In January 2020, a few weeks before the entire world experienced one of the greatest social and economic disruptions in memory in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, a billionaire wrote an email. “When 70% of Millennials say they are pro-socialist, we need to do better than simply dismiss them by saying that they are stupid or entitled or brainwashed; we should try and understand why. … When one has too much student debt or if housing is too unaffordable, then one will have negative capital for a long time and/or find it very hard to start accumulating capital in the form of real estate; and if one has no stake in the capitalist system, then one may well turn against it.” The author of that email, tech investor and entrepreneur Peter Thiel, was speaking...