| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an abrupt reversal of the local rules of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Ooooh-weee this is getting messy: On one hand, there's not much more I can say about Elon Musk's near-total takeover of the US government: 18 out of the 28 newsletters I've written this year have mentioned him by name. DOGE threatens this, DOGE ruined that. Elsewhere on the internet, countless pixels are dedicated to documenting how the unelected billionaire his quasi-agency of 20-something DOGE bros are hacking away at democracy. On the other hand, there's always something more to say! Simply tuning him out would be irresponsible, not to mention malpractice for a newsletter that purports to keep you up to date on the latest opinions about the news of the day. A large subset of taxpayers take no issue with Musk's aims. Who could be against eliminating fraud and cutting waste? Yet Musk's methods and motives leave much to be desired. As Liam Denning and Thomas Black write, "Much of what DOGE has accomplished in its short life thus far is performative, albeit headline-grabbing and deeply disruptive." Musk "restoring" Ebola protections is just the latest in a conga line of crazy cable news chyrons I've seen today, and by the time you read this there undoubtedly will be dozens more in its place. Rather than honing in on the bombastic details, maybe we can zoom out and ask a simple question: What's his endgame? Is it to reduce the deficit? Bloomberg's editorial board says public debt is on pace reach $52 trillion by 2035, so that'd be a noble goal. But if that were the case, Musk wouldn't have fired 6,700 probationary IRS employees last week. By reducing the agency's headcount in the middle of tax season, Justin Fox says, the government is "turning down free money" — money the country desperately needs. Is the endgame personal enrichment? He does run several companies, all of which are involved in one way or another with the federal government. "The three most obvious potential benefits to Tesla from Musk's role in government concern regulation, access to foreign markets and federal procurement," Liam and Thomas write. But "Tesla's big problem isn't overbearing regulators; it's an undercooked product." While Musk might have the prime minister of India on speed-dial and an in with the State Department, his robotaxis are light years behind Waymo. Plus, Trump hates EVs! And the billionaire's far-right bent is rubbing customers the wrong way. None of that paints a bright future for Tesla. SpaceX is an entirely different beast. "Musk has enormous leverage over the commercial space industry and NASA," Liam and Thomas write. His rocket-launch system is 90% cheaper than those of competitors, and Starlink is the envy of governments around the world — including the US. This week, the Federal Aviation Administration began deploying Starlink terminals to upgrade the national airspace system (it's a huge gut-punch to Verizon, which was awarded that job in 2023). At the same time, Vietnam has offered Musk an olive branch by approving new Starlink-friendly regulations. Catherine Thorbecke says it's "an abrupt reversal of the local rules" that sets a dangerous precedent: "Should the personal business interests of Trump's 'first buddy' be enough to alter US trade policy? Is opening up your marketplace to Musk a sufficient reason to avoid the president's long-promised tariffs?" Similar concerns keep Americans up at night, Liam and Thomas say: "The more prominent Musk becomes, the more likely that questions about conflicts will be asked, leading more Americans to wonder about the wisdom of one man controlling so many companies with critical technologies spanning media, transportation and communications intertwined with government, some with national security implications." Read the whole thing. Dr. Bronner's and the Price of Perfection | I'll kick this off with a disclaimer: I have a bottle of Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Soap — eucalyptus, if you must know — in my bathroom. It's good soap! Powerful soap. Soap that, after you use it for the first time, makes you stop and think, "Have I ever truly been clean before this very moment?" But the California-based business is so much more than just soap; it's a conscientious capitalist and a feat of fine print. Think Ben & Jerry's on steroids. It's a renewable energy champion. It's a criminal-justice reform advocate. It's a proponent of "dynamic agroforestry." Most important, it's a certified B Corp. But not for long: In September, the family-run business will forgo renewing that label because it says that B Lab — the non-profit that scores companies on a social and environmental rubric — has "weak standards" that enable "greenwashing and purpose-washing." While it's fine that the soap company wants to double down on its roots, Beth Kowitt says the "B Lab breakup taps into a classic debate in the corporate reform movement: Is it better to insist on purity or impact?" Beth says the latter is valuable: "Dr. Bronner's is risking progress over perfection at a time when most US companies are not really being incentivized to make much progress at all," she writes. Under Trump, we're witnessing firsthand the de-woke-ification of business. It may be admirable that Dr. Bronner's — which is running laps around the closest high-scoring B-corps — is zigging while everyone else zags, but it won't attract more businesses to their do-gooder cause. On the other end of the Trump-Simp-Spectrum, you have Jeff Bezos, who now has creative control over one of Hollywood's most iconic film series, James Bond. Fans of the franchise are worried, Jason Bailey among them: "With Amazon at the helm, there's a risk that the franchise will be ground into dust, exploited for its name, stripped for parts, and then turned into grist for the streaming mill." In the end, he worries it will be "reduced to slop you put on while you're folding your laundry." Amazon Prime has a penchant for running creative projects into the ground. Jason says the streamer was "so desperate" to recreate what Disney did with Marvel and Star Wars, it poured $300 million into a spy franchise called Citadel. "If you're wondering how well Amazon has done with that, ask literally anyone you know if they've even heard of Citadel, much less watched it," he writes. So the odds that Amazon treats Bond with the TLC it deserves are low. Really, Amazon should stay in its lane and stick to things that I do like to watch while I'm folding laundry, like The Summer I Turned Pretty. There's a nonzero chance that fifth graders in the year 2060 will be reading history textbooks about "The Mar-a-Lago Accord," Trump's homage to Ronald Reagan's dollar-weakening Plaza Accord from 1985. The proposal is still up in the air, but "the idea is that other nations would agree to direct investment in the US to head off a trade war, and also coordinate to make their currencies stronger, and thus make the dollar more competitive," John Authers writes. If that deal gets inked, you can expect to see a lot more dollar weakness ahead:  In 2020, cobalt was the poster child of the EV revolution, and headlines warned of a looming shortage. Fast-forward to 2025, and David Fickling says the picture looks different: "The Democratic Republic of Congo, which produces about three-quarters of the bluish-silver metal used in lithium-ion batteries, has suspended output for four months to help mop up a glut that's caused prices to slump to their lowest levels in decades." What happened? A few things: Miners started digging up more of the stuff than they thought existed, but it was too late: The cobalt scare forced people to search for battery alternatives like lithium-ion. And, so, the commodity receded as an EV necessity and its value vanished. Instagram flooded feeds with violence and death. "Sorry" doesn't cut it. — Dave Lee The ugly cost of Germany's $210 billion US independence bazooka. — Chris Bryant Prioritizing stability over risk will hurt Europe's economic growth. — Allison Schrager Reagan's "peace through strength" schtick never looked so weak. — Andreas Kluth Germany's Friedrich Merz ought to stay the course on climate policy. — Lara Williams The Treasury got lower bond yields for all the wrong reasons. — Jonathan Levin A telecoms tycoon just taught the bond market a valuable lesson. — Chris Hughes Meta is laying off the leakers. "Buy Canada, bye America." The faces of trans America. Central banks on Instagram are cringe. Zendaya is Shrek's daughter. Peppa Pig is getting a new sibling. Eat a $19 strawberry for the drama. Katy Perry in space? She should sing "E.T." Hunger Games theater adaptation?? I volunteer as tribute. How Doechii went from the YouTube swamp to the stage. Notes: Please send overpriced berries and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and find us on Bluesky, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment