10 Weekend Reads

The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of  coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:

• What If Money Expired? A long-forgotten German economist argued that society and the economy would be better off if money was a perishable good. Was he an anarchist crank or the prophet of a better world? (NOEMA)

• Inside Saudi Arabia’s $3 Trillion Plan to Move Past Oil: The world’s largest oil exporter has a plan to transform its economy into a high-tech hub for global business. How investors can ride along. (Barron’s)

• Electric Cars Are Already Upending America: After years of promise, a massive shift is under way. (The Atlantic)

• Apocalypse-Proof: A windowless telecommunications hub, 33 Thomas Street in New York City embodies an architecture of surveillance and paranoia. That has made it an ideal set for conspiracy thrillers. (Places)

• What does the Cerebellum Do Anyway? Hint: It’s Not Just Balance; Clearly, the cerebellum does something to control movement, and movement is impaired when it is damaged. But why do we need a whole other “little brain” to control these aspects of movement? (Rough Diamonds)

• How We Turned the Tide in the Roach Wars: Forty years ago, scientists did the impossible. Why doesn’t anyone remember? (The Atlantic)

• Chinese Spy Agency Rising to Challenge the C.I.A. The ambitious Ministry of State Security is deploying A.I. and other advanced technology to go toe-to-toe with the United States, even as the two nations try to pilfer each other’s scientific secrets. (New York Times)

• How Trump reignited his base and took control of the Republican primary: From a moment of vulnerability after the midterms, the former president turned his criminal indictments into a rallying cry and benefited from a disciplined campaign, stalled opposition and Biden’s weakness. (Washington Post)

• The James Webb telescope is a giant leap in the history of stargazing. Our view of the universe will never bethe same. (New York Times)

• The best concert of your life might not be on Earth: Wwhat if it were possible to go to space to experience something transcendent, something that helps us better understand ourselves as humans and earthlings? And what if living in, or at least traveling to, space could yield incomparable beauty in the form of art and music? (Washington Post)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Matt Levine, Opinion columnist at Bloomberg. He is the author of Money Stuff, one of the most popular daily newsletters on Wall Street. Previously, he was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton.

In the 127 years since its birth in 1896 (through 2023), the Dow has been up 75% of the time. The average total annual return is ~12.4%

Source: @AlbertBridgeCap