My morning train WFH reads:
• Good SPAC, Bad SPAC: How the Jiffy IPO Method Is Regaining Favor Ever since the SEC’s spring crackdown, these once-popular investments have wilted. But their excesses are being leached away. (Chief Investment Officer) see also Hedge Funds Are Demanding Their SPAC Money Back The special sauce that’s flavored blank-check firms has become potential poison. It’s time to reform their financial incentives. (Bloomberg)
• Soaring Cost of Food Is Forcing Families to Scrimp at the Dinner Table Inflation is slamming the freezer shut and leading households around the world to make sacrifices. (Businessweek) but see 179 Reasons You Probably Don’t Need to Panic About Inflation So far, the inflationary burst of 2021 has been overwhelmingly driven by a narrow group of sectors that were deeply affected by the shock of Covid-19 and last year’s accompanying shutdowns. (New York Times)
• A Bubble Tea-Making Robot Is a Portent of Things to Come A boba robot is a particularly Taiwanese instance of the global trend of automation in the restaurant industry. In an industry that’s typically low-margin and heavily dependent on human labor, automated technology promises to make operations cheaper and more effective. (Slate)
• The Best Advantage in Life All else equal, rich parents are the best advantage you can have if you want a career in investment management. In fact, having rich parents is probably one of the best advantages you can have in life and I have the data to prove it. (Of Dollars And Data) see also 40 Things I Don’t Know by Age 40 I’ve seen lots of people share the wisdom they’ve gained over the years on their milestone birthdays. I still have plenty of stuff to learn so here are 40 things I don’t know at age 40: (A Wealth of Common Sense)
• People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart Proof that the online future has arrived: The biggest e-commerce company outside China has unseated the biggest brick-and-mortar seller. (New York Times)
• ‘They want people to take them seriously’: Space Force wary of taking over UFO mission The newest branch is among a number of military and intelligence organizations in the running to take over the investigation of unexplained aircraft. (Politico)
• The media’s systemic failure on Afghanistan Was it the unavoidable conclusion of failed policies in Afghanistan across four presidential administrations? While there are legitimate criticisms of the way Biden executed the withdrawal, the result is an extremely distorted narrative. (Popular Information) see also Reflections from when it all seemed so different in Afghanistan And yet, it was still always about the money. (Financial Times)
• The beautiful world of heavy metal: Why does a genre obsessed with death attract the kindest people? (UnHerd)
• All the Best Cars as the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Returns The glamorous classic car show was back in full force—with the cars to match. (Bloomberg)
• An Oral History of Adam Sandler, Pickup Basketball Legend ‘He was just out there drilling long threes in his shades and hitting cutters. It was really incredible.’(Mel)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with Fran Kinniry, who is a principal in the Vanguard Investment Strategy Group, and became Global Head of Private Investments at investing giant Vanguard Group in 2019. Kinniry is behind the drive to bring Private Equity investments to Vanguard’s 401k investors.
More job postings are requiring employees to have COVID vaccinations
Source: MSN
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