{"id":448108,"date":"2026-01-30T20:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/448108\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T20:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:49:12","slug":"10-friday-am-reads-the-big-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/448108\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Friday AM Reads &#8211; The Big Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My end-of-week morning train WFH reads:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 The average 50-something American is now worth $1.4 million: Want to get rich? Get old. That\u2019s what the data tells us about net worth in America. The average 50-something American has a net worth of $1.4 million, according to a report from Empower, the financial services firm. The average 60-something is worth $1.6 million. By contrast, the average 20-something is worth a mere $127,730. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/2026\/01\/19\/average-net-worth-1-million-50-year-olds\/88202093007\/?link_source=ta_bluesky_link&amp;taid=696e6a3148d81e00016440b9&amp;utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=bluesky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">USA Today<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 America\u2019s own goal: Americans pay almost entirely for Trump\u2019s tariffs: Contrary to US government rhetoric, the cost of US import tariffs are not borne by foreign exporters. Instead, they hit the American economy itself. Importers and consumers in the US bear 96 percent of the tariff burden. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kielinstitut.de\/publications\/news\/americas-own-goal-americans-pay-almost-entirely-for-trumps-tariffs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kiel Institute<\/a>) see also\u00a0TACO Tracking: Trump Carries Out Just One in Four Tariff Threats: Financial markets and C-suite executives have mostly shrugged off Trump\u2019s latest warnings involving Iran\u2019s trading partners, Greenland\u2019s supporters, Canada and South Korea, seeing them as merely words intended to gain leverage or change behavior \u2014 nothing he\u2019d actually carry out. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-01-27\/bluffing-or-not-counting-trump-s-tariff-threats-versus-actions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Bloomberg<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 How a BlackRock Loss Reignited Worries About What Is Hiding in Private Credit: Fund had marked investments as full-valued as recently as November, before disclosing a 19% decline last week. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/finance\/investing\/how-a-blackrock-loss-reignited-worries-about-what-is-hiding-in-private-credit-d6e221ce\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Who\u2019s been buying all the gold? \u201cSome will argue that global central banks are moving their reserves away from dollars and into gold, and this is a better measure of debasement than the bond market.\u201d\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a2539a6a-284a-40be-a77c-b91ed5bb2a65\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Financial Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 U.S. Trade Deficit Widens Despite Trump\u2019s Tariffs: The monthly trade deficit and imports rebounded in November after shrinking significantly in prior months, new data show. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/29\/business\/us-trade-deficit-tariffs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">New York Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Anthropic Is at War With Itself: The AI company shouting about AI\u2019s dangers can\u2019t quite bring itself to slow down. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/2026\/01\/anthropic-is-at-war-with-itself\/684892\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Atlantic<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 The World Is Drowning in Tourists. Who Should Pay the Price? I\u2019m the problem, it\u2019s me. Last summer a French tabloid sting operation uncovered that Americans (or at least journalists posing as Americans) were being charged up to 50% more than Parisians in some of the city\u2019s most touristy cafes. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/features\/2026-01-23\/how-governments-visitors-can-combat-barcelona-paris-venice-overtourism?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2OTc0NTY1MywiZXhwIjoxNzcwMzUwNDUzLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUOUI3T1ZLR0NURkwwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiI4NDBGRjU2MjUwQTM0M0NGQkM1Q0M2RUQ3Q0I1M0Q3MCJ9.7oOZOYRuYtrPhyAyCBSadse_GnsvIrwzP_uTm1UcXxM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Bloomberg<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 How popular is Donald Trump? Silver Bulletin approval ratings for President Trump \u2014 and all presidents since Truman. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.natesilver.net\/p\/trump-approval-ratings-nate-silver-bulletin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Silver Bulletin<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Yes, one image from space can change humanity\u2019s perspective: Our view of the world, the Universe, and ourselves can change with just one glimpse of what\u2019s out there. It\u2019s happened many times before. (<a href=\"https:\/\/startswithabang.substack.com\/p\/yes-one-image-from-space-can-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Starts With a Bang<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Michael J. Fox and Harrison Ford on Shrinking, Parkinson\u2019s, and Donald Trump: Following his first TV role in five years, Fox hopes to meet with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about funding research for the incurable brain disease. But as he exclusively tells VF, the current administration \u201cseems that they\u2019re involved in other things that have less impact on peoples\u2019 lives.\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/story\/harrison-ford-michael-j-fox-shrinking-parkinsons-interview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Vanity Fair<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to check out our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/plnk.to\/MIB?to=page\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Masters in Business<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/masters-in-business\/id730188152?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-web-url=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/masters-in-business\/id730188152?mt=2\">interview<\/a> this weekend with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allspringglobal.com\/biographies\/kate-burke-board\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kate Burke,<\/a> CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allspringglobal.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Allspring Global Investments<\/a> a global asset manager with more than 600 billion dollars in assets under advisement. She is also a director on the firm\u2019s board. Previously, she was at AllianceBernstein as COO\/CFO.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>YouTube leads all media, but legacy studios saw a live sports boost in Nielsen\u2019s latest snapshot of TV distributors<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/youtube.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy lazy-hidden alignnone wp-image-352473\" data-lazy-type=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/youtube.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"480\"  \/><\/a><br \/>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/THR\/status\/1993029224978911441\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gtrackexternal\" href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/005fb77d75b9\/ritholtzreads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sign up for our reads-only mailing list here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                    <a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\"><br \/>\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy lazy-hidden pf-button-img\" data-lazy-type=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753226112_318_printfriendly-button.png\" alt=\"Print Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\" style=\"width: 112px;height: 24px;\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My end-of-week morning train WFH reads: \u2022 The average 50-something American is now worth $1.4 million: Want to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-448108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}