… is this Facebook post from yesterday by my Nobel-laureate emeritus colleague, Vernon Smith; Vernon composed it in response to this essay by Astra Taylor in the New York Times – an essay the opening sentence of which reads “Since 2020, the richest 1 percent has captured nearly two-thirds of all new wealth globally — almost twice as much money as the rest of the world’s population”:
The opening sentence implies that wealth is produced independently of human action which is devoted mainly to capturing it. If that is your understanding of the world you can only feel insecure, fear it, and write of your terror.
And what does it reveal about the NYTimes that it wallows and champions this perspective? A truly dedicated mission to spread gloom and unhappiness. It is one thing to report bad news, it’s another to glory in it.
