Brigadoon Daily
July 26, 2021
Brigadoon Daily | Exclusively for Brigadoon Members
The Mar-a-Lago primary
Sponsored by | Caracal
TOP FIVE
1. US-China trade is booming
2. Race for COVID-19 pill heats up
3. How corporate America became a political orphan
4. Learning to love GMOs
5. Are the Olympic games a bad deal for host cities?
GLOBALIZATION + STATECRAFT
SCMP: China promises US a ‘tutorial’ in how to treat other countries equally ahead of deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman’s visit
+ Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticizes Washington for thinking it is ‘superior’ and says it needs to learn how to treat others equally
+ Sherman holds talks with US executives after arriving in China
Bloomberg: US, China head into fiirst talks in months - still trading blows
+ Senior US envoy to meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin
+ Washington, Beijing are at odds over issues from virus to tech
China is defying US pressure to change its behavior: Talks in Tianjin aim to stop an increasingly belligerent relationship spilling into conflict.
FT
US to tell China it doesn't want to 'veer into conflict': Beijing and world should teach Washington not to act 'superior,' foreign minister says.
Nikkei
For all the ‘decoupling’ rhetoric, US-China trade is booming
Fortune
CNN: Biden poised to nominate Caroline Kennedy as US ambassador to Australia
Nikkei: Suga cabinet's approval rating sinks to 34% as Olympics start
+ Discontent with weak leadership sends public support to a new low
Nikkei: 'Difficult' G20 talks show battle lines on coal and climate
+ China, India, and Russia oppose G7 push to limit global warming to 1.5 C
Plans of four G20 states are threat to global climate pledge, warn scientists: ‘Disastrous’ energy policies of China, Russia, Brazil and Australia could stoke 5C rise in temperatures if adopted by the rest of the world.
Guardian
+ G20 environment ministers ended talks without agreeing to phase out domestic coal-fired power generation and funding for such plants abroad, a deadlock that foreshadows difficult negotiations looming for this fall's critical climate summit.
+ Israel’s government pledged that the country would reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 85% by 2050, from 2015 levels. It also promised to reduce emissions by 27% by 2030.
The world’s cascade of disasters is not a coincidence: A pandemic, fires, floods, popular unrest — it’s an intertwined pattern seen throughout history and even in the Bible.
Niall Ferguson - Bloomberg
Macron calls for ꞌunityꞌ after COVID protests: DW reports thousands of protesters across France have rebelled against plans for COVID-19 passes to enter restaurants and mandatory vaccinations for health workers. However, three-quarters of the population support the idea.
+ The chief-of-staff to Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, said more restrictions could in future be imposed on those unvaccinated against COVID-19.
A rebellion is stirring in Boris Johnson’s backyard: Brexit helped destroy Labour’s “red wall” in England’s North. Now, it’s coming for the Conservatives’ “blue wall” in the South.
NYT
Did avocado cartels kill the butterfly king? Homero Gómez González put himself between a threatened species and Mexico’s avocado and timber industries. Then he disappeared.
Bloomberg
Bloomberg: Putin touts Russia’s hypersonic nuclear weapons at naval parade
+ Military can strike any target above or below water: Putin
+ Navy Day celebrations come a month after the Black Sea standoff
+ The Russian navy will celebrate its 325th anniversary in October
Spying allegations strain Morocco’s ties with France: FT reports that Rabat denies bugging Macron’s phone but the claims come as the kingdom’s foreign policy is becoming more assertive.
AFP: In French Polynesia, Macron tackles nuclear test legacy, China dominance
Global investors are buying American: WSJ reports money managers worldwide funneled more than $900 billion into US funds in the first half of 2021, a record in data going back to 1992.
DISRUPTION + INNOVATION
What will arise from the demise of mass commuting? ‘For one thing, the pandemic has transformed many suburbs vastly for the better.’
FT
Can Arizona grow electric vehicles in the desert? The state draws a road map for attracting cutting-edge industries and automated plants. But talented workers still matter, and there are challenges ahead.
Timothy L. O'Brien - Bloomberg
Race for COVID-19 pill heats up: WSJ reports Japan’s Shionogi has started human trials for a once-a-day drug designed to neutralize the coronavirus in less than a week as Pfizer and Merck carry out later-stage tests.
AMERICAN POLITICS
WP: Surge of COVID delta variant poses new political threat to Biden and his agenda
+ One projection causing particular concern shows the US facing more than 200,000 new cases per day in the fall, and daily deaths increasing by 300% by October.
