Business

Business Breakdowns on Jack Henry

Zuckerberg’s political pivot targets Apple, puts Meta staffers on edge. Whenever you see a company’s policy or action on the news, question what is the incentive behind it. Zuck wants Trump to force Apple to open up the ecosystem like the EU did. He wants his products to be in the hands of millions of Apple users without paying Apple anything. That’s what he is aiming for. To gain favor from Trump, he took a hard turn to the right, evidenced by some actions reported recently. I wonder what it would look like 4 years from now, when the Dems possibly take back power. It’s important to note that Tim Cook is very skilled at navigating these political waters.

How Nissan and Honda’s $60 billion merger talks collapsed. Cultural clash is among the most popular reason why mergers fail. Based on this reporting, it’s probably better (likely more for Honda) that the plan collapsed.

What the end of the penny means for the economy, your piggy bank, and the way America prices items. One of the main issues that I have with Trump’s second term so far is that he does everything with Executive Orders and everything doesn’t seem to be well thought-out. Every action at the federal level will have pros and cons. The end of pennies is the same. The expense to produce the pennies is tiny, so that makes it expendable. The problem is that ending it won’t improve the federal budget much, but can cause inflation. Trump’s fans can tout his inclination to take actions, regardless of the consequences. That’s true and refreshing in the world of politics. But we have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. I feel that such a line is closer and closer.

Other Stuff I Find Interesting

Five extraordinary night-time experiences around the world.

Tired of spotty internet, Bolivians are smuggling in Starlink. Free market will always find a way. Governments such as the Bolivian one should really reconsider their outdated and anti-market stance on Internet access. The sooner they do it, the better for everyone involved. I am not a fan of everything Elon Musk has done, but Starlink is something that I am impressed with.

The Future of Self-Driving Cars and Robotaxis. ““Instead we now have individual corporate actors using a mixture of partial self driving and remote human supervision. The big question is whether the economics of this works at scale, and whether the fake promises will drive out human drivers with cheaper services.” But, in the end, we’ll all end up paying more, he added. “Will the level of hype we saw push our decentralized transportation system into the hands of a few wealthy companies, and in effect make it a centralized system where everybody has to pay private companies to be part of it?”

Frozen in time: Rare early images of the Himalayas from Italian pioneer. Extraordinary images of the Himalayas before climbing it becomes popular and the mountains get crowded.

Voters Were Right About the Economy. The Data Was Wrong. Macroeconomics is a complex subject. Too many variables. Too many moving parts. It is compounded by the fact that the US government changes course every four years, depending on who wins the White House. To move forward, we need to have an informed conversation and intellectual honesty about all this. This article is a good start

Stats

AI computering wafers are expected to cost up to $14.5 billion in water consumption in 2025

“Las Vegas casinos’ FY24 net income declines 40.4%, despite 6.8% revenue increase”

Zelle had 151 million active accounts and $1 trillion worth of payments made in 2024