Wednesday morning news drop
The Booming U.S. Recovery Is Leaving Some Communities Completely Behind. The U.S. economy is on a multi-speed track as minorities in some cities find themselves left behind by the overall boom in hiring. The recovery is also patchy geographically. The varying speeds matter because the Federal Reserve and the White House vowed to look beyond aggregate figures to more broad-based data before adjusting their monetary and fiscal policies. (Bloomberg)
Chip shortage highlights U.S. dependence on fragile supply chain Seventy-five percent of semiconductors, or microchips — the tiny operating brains in just about every modern device — are manufactured in Asia. Lesley Stahl talks with leading-edge chip manufacturers, TSMC and Intel, about the global chip shortage and the future of the industry. (60 Minutes)
The Former CEO of Vanguard Has Some Surprising Views on Alternatives Decades after his first book on investing, Jack Brennan has a new update where he discusses everything from endowments to the value of active management. (Institutional Investor)
Sorry not sorry This weekend I listened to a lot more Nas and Jay-Z than I did Buffett and Munger. Nas invested in a Coinbase round back in 2013 when the company was raising $25 million at a valuation of $143 million. Coinbase and crypto were far from a sure thing when Nas’s fund bought in. His fund was also early to Lyft, Dropbox and Robinhood, so to dismiss this windfall as a case of getting lucky would be wrong. Warren and Charlie are two idols of mine. I appreciate everything they’ve done and taught to the investor class over decades of success. But they are now 90 and 97 years old respectively and they don’t seem to be curious or interested in the largest trends driving the markets anymore. I don’t think I’ll be any worse off as an investor in the 21st Century, do you? (Reformed Broker)
Auto Makers Retreat From 50 Years of ‘Just in Time’ Manufacturing Pressured by pandemic, the hyperefficient supply-chain model pioneered by Toyota is under assault. The hyperefficient auto supply chain symbolized by the words “just in time” is undergoing its biggest transformation in more than half a century, accelerated by the troubles car makers have suffered during the pandemic. After sudden swings in demand, freak weather and a series of accidents, they are reassessing their basic assumption that they could always get the parts they needed when they needed them. (Wall Street Journal)
US birth rate falls to lowest point in more than a century The U.S. birth rate fell 4% last year, the largest single-year decrease in nearly 50 years, according to data from the CDC. The rate dropped for moms of every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly age group, falling to the lowest point since federal health officials started tracking it more than a century ago. Births have been declining in younger women for years, as many postponed motherhood and had smaller families. (AP News)
How Humanity Gave Itself an Extra Life Between 1920 and 2020, the average human life span doubled. How did we do it? Science mattered — but so did activism. (New York Times)
Open Wide and Say “Ahhhh!”: Why Our Dental System Still Bites I was broke, in agony, and out of options. Why more and more people are crowdfunding their dental bills (Walrus)
Doctors, scientists who warned officials about oncoming pandemic focus of new Michael Lewis book In his new book, Michael Lewis profiles people who tried to sound the alarm about COVID-19 as officials failed to act. John Dickerson reports. (60 Minutes)
The coronavirus vaccine skeptics who changed their minds A growing number of vaccine skeptics have turned vaccinated Americans, a sign of hope amid the slowing pace of vaccinations nationwide. Almost half of all adults have yet to receive a first shot although they are now eligible, and the rolling rate of new shots has dropped to its lowest level since mid-March. “Thinking about herd immunity, thinking about my daughter, thinking about all of that, I just realized — it’s about being a part of something bigger than yourself.” (Washington Post)
The Biggest Threat to Tech The tech giant’s growth continues unabated. The big six now command nearly one-quarter of the entire S&P 500 by market cap. iPad, smallest of Apple’s 5 segments, generated more revenue than Netflix or McDonald’s (Irrelevant Investor)
