--In 2022, McKinsey was paid $55M to advise Warner Brothers to combine with Discovery. From 2022-2025, McKinsey charged Warner Brothers Discovery $37M by advising the company to change HBO to HBO Max, then to Max, then back to HBO Max.Jun 9, 2025--

Max profits!

Apple gets paid for the "ecosystem" by way of device and SDK sales. If the app has value, as many others do as well, there is an app cost associated. That they demand to take a cut of actual in-app payments and purchases is downright mafia tactics. Same for the Google Play Store, in case you think I'm some anti-Apple fanboi.

So, in a related case, the NAR/MLS people had to pay $418mn for price fixing commissions on house sales. I hereby proclaim that Apple and any other walled garden pay system will end up settling similar in the future for many many more billions.

That Apple expects a 30% cut for doing essentially nothing is about as fair as AirBNB getting a 20% cut for doing essentially nothing, Uber for doing the same, and countless other examples.

There will be a reckoning, and it can't come soon enough.

- Bitcoin mining ranged from 67 TWh to 240 TWh in 2023. That's right, nearly double the EV usage.
- The global EV fleet consumed about 130 TWh of electricity in 2023, which accounted for about 0.5% of current total final electricity consumption worldwide, at only a global market share of around 2.2% for electric vehicles. Scaled to 100% against 31,000 TWh global capacity would mean 8% of global generation capacity would go to cars. (Sidenote, coal is greatest source of power worldwide, that's some great move away from "fossil" fuels!)

To put things in perspective, the first is utterly useless in the grand scheme of things (anything significant being paid in Bitcoin other than money laundering and ransomware? Exactly.) and has relatively stabilized, while the second requires a sizeable bump in capacity. In the US, the power will likely come from:

Natural gas: 31.8%
Petroleum (crude oil and natural gas plant liquids): 28%
Coal: 17.8%

77.6% fossil fuels, to get away from fossil fuels. Brilliant.

But hey, let's panic about AI. Uh huh.

The current governmental obsessions with plastic waste is maybe well intentioned, but utterly ineffective.

1) plastic straws. Does anyone think the landfills are full of plastic straws, so that annoying everyone with paper straws will alleviate the world's plastic problems?
2) plastic bags. Does anyone believe forcing someone to buy a newer, thicker, pay-per-use unrecyclable plastic bag that may need to be washed will fix the world's plastic problems?
3) banning paper bags. Does anyone sane believe NJ's requirement to ALSO bag paper bags will fix the world's plastic problems?
4) by volume, are plastics really mostly the bags with utility, or possibly say, plastic bottles, which by google stats: The average person uses 156 plastic bottles per year. 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown away each day in America. 35 billion empty water bottles are thrown away in the US each year, with only 12% being recycled.
5) don't get me started on EnergyStar, which has taken major appliances from a 10-20+ lifespan to 5-year lifespans lately, leaving not only plastics in landfills but countless volumes of other materials.
6) general recycling. from one minor category of "recyclables" in some areas, to 5+ different bins in parts of the world, to bring dubious value and energy savings to anything other than aluminum, proven to be less energy intense to recycle than mine new whereas all others are in net energy, wasteful.

Behold instead the global nanny state, that has forced upon us all countless annoyance to solve the relatively minor of issues, while overlooking the need to address point 4, 5, or 6, which could arguably be a far better solution to the world's energy and plastic problems, They could at least sort 5 which has led to literally billions of wasted dollars and resources to address nothing, but that would force them to admit they've made a mistake...

From a more accurate source,

18k Rolex Submariner 16618
Year Price Price w/ Inflation
1973 $2,000 $10,967

Yes, still an unrealistic markup but nowhere near your quoted numbers.

Nobody buys a Rolex as an investment (well, nobody sane) and nobody buys a solid gold Apple smart-watch (well, nobody sane) and expects it to run in 20 years. All luxury goods are by definition artificial exclusivity, as by definition China could make a million Hermes bags, but they'd hardly be luxury in those quantities.

So, let's review.

- alienate half your customer base by telling them their preference of phone isn't supported
- look at the remaining group as potential "subscribers" or monthly-payment-suckers depending on your perspective
- profit!

I say this as a current Android user, but GM has just lost all my future potential business in perpetuity, as would any company doing the same as they are.

Accurate summary.

I suspect like many others, if you gave me one for free, I still wouldn't use it for more than a couple hours.

I'd gladly take a real trip somewhere over any "metaverse experience" any day.

Zuck needs to be fired for diluting shareholder value to this level with this product/pursuit. Will never happen with his controlling shares, but I hope he realizes eventually how much he's flushing his own net worth down the toilet.

Um, Ok. I'll see you here in 2028. My prediction is Google Glass will still be un-cool, countless billions will be spent on Meta-whatevers but it will still be as much a thing as brick shower curtains.

I'll double down and say Zuckerberg will be out of Meta by then, and they'll re-brand back as Facebook.

Hey Mark, apparently nobody wants to walk around with a VR headset and look like a complete dork, even at home. Metaverse is a flop. There, I've given you more information than the fools who refuse to tell you the truth to your face.

Start by laying off Zuckerberg and the stock would stand a far better chance for growth.

So, everywhere in these crypto blowups is a mass of people crying to the authorities about fraud, manipulation, and pleading for their money back.

Yeah the very same fools who championed deregulation, anonymity, and lack of government accountability for aforementioned crypto.

He can report directly on what's going on.

If he didn't like surveillance state with no human rights, Russia is a pretty sad choice of places to relocate to. Only thing worse might have been China?

If it helps the EV price downward, and the electric grid improvement it's a win win. Certainly won't hurt to have more options when buying a car, and if you get another option that is hopefully cleaner and also the fantastic torque electric offers, will be another win win. I'm just hoping California gets... something right. Their track record lately hasn't been stellar.

2035 isn't that far out, so we'll find out soon enough.

The future will certainly bring surprises, I cannot disagree with your assumptions as we'll have to wait and see.

I'd like to know if by then:

- Tesla will sell a "Model 3" at a price similar to a Honda Accord (two similar power/size/etc. vehicles today, but again, $20k delta at the moment). If they do, I'm sure millions will be lining up to buy only EVs and oil change mechanics will be out of luck.
- California, the US, or anyone, will modernize the electric grid to account for the massive additional kWs supply required to charge aforementioned now affordable Tesla (nuclear plants are running 5-7 years to complete no, with zero approved/slated?). Perhaps we could blanket everything with solar cells and magic dust as required to solve this really tough problem?
- Someone will sort the battery availability and durability required to make the vehicles as reliable as a similar ICE vehicle. More magic dust.
- Maybe also Tesla will also fix their doors from freezing shut in colder weather, and the various other EV makers will sort the random battery pack fires, and well, who knows might as well just stop fighting this since the government's making us do it whether it makes sense or not.

California would do better to focus on a few more of its pressing problems, than this one. But it does get the tree huggers to vote in whoever, keep it up I suppose.