Six-Chart Sunday – Derek Thompson is Awesome
6 Infographics + 1 Video (Dan Wang on China’s Quest to Engineer the Future)
What a brutal week. A horrific assassination. News of potential stagflation. For perspective on the former, I highly recommend Peggy Noonan’s WSJ piece. And I’ll discuss the latter with market expert / author Barry Ritholtz this Thursday (9/18 at 4pm ET). Join us.
But I needed a break from the brutal. Maybe you do too? Derek Thompson is one of my favorite writers: crazy smart, creative & eloquent, an incredibly nice & thoughtful guy. He joined me earlier this year to discuss his still bestselling book “Abundance,” and made the jump to Substack this summer. You should subscribe! Here are six of my favorite pieces he’s recently written.
How Pickleball Explains American Culture. “In 2019, pickleball was half as popular as badminton. Last year, it was more popular than baseball. What does its rise tell us about fads, fitness, and culture?” (8/18/25)
The Death of Partying in the U.S.A.—and Why It Matters. “Young Americans today spend 70 percent less time attending or hosting parties than they did at the beginning of the 21st century. Why?” (7/9/25)
The U.S. Population Could Shrink in 2025, For the First Time Ever. “It's a story with massive economic and political significance. But it's receiving strangely little attention.” (9/2/25)
The Great American Fitness Boom. “Pilates is surging. Gyms are packed. Americans are working out more than ever. A graph-by-graph guide to the fitness revolution sweeping the country.” (8/14/25)
The Anti-Social Century. “Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.” (1/8/25)
Something Alarming Is Happening to the Job Market. “A new sign that AI is competing with college grads.” (4/30/2025)
Last Word: If you only read people with whom you agree you’re doing it wrong. We all need a balanced media diet, with people who make us think.
Upcoming live event 9/18 at 4pm: Barry Ritholtz, “How NOT to Invest”, register here
VIDEO
China is run by engineers, America by lawyers. Dan Wang’s provocative new bestseller “Breakneck” explains how we got here and what this difference means for the future. We discussed his great book this week:
Derek Thompson is awesome, cover image:
I read Peggy Noonan's opinion piece.
She, as expected, is whitewashing what Charlie Kirk was when she wrote this baised missive…
“Kirk was a presence in the life of a whole generation of young conservatives, and he set a kind of template for how to discuss politics—with good cheer and confidence, with sincerity and a marshaling of facts.”
NO, Ms. Noonan. Kirk did NOT discuss politics with “…good cheer and confidence, with sincerity and a marshaling of facts.”
He discussed politics like most of today’s vicious right wing MAGA culture war enthusiasts who peddle hate and divisiveness. Demonization and vindictive hatred.
Charlie Kirk was a hate filled racist, sexist, homophobe, transphobe, bigoted demagogue that makes his proclamation of being a “Christian” a LIE.
His murder was an atrocity.
The MAGA attempt to deify him into some benign “sincere” truth teller is also an atrocity that is an insult to everyone that is not in his narrow minded, hate filled, anti-American-value tribe.
We are becoming a less social society . Interacting with electronic devices seems to be a be driver of this.