Oil Shocks, Venezuela, Apple, 5G, Silicon Valley, Exuberance, Google, Cruising

Marc Ross Daily
August 7, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Marc Ross Daily = Business News at the Intersection of Global Politics + Policy + Profits

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TOP TEN

✔️ Oil shocks changed the auto industry; tariffs could change it again

✔️ More than 1 million people have left Venezuela since 2015

✔️ Apple could be used as a 'bargaining chip' in the trade war

✔️ 5G Coming to India by 2022

✔️ Trump's ever-changing reasons for tariffs

✔️ How ‘hackers, founders, and freaks’ built Silicon Valley

✔️ Don’t dismiss the humble acquaintance

✔️ "Enthusiasm. Energy. Exuberance.”

✔️ Google increases its foothold into America's daily routines

✔️ Cruising is a $126 billion industry with plenty of room to grow.

MR IN THE NEWS

US-China commercial relations: Last night I spoke with Elaine Reyes (CGTN America - China 24) on the state of US-China commercial relations, tariffs, global supply chains, Election 2018, Apple, and Starbucks. You can watch the clip here: https://youtu.be/F9HOdE5UfhY

GEOECONOMICS

Oil shocks changed the auto industry; tariffs could change it again: To understand why auto tariffs are such a contentious issue today, it helps to go back to the 1970s—with US carmakers dominating the country’s auto market, Japan’s export growth on the horizon, and impending conflict in the Middle East. https://on.wsj.com/2Mo6YMl

@AFP: #BREAKING Brazil closes border to Venezuelans after mass crossings: official

More than 1 million people have left Venezuela since 2015.

Chile has become the first South American country to legally ban the widespread commercial use of plastic bags.

France overheating: France has been forced to shut down four nuclear reactors to stop them overheating as temperatures across Europe soar.

Scottish nationalism akin to a religion, Judge Frances Eccles rules: The Times reports, support for Scottish independence is a philosophical belief akin to a religion, a judge has ruled. Judge Frances Eccles said that believing in a separate Scottish state should be protected under equality laws. She was ruling on a case brought by Chris McEleny, the Scottish National Party group leader on Inverclyde council, who claims that the Ministry of Defence, his employer, unfairly targeted him because of his support for independence.

China will endure: China is prepared to endure a protracted trade war with the US. that is designed to “crush” its economic sovereignty and force it to become “a US economic vassal,” state media has said. Bloomberg reports that the editorial in the nationalist Global Times was published two days after Beijing released details of tariffs ranging from 5 to 25 percent that will be levied on 5,207 kinds of imports from America.

CNBC: Apple could be used as a 'bargaining chip' in the trade war, Chinese state media warns

"Apple has benefited from cheap labor and strong supply chain in China which has helped it boost profit and get to a $1 trillion valuation, the state-backed People's Daily said."

AP: China tightens controls to slow currency’s fall

The Philippines announces a $100 million digital financial hub in Northern Luzon region - known as Crypto Valley of Asia, the area hopes to attract crypto startups and other fintech firms.

Bloomberg: 5G coming to India by 2022 after pit stops in Korea, China

Since 2015, China has outspent the US by $24 billion in 5G infrastructure, potentially creating a "tsunami" that will be difficult to catch up with, according to a new study by Deloitte.

AMERICAN POLITICS

Today: Primaries in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri,, and Washington plus a special election in Ohio (OH-12).

LAT: For years, Richard Gates was at Paul Manafort's side. On Monday, he began testifying against him

CNN: West Virginia to introduce mobile phone voting for midterm elections

Chinese smartphones: The DNC warned Democrats running in the upcoming midterm elections not to use products produced by Chinese tech firms ZTE or Huawei after learning that a Democratic organization was considering purchasing ZTE phones for its staff.

Senators: US should push IMF over China economic expansion: Roll Call reports, a bipartisan group of senators is calling on the Trump administration to counter China's economic expansion as the lawmakers fear that Beijing plans to leverage its foreign investments and lending for infrastructure projects into strategic military footholds.

Observer: How to win a trade war? A group of 200 CEOs havea few ideas for Trump http://bit.ly/2M6N9fA

"Last week, the Business Roundtable (BRT), a multi-industry group consisting of 200 CEOs of America’s largest companies, published a memo with recommendations of what the Trump administration should pursue in the trade negotiation with China."

