All the crap you never needed

  E244: September 26 2025 Emirates first class reviews H1B issue $100K fee Who is really getting these visas? Alternately hold an auction? Chamath, Elon, Sundar, Satya all came on H1B Applications vs quotas Salaries OPT program is an alternative - to see how well they do 1-2 years after graduating from MS, PhD $100K over 6-7 years amortized might be worth it for the right talent - alternatively force the companies to pay these people more H2A farm worker program is different - US taxpayer is paying a premium for foreign workers - even though US workers don’t do this job Operation Paperclip in the 40s-60s to get german scientists - might need something like that today - see China reportedly banning DeepSeek engineers from leaving the country Can revive National Interest Waiver conversation Tylenol and Autism Insane increase in cases Folate receptor issue identified Leucovorin and autism Andrea Lucarelli study Johns Hopki...

Sep 17 2025 Trump makeover of White House Oval Office Tour 1BBB rescored by CBO from -$2T to +$300B Called the bottom of the market in the last crash Tax package benefits (some not seen yet)

 September 19 2025 Charlie Kirk murder How much does covid lockdowns and online subculture ratholing has to do with the ideology here? Shot the man down instead of shout the man down Kirk was too honest, too effective, too sensible and changed people’s minds through his discourse - became a threat Very sad The fact that this happened on a college campus seems like an attack on the citadel of the American town square What is happening that allows these young men to become so unmoored? Increasing view among young people that political violence is OK Even when Bernie Sanders, Ezra Klein put out excellent statements, they were shouted down Randi Weingarten’s book on Fascism is part of this trend of our school system indoctrinating kids J K Rowling tweet is well said here Jimmy Kimmel off ABC How much govt influence was here vs Disney and the affiliates making a business decision? Jon Stewart has also pointed out (in the past) how this is a tough business rig...

September 6 2025 Jason/Sacks banter White House Tech dinner Lot of big leaders - representing ~half the tech industry by market cap Gates, Zuck, Cook, Brin, Pichai, Altman, etc Big moment for Sacks Lot of comity in the room - largely on the same page wrt what was happening in the economy and world and what they needed for the tech industry to do well in the world Pro innovation, pro exports, pro energy, pro worker Friedberg had a good podcast with Rand Paul Sacks, Chamath, Friedberg got to hang with the President in the White House and chill Karoline Leavitt etc seemed very competent Incredible scenes Melania Trump championing AI for education for kids Consensus in the room seemed to be that current administration is doing a better job letting the leaders do their work vs the Biden administration Biden/Kamala didn’t pursue this group and didn’t engage with them Trump 2.0 is engaging the business community and meeting them where they are This...

September 5 2025 Friedberg interviews Rand Paul Intro Followed in his dad’s footsteps - Doctor and then lawmaker Family of doctors Politics Libertarian, Tea Party, Deficit hawk Free trade Globalization human progress . org Doesn’t think China ripped us off Tariffs are a tax - sales tax instead of income tax Opposed to Big Beautiful Bill Social Security age increase? Finance and Economy Democrats just want to tax rich people Modern Monetary Theory did work briefly for about 10-15 years COLA = Cost of Living Allowance Fed interest payment games are interesting and obscure - do they benefit the rich more? In economics, things don’t happen gradually - they happen in 2 days Risks of fractional reserve banking Government should spend what is coming in - instead we are overspending $2T extra per year Debt to GDP is getting worse 40-50% of employees earn from fed, state, local govt or govt contractor or get a check from the government in some form Can’t have illega...