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Stay Curious.
Make the most of your college experience.
Jeff Hulett
Curator, The Curiosity Vine
Stay Curious.
The Curiosity Vine is an idea incubator.
Our contributors have experience and interest in a variety of high-impact topics, such as science, technology, conservation, mathematics, data science, public policy, economics, and others. Our objective is to promote early-stage ideas, enable idea collaboration, and test idea purchase.
TCV platform is curated by Jeff Hulett.
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TCV's ideas are used to provide seminars, write books, build businesses, and especially to help people.
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Featured Posts
The Boundaries of Power: What Economic History Teaches Us About the Proper Role of Government
Every generation grapples with the fundamental question of political economy: What is the proper role of government? Historically, the debate waxes and wanes between expanded state intervention and restrained governance. Modern practice reveals a steady expansion of state power. Effective government does not represent an optional luxury; it represents a foundational necessity. As Adam Smith and classic commentators made clear, market societies require a government enforcing j
The Classical Liberal’s Dilemma: Why Freedom Fails at the Ballot Box
When the Classical Liberal Revival Feels Real The impulse to dismantle the administrative state is a recurring rhythm in the history of governance, a perennial tension between the expanding reach of the bureaucracy and the enduring ideals of classical liberalism. While the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) stands as a recent historical attempt to prune the thicket of executive overreach, it follows a storied lineage of efforts to restore institutional accountability.
The Real Math Gap: How Incentives, Testing, and Home Agency Shape Modern Learning
The Misalignment of Modern Math → We teach high school and college mathematics as if our primary economic goal involves training human calculating machines. We spend hundreds of hours drilling students on hand-manipulating polynomials, evaluating complex integrals, and executing rigid algorithms under strict time limits. Yet, outside the classroom, almost no one calculates by hand. The modern economy does not need human calculators; it needs math orchestrators. An orchestrato
Our Trade-off Life: How the 80/20 rule leads to a healthier, wealthier life
Trade-offs are the currency of decision-making. The French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) spoke of trade-offs when he said [i]: "Perfect is the enemy of good." We always make trade-offs; sometimes those trade-offs are more obvious and sometimes almost invisible. In the modern decision-making context, decisions are the optimization of multiple "what is important to me or us" criteria. The "best" decision is the alternative that optimizes the weighted criteria. [ii] Rarely
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Mortgage Rates Update: June 25th, 2026
The mortgage market for the week ending June 25, 2026, revealed an interesting structural divergence between primary consumer rates and benchmark secondary yields. As an experienced economist who monitors risk premiums closely, I find this week's widening spread indicates that primary market lenders are expanding their profit cushions in response to broader economic crosscurrents. While the benchmark 10 Year Treasury rate dropped by 6 basis points to settle at 4.40 percent, t
Bill Knudson
Jun 261 min read
Why Your Brain Hates Wealth: Overcoming Loss Aversion in Financial Decisions
Our biology primes individuals to prioritize avoiding losses over achieving gains. This evolutionary setting helped preserve survival in primitive conditions, but it often creates friction when applied to modern wealth management. Modern wealth accumulation requires individuals to move past these instinctual defaults. This article examines the mechanics of loss aversion, the variable nature of individual risk thresholds, and the psychological traps that lead even well-educate
Jeff Hulett
Jun 209 min read
Mortgage Rates Update: June 18th, 2026
The mortgage market for the week ending June 18, 2026, demonstrated a marginal improvement in borrowing conditions as primary rates ticked lower despite modest upward pressure in the bond market. According to the latest data from the report titled 260618 Mortgage Rates v0.pdf, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate declined by 5 basis points to settle at 6.47 percent. Concurrently, the benchmark 10 Year Treasury rate edged up by 1 basis point to reach 4.46 percent. This divergence
Bill Knudson
Jun 191 min read
Treasury Rates Update: June 18th, 2026
In my years analyzing fixed-income markets, few dynamics are as compelling as a classic "bear flattener" driven by sudden structural shifts in economic data. Following a cluster of high-impact reports, the Treasury market spent this past week aggressively repricing the front end of the curve. The June 5th jobs data revealed a moderate expansion of 172,000 positions, but it was the June 10th CPI report—showing an acceleration in inflation from 3.8% to 4.2%—that sent shockwaves
Bill Knudson
Jun 191 min read
Capitalism: The Right Way and the Wrong Way
Whenever someone asks me, "What do you think of capitalism?" I find myself pausing. My answer usually begins with a question of my own: “Well, it depends—who is asking and how are they using the word?” For some individuals, "capitalism" functions as a broad indictment. It serves as a catch-all shorthand for modern economic challenges. When people ask from this perspective, they often hold fixed viewpoints; they seek an opportunity to confirm their own biases or spark a debate
Jeff Hulett
Jun 113 min read
The Tragedy of the Data Commons - An Ancient Problem with a Modern Twist
For today's university graduates, the modern job hunt resembles shouting into the digital abyss. Diligent students follow the traditional playbook. They earn good grades, upload tailored resumes to job boards, and click "Apply Now." Then, silence follows. We are tempted to believe the challenge is a lack of jobs. The root cause is a deeper, structural challenge. The digital labor market is undergoing a significant structural transformation due to the vast availability of da
Jeff Hulett
Jun 75 min read
Treasury Rates Update: June 4th, 2026
As we position ourselves ahead of a crucial stretch of macroeconomic data, the fixed-income market is exhibiting a classic consolidation pattern. Drawing from my years of experience analyzing curve dynamics, this week’s subtle flattening indicates a market that is fine-tuning its expectations, seeking a delicate equilibrium between growth resilience and persistent policy caution. The benchmark 10-year Treasury rate ticked up a modest 2 basis points (bp) this week to finish
Bill Knudson
Jun 51 min read
Mortgage Rates Update: June 4th, 2026
The mortgage market for the week ending June 4, 2026, demonstrated an encouraging shift toward enhanced pricing efficiency as primary consumer rates decoupled from rising government yields. In my professional assessment as an economist tracking capital flows, this represents a minor but welcome relief for the housing sector. The benchmark 30 year fixed mortgage rate decreased by 5 basis points to settle at 6.48 percent, contrastingly defying the 10 Year Treasury rate, which c
Bill Knudson
Jun 51 min read
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