This is not a Byline

—  Which topic are you most excited about in 2019, Andy?
Watching the way psychology interacts with financial markets is fascinating. In theory, investments should be coldly rational. Whether you get in or out of a stock market, bond market, real estate, whatever, should be based on numbers, on cold, hard facts. And yes, of course you project off of this data (and current events, etc.) to estimate an investment's direction, but time and time again, objectivity is thrown out the window in favor of subjective judgments. And this leads to assumptions that are anything but clinical. Right now, in the middle of 2019, the American people are basically talking themselves into a recession. Our economy, currently, is doing pretty well. Unemployment is miniscule on a historical basis. But we see China and Germany seriously struggling and extrapolate that, fearing contagion. Sure, it might be fair to do so. But you can over-worry and cause the very thing you’d probably like to prevent. Now put this on-edge atmosphere in an election year? There’s a real potential for financial ugliness there, and you are left to wonder whether the whole thing was really necessary in the first place.

—  What’s your favorite facet of being an editor?
Editors don’t get bylines, but they wouldn’t be editors if that mattered all that much to them. So the joy comes from connecting writers and readers in such a way that readers become better informed, and writers feel they’ve done their best to provide a public service, through either objective or brand journalism.

—  If you could interview anyone, living or dead: Who would it be and why?
Bruce Springsteen. We all have favorite musicians and songwriters and such, but few have had more of an influence on people’s actual thinking than he has over the years. He’s kind of having another moment now, between the Broadway show coming out on Netflix; his latest album, Western Stars, which is a real departure with its symphonic sound; and two movies: Blinded By the Light and the Western Stars documentary. Transcending the music or any given song, does he really know what he himself means to a lot of people, all over the world? What does that knowledge feel like? Do you feel a responsibility, and if you do, how do you feel about that? Does he feel that way about someone who came before him, or a contemporary? I recently met the bassist in his band, Garry Tallent, here in Nashville. I had no idea what to say. If I met Bruce, I’d be even more tongue-tied, so don’t schedule that interview just yet. 

—  Andy Sobel is a freelance writer and editor. He has held senior editing positions at The Wall Street Journal, in both the New York and Brussels newsrooms, and most recently, was in charge of content at the newspaper’s custom-publishing arm, WSJ Custom Studios. He has been managing editor of commercial-banking bellwether American Banker, and prior to that, was Head of Editorial Services at Ruder Finn, one of the country’s most prestigious public relations firms, where he edited an award-winning magazine on behalf of Novartis Pharmaceuticals. He was also a reporter for nearly 10 years, covering local governments in Connecticut; the U.S. Treasury and economy in Washington, D.C.; and a wide variety of financial markets out of London. Andy has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and a bachelor’s degree from Union College.