E59: Twitter's content warning algo, equity audits, politicians trading stocks, Fed's next move

Opaque content moderation labels erode trust and need transparent explanations.

Twitter’s ‘this conversation can get heavy’ labels on benign tweets prompted the hosts to argue that platforms should disclose whether flags are algorithmic or human, and clearly explain why any warning appears to avoid subtle reputational smears.

Racial equity audits risk becoming political commissars inside tech firms.

The proposed mandatory ‘racial equity audits’ are framed as neutral oversight, but the hosts see them as partisan activists with de facto veto power over products, with no clear, objective standards—akin to a CCP- or Stasi-style internal watchdog structure.

Distinguish equality of opportunity from equality of outcome in policy design.

They argue many contemporary ‘equity’ initiatives chase equal outcomes instead of fair access, undermining merit-based rewards and market competition, and often turn into rent-seeking grifts (e. ...

Ban or heavily restrict stock trading by elected officials and top regulators.

With bipartisan examples of late disclosures and clear conflicts, the hosts call it absurd that Congress, judges, and Fed officials can trade directly in companies affected by their decisions and see this as a ripe, popular reform issue for outsider candidates.

Macro uncertainty from DC is crowding out real investing and business focus.

Investors across asset classes are fixated on guessing Fed moves, inflation, and fiscal policy instead of fundamentals; the hosts welcome the Fed’s more hawkish clarity (tapering QE and multiple 2022 rate hikes) as a necessary correction to money-printing excesses.

mRNA is a general-purpose platform that could transform medicine beyond COVID.

Friedberg explains how mRNA lets us program cells to make therapeutic proteins or block harmful ones, opening the door to targeted cancer therapies and treatments for genetic disease—an area accelerated, not stunted, by the COVID vaccine breakthrough.

Public tolerance for strict COVID controls is collapsing, even in blue areas.

With Omicron highly contagious but seemingly less severe, they predict that even blue states will face political backlash against perpetual mandates and potential school closures, pushing the country toward living with endemic COVID rather than trying to stop spread.

Progressive ‘luxury beliefs’ on crime and policing are meeting hard reality.

The San Francisco crime surge and Mayor London Breed’s pivot to ‘more aggressive’ policing are framed as an inevitable backlash against decarceration/defund experiments championed by affluent progressives who don’t directly bear the costs of disorder.