Amazon + TikTok = Instagram on Steroids

AMZN inks a new deal with TikTok and Pinterest to sell products directly without leaving those apps. August 09, 2024 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( Amazon + TikTok = Instagram on Steroids SEAN RING The Name of the Game The name of the game for Americans is convenience. In all my years of travel, I’ve never known such whining complainers as Americans, when they have their peace interrupted. For instance, take my parents. My new house doesn’t have air conditioning, which is standard in most American homes. I grew up with it. Because of the insufferable heat in Singapore, I breathed in more air conditioning there than I had in my entire life before living there. But in Northern Italy, most houses don’t have air conditioning because it really only gets into the 90s in August, and Italians just put up with it until it cools down in September. You’d have thought I sent my parents to Hades. They didn’t stop complaining for weeks, so I put a dehumidifier and an air conditioning unit in their apartment. They’re much happier – and quieter – now. While it’s a pain in the ass for me, the demand for convenience is, quite literally, a civilizational advantage for American businesses. They can make countless variations of their products to appease American demands for convenience. And those variations mean profits. After all, what other country on earth could’ve invented the beer fridge? Or better yet, the beer fridge in the arm of a recliner? I know of no other country that uses escalators instead of stairs to get up to the gym. Is Tinder too skewed towards men? Fine, enter Whitney Wolfe Herd to found Bumble, which only allows women to make the first move. Are you too drunk to drive to the grocery store to buy more beer? Get out your phone and order some using Drizly. Older brothers with ID are now obsolete. Sara Blakely invented Spanx for women unhappy with their bodies. Since 2000, it has fooled unsuspecting men into one night stands and first dates. There are countless examples to choose from. But what happened yesterday may just take the cake. [External Advertisement] NEXT Trillion Dollar Company?]( It just signed a deal to get its tech in Apple's iPhone until 2040! Online commenters are debating if this brand-new company will be the 7th trillion dollar stock. [Details on the controversy here.]( [Click Here To Learn More]( Amazon Inks Deal With TikTok and Pinterest Score one for people who thought Congress’s persecution of TikTok had less to do with Chinese spying and more to do with their allegedly amazing algorithm… that apparently beats the pants off of Meta’s. Now, you’ll never need to get off your couch again. According to [Bloomberg]( Users can link their profiles from TikTok and Pinterest to their Amazon accounts and then buy products directly from ads. The initiative is designed to make it more convenient for customers to shop on social media, an Amazon spokesperson said Thursday in a statement. Can you imagine it? It’s Instagram on steroids. In fact, Meta and Snapchat inked similar deals with TikTok and Pinterest earlier this year. Bloomberg continued: “Customers who choose to link their accounts in the US will see real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details on select Amazon product ads in TikTok as part of the experience,” the Amazon spokesperson said. Are you kidding me? This is window shopping with instant information provided from the comfort of your couch. [TikTok]( wrote this in a blog post: How It Works - Shoppers will see Amazon product recommendations on the “For You” feed. When ready to purchase, users can choose to link their TikTok account to their Amazon account through a secure, quick, and easy one-time set-up. - Once accounts are linked, Amazon customers are able to complete a checkout with Amazon in the product ad without leaving the TikTok app—enabling a faster, more frictionless experience. - Users who choose to link their accounts in the U.S. will see real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details on select Amazon product ads in TikTok as part of the experience. - At any time, users can choose to unlink their Amazon account in TikTok’s app settings. While ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, isn’t publicly traded, this deal could be a significant boost for AMZN and PINS stocks. Both companies seem poised for a positive turn, which is sure to bring a sense of optimism to investors. Here’s AMZN: PINS also fell off a cliff recently: And if e-commerce is your online business, be sure to check out this amazing way to fatten your bottom line. Wrap Up Deals like this can really move the needle for these businesses, especially AMZN’s. