(Charlotte, NC – January 23, 2018)
Private equity dry powder hit one trillion dollars in 2017. But, it’s not clear how this capital will be deployed given current valuations.
Source: Preqin; Read full article
What We’re Reading
Below are links to recent articles we found interesting (no partnerships expressed or implied).
Craft Beer Is the Strangest, Happiest Economic Story in America
(The Atlantic) The monopolies are coming. In almost every economic sector, a handful of companies control a prodigious share of the market. This sort of industry consolidation troubles economists and research has found that the existence of corporate behemoths stamps out innovation and hurts workers. But, something strange and extraordinary has happened in the beer industry. The number of brewery establishments in the 200-year-old industry has increased six fold in the last decade, and this has happened during a time when US beer consumption declined.
Don’t Trust Dow 25000. The Economic Cycle Is Broken
(WSJ) Markets and economic indicators offer differing signals on where the U.S. economy is poised.
American Reams: Why a “Paperless World’ Still Hasn’t Happened
(The Guardian) Paper has played an essential role in the development of mankind. And yet, for decades, civilization has been trying to develop beyond paper, promoting a paper-free world that will run on pixels and screens alone. How did paper get here? Where does it go next? For that matter, why is paper – which does its job well – compelled to keep innovating?
The Network Uber Drivers Built
(Fast Company) Drivers at Uber and elsewhere have no way to speak with one another through the app. Instead, other platforms, such as driver forums, social media, and in-person conversations, are providing a vital source of information for workers trying to navigate a new set of labor practices. On these driver-led forums, drivers are forging their own informal information networks, outside the proscriptive realm of the ride-hail apps.