Business
Joy Covey: The Deep Keel. A long post on the first CFO of Amazon. I did not know about Joy before, but it sounds like she was a wonderful executive and an important figure in Amazon’s history. It is inspiring to read that she accomplished so much at Amazon, yet walked away to pursue her interests and refuse to let Amazon define her.
The Looming Taiwan Chip Disaster That Silicon Valley Has Long Ignored. A lot of things happened behind the scenes by the two latest administrations and tech giants to reduce America’s reliance on Taiwan. But there is a conundrum. Taiwan wants to keep the latest technology and chips on the island first before manufacturing them in the US. That makes sense, but it increases the risk for the US to lose access to the cutting edge technology. And I don’t believe for a second that China will give up its dream of uniting with Taiwan under one flag. The US should encourage and incentivize more demand for domestic chips so that TSMC and Taiwan have a reason to invest.
Iran conflict drives up fertilizer costs during busy planting season. A lot of nitrogen and phosphate are transported through the Strait of Hormuz and right now the conflict in Iran is threatening to create a chokehold of these critical fertilizers. If farmers have to pay more for inputs, they will raise the prices on their outputs. That means inflation is not going to decrease.
The Allure of ‘Slop Bowls’ Fades as Consumers Tighten Spending. And if the conflict in Iran is going to raise inflation due to higher fuel and fertilizer costs, what are the odds that restaurant chains can entice customers to come to their stores? Not very high.
We got hooked on fast and free shipping. Now retailers are taking it away. What is happening in retail is very interesting. Consumers are willing to delay their orders if they want such orders enough. Retailers with coveted goods can offer a small discount to save on shipping costs and surprisingly lower returns. However, the problem is Amazon. The retail giant has a lot of shoppers attracted by its variety of choices and Prime fast shipping. As long as Prime is around, consumers will always question why it takes a bit longer at other retailers. Brands now have to decide whether they should put their products on Amazon. Doing business without Amazon means an absence of an important channel. Doing business with Amazon comes with a hit in margin and less control over the shipping issue.
Cadillac’s Billion-Dollar Sprint to Build an F1 Team From Scratch. F1 is a highly complex and sophisticated sport. The owner of Cadillac F1 team is a billionaire who owns multiple franchises in the US, including the Los Angeles Lakers. But it took years and several hundreds of millions of dollars to convince the F1 leadership and teams to expand the championship. The first race of 2026, the Australian GP, will start in less than 24 hours, but the team can only get its hands on the rules 12 months ago. It’s a tall order to build a competitive car to go against the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull. One stat that stood out to me is that Cadillac received 145,000 applications for 600 jobs. That’s equivalent to 0.5% chance of getting hired.
Inside the gas and pizza chain sweeping small-town America. “The chain’s identity is centered largely around its pizza, which it has been making in stores for 40 years, Casey’s chief merchandising officer Tom Brennan told Modern Retail. Casey’s has been beefing up its pizza program over the past decade by adding a mobile app, rewards and delivery. Its rewards program now has 10 million members. Last year, the company said its food business helped drive double-digit sales growth in its non-fuel sales, according to C-Store Dive. Per the outlet, president and CEO Darren Rebelez said interest in prepared foods stretches across all income levels. Casey’s has other prepared-food offerings and began rolling out a sauced wings program last year at over 200 stores. It now has a plan to scale that across the chain over the next two years, according to Brennan. Another key aspect of the Casey’s brand is that it focuses largely on small towns. Two-thirds of Casey’s stores are in towns of 20,000 people or less, and almost half of them are in towns of 5,000 people or less, according to Brennan. He said the company plans to continue to target similar areas within a 500-mile radius of each of its distribution centers in Iowa, Indiana and Missouri.“
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
Inside the plan to kill Ali Khamenei. It’s crazy how advanced and pervasive Israel’s intelligence practices are.
The real reason all of your eggs aren’t cage-free. The largest corporations in the US pledged to have all eggs cage-free by now, but only about half are free from confinement. The shortfall, I suspect, is because cage-free eggs are more expensive and the lack of legal requirements by state authorities. States that still do not require more human treatments for hens need to change. Meanwhile, if you can afford, please buy cage-free eggs. Not only does that provide incentives for grocers to do the right thing, but cage-free eggs, especially pasture-raised ones, are more nutritious.
The yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan. “Japan is the world’s most rapidly ageing major economy. Nearly 30% of its population is now over 65, and the number of elderly people living alone continues to rise. As families shrink and traditional multi-generational households decline, isolation has become one of the country’s most pressing social challenges. The suited woman is a Yakult Lady – one of tens of thousands across Japan who deliver the eponymous probiotic drinks directly to people’s homes. On paper they’re delivery workers, but in practice they’re part of the country’s informal social safety net. In a country grappling with a rapidly ageing population and a deepening loneliness crisis, Yakult Ladies have become an unlikely source of community, helping to reduce the problem of isolation one drop-off at a time. The initiative began unintentionally. When Yakult launched in 1935, the idea of drinking “bacteria” sounded bad – like something that would make you sick rather than healthy. To explain what the product was, the company needed salespeople to go door to door. Back then, the workforce was almost entirely men, but labour shortages led local distributors to hire women from their communities, and sales grew quickly. “
How electrifying a Bay Area rail system made trains faster, cleaner, and more frequent. “Caltrain, the commuter rail line linking San Francisco to Silicon Valley, spent $2.4 billion electrifying 51 miles of track in 2024, removing diesel trains from that segment of the system. The electric trains accelerate much faster, shaving as much as 23 minutes off the ride between San Francisco and San Jose. Getting up to speed so quickly allowed the agency to add stops without lengthening overall trip times, increasing the number of stations served each weekday by about 20 percent. Caltrain estimates the shift to electric trains will cut roughly 250,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually. The faster, more convenient service could deepen those reductions if more people choose rail over driving as they return to the office in greater numbers.“
Stats
The average tax refund is 10.6% higher so far this season
Minh Quang Duong 
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