Makers and Takers

By Matthew Gutierrez · June 16, 2024

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🎾Roger Federer is one of the greatest tennis players ever, and he recently shared his “tennis lessons” with the graduating class at Dartmouth. Some highlights:

1. Perfection is an illusion - the true path lies in continual learning and growth
2. Each moment is precious and deserves our undivided attention
3. Losses and failures are inevitable, but they offer invaluable lessons. Extract the wisdom they provide, then leave them behind
4. Negative emotions, complaining, and thought patterns are draining and unproductive. Conserve your energy by cultivating a positive mindset

Also: Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there!

Today, we're sharing our fascinating interview with the Financial Times’ Rana Foroohar, who writes about everything from insurance to globalization to big tech.

All this, and more, in just 6 minutes to read.

— Matthew

Quote of the Day

"What everyone wants more than anything else is to be loved."

— Ella Fitzgerald

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What Else We’re Into

📺 WATCH: How Sam Altman built OpenAI into a behemoth

🎧 LISTEN: Why gold has recently hit an all-time high with Lyn Alden

📖 READ: The other side of the trade: Berkshire Hathaway

Trivia

Nvidia is on fire, but by how much did the stock decline in 2022?

• 32%
• 45%
• 50%
• 61%

Exploring Markets, Power and Risk

Not long ago, Rana Foroohar’s home insurance premium in Brooklyn suddenly doubled overnight — from $17,000 to $36,000. It’s a staggering increase by any measure. And, after digging deeper, she uncovered an unsettling reality: Insurers are repricing risk in the face of climate change.

The experience, which became a recent column in the Financial Times, exemplifies Foroohar's knack for spotting trends and her fascination with how markets price (or misprice) risk. As a global business columnist and associate editor at the Financial Times — and the author of several acclaimed books — she’s developed a keen eye for compelling stories in a noisy world.

In her work, Foroohar examines the concentration of wealth and the profound influence in the tech sector, the potential challenges artificial intelligence poses, and the need for localized economies. She’s also written about how to fix America’s loneliness crisis.

Foroohar's analysis is both incisive and engaging. She draws on her conversations with economists, policymakers, businesspeople, and notable investors, including Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn.

In this wide-ranging Q&A, Foroohar shares her insights on the evolving dynamics of markets, the growing wealth gap, and the cozy relationship between Wall Street and Washington. She also offers a thought-provoking look at the intersection of markets, power, and risk.

This interview has been edited lightly for brevity and clarity.

Where did you grow up, and how did you become interested in markets?

I grew up in rural Indiana. My dad is a Turkish immigrant, so I spent much time in Turkey as a kid. My mom grew up in Chattanooga, so I spent a lot of time in the South, too. I started as a pre-med student at Barnard College, which ended in disaster when I got a C- in organic chemistry. 

I eventually started writing and found my way to Forbes Magazine at 24 as a fact checker. Forbes was much more influential at the time and was always being sued by rich people, so the fact-checking process was very important and a great way to reverse-engineer things. 

Business and economics were far less crowded than politics. But business is much more interesting and understandable because it has real metrics, as opposed to politics, which is a lot of opinion. 

Your subjects are quite broad. How do you decide what to write about? 

Two or three themes have galvanized me. Follow the money: Where’s the money? Where’s the power? 

A few years ago, I realized a tremendous amount of capital had flowed from finance into tech. Tech has become the place where money and power live. That led me to write my second book, Don’t Be Evil, about hyper-concentration with the Big Three. 

The other criterion is the concentration of power. Where there’s a lot of concentration, there tends to be risk. Another theme that interests me is when markets do not price risk effectively. I find...