The unimportant news thread

[Todd]

The only part of the report that I find significant is that it wasn't Russia.

Russia was ruled out months ago.  It was reported on in the corporate press. The new reporting purports to reveal who did it.  It is an unidentified "pro-Ukrainian group".  As of right now, at 7:40 AM Pacific on March 8, 2023, all consumers of corporate press can conclusively say is that someone did it.

If the perpetrators are identified, it will be interesting to see which entity prosecutes (eg, which country or countries, or an international organization) and if the heroes/terrorists are charged with terrorism related crimes or something similar.  If state actors are deemed to be involved, the question of reparations will become a diplomatic kerfuffle.  Ukraine does not get to freely destroy partially German/Dutch/French owned infrastructure.  If Ukraine was involved.  Which it was not.  Ukrainian officials have said so.

It is potentially comforting to think that a small group of righteous warriors, sailing a yacht in heavily patrolled waters, could independently and clandestinely take out a critical piece of infrastructure during a war.  That very believable storyline would make for a great action flick.  Perhaps Chris Pratt could star.  It is potentially discomforting to think that a small group of righteous warriors, sailing a yacht in heavily patrolled waters, could independently and clandestinely take out a critical piece of infrastructure during a war  - or peace.  Imagine a coordinated attack on multiple intercontinental fiber optic cables.  That very believable storyline would make for a great action flick.  Perhaps Idris Elba could star.

[Karl Henning]

" Later, the company clarified the precise technical cause, but in the interim that statement looked like the euphemism to end all euphemisms. Yes, Elon Musk, if you do away with 75 percent of a company's employees and replace all existing processes and policies with a new strategy that can only be described as "winging it," stuff will start to break.

"Really, though, this latest hiccup in a mishap-filled few months was not only another example of the platform's practical predicament but also a metaphor for its spiritual malady."

Twitter was — and is — broken

[Karl Henning]

In 2022, royalty distributions to ASCAP members exceeded $1 billion for the sixth year in a row and increased 10.7% over 2021, with a total of $1.388 billion available for distribution to ASCAP's music creator and publisher members.

[Todd]

I don't know Politico's reliability or political leanings

It leans left.

https://www.allsides.com/news-source/politico-media-bias

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/politico/

[Todd]

Americans now favor legal cannabis over legal tobacco

[Todd]

Yeah. For an American, Hitler leant fairly left, I guess.

You guess wrong.  Good use of Hitler and single quotes.  I guess.

Hey, I thought I was on your ignore list and you would not respond to me.  What changed?

[Todd]

You are on my ignore list, because I find you entirely fatuous.

Do you know how the ignore list works?

It shows a message saying "You are ignoring this user".  It also then shows a link saying "Show this post".
Sadly, ignoring a user doesn't mean "when this idiot quotes one of your posts, don't tell me". So, when you replied to one of my posts, I was told about it. And since you'd replied, I'd have no way of knowing whether you were replying in your usual entirely cynical and self-congratulatory way, or whether you were making a vaguely intelligent comment on my post without clicking the 'Show this post' link.

Since, on this occasion, you managed to rise to actually citing two sources, I thought it useful and worth a 'thanks'.

I used no single quotes.
And I still think rather more of the USA than I would be comfortable with, if I were a citizen, makes 1934 Nazi Germany look like thoughtful politics.

All very helpful.  Thank you very much.

[Todd]

Moving on to something much more important than Politico propaganda, it's always nice to see someone get excited about the number of toilets a facility will have:

[Todd]

Silicon Valley Bank's Abrupt Closure Leaves Venture Capitalists And Founders Scrambling

Uninsured depositors – and more than 93% of the bank's $161 billion in deposits were uninsured – were told they would get a receivership certificate for their remaining funds, to be paid out in future dividend payments as the FDIC sold off SVB's assets.

Oof.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Silicon Valley Bank's Abrupt Closure Leaves Venture Capitalists And Founders Scrambling

Oof.

I heard that news earlier today; one start-up had millions of dollars in there.  I suspect that they were not alone.

PD

[DavidW]

I heard that news earlier today; one start-up had millions of dollars in there.  I suspect that they were not alone.

PD

Roku had a quarter of their entire savings in that bank and it was uninsured.

[Todd]

Roku had a quarter of their entire savings in that bank and it was uninsured.

Roku's incoming CFO is in for a rough time.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Roku had a quarter of their entire savings in that bank and it was uninsured.

Geez!

