Placing the accents correctly

Being in the markets, being in the US media market, it's been hard not to have been drawn into the silliness around Gamestop and other options trading/short squeeze stories in recent days. So I was happy to be diverted with more important stories reading the paper today, including the one about AstraZeneca's virus production issues and another about large numbers of volunteers being needed to staff vaccine sites in the USA. A couple of points here.

1. In the AstraZeneca story, UK PM Boris Jackass Johnson is quoted as saying the he's happy the UK has its doses and Europe can sort out it's own issues. Way to lead, buddy.
2. On the other hand, to be successful going forward economically, Europe is going to have to loosen up its own model of seeking collective good and allow a little more creative destruction. Europe has protected "jobs" by not having firms lay people off and having governments support payrolls. This kind of thing, combined with poor legal and general cultures around bankruptcy (deep stigma) combine to stop cycles of creative destruction in Europe. Companies don't go under, they just limp by. Old models are not superceded by new ones. People don't learn to think creatively and start new businesses, which is why few new things come out of Europe. There are definitely pluses to how they live, but they're gonna need to loosen up a little or they really will be owned by money fleeing China, etc.
3. It would be great if, instead of energetically writing Executive Orders to try to overturn everything Trump did (though I understand the instinct), Biden could address the nation and ask people to volunteer where needed. He needs to leverage rather than squander his call for unity. By doing the right things, he could literally bring people together

On a side note re Gamestop, yesterday Graham and I were discussing a friend of his who had bought options and made a 700% return. Graham had encouraged him to sell, but he wasn't ready to let go. I told Graham that he was right on and that first and foremost, his friend was squandering his attention on the wrong thing, and said that instead of trying to make a quick buck, it was much more important to try to improve consistently and sleep well. I think I like that formulation. Upon reflection I would add "maintain enthusiasm."