Tears of a Clown: John Doerr and Thomas Tull

Zero Sum Empire

First: sorry for the delay in getting this episode out. Joe was traveling for a wedding and we also decided to switch our release days to Tuesdays. We are back to releasing an episode every two weeks for the foreseeable future. Second: Chad accidentally recorded some of the episode with the internal mic on his computer, so there's a dip in our normally pristine sound quality. We begin the episode with an excursion into the world of immersive POV Youtube lawn mowing subculture. Real sick stuff. In the news this week: For the first time in US History, the wealthiest 400 families paid less in taxes than working class Americans. Ken Fisher of Fisher Investments has a normal one. Ray Dalio’s recipe for success. Wealth-X Billionaire Census empirically proves that rich people like golf. John Doerr: 6/10 points on the David Koch Memorial Asset Liquidation Index Doerr is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who got rich in the early-2000s tech boom. His firm went in big on the 2007-2011 “Cleantech Boom,” lost a ton of money when none of the investments panned out, and then more or less gave up on innovation in renewable and sustainable energy. People talk about him being a genius investor, but he also invested in Segway and Juicero. Doerr gives us an opportunity to talk about the moral deadlock between capitalist ideology and the climate crisis. Thomas Tull: 2/10 points on the David Koch Memorial Asset Liquidation Index Tull started in laundromats and specializes in marginally improving efficiencies in existing businesses. Tull also formerly produced movies with Legendary Entertainment, which was responsible for the Christopher Nolan Batman movies. So, you have Tull to thank, at least in part, for the Joker that made us all so damaged and twisted. Lawn Fetish: https://youtu.be/e72txdwCMCY Regressive Taxation: http://shorturl.at/cBFKM Ken Fisher: http://shorturl.at/csyzT Doerr: http://shorturl.at/dnqvU Venture Capital and Clean Tech: https://energy.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/MITEI-WP-2016-06.pdf Wired article about Green Tech Bust: https://www.wired.com/2012/01/ff_solyndra/ Capitalism to the Rescue: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/magazine/05Green-t.html Tull interview: https://youtu.be/Orp274LdGf0