My Shopmas morning reads:
• 10 European Sports Cars You Should Buy Used. There is an undeniable appeal to European sports cars that you can’t and won’t find anywhere else. We have assembled a list of the best used European sports cars you can buy from the last decade or so, at abpotu half price or less than new. Despite their cost, when you are behind the wheel of these select few European sports cars, you feel like you are driving the best the world has to offer. Hard to beat half-price! (Top Speed)
• US Consumers Dial Back in Sign of Anxiety Heading Into Holidays: US consumers showed signs of fatigue leading up to the longest government shutdown, and their outlook has worsened ever since, sending a note of caution heading into the holiday-shopping season. (Bloomberg) see also The US economy’s 7 deadly signs: Parts of the America’s economy are already in deep trouble, and the weakness could drag the whole country into a recession. (Business Insider)
• The Best Way to Do a Roth IRA Conversion Before Retirement: A one-time transfer outperforms an equal-installments method in most tax situations, research finds. (Wall Street Journal)
• How to Never Be Stranded After a Canceled Flight Plus other travel tips from Away founder Jen Rubio, such as saving serious cash at duty-free, maximizing your in-flight amenity kit, and packing the one gadget to help you fall asleep quickly wherever your bed may be. (Bloomberg)
• Personalized mRNA Vaccines Will Revolutionize Cancer Treatment—If Funding Cuts Don’t Doom Them: Vaccines based on mRNA can be tailored to target a cancer patient’s unique tumor mutations. But crumbling support for cancer and mRNA vaccine research has endangered this promising therapy. (Scientific American)
• International Nationalism: As with fiber, we are in an unsettled period, with no obvious answer, and lots of chaotic, one-off gestures towards de-dollarization. For example, Ethiopia is re-valuing its foreign debt in Chinese renminbi. (Pluralistic)
• How Louvre thieves exploited human psychology to avoid suspicion—and what it reveals about AI: For humans and AI, when something fits the category of “ordinary,” it slips from notice. (The Conversation)
• Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna’s months-long campaign to outmaneuver the White House on the Epstein files started with a text. Inside the effort to force Trump’s hand on Epstein. (Washington Post)
• Winners of the 2025 Drone Photo Awards: Explore the Beauty of the World Above. (My Modern Met) see also 13 dizzying and dazzling images from 2025 Drone Photo Awards: A lone camel, a hungry polar bear, and a congregation of herons. (Popular Science)
• How Mark Wahlberg Became The King Of Streaming: As theatrical releases decline, the 54-year-old actor has become the most bankable star on Netflix, Amazon and Apple—earning $20 million or more a movie—in a major paradigm shift of Hollywood economics. Inside the new A-Minus List. (Forbes)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of famed watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne, the Glashütte, German watchmaker, recorded live at the Audrain Newport Concours d’Elegance.
No sector is hurting worse than manufacturing, which continues to shed jobs at a rapid rate. The auto industry has swung from expansion under Biden to contraction under Trump
Source: Noahpinion
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