It is clear that we live in interesting times when you see somebody like Ray Dalio jumping onto a soapbox with his opinions about why inequality and lack of opportunity mean that capitalism is broken and needs a rigorous fix.
This is the same Ray Dalio whose fortune is estimated by Bloomberg at $16.9bn, ranking him the 79th-richest person in the world, and whose investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, has done pretty tidily out of the system as it is.
A brief examination of the quantity of advertising in the FT Weekend’s consumer bible How to Spend It confirms that things are fine and dandy in the more rarified end of the luxury market, and this is all excellent news for Richemont.
At this end of the market, austerity means chartering a turboprop rather than a jet, and it certainly doesn’t seem to be stopping anybody from tucking into Richemont’s brands, with sales up 27% and profits, after a chunky gain on the revaluation on Yoox Net-A-Porter (YNAP) shares, up to a handy €2.8bn.
In the period the company took out minorities in YNAP, and acquired Watchfinder & Co, which for obvious reasons describes what it sells as "premium pre-owned timepieces" rather than second-hand watches.
Richemont is planning to use the skills in its online distributors to integrate with its maisons, and it is in discussions with Alibaba to establish a joint venture to bring YNAP to Chinese consumers. Its core businesses of jewellery and watches performed strongly, and the company looks set to continue to thrive.
The travel industry has moved on a little since the original Thomas Cook arranged his first excursion in 1841.
Cook, an ardent campaigner against the evils of alcohol, escorted a group of 500 fellow teetotallers on a laugh-a-minute trip to a temperance rally in Loughborough at the princely cost of a shilling each.
The noise levels may have been a little different from what you’d find today from a group of lads on an all-inclusive drink-till-you-explode tour to Magaluf, but the principle is similar.
The company is the UK’s largest independent tour operator, with more than 20,000 staff and some 21-million annual customers, but its future is looking uncertain after announcing a half-year loss of £1.5bn.
Analysts at Citigroup put the boot in with a valuation of zero for the group’s equity, and the share price is going down like a homesick mole.
None of this will be encouraging the punters as they are weighing up which operator to use for the annual flit to Hotel Vista del Mar.
A halfway decent summer in the UK last year is prompting some punters to stay home and hope for a second miracle.
Certainly, Brexit uncertainty and overcapacity in the market are adding to the pressure.
But the major problem for Thomas Cook is rooted in a couple of mergers that left it sitting with 1,300 physical retail outlets at a time when the customers and competition were moving online.
Now it’s hoping to sell its profitable airline to secure a future for the core business.
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