Silent your cell phone. You are also welcome to follow us on social media. But today we are here to talk about economics so dont recount on a finicky guys a lecture. I will leave you in the capable hands of our guest author, mr. Bhu srinivasan. In his new book americana he takes us to a 400 euros journey to American History of capitalism highlighting some of our industries most important inventions. From the arrival of the mayflower to the inner workings of the mafia to the early days of silicon valley, he presents an exhilarating and eyeopening perspective of an American History of capitalism that im sure hes very excited to share with you all today. Mr. Srinivasan is an accomplished media entrepreneur, digital media, pop culture, technology, publishing and financial content. He arrived in the u. S. With his family at the age of eight, and as a child has lived in the south, the rust belt, Southern California and the pacific northwest. His book is available for sale in the bookstore and he will be up here afterwards for a book signing. So please help me welcome mr. Srinivasan, everyone. [applause] thanks everyone for having me, this is only my second ever book event. So i am very glad you guys took a big chance on coming out and hopefully based on how this goes i get to do other events, or never again. Hope you guys are a good audience. So as rachel had pointed out, i came to this country at the age of eight. My mother was come had a phd in physics and she had gotten the role at Roswell Park Memorial Institute which is a Cancer Institute in buffalo, new york. Actually got a postdoctoral position their age is going to make a sum of 14,000 which meant in india that were going to be very, very rich when we arrived in america. And after mother had done six months in america, having left us in india, she came back and got as for windows eight i was enough to live with my aunt once i arrived in america not too far from your itunes going richmond, virginia, for a few months and then to buffalo, new york, then on to california, the northwest ear my own journey in america in many ways mirrored that of the american journey. And i didnt quite understand how much it mirrored it until i was fortunate to take a freshman history class richard y, the story of university of washington. It was now at stanford, and in this class the final essay was to even connect your families history into the american narrative. Since ive taken a class mcmxcv and ive been here for a total of ten years, 11 years of 8495 i didnt quite have a device to which i could weave a narrative because we had such a short amount of time here. A major event in American History, couldnt connector families history to that side asking what can we do to allow me to fully express myself in context of American History and we had stumbled upon a device of economic themes. The rust belt in buffalo, new york, my families westward migration, my mother ended up with a position, and biotech startup in seattle. Seattle its up with booming with technology from microsoft at the time was a very large company, still a step in at that time was a very scorching growth rate. We were connecting all that over an 11 year timeframe into this essay, and it gave me a a perspective on American History that i didnt have before. I got this directly from a very notable historian and it didnt serve me well. Going forward, however, the gold rush of the internet was this usually a learning thing in seattle and San Francisco at the time, and ive been lucky enough to put his weight in this goldrush at least as an early employee at a a couple of countries and then as a founder of a startup in news aggravation pixel it colored my perspective to be the next big things are, transform society very rapidly. To a hammer everything looks like an effort to meet these economic questions have always driven me to assemble everything i know about American History and put into this framework. So about ten ten years after ti started thinking about every biography i would read, every history i would read, would somewhat evade these economic questions which are so central to the American Experience and, in fact, if you think about mexican immigrants come to this country many of them undocumented and undocumented immigrant is leaving the privileges and Citizen Rights in mexico to come to this country to live a stateless noncitizen. So why would someone come to live here as a stateless noncitizen . Thats not a vote for american democracy. So what is that motivation . You can look at it and say it might be the lower of some form of american capitalism even underclass, these dividends. Some of the war or perspective that they might have some access to prosperity and prosperity is a relative thing that somebody might have come so we might think a a new change of clothe, fresh tshirt and being able to buy whatever close you want is prosperity. Others might think access to a condition or a new television is prosperity. Someone else might be denied, the ability to buy car which is a big luxury item in the entire third world as it was in india at the time and still is for hundreds of millions of people. All those things represent prosperity, and i still believe the ease with which you can access this prosperity is the primary a lower for millions and millions of immigrants that have come here. So tracing back from that i wanted to look at it the prosperity was a motivation for my own family ever of immigrants a khmer, you know, indeed i can make that case, how did, how far did i go back . The irish, italians sort it was the, lithuanians, germans. Then i tried to trace back all the way back to the mayflower. The mayflower gave rise to a question that to some degree really struck me. I wondered how was it in 1620 that religious savages separatd afford a giant ship . How would they be able to afford if ill get