Marea-Best Pasta Dish in Manhattan

7-27-25

Opening Comments

The last report was about the obnoxious amount of money the Rosen family spends on healthcare related matters. This Newsweek article outlines how 45-year-old Venus Williams returned to professional tennis because she needed health insurance. You know it is rough when a pro athlete who earned $42mm on the court and more off it and returned to tennis to get health insurance. I received quite a few emails from readers asking for assistance with health insurance and will be sending out an email in coming weeks with the solution I will be using. This link suggests Americans are now spending more on health care than groceries or housing. Despite this, 300 hospitals are at the risk of closing. The most opened links were the video of the Japanese bullet train and the article about Trump’s party for “young women” where Epstein was the only guest.

• Picture of the Day-Average & Median Wages by Country

• Marea-Best Pasta Dish in Manhattan

• Quick Bites

  • Hurricane Insurance Issues in Florida

  • WNBA Player Compensation

  • Global Fossil Fuel Usage for Energy is Unchanged in 30 years

  • NYC Public Schools “Restorative Justice” Failures

• Tariffs

• Politics

• Middle East

• Other Headlines

• Health

• Real Estate

  • Falling Rents

  • $250mm Palm Beach Assemblage

  • Wealthiest Suburb in America

  • Real Estate Cash to Invest in 2025

Picture of the Day-Average & Median Wages by Country

I just thought this was an interesting chart from Bloomberg on average and median salaries by country.

Marea-Best Pasta Dish in Manhattan

My readers know I love a good meal and search high and low to find them. Marea in NYC is an Italian seafood gem that packs a punch. Everything works at this Altamarea Group sophisticated eatery. From the backlit bar to the macassar wood walls to the incredible food and service, the time at Marea is something I always look forward to experiencing.

My friends from the private bank and JPM took me and Jack to dinner, and we had a great time. I started off with everyone getting one of the crudi (tuna, golden eye sea bream, and hamachi). Think of it as Italian sashimi. AMAZING from every dimension, and the presentation was beautiful. The chef brought out a delicious branzino tartare that I had never tried. It looked like a piece of art and tasted even better. The texture of many of the Marea dishes take the experience to another level and this dish did just that. The crunch of the pistachio mixed with the branzino and radish made for one of the more memorable items.

Next up was the Ceasar salad with anchovies. It was good but would not get it again for $29. The risotto primavera on the other hand was spectacular but you need to pace yourself on carbs. They bring out delicious bread and you are going to be getting a pasta entrée so don’t overdo it on the appetizers.

Six people were at the table, and when I told them my favorite pasta dish was the fusilli with octopus and bone marrow, four others followed suit. There is always one guy who is hard of hearing or dropped on his head as a child. It happened again at Marea, and he went with the ravioli (Marbuni) as seen below. I took a bite. Don’t get me wrong, there are no bad dishes at Marea. However, to compare the Marbuni to the Fusilli is akin to comparing my golf game to Tiger 2000. Just not a fair comparison for either party. I gave the odd man out a taste of my fusilli and he immediately regretted his entree selection. Live and learn. I will NEVER steer you wrong on food.

I have been to Marea approximately 40 times, and I do not believe I have ever ordered any entree (lunch or dinner) other than the fusilli with braised octopus, bone marrow, and breadcrumbs. I love everything about the dish and have been so influenced by the textures that I have changed my pasta dishes to incorporate homemade breadcrumbs to add texture. Trust me. Order this!

For dessert, I ate a cloudlike meringue brownie for the first time. It was delicious and akin to eating chocolate air. Jack had the almond polenta cake and loved it as well. Both are stunning from a presentation perspective.

The overall experience at Marea is remarkable. I was a little disappointed one guy at a nearby table was wearing a t-shirt that seemed to make him a bit under dressed. The place is special. No, you don’t need a suit, but a t-shirt? There is also an expansive wine list, but it is fully priced.

