My morning train WFH reads:
• Crypto’s Anti-Establishment Zeal Runs Headfirst Into Bankruptcy Bureaucracy: Angry retail investors are speaking up in complex legal brawls over the remains of Voyager, Celsius and BlockFi. (Businessweek)
• SPACs Delivered Easy Money, but Now Companies Are Running Out: Businesses are burning through cash raised in SPAC deals with few ways to fill the gap. (Wall Street Journal) see also Why Most SPACs Suck (2020): Most SPACs are subpar. But here’s a dirty little secret: Most investment products are at best mediocre. They tend to be expensive and underperform versus a simple passive index. (The Big Picture)
• The Biggest No-Brainer Investment Right Now? It makes sense investors are considering making a swap from a total bond market index fund to some sort of cash equivalent — T-bills, CDs, money market funds, online savings accounts, etc. You can get yields in the 4-5% range in cash-like vehicles and you don’t have to worry about duration or volatility from changes to interest rates. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
• How Much Can We Take? I don’t know where the tipping point is, but the apparent answer to this question is a lot more than anyone thought. Things aren’t perfect, but we recovered all the jobs lost during the pandemic, the unemployment rate is still near record lows, and inflation is going in the right direction. (Irrelevant Investor)
• When Will I Retire? How About Never: For many people, the idea of stopping work is a nonstarter—an inevitable path to boredom, ill health and a life devoid of meaning. (Wall Street Journal)
• Musk Bets the House of Tesla on Low Prices and Razor-Thin Margins: The man who upended the auto industry is now offering steep discounts for his electric vehicles. Is this more disruption, or desperation? (Businessweek)
• Someone has to run the fabs: Egalitarianism is important but we neglect STEM education at our peril. (Noahpinion)
• Disney lawsuit shows Ron DeSantis at his bullying, bumbling worst: The 77-page legal complaint, filed in federal court in Gainesville, Fla., aims to stop what it terms “a targeted campaign of government retaliation — orchestrated at every step by Gov. DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech.” (Los Angeles Times) see also Disney’s had enough — it’s taking Ron DeSantis to court: In a new lawsuit, Disney accuses DeSantis of “a targeted campaign of government retaliation.” (Vox)
• Red States Are Trying To Fight The World On Climate: “You can look at the EPA website and see all of what they’re opposed to … carbon, methane. All these things directly affect … our major industries in our state, our oil industry, our ag[ricultural] industry.” (FiveThirtyEight)
• Molly Ringwald bites back: ‘I was projected as the sweet American girl next door. It wasn’t me’: Hollywood success in the 80s was so unpleasant that Ringwald moved to France. Since then she has made a jazz album, written a novel and translated a memoir about Last Tango in Paris star Maria Schneider. (The Guardian)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Ben Clymer, founder & chairman of Hodinkee, and Jeffery Fowler the firm’s CEO. Fowler and Clymer (dubbed the “High Priest of Horology“) discuss all things wristwatches and timepieces, including their experiences at the 2023 Watches & Wonders, why the marketplace has exploded over the past few years, and what are their favorite grail watches.
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Source: Chartr
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