My Two-for-Tuesday morning train reads:
• There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Buy Instead of Rent: It is now 52% more expensive to buy a home than to rent one because of climbing mortgage rates. (Wall Street Journal) see also How High Interest Rates Sting Bakers, Farmers and Consumers: Everyone who relies on credit in America is confronting a new reality: Money will cost more for a good long while. (New York Times)
• “Techno-optimism” is a sign of V.C. crisis: It’s not funny, V.C.s only do this when they’re in extreme distress. (Read Max)
• Amid Market Turmoil, Asset Managers See Assets Fall by Trillions: Total assets under management dropped 13.7 percent at the 500 largest asset managers last year. (Institutional Investor) but see Who You Calling Dumb Money? Everyday Investors Do Just Fine: The average stock portfolio of individual investors has beat the S&P 500 since 2014. (Wall Street Journal)
• How Lunchables ended up on school lunch trays: Weak rules and industry power have allowed ultra-processed products on the menu. (Washington Post)
• The Internet Could Be So Good. Really. Today’s social platforms are designed for spectacle and entertainment—but it’s not too late to build a platform that improves society. (The Atlantic) see also You gotta just ignore annoying tweets: Yes, people on the internet are irritating. And yet. (Vox)
• Why Did Sidney Powell Plead Guilty? The former attorney for Donald Trump was one of nineteen people indicted in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to overturn the result of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. (New Yorker)
• Twitter Is Shrinking Under Elon Musk: Twitter’s lost 13% of its daily users and its rebrand has failed. But those remaining on the app are still engaged, according to new data from Apptopia. Threads, meanwhile, is a nonfactor. (Big Technology) see also Inside the deranged mind of Twitter’s ‘For You’ algorithm: What you learn when your X account is hacked. (Silver Bulletin)
• Ukraine, a Sniper Mission and the Myth of the ‘Good Kill’ A New York Times reporter who is a former Marine has a conversation with a Ukrainian sniper about morality in war. (New York Times)
• High steaks society: who are the 12% of people consuming half of all beef in the US? Beef production is a huge climate crisis driver, and a new study says only a small percent in the country does most of the eating. (The Guardian) see also The Salmon on Your Plate Has a Troubling Cost. These Farms Offer Hope. Land-based aquaculture is still coming into its own, but it stands to upend an industry plagued by environmental concerns. (New York Times)
• Lamar Jackson Sends the NFL a Loud Message: Baltimore’s quarterback romps over the hyped-up Lions with his new weapons and familiar MVP-grade skills. (Wall Street Journal)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with Bethany McLean, contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and author of Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. Her most recent book is The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed About Who America Protects and Who It Leaves Behind, was coauthored with Joe Nocera.
The shortest and longest government shutdowns in U.S. history
Source: Washington Post