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see this kick off a deal-making spree. This will help keep a bid under the Nasdaq, which has suffered recently. Which way, Congress? Do you keep going after ByteDance to sell (to AMZN, perhaps), or do you let them carry on making your companies tons of money? Whoever wins the White House may have a definitive answer to that question. Have a wonderful weekend! All the best, Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening X (formerly Twitter): [@seaniechaos]( Rate this email Like Dislike Thanks for rating this content! Looks like something went wrong. Please try to rate again. In Case You Missed It… Regarding Renunciation SEAN RING As you read this, I’m on my way to the airport to pick up Pam and Micah. The recent market and political upheavals have kept me from writing about topics like acquiring a second passport, starting an online business, or investing in cryptocurrency. I originally penned this edition of the Rude in October 2022. I've chosen to republish this for two reasons. Firstly, to provide a respite from the current chaos. Secondly, to cater to the new Rude readers who might not be familiar with my origin story, especially on this sensitive topic. In these tumultuous times, it's crucial to revisit the fundamentals occasionally. Here we go: The question from Walt B. is this: You did not address one obvious question: why did you renounce your American citizenship? I get that you like Italy and being a global citizen of the world, but why? What event triggered that response? Honestly, a large part of your readership (and income stream, I imagine) derived from the U.S. I do not understand why you would "renounce" your citizenship from your birth country. Regards, Walt B. Walt, thanks for this. I’ve written my reasons before, but not recently. And you have a right to know why if I talk about it so much! So here we go. Most Shouldn’t Do It First, let me say that renunciation isn’t for everyone. I remember saying to a crowd at a conference, “If you have grandkids in America, don’t do it.” I’d add a large family, a big business, or a second passport from a spit of land in the Caribbean. I think those “advisors” who suggest renunciation when you’ve only got, say, a passport from Dominica aren’t acting as fiduciaries. They’re trying to make a quick buck. My situation was different. Because I partied my butt off at Villanova, I knew I had to add something special to my CV to get into a top 25 MBA program in the States. Getting international experience was a great way to accomplish that. I asked for and got a two-year transfer to London. I was 24 years old at the time. But then, something extraordinary happened. I fell head over heels for London. And I realized I could attend London Business School at night while working for my bank. So I ended up staying for ten years and skipping the MBA, which I now know stands for Mediocre But Ambitious. (I got a Master’s in Finance instead.) Now, let’s talk about my tax situation over there. [“Black Pattern” Forecasting Major Market Crash]( The world’s most accurate crash indicator is flashing its most critical warning in decades. I call it "The Black Pattern". [And it is the only one that is 100% accurate at predicting a market crash.]( Ever since the 1950s… Whenever this Black Pattern has appeared, stocks have crashed – sometimes by 50% or more. And now… It’s telling us that 2024 could be the worst year you and I have ever seen for the stock market. This simple chart might be the scariest chart in the financial world. [For full details, click here.]( Citizenship-based Taxation As you know, America has the most asinine tax system in the world. And if you think it’s stupid for America-based citizens, you should see it for ex-pats. It's downright unfair. Here’s why: if you pay less tax in your host country than you would’ve in America had you been employed there, you have to “top-up” your taxes to the IRS even though you don’t live in America. For example, let’s say I paid the British pound equivalent of $35,000 in taxes to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. (HMRC is the British IRS and just as nasty.) If my US tax liability had been $40,000, I’d have to cut the IRS a $5,000 check—even if I hadn’t set foot in the US for the entire year. That’s citizenship-based taxation. And it's a heavy burden. Only the US and Eritrea work on this tax system. Most European countries work on residency-based taxation. That means you pay taxes to your home government on your worldwide income (regardless of where it was derived) if and only if you live in your home country. A Brit who lives in the US only pays US tax. While they live and work in the US, they don’t pay or have to file anything in the UK. That’s why most Europeans never even consider renouncing their citizenship. I got my British citizenship and passport in 2006. Since I was a dual US-UK citizen and UK taxes were higher, I only had to cut the IRS a check twice in the ten years I lived in the UK. Both times, the amount was under $2,000, so I didn’t care much. And then, I moved to Singapore in 2009. The Singapore Government did something unique at the time. Since the crash was so bad, the SG government reduced everyone's top tax rate to 8%! In essence, they wanted the residents to spend