Weekly Standard: Trump's ever-changing reasons for tariffs https://tws.io/2M8GfXf

California wildfires: The Mendocino Fire Complex exploded in size over the weekend to become the state's 2nd-largest on record — behind last year's Thomas Fire - scorching more than 283,000 acres in 11 days.

How Americans get their news: Gallup and Knight Foundation’s 2017 Survey on Trust, Media and Democracy http://bit.ly/2OR0yXN

- The only media outlets preferred by Republicans over Democrats are Fox, Fox Business and Breitbart.

- Most entertainment outlets listed, like Comedy Central, HBOandMTV, are much more widely favored by Democrats.

ENTERPRISE

Big Four target Asia: The Big Four accountancy firms are expanding in Asia, threatening the ascendancy of established law firms in one of the world’s most important markets, Law.com reports. KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers are launching new ventures or expanding existing legal offerings in Hong Kong and Singapore, by recruiting new staff and competing with local firms for profitable legal work in fields such as mergers and acquisitions, regulation and capital markets.

Thomas Cook, the man, organized his first trip in 1841, and the travel company that bears his name is still going.

MoviePass will now limit customers to three movies per month. The old policy: One movie per day.

#WhoCares

SoftBank plans to launch a $5 billion Asia fund, half of which will go to Indian startups.

Bloomberg: Google welcome in China if it obeys laws, state media says

Airbnb for Work is now being used by 700,000 businesses, nearly tripling April 2017's total of 250,000 clients.

Facebook has asked large US banks to share their customers' detailed financial information as part of an effort to offer new services to the social media platform's users

Peloton aspires to be as big and well-known as the NordicTrack and has cracked the holy grail of subscription media.

WeWork has hired ex-Salesforce and AppDynamics exec Kendall Collins to oversee its technology as it continues to grow its “Powered by We” business, through which it helps companies redesign and even manage their offices.

Blooms Business Club = a London coworking space offers a “female-first” collaborative atmosphere

The Verge: T-Mobile launches a cheaper unlimited phone plan for just the 'essentials'

KFC has a new Colonel Sanders = George Costanza

Uber’s India based rival, Ola, is headed to Europe.

Tesla has begun hiring for its new Shanghai factory.

‘NewTV’ startup closes $1 billion, all major studios among investors: Variety reports, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman have successfully sold Hollywood on their ambitious plans to create a kind of next-generation HBO or Netflix — with bite-size original programming designed for smartphones. Now the question is whether their “NewTV” venture will deliver something consumers will actually pay for.

MV = Mobile Video

TRENDS

Chinese cars top auto sales in Chile: Chinese-made cars for the first time topped auto sales in Chile in the first half of the year.

Voice powered purchasing: Only two percent of Amazon Alexa users have bought anything using their voice in 2018.

Whenever I find an Alexa in a friend's home, I promptly place orders for snowmobiles, air conditioners, jelly beans, and bubble bath soap. It's funny when all this stuff arrives unexpectedly.

Hearables: The explosive growth of their AI voice assistants has Google, Apple, and Amazon racing to put your entire smartphone in an earpiece.

Audio = Huge

Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware (documentary) http://bit.ly/2MoCgm4

Cruising is a $126 billion industry with plenty of room to grow. The Cruise Lines International Association says that only about 20 percent of Americans have taken cruises, and the number is smaller for Europeans and smaller still for Asians.

Google is in talks with Tencent and Inspur to bring its cloud business to China.

@THRGlobal: Disney’s #ChristopherRobin won't get China release due to a crackdown on the Winnie the Pooh character

Attention economy: Google’s YouTube, Google and Waze combined to account for 34.2% of all time on digital media in June, according to Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser.

Google increases its foothold into America's daily routines - it's all about routine and habits.

CULTURE

Enthusiasm. Energy. Exuberance.” -- Tom Peters

@SBNation: LeBron will produce a documentary series for Showtime called 'Shut Up and Dribble,' according to @Variety

The Atlantic: How to make friends, according to sciencehttp://bit.ly/2M7j935

To begin, don’t dismiss the humble acquaintance.

@AdamMGrant: On average, it takes 50 hours of interaction to go from acquaintance to friend and 200 hours to get to close friend.

Real friendships rarely happen overnight. They build over time through sharing moments of joy and moments of heartache.

PODCAST

How ‘hackers, founders, and freaks’ built Silicon Valley: Recode Decode guest Adam Fisher’s new oral history is called “Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley.” http://bit.ly/2M5VmAI