| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a corporate earnings call of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's AgendaChange Comes for Corporate America Change is the worst. Sure, sure, it's all for the better, blah blah blah. And of course change is constant. But some times are change-ier than others, and those times are usually disorienting and awful, as anyone who has seen my prom photos can attest. Anyway, times are seriously changing for Corporate America, for better or worse. Tesla: This week it dealt with the fallout of a deadly crash and reported earnings that were typically hilarious but also kind of awkward for this stage in its life. Selling Bitcoin as a quarter of your profit? Really? Its devoted clique remains forever unbothered, Liam Denning writes, but if it hopes to actually sell some cars to the normies it will have to get serious. Apple: The European Commission slapped it with a complaint about its unfair treatment of Spotify. Alex Webb writes this is exactly the sort of thing that made Microsoft finally change its domineering, anticompetitive ways. Amazon: After a year of delivering basically everything people needed at all times to their lairs, and enjoying unusually obscene profits as a result, Amazon faces a return to merely normal levels of obscene profits, writes Tae Kim. Except now it comes with a large side order of regulatory scrutiny. [Waves Hands] All of the Factories: Manufacturers from 3M to Rockwell spent this quarter's earnings calls complaining about labor shortages and supply-chain hangups, writes Brooke Sutherland. This is either an inflationary nightmare or, like, not. Exxon: You know it's been a challenging year for Exxon when it's talking about carbon-capture technology and preserving capital, writes Liam Denning. Activists have been circling this company for a while, but they're pikers compared to a) a pandemic and b) global disgust with fossil fuels. The $100 Million Deli: Turns out it's actually a SPAC, writes Matt Levine. That means it will change, too. As must we all. China Gets Unwelcome Visitors Britannia may no longer rule the waves, but it still has many large boats with large guns and airplanes and blow-'em-ups. So China is understandably upset the U.K. plans to float this hardware all around its waters for several months, in its first full carrier-group deployment since the Falklands War. This is partly meant to give Boris Johnson some of that Maggie Thatcher street cred, but James Stavridis notes it's also a huge boon to U.S. efforts to build a global coalition to confront China. Some military types think it would be more efficient to keep the U.K. and Europe minding their own forts at home, freeing America to take on China alone. But Hal Brands argues that putting even a token European presence in China's sphere of influence is a better strategy, making it far more complicated and painful for China to lash out. India's Failure The Covid outbreak in India is a nightmare. Though Brazil's is still far deadlier, India's case count is fast becoming the worst in the world, and the deaths are likely being deeply undercounted. People don't have enough oxygen, treatments, vaccines or even hospital beds. Almost worse than this is the sense of utter abandonment by the Indian state, writes Mihir Sharma. The most Narendra Modi's government has offered is denial and a commandment to "Let's try and not be a cry baby." Life or death depends on who you know. It's a state of anarchy that suggests the worst is yet to come. Telltale Charts Women are starting to buy dresses again, but not all of our pandemic-era shopping habits have changed yet, write Andrea Felsted and Sarah Halzack.  The important thing to remember, fashion-wise, is:  China's banks are starting to recognize $1.3 trillion in off-the-books assets, muddying the picture of their health, writes Anjani Trivedi.  Further ReadingPresident Joe Biden's agenda is suitably bold but also reckless. — Bloomberg's editorial board It's still too early to say presidential approval ratings don't matter anymore. — Jonathan Bernstein Manchester United and Arsenal have lots of fans, but their business is terrible without the Super League. — Alex Webb Like it or not, vaccine passports are inevitable and won't be so bad. — Joe Nocera Junk-bond investors keep piling on risk. — Marcus Ashworth Angel investing is getting easier for normal investors to do, and if done safely could be not-ruinous. — Erin Lowry ICYMIAmericans are eyeing early retirement. Stimulus boosted American incomes to record gains. Apollo's founders are fighting. KickersA clock's accuracy may depend on its entropy. An amateur mapmaker found a 2,500-year-old treasure. (h/t Scott Kominers for the first two kickers) Flu has disappeared worldwide. Dark matter may be destroying itself in exoplanets. The best horror movies of 2021 so far. Notes: Please send treasure and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. | 
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