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Why-do-audiobooks-cost-as-much-as-paperback-books
Why do audiobooks cost as much as paperback books?
Audiobooks are more costly than is immediately obvious to consumers. They are narrated by a processional voice actor, or the author, who had to sit down and read the entirety of the book. That individual would need to be compensated for their time. An audiobook takes considerably more time to produce than the actual audio time, often several times that length just to record the audio alone. The most efficient of voice actors or narrators will need to record at least two hours for each one hour of audio that makes it into final production.
There will likely be several takes of certain lines, paragraphs, and section to get the audio just right. In addition to a narrator, you may also require a recording artis, a mixing artist, an editor, and a director. The publisher is going to be paying all of these costs. In the case of Audible and Kindle books, some also has to synchronous the audio reading with the e-book text.
There are also pricing considerations. If the actual paperback book costs $15, you can’t price the electronic book for $10, because you will effectively be directing consumers towards the e-books instead and be losing paperback sales. The price points need to be essentially the same.
There was a time when audiobooks were on CDs. Back then, the price of audio books was very expensive.
These days you have an entire industry devoted to producing audiobooks with dedicated studios and professionals. Therefore, you don’t have multiple businesses like radio advertisements and musicians, competing for the same studio space. The audiobooks have their own dedicated recording spaces.
Audiobooks can be treated as a way to expand the catalog by companies like Audible. A large volume of audiobooks keeps customers subscribing.
The vast majority of books are unprofitable. A tiny minority are profitable enough to keep book companies afloat and subsidize the losses create by the majority of publications.
A publisher is effectively lumping all formats together when considering a book. If one format, say print, earns more than the other format, say audiobook, then the former is effectively subsidize the latter.
There is a common misconception that physical media, like paperback books, is much more expensive than digital productions like audiobooks from Audible. As with most goods, the vast majority of the cost is labor related. Just because a company is saving a couple dollars from not having to produce a physical copy of a book, does not mean that physical formats are less costly than digital formats.
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Why do audiobooks cost as much as paperback books?
Audiobooks often come with a price tag that might seem high to consumers. This is due to several factors that are not immediately apparent. Firstly, the narration of an audiobook requires the services of a professional voice actor or even the author themselves, who spend significant time reading the entire book aloud. Naturally, these individuals need to be compensated for their time and expertise. Furthermore, the production of an audiobook takes considerably more time than the actual audio duration itself. In fact, it often requires several times the length of the final audio to complete the recording process.
Achieving the perfect audio for an audiobook involves multiple takes of lines, paragraphs, and sections to ensure high quality. Additionally, apart from the narrator, other professionals such as recording artists, mixing artists, editors, and directors may be involved in the production process. All of these costs are borne by the publisher. In the case of Audible and Kindle books, there is an added complexity of synchronizing the audio reading with the e-book text.
Price considerations also play a role. If the price of a paperback book is $15, setting the price of the electronic book at $10 would inadvertently encourage consumers to choose the e-book format over the paperback, potentially leading to a decline in paperback sales. Therefore, price points for both formats need to be essentially the same.
In the past, when audiobooks were distributed on CDs, their prices were notably high. However, today there is an entire industry dedicated to producing audiobooks, with dedicated studios and professionals. This means that audiobooks have their own dedicated recording spaces, separate from other businesses such as radio advertisements and musicians, reducing competition for studio availability.
Audiobooks also serve as a means for companies like Audible to expand their catalog and retain customers. Offering a large selection of audiobooks keeps subscribers engaged and satisfied.
It is important to note that the profitability of books, in general, is a challenging endeavor. The majority of books are not profitable, with only a small minority generating enough revenue to sustain publishing companies and offset the losses incurred by the majority of publications.
When considering a book, publishers
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Not-all-risk-is-good-in-the-stock-market.
Not all risk is good in the stock market
The more risk you have, the more return you should get to compensate you for that risk.
In investing, we use standard deviation to measure risk. It is a measure how much a stock price swings high and low compared to the average price. A low risk stock is more predictable and has less swings. Examples of low risk companies would include utility companies or consumer staples. A high risk stock is less predictable and be more volatile. Technology companies are higher risk stocks because future revenue is not as predictable given innovation and changing technology.
