Ben Fox 📚🗽🌎🇺🇦

Books build better people. Join the rebellion and create the indie book platform readers deserve 👉📚

[Ben Fox 📚🗽🌎🇺🇦 @bwb]

📚🔥 My 3 favorite reads of 2025 and why I loved them -> https://t.co/1T6acGfU3n and share your 3 favorites here -> https://t.co/QiiUowXSfK #BooksWorthReading

[Paul Graham @paulg]

In the future people won't believe it ever got this bad. But it did.

[Unworthy Hand @kisstheblade_]

The World Cup is so magical we're seeing mass demonstrations of joy in Scandinavian countries. The last time there were this many happy Norwegians congregated in one single place, there was a northumbrian monastery burning in the background.

[Ben Fox 📚🗽🌎🇺🇦 @bwb]

@Marbin2050 @lugaricano This is a known problem in Spain. No economy is perfect, but shooting yourself in the foot again and again gets frustrating. I salute any entrepreneurs in Spain who try to suceed inside a system with so many barriers. It’s not easy.

[Kate Ferguson @kateferguson4]

We are getting our 7th PM in 10 years.

It’s 30C outside.

And we are playing well in a World Cup.

We have become Italy…

[Ivan Landabaso @IvanLandabaso]

Second-order consequences:

https://t.co/bVgoVGDQkp

[Ben Fox 📚🗽🌎🇺🇦 @bwb]

@IvanLandabaso @carlos_cuerpo 100% this, I want to live in Spain, but can't due to this very problem. I was going to start a company there and hire locally, gave up as it is impossible. It isn't only options, it is also the wealth tax.

[Ramez Naam @ramez]

My story is a bit like Dwarkesh's. My family came here when I was 3, for my mom to get her PhD. The immigration laws dictated that, without a very hard to get exemption, we had to return to Egypt when she finished. This is despite the fact that both parents were demonstrably a value add to the US - my mom an MD, PhD; my dad a talented surgeon who went on to be the president of two separate medical associations.

After a decade long legal process, fraught with uncertainty and crazy hoops to jump through, right up until the final hours (and a multi year period of me being effectively stateless), we won the right to stay.

This is an amazing country. And we make it so hard for people who do or could make it even better to come and stay here.

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

This is known as LOSING A WAR

[Nikki Fried @NikkiFried]

Happy 6/14

[Ben Fox 📚🗽🌎🇺🇦 @bwb]

I love the world cup, but I hate how impossible it is to watch. I just spent 20 minutes trying to find highlights of a game already played on YouTube and can't find anything.

[Ben Fox 📚🗽🌎🇺🇦 @bwb]

@charliebilello Isn't 2% a goal just like meritocracy? You keep working toward it but you might not ever achieve it fully?

[Warren Gunnels @GunnelsWarren]

A Daily Reminder: If Bernie's Social Security bill was enacted in 2021, Elon Musk would've paid $2.9 billion more in taxes, Social Security would be solvent for 75 years, benefits would be expanded by $2,400 and 91% of Americans would pay $0 more in taxes.

Scrap the damn cap.

[Mall Bangers @MallBangers]

The world lost Anthony Bourdain 8 years ago today. I love this quote from him.

[vids that go hard @vidsthatgohard]

Anthony Bourdain died on this day eight years ago and him describing Waffle House is still the single-most important description of America that has ever been articulated.

[Ben Fox 📚🗽🌎🇺🇦 @bwb]

@marcosagusstinn @MichaelAArouet Agreed on a single market, but they also need to reduce some of the paperwork. It is a problem. If I had the choice, it would be creating a single market + apply some common sense to incentivize entrepreneurs.

[Ben Fox 📚🗽🌎🇺🇦 @bwb]

Thank god, some common sense and sanity win out.

[Sawyer Merritt @SawyerMerritt]

Wow, the S&P Dow Jones Indices has just officially announced that they will NOT be changing their inclusion rules to make it easier for “MegaCap” companies (such as @SpaceX) to be fast-tracked into the S&P 500.

Their reasoning:
"S&P DJI determined that exceptions to the financial viability, seasoning, and IWF requirements should not be granted solely based on market capitalization. The decision not to adopt the proposed exceptions preserves core index principles by maintaining consistent application of these key requirements. Although there may be trade-offs between strict adherence to these eligibility requirements and broad representativeness, the current methodology provides substantial market coverage and sector balance. As a result, the indices can continue to meet their stated objectives while preserving their role as representative and investable benchmarks for the U.S. equity market.

No changes will be made to the eligibility criteria including financial viability screens, seasoning period, or minimum IWF, for the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, or S&P SmallCap 600 as a result of the S&P Dow Jones Indices consultation on the treatment of MegaCap companies. Accordingly, there will be no changes to existing methodology for this index family."

This means that the earliest @SpaceX could be eligible to be added to the S&P 500 would now be June 2027.

The requirements that will now remain in place are:
• No changes to S&P 500 eligibility rules for mega-cap companies.
• Mega-cap companies will still need to wait 12 months after their IPO before being considered for S&P 500 inclusion.
• S&P will not waive profitability requirements for mega-cap companies. The company must have positive GAAP net income in the most recent quarter, and the sum of the most recent four consecutive quarters.
• S&P will not waive minimum public float requirements for mega-cap companies. At least 10% of a company's shares must be publicly tradable ("free float").

The S&P rejected proposals that would have:
• Reduced the IPO seasoning period from 12 months to 6 months
• Waived profitability requirements
• Waived minimum public float requirements

[Ben Fox 📚🗽🌎🇺🇦 @bwb]

They finally figured out how to screw over index funds, this is an insane move. Keep the requirements in place.

[Hedgeye @Hedgeye]

Rule changes for the SpaceX $SPCX IPO:

Index providers waived the profitability requirement and cut the seasoning window from 90 days to 5.

This forces over $30 trillion in passive 401k and retirement money to buy SpaceX at IPO valuations.

Bloomberg Intelligence estimates S&P 500 funds must absorb 19% of SpaceX's float within 6 months.

Russell 1000 and Nasdaq 100 funds will absorb 24%.

The rules built to protect passive investors:

1. S&P 500 has required 12 months of trading and 4 quarters of GAAP profitability since 2002. Both waived.

2. Nasdaq cut its inclusion window from 90 trading days to 15.

3. FTSE Russell cut its to 5.

All three benchmarks are now structured to buy SpaceX at IPO pricing.

[Ben Fox 📚🗽🌎🇺🇦 @bwb]

@DaveKeating @alemannoEU @vonderleyen It can also be both :)

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

We need to keep smart people in the country to build the future and build tomorrow’s businesses that employ millions of people

This is bad and misguided policy