Year of the Pig, SOTU, World Bank, Oprah, Spotify, Premier League
Caracal Global Daily
February 5, 2019
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross
Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia
Caracal Global Daily = News + Analysis at the Intersection of Globalization + Disruption + Politics
TOP FIVE
✔️ Trump will nominate David Malpass for World Bank
✔️ Europe split over how to respond to the rise of China
✔️ Leasing IKEA furniture?
✔️ Can Oprah help restore the Beto O’Rourke glow?
✔️ Spotify is looking to splurge on podcasts
ROSS RANT
Pop quiz: What was the top Super Bowl 2018 ad according to USA Today’s Ad Meter?
Heck, if you can name one of the top ten, I will give you bonus points.
The reason you can’t remember the best ad or any ads from the big game, it’s not the best tool.
It’s not the best tool because it doesn’t connect, make an impact, or leave a mark.
Surprise beats consistency.
Emotion beats fact.
Funny beats dour.
Useful beats sales.
Beautiful beats boring.
Inspirational beats directional.
The best communicators have always understood this instinctively.
By the way, USA Today’s Ad Meter ranked Amazon's "Alexa Loses Her Voice" as the best 2018 ad.
I don't remember the ad either.
But I do remember my friends telling me a story or two about Alexa that used funny, useful, beautiful, and inspiring words to describe their experiences.
GLOBALIZATION
World Bank: Trump will nominate David Malpass, current undersecretary for international affairs at the US Department of Treasury and one of the World Bank’s sharpest critics within his administration, to be the next leader of the World Bank.
FT: Trump’s likely World Bank pick is wary of globalism
The US has traditionally picked the World Bank’s president, with the Europeans picking the IMF leader.
The final decision to appoint the president rests with the World Bank’s board of executive directors, which will begin considering nominations on Thursday.
Ottawa was the setting for an emergency meeting of the Lima Group yesterday: The 14 members include Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and others. They are trying to figure out what to do about Venezuela. The group agrees the leader, Nicolas Maduro, must go, and fresh elections should be held under an administration headed by an interim president, Juan Guaido.
Venezuela’s collapse is sparking concern on the international left.
India to outpace China in increasing oil demand: New Delhi says it will keep importing Iranian oil despite looming US sanctions.
Europe split over how to respond to rise of China: FT reports, decision to veto Siemens-Alstom tie-up could see revamp of competition policy.
Calais, the gateway to France and beyond, could be paralyzed by a ‘hard’ Brexit: LAT reports, Calais is Britain’s gateway to continental Europe: 10 million passengers, 2 million trucks and 1.8 million cars pass through the French port each year by ferry. An additional 1.7 million trucks carrying 22 million tons of goods are transported by train on the Eurotunnel Shuttle between Calais and the British port of Folkestone.
Brexit: Theresa May is "determined" to deliver Brexit "on time," on March 29, despite ministers in her own Cabinet suggesting a delay could be needed to push related legislation through the U.K. House of Commons.
Chinese welcome Lunar Year of the Pig: The most important holiday of the year involves a fortnight of festivities.
@MKorostikov: So at the end of February we'll probably have @realDonaldTrump, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visiting Vietnam.
DISRUPTION
Smart footwear: Alphabet's life sciences arm, Verily, has been looking for partners to co-develop shoes with embedded sensors to monitor the wearer's movement and weight, as well as to measure falls,
Leasing IKEA furniture? IKEA CEO Torbjorn Loof told the Financial Times that the company would "work together with partners so you can actually lease your furniture. When that leasing period is over, you hand it back and you might lease something else… Instead of throwing those away, we refurbish them a little and we could sell them, prolonging the lifecycle of the products."
Inside an otherworldly mission to prepare humans for Mars: Braving deep isolation and sweaty spacesuits, six "analog astronauts" tested their tools, talents, and grit on a mock trip to the red planet. https://on.natgeo.com/2UEs7Wo
Among troops, vaping is now more popular than cigarettes: Military Times reports, vaping now appears to be more common in the military than smoking regular cigarettes.
