Happy 80th birthday to my friend George W. Bush!
Your friendship—and that of your father and your entire family—has been one of the great gifts of my life. It has always reminded me that long before we’re politicians, we’re fellow Americans and, above all, human beings.
And for the next month, I’m especially grateful to finally have someone older than me! Wishing you many more years of good health, happiness, and friendship.
Our country is stronger when we remember that what unites us is greater than what divides us.
Iowa public schools were once our state’s crown jewel — so much so that we proudly stamped “Foundation in Education” on our state’s quarter. But a decade of one-party rule has left our students, teachers, and schools behind. It's time we get back to our proud tradition of supporting education in Iowa.
@JezCorden Four Nintendo games is $360. A year of Game Pass Ultimate is $360. I play more than four games a year. That's how I thought about it initially. Now I'm thinking maybe this hobby doesn't make sense anymore.
@zacbowden I wish they would bring it back with Qualcomm as a vehicle to sell Xbox, Copilot, and Microsoft365. We need another option besides Google Android and iOS. They could do something like the ROG Ally collab with the Asus ROG Phone 9.
@zacbowden This should be an article. Microsoft's epic design ambitious never fully materializing, and what the possible causes are. It's not just the hardware but the software too. reality never looks as slick as those beautiful teaser videos.
From an entrepreneur
“30M in EBITDA wiped out for us in 2 months, a company I spent a decade building decimated in a matter of months. Unbelievable people still don’t even have a basic understanding of tariffs at this point, and the head in the sand approach to what this is going to do to our economy is frightening. We are in cash preservation mode and have paused all shipments from China at this point.”
America's Biggest Mistake?
A portion of every American's paycheck is deposited into the Social Security trust fund (OASI), which is then invested to create returns that aim to support long-term retirement payments.
Since 1941, OASI has ONLY invested in US treasuries, averaging an annual return of just 4.8%. Meanwhile the S&P500 has been compounding returns at 10.5% per year.
If instead of buying treasuries, OASI bought the S&P500 index starting in 1971 (the year the US went off the gold standard), it would have a $15.1T balance today and Americans would all share ownership of ~1/3 of America's best companies, likely supporting increased retirement benefits, lowering taxes, and reducing Federal debt levels while being the world's largest sovereign wealth fund.
Instead, OASI has a $2.7T balance today and is projected to go bankrupt in 2032, as retirement benefits swell while annual returns on US treasuries held by OASI have shrunk to <3% per year recently.
Many economic inequities in America can be traced back to this structural mistake. By not investing OASI in equities, only privileged Americans with private pensions, 401(k)s, IRAs, and other investment retirement accounts have benefited from the marvel of American capitalism, leaving behind the tens of millions of Americans who had no choice but to rely on Social Security and were left reliant on low-yielding US treasuries.
It is not too late to change. Social Security can still pivot to an equity-driven investment model, driving future balance sheet growth, providing investment capital to American businesses, reducing the dependence on Federal taxes and money-printing, and giving all Americans ownership in America's best businesses.
Rather than create a new sovereign wealth fund, while ignoring the imminent failure of Social Security, legislators can restructure Social Security. By adding ~$500B directly to OASI, investing the entire balance in the S&P 500, and assuming future annual returns of ~10.5%, OASI will grow while also meeting all future retirement obligations, rather than shrink away into insolvency.
The longer we wait to fix Social Security, the more expensive it will become... shifting to an equity-driven investment model now could ensure its long-term viability, address economic inequities across the US, create the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, and give every American ownership and participation in the rewards of American capitalism.