What we’re reading (11/2)
“A World Running On Empty” (Paul Krugman, New York Times). “Probably the best parallel is not with 1974 or 1979 but with the Korean War, when inflation spiked, hitting almost 10 percent at an annual rate, because supply couldn’t keep up with surging demand…[during the pandemic] the composition of demand has changed. During the worst of the pandemic, people were unable or unwilling to consume services like restaurant meals, and they compensated by buying more stuff…[s]omething similar seems to have happened around the world.”
“Money Talks: The Couple Who Used Lessons From 2008 To Navigate 2020” (Vox). “Krystal: We realized ownership was extremely valuable, especially in a market that was growing. Then, in this situation, we realized the people who were doing really well were the people who had ownership. It made sense that people who own property, people who have income sources that aren’t tied to employers, are doing okay.”
“Zillow Stock Dives After Analyst Highlights Two-Thirds Of Homes Bought Are Underwater” (MarketWatch). “Shares of Zillow Group Inc. took a dive Monday, after KeyBanc analyst Edward Yruma highlighted how most of the homes the real estate services company purchased, with an aim to flip them, were now worth less than what they paid for them…Yruma said it completed an analysis of 650 homes in Zillow’s inventory, or about one-fifth of the homes owned, and found that 66% are currently listed below the purchase price at an average discount of 4.5%.”
“Farewell Offshoring, Outsourcing. Pandemic Rewrites CEO Playbook.” (Wall Street Journal). “With the machinery of international trade slowed, business leaders are ditching, at least temporarily, overseas partners and the conventional wisdom of the global economy in favor of reliability, even if it costs more. Some are moving workers and production facilities closer to home and relocating plants closer to suppliers. Others are buying their suppliers or bringing former contract work in-house.”
“Of Course Trump’s SPAC Deal May Have Broken Securities Laws” (Vanity Fair). “Just days after Donald J. Trump left the White House, two former contestants on his reality show, The Apprentice, approached him with a pitch. Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky wanted to create a conservative media giant. Mr. Trump was taken with the idea. But he had to figure out how to pay for it…. To get his deal done, Mr. Trump ventured into an unregulated and sometimes shadowy corner of Wall Street, working with an unlikely cast of characters: the former Apprentice contestants, a small Chinese investment firm and a little-known Miami banker named Patrick Orlando.”