An asteroid could destroy humanity like it did dinosaurs. A Hopkins team has a plan to save the world: WP reports, the research team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel plans to launch a spacecraft, speed it up really fast and smash it into an asteroid.
Crypto CEO dies with only passwords to unlock millions: FR reports, digital-asset exchange Quadriga CX has a $200 million problem with no obvious solution.
Time suck: The average American loses 42 hours stuck in traffic each year.
POLITICS
Send the documents: Trump inaugural committee is subpoenaed over donors and spending. Federal prosecutors are showing interest in whether it received illegal foreign donations.
The committee raised over $100 million.
SOTU: The White House is spinning that Trump will use his State of the Union address tonight to call for bipartisanship.
In State of the Union, Trump to call for ‘comity,’ but rivals scoff: WP reports, aides said Trump will make a sincere appeal to broaden his coalition even as critics cast such rhetoric from Trump as “inauthentic and unpersuasive.”
Joe Scarborough: Trump’s State of the Union will be delivered against a grim political backdrop
SOTU @ 9:10 pm ET
Interior: Trump said he would nominate former oil-and-gas industry lobbyist David Bernhardt as secretary of the Interior.
WSJ - Editorial: Trump’s re-election challenge: Down in the polls, he needs a strong economy to have any chance to win a second term.
The top 1% of NY state residents account for 46% of state income tax paid by NY residents.
Can Oprah help restore the Beto O’Rourke glow? LAT reports, the former Texas congressman’s conversation Tuesday with Oprah Winfrey is among the most highly anticipated political events of this nascent presidential cycle. The appearance with Winfrey in Times Square’s PlayStation Theater, scheduled to be aired later this month, will be relatively brief, as she’s interviewing several others in this round of her “SuperSoul Conversations,” the congressman being the only politician.
Rep. John Delaney (D-MD) announced his presidential candidacy way back in July 2017 - and it hasn't made a difference.
Bloomberg: Trade hawks quietly bristle as Trump’s China deadline approaches: Fears that Trump may fall for empty promises by Chinese.
The great corn syrup war of 2019 continues!
@MillerCoors: At MillerCoors, we're proud of our high-quality, great-tasting beers. We're also proud that none of our products include any high fructose corn syrup, while a number of Anheuser-Busch products do. And Miller Lite has fewer calories, fewer carbs and more taste than Bud Light.
THOUGHT LEADER TACTIC OF THE DAY
Respond to ten social media updates and thoughts daily - don't just scroll.
COMMERCE
Spotify is looking to splurge on podcasts: According to Recode and the WSJ, the music streaming giant is currently in talks to acquire Gimlet Media for over $200M, marking the first time Spotify has purchased another company.
General Motors said it's in talks to invest about $2.73 billion in Brazil from 2020 to 2024.
Tesla to buy battery technology group Maxwell for $218m.
Nissan-Renault alliance to tie up with Google on self-driving cars.
JPMorgan plans to take on rivals PayPal and Stripe.
Huawei warns Australians to face higher 5G prices after a ban.
Chinese toymakers shift overseas as trade war bites: China produces 80% of the world's toys, and the US is its largest customer. Many Chinese toymakers are accelerating their overseas relocation efforts - most popular choice has been Vietnam.
CULTURE
Harvard’s top astronomer says an alien ship may be among us. He doesn’t care what his colleagues say: WP reports, ever since Avi Loeb’s controversial paper about the object, dubbed ‘Oumuamua, he has become a spokesman for the possibilities of extraterrestrial life.
SPORT
Super Bowl audience: The game drew 100 million viewers, but the contest was lowest-scoring Super Bowl in history.
Patriots players waste no time saying they won’t visit White House after Super Bowl win: WP reports, a trio of defensive backs began the now-annual tradition of spurning a champions’ visit hosted by Trump.
Today is the second championship parade in Boston in 100 days.
Ronaldo effect: Cristiano Ronaldo's move from Real Madrid has seen Juventus's popularity rocket in China, up nearly 70 percent by one measure.
Premier League now a three-way title race? Liverpool's lead at the top of the Premier League has been whittled down to three points over Manchester City and five points over Tottenham.
