Sunday links: meaningless slogans

Quote of the Day "If you can swap your slogan with a competitor’s without changing the meaning of either brand, then your slogan is meaningless." (Seth Godin) Strategy - Why long-term investors can't simply ignore (inevitable) bad news. (tker.co) - Why are investors seemingly holding more cash than usual? (awealthofcommonsense.com) ETFs - Corgi Investments launched 35 ETFs in one day. (reuters.com) - Leveraged ETFs are going to try your patience. (marketsentiment.co) Finance - There is no shortage of 'zombie unicorns' in Silicon Valley. (economist.com) - Venture capital is bifurcating. (investing101.substack.com) - The PE industry has lobbied effectively to keep the carried interest loophole. (cashandcarried.substack.com) DRAM - Rising memory prices are going to hit nearly every tech company, Apple ($AAPL) included. (asymco.com) - How DRAM shortages are affecting smaller manufacturers. (cnbc.com) Companies - Costco's ($COST) greatest success may be the Kirkland brand. (readtrung.com) - How O'Reilly Auto ($ORLY) became a powerhouse. (fiscal.ai) Housing policy - The ROAD Act is better than you think. (newsletter.mikekonczal.com) - The YIMBY movement is winning. (theargumentmag.com) Government data - Data dumps are meant to obfuscate as much as illuminate. (thebulwark.com) - Public comment systems are getting overwhelmed with AI-written messages. (msn.com) Public health - More than 5 million people have dropped ACA insurance coverage. (npr.org) - Why Elon Musk doesn't want to talk about USAID. (theargumentmag.com) Defense - More spending on drones is inevitable. Who benefits? (barrons.com) - For Russia, the situation in Crimea is deteriorating. (wsj.com) - A profile of a Ukrainian unit launching long range drone strikes. (npr.org) Policy - "Alligator Alcatraz" is no more. (politico.com) - The U.S. is still illegally blowing up boats. (defector.com) - Disaster aid decisions from FEMA seem increasingly political. (nytimes.com) - Projects in Washington DC, and the White House, are pulling funds from national parks. (theatlantic.com) - Cardiff Garcia talks with Martha Gimbel, executive director of The Budget Lab at Yale, about debt, deficits and taxes. (podcasts.apple.com) - Trump Accounts are a diversion. (crr.bc.edu) Economy - Oil prices are down, but don't expect retail prices to come down much. (axios.com) - Kevin Warsh's approach at the Fed is still unwritten. (axios.com) - The economic schedule for the coming week. (economicweekly.substack.com) Earlier on Abnormal Returns - Top clicks this week on Abnormal Returns. (abnormalreturns.com) - What you missed in our Saturday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com) - We are rapidly running out of road to kick the proverbial Social Security can. (abnormalreturns.com) - Don't miss a thing! Sign up for our daily e-mail newsletter. (abnormalreturns.com) - Are you a financial advisor? Sign up for our exclusive Talking Wealth newsletter. (talkingwealth.com)