My easy like Sunday morning weekend reads:
• On Shit: Profanity as Weltanschauung (LA Review of Books)
• Exit, pursued by bear: The Fed has at last raised rates. What happens next? (The Economist)
• Swedroe: Why Index Investing Wins (ETF.com)
• Economic sweet spot of 2016 before the reflation storm (Telegraph)
• Here Are the Best- and Worst-Performing Assets of 2015 (Bloomberg)
• Trump most frequent 2015 Sunday show guest (Politico) see also Donald Trump and the Return of the 1920s: America is again caught between nationalists longing for the glories of an imagined past, and activists invoking ideals the nation has never yet attained. (The Atlantic)
• Here’s What Architects See in Homes of the Future (Real Time Economics)
• Elizabeth Warren Is Shaping the Democratic Primary Without Even Running (Slate) see also Is Hillary Clinton “likable enough?” Science has an answer. (Vox)
• This One Condiment Instantly Improves Your Diet: Hot sauce is extremely good for you—especially if you eat it with fat. (Time)
• The 2016 BMW 7-Series Will Tell You the Future of Luxury Cars (Bloomberg)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Venture Capitalist Bill Janeway of Warburg Pincus.
The Era of Mass Incarceration Is Unwinding
Source: Wonkblog
Ethno and Civic nationalism.
Modern civic nationalism from the 1920’s democratic ethno-nationalists running for president: the world is better with a strong dominating America.
Ethno nationalism uninhibited by isolationism and any concern for bankrupting the US government. Starve the beast!
Prisons are too costly and breed all kinds of deviant behavior. Back in the day, my home town of Cicero was extraordinarily safe next to the chaotic west side of Chicago. The Outfit (Mafia for you NYC ingrates) ran the city and were the judge and jury on many matters, the police handled petty crime and undesirable move-ins were harassed by the citizens until they moved elsewhere. If they didn’t move, their home was torched. That’s taking care of business.
As I recall, the Cicero jails were never overcrowded.
I can’t believe the long list of options that you have to add to the BMW7 that starts at $97,000, which brings the drive away price up to $130k. It appears that you get a pretty crappy base car for your $97k!
Research Confirms a Link between Intelligence and Life Expectancy
The reasons are unclear, but higher IQ is correlated with longer life span
By David Z. Hambrick on December 22, 2015
People are living longer than ever. According to a 2015 World Health Organization report, Japanese live the longest, with an average life expectancy of 84, while Americans can expect to live to 77. At the same time, it is an obvious fact that some people live much longer than other people. There is inequality in mortality.
What explains this inequality? Epidemiological research confirms what intuition suggests: lifestyle matters. A 2012 study published in Preventive Medicine followed over 8,000 people over a 5-year period. Risk of death by any cause was 56% lower for non-smokers, 47% lower for people who exercised, and 26% lower for those who had a healthy diet. Italian researchers analyzed the diets of inhabitants of the Monti Sicani region of Sicily, where there is a remarkably high prevalence of people who live to be 100. Along with being physically active and having close contact with relatives, the centenarians surveyed were found to adhere to a traditional Mediterranean diet.
A more surprising discovery is that there is a strong link between mortality and IQ: higher intelligence means, on average, a longer life.
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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/research-confirms-a-link-between-intelligence-and-life-expectancy/
Speaking of cars:
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GM is surpassing its rivals in one very important area
Matthew DeBord
Dec. 30, 2015
General Motors isn’t the dominant force it once was in the auto industry — back in the 1950s, it held half the US market, selling one of every two cars bought by consumers.
But GM has recovered nicely from the financial crisis, when it was bailed out by the federal government and declared bankruptcy.
With less debt, more cash, and a solid lineup of cars and trucks, the General is well positioned to hold on to its 17% to 18% market share.
But there is one area in which GM is setting an impressive example for the rest of the industry, and that’s with in-vehicle technology. Last year, GM took the plunge on high-speed connectivity, committing to installing 4G LTE in all of its cars and trucks.
GM has also enabled most of its new vehicles to use Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
I test out a lot of cars, and at the moment, GM’s infotainment setup is the most effective.
4G LTE is a game changer for anyone who has a family, like me, with a bunch of kids all using their devices in the car.
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http://www.businessinsider.com/gm-is-surpassing-its-rivals-in-one-very-important-area-2015-12