Hi Shrinkflation, Meet Your Cousin Shitflation
The Rise of Shrinkflation The term Shrinkflation, coined and popularised by American economist Pippa Malmgren, speaks to hidden price increases in the world around us. It has taken the world by storm. As the above graph from Manage by Walking Around, shows, size really does matter — never mind what your first sweetheart told you. […]
In the Blind Spot (Lockdown, Quantum, Gringos)
Business, Econ and Finance etc: Heat-waves in China, where cities this summer have seen temperatures routinely reach 40°C, have caused droughts that are hampering local supply chain routes, by firing the shutting down of factories. A piece about the impact of record-breaking youth unemployment in China and how the slowing rate of wealthy Gen-Zers with […]
The End of the Beginning for BBBY, Rather Than the Beginning of the End?
This is the second part in our series analysing current meme stock favourite, BBBY. Our first instalment went into a previously-unknown element behind the rise of GameStop (GME) stock in late 2019 (unknown to the mainstream at least). This noted that a user called ‘namsilat’, who also appears to operate TheCorporation subreddit, had provided suspiciously […]
Who Got Inflation Right and Who Got it Wrong? The Longlist
Not all inflationary price increases are created equal. Though inflation is universally understood, its underlying causes and historical manifestations continually mutate. For the Ancient Romans, a massive military apparatus weighed down on the coffers of the Empire, leading to a brutal debasement of their golden aurei, and both silver coins, the larger silver denarii and […]
A hidden force behind the meme stonk?
Reddit, WSB and BBBY: The hidden force behind the meme As noted in Friday’s Blind Spot Wrap, Wall Street Bets, Reddit’s now infamous ‘investing’ subreddit, has started targeting Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY) in a new pump campaign on the back of the stock’s 46 per cent short float. To lure investors into beefing up […]
An occasional series: Why is Germany so darn dodgy?
If a state is captured by sinister or corrupt forces, and nobody in the general population realises it, how is the pursuit of truth in such a society likely to be affected? Chances are; very much the way FT journalist Dan McCrum’s investigation into Wirecard was. On 25 July 2022, Jan Marsalek was apparently spotted […]
Why you’re doing your due diligence wrong; and some steps on how to do it right
By Dario Garcia Giner We used to live in a world underpinned by cheap trust where the need to do due diligence was rare. Your cousin visited Nigeria, he drank some beers with the right locals, and the two joined in business to make some money. Business used to be almost exclusively about the right signet […]
In the Blind Spot (Beirut blast, Syria, Marbella)
This edition of the Blind Spot Wrap was compiled by Dario Garcia Giner. Money and market matters: The internet went wild with memes after it discovered Jim Cramer was ringing the NASDAQ bell this Monday. Nancy Pelosi’s husband purchased $5mn in stock of Nvidia ahead of a bill that would hand subsidies to chip manufacturers. […]
Buy or sell the Dy-stopia?
In politics, as in history, they say that sometimes nothing happens for years — then everything changes in a few days. What about an alternative; that nothing is obvious for years, then in a few days, everything becomes clear? In the past week or so we have observed a series of events that make clear […]
Excerpt: The EU as a revived medieval empire
This is a free excerpt from our deep dive into an alternative way of viewing the European Union. Rather than seeing this institution from the lens of a classical state, we argue the European Union’s power structure more closely resembles that of a medieval empire; the Holy Roman Empire. When Boris Johnson cheekily suggested this […]