah will use most extreme power & execute a killer. Mourn his victims: Justice.”

Later, Shurtleff declares in reference to Gardner’s fate: “May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims.”

“We’re just looking to make cool pieces of entertainment and just arbitrarily make that subject matter a brand’s message.”

He drew an analogy to an improv troupe’s asking the audience for a word.

“They don’t care what that word is. That word can be tennis shoe. And now you’re performing a sketch about a tennis shoe,” he said. “It’s really fun to have that creative challenge.”