#5SmartReads - December 2, 2022
Hitha on inflation, radicalization, and Kendall Toole
How the Oath Keepers were radicalized (Axios)
Since January 6th, I keep thinking about this interview Alex Wagner did before the 2020 election and how prescient it was:
In hindsight, it should’ve warned all of us of the violence we’d see on January 6th. But how did we get here?
A sense of loss or not belonging, fueled by addictive social media platforms and voices amplified by these platforms, seem to be a common factor among all the Oath Keepers who have pled or have been found guilty of sedition or conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Every Oath Keeper who has pled or was found guilty truly believed that the 2020 election was stolen. And while they will face whatever a jury decides or is negotiated in a plea, I can’t help but think about the other responsible parties - the public figures and the platforms that enable them - and how they evade justice in the name of the First Amendment.
I think a lot about this and I have no answers, but the oligarchy that is the United States (consider the billionaires own the most powerful platforms enabling this indoctrination) shares ownership of this problem but is escaping scot-free. And the dangers of that are significant.
How Kendall Toole Shows Up When She’s Not Feeling 100% (Wondermind)
Professionally, 2022 has been my most accomplished year.
Personally - and specifically with my mental health - it’s been one of my lowest.
Someone who’s helped me through these low moments is Kendall Toole, who I first fell in love with in a Rumble studio in LA years ago (I loved her class so much that I went every day I was in town, and then needed a week to recover). When I’m feeling low but up for a workout, I always take one of Kendall’s mental health workouts or low impact rides, and it never fails to lift my spirits a bit.
I’m bookmarking this interview and saving in my “low moment” toolkit (along with Wondermind - what an incredible platform!), to come back to when I’m languishing or on the climb back up. This quote, in particular, stuck with me:
“When you're in that fight after you're diagnosed or are in the thick of [your struggles], everything is languishing; everything is weight. There's just pressure, pressure, pressure. So it's subtle when it happens because you sometimes don't realize it until you look back. There’s freedom in that first day when you don't feel so suffocated by whatever you're dealing with, and you maybe had a good laugh, or you had a great time out with your girlfriends for dinner, and you were present and enjoyed yourself.
Some of my favorite moments have been when I've been afraid to speak my truth or afraid to share my vulnerability. Once I did, the feedback [of people relating is incredible]. It's just this massive domino effect—it's like ripples in water.”
The economic case against unpaid domestic work (NPR)
$10.8 TRILLION.
No, that’s not the cumulative net worth of the highest value companies and the billionaires who own a majority of them.
It’s the global contribution of the unpaid labor of women and girls - a year.
Government investment in care - both childcare, eldercare, and in-home nursing - not decreases the time women and girls spend on unpaid labor, it also has resulted in men doing a bigger share than in countries without these services.
The American argument against these investments is that we simply can’t afford it. That has been underscored by the tired old model that fails to factor the unpaid labor of women and girls - worse, it assumes it’s not at all a factor and takes full advantage of it. But if we consider a different model and metric - specifically, the temporary expansion of the child tax credit program in 2021, it reduced child poverty in this country by 30%.
What we have isn’t working - and it never has. But investing in our care economy and in adequately valuing care as an economic unit is something we must do. Marshall Plan For Moms and Chamber of Mothers are leading this fight at a macro level, and Fair Play was instrumental in fairly dividing the unpaid labor in my own home.
The Art Of The Founder Exit (Forbes)
If you’re a male founder who exits his company, it’s celebrated and lauded and there’s a line of folks ready to fund and support their next venture.
If you’re a woman founder who exits her company, the reaction is “Was she pushed out? Could she not handle it anymore? Oh, she must need to spend more time at home.”
It’s infuriating and unsurprising. And most of the business press upholds these dated, untrue tropes as if they are the only truth.
Thank goodness for Amy Shoenthal for this article and her incredible work in Forbes, which reflects what I see as a founder and investor.
Take Amanda Goetz, who founded House of Wise (which I’m a proud investor in):
“Amanda Goetz, who founded luxury CBD and wellness brand House of Wise, observed that the founder exit is generally frowned upon because it's seen as an easy out.
“But that all stems from a culture that was created by non-women founders and is rooted in pride and toxic hustle,” she says. “Early exits can sometimes be the only option between seeing your brand grow or shutting it down.””
When an underestimated founder moves on from the company they started, they should be celebrated and supported the way white male founders are. It starts with recognizing the differences in our reactions - and actively questioning the biased reactions we read in the press.
Then comes support. Send the founders whose companies have helped you that DM or e-mail. Continue to support the brand. It matters.
The mystery of rising prices. Are greedy corporations to blame for inflation? (NPR)
We talk a lot about the state of inflation. We don’t talk nearly enough about what’s causing it, and acknowledging that there are many factors here.
The right will tell you it’s because of government spending and aid programs. The left will claim that it’s because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and record-high corporate profits. And I’m going to say that all of these are factors - but we need to factor them correctly rather than equally, or claiming one is the only driving factor.
But here is one factor that I personally haven’t heard much about - and it could be a significant one:
“In spite of inflation, demand hasn't really blinked. Companies have been raising prices and we have been paying them. In fact, in many parts of the economy, spending has been rising right along with prices.
It's possible we're spending money we don't have to keep up with rising prices. That is likely not sustainable. And when our buying slows down, Wolfers says, companies will start lowering prices to entice us to buy: Prices will fall and inflation will ease. But, until demand drops, companies will push prices up as much as they can. It's elementary.”
