Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures:
• How America Got Hooked on Ultraprocessed Foods. The earliest processed foods promised ease and convenience. They filled the bellies of soldiers at war. But now, the evolution and explosion of ultraprocessed foods has become one of the greatest health threats of our time. How did we get here? Let’s take a tour through history. (New York Times)
• Western executives who visit China are coming back terrified? Robotics has catapulted Beijing into a dominant position in many industries. (The Telegraph) see also China Has Overtaken America: And Trump’s policies guarantee that we will never catch up (Paul Krugman)
• Short sellers blame retail investors for worst returns since 2020: Rally in heavily shorted stocks comes as AI hype and hopes of lower rates push S&P 500 to record highs. (Financial Times)
• Congress Thinks Hiding Fund Fees Is Good for You: Even if fund expenses seem to disappear, they’re still the biggest drag on your returns. (Wall Street Journal)
• How Crypto Became a Trump Trade: It’s primarily a vehicle for crony capitalism now. (Paul Krugman)
• Microplastics are everywhere. You can do one simple thing to avoid them. The biggest sources of microplastics have one thing in common, scientists say. Here is how to avoid them. (Washington Post) see also Homeopathy is a scam that causes real harm. Not a single homeopathic “medicine” is FDA-approved. These expensive sugar pills have zero science behind them. (Immunologic)
• The hidden way using a rewards card can cost you more: Starbucks tracked my every purchase — then gave me fewer deals. It’s called surveillance pricing, and it’s yet another reminder that Corporate America is filled with bad actors. (Also, Starbucks sucks worse than ever). (Washington Post)
• ‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat: Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape. (Politico)
• The Shadow President: From the wholesale gutting of federal agencies to the ongoing government shutdown, Russell Vought has drawn the road map for Trump’s second term. Vought has consolidated power to an extent that insiders say they feel like “he is the commander in chief.” (Pro Publica)
• Earth’s Climate Has Passed Its First Irreversible Tipping Point and Entered a ‘New Reality’. The second Global Tipping Points Report warns that the world has crossed a key threshold as ocean heat devastates warm-water reefs. (404)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Henry Ward, CEO and co-founder of Carta. The firm works with more than 50,000 companies, 8,500 investment funds, and 2.5+ million equity holders to manage capitalization tables, compensation, valuations, and liquidity, tracking over $2.5 trillion in company equity.
Average tariff rate on U.S. goods imports for consumption
Source: J.P. Morgan
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