Time horizon is the length of time you can part with your money before you need it again. The longer your time horizon, the longer you can stay invested. With a long time horizon, you can potentially wait out a dip in the stock market or an individual stock’s price. The shorter your time horizon, the less risk you can take.
I recently did a video about young people putting a substantial amount of their portfolio into riskless or near riskless investments like treasury bills, high yield savings accounts, and CDs. The issue with this choice is that these people have long time horizons, and therefore they should be in more risky investments that offer more return.
A risk premium is the return in excess of the risk free rate of return. At this point in time, the risk free rate of return is relatively high compared to the past decade when there was cheap money and low interest rates. There have been a number of article describing the stock market as unattractive given its returns versus the returns of risk free investments. Despite this, I believe young people still need exposure to the stock market. While inflation appears to be cooling off, it is still high and to have money in risk-free investments yielding 4% or 5% is just not going to cut it.
When it comes to investing, Nobel price laureate Harry Markowitz said that diversification is the only free lunch in investing. Therefore, make sure you are being compensated for risks that you are taking in your investments. Diversification is an easy win to reduce risk. Not all risks proportionally compensate you. Just because you invest in risky investments does not mean you have the opportunity to earn a correspondingly high return to compensate you for taking on that risk. So make sure you are being smart with your investments and considering the risks you are taking, and that you are being appropriately compensated for those risks.
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The-Visa-and-Mastercard-Duopoly(1)
The Visa and MasterCard Duopoly
Did you know that when you pay with your credit card, approximately 2% to 3% of that entire amount goes back to the bank that issued your card? This is called the interchange fee or swipe fee. Some of that money is paid out to cardholders in the form of rewards like cash back or airline miles. Another piece of the interchange fee is paid to payment networks like Visa and Mastercard.
Did you notice that I said “card issuing bank?” Visa and Mastercard to not issue cards directly to the public but Discover and American Express do. The card issuing bank actually issue the Visa and Mastercard credit cards to customers. Visa is larger than Mastercard in terms of transactions, purchase volume, and cards in circulation. It really doesn’t matter much whether you have Visa or Mastercard. What matters is the bank issuing the card. The bank determines interest rates, fees, and rewards. The only time it really does matter whether you have Visa or Mastercard is when you go to a merchant like Costco, that only accepts one and not the other.
The interchange fee helps compensate the card-issuing bank for various costs associated with providing credit card and debit card services such as fraud protection, customer service, and card issuance. Did you know you have more consumer protection with a credit card than a debt card? If you can be responsible with your credit card and pay off the balance, you should be doing all your transactions on your credit card rather than your debit card.
US merchants paid $93 billion in Visa and Mastercard credit card fees last year.
The companies have an operating profit of more than 50%.
The combined operating profit of Visa and Mastercard has grown 40x in less than two decades to more than $31 billion last year.
Most retailers have very slim profit margins. What people do not realize is that businesses expenses, whether they result from shoplifting, or in this case, credit card fees, are in turn based on to the consumer. However, most merchants will charge you the same amount whether you pay with a credit card or cash. Therefore, there is a transfer of money from people that pay with cash to people that pay with credit cards.
Visa and Mastercard have both announced they plan to increase fees paid by retailers.
Works Cited:
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/020215/visa-vs-mastercard-there-difference.asp
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-credit-card-fees-merchants-hate-banks-love-and-consumers-pay-11592731800?mod=article_inline
https://www.wsj.com/finance/visa-mastercard-prepare-to-raise-credit-card-fees-ed779be1?utm_source=chartr&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=chartr_20230901
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interchange fees, interchange, interchange fees explained, visa interchange fees, interchange fee, interchange fees for credit cards, interchange fee (business operation), interchange rates, interchange plus, interchange plus pricing, what are interchange fees, how interchange fees work, interchange fees meaning, high visa interchange fees, mastercard interchange fees, credit card interchange fees, payment card interchange fees, interchange rate, credit cards, best credit cards, credit card, best credit cards 2023, best cash back credit cards, travel credit cards, cash back credit cards, credit cards for beginners, credit, best travel credit cards, credit score, top credit cards, credit cards 101, chase credit cards, best credit card, credit cards explained, best credit cards for beginners, best cash back credit cards 2023, credit card debt, 16 credit cards, credit cards 2023, 2022 credit cards
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What-will-happen-if-interest-rates-fall-below-3--or-4-(1)
What will happen if interest rates fall below 3% or 4%?
