Good Morning. Ray Dalio says a bubble is forming and most people are holding the wrong kind of money. Plus, how alcohol alters the brain, Mark Cuban’s Cowboys offer, and ten great podcasts from 2025 (forwarded this email? Join 523k readers).
Missed yesterday? Our most clicked link: 10,000 steps is just a marketing stunt
TOP STORY TODAY
Dalio Warns AI Bubble
Ray Dalio says markets now show classic bubble signs, comparing conditions to 1929 and 2000. His warning lands as SpaceX completes the largest IPO ever and two AI labs prepare trillion-dollar listings.
The tell is issuance. Nothing is easier to manufacture than stock (SpaceX IPO), and a company can raise $50 million at a billion-dollar valuation, minting a paper billionaire without a billion dollars ever changing hands.
His distinction matters more than the call. Wealth is not money. You cannot spend paper gains, only sell them, and in a downturn everyone sells at once while the loans stay due.
Alcohol and The Brain
Alcohol reshapes the brain at doses most people consider normal. One study of more than 25,000 people found smaller total gray matter volumes in anyone drinking seven or more drinks a week.
The mechanism is a slow swap. Reward circuits dull, so it takes more to feel good. Stress systems in the amygdala stay switched on. People stop drinking to feel good and start drinking to feel less bad. Drinking is generally down in the US.
The reversal is faster than expected. Gray matter in frontal regions starts climbing within the first month without alcohol, and attention, memory, and executive function largely recover in six to twelve months. Young drinkers who cut back showed corpus callosum recovery in a longitudinal NCANDA study.
Dallas Cowboys For Sale?
Jerry Jones says he would be open to selling a minority stake in the Cowboys to Mark Cuban. Cuban says his private equity firm Harbinger would be open to buying one. The team is valued at $13 billion.
Nothing is imminent. Jones says he is not currently adding investors, and Harbinger is not among the private equity funds the NFL has approved to buy team stakes. The league only opened that door recently.
The subtext is Cuban's last exit. He sold most of the Mavericks in 2023 at a $3.5 billion valuation and has since said he regrets who he sold to, not the sale itself. He kept 27%.
TOGETHER WITH CUKER
The brands beating you aren't spending more. They're connecting better.
The story: A man jumped from space to sell a drink
In 2012, Felix Baumgartner stepped off a capsule 24 miles up and fell faster than sound. Eight million watched live. Red Bull did not run an ad. They built the moment, then let every channel carry it outward at once, and Cuker ran the digital side of that and seven other activations, from Formula One to Rampage.
Here is the part most brands miss. Attention is the easy half. Baumgartner got Red Bull millions of impressions, but impressions do not buy anything. What turns a spectacle into a customer is the machinery behind it: the site, the apps, the retargeting, the retail shelf that is stocked when the search happens.
That is what Cuker builds. Awareness into acquisition, then acquisition into loyalty. Your brand does not need a man in a spacesuit. It needs the connective tissue that catches whatever attention you already earn.
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10 great podcast episodes from 2025
Dickie Bush polled over 400,000 followers to get their favorite podcasts from last year. Here they are, linked.
Did your favorite podcast make the list? Reply with your favorite episode of all time to get featured in an upcoming send.
Alex Hormozi’s 5 best closers for sales calls
Get the full breakdown on why they work here, but here’s the list:
"I'm going to walk you through what I would do if I were you. You can take it or leave it."
"Let me show you something. Not tell sell you on it, just so you have the full picture."
"I've got no interest into talking you into something that doesn't work for you. That's a waste of both our time."
"Here's what most people in your situation get wrong. You can decide if it applies."
"I'm not going to ask you to decide anything today. I just want you to have the information."
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TOGETHER WITH POINT ME
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