Il ministro Tria è in Cina per una missione commerciale. Lui dice che non è andato a vendere il nostro debito pubblico. Io dico che c’è andato, invece, e vi spiego perché.
Mese: agosto 2018
Bespoke Brunch Reads 8/26/18
Below is our Bespoke Brunch Reads linkfest, featuring some of our favorite articles (both finance and non-finance related) over the past week.
Labor In The Valley
What is this weird Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work? by Devin Coldewey (TechCrunch)
Amazon appears to be astroturfing a public display of worker satisfaction via either bots or the Twitter accounts of actual workers; the larger story isn’t exactly clear. [Link]
Microsoft Bug Testers Unionized. Then They Were Dismissed by Josh Eidelson and Hassan Kanu (Bloomberg)
While tech companies, especially those based on the West Coast, have a reputation for being liberal or left-wing bastions, their relationship with labor isn’t consistent with that image; this story about Microsoft is a good example. [Link; soft paywall]
Turkey
Framing Turkey’s Financial Vulnerabilites: Some Rhymes with the Asian Crisis, but Not a Repeat by Brad Setser (Council on Foreign Relations)
Setser makes the case that Turkey’s banks are so exposed to foreign exchange denominated debt that the decline in lira has dramatically raised the odds of a funding crisis similar to the Asian Tigers in 1997. On the other hand, the complexity of the Turkish banking and credit system is very different, and Setser discusses in great detail. [Link]
Framing Crashed (5): The Turkish Crisis – the Missing Chapter (Adam Tooze)
Due to its very unique geographic, religious, cultural, financial, and political position as a bridge between the Middle East and Europe, Turkey is a nexus for all sorts of narratives related to near-history. [Link]
Real Estate
Traditional mortgage denial metrics may misrepresent racial and ethnic discrimination by Laurie Goodman and Bing Bai (Urban Institute)
While minorities tend to face higher mortgage applications denial rates than whites, they also typically have lower credit scores and incomes. After adjusting for these credit profiles, an interesting trend emerges: while Hispanic and white borrowers face an elevated denial rate relative to whites when adjusting for credit quality, it’s actually Asian buyers who face the highest “real” denial rates. [Link]
Climate Change Has Already Hit Home Prices, Led by Jersey Shore by Christopher Flavelle (Bloomberg)
A comprehensive study of property values on the New Jersey coast which are exposed to sea level rise shows that climate change’s impacts are already starting to have adverse impacts on home values. [Link; soft paywall, auto-playing video]
Luxury Apartment Sales Plummet in New York City by Josh Barbanel (WSJ)
Sales of apartments priced at $5mm or more fell 31% YoY in the first six months of the year, digesting extremely high prices and the impact of tax reform. [Link; paywall]
Unreal Animals
Company is offering ‘fur-ternity leave’ for new pet owners by Matthew Haag (CNBC/NYT)
A Minneapolis firm is offering its employees the ability to work from home for a week when they get a new dog or cat. [Link]
Animal crackers break out of their cages (CNBC/AP)
For more than a century, Barnum’s Animal Crackers (a Nabisco brand owned by Mondelez) were shown in cages, as animals were kept for circuses were historically. A 2016 request from PETA led to the change. [Link]
Weird History
Before the Civil War, Congress Was a Hotbed of Violence by Anna Diamond (Smithsonian)
Imagine if your Senator was beaten nearly to death with a stick at his desk during discussion of legislation? That was the environment of Congress prior to the Civil War, when outbursts like the Caning of Sumter were frequent and part of the process of making (or, in the case of the South, more frequently preventing) laws. [Link]
History of Rat Control In Alberta (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry)
As rates crept westward across the Prairies in the 1940s and 1950s, Alberta prepared by instituting an intense public awareness campaign and immediately eliminating even the smallest infestations. As a result, it’s just about the only human-populated place on earth without rats. [Link]
Economics
Elizabeth Warren Has Got It All Wrong by Matthew C. Klein (Barron’s)
Senator Warren of Massachusetts wants companies to distribute less cashflow to shareholders via buybacks. She’s misinformed about when and how companies buy back shares, and how that effects their ability to invest. [Link; paywall]
