It’s not sexual harassment to call someone ‘bald’

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a serious study of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here.Today’s Agenda Hair loss harassment isn’t a t [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a serious study of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [Hair loss harassment]( isn’t a thing. - [Elon Musk’s issues]( [predate Elon Musk](. - [Stablecoins]( can be stable. - People aren’t [worried about Covid](. The Business of Being Bald An unfortunate amount of humans in the modern dating world have what I like to call a “bald bias.” They log into Hinge or Bumble or Tinder and start furiously swiping left on any and all men that appear to be … gasp! … bald. His hair is doing some weird flappy thing in the wind? Very suspicious, might be bald. He’s wearing a baseball hat? Red flag, probably bald. Can’t see the back of his head because he’s got a hoodie on? Totally bald. In all of these instances, [it’s an immediate swipe left](, seeya never, get me outta here. This practice is point-blank bad, don’t get me wrong. But is it sexual harassment to show a “bald bias” at work? This question is the center of a heated British controversy: A UK court decreed that calling a co-worker "bald" created an intimidating work environment. But the underlying incident didn’t just involve someone lightheartedly gesturing at the naked cranium of Jerry from IT. Instead: During a nasty argument over repairing machines on the factory floor, one employee called another a “bald c—” ... and the supervisor did nothing about it. Let’s just put this out there: Calling someone a “c—” at work is *not* okay!! Which is why Stephen Carter disagrees with the court’s focus on “bald,” [rather than the unprintable word with which it was coupled](. Stephen argues we are still free to say “bald” in the workplace. Which … phew! Just be aware that bald men generally have a lot of power in most workplaces. Stephen notes “the bald are generally perceived as [more intelligent](,” and baldness may even [look good on a resume](. The past three CEOs of Goldman Sachs have been bald White men, as illustrated by this [Businessweek cover story]( from 2018: In 2019, Joe Weisenthal [tweeted]( “Has anyone done a serious study about whether bald men are over-represented in the C-Suite and on Wall Street vs. their share of the overall population?” We should do this, if only to stop women from carelessly swiping left on could-be future billionaires. Just off the top of my head (no pun intended), I can think of many powerful and celebrated bald men: - In Brazil, financial analyst Robin Brooks’s [baldness made him a hero](. Now people tweet “In bald guy we trust.’ - Hollywood darling Stanley Tucci is [aging like a fine wine](. - Some of the [wealthiest people in business]( are bald: [Jeff Bezos](, Michael Jordan, Marc Andreessen, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Ballmer. - Mr. Clean — perhaps [one of the hottest]( corporate mascots of all time — was [born bald](. - Pitbull even [influenced John Travolta]( to go bald. The list of bald icons doing their thing, is, I’m sure, [endless](. Just don’t go calling them (or anybody else for that matter) a “c—” and you should be fine! Bonus Bald Reading:  [Bezos is mostly right](: Raising corporate taxes during an inflationary period won’t help the economy. — Karl Smith Elon Musk Is Henry Ford Picture this: The titan of a very successful car company gets bored of doing regular old car stuff so he … - Forms a new kind of techno-currency — the “energy dollar” — which is backed by electricity generated by a river - Hires a publicity agent and considers running for the US presidency - Pivots to airplane manufacturing and launches a commercial airline - Starts a sprawling historical museum in his hometown - Purchases a failing newspaper and has ghostwriters churn out columns under his name - Buys physical mines and forests to give him a steady supply of raw materials - Spends a fortune building a bizarre utopian city in the Brazilian rainforest designed to oversee rubber production - Becomes someone who “would rather be a maker of public opinion than the manufacturer of a million vehicles a year” This is Elon Musk, right?? It has to be! Haha nope it’s not; this is Henry Ford, who passed away in 1947. Which means: Is Elon Musk just a reincarnated Henry Ford? I can’t be the only one wondering this. The [similarities between the two are utterly striking](, as Stephen Mihm notes. Elon is out there [hunting down mythical Twitter bots]( and buying lithium mines (an idea Anjani Trivedi [does not endorse]() while other car companies are actually making cars. Ironically, the automaker best positioned to take Tesla’s EV throne is none other than … Ford. Just take a second to appreciate the full circle moment. It’s fate, right? Or [maybe it’s just a bot](. Bonus Elon Reading: [Musk is lying to us](. He said he wanted to buy Twitter to fix spam bots. Now he says there are too many spam bots to buy Twitter. — Matt Levine Telltale Charts The death of Terra [doesn’t spell doom for all algorithmic stablecoins](, writes Trung Phan, but retail investors need protection. One million Americans have [officially died of Covid-19](; but in the polls, it looks as if [people could care less about the pandemic](. But politicians should remember that another surge could change that by Election Day, writes Jonathan Bernstein. Further Reading Kim Jong Un’s scientists are [up to no good](. —  Bloomberg’s editorial board Twenty-five percent of the Buffalo shooter’s manifesto was plagiarized. [Fight online extremism]( to stop the next copycat. — Parmy Olson [Walmart]( is hitting an inflation wall. — Andrea Felsted [Adjustable-rate mortgages]( are getting more popular, but we’re not headed for a repeat of 2008. — Alexis Leondis A Roe-less America won’t be a return to the 1970s, thanks to [the advent of abortion pills](. — Clara Ferreira Marques One of the world’s busiest venture capital investors might have bought [one too many unicorns](. — Shuli Ren The oil market knows there’s going to be a recession. But how bad might it get? [History gives us a clue](. — Javier Blas ICYMI The U.S. plans to [block Russian debt payments](. Apple is [letting people stay home](. Netflix is [firing people](. Kickers You’re gullible [if you fall for fake screenshots](. Anderson .Paak’s [origin story]( is nothing short of wild. Why are tech bros so [weird about food](? Billionaires might not work hard on Earth, [but they do in space](. (h/t Mike Nizza) [Men need to read]( more [books](. (h/t Mark Gongloff) You missed [the coolest wedding]( of the 21st century. Notes:  Please send book recs and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. 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