Mr. McMahon, Inflation, and the Mystery of the Misplaced $13 Billion

FIELD RESEARCH, VOL. 2, ISSUE #4

Hey Fam,

Welcome to Field Research, a free¹ email newsletter featuring informative and entertaining takes at the intersection of art, business, and culture.

I’m your host, Amran Gowani, a mad scientist turned corporate mercenary turned totally well-adjusted author. My debut novel Leverage — a propulsive, darkly hilarious Wall Street thriller — will be published by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, on August 19, 2025.

Since the American political arena has fully embraced the principles of professional wrestling, in today’s issue I’m reviewing and recommending the Netflix documentary Mr. McMahon. I also break down the basics of inflation and cover the heartwarming tale of how an heir to the Hermés fortune misplaced $13 billion.

Enjoy the show.

I. TRACK OF THE DAY

II. GET SMARTER

1. Petty cash: Was Nicolas Puech, one of several heirs to the fortune of fashion giant Hermés, duped out of $13 billion by a duplicitous financial advisor? Was he manipulated by a conniving gardener turned surrogate son? Or maybe Bernard Arnault, owner of LVMH, secretly scooped up his ownership stake on the sly? Nobody knows for sure, but European authorities have their top man on the case.

   

2. Anti-social network: Starring gullible tech bros, free speech absolutism, nepo babies, a Macedonian engineer, Jon Voight, a massive SPAC scam, and Devin Nunes as the world’s shittiest CEO, the story behind the development of Truth Social is just as absurd and ridiculous as you’d imagine.

3. Self-fulfilling stupidity: Inflation woes helped POTUS 45 become POTUS 47-elect. POTUS 45/47-elect’s economic plan features a preposterous mix of tax cuts, tariffs, and mass deportations, all of which will supersize inflation woes.

4. Injustice department: DOJ special counsel Jack Smith plans to wind down two federal investigations into POTUS 45/47-elect’s chicanery, once again emphasizing a core American value: Some men are above the law.

5. Dark times: Goth culture, which is marked by the melancholy and the macabre, is all the rage among Gen Z. Can’t imagine why.

III. WATCH: MR. MCMAHON

Produced and created by Tiger King’s Chris Smith, Mr. McMahon is a six-part docuseries which chronicles the humble origin, epic rise, and inevitable demise of Vincent K. McMahon, the disgraced former owner and overseer of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Given the eponymous mogul’s massive influence on the “sports entertainment” industry, the documentary also examines the evolution of professional wrestling, from the defunct “territory” system of the good old days, to the Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW, to the genre’s transformation into a global, multi-billion dollar behemoth.

Marked out: The editing on this show is exquisite. The series’ central problem is each episode revolves around an interview with McMahon, a pathological liar and malignant narcissist who spins every self-inflicted crisis into a heroic tale of perseverance. As a viewer, you can never be sure when he’s telling the truth, or if he’s even capable of telling the truth. The producers turn this dynamic into the show’s biggest strength, however, by routinely splicing “the receipts” into his commentary. For instance, a recurring question throughout the series is: How much does the on-screen character of “Mister McMahon” represent the real-life version of Vince McMahon? According to McMahon himself, not at all. According to every other person who was interviewed, they’re pretty much one and the same. Better still, many of the controversies McMahon denies or dismisses get juxtaposed against archival footage, court documents, investigative reports, interviews, and the like, which paints a damning portrait of the once beloved promoter and shows just how craven, delusional, and egomaniacal he truly is.

Jobbed out: The series, while superbly edited and produced, didn’t cover much new ground. There’s a host of podcasts by ex-performers, YouTube channels by smart marks, and documentaries by WWE which have examined the rise of professional wrestling and regaled fans with titillating tales from the Attitude Era. If you know who Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff, and Paul Levesque are, if you know what the terms “heat” and “jobber” and “schmozz” mean, and if you can succinctly explain the “Montreal Screwjob,” please seek the help you need. Also, Mr. McMahon will very much feel like a retread of the existing WWE canon. While the documentary does conclude with the horrific allegations McMahon sexually abused and exploited multiple former employees, these transgressions were revealed during filming and caused McMahon to cancel his final set of interviews.

Dusty finish: After a few false starts, McMahon resigned from the WWE in January 2024. A federal investigation into his purported misconduct is ongoing, but because he’s a rich guy, and because this is America, it’s unlikely he’ll be held accountable.