• Food-8.9

• Service 9.2

• Ambiance-9.3

• Cost-Expensive

Quick Bites

• The S&P had its 5th straight record close on Friday and strong earnings clearly helped lift the markets. The S&P was +1.5% and Nasdaq+1% on the week. More than 82% of the 169 S&P 500 companies that have reported to date have beaten Wall Street’s expectations, per FactSet data. Applications for jobless benefits fell for the 6th straight week and are at historically low levels. I have written extensively about concentrations, and the chart below outlines the fact that NVIDIA is now almost 8% of the S&P, the highest concentration of a single stock. The 2nd chart shows the concentration of the top 10 stocks in the S&P. Trump believes Powell is ready to start lowering rates. Again, I would be waiting and Trump trying to influence Powell is a bad plan.

  

  

• I have written extensively about the challenges of getting hurricane and flood insurance in Florida. Not only is securing coverage difficult, but the prices have escalated substantially as many carries have stopped writing new policies. With scarce options for home insurance, more and more Floridians have started buying insurance from Citizens Insurance Property Corp., Florida’s not-for-profit state-backed insurer, and Porter says this rapid movement has also pushed up insurance costs. One of the factors hurting South Florida real estate prices is the inability and cost to procure insurance. At its peak before Hurricane Ian, the average home value on Sanibel Island, a popular spot in Lee County for beach vacationers, was almost $1.3 million. Today, that value is $868,000, with 93% of all homes being sold under list price, according to Zillow. Remember, Kevin Lang of Lang Insurance (866) 964-4434 is here to help you with your property & casualty insurance needs in all 50 states. He’s helped several Rosen Report readers, including my own family, save money and get better coverage.

• The WNBA All-Star game made a statement with many players wearing shirts, ‘We want to be able to have that fair share.’ I want to be clear. I am a 100% pay for performance manager. I believe merit matters and profits dictate compensation. The people who worked for me and generated real profits were highly compensated. I was never a fan of the WNBA until Caitlin Clark came along and made it exciting. The data around the WNBA profit is atrocious. The WNBA has NEVER been profitable and even with the higher ratings in 2024, it LOST $50mm. On the other hand, the NBA (which owns 60% of WNBA) is massively profitable and has funded WNBA losses. In the 2023-2024 season, the NBA generated $13 billion in revenue, resulting in an operating income of around $2.1 billion. This profitability enables the league to sustain high average player salaries, which were around $11.9 million. The WNBA average salary is $102k. Is it unfair? On the surface it seems so, but based on the huge NBA profits and team valuations relative to the WNBA, I am convinced the disparity is justified. The average NBA team is worth almost $5bn, while the average WNBA team is worth $269mm. If the WNBA were doing $11bn+ in revenue and making over $2bn/year, I would be fully supportive of huge salaries. The NBA trounces the WNBA on ratings, revenues, profits, sponsorships, merchandise sales, ticket sales, streaming revenues… No wonder the average NBA salary is 116 times greater. Also of note, the WNBA plays 44 games a season while the NBA plays 82 games. If anyone deserves a lot of money, it is Clark who is driving the ratings and sponsorships for the WNBA. I suggest a Player Impact Program similar to the PGA Tour that gives out money at the end of the season to those who bring the most attention to the game. Although the PGA Tour eliminated the program, I would be supportive of the top WNBA players like Clark getting money given her outsized impact on the WNBA. However, to suggest all WNBA players are substantially underpaid based on the profitability of the league would be unfair. The one argument from the WNBA perspective is payouts as a percent of revenue are far lower to its players than the NBA. My counter argument is the NBA is massively profitable, while the WNBA only loses money since inception.

  

  

• In 1995, 76.6% of our energy came from fossil fuels. As of 2023, 76.5% comes from fossil fuels. Over the last 30 years, the global share of fossil fuel use has decreased by 0.1 percentage points. I was surprised to see this headline. I then considered how much more electricity is being consumed over the past 30 years, and it has almost tripled. Despite the growth in green energy sources, they are overwhelmed by the growth in global electricity usage.

  

• This NY Post article is about the ramifications of soft “restorative justice” discipline polices at NYC public schools. The New York City Department of Education’s $100 million push to implement “restorative justice” instead of stricter school discipline has been a bust — with violent incidents doubling to 4,200 reports this year and “chronic absenteeism” spiking to a whopping 35%, a new study claims. The major shift in policy at city public schools started in 2015 under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, when the DOE began requiring principals to obtain approval from the central office before suspending students in grades K–2.

