We have traded the smoke stacks for server farms, and the assembly line for the algorithm. We feed our thoughts into glowing glass rectangles, hoping for a connection, but the only thing we receive is a beautifully engineered echo chamber delivered specifically for us through the magic of that algorithm. The tools have changed, but Read More …
Tag: mark twain
The Money Changers’ New Clothes
Look at the latest financial disclosures. We’re seeing a sitting president’s personal account lighting up the tickers like a Vegas slot machine, more than 40 trades a day. Millions of dollars shuffling between Nvidia, Boeing, and discount stores like Dollar Tree, operating with the speed of an algorithmic hedge fund. All while his son-in-law juggles Read More …
The Digital Sharecrop
They say the soul is free, but in the year of our Lord 2026, the lease on your daily life is due every thirty days. I look out from my window, not at Harlem rooftops, but at the glowing rectangles held in tired hands on the Chicago ‘L’. We are living in a new kind of Read More …
The Gospel According to the Garment District
There is a distinct, suffocating modern aroma that smells remarkably like a blend of freshly minted crypto, expensive cologne, and the distinct, stale scent of a Sunday pew that hasn’t seen an honest tear since the Eisenhower administration. We are currently expected to bow our heads to a rather peculiar trinity: Capitalism, Christianity, and Patriotism. Read More …
The Gospel According to Mar-a-Lago
One must admire the sheer, brassy architectural integrity of the modern conservative movement. It takes a special kind of craftsmanship to build a cathedral out of gold-plated ego and then insist the Carpenter would have picked out the drapes. We find ourselves living in an age where the “Blessed are the meek” crowd has been Read More …
The Ledger vs. The Lectern
https://talkbusiness.net/2025/08/acretrader-acquired-by-proterra-investment-partners/ Now, I’ve often observed that if you want to see a man’s true religion, don’t look at the leather-bound book he thumps on Sundays; look at his ledger on Monday morning. It seems our modern Patriot Leaders have found a way to serve both God and Mammon, though I suspect Mammon is getting the Read More …
The Golden Calf in the Radio Box
I was once told by a man of the cloth, one of the old-fashioned kind who still believed the Red Letters were more than just a stylistic choice by the printer, that the quickest way to lose your soul is to find a way to sell it at a profit. Now, I’ve seen many a Read More …
The New Gospel of the Gilded Calf
It has been remarked by men wiser than myself that the Good Book is like a mirror: if an ass looks in, you can’t expect an apostle to look out. These days, however, it seems a whole congregation of folks have looked into the Gospel and somehow mistaken the Beatitudes for a business prospectus. I Read More …
THE GREAT SILENCE
A DISPATCH FROM THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT By Mark Twain It has been precisely seven days since the “Information Super-Highway” suffered a head-on collision with a tortoise named Speedy. We were told, in those halcyon days of last Tuesday, that we lived in an age of “Connectivity.” It turns out that connectivity is much like Read More …
The Gospel According to the “Great Dealmaker”
It is a curious thing, the way a man can read a book of peace on Sunday and vote for a firestorm on Monday, all while wearing the same Sunday-best suit and a look of profound piety. I have long observed that the more a politician mentions the Almighty, the more likely he is to Read More …