Australia has proposed a law that would require Google and Facebook to start paying publishers for the their content. Today, Google and Facebook profit off of others content without compensation. Sounds a lot like stealing if you ask us. Australia has apparently had enough. Google and Facebook are predictably objecting to Australia's proposal and threatening to pull out of the country, but not Microsoft. Microsoft thinks the U.S. should adopt Australia's proposal. Microsoft probably isn't being benevolent here since their Bing search engine has a lot to gain if Google pulls out of Australia. … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2021
China’s Coal War with Australia
China is locked in a diplomatic brawl with Australia over an independent global inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, writes Chuin-Wei Yap of The Wall Street Journal. He writes (abridged): China’s ban on Australian coal imports is intensifying a crisis in its coal market, which is battling surging prices, supply shortages, conflicting policy goals and a cold winter. Locked in a diplomatic brawl over Canberra’s call for an independent global inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, Beijing imposed an informal ban around September that forced boatloads of Australian coal to languish at sea. … [Read more...]
Warning! Your Survival Guy’s on a Boil Water Advisory
Aren’t you glad you’re not me? Your Survival Guy’s in a boil water advisory. It’s not great. I’ll let you decide how a boil water advisory might run through your family. I’ll just say I live with teenagers and leave it at that. But there’s a silver lining here (and later on in this piece) so stick around and read on. Yesterday, while Your Survival Guy (YSG) was on the phone (I forget if it was with you) I got a text from home “no water pressure.” Now this isn’t something YSG can solve from his desk. But, rest assured, the despair felt by the rest of my family was going to be felt by me come … [Read more...]
A Wake-up Call for Jay Powell
On Monday, Tesla disclosed that it put $1.5 billion of it's cash in Bitcoin. Today, the WSJ reports that the venerable Bank of New York, one of the largest custody banks in the U.S., is jumping into cryptocurrencies. The Bank of New York will hold, transfer, and issue cryptocurrencies on behalf of its clients. The world's global central banks seem awful complacent about the threat of Bitcoin to disrupt fiat money. It doesn't take much to imagine a scenario where employers and employees start to prefer some sort of hard money alternative (Bitcoin supply will eventually be fixed) to fiat … [Read more...]
Do You Know Fidelity’s Best Kept Secret Weapon?
When you think about low cost index funds, do you think of Fidelity Investments? You should. Located blocks from Fidelity’s headquarters is Fidelity run Geode where “a team of quants toil in relative anonymity,” writes Justin Baer for the WSJ. “They’re also a key weapon in the investment firm’s fight to take on all rivals, from Vanguard Group to Robinhood Markets Inc.” “It’s one of the best-kept secrets in asset management,” said Ben Johnson, director of global exchange-traded fund research at Morningstar.” Baer continues: Index investors like Geode are charged with keeping pace with … [Read more...]
Are EVs as Carbon Friendly as we are Told?
Writing in the WSJ, Holman Jenkins makes the case that electric vehicles may not be the climate savior that the green crowd would have you believe. Passenger Vehicles Account for 7.5% of all emissions If the Environmental Protection Agency is right, the average light vehicle racks up 11,500 miles a year and sits idle 96% of the time. The World Resources Institute says passenger vehicles account for 7.5% of all emissions, but this includes buses, taxis, etc. Rental cars average 31,000 miles. Other fleet vehicles average 23,000 or more. Heavy trucks average 63,000 miles. One finding that … [Read more...]
What You’re Telling Me on Any Given Day
You’re telling me about the snow in your neck of the woods while on your afternoon walk. You’re telling me about how you’re setting up to sell your business. And you’re telling me how you’ve read Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report for years, and you’re ready to become a client. After one of my conversations with you, you emailed me and said, "It just came to me that during our conversation we did not speak a word about our investments. Nothing about stocks or fixed income. That tells me something.“ Once you get your financial situation on terra firma, it opens the world up in a way … [Read more...]
Despite Cajoling Others, JP Morgan Puts Shareholders First
There is a movement in business today to put "stakeholders" at the forefront of a business's thought. But it doesn't take too much thought to imagine how that would dry up investment as shareholders would look to put their money where it's treated best. JP Morgan has championed the stakeholder approach in the past, but when it came time to make a real decision, it chose long-term viability over the short-term public relations benefits of the "stakeholder" approach. Ross Kerber reports: JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon has led calls for companies to consider the needs of workers, … [Read more...]
A Tax Saving, Money Making, Idea for Your Grandchildren
You know that getting saving for your grandchild is the best thing you can do as a grandparent. You've read my recommendations on Roth IRAs and UGMAs for your grandkids. Christmas is a great time to save for your grandkids, but any time will do when you're funding a tax-free savings plan for your grandchild. In Kiplinger, Mary Kane lays out the basics of seeding a Roth IRA for a grandchild, writing (abridged): Contributions to Roth IRAs give grandchildren "a huge head start," says Jennifer Failla, a certified financial planner with Strada Wealth Management, in Austin, Tex. Grandchildren … [Read more...]
Don’t Blink: Here’s Why the EV Bubble May Not Last Forever
In Bloomberg, Mark Chediak and Catherine Traywick warn investors of the extreme valuations EV companies are trading for today. They write (abridged): There is nothing about the finances of Blink Charging Co. that would suggest it’s one of the hottest stocks in America. It’s never posted an annual profit in its 11-year history; it warned last year it could go bankrupt; it’s losing market share, pulls in anemic revenue and has churned through management in recent years. And yet a hot stock it is. Investors have bid Blink’s share price up 3,000% over the past eight months. Only seven … [Read more...]