This week in the news | 23 Aug 24
News from the past week, and a few other things.
👋 Hello Reader, I hope you had a great week.
Below you’ll find the “quick shot”—a supercharged summary of summaries, followed by the “slow brew”—longer summaries with select graphics, and comments from me.
THE QUICK SHOT 🚀
A supercharged summary of summaries
A chart icon (📊) indicates an informative chart/graphic in “Slow Brew.”
North America
Border Patrol has increased its presence significantly along America’s northern border as migrant crossings have surged to nearly 19,500 encounters this fiscal year, a dramatic rise from just 900 in 2021, particularly concentrated in the Swanton Sector, a stretch that spans eastern New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire (Economist). 📊
Latin America
Venezuela’s Supreme Court, dominated by allies of Nicolás Maduro, declared him the winner of the July 28 presidential election despite widespread evidence that his opponent had more votes (NYT). Brazilian kites, often used in dangerous kite-fighting games, are causing injuries and prompting a push for a nationwide ban on the activity in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (AP).
Europe
Moscow experienced one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks since the war began, with Russian authorities reporting that they destroyed all drones aimed at the capital (AP). Ukrainian troops are working to encircle approximately 3,000 Russian soldiers trapped against a river in Russia’s Kursk province, using advanced U.S. military equipment to strike at Russian supply routes (WSJ)📊.
East Asia
China's soaring youth unemployment has led to the emergence of a new working class of "rotten-tail kids," with many young graduates forced into low-paying jobs or living off their parents as the country’s jobless rate for youth remains a significant issue (Reuters)📊. China is ramping up its manufacturing output to combat economic downturns, raising concerns about a potential global trade war as Beijing's aggressive industrial policies could challenge international competitors (WSJ)📊. North Korea will reopen one city for foreign tourism in December after nearly five years of closed borders due to the Covid pandemic, a move that marks the beginning of easing restrictions (BBC). Despite increased security measures, including new border walls and rearming guard posts, North Korean defections continue, with recent escapes highlighting ongoing internal dissatisfaction with Kim Jong Un's regime (WSJ). Foreign investors are pulling record amounts of money out of China, indicating a deepening pessimism about the country's economic future as data shows a significant outflow of direct investment (Bloomberg)📊.
Government
Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic Presidential Nomination, using her speech to emphasize an agenda on issues like abortion and economic mobility (WSJ). McDonald’s has expanded its political influence by spending millions on donations and lobbying efforts across several states, particularly targeting local legislation related to fast-food workers’ wages and safety (WSJ). The U.S. Postal Service proposed changes aimed at saving $3 billion annually by streamlining regional networks and adjusting delivery times, a move considered necessary to secure its future amid significant financial losses (NPR).
Defense
President Biden approved a secret nuclear strategy that shifts America’s focus toward China’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal, reflecting concerns that China’s stockpiles will soon rival those of the U.S. and Russia (NYT).
Economy
The Federal Reserve is on track for a September interest rate cut after minutes from its July meeting revealed broad support among officials for such a move (Reuters). Core U.S. inflation eased for the fourth consecutive month in July, reinforcing expectations of an upcoming Fed rate cut (Bloomberg)📊. Federal Reserve officials are expressing concern over the U.S. job market, as the unemployment rate has been steadily rising, sparking fears of a potential economic downturn (Reuters)📊. The U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs than initially reported from March 2023 to March 2024, marking the largest revision since 2009 (The Hill). Citigroup reports that hedge funds are now using U.S. dollars instead of yen for new carry trades in emerging markets, taking advantage of the greenback's recent weakness (Bloomberg).
Business
A Texas judge struck down the Federal Trade Commission's ban on noncompete agreements, ruling that the agency overstepped its authority by attempting to prohibit the practice across the board (WSJ). Texas has become a growing financial hub, with investment-banking and securities employment in the state rising significantly, making Dallas the second-largest metro area for finance jobs in the U.S. after New York City (WSJ). Corporate boards are frequently failing in their primary duty of choosing the right CEO, often making common mistakes that lead to poor leadership choices (HBSWK). Legalized sports gambling has generated significant revenue for states, but only a small fraction of the money is allocated to programs for problem gamblers (Bloomberg)📊. Fast-fashion giant Shein is suing rival Temu, accusing it of selling counterfeit products and infringing on its copyright (Forbes).
Real Estate
U.S. home sales edged up slightly in July, halting a four-month decline, but prices remain near record highs, adding to the challenges of affordability in the current housing market (WSJ)📊. Today’s housing market is proving even more difficult than in the 1980s, with millennials and Gen Zers struggling to find affordable homes amid high prices and limited inventory (WSJ)📊. The ongoing housing crisis in the U.S., exemplified by the situation in Kalamazoo, Michigan, underscores the nation’s persistent housing shortfall, which dates back to the Great Recession and continues to affect the market (NYT). Texas is nearing completion of the world’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood, a project that promises to be faster, cheaper, and more sustainable than traditional home construction (Reuters).
