Investment Watch Blog

Some of the usual suspects used their perch in the Washington Post last week to allege that the administration’s new fuel economy rule (the SAFE rule) will lead to a post-apocalyptic hellscape. My colleague Marlo Lewis eviscerates this alarmist claptrap: “Last month, deep in a 500-page draft environmental impact statement, the Trump administration made a startling assumption: … Read more

From Popular Mechanics: A soldier wears a skullcap that stimulates his brain to make him learn skills faster, or reads his thoughts as a way to control a drone. Another is plugged into a Tron-like “active cyber defense system,” in which she mentally teams up with computer systems “to successfully multitask during complex military missions.” The Pentagon … Read more

To be honest there is a long list of candidates that could have been chosen for inclusion in the “top 5”, but this RT’s (politicised) list, which predictably singles out US corporations, with only a couple of exceptions, and includes no Russian names. They go for: Monsanto Apple Nestle Philip Morris McDonald’s Other contenders listed … Read more

via forbes: He clearly doesn’t relish the spotlight this story will bring and is quick to underscore that Facebook “isn’t the bad guy.” (“I think of them as just very good businesspeople.”) But he paid dearly for the right to speak his mind. “As part of a proposed settlement at the end, [Facebook management] tried to … Read more

via nationalreview: What grates me about this recent talk of norms is that that efforts to police norms have of late been notoriously one-sided, mainly serving the purpose of advancing Democratic political priorities. For instance, in 2011, President Barack Obama invited Paul Ryan, who was then the chairman of the House Budget Committee, to a speech … Read more

I’M OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER WHEN PAYING YOUR FAIR SHARE WAS PATRIOTIC: New York Towns Gearing Up to Fight IRS Ruling on Local Taxes. “New federal code capped state and local tax deductions at $10,000, hurting some residents in the high-tax suburbs.” State lawmakers approved a bill in March that allowed the creation of the charitable funds. … Read more

From Bloomberg: Years of doomsday talk at Silicon Valley dinner parties has turned to action. In recent months, two 150-ton survival bunkers journeyed by land and sea from a Texas warehouse to the shores of New Zealand, where they’re buried 11 feet underground. Seven Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have purchased bunkers from Rising S Co. and planted … Read more

via dailycaller: The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has reportedly decided to cut at least $1 million in advertising that was going toward helping Rep. Kevin Yoder of Kansas as the GOP re-evaluates certain candidates’ chances of winning heading into November. Yoder, who has served in Kansas’ 3rd congressional district since 2011, was endorsed by … Read more

via qz: The next time you drive past one of those road signs with a digital readout showing how fast you’re going, don’t simply assume it’s there to remind you not to speed. It may actually be capturing your license plate data. According to recently released US federal contracting data, the Drug Enforcement Administration will be expanding the … Read more

GE shares soar after company suddenly dumps John Flannery as CEO General Electric abruptly removes John Flannery as chairman and CEO and installs former Danaher CEO Lawrence Culp as his successor. The board had grown frustrated with the slow pace of change under Flannery, sources familiar with the issue say. GE also will take a … Read more