The Wake-Up Call: Why the Pandemic Has Exposed the Weakness of the West, and How to Fix It

The Wake-Up Call: Why the Pandemic Has Exposed the Weakness of the West, and How to Fix It by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge

It feels like the authors of The Wake Up Call already had their solutions in mind before they started writing. They saw the pandemic and thought this would be the perfect event to help get their ideas propagated. The west (and especially the US) was making a mess of the Covid-19 pandemic. The east seemed to be doing a much better job. China's authoritarianism caused then to silence the initial outbreak, but then they learned and did strict lockdowns. That was all for the best, right? Well, it sure seemed like that back then. However, in retrospect, it now seems that the severe response to Covid-19 was out of place. The lockdowns were inconsistent and did little to stop the spread, while the society is still suffering from the negative impacts. Even China eventually adopted a "let it rip" strategy. There were many mistakes made all around. We are still trying to find out which had the most impact. But, we did learn that humans are just not good at stopping the spread of a slow-to-incubate virus with limited mortality.

What policies should the west implement to improve things? The authors' propose a group of mostly left-leaning policies. The mention that the wealthy would not miss the small amount of social security and propose means testing. Would this even save anything? The means testing could cost as much as the saving and potentially have people fall through the cracks. Why not pay a bit more to give it to everyone as a base level and not worry about bureaucracy?  If a wealthy person doesn't want it, they can just not claim it.

The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea

The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge

The limited liability company has been one of the most important innovations of recent history. It has been around for a few centuries in some form, but has only really started to become prominent in the last two centuries. Limited liability is a key difference. Previously, individual business owners were personally liable for company debts. Partners shared the responsibility. With the company, stock-holders liability was restricted to the money they invested. This enabled greater investment from people of different income levels. It also lead to some initial bubbles (such as the south sea bubble) that lead to a pause in company formation.

Initially companies could only be formed by getting a specific charter from the government. Some of these companies were great exploration operations, complete with administration and enforcement arms. Later anybody could choose to set up a company as they desired. Companies proliferated. They were able to take on rights of humans. However, they could also outlive humans.

Everything has not been smooth sailing. There have been periods of excess with companies. This usually involves people extracting value from companies at the expense of others. This will often lead to periods of regulation. The company structure and its relationship to society to continues to evolve. This book provides a short overview of companies and their importance in our society.