  But “what began as an alternative became a mandate, forcing administrators to abandon exclusionary options regardless of school context,” Jennifer Weber, an education behavioral researcher with the Manhattan Institute think tank, wrote in the report, released Thursday. The article gives numerous examples such as a Brooklyn high school teacher who was subjected to Nazi salutes and threats from students. The punishment was a call to parents and students spending time in a “meditation room.” The harassment did not stop, and the teacher was booted from the school for blowing the whistle. Another student stabbed a teacher, injured classmates, and threatened to bring a gun to school, and the solution again was calling the parents and “meditation room” time. These idiotic policies do not deter behavior and the same is true of DA Bragg and other DAs soft on crime policies.

  

Tariffs

• What Europe’s response to a no-deal with Trump could look like

• EU chief to meet Trump in Scotland in push to avoid a transatlantic trade war

• Trump Says Countries Will Face Tariffs Ranging From 15% to 50%

  • “We’ll have a straight, simple tariff of anywhere between 15% and 50%,” Trump said Wednesday at an AI summit in Washington. “A couple of — we have 50 because we haven’t been getting along with those countries too well.” I believe we will start seeing a bigger impact of tariffs on inflation in coming months. I do not believe the Fed should cut rates now.

• Puma expects a loss this year due to falling sales, US tariffs

Politics

• The news out about the lack of Russian collusion despite the Democrats and media pushing the narrative for years should concern everyone. Tulsi Gabbard accused former President Barak Obama and his staff of manufacturing false intelligence regarding Russia helping trump win in 2016. Obama dismissed the allegations. Further, reports suggest Hillary was on “heavy tranquillizers” and Putin knew and did not disclose it.

• Florida has paid down nearly 50% of the state's ENTIRE state debt. Remaining debt is under $500 a person—compared to $106,000+ per person racked up by the federal government.

  • DeSantis is a fiscally responsible governor who is paying down debt unlike most other state leaders. This is despite no state income tax.

• Immigrants Send $200 Billion Out Of The United States Every Year, Study Find

  • Many migrants qualify for government-funded benefits even as they send their paychecks back to their home countries. The report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) found that the whopping sum of money was exported out of the American economy in 2021 and sent to 134 different foreign countries across the globe.

• Trump spars with Powell over renovation costs during Fed visit, but backs off firing threats

• Independents Drive Trump's Approval to 37% Second-Term Low

  

  

• Nearly Half of Voters Rate Economy as Good or Excellent Under Trump

  • This is the WSJ, and the outlet has been critical of Trump. Good charts.

    

    

• Trump floats ‘no tax on capital gains’ for home sales. Here’s who could benefit

  • Good details in this article.

• Trump signs executive order forcing homeless off America’s streets

  • This link shows the 25 major cities with the biggest homeless problem.

    • NYC, LA, Chicago, Seattle, Denver, San Diego, San Jose, Oakland, Phoenix, and San Francisco have the biggest homeless populations.

• Oath Keepers Founder Pardoned by Trump Warns Him Over Epstein Files

• House panel votes to subpoena Bill and Hillary Clinton over possible links to Ghislaine Maxwell

• Ghislaine Maxwell granted limited immunity while giving DOJ ‘100 different people’ linked to Jeffrey Epstein

• Justice Department Told Trump in May That His Name Is Among Many in the Epstein Files

  • This link suggests there are more than 100k pages of unreleased Epstein materials and I am a firm believer they should be released with only the victims’ names redacted.

  • This link outlines Epstein tapes where he speaks about Trump. Take note of the source, but he claims Trump was very close to him and has some harsh stories.

• ‘It’s Not a Hoax’: Speaker Mike Johnson Bluntly Breaks with Trump on Epstein Files

  • Americans have the right to know the truth. I side with Johnson.

• FBI Deputy Director Bongino vows to reveal 'truth' in cryptic social media post

  • 'I’ll never be the same after learning what I’ve learned.' No details given.

