● The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West
Alexander C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska
Review via The New Republic
Karp… with his head of corporate affairs, Nicholas W. Zamiska. The Technological Republic attempts to distill the argument Karp has been making for years: that, since the country’s tech scene is historically a product of the national security state, Silicon Valley executives and engineers should shed their compunctions about working with the military and dedicate themselves to ensuring another century of American hard-power supremacy. It’s an argument with a growing audience. Thanks to a mix of factors—a massive increase in venture capital investment in defense and a slowdown in broader venture activity; new Pentagon initiatives designed to bridge the fabled “Valley of Death” between tech companies and the Pentagon; a tech workforce cowed by layoffs and firings—the era of Silicon Valley walkouts, open letters, public employee protests, and genuflecting CEOs is, for now at least, mostly over.
● Meltdown: Greed, Scandal, and the Collapse of Credit Suisse
Duncan Mavin
Interview with author via Bloomberg
In 2023, Credit Suisse collapsed, shaking the foundations of the global banking establishment. But for onlookers who were aware of the lender’s numerous afflictions, it’s sudden demise was no surprise at all. From one perspective, the bank’s succession of scandals arguably started as early as its founding some 167 years ago. One of those observers who saw it coming was Bloomberg editor Duncan Mavin, author of Meltdown: Greed, Scandal, and the Collapse of Credit Suisse. Mavin has covered banking malfeasance for more than a decade, which in Europe involved Credit Suisse on an almost-regular basis. In this episode of In The City, Mavin sits down with hosts Francine Lacqua and David Merritt to discuss his book and some of the lesser-known crises at the Swiss bank that led to its downfall.
● World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy
Catherine Bracy
Review via Bloomberg
Go Big or go home. Move fast and break things. Winner takes all. In a new book, Catherine Bracy argues that this ethos underpins much of what’s wrong with venture capital. In search of grand slam investment opportunities, VC investors choose startups according to what’s known as nature’s “power law,” the tendency for outliers to have undue impact—in investing, astronomical returns. (And the vast majority of startups fail miserably.) Despite their oft‑repeated, and much ridiculed, claims to “make the world a better place,” VCs either avoid addressing societal problems or, in their push for breakneck growth, make them worse, according to World Eaters: How Venture Capital Is Cannibalizing the Economy.
● How to Feed the World: The History and Future of Food
Vaclav Smil
Review via NewScientist
Here is a recipe for a thought-provoking, if not wholly appetising, snack: slice up a large tomato and pour over five or six tablespoons of your favourite cooking oil. Depending on where you got your tomato, that oil represents roughly the amount of diesel fuel needed to grow and deliver it to your plate. Bon appétit!
The influential environmental scientist and historian of energy Vaclav Smil came up with this illustration a few years ago – he recommends using dark sesame oil in your salad for the best visual effect. His aim was to highlight the utter dependence of our current food system on fossil fuels, used to run farm machinery, make fertiliser, heat greenhouses, power ships and even generate the electricity that keeps your fridge cool.
● Mellon vs. Churchill: The Untold Story of Treasury Titans at War
Jill Eicher
Review via Foreign Affairs
This book, written by a former U.S. Treasury financial analyst, revisits a seminal moment in modern world affairs—the debate between Washington and London over the latter’s repayment of its World War I debts, which totaled 135 percent of the country’s GDP in 1919. The author wears her expertise lightly, focusing less on the details of debt rescheduling and more on the personalities of her two protagonists: British Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill and U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon. Publicly, both leaders took extreme stances calculated to satisfy their respective constituents. Churchill sought to maintain social stability by negotiating for near-total debt forgiveness, whereas Mellon favored full repayment to fund U.S. tax reductions. Privately, they both knew that in an interdependent global economy, both options were impractical. Instead, they limped through the 1920s and early 1930s with a series of destabilizing compromises. Neither Churchill nor Mellon could foresee that the main beneficiary of a tottering world economy would eventually be Hitler.
● Inflation Is About More Than Money: Economics, Politics and the Social Fabric
Brian Griffiths
Summary via publisher (London Publishing Partnership)
In Inflation Is About More Than Money, Brian Griffiths charts recent history and policy developments with regard to inflation. He sees inflation as a moral problem: a form of taxation and deceit that those in positions of authority should always seek to address. Considering a range of theoretical approaches to inflation, he advances a pragmatic monetarist approach and offers a series of concrete recommendations for both dealing with inflation and protecting against it in the future. In addition, the author examines the cultural factors at play, such as disillusionment with democracy and social fragmentation. He argues for the importance of a shared moral framework, or “sacred canopy”, to underpin our collective purpose and provide a foundation for economic, social and political stability.
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