their few dollars in the stores, not on the government. I thought it was the most fantastic thing ever! But as I was still a US citizen, I had to pay a colossal top-up. It decimated my savings account, and I was furious but hadn’t renounced it yet. And then, I met Pam. Accidental Americans Pam and I only dated for a year and a half before marriage. I told her about the Accidental Americans. If you’ve never heard the term: [An Accidental American]( is someone who US law deems to be an American citizen but who has only a tenuous connection to that country. For example, American nationality law provides (with limited exceptions) that anyone born on US territory is a US citizen (jus soli), including those who leave as infants or young children, even if neither parent is a US citizen (as in the case of Boris Johnson until he renounced his US citizenship in 2016). It also includes children of US citizens, even if they’re born abroad. Since I worked in finance, I knew the IRS set up offices worldwide to go after these accidental Americans. Pam and I decided the only thing we could do to protect our yet-to-be-born was for me to renounce. We were married on July 3, 2011. I renounced my US passport four days later. How Do I Work? Oh, it’s easy, and I’m cheaper than the equivalent American worker. And that’s not because I charge less. It’s because I’m a 1099 from abroad - the same as if you hire a kid from India on Fiverr to do your graphic design work. That means companies don’t have to pay idiotic payroll taxes if they hire me. And yes, I work for American companies, UK companies, and other companies. This came in especially handy when we moved to the Philippines. The country has a territorial taxation system, which means income earned abroad isn’t taxable. If you’re an American living abroad, you get a foreign income exclusion of $120,000 (as of 2024). That’s great because you only have to file and not pay if you earn under $120,000 from non-Philippines sources. I paid zero and didn’t have to file because all my income was from abroad, and I no longer had to worry about US taxes. Now, as an Italian citizen living in Italy, I’m taxed on my worldwide income regardless of source and pay that here. However, since the Italian government passed its freelancer law in 2020, I have paid nowhere near the top rate. Wrap Up If my math is correct, I’ve saved over six figures by not being an American citizen. And if God grants me a long life that will exceed seven figures when all is said and done. Are there costs? Of course. I didn’t see my cousin’s kids grow up, and that’s a bummer. Most other American things are available on Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon. But I’m not in America much at all. I go to teach and visit my Paradigm colleagues on occasion, but since my parents moved here, I don’t need to visit them anymore. One last thing: you get named and shamed on the Federal Register when you renounce. You can see my name on [this list for April 30, 2012](. (There’s always a delay in reporting.) I’m also on that list with Denise Eisenberg (songwriter and ex-wife of infamous commodities trader Marc Rich), Matt Ridley (author and businessman), Eduardo Saverin (billionaire co-founder of Facebook), and Derek Sivers (author and founder of CDBaby.com). Keeping company like that, I felt reassured. I hope that answers your question fully, Walt. Have a great day. All the best, Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2024 Paradigm Press, LLC. 1001 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Rude Awakening e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Rude Awakening, feel free to [click here.]( Please note: the mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so do not reply to this message. We welcome comments or suggestions at feedback@rudeawakening.info. This address is for feedback only. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, [contact us here]( or call (844)-731-0984. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized financial advice. We allow the editors of our publications to recommend securities that they own themselves. However, our policy prohibits editors from exiting a personal trade while the recommendation to subscribers is open. In no circumstance may an editor sell a security before subscribers have a fair opportunity to exit. The length of time an editor must wait after subscribers have been advised to exit a play depends on the type of publication. All other employees and agents must wait 24 hours after on-line publication or 72 hours after the mailing of a printed-only publication prior to following an initial recommendation. Any investments recommended in this letter should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company. Rude Awakening is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. Please read our [Privacy Statement.]( If you are having trouble receiving your Rude Awakening subscription, you can ensure its arrival in your mailbox by [whitelisting Rude Awakening.](