Weekend Reading: 5-6 May 2018

Global Macro / Markets / Investing:

• Theranos Cost Business and Government Leaders More Than $600 Million – WSJ
• Inside the World’s Most Elite (and Secret) Traders’ Club – Bloomberg
• Goldman Sachs to Open a Bitcoin Trading Operation – NY Times
• Short-seller Mark Spiegel says Tesla stock is worth ’zero’ – CNBC
• As Warren Buffett’s Empire Expands, Many Jobs Disappear – Bloomberg
• Tesla Plunges After a Bizarre Conference Call – Bloomberg
• Cryptocurrencies: Irrational Exuberance or Brave New World? – You Tube
• Tesla employees’ confidence in Elon Musk is slipping – Thinkum
• Elon Musk’s Most Dumbfounding Moments on Tesla’s Earnings Call – Bloomberg
• The price of Musk cutting off analysts? For Tesla, it’s $2 billion – Reuters
• A Verbal Cryptobrawl Breaks Out at Milken Over Bitcoin’s Future – Bloomberg
• Goldman to Add Crypto Contracts Without Trading Bitcoins – Bloomberg
• Is The Economist Correct About the State of Applied Micro? – Green Economics
• Financial globalisation, bank lending and the limits of domestic – VOX
• Nouriel Roubini says bitcoin is ‘bulls–t’ and only attracts ‘suckers’ – Market Watch
• Does the VIX Need Fixing? Sure Looks That Way – Bloomberg
• Both in rich and poor countries, universal health care brings huge benefits – The Economist
• Globalization is close to its ‘holy cow’ moment – Chicago Booth

Americas:

• U.S. freezes funding for Syria’s “White Helmets” – CNBC
• 1,100 economists warn that Trump is repeating one of the biggest mistakes of the Great Depression – Business Insider
• Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Is Now America’s Second Largest Real-Estate Broker – WSJ
• Why Investors Need Caution in $1 Trillion Loan Market – WSJ
• More than 1,000 economists warn Trump his trade views echo 1930s errors – The Guardian
• More businesses are mellowing out over hiring pot smokers – AP
• Has The TCJA Supercharged The Economy? The Data Don’t Show It – Tax Policy Centre
• Obama holdout stands in way of US bank deregulatory wave – FT
• Lessons From Rust-Belt Cities That Kept Their Sheen – NY Times

Europe:

• Germany’s Electric Cars Are Coming for Elon Musk and Tesla – Bloomberg
• British banking leverage remains ‘dangerously high’ – FT
• Theresa May expected to back EU ‘customs partnership’ – FT
• Reflections on monetary policy in the euro area – EU
• A Brexit Choice Between Bad and Worse – Bloomberg
• Norway’s $1 Trillion Wealth Fund Posts First Loss in Two Years – Bloomberg
• France: Crypto Is Now ‘Moveable Property’, Tax Down From 45 To 19 Percent – Coin Telegraph

Asia:

• China braced for surprises in US trade talks – FT
• Wessel’s Economic Update: The Chinese model for economic innovation – Sound Cloud
• U.S. and China Dive In for Prolonged Trade Talks – WSJ
• China Seen Jolting Soybean Market by Shunning U.S. Supplies – Bloomberg
• How the Beijing elite sees the world – FT
• Smartphone giant Xiaomi files for huge IPO in Hong Kong – MarketWatch
• Warren Buffett’s Chinese Car Bet Has Plunged $9 Billion – Bloomberg
• China’s Biggest Tech Unicorns Stampede to Go Public – WSJ
• Xi Tightens His Grip, and China’s Tech Giants Feel the Squeeze – NY Times
• Koreas make nuclear pledge after summit – BBC

Trans-Tasman:

• ABC boss Michelle Guthrie writes grovelling apology to Kevin Rudd as ‘Cabinet Files’ scoop backfires – The SMH
• Bill Shorten to face push from Labor ranks to increase Newstart – The Guardian
• Malcolm Turnbull openly defied by Victorian Liberals amid claims of a power struggle – ABC
• Rare Australian species could slip into extinction as jobs axed at environment department – ABC
• Budget carries $73 billion ‘hidden’ burden – The Age
• AFP employee who allegedly left his mother ‘lying in a state of filth’ refused bail in Sydney court – ABC
• Business Council joins unions to call for ‘no reduction’ to migration rate – SBS
• Commonwealth Bank board ‘asleep at the wheel’ during scandals, advocates say – The Guardian
• NAPLAN testing needs to be dumped in NSW with ‘haste’, NSW Government says – ABC
• Two women charged in alleged $5.7 million childcare fraud probe – The SMH
• The hassle of using cash instead of card, even for small purchases, is killing small change in Australia – ABC
• Gonski is right: We must make better use of our best teachers – ABC
• MPs’ vehicle fines revealed, as safety advocates call for politicians with traffic offences to fess up – ABC
• AMP furiously rejects royal commission findings, argues matters should be dealt with by ASIC – ABC
• Cormann says corporate tax cuts ‘the most important of all’ ahead of budget – The Guardian
• Regulators turn the temperature up on NZ banks – Interest.co.nz
• Unraveling some of the mysteries of rent behaviour – Interest.co.nz
• Capitalism can’t work without losers – Interest.co.nz
• Time for a new financial sector regulator in New Zealand – Interest.co.nz
• Govt unveils $100m package to tackle homelessness – Interest.co.nz
• PM on a mission to change business sector’s perception of her Govt – Interest.co.nz

and a Video for those with time

Sacrifice Zone: the story of a real Australian gas crisis