My back to work morning train WFH reads:

• With Omicron Waning, Here’s What the New Normal Could Look Like millions of people across the country who are gearing up for a burst of activity this year as the Omicron variant wanes and schools, offices, and in-person leisure activities reopen in full force. Armed with triple vaccinations or heightened immunity due to infection, fed up with years of local mandates and restrictions, and fueled by excess savings built up over the past two years, broad swathes of the country are looking to return to normal. Seven in 10 Americans agree with the sentiment that “it’s time we accept that Covid is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives.” (Barron’s)

• Is this the beginning of Facebook’s downfall? If there’s a single immutable law in human biology, it’s that no one lives forever. The same goes for corporations. The latest big company to confront the fact that the Grim Reaper spares no one and no thing is Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook. (Los Angeles Times) see also FacePlant Even before this week’s crash, FB was radically underperforming its FAAMG peers. Maybe FB can recover; perhaps the investment in the Metaverse pays off. Or maybe, just maybe, we have already seen “peak Facebook. (The Big Picture)

• 8 Of The Biggest Investing Myths When you boil it down, there are really only two options for investors: (1) Take more risk (2) Lower your expectations The financial markets are a complex adaptive system but you don’t need to fight complex with complex to succeed. (Wealth of Common Sense)

• The economics of Spotify Spotify’s recent Joe Rogan controversy has also deepened a rift between the platform and artists over pay. (The Hustle)

• How We Broke the Supply Chain: Rampant outsourcing, financialization, monopolization, deregulation, and just-in-time logistics are the culprits. (American Prospect)

• It’s Hard to Tell When the Crypto Bubble Will Burst, or If There Is One Crypto prices are highly volatile, as this week’s sell-off showed. But die-hard enthusiasts believe prices will keep soaring in a world where traditional notions of value don’t apply. (New York Times)

• Metaverse real estate sales top $500 million, and are projected to double this year Sales of real estate in the metaverse topped $500 million last year and could double this year, according to investors and analytics firms. “There are big risks, but potentially big rewards,” said Janine Yorio, CEO of Republic Realm, a metaverse real estate investor and advisory firm. So far, real estate sales have been concentrated on the “Big Four” — Sandbox, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels and Somnium. (CNBC)

• Biden Is Rebranding Reagan’s Supply-Side Economics to Save His Agenda The beloved GOP label is taking on a different meaning—one that excites liberals and irks conservatives—as the administration applies it to “Build Back Better.” (Businessweek)

• The Age of the Unique Baby Name Parents used to want kids to fit in. Now they want them to stand out. (The Atlantic)

• Meet the avalanche dogs who save skiers’ lives These heroic dogs keep the mountain safe at a Jackson, Wyo., ski resort (Washington Post)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Rebecca Patterson, Director of Investment Research at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, where she is also a member of the firm’s investment committee. Previously, she was Chief Investment Officer at Bessemer Trust, managing $85 billion of client assets.

Post-Revision, the pattern of job growth was vastly different from what the data previously showed

Source: Slate

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