Bloomberg’s Weekend Reading

Hero or zero? Getting inflation right is a make-or-break moment on Wall Street, so what do you do when the old assumptions stop making sense? Bloomberg chatted with executives at our New Economy Forum in Singapore this week, including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, who warned that greed is outpacing fear. Accelerating inflation may be the cost the U.S. bears for heading off a Covid-19 depression. But department-store earnings showed fresh strength as Americans appear poised to open their wallets this crucial holiday season, and flaring inflation may give white-collar workers an edge in year-end salary discussions.

What you’ll want to read this weekend

The Ivy League’s soaring endowments are raising some uncomfortable questions. The elite universities are amassing vast wealth with astonishing speed. To what extent should rich institutions like Harvard, with sticker prices approaching $80,000 a year, share their growing wealth with students? And should they pay more in taxes?

Card declined. Amazon versus Visa tensions simmered while Paul Davies writes in Bloomberg Opinion that the power of Visa and Mastercard is starting to crumble. Crypto took a hit as Bitcoin retreated. BlockFi faces scrutiny over high-yield accounts, while a Metaverse exchange-traded fund is booming and the Winklevoss-led exchange Gemini is eyeing a $7 billion valuation. Maybe we’ll see you at Crypto.com Arena?

Can you make due with $33,000 a year? That’s all you should withdraw if you retire with a $1 million portfolio—not that most people will ever see that kind of money. The outlook for the ultra-rich is brighter, of course. Billionaires’ collective net worth has surged and estate tax levies have tumbled.

We also took a look at how Democratic plans affect Americans with big state and local tax bills, and found that the SALT proposal gives a boost to top earners in high-cost areas.

Apple is accelerating work on its electric car, focusing on full self-driving capabilities. The company will also sell parts and tools for customers to fix their own devices. Adam Minter writes in Bloomberg Opinion that the move is monumental. On the app side of things, the CEO of Fortnite-maker Epic Games renewed his attack on Apple and Google, calling for a single universal app store.

The interior of the Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle. Apple’s ideal car would have no steering wheel and pedals.

Photographer: Bloomberg

What you’ll need to know next week

  • Black Friday may disappoint.
  • President Joe Biden’s Fed chair nominee is expected.
  • Germany’s Olaf Scholz is on track to become chancellor.
  • European lockdowns loom.
  • Deere, Dell and Zoom report earnings.

What you’ll want to see in Bloomberg Digital Video

India’s Deadly Mix of Nationalism and Religion

Hindu nationalists throughout India are giving sympathetic politicians cover to enact laws that explicitly discriminate against Muslims. It’s part of a resurgence of religion-fueled politics in a nation still suffering the consequences of British rule 74 years after the fact. In this episode of India+, Bloomberg Digital Originals explores the 21st century version of religious nationalism during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the threat it poses to the nation’s Muslim minority and the horrific violence it has triggered.

The U.K.’s catastrophic partition of India, and the hundreds of thousands who died as a result, still haunts the country today in the form of religious nationalism.