“There are parts of the business and finance world that are invested in making these things seem intimidating and scary. We really enjoy making things more approachable.” — Alex Mayyasi

What’s the last taboo? The thing that we are totally embarrassed to discuss? No, not sex. It’s money. At least according to Alex Mayyasi — frequent contributor to NPR’s Planet Money — who has just published Planet Money: How to Live Richer, Spend Smarter, and Afford the Life You Want, a field guide to the big economic forces that shape our working, saving, loving and leisure lives.
Mayyasi argues that money is the last taboo. We talk openly (perhaps too openly) about our sex lives now. But we still don’t talk about our money lives — not with spouses, not with parents, not with our children. Companies that have tried full salary transparency report uncomfortable conversations about race and gender. Thus the need for Mayyasi’s new book. It’s not exactly porn, but Planet Money is designed to liberate us from our last taboo.

Five Takeaways
• The Economy Was Invented During the Depression. The concept didn’t exist a hundred years ago. Roosevelt’s advisers had no way to know if the New Deal was working. An economist counted every transaction. GDP was born.
• Money Is More Embarrassing Than Sex. We talk about one freely. We can’t talk about the other. Salary transparency leads to uncomfortable conversations about race and gender. The discomfort is the point.
• Financial Time Travel. Markets let us move money through time. Student loans are young people pulling their future income backwards. Consumption smoothing is valid — if the future actually pans out.
• Productive Risk Versus Nihilistic Gambling. GameStop looks quaint next to State of the Union parlay bets. Higher risk, higher reward is a continuum. The flip of a coin is something else.
• Bobby Bonilla and Compound Interest. The notorious Mets contract still pays him a million a year. It looks bone-headed. It’s the model for every successful retirement plan.

About the Guest
Alex Mayyasi is a writer and frequent contributor to NPR’s Planet Money. His new book is out now.
References
Planet Money by Alex Mayyasi

About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.
Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Chapters:
00:00:31 Introduction: things aren’t quite right on Planet Money
00:03:18 The Great Moderation: a fantastic run that we forgot to celebrate
00:05:49 The economy was invented during the Great Depression
00:07:52 Aristotle’s oikonomia: economics has always been personal
00:09:20 The Planet Money DNA: storytelling and the bank teller who met the ATM
00:13:23 Why money makes everybody nervous
00:16:02 Crypto out, AI in: the great pivot of the writing process
00:17:49 Economists and AI: the longer perspective
00:20:03 Financial time travel: student loans as moving income through time
00:22:40 Productive risk versus nihilistic gambling
00:24:41 Does money make you happy? Beyond the $60,000 plateau
00:27:25 GDP versus the planet: externalities and corporate DNA
00:30:15 More embarrassing than sex: why we can’t talk about money
00:33:19 Salary transparency: the case of Sweden
00:41:47 Bobby Bonilla, the Mets, and the magic of compound interest
00:45:48 Insurance as peace of mind