My morning train WFH reads:
• The economy is just a VIP list now: The economy increasingly rewards people who can afford to never wait, mix or be observed. (Your Brain on Money)
• Blame Canada: You Aren’t Going to Like What Comes After America: The New York Times opinion on the post-American world order — the Canada tariff fight, South Park’s satire, and the uncomfortable truth that whatever replaces American hegemony will likely be worse.(New York Times) but see also Canada’s MAGA-Friendly Premier Advances Her Pro-Oil Agenda: Alberta’s Danielle Smith spent three years fighting with the previous government. Now she has an ally in Ottawa also keen to sell more of the country’s oil to the world. She is using the Trump playbook north of the border — pro-oil, anti-federal, and increasingly aligned with American right-wing politics. (Businessweek)
• Making a Statement: The FOMC statement, not the press conference, may be the best window into where the Fed is headed. Here’s my mockup for Wednesday. Stay-At-Home Macro on the Fed’s communication challenge — what the statement language actually signals versus what markets hear, and why the gap between the two keeps causing volatility. (Stay-At-Home Macro)
• Powerful AI models are being given away for free. It was inevitable.: The Washington Post on the open-model wave — free frontier AI was always where the competitive logic pointed, and the implications for Anthropic and OpenAI’s business models are profound. (Washington Post) see also A.I. Companies Are Recruiting Electricians and Carpenters by the Thousands: The data center buildout has created a blue-collar hiring boom — the New York Times on the trades workers powering the AI economy, and the training pipelines racing to keep up. (New York Times)
• Bloomberg’s post-Mike moves are in motion: Semafor’s exclusive on succession planning at Bloomberg LP — the executives positioning, the structural questions, and what happens to the terminal empire after Mike. (Semafor)
• Breakfast is Included: A travel essay on the strange, comforting universality of the hotel breakfast — and what the included buffet says about hospitality, class, and the psychology of the free meal. (Scott Monaco)
• 10 Foods That Food Safety Experts Never Eat: Ask someone who investigates foodborne illness for a living what they won’t put on their plate, and the list is shorter—and stranger—than you’d expect. Time surveys the people who study foodborne illness for a living — the raw sprouts, undercooked items, and buffet staples they personally refuse. (Time)
• Ukraine is teaching Russia a lesson. The U.S. should take notes. Ukrainian drones and rockets have punished underprotected Russian assets on Crimea. Drone warfare is punishing Russia in ways the Pentagon should be studying closely — the future of conflict is cheap, autonomous, and asymmetric. (Washington Post) see also A Misdiagnosis of US Failings Leaves Trump Stuck in Iran. Two questions arise. First, why can’t US can’t impose its will on Iran, a vastly weaker military power, even after obliterating its conventional naval and air defenses? And second, how can Trump fail to understand this incapacity to the extent that he’s having to be restrained from fulfilling one popular definition of insanity — doing the same thing over and over in the expectation of a different result? (Bloomberg)
• Headline of the day: The Newest Status Symbol in Longevity Circles? A “Top One Percent” Vagina. Move over, blood boys and peptides: Influencers, start-ups, and venture capital are suddenly working overtime to help women optimize their genitals. Vanity Fair on the longevity industry’s strangest frontier — biomarker testing and optimization has reached gynecology, and the wellness-industrial complex is monetizing accordingly. (Vanity Fair)
• July’s double meteor shower could produce brilliant fireballs. Here’s how to see them. The Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids will overlap on July 30 and 31—but a bright moon could make their meteors difficult to spot. The Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids peak simultaneously this week. National Geographic on how and when to watch. (National Geographic)
Video of the day: Brits Try Peter Luger Steakhouse — NYC’s Most Famous Steakhouse
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Som Seif Purpose Investments, founder/CEO, Toronto-based asset manager launched in 2012. He grew his first firm, Claymore Investments to $8B in assets by creating 34 ETFs over 6 years, establishing it as Canada’s leader in low-cost exchange-traded funds; he sold to BlackRock in 2012. Next, he co-founded Wealthsimple, which became the default investing app for a generation of Canadians. His wealth management firm, Purpose, was founded at the end of 2012, and manages>$31B in ETFs, mutual funds, alternatives, private assets, and digital assets. Som was named to Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2011.
Mapping Trump’s crypto empire
Source: Citation Needed
Sign up for our reads-only mailing list here.
