Happy Sunday everyone.
I really loved this article Justin Paterno sent me this week titled ‘Finance as Culture‘ (by John Luttig).
As John says: ‘Financialization is no longer purely institutional. It has seeped into our culture.’
But financialization is no longer purely institutional; it has seeped into our culture. A combination of low interest rates, a historic tech bull run, and the resulting torrent of fomo has tethered us to our monitors to watch candlestick charts. The financialization of culture has manifested in two primary ways: lottery culture and equity culture.
and…
Social media cultural amplifier
Social media makes income inequality noticeable in a way it never was before. In the 70s, the mega-wealthy stayed to themselves in Greenwich and Monaco. The only way the masses saw wealthy lifestyles was through the Hollywood lens.
Today, social media is a magnifying glass for wealth. Posts of wealth generation abound: from DFV’s reddit posts, to Chamath’s IRR tweets, to Elon’s Dogecoin memes. Social media acts as an emotional coordination layer, increasing the amplitude and frequency of culture. Jealousy, resentment, and fomo are more viral and powerful than ever, particularly when everyone is on their computer all day post-lockdown.
What Instagram did to body image, wallstreetbets and Twitter are doing to bank account image.
John or I have no idea how or when this ends for today’s investors/traders or markets but I am in agreement with him that a finance culture is here to stay.
Speaking of finance as culture, I have two podcasts to share from Patrick O’Shaughnessy. The first is with Marc Andreessen who has brought the business of venture capital (with his firm A16z) into the mainstream as much as anyone and Balaji Srinivasan who worked at A16z and who is a fave voice on many technology topics.
Have a great day.