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- The Cynic: October 8
The Cynic: October 8
The Cynic
October 08, 2025
In partnership with
BUSINESS
This Week’s Business News
X settles the $128 million severance fight with Twitter’s former top brass.
Business Insider | Amazon CEO Andy Jassy
The case from Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, and Sean Edgett is headed off with a settlement, sparing everyone a messy courtroom brawl over contracts, cause, and Silicon Valley’s favorite word: “waiver.”
X still says it did nothing wrong; the ex-execs still say “pay what the contracts said.”
Corporate translation: no admissions, no precedent—just a very expensive “let’s never speak of this again.”
Silver just hit an all-time high, hitching a ride on gold’s record sprint.
REUTERS | Jeenah Moon
With gold ripping to fresh records, silver tagged along—because when fear, rate-cut bets, and macro drama meet, all that glitters usually gets a bid.
The bull case blends safe-haven fever with industrial demand (solar, EV bits, stuff that actually gets bolted to things).
The bear case? Silver’s talented at face-planting after big breakouts—so maybe keep the victory lap under 50 meters.
GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are taking a bite out of U.S. sugar beet country.
REUTERS | Hemanshi Kamani
As appetite-suppressing meds gain traction, snack and sweets demand softens—and refined beet sugar prices have slumped, pressuring growers from Minnesota to Idaho.
Farmers are trimming plans, delaying equipment upgrades, and praying input costs stop acting like they’re on Ozempic too.
Reality check: beet sugar has been the “safe” crop—now it’s the crop checking the balance sheet twice.
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REAL ESTATE
This Week’s Real Estate News
A prolonged shutdown is one more migraine for commercial real estate.
AFP | Getty Images
Deals and refinancings hate uncertainty; data blackouts make underwriting feel like darts with the lights off; and federal approvals tied to certain projects don’t exactly speed up when Washington is closed.
Office was already wobbling, and higher-for-longer financing wasn’t helping—now add “please check back when the government reopens.”
If CRE needed clarity, it got chaos—again.
House hunters are drifting back to riskier mortgages just to shave a few bucks.
Courtesy of Zuri Gardens
As rates bounce, borrowers are flirting with ARMs, interest-only, non-QM and temporary buydowns—because “slightly less terrible” is still better than “regular terrible.”
It can work—if you actually plan for resets, fees, and the part where math keeps happening after closing.
Rule of thumb: if the loan sounds clever at dinner, make it sound safe on a spreadsheet.
Arrest made in the deadly Pacific Palisades wildfire that leveled parts of L.A.
REUTERS | Sarah Meyssonnier
Authorities say a 29-year-old, Jonathan Rinderknecht, ignited a small New Year’s Day blaze that smoldered, then roared back into the Palisades Fire—killing a dozen people and destroying thousands of structures.
He’s been charged federally in connection with the fire; prosecutors say digital breadcrumbs and witness accounts helped them connect the dots.
It’s a grim bookend for one of L.A.’s worst disasters—and a reminder that a single spark can rewrite a city’s year.
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FUN
Riddle Me This
I’m borrowed more than I’m owned,
I rise when confidence is shown.
I move with rates, I shape your fate,
Yet vanish fast when you’re late.
What am I?
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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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