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Earlier today I re-watched this mini-doc on James J Hill and how he succeeded during the railroad boom despite refusing government subsidies that were plentiful at the time.

He focused on efficient capital allocation and investing in civilization.

Part of his success was derived from how simply he set the goals for his company.

"We must operate:

- the fastest locomotives,

- to pull the longest trains,

- with maximum tonnage,

- over the straightest tracks,

- using the least change in elevation,

- with minimal maintenance costs."

Every capital allocation decision he made focused on achieving these goals.

It's hard not to think about the AI boom and all of the government investment going into the sector these days after watching this. How many opportunists are circling their wagons to feed from the government trough at the moment? How efficiently is that easy money going to be allocated?

Who in AI and the booming energy infrastructure industry budding around it is taking the hard but lucrative path that James J Hill took during the railroad boom?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFB1K1fXxYY

Narwhal Tacos 1mo ago

Appreciate this, but…

Such hero-worship is pre-money-printer.

Nobody has been able to do business like this for generations, except maybe retailers like Sam Walton or Jeff Bezos.

The rules are always the same: if you gain Mastery over crucial, fundamental resources at their point of origin, you gain Power.

Therefore mastery over crucial, fundamental resources at their point of origin CANNOT be allowed by those who’ve gained such Power before you.

Physical resources were the war of our elders. Technology - from Windows OS all the way up to AI - has been the fast-paced War of Empire today.

The point being, when a new frontier of Power is opened, the emerging leaders are dealt with however need be, and the Old Guard who understand the eternal Game - and are funded with eternal Fiat - co-opt them.

Satoshi understood this. No mere business-person does.

And even Satoshi’s Bitcoin is drawing full fire now.

We are still so very much in the early innings - and yet the game is almost over. They Old Guard know the Power of Bitcoin, and they will take it from us and walk amongst us with its possession and Power. Because we will ultimately be just as frail over time as James J Hill, or any of the other forgotten “Barons” of early America.

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