“Economists prefer to be precisely wrong than approximately right.” – Lord Robert Skidelsky, Economic Historian

Good afternoon,   Last week, Nobel prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Medicine, and Peace were awarded, recognizing major achievements in those categories. This past Monday a "faux" Nobel award was doled out among three economists who contributed to the field of economics.   Two years ago I wrote of How Sweden’s Central Bank uses Alfred Nobel’s name to spread economic inequality. Last year I wrote of how the 2020 prize winners helped Big Tech to develop "parasitic technology that preys upon youthful insecurity" which the Wall Street Journal's Facebook Files coverage has recently brought to wide public attention.   As we take stock of Big Tech and evaluate what we want our future to look like, we must hold accountable the economic field that currently dictates how our biggest technology companies make decisions.

Foresight Friday   Forward looking and reflective thoughts I’ve stumbled on, found interesting, or just generally think are worth taking a look at.

Listen: The Facebook Files Wall Street Journal Podcast Playlist on Spotify The Facebook Files refers to a document leak by Frances Haugen from the social media platform Facebook which was the subject of reporting by the Wall Street Journal. The leaked information outlined the company's internal knowledge of ways in which its platform creates societal harm. Read: Wall Street Journal | Watch: 60 Minutes

Read: Nobel’s Social ‘Justice’ Dilemma The 2020 Faux-Nobel in Economics Lies at the Hearth of Facebook's problems. Last year's economic prize was awarded for advancing auction technology that helps Silicon Valley giants to colonize human attention. This is the very technology that drives Facebook to serve increasingly extreme and damaging content.   Act: End the Influence of the #FauxNobel in Economics Sign the petition at Change.org to end the Faux Nobel “The Economics Prize has nestled itself in and is awarded as if it were a Nobel Prize. But it’s a PR coup by economists to improve their reputation,” bristles Peter Nobel, great great nephew of Alfred Nobel. “There is nothing to indicate that he would have wanted such a prize.”

Sign the Petition

Local: The Minimum Wage and Florida's Businesses Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions (ISPS): Economic Series Next week, Pinellas County small business leaders will discuss the minimum wage and how recruiting and retaining the workforce has changed in 2021. In a twist of irony, this year's faux Nobel winners studied the impacts of minimum wage. Panelists will include Dan Jenkins, proprietor of the Tarpon Tavern and The Bistro and business advisor Todd Unbehagen. The discussion will be moderated by myself and ISPS executive director, Kimberly Jackson. The event will be broadcast LIVE.

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This event is free and open to the public.

Please take some time to dig into this one. The Facebook files shed a real light on how a Faux-Nobel prize wining economic idea plays out on our children's psychological well being among other impacts on our social fabric.

Gratefully,   Vinny Tafuro   Visionary. Economist. Hacker. "I see distant horizons clearly and work meticulously towards them." Institute for Economic Evolution, Founder 813.240.0739