10 Monday AM Reads
My Columbus Day morning reads:
• The Time Scott Bessent Tried to Outsmart the Bond Market : Matt Egan: Bessent arrived at Treasury with market credibility, Wall Street’s respect and the swagger that helped Soros break the Bank of England in 1992. The bond market had other ideas. ( CNN )
• What Makes Warren Buffett One of a Kind : A week after Buffett stepped down as Berkshire chairman, less than a month past his 96th birthday, Jason Zweig looks past the usual explanations of analytical genius, memory and flexibility. ( Jason Zweig ) See also : The Berkshire Archive , every shareholder letter from 1965 on ( Berkshire Letters )
• The Winners & Losers of Higher Interest Rates : Inflation was low in the 2010s which consumers liked. But economic growth was slower and wage growth stalled out. People didn’t like that. Economic and wage growth have been better this decade but that’s come with much higher inflation. People like the wage growth but hate the inflation. ( A Wealth of Common Sense )
• Ukraine is Successfully Bombing the Heart of Russia’s Online Disinformation Machine :. Yandex answers 70% of Russian searches, and Ukraine hit three of its five data centers in four days. ( Existentialist Republic )
• Long Island City: Queens Battle Axe Gleason and the Return of Augusta Nack : The confusingly named, rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Long Island City is the closest Queens gets to Manhattan, both geographically and architecturally. That similarity is most acutely felt along its western border, where sparkling towers of glass and steel, the universal language of luxury condominiums, began to emerge from the East River shore in the early aughts. This was around the same time I began my Transformations project, an attempt to document Brooklyn and Queens in the midst of what I thought was an unprecedented building boom. ( The Neighborhoods )
• There Are Plenty of Reasons to Be Concerned About Bioweapons Development—Even Without AI: AI guardrails on gain-of-function queries get the headlines, but the deeper risk is a research culture that defaults to publishing dual-use pathogen work regardless of the consequences of a release. In her new book on biological warfare, Annie Jacobsen didn’t even discuss AI because scientists can already warp Mother Nature to create extinction-level events. ( Wired )
• Solar Panels That Plug Into Your Wall Are About to Be Everywhere : California is the latest state to pass a law making it easier to install balcony-friendly solar panels. Renewable energy experts think the new technology is about to take off. ( National Geographic ) see also Driving Plug-in Solar Legislation State by State : Plug-in solar, small panels that plug into the wall let renters and homeowners generate their own electricity, is being legalized state by state. The map below tracks legislation across all 50 U.S. states: Where bills have passed, where they’re advancing, and what’s next. ( Brightsaver )
• How Biden Averted a War With Iran : Brett McGurk, who led cease-fire and hostage talks after October 7, gives an insider’s account, starting with a February 2024 trip to Egyptian intelligence headquarters in Cairo. In April 2024, the U.S. military helped avoid a wider conflict in the Middle East by working with Israel to defeat an Iranian missile attack. ( The Atlantic )
• We reviewed $1.6 billion of campaign ads. Here are the takeaways . Everyone’s talking about the economy, but Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on what other issues will mobilize midterm voters. More than 8,000 midterm ads: it’s all about the economy, Republicans lean harder on immigration and social issues, and they rarely mention Trump. ( Washington Post )
• Michael Lewis on the Lone Security Guard Who Resisted DOGE : In an exclusive excerpt from ‘Blockers,’ the inside story of the high-stakes D.C. standoff where security chief Colin O’Brien fought off DOGE operatives. ( Wall Street Journal )
Video of the day : Have We Finally Proven Einstein Wrong?
Be sure to check out our latest Masters in Business interview Maria Vassalou , Head of the Pictet Research Institute , part of Pictet management , running over a trillion dollars in client assets. The Geneva-based, group-wide research capability. The Institute has its own staff of PhD-level researchers and collaborates with outside academics and think tanks; its mandate is deliberately long-term and strategic rather than tactical, covering strategic asset allocation, portfolio construction, risk premia, capital market structures, global economic and investment trends, and sustainability.
Interest Rates Are Surging
Source: Barron’s
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