Money talks
“I think if I wasn’t queer, I’d probably be working at….
Ernst & Young. Doing some sort of mid- to top-tier accountant role… Subconsciously, very early on, I knew
I was not going to thrive in a corporate environment.The way I speak, let alone dress, was not encouraged.” Comedian Joe Lycett (pictured), quoted in The Guardian
“You shouldn’t be loyal to your bank.They don’t deserve it; it’s your money.Your job should be to pay as little to your bank as you possibly can and earn as much from your bank as you possibly can. It doesn’t pay to be loyal.”
Mark Mullen, boss of online lender Atom, quoted in The Times
“If you care about the reality of doing good and not the perception of doing good, then it is very hard to give away money effectively.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk, quoted on Business Insider
“I had a dream when I was a kid that one day I’d go back to my school in a sports car and talk to the kids about ambitions and goals and how anyone can achieve anything they want if they work hard and stay focused.Years later, when I could afford it, I bought that dream car, an Audi TT, for cash, and I did indeed return to my old school to give a talk. I remember pulling into the car park and thinking: ‘Oh my God, I’ve made it!’” Journalist and television presenter Steph McGovern, quoted in The Telegraph
“I think what I’m really proud of is that I’ve always managed to be my own person, I’ve always made my own money, I’ve always taken care of myself. And my kids came out great.” Actor Jane Seymour, quoted in The Guardian
bloomberg.com/opinion “Doomscrolling” refers to people’s tendency to run through their social-media feeds ceaselessly to learn the latest about the pandemic or the war, says Tyler Cowen. This “never-ending stream of information shapes our perception of time” and makes it seem like the bad things have been going on for longer than they have. This matters.
A few generations ago, people would have heard that there was a big battle going on over a place called Dien Bien Phu, and would learn about what happened on the nightly news or in the morning newspaper. These days, every moral outrage is taken in as it happens, giving rise to an increasing sense of urgency that something desperate must be done to stop it. This is dangerous because it makes it harder for leaders to pursue strategies of patience and for us to understand what’s really going on. Russia’s military prospects have been underrated, for example, as it has failed to achieve its objectives. Yet Hitler took five weeks to conquer Poland and that is usually regarded as a military success. “We are not at peace with our grasp on time” – and this is becoming a major problem.