My favorite books:
Why Norway is Becoming the World's Richest Country
*Topic : Business
*Length : 44m 28s
*View : 1.4M
Economic Impact of Oil Discovery
🛢️ The discovery of oil in the late 1960s didn't make Norway rich, but rather made it even richer than it already was, contrary to popular belief.
💰 Norway's GDP per capita had already exceeded those of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom before the discovery of oil in the country.
🏞️ Norway's sovereign wealth fund, fueled by oil and gas revenues, has become the largest in the world, valued at over $1 trillion.
💸 The fund's conservatively capped 3% withdrawal rate per year can safely provide for about 20% of the entire Norwegian government's annual budget in perpetuity.
💰 Norway's strategy of using renewable energy to reduce reliance on foreign energy imports and sell more oil and gas abroad is steadily transforming the country into one of the most powerful and influential states in Europe.
💰 Norway's unique strategy of selling and exporting oil and gas while being completely energy independent has made them spectacularly wealthy.
🛢️ The country pulled in a whopping $12.3 billion in revenue from their oil and gas industry in 2022 alone and then immediately shattered that record with another $131 billion in oil and gas Revenue across 2023.
🌍 Norway's expansion of its Sovereign wealth fund and tax incentives to electrify vehicles and grid further solidifies its position as the world's richest country, setting itself up for generations of prosperity.
Geographic Advantages and Renewable Energy
🏞️ Norway's geography forced its people to trust each other and cooperate, resulting in the dominance of cooperatives in agriculture, forestry, maritime insurance, fishing, and the banking sector.
💧 The modern advanced water turbines and hydroelectric dams revolutionized Norway's Geographic potential, accelerating its economy between 1900 and 1938.
⚡️ The country effectively keeps all of their renewable hydro and wind resources in-house to meet their own energy demands indefinitely, allowing them to sell most of their oil and gas resources to outsiders.
🚗 Norway's generous tax incentives have led to a whopping 88% of all new car sales being electric vehicles, the highest market share in the world.
Political and Social Influence in Europe
🌍 Norway is ranked as the single most democratic, free, and egalitarian society on the face of the Earth, despite being a Petro State.
💣 The sabotage of the Nordstream 1 and 2 pipelines symbolized Norway's increasing displacement of Russia in the European energy market, showcasing their growing influence in the region.
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Why Direct-To-Consumer Companies Like Casper, Allbirds And Peloton Are All Struggling
*Topic : Business
*Length : 18m 01s
*View : 143K
The direct-to-consumer boom is coming to an end. A once bustling group of companies, backed by billions in venture capital funding, saw a record year for IPOs in 2021. Now, three years later, most of those direct-to-consumer companies still don't have a clear path to profitability. Now many of these so-called DTC darlings are being forced to reevaluate their business model to survive a shifting consumer landscape.
🛍️ The pandemic accelerated the shift to digital-first consumer-facing brands, creating a surge in direct-to-consumer new entrants.
📦 The shift to direct-to-consumer allows brands to have more control over their products and brand image, but it also comes with its own set of challenges and competition.
📉 The focus on growth meant these venture-backed companies were funneling funds into customer acquisition, namely marketing and sales, leaving many DTC companies in dire need of padding in case of a downturn.
💰 The cost of advertising on social media has skyrocketed, making it a lot more difficult for DTC companies to make a noise and create visibility for themselves.
💸 "Ad spending is way up, ad prices tripled to around $80 to reach 1000 people, unraveling the models of DTC which relied on reasonable customer acquisition costs."
💸 The customer acquisition cost for an E-commerce company stands around $70 per customer, meaning selling a product for less than that results in a loss.
📈 Despite the climbing cost of digital marketing, Warby Parker found that word of mouth from existing customers remained the number one driver of new customers.
💡 The digital landscape is changing with consumers wanting to purchase directly from social media platforms and physical stores, challenging the traditional direct-to-consumer model.
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The biggest science breakthroughs in 2023
*Topic : Science
*Length : 6m 01s
*View : 214K
💻 Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Frontier supercomputer can perform 1 quintillion mathematical operations per second, leading to groundbreaking research in predicting electron behavior and climate modeling.
🌍 The new evidence supporting earlier dates for the footprints suggests that people may have migrated into the Americas during the peak of the last ice age, reshaping our understanding of human history.
💉 A large-scale evaluation of the first malaria vaccine reveals it’s safe and effective enough for greater use, with a second vaccine recently approved by the World Health Organization, showing potential to reduce severe cases and deaths of children.
🌊 The global overturning circulation is slowing down faster than expected, impacting the circulation of water throughout the world's oceans.
🌍 The largest academic strike in U.S. history at the University of California led to pay increases for grad students and postdocs, sparking a global wave of academic workers unionizing and speaking out.
📡 Pulsar timing arrays offer a promising way to observe some of the most massive objects in the universe.
💊 The new Alzheimer's drug Lecanemab could slow down cognitive decline but comes with risks like swelling and hemorrhaging in the brain.
🌦️ AI modeling is revolutionizing weather forecasting, making it faster, more accurate, and requiring less computing power.
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