Hijos Del Sol
w.280 | BLS Data, Expensive equities, AI is Polytheistic, & Inflation
Dear Friends,
Welcome to August. We have sun and days of 95/75 as far as the eye can see down here in Central Texas.
At least a few of you will notice the late time stamp on my delivery this weekend. You’ve caught me. What happened? I got waylaid wading through the 1,336-page proposed 2025-26 Budget for the City of Austin, prompted by a proposal from the Mayor to raise property taxes by ~17% to fund a $6.3B annual budget (up 5% from last year).
Statistics are curious, especially when it is hard to know how to judge underlying data. Suffice to say, it is an interesting time to read this type of proposal while also being told that inflation is less than 3%.
Today's Contents:
Sensible Investing: Trends
Song of the Week: Hijos Del Sol
Sensible Investing: Trends
America’s Economic Data Disaster Is Worse Than We Thought - Bloomberg. U.S. jobs data was revised down, and the head of the BLS was fired. BLS revised the non-farm payrolls from the previous two months down by 258K, marking the largest downward revision since 2020.
Here it is monthly.
It’s important to note that the quality of BLS data is declining, as noted by Tracy Alloway (Bloomberg), due to decreased response rates on surveys and budget cuts from DOGE, which have led to scaled-back data collection. Below shows the reduction of the actual price data decline in the metrics.
The trend is a move toward a more privatized delivery of public goods, including economic indicators. Private sector organizations have been hiring economists and making their data available, which may lead to more accurate and real-time insights. Here are the data sets from Ramp, and here is the Anthropic’s economic index.
AI is Polytheistic, Not Monotheistic. And ten more thoughts on AI by Balaji. I liked this summary a lot; he shares a more nuanced positioning of an AI-driven future.
This is the 3rd Priciest Stock Market in Over 150 Years, according to Motley Fool. This time might be different. Or not.
Song of the Week: Hijos Del Sol (Children of the Sun)
Here on YouTube.
I’ve been enjoying Hermanos Gutiérrez for months. This is a band of two Ecuadorian-Swiss brothers. Alejandro plays electric guitar and lap steel guitar, while Estevan plays electric guitar and percussion.
The brothers have described having a musical chemistry such that they can compose together without needing to talk. A few reviewers:
"They weave intricate guitar lines over each other that intertwine to the point that if you close your eyes, you can't tell where one begins and the other ends"
“Minimal approach to their instrumental guitar music ... It's music that sings without needing a singer, that's lyrical without needing words"
"Alternate between shuffling and brooding, spooky and solitary"
There were many great songs to choose from, and I recommend going to Spotify and just hit “play" on their song list. Hijos Del Sol came with a great video, though.
Hijos Del Sol seeks to demystify the fatality of death. “We are all children of the sun, as the sunlight is at the very core of the matter of life. There is a deep spiritual thought behind it, and an existential question, as to what we’re connected in life”, explains Alejandro.
The new album is accompanied by an eight-minute short film directed by filmmaker Fernando Guisa (linked above). The black and white video has been nominated twice for the Best Music Video Award 2020, both at the New York International Film Awards (NYIFA) and at the Barcelona Indie Filmmakers Fest (BARCIFF).
“Hijos Del Sol” by Hermanos Gutiérrez
InstrumentalSelfie of the Week
Travel pictures are more fun and easier to post, but they often create the misconception of how one’s time is actually spent. Welcome to my office.
Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.
As always,
Katelyn