Personal Finance
The percentage of 19-year-olds with driver’s licenses has dropped significantly over the past few decades, with many teens choosing not to drive due to rising vehicle prices and shifting preferences (WSJ).
Cyber
U.S. intelligence officials have identified Iran as the culprit behind cyberattacks targeting the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns (AP). A massive data breach has exposed sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, for millions of people (USA Today).
Life
Doctors have the ability to save very premature babies born as early as 22 weeks, but many hospitals choose not to attempt these life-saving measures, leaving parents unaware of the possibilities that could offer their newborns a chance at survival (WSJ). Disillusionment with dating apps is growing as users express frustration with the overwhelming number of profiles, the prevalence of scams, and the gender imbalance, with many singles now seeking love offline (Economist)📊. Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman, has become the world's oldest living person at 116 years old, celebrated for her longevity and a life filled with simple pleasures like her favorite food, bananas (AP). More than 700 people in the UK have advertised for a suicide partner on a pro-suicide website, highlighting a disturbing trend that has led to multiple double suicides, according to a BBC investigation (BBC).
Education
Millions of children in the U.S. remain chronically absent from school, a lingering effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, with some schools finding success in improving attendance through simple, creative solutions like sending postcards to parents (AP). The surge in college closures, particularly among private nonprofit institutions, has affected over a million students in the past decade, with more closures expected as federal COVID-19 funding runs out and birthrates decline (WSJ)📊.
Health
The World Health Organization has declared the mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a public health emergency of international concern, as the virus spreads across multiple African countries (WHO). Scientists have discovered that molecular changes in the human body cluster around the ages of 44 and 60, marking significant periods of rapid biological transformation (WP). Younger patients in their 40s are increasingly undergoing hip and knee replacements, driven by a combination of a desire to stay active and rising obesity rates that place greater strain on joints (WSJ). New research shows that some patients who appear unconscious after severe brain injuries are actually aware of their surroundings, a discovery that could impact decisions on life support and patient care (WSJ). Store-brand versions of Mucinex sold by major U.S. retailers may contain a cancer-causing chemical called benzene, raising concerns about the safety of generic medications (Bloomberg).
Nature
A study evaluating over 1,500 climate policies across 41 countries found that only 63 of them effectively reduced greenhouse gas emissions, highlighting the need for strategies that combine financial incentives with regulations and taxes to drive meaningful change (WSJ).
Sports
Athletes who swam in the Seine during the Paris Olympics experienced higher rates of gastroenteritis than in previous games, with about 10% affected compared to 1-3% in past events (MedPage Today). NASCAR teams are increasingly recruiting former NFL players for pit crew roles, offering competitive salaries and training facilities to gain an edge in the highly competitive racing environment (NYT). The upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy are expected to be the most glamorous games yet, with planners anticipating a spectacular event set in the scenic regions of Milano and Cortina (Afar).
For Fun
Botswana has discovered a 2,492-carat diamond, the second-largest diamond ever found, and the largest diamond unearthed in more than a century (NYT)📊.
THE SLOW BREW ☕
A more relaxed approach to the summaries.
The economy doesn’t seem to be as bad as everyone thought it was last Monday (reference inflation rate)…but more people still seem to be using credit card debt as a way to make ends meet. What this means for the future, is uncertain.
If people spend less to keep their homes in financial balance, then the economy will fill that, and if they continue to spend and use debt, they’ll have to pay the reaper soon or later. Neither is great, but I vote for the consumer—get your house in order and balance the books…set an example for the federal government and we might all be happy, in the long run.
North America
Behind the surge in migrants crossing America’s northern border (Economist🔒) 📊
Border Patrol has counted nearly 19,500 encounters with migrants crossing illegally so far this fiscal year, up from roughly 900 in 2021 (see chart). The increase in crossings from Canada stems mostly from Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector, a 295-mile stretch of the borderlands that reaches from eastern New York, through Vermont and New Hampshire. The number of Border Patrol agents stationed on America’s northern boundary has increased nearly sixfold since 2001—to 2,200 officers.
Latin America
Venezuela’s Supreme Court, loyal to Maduro, rules him election winner (NYT🔒)
Venezuela’s highest court ruled on Thursday that the country’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, won the July 28 presidential election, despite overwhelming evidence that Mr. Maduro’s opponent garnered the most votes. The decision by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice asserted that Mr. Maduro’s claim to victory was based on a report from a group of “national and international experts” and was “supported by the tally reports issued by each of the vote machines.” But the court — stacked with Maduro allies — did not share any tallies to back up this claim, despite demands from thousands of Venezuelans who have protested in the streets, as well as many in the international community, that his government produce evidence of his victory.