a 100 people in Central America look want to come to this country chartered at 737, you would think how could that possibly happen . Thats a strange set of circumstances. So then you start weaving and ask questions have made far was finance and you start going through a great primary document William Bradford a plymouth plantation, and in it much of it documents the financing of the mayflower, how they sold shares to a group called the merchant adventurers. Have pilgrims had chairs. I was a sevenyear term. How do or provisions with the pilgrims would spend four days of the collective venture, two days on, two days for themselves, one day for god and how those terms changes six days for the collective venture and one day for god and how that was a Sticking Point when they were about to embark on this voyage. You start look at economic motivations threat and you start questioning how the financing happen, what happened at the end of the transaction. It took 25 years for the transaction to unwind itself. And from there started assembling a series of next big things. When did steal still have a veg impact on society . What happened with oil . What happened with automobiles . With food, with the meatpackers in chicago . And all these disparate events and biographies and trends, i started putting into a mosaic and ultimately came together what i thought 400 jews of american capitalism, you can set using the backdrop of next big things where you can have Something Like the internet browser, leading ultimately to the smartphone. You wouldnt have a smart phone if people were an internet browser because that was a big thing that assault, that the smartphone allow you to Access Internet browser. Internet browser created great demand for the computer because even in the 80s, pcs are not in the majority of households really took off for the internet. The next big things compound and thats the connective tissue that i try to identify in this book, and many times these connective tissues are not separate threads altogether but they are deeply interwoven with politics. I just wanted to have a couple of examples today of deeper threads were several next big things are so connected we might not nesser think of them as connected. What is the goldrush. The goldrush starts with, to some degree still happening but at the tail end of the mexicanamerican war, 1848 when the final days of mexico owning the Territory Days before its official surrender, someone finds, discovers in a sawmill worker in a river in california discovers that there are gold flakes on the ground. This is a serendipitous discovery. It doesnt take great skill or altered culture to feingold but they did. Its the great lucky find at the tail end, at the end of manifest destiny with a u. S. Comes in possession of california almost at the exact time almost as it is providential, it finds gold. Almost instantaneously the californians, the rush happens and then the californians want, theyre clamoring for statehood. Because california is in possession of vast wealth, it accelerates the process. By 1850 the californians want to present themselves to become the 31st state of the union. At this time there are 15 slave states and 15 free states, and its the one marker of legislative balance that the southerners are still able to hold onto because in terms of representatives, the free states ambassador representatives in the house, but in the senate they have 30. So to introduce the 31st state would change that balance and change that equation very dramatically. So you have the compromise of 1850 which is triggered by california wanting admission and one of that is the fugitive slave act. That sets off the idb in the fugitive slave act is that it has to enforce constitutional provision that if a slave ventures into a state in the north, that they can summon local magistrates in the north to return that slight back to the south. Thats something that Harriet Beecher stowe finds so odious, she start writing Uncle Toms Cabin and uncle captures a lot of sentiments able to use fictional story to humanize the slave experience. And throughout 1850s that starts to become a major dividing point, and you start seeing after the dred scott decision you see slight prices actually went up. So there was quite a bubble in slight prices were at auction to have what they would call a prime field hand, so we would pay, in the twins, strong, has no history of running away, the seller representation you need to make if a slave had ever run away, and so you see the average price of slaves throughout, 700, 800 on the whole, all 4 million slaves. 3 billion to 4 billion for all of the slaves in america, 4 million or so. And so to some degree in my book i note this is an irrational valuation because there was a lot of credit, you could use collateral, borrow twothirds of the value. Much of the sentiment was based on a valuation of slaves that was decoupled from the price of cotton, which many historians, walter johnson, spin backward, they go into. So connected the goldrush with slave and some of the sentiments that precipitated this overconfidence on the part of the south triggering a humanizing novel from Harriet Beecher stowe. Those are the types of connections i try to weave weag throughout the book works not just a celebration of capitalism or great biographies, but synthesizes the Democratic Forces that clashed with markets many times throughout American History. And so that you will find later as on as well as a strong theme as rightsofway and Jennings Bryant candidacy in 1896, and its against the backdrop again of business interest in this country being very protariff pic at the the time did have income tax and because you do have income tax the federal government was financed by either that tariff or liquor and tobacco taxes, both fermented and distilled spirits. So because of that