The Fungus, Victor's Secret & Couch Drinking 🍄

• It’s sustainable as compared to many biomaterials on the market that glue fibers together with plastics. 
• It has the look, feel and malleability of pure animal leather.  
• Its so dense it feels  like fresh collagen - tight and smooth.
• Its vast customization potential cuts costs on materials that’s not possible with traditional leather. In traditional alligator or crocodile skins, only the spine section is used, so about 60% of the hide is wasted.

Inflation: What started as a consequence of the pandemic’s goods shortage - used cars, electronics, or lumber—has now spread to practically everything. But there are still some ways that consumers can stave off the added expenses from inflation. 

Vegetarianism: While prices of fruits and vegetables have increased, they’re still much lower than prices of meat, poultry, fish, and eggs, which have grown by 14%.

Say no to lemon cake: Lemons have seen a huge price hike, with prices climbing nearly 20% year over year.

Say yes to public transport: Fares for buses and trains have increased by 1.9% over the past year, while gas prices have gone up by a whopping 48%.

Couch Drinking: For stay-at-home drinkers, alcohol prices increased 2.7% YoY, compared to bar-goers who faced a 4.9% increase.

Here are a few graphs to give you a sense of just how widely corporate tax rates vary for small businesses across countries. A recent study pulled corporate-tax-rate data from KPMG, the Tax Foundation, Trading Economics, PwC, Deloitte and various government websites to create these graphs. 

Data Methodology: 

To compute the tax figures for every country, the research has taken a model company with revenue of $1 million, profit of $100,000 a year, owned by a resident of that country, and earning majority of its revenue from operations within the country.

Data Summary:

• North America has the highest corporate tax rate globally after Africa. What's surprising is that within the continent, the US and Canada don’t even have the highest rates. Island nations of St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Lucia have much higher rates in the continent. 
• Eastern Europe has some of the lowest corporate tax rates. Starting a business in the continent is also relatively expedient, taking only 12.7 days on average.  
• In South-east Asia, Japan and Bangladesh have the highest rate, while South Korea has one of the lowest in the region.

Victoria's Secret is pivoting its strategy.

Last week, the company announced its first-ever male model: actor and producer Darren Barnet, best-known for his starring role in the Netflix series Never Have I Ever. The 30-year-old will be a brand ambassador for PINK's gender-free collection, which includes shorts, tees, sweat sets and accessories. 

For years, Victoria's Secret’s sales have been tumbling. This year, its revenue fell 28% to $5.4 billion from $7.5 billion the year before, per CNBC. This is owing to mounting criticisms for its size-zero female models and unrealistic body images. The company now wants to correct its brand image and be more inclusive of its customer’s neo mindsets.

In his new role, Barnet will be promoting inclusivity, mental health and youth empowerment. 

As part of this new strategy, back in 2021, the company did away with its trademark Victoria's Secret Angels, replacing them with the VS Collective, which includes inspiring women in different fields: actor Priyanka Chopra, model Adut Akech and soccer player Megan Rapinoe, among others.