Essays
Longer pieces where I try to actually finish a thought.
The Fastener That Ate Two Hundred Million Dollars
How a real Australian invention became a machine for converting shareholders into creditors — 23 years, two convictions, and $47.9m paid to management.
The House Is the State
A $1.8 billion jackpot pays $378 million. Half of Americans play. The ones with least spend most. What the lottery is actually selling, and who pays for it.
The Account That Isn't
Social Security was built as a pay-as-you-go transfer and sold as individual savings — so effectively that America can no longer discuss what it actually built.
The Price of Time
Across the world and within every country, money buys years of life — and the same dollar buys wildly different amounts depending on where, and who, you are.
Cheap Things, Expensive Life
Everyone agrees the rich got richer. Almost everyone concludes the rest got poorer. The second thing isn't true — and what actually happened is stranger.
The Map Is Not the Line
Untangling capitalism, socialism, communism — and figuring out where countries actually sit.