Senators try to finalize deal on infrastructure package: WSJ reports a bipartisan group hopes to iron out key details on a roughly $1 trillion bill for roads, bridges, transit, and broadband.
+ Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), the lead GOP negotiator of the bipartisan group, said Sunday on ABC that negotiators were “about 90% of the way there” in reaching an agreement.
How corporate America became a political orphan: With populism on the rise in the GOP and the Democrats moving left, the business community is struggling to find allies in a polarized era.
Gerald F. Seib - WSJ
The Mar-a-Lago primary: Trump wields power with endorsements, but some in GOP fear midterm damage
LAT
Why I’m sure Trump will run for President in 2024
Michael Wolff - NYT
US population growth, an economic driver, grinds to a halt: Because the birthrate already was moving down, the push from the pandemic could result in what amounts to a scar on population growth, possibly deeper than those left by historic periods of economic turmoil such as the Great Depression.
WSJ
COMMERCE
Battle for the cloud, once Amazon vs. Microsoft, now has many fronts: Customers increasingly sign with multiple vendors to lower costs and cobble together the best services.
WSJ
Gas engines, and the people behind them, are cast aside for electric vehicles: Transition not yet noticeable in showrooms, but industry resources have shifted. ‘We’re trying to make things change pretty quickly.’
WSJ
Rivian Automotive Inc., the electric truck startup backed by Amazon.com Inc. and Ford Motor Co., said Friday it raised $2.5 billion as it prepares to debut its plug-in pickup and sport-utility vehicle this fall. The latest round of funding brings the total amount of capital Rivian has raised to $10.5 billion, it said in a statement.
Bitcoin’s corporate diehards face earnings reckoning after slump
Bloomberg
+ Tesla, MicroStrategy likely to post write-downs in coming days
+ Bitcoin sideshow casts a shadow on Tesla, Wedbush analyst says
Philip Morris to stop selling Marlboro cigarettes in UK within 10 years: FT reports the brand ‘will disappear’ from UK shelves under diversification strategy, says chief executive.
Soho House enters club of its own: The stock market: The chain of exclusive clubs has lost money for its entire existence, but it pitched investors on plans for rapid growth and a pandemic-proof business.
NYT
Fraud on the farm: How a baby-faced CEO turned a Farmville clone into a massive Ponzi scheme: Farm Bank let players make money while supporting real farms. Then the CEO vanished with $80 million.
ROW
SoftBank Vision Fund’s bet on Didi falls $4bn into the red: FT reports the Japanese group’s heavy investments in Chinese tech have left it exposed to a regulatory crackdown.
SPACE + SCIENCE
Learning to love GMOs: Overblown fears have turned the public against genetically modified food. But the potential benefits have never been greater.
NYT
PERFORMANCE
Why your inner circle should stay small, and how to shrink it
Scott Gerber - HBR
CULTURE
Stir craze: How the negroni became the cocktail of 2021
Guardian
Si. Si.
Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson pay their own way to space. And — surprise, surprise — they’re hated for it.
Jeremy Clarkson - The Times
Bezos, Branson may not get official astronaut status after FAA changes policy: The Hill reports the new requirement says a person must also have “demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety," putting Bezo and Branson’s astronaut status in jeopardy.
The blowback on Branson and Bezos is something to behold.
There is something flowing through the culture - Trump hasn't fully left the system, the anxiety of COVID living, and a general "I have credentials why aren't I doing better" thinking.
SPORT
NIL era brings cautious optimism to college-town businesses
AP
Serious question - what is the purpose of college football today?
The math PhD who just shocked Olympic cycling: Austria’s Anna Kiesenhofer escapes early to fend off a confused Dutch super team and capture gold.
WSJ
+ Team USA's men basketball team lost to France yesterday. It was the United States' first Olympic basketball loss since 2004.
At 101, judo coaching great Yosh Uchida still isn’t done helping Olympians
LAT
Are the Olympic games a bad deal for host cities? A study finds that budgets typically overrun by 172%.
Economist
The estimated cost of each Summer Olympics since 2000:
Sydney 2000: $5 billion
Athens 2004: $2.9 billion
Beijing 2008: $6.8 billion
London 2012: $15 billion
Rio 2016: $13.7 billion
Tokyo 2020: $28 billion
56%: Share of NBA fans who say the league should update its logo to feature a silhouette of a Black player, according to a new Harris Poll.
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
Curation and commentary by Marc A. Ross | Founder @ Brigadoon
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