The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Danish Blend coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• Can the Golden Age of Costco Last? With its standout deals and generous employment practices, the warehouse chain became a feel-good American institution. In a fraught time, it can be hard to remain beloved. (New Yorker)
• The Hamptons Luxury Housing Market Is Staging a Comeback for the Ages: The East End’s unprecedented revival is being fueled by a wave of home sales priced above $10 million. (WSJ) see also New York’s Golden Handcuffs: Why the City Has a Special Hold on the Rich: Don’t bet on a millionaire exodus if Mamdani wins the mayorship. (Bloomberg no paywall}
• Long-Term Asset Return Study – The Ultimate Guide to Long-Term Investing: This study examines how asset classes have performed across a wide range of macroeconomic, policy, and valuation environments. Drawing on data that in some cases stretches back to the 18th century, we analyse both nominal and real returns to understand how different assets have behaved under varying conditions. We explore correlations with key drivers such as real and nominal GDP growth, inflation, interest rates, bond yields, debt and deficit levels, and more — with the goal of helping investors tilt the odds in their favour. (Deutsche Bank)
• The Beatles as Comedians: They might have been the Marx Brothers of the Age of Aquarius. (The Honest Broker)
• The Real Stakes, and Real Story, of Peter Thiel’s Antichrist Obsession: Thirty years ago, a peace-loving Austrian theologian spoke to Peter Thiel about the apocalyptic theories of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt. They’ve been a road map for the billionaire ever since. (Wired)
• The myth of the carnivore caveman: You are not going to like where our ancestors got their protein. (Vox)
• What 350 different theories of consciousness reveal about reality: There are hundreds of coherent theories attempting to explain the origins of experience. Robert Lawrence Kuhn explores what they reveal about free will, artificial intelligence and life after death. (New Scientist) see also Lights On: Consciousness, the Mystery of Felt Experience, and the Fundamental Music of Reality: Remove an atom from the piano and it remains a piano; keep going long enough, atom by atom, and it will eventually cease being a piano — but no particular atom marks the boundary of its unbecoming. (The Marginalian)
• Mortality is the mother of art: Living creatively in an impermanent world. There are two basic facts of human existence: We are born. We die. But what we do in between—that part is up to us. The question becomes: How should we spend our finite time here on this Earth? Once our basic survival needs have been met, what pursuits are worth devoting ourselves to? (Hello, Mortal)
• The Island Where People Go to Cheat Death: In a pop-up city off the coast of Honduras, longevity startups are trying to fast-track anti-aging drugs. Is this the future of medical research? (New Republic)
• How Billie Eilish Rewrote the Business of Pop Music: At just 23, she has racked up nine Grammys and two Oscars. Now the hitmaker is making the industry more sustainable—for the world and herself. (Wall Street Journal)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Jon Hilsenrath of Serpa Pinto Advisory. Previously, he was chief economics correspondent for Wall Street Journal for 26 years. Dubbed the “Fed Whisperer” by Wall Street traders for his scoops on the FOMC, he worked out of Hong Kong, NY, and D.C. He was part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team for on-scene coverage of 9/11. He is the author of “Yellen: The Trailblazing Economist Who Navigated an Era of Upheaval.”
The World’s Largest Economies in 2026
Source: Visual Capitalist
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