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- The Cynic: October 22
The Cynic: October 22
The Cynic
October 22, 2025
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BUSINESS
This Week’s Business News
The White House wants answers on global drug prices—because Americans shouldn’t be the world’s coupon code.
Business Insider | Amazon CEO Andy Jassy
According to reports, the administration is planning a new probe into how brand-name medicines are priced abroad versus in the U.S., with an eye on supply chains, rebates, and why the same pill costs less in places with better pastries.
The review could add pressure on pharma and reframe trade talks—especially if disparities look less like “market dynamics” and more like “because we can.”
Politically, it’s a twofer: tough on prices, friendly to patients; the only losers are PowerPoint decks with 78 slides of “value-based pricing.”
Netflix tripped on its own hype—revenue forecast came in light and investors canceled their auto-renew.
REUTERS | Jeenah Moon
Subscriber adds and ads progress weren’t enough to satisfy the very high bar Wall Street set, so the stock did what growth stocks do when the vibes miss: it sulked.
Management pointed to a longer game—ads scale, paid sharing, and content discipline—but the near-term math still rules the mood.
Reminder: you can’t binge EPS.
Ford recalled about 1.4 million U.S. vehicles over rearview cameras that sometimes prefer radio silence.
REUTERS | Hemanshi Kamani
NHTSA said the image can fail to display, which is not ideal when you’re reversing near anything expensive or alive.
The fix will come via dealer remedies (software and/or hardware, depending on the model), and Ford said it’s not aware of injury reports tied to the issue.
Safety lesson of the day: a backup camera should show more than hope.
Don’t get SaaD. Get Rippling.
Disconnected software creates what we call SaaD, or Software as a Disservice: wasted time, duplicate work, and stalled momentum. From onboarding checklists to reconciling expenses, SaaD slows every team down.
Rippling is the cure. With one system of record, you can update employee data once,and it syncs everywhere: payroll, benefits, expenses, devices, and apps.
Leaders gain real-time visibility. Teams regain lost hours. Employees get the seamless experience they deserve .
That’s why companies like Barry’s and Forterra turned to Rippling – to replace sprawl with speed and clarity.
It’s time to stop paying for inefficiency.
Don’t get SaaD. Get Rippling.
REAL ESTATE
This Week’s Real Estate News
Refi demand is up 81% year over year—apparently “lower rate” still beats “higher rate.”
AFP | Getty Images
MBA’s weekly data show refinancing activity surging versus last year as mortgage rates eased off their peaks; the purchase side is steadier, but the refi turnstile is spinning.
The playbook is familiar: if you can shave 50–100 bps after costs and you’re not moving soon, you’re basically giving future-you a raise.
Just don’t let fees and points turn “savings” into a personality test.
Commercial real estate is flirting with blockchain—less crypto bro, more back-office glow-up.
Courtesy of Zuri Gardens
Developers, lenders, and platforms are piloting tokenized equity/debt raises, on-chain cap tables, and tamper-evident records for leases, valuations, and even title.
The pitch: faster settlements, cleaner audit trails, and fewer “who has the latest spreadsheet?” crises.
Caveat: adoption is still early, and regulators love nothing more than a new acronym to supervise.
A new home-buyer index says the obvious out loud: buying a house is still brutally hard.
REUTERS | Sarah Meyssonnier
The data blend cost, availability, and approval difficulty—and the national picture remains grim: high prices, thin inventory, and underwriting that drinks black coffee.
Some markets are loosening at the edges, but the “starter home” is still playing hide-and-seek with median incomes.
Translation: you can win—bring a pre-approval, patience, and a calculator that doesn’t cry.
“I don’t usually read business news, but The Cynic makes it feel like gossip who like the news.”
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ADVICE
This Week’s Business Advice
“If your company needs a new meeting to talk about the last meeting, you don’t need better strategy—you need better people.”
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