We all know that die-hard fans can get crazy.

Perhaps we’ve even gotten crazy ourselves when a favorite team lost (or won) or a TV series took a twist. But I’m not sure if any of us have gone as far as Harry Potter fans just did.

They just successfully bullied an international project into changing its original design. And all over a fictional character’s final resting place.

In the Harry Potter series, a house elf named Dobby dies and is buried on Freshwater West Beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales. So fans have flocked to the area ever since to pay their respects.

When they found out that a new multimillion-pound (the currency, not the weight) power cable connecting the UK and Ireland was going to defile Dobby’s “grave,” they threw an absolute and absolutely effective fit.

Project manager Simon Ludlam told the Energy Revolution podcast that he had no idea what he was getting into when he did a BBC interview talking about the cable. “We did the shot. We finished. I went back to London, and they then aired it a couple of weeks later,” he explained.

But that’s when his business got flooded with calls from concerned, heartbroken, and even outraged Harry Potter readers. It was more than enough to leave Ludlam, who had never heard of Dobby before, in a state of utter bewilderment.

“He’s a fictious character in a fictitious book. The whole thing is fictitious,” he (quite accurately) pointed out. “What are you talking about?” But when a colleague told him that the situation was actually “very, very serious,” he relented.

Specialists were brought in to find a new, non-desecrating route, and compromises were reached. “A lot of people were very happy about that,” Ludlam added. “And the project is now going, and Dobby’s happy.”

Admittedly, it’s now going “quite close to some real Bronze Age remains.” But apparently that era doesn’t have enough enthusiastic fans to make waves.

Does David Ellison mean business?

Kick back and grab your popcorn. Because Paramount’s (PSKY) acquisition attempt of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is back in the spotlight yet again.

This time, CEO David Ellison is throwing his full business weight against California Attorney General Rob Bonta. The latter is heading up a 12-state coalition to block the studio switch-up, arguing that the merger wannabe would create a monopoly, thereby reducing market competition and increasing consumer costs.

Ellison, for his part, argues that they’re nuts and says he’ll take his company and its 30,000 Southern California jobs out of state if Bonta doesn’t back down. As far as we can tell, he’s serious about that, going so far as to contact multiple states about making the move.

Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas seem to be top contenders at the moment. But I’m sure they’re not the only places that would welcome Paramount and its economic clout with wide, open arms.

Bonta, however, isn’t impressed one bit. As he said on Tuesday:

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In a span of weeks, Paramount agreed to halt the merger until a court decision or until June 2027, asked for a November trial, and is now back with another attempt to blackmail the state into letting an illegal deal through.

Paramount has lost the plot as it continues to lose in court. It didn’t work the first time – on the eve of our July lawsuit – and it won’t work this time.

That, of course, is still left to be seen. It’s a bit of a cliffhanger at this point, with no clear clue over who will have a happy ending.

But it sure is entertaining to watch while we wait!

A Kevin Warsh win

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has gotten a whole lot of hate from Wall Street analysts since he took over. I have no definitive proof of this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his first-months favorability levels are the lowest of any Fed chair ever.

As Forbes wrote in its July 30 Fortune 500 Digest email, “Wall Street is openly questioning Warsh’s credibility after he left interest rates below the level of inflation.” It then proceeded to quote negative commentary after negative commentary about the man and the move (or lack thereof), including:

  • “Warsh didn’t convey the message clearly or explicitly, and the bond market puked on him.” – Jon Hilsenrath of Serpa Pinto Advisory

  • “This is a classic central-bank credibility shock.” – Mark Cabana, head of U.S. rates strategy, Bank of America

  • “The biggest failure of the press conference was that Warsh didn’t explain why they didn’t hike.” – Robert Sockin, chief U.S. economist at PGIM.

And while the Digest itself never took a position on the subject, it certainly didn’t refute any of the criticism either. Or really offer another way to look at the matter. Moreover, Forbes itself has published more than one very critical piece of Warsh since he took over.

So it might have smarted Fortune 500 writers at least a little when they asked if “the Fed’s Warsh just [got] his credibility back?” this past Monday:

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Some analysts on Wall Street have been critical about… Warsh recently, saying he lacks “credibility” because he won’t give forward guidance and he hasn’t raised interest rates even though inflation has been above 2% for five years. But [last week’s] weak jobs number shows that raising interest rates at the last FOMC meeting would have been the wrong call, given that the labor market needs all the cheap money it can get.

“The loss of 23,000 jobs is another reason the Fed was right to hold off on raising rates in July,” said Jamie Cox, a managing partner at Harris Financial Group.”

I wonder if Warsh is enjoying the helpings of humble pie dished out since that report came out.

If he isn’t, he’s a better man than most.

Happy SWAN investing!

Brad Thomas
Editor, The Wide Moat Daily