The most prominent thing would be that everyone with an interest rate of 5% or greater would refinance.
However, any decrease in interest rates will be the result of Quantitative Easing. QE would the response of the government to try and stimulate the economy.
Many people are eagerly waiting for a housing market crash that will give them the opportunity to purchase real estate at bargain prices. A housing crash is almost always in tantum with a wider economic recession. The issue people ignore is what they will do for income if there is an economic recession. Rooting for disaster is based on the false pretense that you will be left unscathed and fully able to liquidate your savings to purchase a house. What job will be left untouched by an economic catastrophe? A popular rebuttal to this argument is that unemployment was only about 10% during 2008 which suggests only 1 in 10 people were impacted by the recession. However, I would argue the majority of people were negatively impacted, especially people in cyclical and discretionary industries like construction, entertainment, dining, and retail. It is likely that the people that can’t afford a house now would be the most impacted by any sort of economic turbulence.
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mortgage rates, mortgage interest rates, mortgage rates 2023, mortgage rates today, best mortgage rates, interest rates, mortgage rates forecast, mortgage rates forecast 2023, mortgage, , mortgage rates rise, mortgage rates jump, mortgages, mortgage rates explained, mortgage interest rates today, mortgage rates predictions 2023, mortgage guidelines, high mortgage rates, mortgage rates 2024, interest rates, mortgage interest rates, mortgage rates, high interest rates, raise interest rates, rising interest rates, interest rate hike, interest rates latest news, interest rate, us interest rates, fd interest rates, fed interest rates, latest news, cuts interest rates, interest rates news, interest rate rise, interest rates on hold, rates, what are interest rates, federal interest rates, interest rates mortgage, interest rates no change, interest rate rises
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Softbank-failed-at-investing-in-artificial-intelligence
Softbank failed at investing in artificial intelligence
Softbank invested in just one of 26 generative AI startups valued at more than $1 billion.
At the June annual meeting, Masayoshi Son pledged to be at the forefront of the AI field, but he has a history of making bad bets.
Even with vast war chests of investor money, it is difficult to pick winner. Most of the AI frenzy has directed money at Microsoft, Meta, and Nvidia rather than startups. SoftBank invested $4 billion into Nvidia in 2017, only to sell the shared in 2019. The price of Nvidia has multiplied by ten since then.
The AI boom has had little effect on the portfolio of SoftBank despite it backing dozens of startups.
The only material benefit SoftBank has had from AI is the purchase of ARM in 2016 for $32 billion, but this purchase was almost 9 years ago. ARM is valued at about $60 billion today. There have been hundreds to technology stocks that have doubled between 2016 and now. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Essentially my argument that this man, as well as Cathie Wood, can not tell the future, especially regarding disruptive stocks like technology.
Works Cited:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/he-spent-140-billion-on-ai-with-little-to-show-now-he-is-trying-again-dbcca17?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1
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softbank, softbank vision fund, what is softbank, vision fund softbank, softbank stock, softbank wework, softbank ceo, masayoshi son softbank, softbank corp., softbank investment, softbank masayoshi son, softbank new, softbank ipo, softbank news, softbank group, softbank so rich, rise of softbank, softbank tiktok, wework softbank, where is softbank, story of softbank, softbank alibaba, softbank in india, softbank options, how softbank works, softbank earnings, artificial intelligence, what is artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence for beginners, artificial intelligence course, artificial intelligence edureka, artificial intelligence full course, intelligence, artificial intelligence robot, types of artificial intelligence, artificial inteligence, artificial intelligence training, artificial intelligence explained
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Why-is-southern-Italy-so-much-poorer-than-northern-Italy
Why is southern Italy so much poorer than northern Italy, and why it will remain that way.
