Kyle Paoletta - American Oasis

A Book with Legs

Smead Capital Management

Investing, Business, Management

4.2 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2025

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Cole and Bill Smead speak with journalist and author Kyle Paoletta about his book, “American Oasis: Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest.” Their conversation explores the unique history of the American Southwest and its most iconic cities. The discussion spans from Spanish colonialism to the impact of railroads and suburbanization. They also examine the region’s key drivers of economic growth today, including innovative water conservation solutions being used to support growing populations.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to A Book with Legs, a podcast presented by Smead Capital Management.
0:07.9	At Smead Capital Management, we advise investors that play the long game.
0:12.3	You can learn more at Smeadcap.com or by calling your financial advisor.
0:40.0	Welcome to a book with legs podcast. I'm Cole Smead, CEO and portfolio manager here at Smead Capital Management. At our firm, we are readers, and we believe in the power of books to help shape informed investors. In this podcast, we speak to great authors about their writings. The late great Charlie Munger prescribed using multiple mental models and analysis.
0:44.4	We analyze their work through the lens of business, markets, and people.
0:50.4	Hosting this episode with me is our founder, chairman, and chief investment officer, my dad, Bill Smead.
0:51.5	Thanks for joining me.
0:52.3	Great to be here.
0:53.1	Great book.
0:56.0	We're going to have a lot of fun. In this episode, we're going to talk about the Southwest, its origins, the recent past,
1:01.1	and really in many respects its future.
1:03.5	The geographic area hasn't followed a uniform pattern to say the least.
1:07.6	We will discuss the why with Kyle Paoletta through his recently published book,
1:12.6	American Oasis, Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest. A little background on
1:18.1	Kyle for our audience. He has worked at GQ, Harper's Magazine, New York Magazine. He has also written
1:23.7	for numerous other national publications and newspapers. Mr. Paletta earned a master's of
1:28.3	fine arts and fiction from Columbia University in New York. Most importantly, to the work we will
1:32.7	discuss today, he grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Kyle, thanks for joining Bill and I. Yeah,
1:39.0	thanks so much for having me. So, you know, we assume this has been something that's always been on
1:43.9	your mind. You were kind of talking, you know, before we started on been something that's always been on your mind. You were
1:44.5	kind of talking, you know, before we started on some of your thoughts. We'd love to learn why this was,
1:49.7	I mean, this is your first published book. Why this story? Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty personal
	...

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