Ep. 102: Musing on a "Big Blob of Ad Tech" Strategy

Well, what was going on in the economy that you were paying attention to?

Yeah, a lot of it is, you know, follow on from the interest rate increase last week.

So mortgage rates hit 7% for the first time in 18 months, 10-year treasuries, highest in 22 years.

But on top of that, diesel prices record all time.

And that really ripples through to everything.

80% of US freight is by truck.

Another 10% is diesel railroads.

So that is every consumer product gets a little bit more expensive.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I think, you know, regular listeners will have heard us reference this before.

There's no question that interest rates are spiking as they happen is probably one of the most significant stories out there.

It's worth noting that these are not necessarily damaging levels of interest.

I remember pointing out when interest rates spiked last a couple years ago, that you don't necessarily get a downturn when that happens.

It actually reflects that you have a really strong economy more than anything else, and that is the reality.

You've had a great robust growth in the 90s with comparable rates.

With that said, there are lots of risks, and that's also a factor in these interest rates here.

So I can't really point to anything else that stands out as much as that.

Other than the currency machinations, they're going on as well

yeah it's a lot of moving parts but again it's it's every week is a little bit more anxiety and still no concrete evidence of a slowdown

Exactly.

All right.

So an M&A activity looking fairly robust is a good illustration of that no sign of a slowdown.