I just read an article on the BBC's website.  I hadn't heard of the bank before now.  Apparently there's about  175 billion (USD) of deposits in SVB.  There's also a branch in the UK.  According the the BBC, accounts are only guaranteed there up to 85 thous. pounds [US, it's up to 250,000 USD].

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64915616

Roku's incoming CFO is in for a rough time.

Yep!

PD

[Todd]

US, it's up to 250,000 USD

I'm not familiar with UK rules, but in the US, the $250K limit is per person (or corporate entity), per account type, per bank.  A married couple can structure accounts such that $1.25 million is FDIC insured per bank.  Use multiple banks, and millions can be insured.  All rich people do it.  Obviously, companies cannot do that, but they can have $500K in FDIC insurance per company, per bank.  Setting up multiple LLCs would allow for additional insurance since each would be a different entity.  The requirements are exact, and it makes accessing cash more complicated, so for operational accounts, it may not make sense to use.  There are also additional insurance programs for excess deposits.  I have to think that some of the larger companies with tens of millions had that as well.  There is a good chance that the FDIC will insure deposits beyond the $250K limit, which happens frequently.  If more institutions fail in a short period, the FDIC could act as it did after the 2008 crash and insure all deposits in non-interest bearing accounts.  Customers will happily make that change.  It's worth noting that new rules are coming into effect next year, which will reduce aggregate coverage, so this is the better year for this kind of failure to happen.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I'm not familiar with UK rules, but in the US, the $250K limit is per person (or corporate entity), per account type, per bank.  A married couple can structure accounts such that $1.25 million is FDIC insured per bank.  Use multiple banks, and millions can be insured.  All rich people do it.  Obviously, companies cannot do that, but they can have $500K in FDIC insurance per company, per bank.  Setting up multiple LLCs would allow for additional insurance since each would be a different entity.  The requirements are exact, and it makes accessing cash more complicated, so for operational accounts, it may not make sense to use.  There are also additional insurance programs for excess deposits.  I have to think that some of the larger companies with tens of millions had that as well.  There is a good chance that the FDIC will insure deposits beyond the $250K limit, which happens frequently.  If more institutions fail in a short period, the FDIC could act as it did after the 2008 crash and insure all deposits in non-interest bearing accounts.  Customers will happily make that change.  It's worth noting that new rules are coming into effect next year, which will reduce aggregate coverage, so this is the better year for this kind of failure to happen.

I did know about the per account bit, but not about the other limits, so thanks for the additional info.  And that makes sense about having supplemental insurance (though I wonder how pricey it is.  I suspect--and am just guessing here--that the companies with a lot more moolah in a bank would have it vs. smaller companies).

That's way more generous than the UK, where the limit is £85K per person (or corporate entity) per bank, across all account types.  So a person with a checking account, savings account, and joint account, all with the same bank, would be covered up to a total of £85K across all three.  This also includes cash deposits with a third party of which you are the beneficial owner e.g. in a stockbroker client account, if lodged with the same bank.

Youch!

PD

[Todd]

That's way more generous than the UK, where the limit is £85K per person (or corporate entity) per bank, across all account types.

That's by design.  Rich folks vote and donate to political campaigns.  Ultra-wealthy people have other options that are ultra-safe.  The safest and most liquid of all is to just buy gobs of laddered Treasuries.  Higher yielding insurance products are available that are, in practical terms, basically as good as FDIC insurance.  It's good to be rich.

[Todd]

Saudi Aramco reports record profit of $161.1 billion in 2022

[Todd]

Regulators close Signature Bank, say depositors will be made whole

Fortunately, SVB and Signature Bank were the only two troubled banks in the US.

[DavidW]

Vinyl has eclipsed sales of cds.  If it sounds like old news that is because in 2021 it did by revenue and now it is doing it by volume. 

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/10/1162568704/vinyl-outsells-cds-first-time-since-1987-records

Only 33 million cds sold annually.  Twenty years ago it was around 800 million.  Streaming has become so impersonal that Gen Z has gone the opposite way-- vinyl.  There is also a resurgence in dumb phones, and more often they prefer reading physical books over ebooks.   

[Todd]

and more often they prefer reading physical books over ebooks. 

I detest ebooks.  I refuse to read a book that requires a battery. 

Vinyl's mild resurgence is good fun, if perhaps falsely nostalgic.  LPs do come with the physical satisfaction associated with larger, more abundant artwork, and the warm, distorted sound of LPs works just swell for some types of music.  Just how high fidelity does playback need to be for two electric guitars, one electric bass, and drums, all recorded and mixed in a studio?