• Mamdani's former Dem colleague rails against his signature campaign promise: 'Nail in the coffin'

Middle East

• US leaves Gaza ceasefire talks, says Hamas doesn’t want to end fighting

• Columbia University to pay out more than $220M after violating Jewish students’ civil rights in massive win for Trump admin

  • Trump has been very supportive of Jews and Israel in both of his terms. I appreciate his support in a world that seems to hate Jews at every turn. Given the settlement, Columbia claims, “a vast majority of the federal grants which were terminated or paused in March 2025—will be reinstated and Columbia’s access to billions of dollars in current and future grants will be restored”

• Hamas terrorists seen feasting underground as Gazans starve above

  • This is while kids in Gaza starve.

• French President Emmanuel Macron says country will recognize Palestine as a state

  • Weak move by Macron. His wife should slap him again.

• Hikers dressed as Nazi soldiers are stopped by police, ordered to remove offensive symbols

  • Jew hate is global and electing people like Mamdani does not help Jews.

• ‘Profoundly Disturbing’: Major Podcast Under Fire for Shock Conversation Blaming the Jews for the Holocaust

  • Will advertisers and sponsors pull from this idiot?

Other Headlines

• U.S. Leading Indicators Show Economic Clouds Gathering

  • Article suggests growth will slow in the 2nd half of 2025 and I am in agreement.

• U.S. birth rate hits all-time low, CDC data shows

  • Less than 1.6 children born per woman relative to 3.6 in 1960. Ramifications are dire. It takes 2.1 children per woman to maintain a population. This only affirms my demands for entitlement reform. Social Security faces a mandatory 24% cut by 2032 and the declining birthrates are partially to blame.

• FCC approves $8 billion Paramount-Skydance merger

• Intel beats on revenue, slashes foundry investments as CEO says ‘no more blank checks’

• Google Earnings, Revenue Top Estimates. Capital Spending Guidance Hiked Amid AI Investments.

• Tesla reports sales miss as auto revenue drops for second straight quarter

  • 16% decline in auto revenue. Stock -8% on news. Tesla lost market share in Europe for the 6th straight month. TSLA also sold 75% of its Bitcoin during the selloff.

• Chipotle stock tumbles 9% after chain cuts same-store sales forecast

• American Airlines scales back 2025 profit outlook as third-quarter forecast falls short

• Woman, 21, found covered in head-to-toe stab, hammer wounds in NYC stairwell, indicating torture led to her death

• Beer-loving NYC shoplifter with over 200 busts at it again — but quickly set free

• CVS worker rips prosecutors after he’s acquitted in fatal stabbing of serial shoplifter in Times Square

  • Right ultimate outcome. Pressing charges against this man is a joke. NYC is going down the wrong path, and electing Mamdani only makes matters worse.

• At least 10 kids, some as young as 2, sexually tortured with shock collars while held captive as part of Alabama sex-trafficking ring

  • Raping two-year-olds? What the hell is wrong with people? There is not a severe enough punishment for these people.

• Brute on FBI’s ‘most wanted’ list for tossing cinderblock during anti-ICE riots is finally busted at border

• At least 11 stabbed at Traverse City Walmart in terrifying scene before armed shopper helped detain knife-wielding madman

• Suspended NJ Little League bat flipper can play in state tournament game, judge rules

  • Kid was suspended for flipping his bat after a HR and judge ruled, he can play. RIGHT CALL. Kid was emulating what the pros do in the MLB.

• Snooty Paris restaurants are secretly ripping off US tourists with hidden up-charges, investigation reveals

  • I have been to Paris at least a dozen times and do not like the way they treat Americans. Remember, if it were not for America, they would be speaking German.

• Why People Are Buying $8,000 Lifelike Baby Dolls

  • Highly realistic baby dolls have become a global phenomenon, with collectors shelling out for luxury baby gear and doting on their ‘reborns’ as if they were human children.

• Couple Arrested For Mile High Sex Act

  • On a flight in front of kids!

• Florida man arrested for allegedly driving lawn mower drunk down busy highway

• Ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron Caught In Alleged $40K OnlyFans Scandal

  • Story won’t die. Byron’s wife revealed that Andy paid $40k for explicit calls with an only fans model.

