The Content Revolution: Inside the Tech That Changed My Creative Process
A Personal Journey
Welcome to Macro Mashup, the weekly newsletter that distills the content from key voices on macroeconomics, geopolitics, and energy in less than 7 minutes. Thank you for subscribing!
Macro Mashup aims to bring together the greatest minds in Finance and Economics who care deeply about current U.S. and international affairs. We study the latest news and laws that affect our economy, money, and lives, so you don't have to. Tune in to our channels and join our newsletter, podcast, or community to stay informed so you can make smarter decisions to protect your wealth.
Starting The Content Journey
Writing this newsletter for over a year now gives me a great sense of an emerging community of common interest.
Substack is a platform I discovered through people sending me content.
was the first substack newsletter I received. is another.That’s how I became aware of Substack. Then, I joined a writing community and learned to use it.
When you decide to write a newsletter and enter the content creation space, there are a lot of tools to pick up and play with.
You learn about embedding and linking content: images, charts, and other people’s content.
You learn about branding and logos, introductory messaging, paywalls, scheduling, integration with other applications, domains, subdomains, email marketing, and subscriber management.
It can be overwhelming - it still is at times. And all that before you get to write your first words.
The Good Stuff (Curated for You)
Reading content is also overwhelming.
I receive many newsletters written by others that I love to read—so many that I can’t read them all every week.
And I’ve come to accept that no one wants to read everything.
One week’s topics may resonate more with some readers than others. That’s perfectly okay.
Part of what excites me about growing this newsletter is knowing that I reach people with different points of view.
My promise to you in this newsletter is to do my best to find and distill verified, high-quality content from key voices who are legitimate, reputable authorities on macroeconomics, geopolitics, and energy.
My goal is to help you get only value and leave out the fluff. Not an easy feat in the era of information overwhelm and fake news. But that is my commitment to you.
Macromashup 2024 Highlight Reel
2024 was quite the year. In case you missed them, I've put together the top newsletter editions, grouped together by theme.
Energy
Those of you who have followed me for a while know this is one of my key themes.
There is no power without energy power. There is no growth without energy.
This first post takes a look at energy policy in the new administration. Trump campaigned on “drill baby drill,” but there is more to his policy than this,
He has appointed some talented people to drive this initiative forward.
In the next energy post, I will discuss the importance of energy and why we need an “all of the above” approach—fossil and renewable.
I admit this title tested well with headline analyzers - another tool I had to learn.
There is so much more to this than clickbait. Did you know that the headlines for major publications are written by someone different from the person who writes the article?
Different media require different headlines, and the online world allows those headlines to be adjusted as their performance is measured.
While many of Trump’s qualifications did not fit my voting parameters, his approach to energy was much more appealing to me than that of Kamala Harris.
Will he make a miracle? His team is well-equipped to do so. If he does, we will all benefit.
Debt and Macro
One of my obsessions is the level of national debt. It is something that drives everything.
The miracle of compound interest means it will swallow us all if we don’t figure out how to manage it.
How we repay all this debt is a complex question that gets tangled with geopolitics.
It makes the headlines mainly when Congress has a debt ceiling negotiation.
That is a complete distraction because most expenditures—entitlements, defense, and interest—are mandatory and grow regardless of these periodic negotiations.
Investing
This most recent post is a lead-in to the end of the year and, in the wake of a bad Fed meeting, an attempt to capture my view of the future.
The real reason to understand macro, energy and debt is to solve somehow the riddle of investing your wealth.
One emerging and polarizing investment theme (and memes) is Bitcoin.
Is it a scam, or will it profoundly shift the investing axis?
This post emphasizes the importance of staying out of the confusing flow of daily information.
Stick to your investment guidelines and evaluate incoming information accordingly.
Don’t trade on emotion.
Life Advice
This is my favorite post of the year, scoring second in impressions.
It answers the question, “Why am I doing this?”
It contains answers I may not have known before I started writing…funny how that works!
We Want Your Feedback
This newsletter only exists as long as it serves its' readership and that means you.
Please take 2 minutes to tell me what you most want out of Macromashup. It would mean the world to me. I personally read every submission. And we do reward feedback.
I'll be giving away a digital copy of my upcoming book to one of you as a 'thank you'.
Big Plans in 2025
As we conclude 2024, I want to share my gratitude for your readership.
When I launched this newsletter, it was more of an experiment and I am overwhelmed and deeply touched by all the support that Macromashup have recieved.
Thank you for being a subscriber and I wish you a wonderful holiday season. See you in 2025!
This will arrive in the New Year. I’m collecting some cover notes and putting the finishing touches.
It was written about 10 years ago when my sons were in high school.
And then there’s a podcast:
Working on music. You are going to love the guests…and the subject matter!
Happy Holidays!