Update of a famous Puck editorial cartoon by Chat GPT "Competition Is for Losers. If you want to create and capture lasting value, look to build a monopoly" Peter Thiel Does capitalism truly value competition, or is monopoly power the default result as larger and larger corporations swallow up smaller ones? And does it matter that much to the rest of us? The goal of the board game Monopoly is to amass properties and bankrupt your opponents. There is some strategy to th

"An insurance company is like a guy who sets your house on fire, then sells you a bucket of water." Anonymous Homeowners insurance rates have risen 47% since 2020, and are one of the biggest expenses annually for any homeowner. The reasons for the rise vary, but they include higher home values, higher cost of construction materials, and more natural disasters due to climate change. Any good insurance agent will tell you the main things you can alter to get a lower r

“You and a friend are having a picnic by the side of a river. Suddenly you hear a shout from the direction of the water—a child is drowning. Without thinking, you both dive in, grab the child, and swim to shore. Before you can recover, you hear another child cry for help. You and your friend jump back in the river to rescue her as well. Then another struggling child drifts into sight… and another… and another. The two of you can barely keep up. Suddenly, you see your friend w

from Google Gemini "If we accept Whataboutism arguments, then nothing can ever be deemed wrong, as long as we can find examples that are worse" Instagram post "Two wrongs don't make a right" Common proverb There is a lot of consternation about corruption, cheating, violence, and oppression these days, and it seems like any time someone steps up to condemn it, they are swatted down by the phrase "what about the other guys who are worse?" Whataboutism has become a pop

"Strip malls are history" Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon Like many baby boomers, I grew up during the heyday of the suburban shopping mall from 1980-2000. We had a wealth of large, busy shopping malls packed with large department stores and specialty shops. You could spend an entire day there. While malls still exist today, there are fewer of them and they are struggling. Malls and department stores offered a way to find clothing, books, gifts, movies, food, and home

"When you buy from a big box store, nothing happens. When you buy from a small business, a real human fist-pumps alone in a storeroom." Instagram post "The rise of socialism is why nobody works, nobody gives a damn, 'Just give it to me. Send me money. I don't want to work — I'm too lazy, I'm too fat, I'm too stupid.'" Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus Not that long ago, most people bought their tools, lawnmowers, and grass seed from their local neighborhood small hardwar

"It doesn't do Costco any good if nobody can afford to buy anything." James Sinegal, founder. “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” Sam Walton The idea of warehouse clubs revolutionized retail when it was introduced. Using the basic economic principal of economies of scale, warehouse stores could sell larger quantities at lower prices and still make

AI picture from Google Gemini Psychologists refer to unpredictable rewards as 'intermittent reinforcements.' I call them 'the reason we date jerks.'" Catherine Price "The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works."— Chamath Palihapitiya, former Facebook VP of User Growth Cleavage has consumed the minds of men, women, and fashion designers for centuries. While men are naturally attracted to the sight of women's bre

Produced by Google Gemini “Surveillance capitalism unilaterally claims human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data.” ― Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism “Surveillance pricing essentially gives Big Brother a look into your shopping cart. Part of affordability is making sure consumers get a fair shake. Exploiting peoples' data to drive up prices is the exact opposite.”— Mikie Sherrill, Governor of New Jersey (upon signing a stat

General Eisenhower speaking to US troops just before the D-Day invasion "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived in it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity." Dwight D Eisenhower "The strength of a country is measured not by its ability to fight wars, but by its ability to prevent them." Gene Roddenberry Wars have been around almost as long as civilization itself—often accepted as a reasonable, if terrible, way to settle human disputes. Toda

Created by Google Gemini The political machine triumphs because it is a united minority acting against a divided majority. Will Durant Democracy is defined as government by the people and rule of the majority. Getting a majority to agree on anything can be a tall order, but it's the best system that's ever been attempted. So why does today's government fail to listen to the majority so often? Opinion polls are the only way we have to measure the "will of the people",

“The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”― Thomas Jefferson “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”― Herbert Hoover Wouldn't it be great to have an unlimited credit card that you never had to pay back? You could just let the balance grow and grow, leaving someone else to worry about it long after you're gone. That is essentially our national debt. In 1975, Americ

The Power of Beliefs: How Strengthening Seven Core Beliefs Predicts Greater Success and a Better Life Shawn Achor “Beliefs are so powerful because they dictate our efforts and actions.” — Shawn Achor "You know what I want to mess around with? The belief that I matter regardless of what I do or don't achieve, or the belief that we all deserve to be loved. " Ted Lasso Do our beliefs control our lives? Of course they do—but can we trust them? Our perception of reality and what

"Someday my prince will come" Snow White "There comes a day when I don't have to be a princess. No rules. No expectations. A day when anything can happen. A day when I can change my fate." Merida Disney princesses are the ultimate role models for little girls under age 10. As a parent of two daughters, I've been fascinated as to how young girls have idolized these fictional princesses for decades. As a Disney fanatic, I've watched every Disney movie and noticed how m

created by Google Gemini "Information is a commodity, but judgment is scarce." — Philip Tetlock“ You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We're all singing, all dancing crap of the world.” — Tyler Durden, Fight Club We live in an age of profound information overload. Every day, we are barraged by a relentless torrent of videos, blog posts, spam, and em

“I think this is irresponsible preaching and very dangerous, and especially when it is slanted toward children, I think it's totally irresponsible, because I see nothing biblical that points up to our being in the last days, and I just think it's an outrageous thing to do, and a lot of people are making a living—they've been making a living for 2,000 years—preaching that we're in the last days.” ― Charles M. Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip. In 2011, Harold Cam

Boys Alone in less than one day "Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But in fact they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman." Margaret Fuller "To know love, men must be able to let go of the will to dominate... Masses of men haven't even begun to look at the ways that patriarchy keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch

Created by Google Gemini- not a real lawyer "If you're in pain, let us make it rain." "In a wreck? Get a check." "If you're hurt in a dash, get the cash." "Insurance companies hate us." "Small enough to care, smart enough to win." Sample of Personal injury law slogans I don't know why, but lately I'm noticing more and more advertisements for personal injury lawyers. Countless billboard, television, and radio ads now proclaim that their law firm will get you top dollar

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”― Plato “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”― Soren Kierkegaard In the classic sitcom Hogan's Heroes, a bumbling German guard named Sgt Schultz was a popular character who survived by his willful ignorance. Hogan and his prisoners of war were running a series of covert op

The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life Sahil Bloom -“Never let the quest for more distract you from the beauty of enough.” Sahil Bloom How do we define success? For nations, it is often reduced to the cold, quantifiable metrics of Gross National Product (GNP). For individuals, it usually breaks down into two superficial categories: money and attractiveness. We operate under the collective delusion that if we accumulate enough wealth, eve