Welcome to Winter! My Two-for-Tuesday morning train WFH reads:
• Booming U.S. Economy Ripples World-Wide, Straining Supply Chains and Driving Up Prices The force of the U.S. expansion is driving overseas companies to sink money into the American economy (Wall Street Journal)
• How to give the perfect Christmas present Gift-givers rarely think about practicality — for example, when will the recipient actually get a chance to use this? (Financial Times) but see It’s Time to Stop Giving Gifts to Adults You heard me. Keep giving children presents, by all means. (They don’t have jobs! They can’t buy their own stuff! They like almost everything, and often enjoy the box, too! They won’t stress themselves out about reciprocating! ) But I honestly believe that adults who have any level of anxiety or angst about presents should just agree to stop exchanging them altogether. (Slate)
• The Case for Making Bitcoin 5 Percent of Allocators’ Portfolios Institutional investors could invest more in cryptocurrencies if tighter regulations are enacted, according to Ned Davis Research. (Institutional Investor)
• The Real Reason to Index The key benefit is ease of use, not performance. (Morningstar)
• Going Out to Eat in the Age of the Shrinking Menu Higher food costs and staffing shortages are making for slimmer menus with fewer ingredients (Wall Street Journal) but see Yes, inflation is worrisome. But it has little relevance to the debate over Build Back Better. debate (Washington Post)
• Why the Second-Driest State Rejects Water Conservation Utah has some of the highest per-capita water use and is the fastest-growing state. Yet a powerful group that steers Utah’s water policy keeps pushing for costly infrastructure over meaningful conservation efforts. (ProPublica)
• Wind power becomes Spain’s leading energy source for 2021 Renewable sources already cover almost half of the country’s consumption needs – so far this year, they have contributed almost 47% of the total compared to less than 30% a decade ago (El Pais) see also Rising From the Antarctic, a Climate Alarm Wilder winds are altering currents. The sea is releasing carbon dioxide. Ice is melting from below. (New York Times)
• Buy Nothing groups offer an antidote to waste and isolation, with a world of free stuff: Besieged by inflation and isolation, many people are finding purpose and connection in these ‘circular gift economies’ (Washington Post)
• Everyone should be wearing N95 masks A typical cloth mask might capture half of all respiratory aerosols that come out of our mouth when we talk, sing or just breathe. A tightly woven cloth mask might get you to 60 or 70 percent, and a blue surgical mask can get you to 70 or 80 percent. But there’s no reason any essential worker — and, really, everyone in the country — should go without masks that filter 95 percent. The masks I’m referring to, of course, are N95s (Washington Post) see also What You Can Actually Do About Omicron This isn’t March 2020. We have tools. Use them. (Slate)
• How we destroyed The Matrix: Incels and trans activists are both fooled by its myth Raking in almost half a billion dollars, it proved that Hollywood could tap into the new immersive nature of gaming, paved the way for the superhero imperium, and made explicitly philosophical non-franchise blockbusters a going concern. Better still, and despite two widely disliked sequels, it became a cultural touchstone. The Wachowskis talked about “making mythology relevant in a modern context” and they succeeded in spades. The Matrix has become a modern myth and, like any myth, it has been interpreted in radically different ways. (UnHerd)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Michael Mauboussin, who runs consilient research at Morgan Stanley’s buyside firm, Counterpoint Global. Mauboussin (and his co-author, Alfred Rappaport ) revise and update their book Expectations Investing: Reading Stock Prices for Better Returns.
Since 2000 net worth has increased relative to GDP in most countries by an average of 50%
Source: McKinsey
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