My Two-for-Tuesday holiday week reads:
• Omicron Is Wreaking Havoc on the World. Investors Are the Only Ones Not Worried. The new variant of the coronavirus has rapidly become the dominant strain, and has helped to push daily new cases to pandemic records. The stock market has taken an emotionless view of it all, with a hardly interrupted Santa Claus rally that pushed the S&P 500 index to an all-time highs. (Barron’s) see also Ho ho ho! Prepare to get sick. The good news is that vaccine boosters offer substantial protection against Omicron. Studies are showing that a third dose of mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) restores a substantial amount of immunity. A booster reduces the risk of severe disease by about 80%. (Noahpinion)
• Why the Mac is Apple’s most exciting product in 2021: Apple made a huge spash with its shiny and speedy PCs. (Mac World)
• Our 51 Best (And Weirdest) Charts Of 2021 Our favorite charts, grouped by topic. These weird and wonderful charts were part of stories that originally ran this year. (FiveThirtyEight) see also My Favorite Charts of 2021 Here’s a round-up of some of Ben’s favorite charts from 2021. (Wealth of Common Sense)
• The $900 Billion Cash Pile Inflating Startup Valuations SPACs and venture capitalists are plowing money into startups at record rates, looking past worries about lofty valuations (Wall Street Journal)
• Why the Rolex watch shortage is a ‘perfect storm’ The craze for Rolex sports models has completely turned the availability of Rolex watches from authorized Rolex retailers upside down, and prices for these popular sports models have skyrocketed on the secondhand market due to the limited supply not meeting the demand. (Yahoo News) see also Rolex Shortage Explained: A Complete Guide The craze for Rolex sports models has completely turned the availability of Rolex watches from authorized Rolex retailers upside down, and prices for these popular sports models have skyrocketed on the secondhand market due to the limited supply not meeting the demand. (Millenary Watches)
• Electrify Everything in Your Home Guide The best advice on how to electrify everything is a guide to replacing all of your fossil-fueled appliances with modern electric ones. Once you electrify: your home will be more comfortable, your indoor and outdoor air quality will be healthier, your monthly bills will be lower. (Rewiring America)
• Why It’s Easier Than Ever to Buy a Used Car Nobel winner George Akerlof diagnosed the used car market as one of asymmetric information: Sellers knew more than buyers. Fearing being ripped off, buyers would bid low. The knowledge gap between buyers and sellers narrowed, State laws prohibiting odometer rollbacks helped, Carfax may have been the single most important game changer. (New York Times) see also 7 Trends in Car Markets 1. Buying New Cars, 2. the Used Car Market, 3. Coming Electric Vehicles, 4. Surprise of Driving Enthusiasts, 5. Rise of Auction Sites, 6. New Collectibles, and 7. Self-Driving (The Big Picture)
• The British Baroness Who’s Taming Big Tech: A remarkable series of changes across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok were sparked by Beeban Kidron’s ‘children’s code.’ And she’s not finished. (Bloomberg)
• The world’s first octopus farm – should it go ahead? The plans have been denounced by an international group of researchers as “ethically and ecologically unjustified”. The campaign group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) has written to the governments of several countries – including Spain – urging them to ban it. (BBC) see also A view of all known life Everything that is alive, or has ever been alive has a place somewhere on the complete tree of life. Each leaf represents a different species and the branches show how they are evolved from common ancestors over billions of years. (OneZoom)
• Ben Affleck on the Gift of Second Chances: The Oscar-winning director and actor, who portrays a character “oddly close” to his own father in the new film adaptation of ‘The Tender Bar,’ talks about learning from past failures and feeling grateful for his imperfect life. (Wall Street Journal)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with, Max Chafkin is a features editor and tech reporter at Businessweek. His work has also appeared in Fast Company, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times Magazine. His most recent book is “The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power.”
For the first time ever, no new homes sold were under $200K, down from 56% in 2002. The sub-$200K bracket is going away
Source: @calculatedrisk
