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News From the Control Tower - 4/22/2020 Thumbnail

News From the Control Tower - 4/22/2020

This week’s reads feature: 

1.  Charlie Munger: ‘The Phone Is Not Ringing Off the Hook’

An interview with Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway, who advises caution in today’s market.  “Nobody in America’s ever seen anything like this,” said Mr. Munger.  “This thing is different.  Everybody talks as if they know what’s going to happen, and nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

2. In Race for Small-Business Loans, Winning Hinged on Where Firms Bank

Here are the largest public companies taking payroll loans meant for small businesses.

3.  Disney stops paying 100,000 workers to save $500m a month

Disney is risking reputational damage as it slashes costs more severely than rivals. They stopped paying almost half of their workforce, but protected bonus schemes for upper management.

4.  Be Prepared for the Profitless Coronavirus Recovery

Conor Sen of New River Investments predicts a profitless coronavirus recovery. He anticipates that "running physical operations will require an extremely high amount of labor... cleaning crews, drivers, temperature checkers, and so on”

5.  Rich Americans activate New Zealand pandemic escape plans

Rich Americans, namely Silican Valley tycoons, have fled to secret bunkers in New Zealand and South Dakota to ride out the pandemic.

Bonus relating to the price of oil dropping below zero–

That Time I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil: Tracy Alloway strikes one of the more ridiculous trades in commodities history.

Bloomberg reporter Tracey Alloway recounts her experience of actually buying a barrel of crude oil and includes some great insight into how the oil market works.