Perspective

Tax Foundation – State Corporate Income Tax Rates for 2018 – Morgan Scarboro 2/7

Visual Capitalist – Mapping the World’s Wealthiest Cities – Jeff Desjardins 2/16

WSJ – Daily Shot: Credit Suisse – Timeline of Relative Market Capitalizations Since 1900 2/16

WSJ – Daily Shot: TRACE – NRA Contributions to select political candidates 2/15

Worthy Insights / Opinion Pieces / Advice

University of Oxford – Stranded Property Assets in China’s Resource-based Cities: implications for financial stability? – Gerard Dericks, Robert Potts, & Ben Caldecott February 2018

The Atlantic – The Plot Against America – Franklin Foer – March 2018

• In depth profile on Paul Manafort.

The Atlantic – How WeWork Has Perfectly Captured the Millennial Id – Laura Bliss – March 2018

• “The company sells a somewhat uneasy combination of capitalist ambition and cooperative warmth.”

WSJ – Growth Is the Missing Ingredient for Kraft Heinz – Aaron Back 2/16

Markets / Economy

FT – Food industry giants struggle to keep up with changing tastes – Anna Nicolaou 2/16

• “Sales woes at Kraft Heinz, Danone and others force groups to cut costs and eye deals.”

Real Estate

CoStar – Oaktree Becomes Latest Investment Manager to Launch Non-Traded REIT, Looking to Raise up to $2 Billion – Mark Heschmeyer 2/16

• “Oaktree joins a growing list of major investment firms to expand into non-traded REIT fundraising. The Blackstone Group kicked off the trend in September 2016. So far, other big investors that have followed its lead into the non-traded REIT sector include Nuveen’s TH Real Estate, BGC Partners’ Cantor Fitzgerald, Starwood Capital Group, KKR & Co., and TPG Capital.”

WSJ – New York’s Commercial Property Slump Shows Signs of Slowing – Keiko Morris 2/11

Finance

Bloomberg – Hedge Fund Startups in Asia See Signs of Revival – Bei Hu and Klaus Wille 1/21

WSJ – The Rise of Private Assets Is Built on a Mountain of New Debt – Paul J. Davies 2/15

Cryptocurrency

WSJ – Daily Shot: Bitcoin 2/15

Tech

FT – SpaceX joins race to make web truly worldwide – Richard Waters 2/15

• “SpaceX will on Saturday officially enter the race to bring internet access to all parts of the earth’s surface with the planned launch of its first test satellites for a globe-encompassing communications network.”
• “The latest trial from Elon Musk’s private space company is a world away from last week’s spectacular first launch of Falcon Heavy, the world’s biggest rocket. Undertaken with none of the Tesla chief executive’s usual showman flair — he has not even mentioned it on Twitter — it is an early technical trial for a communications service that could be years from completion.”
• “If successful, however, SpaceX has said it plans to start launching its first commercial satellites next year, with a constellation of more than 11,000 circling the earth in low-earth orbit by the time the network is complete in 2024.”
• “SpaceX’s application for approval to test a satellite internet service from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is one of 12 made to the US regulators, highlighting the extent of the potential competition.”
• “SpaceX plans to connect its constellation of satellites to form a so-called mesh network, passing information among them and blanketing the earth.”

Health / Medicine

FT – Good bacteria can help brain function better – Clive Cookson 2/15

• “Researchers are discovering remarkable new links between gut bacteria and the brain. Problems from poor sleep to memory loss could be helped by manipulating the microbiome, the trillions of bacteria living inside healthy human bodies, the American Association for the Advancement of Science heard on Thursday.”