reliant on the tariff, business interests often had to print in the federal government when they could protect industries, and when they protected industries you would institute, introduce a tariff. The higher the tariff the more money the federal government is able to collect. The same kind industry in the United States that would fight overseas competitors to take market share in america is protected. One of the men that gave voice, this was Andrew Carnegie in his autobiography talks about how the steel tariffs were instrumental for developing Steel Industry in the United States. So until the income tax was made constitutional by the 16th amendment, you had this reliant on tariffs were businesses often times, even if the federal government didnt quite needed, were very protariff. And once income tax became instituted thats when you could both have prohibition because a federal criminal was no longer relied upon income taxes, or relied upon taxes from alcohol, both distilled and fermented spirits, and it wasnt relied on the tariff as well. You start seeing these connection and thats how the story came together throughout. The next big thing from that point starts tracing to the automobiles, goes to sobriety, to roads in our roads gave way to fast food and theres lots of examples obviously and biographies, but the main theme of the story is how democracy clashes with the interests of markets and how american capitalism is this synthesis of social, cultural, economic and Democratic Forces. So i wanted to open it up to questions and hope you guys have some good ones. [inaudible] you know, thats during prohibition. This is something that come its not a major theme in the book. I think that its a small thing but the mafias one of the sayings where you have and attended consequences coming to see lots of unintended consequences with policymakers but one of those catholics was you had right after prohibition you have a brandnew business, because alcohol, beer, the fifthlargest visit and the United States, some great fortunes were these great big fortunes in alcohol and all of a sudden right when it became legal you had a brandnew opportunity for all kinds of wallace men lawless men to take avenge of a Large Consumer market but it had other unintended consequences as well. Prices in california boom said the great grower in Northern California where your people able to sell, because wine had a sacrament except to and you could also buy syrup and then allow it to turn into wine in the hope except lots of different Economic Opportunities answering that Economic Opportunity gave rise to organized crime. How do you rate a capitalism . [inaudible] its like rating democracy, how would you rate Something Like democracy or capitalism . Thats one of the things i discussed on npr earlier today, which is it doesnt have a more quality or in more quality. Its a neutral construct, if you want to sell your kidneys would be able to. Theres nothing in capitalism that intrinsically says no or suggest or encourages it or discourages it. Its up to society to ultimately view it with values. Thats always been the case throughout. Just like when youre asking me how you rate capitalism, how would you rate democracy, for 80 years slavery was tolerated. Would that mean you would then impugn democracy . I think its a neutral philosophy, that you can have whatever values you want to and its up to your society to shape its force. I also brought up [inaudible] i do. [inaudible] i do and its a constant evolution. One example i use is the rise of schools, the rise of public schools. So if you going to, even a staunch Republican Community in, lets say texas, or deep red state and you would ask them what is the great thing about your community or your society, many times you will hear that the thing they love most in that they will brag the most about is that great public schools. And here it is a social institution that they would take great pride in, its one of the first things that make sure committed a committee. They wouldnt say their great fences and our neighbors cant get in. Thats one of of the things pee dont necessarily identify as capitalism and democracy colliding but it certainly is. A person who argue for Public Education and universal education would back in 1848 was karl marx. In the calmest manifesto talks about how he produces a plan for developed economies or developing economies, and daschle economies at that time to become more fair. One of the things he argues for is abolition of child labor and institution of universal education and certainly have it. He also argued for progressive income taxes as a part of that plan. Even americans capitalism is a hybrid. Its not an extreme ideology. What i try to get as i try to separate the ideological argument from it altogether in blue really think about it as an operating system rather than an ideology. Just out of curiosity what was the final return of investment on the mayflower investors . They lost money. It took 25 years for the debt to finally be repaid. It wasnt that come it was equity first because their shareholders. After a few years they realized that they wanted to convert himt the end of the sevenyear term they needed to do something with equity the cassette that the he would have to have a pro rata distribution of the assets of plymouth. They did want to do that so the equity got converted in to debt, not a transaction see very often in private equity and others like that. And for a long time that that couldnt be repaid, couldnt be serviced by the frederick in revenues and ultimately what it happened was these government implement the for traders. These undertakers assume a debt for Plymouth Colony in exchange for all of the for trading rights. So this group of nine men absolving Plymouth Colony of the debt and finally these nine men negotiate with investors that s