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Announcing a new feature here at SAM: AA’s trenchant commentary on news and developments in the "market".
I saw on the internet about two weeks ago a Fareed Zakaria interview in which he asked Bill Gates to opine on the Biden USD 1.9 trillion stimulus plan.
I was surprised.
Prior to that, I hadn’t known that Bill Gates was an expert on economics.
As Phil Rosenzweig can tell you, success in one field, particularly one in which an individual makes billions, automatically confers unique knowledge in almost every other field on that individual or at least the appearance of such knowledge.
Often such knowledge is attributed by folks who one hopes should know better.
Given Fareed’s academic and professional focus on foreign affairs, I was surprised that he did not seize the opportunity with Bill to heal an unfortunate rift in the Middle East by asking Bill to provide the definitive analysis of the meaning of “غَدِيْر خُمّ “ and “أَهْل ٱلْكِسَاء “.
Or perhaps give his solution to the Korea issue.
Sadly, for whatever reason, he did not.
One or is that two for the “missed opportunities” file?
I, of course, would have had my own set of different questions.
Before outlining these, I need to make a material disclosure.
Devoted readers of this blog (I’m counting bots so I can use the plural) know that there is a bit of bad blood between Bill and me.
Sometime back I was expecting advice from him on what I should be having for dinner, hoping to draw on another area of his wide ranging expertise after my foray in a mall bookstore's business books section.
Advice that sadly never came.
Madame Arqala, as she so often does, did rescue me on that occasion.
Despite a bit of lingering rancor on that failure, I would have straightaway asked Bill what strategy he would employ as Arsenal’s new head coach to ensure that they repeatedly won the Premier League, the Champions League, etc.
All in the hopes that Brother Stan was watching. Or might see the interview later on the VAR.
I'd probably have moved on from there to ask him to opine on a sharp difference between my elder wiser brother (expert in many thing Asian though clearly not on pizza) and me over the best pizza: deep dish or thin crust.
Or perhaps why the last two words in the fourth verse of Surah 112 did not have the same terminal vowels.
Eventually I’d probably have asked Bill to comment on SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange.
Why these events happened?
What Microsoft could or should have done to prevent them?
Perhaps, an area where his skills might be more profitably employed.
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