Could your mall host dozens of ghost kitchens, making the food you want for delivery only? That's the plan of some developers who want to maximize capacity use at America's underutilized food courts. The Wall Street Journal reports: As the U.S. hospitality industry rebounds from pandemic closures, former hotelier Sam Nazarian is moving into the food-hall business, marrying the traditional dine-in model with delivery-only “ghost kitchens” in hopes of solving revenue problems that have long plagued retail and food spaces. Mr. Nazarian said his new venture, Creating Culinary Communities, … [Read more...]
Beware Billionaires Selling Salvation: You Invest, They Win
You know I have been warning you about the big business billionaires who sell ways to save the world, like ESG funds, while really they're just charging you higher fees for a repackaged index fund. For them, it's all about their EGO. Now, The Wall Street Journal's Simon Clark reports on another example of investors being sold the idea of saving the world, only to be bilked by another pretender. Clark writes: “It’s a crucial moment in history. It’s an opportunity to immutably and absolutely change the course of innumerable lives.” Arif Naqvi, a silver-haired man of soft, bearish charm, … [Read more...]
Heating Your Home Could Be a Lot More Expensive This Winter
Since prices and production collapsed because of COVID-19, drilling for fossil fuels has not rebounded as fast as demand, driving up their prices. This winter, reports The Wall Street Journal, prices for heating fuels could jump significantly. Ryan Dezember writes: Propane has rarely been so expensive this time of year, and prices may have to move higher yet to ensure ample supply for winter, when millions of rural Americans rely on the fuel to heat their homes. At hubs in Mont Belvieu, Texas, and Conway, Kan., propane futures traded Wednesday at $1.09 and 95 cents a gallon, respectively. … [Read more...]
Fed Debates if it is Fueling Housing Bubble
The WSJ reports that the Fed is debating scaling back its mortgage bond purchases faster than Treasuries. The fact that this is even a debate with housing prices rocketing higher and homes selling for well over asking price is disturbing. The housing market needs no help today and could actually benefit from tighter lending conditions. The Fed has bought $982 billion of the mortgage bonds since March 5, 2020, and currently plans to keep buying at least $40 billion each month. Those purchases, along with the Fed’s monthly purchases of $80 billion of Treasury debt, aim to hold down long-term … [Read more...]
Oops! Your Survival Guy’s Encounter at the Grocery Store
In my conversations with you, you're telling me about the impact in your neck of the woods of the Great Resignation. You're telling me about the "Help Wanted" signs, especially in vacation destinations, where many of you live. Help Wanted signs are everywhere in Newport, RI. More on that in a minute. First, I want to share with you a conversation I had with a client who has a front-row seat to the M&A (mergers and acquisitions) world. He told me about a deal he's involved in right now. "E.J.," he said, "for the first time, we're buying a company for its workers, not its client base." … [Read more...]
Biden Administration’s Global Minimum Tax Takes Shape
The global minimum tax proposed by the Biden administration Treasury is beginning to take shape as world leaders back the idea. Paul Hannon and Kate Davidson report for The Wall Street Journal: The U.S. has won international backing for a global minimum rate of tax as part of a wider overhaul of the rules for taxing international companies, a major step toward securing a final agreement on a key element of the Biden administration’s domestic plans for revenue raising and spending. Officials from 130 countries that met virtually agreed Thursday to the broad outlines of what would be the … [Read more...]
Report Cards: Your Survival Guy is Watching You
OK, midyear report cards are in, and if you’ve been with me, then you’re smiling. But I have to ask, how much of this feels real to you? Yes, it’s nice to see stocks are up, but aren’t you more interested in knowing you’re going to keep what you’ve made? What you want to concern yourself with moving forward are real returns or, in other words, how much you’re really gaining if inflation eats your savings like a Gypsy moth. What good do higher prices for stocks do if they get cut down by over a third like we’ve already seen three times this century? Your Survival Guy’s battle plan for you … [Read more...]
Mercedes-Benz Builds Rival to Tesla Model S
The new Mercedes-Benz EQS has been dubbed the "Tesla fighter," and aims to rival the American electric car company's Model S. Jack Denton reports in Barron's: Mercedes’ new luxury electric-vehicle, dubbed a “Tesla fighter” by analysts, beats out the high-end Model S offering from Elon Musk’s company on two key fronts based on a road test, a team at Swiss bank UBS said. Shares in Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, slipped around 1.3% in Frankfurt trading on Wednesday, paralleling losses with the blue-chip German DAX index. The back story. The EQS is Mercedes’ new flagship … [Read more...]
No Inflation?
The Fed can paper over inflation like shingles on a roof, but the numbers are the numbers. Protect your money accordingly. Try telling new home buyers there's no inflation. Nicole Friedman reports at the WSJ: U.S. home prices surged at their fastest pace ever in April as buyers competing for a limited number of homes on the market pushed the booming housing market to new records. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures average home prices in major metropolitan areas across the nation, rose 14.6% in the year that ended in April, up from an 13.3% annual … [Read more...]
Congress Gunning for Facebook After Courts Give Zuckerberg a Pass
Two complaints against Facebook were dismissed by a federal court on Monday, leading to renewed calls from both Democrats and Republicans for increased regulation of big tech companies. The FT reports: Senior members of Congress have renewed calls to overhaul US competition law following the failure of two landmark attempts to break up Facebook. Democrats and Republicans criticised the decision by a federal court on Monday to dismiss one complaint against the social media company by the Federal Trade Commission and another by individual states. Several said the judgment illustrated the … [Read more...]
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