Bloomberg Opinion

Elon Musk plans to give Tesla shareholders the chance to invest in xAI, his artificial intelligence startup that recently made headlines for spewing out antisemitic responses to queries. That is but one dubious benefit of such a deal. xAI recently issued debt at a yield of more than 12%, similar to the junkier end of the high yield market. It also is reportedly getting $2 billion from SpaceX, another Musk vehicle. The obvious potential conflicts of interest and shaky rationale recall Tesla's buyout of SolarCity, another Musk vehicle and one that was faltering when the EV maker suddenly decided it needed to own a rooftop solar business. Read about it here at Bloomberg Opinion https://lnkd.in/ewcgYBsT

This is the latest Points of Return, on Powell, tariffs and 2nd quarter earnings....

Donald Trump increasingly employs America’s vaunted spy services as the proverbial drunk uses lamp posts: for support rather than illumination. And that presents a huge, albeit slow-moving and often invisible, threat to national security. If the president and his spy masters keep signaling to spooks, agents and analysts throughout the so-called intelligence community (IC) that independent, honest, skeptical and apolitical assessments of threats and risks are out, while motivated reasoning and groupthink are in, the best people will leave and the worst will rise. Confidence in the IC’s processes and output will decline, and allied countries will share less information. Attention will go to whatever preoccupies Trump, while other perils are ignored — dangers that, in time, may kill Americans. This dynamic appears to be well underway, as part of an increasingly brazen weaponization of the IC for political purposes. The administration is waging this campaign with an Orwellian communication strategy that presents its own clamp-down as a necessary correction of the sin they are committing: In a deadpan attempt to invert reality, the directors of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, both claim to be acting to “end the weaponization of government against Americans” and “to eliminate the well-documented politicization that has taken place in the intelligence community from bad actors in the past.” ... (Read the whole column with this gift link) Bloomberg Opinion https://bit.ly/3GAkNZq

For all the talk of a no-hire/no-fire economy, there’s still plenty of firing going on in 2025. In the first half of the year, US employers let go of nearly 745,000 people — the second-highest number for the period since 2009. (The highest was the first six months of 2020, when the pandemic shut down the global economy.) But despite all the experience corporate America has laying people off, it is still shockingly bad at it. Two case studies from last week: Bumble’s CEO told her employees to “calm down” after saying she was letting go of 30% of its staff, while Microsoft announced its second major round of layoffs this year only a few months after the first wave. My theory is that the frequency and volume of workforce cuts have served to normalize the practice, which has drained it of any and all humanity. It’s part of a broader shift I’ve been following among America’s CEOs: The end of the era of corporate do-gooderism and make-the-world-a-better-place discourse. Empathetic leadership, all the rage during the COVID era, isn’t part of the conversation anymore. And the lack of respect that employees have subsequently felt from their employers is accelerating a crisis of trust in big business. My latest for Bloomberg Opinion. https://lnkd.in/enw7qpDh

The billions Texas taxpayers give to oil and gas companies every year would pay for an awful lot of flood warning systems. Instead, fossil-fuel welfare keeps making disasters worse and insurance rates soar. 🎁 link to my column for Bloomberg Opinion https://lnkd.in/ebSHvht4

Enthusiasts of digital assets should heed the lessons of the last banking calamity. Read today’s editorial: https://lnkd.in/eHmfzPeN

As Oasis fever takes over Manchester, here's my column from last week about why fashion brands are as mad fer it as the fans: https://lnkd.in/eVPBvKpK

The far-right is criticizing James Gunn’s Superman for being "woke," but the idea that Superman is a previously apolitical character who has been co-opted by the political left for cultural indoctrination is comically ignorant, writes Jason Bailey for Bloomberg Opinion. The character’s creators, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, were both children of Jewish immigrants. When anyone calls for apolitical art, they’re merely showing their own ignorance of how art works. Art can often be political, either through inclusion or exclusion of the world around it, and Gunn’s choice to address the current demonization of #immigrants is valid, responsible and inevitable because of who Superman is meant to be. #hollywood #movies #politics Click the link for a free read: https://bit.ly/4loTNLE

Yesterday, I wrote about Trump's tariffs on copper for Bloomberg Opinion. As is typical of the times we live in, it is so common for policy announcements to be made without much hint. As journalists, we have no option but to always be prepared. Reading what I wrote this morning, you'd never be able to tell that it is somewhat different from what I sought to write earlier, when there was no definite timeline on the copper tariff. Then, just about when the column was going to bed at about 8 PM ET, BOOM- the announcement came. The pivot to reflect the latest development is only possible due to the sheer amount of preparation, which captures all scenarios, making them camera-ready. Our commitment is to our audience, with zero tolerance for excuses. It can be a lot to take in at some point, but once a commitment has been made, we'd fulfill our side of the bargain. Happy to do that, over and over again. This is our calling. And on this hill, we are ready to perish. And by the way, here's the link to the piece as published in Bloomberg Opinion: https://lnkd.in/dcikT-ep

☕ We've got some bad news: Brazil is the United States' largest coffee supplier. And the new tariffs will mean even higher prices. Sign up for John Authers' free newsletter for more markets coverage: https://lnkd.in/eGTAktu2