Brief Bio:

I'm a 20 something living in Chicago. I have interned at a Wall Street firm on a bond sales and trading desk, been a valuation consultant, and have worked in a more technical/project oriented role at a Chicago-based bank. I graduated with a finance degree in '07 from Miami University Ohio, but I think formal education in most regards is like a ticket to get on a ride - only the prices for tickets have outgrown inflation, the tickets themselves have possibly outgrown their utility, and the ride is broken. With that said, I should probably still go back to school.

Writing Interest:

I enjoy writing about politics, economics (macro), and what happens at their intersection. You can't disassociate these fields from each other because of how intertwined they are (I'm not saying this is a good thing, it's just the reality of the situation). I will, more or less, be writing about that rather than individual stocks. I'm also very interested in tech and the web, namely, what the impact of freely distributed knowledge will be on societal systems. How will they be transformed? How will humans add value to processes and systems when knowledge access is complete and egalitarian?

Career Goal(s):

I would eventually like to work at macro hedge fund, private equity, investment strategy or Web 2.0 strategy, and then become an angel investor.

Influence:

I am influenced by the views of the Austrian School of Economics (Hayek namely, although more Rothbard in terms of role of the State), Spooner, Mencken, Buckminster Fuller, Carl Sagan, Douglas Rushkoff, and others. I think Jim Rogers and Paolo Pellegrini are two of the coolest and respectable professionals in the industry. I respect the work Tyler Durden does here on Seeking Alpha - real investigation, delving into numbers and concepts.

I read a lot about economics, politics, science, sci-fi, and fiction. A couple of my favorite online/offline info sources are The Economist, Wired, Seed, Reason, H+, Cato, Discover, FQXi. Some blogs I enjoy include The Distributed Republic, Campaign for Liberty, Mind Hacks, Let a Thousand Nations Bloom,

Politics/Philosophy:

I am a libertarian (small "L"), but maybe closer to an anarcho-capitalist in terms of my philosophical view of the State, but libertarian for discussion purposes. I don't think the current means of of the Libertarian Party will achieve desired libertarian ends. I find the concept of Seasteading very interesting, and I agree with Patri Friedman, more or less, on his political ideas when taken as a whole (democracy as a poor feedback mechanism, need for governmental experimentation, etc). I don't believe in Obama's collectivist dream. I question the concept of "progress" and whether we are really making any. I think the concept of freedom and choice in society are the most important traits. I have an open mind to ideas that go against my current world-view. I believe choice and voluntarism are good while coercion is not. I believe people will make the good decisions if given the right information, I have a positive view of human nature (usually). I'm worried about the attack on the individual and the growth of the collective. I think the increase in apathy of the individual towards important issues will increase as the State takes more responsibility - I don't think this trend is a good thing, nor do I think it can last because of eventual resource constraints. I don't believe in Social Contract Theory. I believe the role of the State is to protect rights and not to grant them. I think we need to take a good hard look at incentives, in the private and public sector. I believe that adding layers of supranational government is a very bad idea.

Other:

I am interested in promoting the development of complementary economic mechanisms and systems, alternative currency for example, like WIR. I think that structuring our economic system to encourage resiliency rather than efficiency would be a good idea. My writing will revolve around conceptualizing a possible future by exploring themes of decentralization in economics, politics, finance, and other fields.

Contact:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/MikeMezzadri

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MichaelMezzadri

Email: mfmezz@gmail.com