Demographics, Unemployment Rate and Inflation by Bill McBride (Calculated Risk)
Teasing out the relationship between demographics and macroeconomic variables is a significant challenge, but the general consensus is that population growth and inflation are positively correlated. [Link]
Network Defects
Apple and Google Face Growing Revolt Over App Store ‘Tax’ by Mark Bergen and Christopher Palmeri (Bloomberg Quint)
Apple and Google take a big cut from developers who make games or apps that get discovered and installed via the centralized app stores. But now, publishers are pushing back. [Link]
Facebook Fueled Anti-Refugee Attacks in Germany, New Research Suggests by Amanda Taub and Max Fisher (NYT)
A study by University of Warwick researchers suggest that a one standard deviation rise in Facebook use was correlated to a 50% increase in attacks on refugees. [Link; soft paywall]
Social Norms
Sorry, Pal, I Don’t Want to Talk: The Other Reason People Wear AirPods by Rebecca Dolan (WSJ)
Apple AirPods are being worn all day by users who want to avoid conversation or interruption. We’re wondering why it has to be AirPods as opposed to other forms of wireless headphones which generally have the same effect. [Link; paywall]
Venture
Benchmark Capital Stays Lean, Even After $14 Billion Bonanza by Rolfe Winkler (WJS)
Despite a trend that has seen billions of new capital flow into VC firms, one of the original early stage shops is not expanding its annual fund size, keeping things the same size as it has since 2004 despite a 25x performance from its 2011 vintage fund. [Link; paywall]
Sports
Won and done? Sportsbooks banning the smart money by David Purdum (ESPN)
Bookmakers in the UK are increasingly banning successful bettors, a practice that is totally legal and spreading to the US. [Link]
‘Listen To The Kids’: How Atlanta Became The Black Soccer Capital Of America (Bleacher Report)
A walk through the grass roots soccer scene in Atlanta, where immigrant families, hip hop, and an electric MLS squad have combined to create a passionate fan base for the beautiful game in Georgia. [Link]
Have a great Sunday!
La questione turca: un pericolo reale oppure il delirio di un imbecille?
La questione della Turchia, attualmente il peggiore spauracchio sui mercati finanziari mondiali, è realmente un problema, o ci sono delle soluzioni? Può il delirio di un tiranno in erba danneggiare seriamente tutto e tutti? Io vi dico la mia, come al solito: no… E cerco di spiegare perché.
Bespoke Brunch Reads 08-12-2018
Below is our Bespoke Brunch Reads linkfest, featuring some of our favorite articles (both finance and non-finance related) over the past week.
Mega Tech
Apple’s $1 Trillion Milestone Reflects Rise of Powerful Megacompanies by Matt Phillips, NY Times
Social Problems
Tech giants are still stumbling in the social world they created, AP
Inside Twitter’s Struggle Over What Gets Banned by Cecilia King and Kate Conger, NY Times
A Generation Grows Up in China Without Google, Facebook or Twitter by Li Yuan, NY Times
Socialism Problems
America might be ready for democratic socialism. It’s not ready for the bill. by Brian Riedl, Vox.com
Straw Problems?
The Summer of Plastic-Straw Bans: How We Got There by Corrine Ramy and Bob Tita, WSJ
Infrastructure
How 2,000-year-old roads predict modern-day prosperity by Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post
The quest to redesign NYC’s garbage cans by Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, Fast Company
Impacts
We May Never Understand the Ocean-Wide Damage Done by Industrial Whaling by Peter Brannen, The New Yorker
Markets and Trading
End of pension fund tax break looms over Treasury market by Joe Rennison, Financial Times
Winton’s David Harding on Turning Away From Trend Following by Rob Mannix, Risk.net
Vanguard Warns of Worsening Odds for the Economy and Markets by Jeff Sommer, NY Times
Online Stock Trading Has Serious Security Holes by Brian Barrett, Wired
Intrigue
Behind Hollywood’s McDonald’s-Monopoly Article Bidding War by Chris Less, Vulture
A Strike is Looming
Baseball’s Best Players Should Be a Lot Richer by Owen Poindexter, Slate
Ponder
Unknown Unknowns: The Problem of Hypocognition by Kaidi Wu and David Dunning, Scientific American
Have a great Sunday! Don’t forget to take advantage of our current $1 New Member Special.