• Rare interstellar object the size of Manhattan could be an alien probe: Harvard scientists

  • Sadly, I think it is an asteroid, but this nutcase from Harvard is talking about alien invasions. Check out this link of strange lights in Vancouver.

Health

• Popular Artificial Sweetener Linked to Higher Risk of Strokes

• The fruit you should and shouldn’t bother eating

  • From blueberries to bananas, a nutritionist reveals the best and worst options for your five-a-day and the healthiest ways to enjoy them.

• I’ve studied over 200 kids—if you teach your child ‘just one skill’ in life, make it this: ‘It’s non-negotiable’ for me

• The magic number of steps you should actually be getting every day

Real Estate

• According to this article, rent prices are falling in more cities. Given housing accounts for a large portion of your expenses, lower rent levels will help to alleviate pressure on budgets. Rental prices in some of the country's largest cities are falling—some by almost 45 percent, according to new data from Five Star Cash Offer, a real estate investment firm that operates as a direct cash homebuyer. The dataset, which includes the top 65 metropolitan areas in the United States, reveals that cities that have recently enacted pro-housing policies have experienced the most significant year-over-year decline in rental prices nationwide. The data from Five Star Cash Offer supports recent reports from online real estate brokerages Redfin and Realtor, which detail a decline in rent prices across some of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States.

  

• I often write about the high-end of the real estate market in South Florida. This article outlines a “mystery” buyer who has acquired properties worth $250mm in Palm Beach near Mar-a-Lago. At the end of June, The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive report that an unidentified buyer had spent around $250 million on four separate properties just north of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. This allegedly includes two oceanfront lots and two adjacent homes, sources familiar with the situation told the Journal. The two beach plots were sold in February by cosmetics heir William Lauder, but the deal wasn’t recorded in public records. The Journal reported that the deal came close to the $200 million asking price. In June, the same buyer purchased an $18 million home across the street via an unsolicited offer, followed by the $30 million house next to it. Agents familiar with the transaction additionally told the Journal that the two homes sold for "significantly" more than market value. The almost-anonymous buyer has also tried for more nearby properties – the Journal claims they made an off-market offer for rockstar Jon Bon Jovi’s home next door, but the singer has been reluctant to let go of his house, which he paid $43 million for in 2020. The wealthiest people in the world continue to buy property in South Florida. If Mamdani wins, how many more will move down?

• Scarsdale has been named America’s wealthiest suburb in a new study, with the mean household income exceeding an eye-popping $600,000 in 2023. The tony Westchester town, with a population of 17,723 residents. Scarsdale came out on top by a considerable margin, with the mean household income determined to be $601,193 — more than $150,000 above its closest competitor. Nearby Rye was named as the second wealthiest suburb in the US, with researchers revealing that the mean household income there was $421,259 in 2023. West University Place, a suburb of Houston, Texas, rounded out the top three with a mean household income of $409,677. Scarsdale and Rye were the only New York towns in the top 20. California boasted a whopping 10 of the top 20 wealthiest suburbs in the United States, with many of them clustered around Silicon Valley.

• Interesting article from CoStar suggesting a lot capital on the sidelines must be spent and some funds are running out of time to put the cash to work. Optimism is said to be growing for the deployment of hundreds of billions in capital into North American commercial real estate in the second half of 2025 as sentiment builds from the year's start. Dry powder, or uninvested capital held by investment funds, grew to records in 2022 and 2023 at a time of high interest rates and weak demand for deals. While some was invested last year, much remained on the sidelines in early 2025 as executives analyzed the Trump administration's policy changes on trade, federal spending and foreign policy, according to mid-year outlooks from two prominent real estate consulting firms, PwC and Bain & Co.

  

• Sales of previously-owned homes in the United States hit their lowest rate in nine months, according to industry data released Wednesday, as high home prices and mortgage rates weighed on the market. Existing home sales dropped by 2.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.9 million, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

© 2025 The Rosen Report LLC. All rights reserved. Does not constitute investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult with your lawyers and professional financial advisers. Rosen Report™ #806©Copyright 2025 Written By Eric Rosen.