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Plain English with Derek Thompson

How to Invest and Be Happy When It Feels Like the World Is Falling Apart

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News, News Commentary

4.7 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2022

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We’re in a moment in world history where a lot of big global paradigms are dying. For decades, Europe was basically peaceful. That paradigm has gone up in smoke. For decades, the relationship between the U.S. and China was one of mutual dependency and growth. That paradigm, I think, is changing rapidly as the U.S. moves toward a new industrial policy and China shrinks inside a shell of authoritarianism. And for decades, low interest rates shaped the world—the companies that got started, the growth of the internet, and the ability of governments to run massive deficits. And that paradigm is going away. Global markets are a mess right now, and I wanted to bring back one of my favorite writers to talk about it. He is Morgan Housel, a partner at Collaborative Fund and the author of the bestselling book The Psychology of Money. We talk about what happened to the markets in the last 18 months, the legacy of zero-bound interest rates, and inflation—but that’s just maybe the first 10 minutes. The bulk of this episode is about deeper questions: What is investing for? Does making more money really make us happy? And why do so many rich people seem so miserable? If you like this episode, please leave us a rating on Spotify or a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. If you don’t like this episode, tell us why at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Morgan Housel Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

An Instagram post gets an unexpected boost. A TikTok catches in the algorithm.

0:05.0

Sometimes that's all it takes to launch someone into internet fame.

0:09.0

But then what?

0:11.0

This blew up is a new podcast documentary that reveals how social media

0:15.0

start and is made. It's a different kind of fame.

0:18.0

It's not always as glamorous as it looks.

0:20.0

From Spotify and the Ring or Podcast Network, I'm Alyssa Bereznek.

0:24.0

You can listen to this blew up on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:31.0

Today's episode is about money, happiness, and the meaning of life.

0:38.0

Hearing that come at my mouth, I know it sounds a little bit grand deal like when.

0:42.0

But I don't know what to tell you. That's what the episode's about.

0:45.0

So the first title that I gave this show when I was planning it was

0:49.0

how to invest when it feels like the world is falling apart.

0:53.0

And you might be like, well, what do you mean the world is falling apart?

0:56.0

To set the stage briefly, I think we're in a moment in world history

1:00.0

where a lot of big global paradigms are dying.

1:05.0

For decades, it was a point of fact that Europe was basically peaceful.

1:11.0

And that paradigm has gone up and smoked in the last 12 months.

1:15.0

For decades, the relationship between the US and China was one of mutual dependency and growth.

1:20.0

To dramatically oversimplify, we invented a lot of stuff.

1:24.0

China made a lot of stuff, and we bought a lot of stuff that China made.

1:28.0

China got jobs and money, and we got cheap stuff.

...

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