Its March! Kick-off the new month with our Two-for-Tuesday morning train reads:

• A moment of clarity The Russian invasion of Ukraine should wake us up. Ukraine wasn’t threatening Russia in any way; Ukraine never fired a shot into their neighbor, even though that neighbor had already carved off pieces of their country in 2014 and subjected them to a grinding eight-year war. Putin simply declared that Ukraine is historically part of Russia and sent in his troops. (Noahpinion) see also Is Taiwan Next? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine makes the frightening possibility of China seizing control of the island more real. (The Atlantic)

• At 91, Warren Buffett Still Isn’t in Any Hurry: Lacking prospects for a new megadeal, he and longtime Berkshire Hathaway partner Charlie Munger are content to bide their time sitting on a massive pile of cash. (Bloomberg)

• Crypto Index Primed for Launch as Financial Adviser Interest Grows Offering made available to financial advisers through Onramp Invest’s platform and custodied by Gemini (Blockworks) see also The Year Ahead In Crypto Bitcoin peaked in 2017 at $19,783.21. It’s amazing how much everything else has changed. Only six of top 20 in 2017 is top 20 list in 2021. The majority of coins in the top-20 today didn’t even exist in 2017! Fourteen of the previous top-20 fell out – and fell a long way. The average position of those 14 is #90. (Pantera)

• Do Stock Buybacks Really Shrink Capital Spending? Thanks to soaring corporate cash, capex has improved lately, but share repurchases still overshadow it. (Chief Investment Officer)

• SPAC Startups Made Lofty Promises. They Aren’t Working Out. Hot upstarts that went public via blank-check companies are missing revenue and earnings targets—sometimes months after making those forecasts (Wall Street Journal) see also Why Most SPACs Suck A handful of successful SPAC investors (eg, Martin Franklin) have led to a series of weak imitators trying to emulate his returns, without much success. Those imitators have caused the average SPAC to be mediocre. (The Big Picture)

• How Ikea tricks you into buying more stuff The home furnishings giant enlists a maze-like layout, cheap food, and crafty psychology to get you to fill up your cart. (The Hustle)

• How Oracles, Bridges And Blockchains Are Revolutionizing DeFi When the “summer of DeFi” took off in 2020, decentralized finance held tremendous promise, but today, DeFi has a usability problem. (Worth) see also Wall Street Takes Lead in Crypto Investments Hedge funds, registered investment advisers and some companies step up their stakes in cryptocurrencies as the market becomes more mainstream (Wall Street Journal)

• How Einstein Arrived at His Theory of General Relativity “He was struck that planets, stars, and other celestial objects all pull on each other.” (Literary Hub)

• Sea Level Rise Will Be Catastrophic—and Unequal: A chilling new report predicts a foot of sea level rise in the US by 2050. But quirks of physics mean everyone will suffer in different ways. (Wired) see also Climate change is killing people, but there’s still time to reverse the damage Heat waves, droughts, floods, wildfires, disease outbreaks and other dire effects of climate change are accelerating more rapidly than scientists expected in many parts of the world, including in North America. And as oceans, rainforests and polar regions heat up, nature is less and less able to help us with the task of adapting to a hotter Earth. (NPR)

• Zelensky Gave the World a Jewish Hero: As the Ukrainian president captivates the world with his bravery, he offers a reminder of the inroads Eastern and Central European Jews have made in overcoming their status as perpetual outsiders. (The Atlantic)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Sebastien Mallaby, whom we previously had on as a guest (MiB is here) discussed “More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite.” His new book is a must-read, a powerful tour de force on the history of the VC: “The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future.”

75% of people who bought a home during the pandemic have regrets: Here’s why

Source: Grow

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