Final verdict: Mr. McMahon makes for solid viewing, but if you’re a student of “the business” it’s not a must-watch. For casual fans who’d like to learn more about the history of professional wrestling and its all-too-obvious impact on American culture, or for those who need yet another example of an emotionally stunted nepo shitheel ambitious entrepreneur behaving like a complete psychopath, check it out.

Where to watch: Netflix.

From the vault: On February 12, 2023, as fictional ad agency Apologia,

Dennard Dayle

,

Michael Estrin

, and yours truly did damage control for Mr. McMahon —and other dastardly heels — by creating hella long Super Bowl ads.

IV. A POEM ABOUT: POLITICIANS

Title: Transitive property
I ask my son:

In your favorite stories,
what does every villain want?

"Power!"

In the real world,
what does every politician want?

"Power!"

What does that make
every politician?

"A villain!"

We resume
The Iliad.

V. JARGON JUNCTION: INFLATION

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of inflation is:

A continuing rise in the general price level usually attributed to an increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods and services

Simply put, inflation occurs when the prices of the things you want to buy today are higher than the prices of those same things when you bought them in the past.

As we’ve all experienced first-hand, inflation has been running hot during the last several years, which has reduced consumer’s purchasing power (e.g., how far each dollar stretches) and pressured personal finances.

For example, before the pandemic, at the Target in my neighborhood, a gallon of fancy organic milk cost $7. Now, five years later, that same gallon of fancy organic milk at that same Target costs $10. Thanks, Obama.

Rapidly rising prices can destroy consumer confidence and destabilize entire societies (see: The Weimar Republic). Because the phenomenon disproportionately harms “working class” people, inflation can also become a politically expedient talking point for opportunistic politicians and pundits (see: 2024 U.S. Presidential Election).

A friendly reminder neither POTUS 45/47-elect nor POTUS 46 nor VPOTUS 49 can control “the economy.”

As for what causes inflation, there are myriad factors at play, but ultimately prices rise when there’s a mismatch between supply and demand.

Supply shocks (e.g., limited goods vs. escalating demand), loose monetary policy (e.g., interest rates too low), tight labor markets, corporate price gouging, and consumer fatalism are all put forth as reasons why inflation occurs.

Of course, because economics is 54% art history, 43% philosophy, 2% algebra, and 1% religious studies, none of this can be proven using the scientific method.

Rather than continue to trawl through the macroeconomic muck², I’ll close this edition of Jargon Junction by highlighting persistent inflation’s pernicious effects.

According to the Consumer Price Index, after decades of very low inflation, prices increased by +4.7%, +8.0%, +4.1%, and +3.2% from 2021-24. While the recent downward trend is positive, the cumulative effect means nominal prices have increased by +21.5% over a four-year window.

In absolute terms, if a generic item was priced at $10.00 in 2020, its cost rose to:

• $10.47 in 2021

• $11.31 in 2022

• $11.77 in 2023

• $12.15 in 2024

Even if the inflation rate falls back to the Fed’s [arbitrary] +2.0% target in 2025, the nominal prices on a wide basket of goods and services will still have risen by almost twenty-five percent over a five-year window. That hurts.

Anybody whose wages failed to keep pace — or anybody who feels like their wages failed to keep pace — is, or is perceived to be, poorer (read: rightly apoplectic but wrongly xenophobic).

Sayonara, Sherrod.

VI: SOMETHING: INSIGHTFUL

For the writers in the crowd, the following

Jane Friedman

webinar on building an author platform is well worth an hour of your time.

The discussion offers clear, actionable insights on how to expand your online presence and how to build rapport with your readers. Don’t miss it.

VII. UP NEXT

I was hoping for a saner backdrop to reveal the details of my forthcoming debut novel Leverage, but the gods remain capricious sociopaths.

Alas, the show must go on, so next week I’ll publish a special Leverage-themed issue featuring the cover design, jacket copy, blurbs secured to date, and pre-order information.

Thanks always for reading.

Stay frosty out there.

Amran

P.S. Let’s connect via: Instagram || Threads || Goodreads || LinkedIn

1. After two years of experimentation, Field Research will no longer offer paid subscriptions. I tore down the paywall, culled the archive, and made my greatest hits free to read.

2. For more inflation talk, check out these overviews by The Harvard Business Review and the International Monetary Fund.