Business
Robinhood Is Banking on Babies and 401(k)s to Get Everyone Trading. Robinhood is truly an admirable success and an innovative company. The technology firm turned the brokerage business model on its head by charging the middlemen, instead of traders, and democratize trading, and by extension, wealth building. For the last few years, Robinhood has continued to innovate and offer new services and values. I think it’s a remarkable success story. You don’t get to that kind of success without mistakes along the way. But there are two things that concern me. The first is that Robinhood has not survived an economic downturn in its existence. Covid was a gift, not a crisis. The second is that a lot of users complain a lot about the customer service. If you have a problem, it can be madly furstrating and terrifying to get a hold of a human being. I have been through that. And who wants to park hard-earned money where it’s not accessible?
American Airlines is arriving late to the luxury travel boom. Can it catch up? I feel that sophisticated flyers whom American Airlines is craving for and competing with its rivals for will commit to an airline in the near future. Consumers realize that in order to get the best out of a loyalty program and a credit card, they need to be loyal and stick to a select airline in the long run. This trend is a headwind for American Airlines. If it goes down market a notch, it will have to compete with other airlines like Southwest, Alaska Airlines or JetBlue and have a hard time justifying investing in the upper market. Nothing short of perfect execution from now can save the famous airline from oblivion.
The Company Making a Mockery of State Gambling Bans. “At issue, fundamentally, was where the line between gambling and investing really lies“. I am afraid this is a question to which there is no definitive answer. It all depends on who is in charge that gets the question. Right now, the environment is never better for Kalshi.
Surviving The AI Capex Boom. An excellent paper that goes over the current AI race, how it is compared to previous booms and what it may mean for the builders and early adopters, as well as investors in this space. It is just fascinating to be an investor nowadays. A few months ago, stocks started to show cracks after a magnificent run, for different reasons, including tariff concerns or waning confidence in AI. Fast forward to now, such stocks are at all time high and the market keeps brushing off concerns over inflation and consumer spending power. Is there an end to this bull run? If it is, when?
A Fight Over Credit Scores Turns Into All-Out War. An interesting report on FICO and the credit score industry, something that consumers and borrowers are not necessarily familiar with. I am interested to see if the greedy move by FICO will come back and bite them in the future. If that happens, it’s another example of the executives and, in particular, the CEO prioritizing short-term gains and personal benefits over long-term health of the company.
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
AI-powered textbooks fail to make the grade in South Korea. A horror story on how politicians in Korea ambitiously want to showcase what AI can do and fail. An initiative like this should have been meticulously studied, planned out and tested before a nationwide rollout. Even then, success would not have been guaranteed. A reckless rollout like this; however, does warrant embarrassing failures. It’s another example of people mindlessly finding use cases for anything AI, instead of figuring out how AI can be useful in a particular need.
In the rural South where Medicaid has been a lifeline, residents brace for cuts. It’s mind-blowing to read about the difficult life that people in states like Louisiana or Mississippi lead and how much more challenging it would be when the new law on Medicaid goes into effect. I was shocked several times when I received a medical bill in the past. To live uninsured in this country is akin to waiting for a financial and medical disaster to happen. And many who rely on Medicaid are old and often sick. They need medical assistance, so cutting off the one thing that makes healthcare affordable and possible in the first place doesn’t seem right.
A colossal Buc-ee’s broke a small Colorado town. A wild story on how a proposal to build a new store by Buc-ee’s stirs up a small town in Colorado. Tax revenue vs preservation of the environment.
Why I Run. The CEO of The Atlantic wrote about the intense relationship that he had with his dad and what drove him to be an elite runner.
Europe’s crusade against air conditioning is insane. “Many other stories also mention climate as a reason Europe resists AC. Green organizations like the World Resources Institute, which have a lot of influence in Europe, consistently recommend far less effective “passive cooling solutions” due to emissions concerns. And European regulations do block AC, by mandating that newly built buildings be carbon-neutral. The rest of this story lies in history and culture…Southern Europe built its cities to cope with heat: thick walls, shaded windows, and street layouts designed to maximise airflow…That’s also why white paint dominates the picturesque skylines of Mediterranean places like Santorini in Greece or Vieste in Italy: The bright surfaces reflect sunlight and radiant heat, helping interiors stay cooler…In northern Europe, on the other hand, summers were once mild enough that cooling was rarely needed…Air conditioning, when it appeared in Europe, was seen as a luxury or even a health risk. Many Europeans still believe exposure to cold air can make you sick, and the stereotype persists that AC is for rich people.”
Stats
Chocolate prices have surged almost 78% in the past five years
Minh Quang Duong 
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