The poverty that exists in southern Italy is in stark contrast to the wealth on display in the north. Most tourists never make it much farther south than Rome. If they did, they would be surprised at how rural and impoverished southern Italy is. The persistent economic disparity between Southern and Northern Italy is due to a number of factors that we will explore. I believe this stark disparity in wealth will continue for the foreseeable future.
It's worth noting that Italy is relatively wealthy country, and the poverty of the south is relative, when all things are considered. Sicily, Italy’s poorest province, has a similar Human Development Index score to Slovakia, Hungary, and Puerto Rico.
Geographical Factors:
Let’s consider the topography of Italy. To the north of Italy you have the Alps, the highest and most extensive mountain range in Europe. Most of Italy’s water comes from the Alps. From the western Alps flows the Po river to the Adriatic Sea. The Po River has one of the longest contiguous flows surrounded by flat, fertile land in Europe. 17 million people, or about a third of the total population of Italy, live in this area. The rich fertile farmland of the Po valley contributed to north being wealthier. Richer areas of Italy overlap with the Po river. Perhaps, just as important as fertile land, is the transport afforded by a large river. The Po River gave the valley access to both Genoa and Venice which were major port cities since the Middle Ages, facilitating trade with the east.
It cannot be overstated the impact naval trade had on northern Italy as it was a significant driver of economic activity in the late Middle Ages and renaissance. Venice and Genoa exerted considerable control over Mediterranean trade. They possessed exclusive rights to Constantinople and the Black Sea. They were employed by crusading armies to ferry troops to the middle east.
Historically, the Kingdom of Naples dominated the south in contrast to the north which was organized into various mercantile city states that competed against one another. The cities of Rome, Florence, Milan, and Genoa are all in the North. The south only has Naples. Typically, Italians divide their country in north, central, and south. In which case, Rome and Florence may be considered central Italy. However, for our purposes, we will divide the country into north and south.
The south does have some fertile areas, but more importantly, it has several good ports which are conducive to trade. The cities of Naples, Palermo, Catani, and Bari all have a combination of good ports and fertile land which would lend itself to be a fairly well off and populated region or city.
Due to the heat and oppressiveness of the midday sun, southern Italy, as well as most areas with a similar climate and geography, tend to take off during the time the sun is hottest, returning to work in the evening. In contrast, northern European work cultures tended to work a continuous period from morning to early evening.
Historical Context:
Italy was unified under the Roman Republic in the third century BC, and remained realtivley whole even after the fall of the Roman Empire under the Ostrogoths until it became disputed between the Kingdom of the Lombards and the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire.
Italy was a divided nation from Justinian in the 500s to Napoleon in 1798. The north largely existed as small independent city-states, while the south was ruled as a territory of a distant emperor.
The first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, conquered northern Italy, as far south as Rome, but his southern campaign failed to make lasting gains. The Holy Roman Empire continued to rule Northern Italy for hundreds of years while not making permanent gains in the south which was held by the Byzantine empire, and occasionally Islamic forces.
Southern Italy was subjected to destruction and devastation repeatedly as warring empires and nations fought over it
Historically, the cities of Genoa, Venice, and Florence were economic power houses during the late medieval and renaissance period. Wealth accumulated and spread across the regions closest to these cities. When the industrial revolution arrived in Italy, investment in workshops and factories occurred primarily where that wealth was found: northern Italy. It is worth mentioning that the lack of a unified Italy was a factor in preventing the spread of wealth and investment in the south. However, I would argue even if Italy was unified before the industrial revolution, the wealth and investment still would have heavily concentrated in the north, and this great north-south disparity would still have persisted.
Eventually, northern Italy was overshadowed by Spain, the Netherlands, and Britian due to their grip on global trade. Italy lagged the rest of the developed world, and was in a state of turbulence and upheaval, until its reunification in 1
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