My end of Summer, 3-day weekend reads:
• Walmart and Other Retailers Have Eaten the Cost of Tariffs. Now It Is the Consumer’s Turn. While the last quarter’s sales were strong, price increases could be felt starting now. (Barron’s) see also No More Free Ride for Small-Dollar Parcels as Tariffs Kick In. After midnight last night, a tariff exemption for packages worth less than $800 comes to an end. So that gadget or bauble you ordered online is going to be subject to the duties Trump imposed previously on the country of origin and in some cases the component materials. (Bloomberg) see also Higher Prices Are Coming for Household Staples: Companies from Hormel to Ace Hardware forecast prices rising as the costs of Trump’s tariffs are passed on to consumers. (Wall Street Journal)
• Buffett’s Intangible Moats. Buffett’s long-term success is largely driven by systematic exposure to two key factors: Intangible Value and Quality. (Sparkline Capital)
• Disney and the Decline of America’s Middle Class. That middle class has so eroded in size and in purchasing power — and the wealth of our top earners has so exploded — that America’s most important market today is its affluent. As more companies tailor their offerings to the top, the experiences we once shared are increasingly differentiated by how much we have. (New York Times)
• FTAV Q&A: Claudia Sahm The economist behind the ‘Sahm Rule’ talks recession trade-offs and the future of the Fed as tensions with the Trump administration escalate. (FT Alphaville)
• Bigger dreams and the colossal effect of “power laws” Fund manager and writer John Candeto is on a mission to decode the hidden patterns that drive extraordinary outcomes. (Big Think)
• Why It’s Actually a Good Time to Buy a House, According to a Zillow Economist: Orphe Divounguy walks would-be homeowners through this confusing moment.(Bloomberg) see also It’s a great time to buy or sell a home (2006): In fact, its such a good time, that the National Association of Realtors decided they need to drop $40 million telling you so: (The Big Picture)
• Are We Approaching Peak Lobster? From the coasts of Maine to Chinese banquet halls, Greg Mercer’s The Lobster Trap traces a luxury food’s uncertain future. (Bloomberg)
• Simple chemistry helps explain the origin of life: Scientists have figured out how proteins may have been created on early Earth. (Washington Post)
• If You Must Play One Sport, Make It Tennis: The longer you play, the more it will do for your health. (The Atlantic) see also ‘Hash court’ and high drama: how weed became the US Open’s new distraction: Subway rumble, rowdy crowds, celebrity cameos – and now pot smoke. Tennis’s loudest major is rubbing up against New York’s shifting culture around marijuana. (The Guardian)
• Taylor Swift is entering her conservative era: The billionaire pop star now takes her bigger career risk — marriage. (Financial Times)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, a subsidiary of Moody’s Corp. Dr. Zandi is a cofounder of Economy.com, which Moody’s purchased in 2005. He currently hosts the “Inside Economics” podcast.
AI Needs So Much Power, It’s Making Yours Worse
Source: Bloomberg
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