What we’re reading (1/16)
“A Dollar Is a Dollar Is a Dollar. Except in Our Minds.” (Wall Street Journal).”We regularly divide our paychecks into pots. Sometimes they are tangible pots, such as checking accounts or glass jars. Sometimes they are virtual pots, such as Excel sheets or mental pots in our minds. We mark each pot with a label such as rent, food, entertainment, Christmas gifts or emergency funds, and refrain from dipping into pots other than designated ones. Of course, none of this is rational. Rent dollars aren’t any greener than entertainment dollars. Rationally, they should all be in one pot labeled ‘money.’”
“Bill Gates Becomes Top US Farmland Owner” (Fox Business). “Microsoft founder Bill Gates is now the owner of the most farmland in the United States, according to Land Report. The Land Report researchers concluded that Gates, now the fourth richest man in the world, and his wife, Melinda, own 242,000 acres of farmland…[a]ccording to Land Report's research, Gates and his wife had hired former Putnam Investments bond fund manager Michael Larson in 1994 to help them diversify their personal assets.”
“Massive Blackouts Have Hit Iran. The Government Is Blaming Bitcoin Mining.” (Washington Post). “Massive blackouts and smog have hit cities across Iran. It’s a toxic mix as the country, already under economic duress and suffocating U.S. sanctions, simultaneously battles the region’s worst coronavirus outbreak. Blackouts are not new in Iran, where an aging and subsidized electricity sector is plagued by alleged mismanagement. Only this time, government officials say that bitcoin mining at so-called cryptocurrency farms — the energy-intensive business of using large collections of computers to verify digital coin transactions — is partly to blame.”
“As Cookie Crumbles In Digital Advertising, Google And Apple May Benefit” (Investor’s Business Daily). “For years advertisers have feasted on cookies, those small data files that track your every click on the web. But in the name of improved consumer privacy, Google and Apple are forging ahead with plans to thwart online ad trackers. Now the stage is set for these internet giants, media publishers and digital advertisers to battle in the new cookie-free world.”
“The Most Concentrated Market In 40 Years” (Fortune Financial). “Back in the summer of 2017, I demonstrated that the weightings of the S&P 500’s top components were roughly in-line with the historical average, despite all the publicity and discussion the megacap stocks were getting. Fast forward to the beginning of 2021, and the story is very different; by just about any measure, the S&P 500 is the most top-heavy it has been in at least a generation. Consider, for example, the weighting of the top stock, Apple, which currently represents close to 7% of the S&P 500’s market capitalization[.]”
