My mid-week morning train WFH reads:
• US Economy Fact Sheet: State of the Union 2026: USAFacts’ data-driven snapshot of where the economy actually stands — jobs, inflation, debt, growth — stripped of spin. (USAFacts)
• FedEx sues Trump administration for full tariff refunds after Supreme Court ruling: FedEx isn’t waiting around — it’s suing for a full refund of tariffs paid under IEEPA authority that the Court just declared unconstitutional. (Fox Business) see also Trump’s new tariffs are just as illegal as his old tariffs: The Supreme Court struck down the first round. The replacement tariffs invoked under a different statute have the same constitutional problems. (Popular Information)
• Diversification: It’s Not Just for Defense Anymore: The case for diversification has always been about risk reduction. Now it’s starting to look like an offensive strategy too, as concentration risk bites the mega-cap trade. (Wall Street Journal)
• Trump’s Challenge to Free Market Capitalism: Stakes in private companies. Handshake deals with chief executives. The president’s economic agenda — tariffs, industrial policy, picking winners — represents a fundamental break with Republican free-market orthodoxy. The party is going along with it anyway. The president’s economic policy has drifted far from principles that long defined the Republican Party. Is it capitalism at all? (New York Times)
• US probably shed jobs last year, top Federal Reserve official says: Christopher Waller says he would back March rate cut if there are further signs of weakening in the labour market: US employment probably fell in 2025, underscoring how the labour market weakened during the first year of Donald Trump’s second term, according to new projections by a top Federal Reserve official. (Financial Times)
• How Prediction Markets Polymarket and Kalshi Are Gamifying Truth: Prediction markets promised to be the future of information discovery. Instead they’re becoming another form of entertainment gambling with a veneer of intellectual respectability. Two companies are pioneering a new way of predicting the future. Critics call it unregulated gambling. (Bloomberg free) see also The economics of the Kalshi prediction market: A deep dive into how prediction markets actually work — the mechanics of price discovery, liquidity, and whether these platforms are producing useful information or just noise. (VoxEU / CEPR)
• What the Wealthy Want in Their Private Jets: At a time when the ultrarich are prioritizing privacy, interior designers are making yachts and private planes feel more like apartments than transportation, customizing private aircraft with features that make first class look quaint. A look inside the arms race of airborne luxury. (Wall Street Journal)
• Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump: An NPR investigation finds the DOJ has removed or withheld Epstein files connected to the president. The cover-up is becoming the story. (NPR)
• How to talk about wine like a normal person: Wine language is absurd — full of geological jargon, French loanwords, and descriptions that make no earthly sense. Here’s how to navigate it without sounding like a sommelier or a fool. (Washington Post)
• Rose Byrne Can, and Does, Do It All: An Oscar nominee for a movie in which everything crashes down on her (literally), Byrne is shifting gears with the Broadway comedy “Fallen Angels.” (New York Times)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Hilary Allen, Professor of Law at the American University Washington College of Law. She specializes in financial regulation, banking law, securities regulation, and technology law, with a particular focus on how new financial technologies like fintech, crypto, and AI intersect with financial stability and public policy.
“Institutional investors” — landlords who own 1000+ housing units — are a tiny sliver of single-family homes
Source: The Bulwark
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