Bespoke Brunch Reads
Below is our Bespoke Brunch Reads linkfest, featuring some of our favorite articles (both finance and non-finance related) over the past week.
Real Estate
Hamptons property sales slow as caution spreads to the wealthy by Ben Foldy (CNBC/FT)
Given state and local tax deduction changes and extremely high valuations for high-end real estate, the Tristate Area’s highest price getaway is under pressure. [Link]
The End of the Global Housing Boom (Bloomberg)
Megacity housing around the world is taking a pause after years of torrid price gains that have pushed valuations and debt levels to extremes. [Link; soft paywall]
Social Media Madness
4,925 Tweets: Elon Musk’s Twitter Habit, Dissected (WSJ)
A quantitative review of the Twitter feed of the most controversial CEO in the country. [Link; paywall]
For Tesla’s Elon Musk, Twitter Is Sword Against Short Sellers by Susan Pulliam and Samarth Bansal (WSJ)
A qualitative review of the Twitter feed of the most controversial CEO in the country. [Link; paywall]
Inside the Always Nasty, Frequently Sexist, and Often Litigious World of Financial Twitter by Michelle Celarier (Institutional Investor)
A skeptical look at the world of Finance Twitter, the rough-and-tumble online world that is replacing trading floors. [Link]
Removing Bad Actors on Facebook (Facebook)
Part of Facebook’s evolving approach to self-regulation, the social network is bringing down the hammer on accounts that are misrepresenting themselves. [Link]
Drinking
America’s Long Love Affair With Beer Is on the Rocks by Saabira Chaudhuri and Annie Gasparro (WSJ)
Last year was the first time that volumes in the alcohol market saw beer become less popular than the duo of wine and cocktails. [Link; paywall]
Driving
DUI arrests in South Florida plummet. Uber, Lyft, millennials among the reasons why by Charles Rabin (Miami Herald)
Thanks to a combination of factors, including most importantly ride sharing, DUI arrests are plunging in South Florida. [Link]
This is the deadliest day of the year for car wrecks in America (LATimes/Bloomberg)
August 2nd is the most deadly day of the calendar for car accidents, even though it isn’t a major holiday or a period of the year with bad weather. [Link]
Investing
Fidelity to launch zero-cost index funds (Reuters)
It was inevitable, we suppose, but officially hit the wires this week: it’s now possible to own an equity index fund that does not have fees of any kind. [Link]
Podcasts
Forget Photo Shoots. Why GQ and Gucci are Betting on Culty Podcasts by Jacob Gallagher (WSJ)
As podcast volumes soar and the medium becomes further-engrained in the daily routines of millions of Americans, advertisers are developing new strategies to capitalize on the audio format. [Link; paywall]
American Environments
A Toxic Tide Is Killing Florida Wildlife by Tryggvi Adalbjornsson and Melissa Gomez (NYT)
Algae blooms in both the oceans and freshwater lakes of Florida are wreaking havoc on sea life and tourist industry on Florida beaches alike. [Link; soft paywall]
Here’s How America Uses Its Land by Dave Merrill and Lauren Leatherby (Bloomberg)
A comprehensive graphical review of how the US uses its land. Some surprises: nearly as much maple syrup producing land as golf courses, similar land use for railroads and airports, and the massive slug of lands dedicated to cows. [Link; soft paywall]
Inequality
Income and Wealth Inequality in America, 1949-2016 by Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick, and Ulrike I. Steins (Minneapolis Fed)
New data using the Survey of Consumer Finances dating back to 1949 reveals striking new data on the shockingly lopsided distribution of wealth in the United States. [Link]
Youth
LeBron James opened a public school in Akron for at-risk kids by James Dator (SBNation)
The truly incredible school Lebron James is funding in his home town, part of his commitment to philanthropy that has spanned a career. [Link]
Summer Camp for the Ultra-Wealthy Teaches Kids How to Stay Rich by Suzanne Woolley (Bloomberg)
A series of events styled as a summer camp is being run by the likes of UBS, Citi, and Credit Suisse in an effort to attract and keep the business of a generation of heirs. [Link; soft paywall]
Have a great Sunday! Don’t forget to take advantage of our current $1 New Member Special.
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