Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures:
• Miami-Area Condo Failure: Years of Warnings, but Mixed Signals Reports on structural and maintenance problems at Champlain Towers South were muted and confusing, according to a review of historical documents, eyewitness accounts and expert assessments (WSJ) see also Surfside official was sent disturbing report. He told board condo was ‘in good shape’ A month after an engineer’s report flagged “major structural damage” at Champlain Towers South, the chief building official for the town of Surfside told residents the condominium was “in very good shape,” according to minutes from a November 2018 board meeting obtained by the Miami Herald. (Miami Herald)
• When commission-free trading apps make over $100m in commission a month eToro’s commission fees increased by 141% in Q1. Not bad for a firm that just wants to “empower people to grow their knowledge and wealth.” (FT)
• How Covid Helped Heists, Hoaxes, Scams, Cons, and Other Mischief Car thefts, porch piracy, medical fraud, and all kinds of other grifts boomed during the pandemic. (Businessweek)
• Underpaid firefighters, overstretched budgets: The U.S. isn’t prepared for fires fueled by climate change Biden announces more resources for tackling wildfires, but experts say a new approach is needed. (Washington Post)
• The Family Behind the Covid Bleach Cure Was Making a Fortune When Donald Trump suggested injecting bleach, the Genesis II Church had just the “sacrament”—until Operation Quack Hack landed four elders in jail. (Businessweek)
• How Deceptive Campaign Fund-Raising Ensnares Older People Older Americans, a critical source of political donations, often fall victim to aggressive and misleading digital practices. A broad Times analysis points to the scope of the problem. (NYT)
• New study highlights the virality of hate And why “dunking” on our political opponents only fuels the problem.(The Present Age)
• Why Don’t We Have a Lyme Vaccine? Anti Vaxxers. The complex downfall of LYMErix—and what’s coming next. (Slate)
• ‘A Form of Brainwashing’: China Remakes Hong Kong Neighbors are urged to report on one another. Children are taught to look for traitors. Officials are pressed to pledge their loyalty. (NYT) see also ‘They can’t speak freely’: Hong Kong a year after the national security law Powerful chilling effect as dissenters are detained, often without charges, and face life in prison (The Guardian)
• Inside William Barr’s Breakup With Trump In the final months of the administration, the doggedly loyal attorney general finally had enough. (The Atlantic)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Steve Romick, Managing Partner at FPA, which manages $26 billion in equity, fixed income, and alternative strategies. Romick manages the $11 billion FPA Crescent Fund since its 1993 inception and was named Morningstar’s U.S. Allocation Fund Manager of the Year.
Why fragility is the new reality for the stock market
Source: Wellington Management
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