My TACO-Tuesday morning train WFH reads:
• The Melt-Up: The Nasdaq 100 now has a higher return over the past 10 years than: Japan in the 1980s, the Dow in the Roaring 20s, the S&P in the 1950s. Still trails the 1990s tech run but it’s close Is this it? Is the melt-up here? How much crazier could it get? (Wealth of Common Sense)
• The Home Office meets the housing crisis: On the UK Home Office’s role in deepening the housing squeeze. The administrative state as housing policy by accident. (Chaminda Jayanetti)
• How AI mania is disguising big companies’ hit from Iran war — in charts: Biggest groups have gained $5.4tn in value since conflict began — but semiconductor sector accounts for most of the gains. The FT shows how AI-driven megacap returns are papering over Iran-war damage in the rest of the market. The headline index is lying to you. (Financial Times)
• The Factory Town Known as China’s Furniture Capital Is Fighting to Survive: A WSJ portrait of one Chinese export town getting flattened by tariffs and weak demand. The supply-chain map is being redrawn in real time. The U.S. lost much of its furniture industry to China years ago. Now, American tariffs and overseas competition are punishing manufacturers. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Slopification of Lunch: The fast-casual bowl as cultural artifact: cheap, beige, and aggressively undifferentiated. Esquire pokes at why lunch got worse. R.I.P. to the golden age of fast-casual dining. What the hell happened? (Esquire)
• The Emergent Self Loop: Kevin Kelly on how recursive systems develop apparent agency. A useful framework for thinking about AI, organisms, and your own habits. (KK)
• The Culture Crutch: How lazy social scientists and commentators use “culture” as a catch-all explanation to avoid the harder analytical work. How lazy social scientists and commentators use the c-word to avoid doing their jobs (Laissez-Faire, Laissez-Passer)
• New Research: Cognitive dissonance helps explain why Trump supporters remain loyal: “The researchers found a positive association between feeling bothered by the news article and expressing disbelief in the allegations. Participants who experienced higher levels of mental discomfort were more likely to claim the accusations were fabricated. This suggests that the denial is not just a calm rejection of information, but rather a direct response to the psychological distress of cognitive dissonance.” (PsyPost) see also Hundreds of Fake Pro-Trump Avatars Emerge on Social Media: The artificial-intelligence-generated fake influencers have surged on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube in an apparent bid to hook conservative voters. In the months leading up to the midterm elections, hundreds of A.I.-generated pro-Trump influencer accounts have emerged on social media, featuring avatars posting at a rapid pace about the “radical left” and “America First.” (New York Times)
• Science Has Found Even More Ways Coffee Is Good for You: More positive nutritional findings on the world’s most-consumed psychoactive beverage. Drink up — selectively. A new study shows the mechanisms of how coffee modifies the microbiome, reduces inflammation, and influences mood. Even decaf has its perks. (Wired)
• ‘Tony’ Gives Anthony Bourdain the Anti-Biopic Treatment: The new Bourdain film aims for something stranger than hagiography. Whether it lands is another question. Blackberry director Matt Johnson’s origin-story movie cuts down on the hero factor by showing us the future icon as a Provincetown line cook with a lot to learn. (GQ)
Video of the day: Psychology of “Generation Jones”
Be sure to check out our Master’s in Business interview with Howard Lindzon, known as “The Larry David of Finance.” He is General Partner at the seed fund, Social Leverage, he was one of the first seed investors in Robinhood, which IPOd at $30B in 2021, eToro, Manscaped, and Beehiiv. Previously, he founded Wallstrip, a daily online video show acquired by CBS (2007). He also co-founded Stocktwits, which pioneered the “cashtag.” Recognized by Institutional Investor as a “Super Angel;” his podcast is Panic with Friends.
Trump disapproval reaches new high via WashPost-ABC-Ipsos poll
Source: Washington Post
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