Business

Sam Altman may control our future – Can he be trusted? A very long, yet interesting read on Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, – the maker of ChatGPT. The details and the deep research of the piece are convincing; which makes me really wonder if we should entrust the power of someone at the top of one of the most important compaies such as OpenAI to a highly ambitious serial liar like Sam. It’s also disappointing to see that Brian Chesky, the CEO of AirBnb, tried to oust the original board of OpenAI, who were just doing their job and clearly had reasons to fire Sam.

Aldi taps Instacart to power its U.S. website. I did not know that Instacart has a white-label e-Commerce and fulfillment platform that is used by hundreds of retailers in the country, including the red hot Aldi. This business should have a higher margin than the grocery delivery platform. However, the low-margin business offers data and insights that drive the SaaS-like white-label product. The more orders Instacart delivers, the better economics for the grocery delivery business and the more data and insights the other arm of the company can get to attract new merchants.

PNC adds rewards program. Every brand and every financial institution are gunning for wealthy customers. The big banks already have programs catered to high net-worth individuals and PNC just joined the race. Its rewards program is not as lucrative as BofA’s Preferred Rewards, but much better than what many other FIs offer: nothing. I expect to see others follow suit. The competition is good for consumers: more choices and potentially more benefits.

CEO Andy Jassy’s 2025 Letter to Shareholders. As much as I doubt that AI investments will bring worthwhile returns, Andy Jassy may be right in making his bets. Time will tell. What is undeniable is that since he became CEO, Amazon’s stock price has trailed Apple’s and the S&P 500. Not a sign of a spectacular reign so far. Anyway, what I really like from his letter this year is that his personal success as well as that of AWS were not linear. Our paths tend tobe swiggly lines that can go up and down all the time. I learned that long ago, you have got to trust in something that eventually things will turn out to be ok. It did for Andy Jassy and AWS. It has done well for me so far and I hope that if it has not turned out well for you so far, it will soon enough.

Retired Amazon VP: How Corporate Politics Work And How To Win | Ethan Evans. Just like any other topic, corporate politics needs to be learned. And this clip is a good resource.

Other Stuff I Find Interesting

CFPB floats plan to cut staff in half. As consumers, you should be worried. Financial institutions are required to look into any complaint submitted to the agency. They are also required to send over data so that the CFPB can check to see if there is any racial discrimination in extending credit. Without proper staffing, it’s unlikely that the agency can handle its responsibilities and many complaints by consumers who now don’t have a strong advocate on their side.

My Quest to Solve Bitcoin’s Great Mystery. The most evidence-dense investigative piece into who Satoshi Nakamoto really is that I have read. I really want to know who this enigma is, how they go about in their life holding this secret and millions of dollars, and how they cope with holding onto this secret.

Why AI Chips Made In The U.S. Are Being Sent To Taiwan — Creating A Major Bottleneck. I am never not impressed and fascinated by how we came up with the modern chips. Really a marvel.

How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran. Extraordinary reporting by the Times. The tight group of the people who appeared in all of the highly classified meetings indicates that the reporters have sources from a really high place. It’s also wild to me that the article did not once mention the need for the Executive branch to consult with Congress over such an important decision as going to war with Iran. The assumption was that the war would be done quickly and the victory would be nothing but guaranteed. Oh well, so far neither of those two things has occured yet.

The Turkish city built on ‘green gold’. “By late summer, bakers in the Turkish city of Gaziantep leave their kitchens to prowl pistachio orchards cross-hatching the nation’s sunbaked south-eastern plains. Known locally as “green gold”, this valuable crop isn’t just an economic boon – it’s the single most important ingredient in Turkey’s culinary capital and a beloved symbol of Gaziantep itself. For locals, these foods are more than sugary treats; they’re a vital part of life in one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities. The sweet tradition spans cradle and grave: families welcoming a new baby pass around trays of syrupy pistachio baklava; mourners dip spoons into soft semolina halva fried in aromatic butter.“

What starts out as old pig skin eventually becomes gummy bears pic.twitter.com/bz0K6XfkHA

— healthbot (@thehealthb0t) April 4, 2026

Stats

NYC Families Need Over $125,000 in Income to Live in Any Borough. That even seems low to me

In 2024, about 31% of Americans were part of the upper middle class which refers to a family of three earning between $133,000 and $400,000 a year.

Nebraska’s beef and veal exports in 2024 reached $1.66 billion, highest in the US