DEI View: "Wrong... Absolutely Disgusting!"

Last Saturday, as I was waiting for Pam and Micah to arrive back from visiting Pam’s sister in Belgium, I went through the Daily Reckoning’s mailbag for any responses to my articles.

One stood out, and I want to reprint it so you can read it as well.

Sean,

I read you every day. Most of the time, I appreciate your perspective. This one is not only wrong but absolutely disgusting. There is an entire generation of young white men whose career aspirations have been destroyed by DEI, including my two 27- and 28-year-old Sons. I have seen many talented young white men attempting to do something they’re interested in and passionate about, ultimately give up when they realize they’re not the correct skin color, ethnicity, or gender. I also know many older men who went the trades route, and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM is now on disability from the brutal physical demands of the trades. Please don’t gaslight us with this kind of garbage. DEI is racist, promotes hiring quotas, destroys performance in engineering and technical proficiency (look at NASA and Boeing), and has done permanent damage to young white men’s futures. DEI needs to end immediately.

Your article is insulting and disconnected from reality.

David J.

Here is my response.

David,

I can’t tell you how much your letter affected me.

First, I could feel your fatherly rage, and, as a father myself, I can understand the feeling. It’s terrific to see a man so passionate about his sons’ welfare.

Second, the only issue I have with what you wrote is that I wasn’t trying to gaslight anyone. Fate dealt us this hand, and we must play it as our own. I stand by that. But I agree with you that DEI is racist, promotes hiring quotas, and destroys performance. As for the futures of young white men, I’ll address that in a moment.

Third, pointing to NASA and Boeing as victims of DEI is making my point. In the article I wrote, “Soon, we’ll see the bitter fruits of that misallocated labor in the form of age-old firms losing the momentum better people built, and declaring bankruptcy on a mass scale.” And new firms with competent workers will emerge and take their place.” SpaceX already shits all over NASA. And we went from “If it ain’t Boeing, it ain’t going” to “If it’s Boeing, it ain’t going.”

That’s the genius of capitalism.

Now, let me share a personal anecdote.

My Story

All I ever wanted to be was a Managing Director in an investment bank. The day I finally got my Vice President promotion, I was over the moon. I just turned thirty and thought I had plenty of time to get where I wanted to go. But it wasn’t meant to be. I hated my boss, and for the sake of my health and sanity, I needed to leave. That was only a year after I was promoted.

What was I to do? I had no transferable skills, or so I thought. However, I was fortunate to have taken drama in high school and had acted on stage. If I could combine drama and finance, I’d be fine. That’s how I landed in financial training. I wasn’t just good at it; I was gifted, and I still do it to this day.

But even that wasn’t enough. I always wanted to be a writer. But I couldn’t seem to get it done. So, I thought I’d surrender and return to banking. I moved to Hong Kong and went into the Talent Development team (internal trainers, essentially). But I was still only a VP, even though my boss assured me I would take over one day. But that was never going to happen. So, I left and tactically retreated to my wife’s home country, the Philippines. I promised her I’d finally make my dream come true and become a writer.

Long story short, I was able to combine finance, teaching, and writing to join the Paradigm Press team. I couldn’t be happier. I’m not a Managing Director, who in banks rarely manages or directs. My title is Editor, and I’m just a cog in a huge, happy family of writers. That’s just fine with me.

The point is this: dreams change. And the most important skill a young man can have is the ability to learn, adjust, and course-correct.

My Son

My son, Micah, is only 8 years old and a full 20 years younger than your sons. He’s 50% white and 50% Asian and 100% fucked when it comes to quotas. So what am I doing?

I don’t want to scare him with that political nonsense already, so I’m trying to get him to develop as many skills as he possibly can before he turns 18.

He already is bilingual, and I’d like him to pick up at least French or Spanish before he goes to college. Languages will become even more critical in the future.

I’m giving him a laptop already to get him used to using computers, with the idea that he’ll be coding by the time he’s 12 (or sooner). Whether it’s proper coding, vibe coding, or AI coding, I don’t care. It’ll still be a useful skill in ten years.

I also lean on him with mathematics. As a writer, I want him to love Shakespeare and Dante, but it’ll be his math scores that will allow him to pursue a STEM degree, if he attends university at all. To be fair, I think he will, given his high IQ, but it’ll be to study the right subject at the right school.

Why? As a Villanova graduate (I majored in finance and minored in political science) and a London Business School Master’s in Finance recipient, along with completing my CAIA, FRM, and CMT designations, I know just how useless those pieces of paper are. (So meaningless, in fact, I stopped paying for CAIA, FRM, and CMT years ago and don’t use the initials. It hasn’t made the slightest difference.)

What, then?

The Preparation

I bought a book called The Preparation by Doug Casey, Matt Smith, and Maxim Smith. The purpose of the book is to show young adult men different “tracks” they can take to acquire skills to succeed without going to college. Its promise is, “It’s a blueprint for young men to escape the conveyor belt of conventional life and forge their own path.”

David, I’m taking some of these tracks, myself! They look amazing. No more Shop Class as Soulcraft nonsense for me. Medic, Cowboy, Pilot, Hacker, Maker. Real skills with real uses.

When Micah gets older, you can be sure I’ll be using this book as a guide to secure his future.

I would suggest that while your sons’ career aspirations have been dashed in one particular field, perhaps new ambitions in other fields are in order. Remember, I was 31 when my career hit the rocks and 40 when I mistakenly returned to banking looking for a meaningless title. Your sons are still young, strong, and hungry.

And that’s the beauty of keeping the faith and not giving up. One door closes. Another one opens. Maybe quite a few more open.

I wish you and your family godspeed.