Plaything or peril? Brazilian kites are slashing throats and prompting a push for a national ban (AP)
Kites soaring through the sky are a common sight across Brazil, and are particularly popular in Rio’s low-income communities known as favelas. For most people in the world, kite flying symbolizes light-hearted fun. But in Brazil it can pose a danger when it involves kite fighting. (AP video shot by Mario Lobao and Lucas Dumphreys)
Europe
Moscow sees one of Ukraine’s largest drone attacks as fighting rages in Kursk and eastern Ukraine (AP)
Moscow came under one of the largest attacks by Ukrainian drones since the start of fighting in 2022, Russian authorities reported Wednesday, saying they destroyed all of those headed toward the country’s capital. The attacks came as Ukrainian forces continue to push into Russia’s western Kursk region. In the past week, they have also struck three bridges, several airfields and an oil depot in a sign they are not letting up on their attacks.
Ukraine moves to encircle Russian troops in Kursk and digs in for long fight (WSJ🔒) 📊
Ukrainian troops said they are moving to encircle an estimated 3,000 Russian troops that are hemmed against a river in Russia’s Kursk province, seeking a fresh blow against Moscow in the third week of a surprise incursion. Ukraine’s military said it used U.S.-supplied Himars rocket systems and explosive drones to strike pontoon crossings and bridging equipment as Russia scrambled to prevent the encirclement of its forces between the Seym river and the Ukrainian border. Ukraine’s Aug. 6 incursion has embarrassed Russian President Vladimir Putin by seizing dozens of towns and villages across a territory as large as any Russia has captured in a year of offensives in Ukraine. Kyiv’s forces are now expanding their control along the border and striking Russian supply routes, as Moscow is ramping up counterattacks using massive glide bombs and troops rushed in from Ukraine and other parts of Russia.
East Asia
China's rising youth unemployment breeds new working class: 'Rotten-tail kids' (Reuters) 📊
Rising unemployment in China is pushing millions of college graduates into a tough bargain, with some forced to accept low-paying work or even subsist on their parents' pensions, a plight that has created a new working class of "rotten-tail kids". The phrase has become a social media buzzword this year, drawing parallels to the catchword "rotten-tail buildings" for the tens of millions of unfinished homes that have plagued China's economy since 2021. A record number of college graduates this year are hunting for jobs in a labour market depressed by COVID-19-induced disruptions as well as regulatory crack-downs on the country's finance, tech and education sectors. The jobless rate for the roughly 100 million Chinese youth aged 16-24 crept above 20% for the first time in April last year. When it hit an all-time high of 21.3% in June 2023, officials abruptly suspended the data series to reassess how numbers were compiled.
One year on, youth unemployment remains a headache, with the reconfigured jobless rate spiking to a 2024 high of 17.1% in July, as 11.79 million college students graduated this summer in an economy still weighed down by its real estate crisis.
Why China is starting a new trade war (WSJ🔒) 📊
China is cranking up its massive export machine again, and this time there’s nowhere for competitors to hide. Beijing’s solution to a weak Chinese economy—putting the country’s factory sector on steroids—is squeezing businesses around the world and raising the specter of a new global trade war. Behind it all is a bold but risky calculation by Beijing that investing more in manufacturing can restore the country’s economic vitality and build up its industrial resilience without triggering so much international pushback that it threatens China’s future.
North Korea to reopen for tourism after five years (BBC)
North Korea will reopen one city to foreign tourists in December after nearly five years of border closures due to the Covid pandemic, according to tour operators. At least two China-based operators announced that tourists will soon be allowed to visit the mountainous northern city of Samjiyon. Reclusive North Korea sealed itself off at the start of the pandemic in early 2020, and started to scale back restrictions only in the middle of last year. The border closures also cut off imports of essential goods, leading to food shortages that were made worse by international sanctions because of the country's nuclear programme.
Kim Jong Un wants to block all North Koreans from escaping. It isn’t working. (WSJ🔒)
Wanting to halt defections to neighboring South Korea, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has ordered the construction of new border walls, rearmed guard posts and installed more land mines. But North Koreans keep finding creative ways to flee. The latest escape unfolded in spectacular fashion early Tuesday morning: A North Korean soldier, on foot, navigated the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone to his freedom. A recent rise in defections from North Korea’s protected classes are reinforcing outside assessments that Kim is contending with internal discontent that could ultimately threaten his grip on power. North Koreans are battling food shortages, a sanctions-hit economy and a further backslide in human rights. The regime in recent years has increased security and issued shoot-on-sight orders, deterring civilians from attempting to flee. Before the pandemic, more than 1,000 North Koreans relocated to the South every year. But just 105 have done so in the first half of this year, according to Seoul government figures. Fewer than 200 did so in all of 2023.
Foreign investors pull record amount of money from China (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
Foreign investors pulled a record amount of money from China last quarter, likely reflecting deep pessimism about the world’s second-largest economy. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped almost $15 billion in the April-June period, marking only the second time this figure has turned negative, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange released Friday. It was down about $5 billion for the first six months. Should the decline continue for the rest of the year, it would be the first annual net outflow since at least 1990, when comparable data begins.
Government
Harris accepts Democratic presidential nomination, vowing to unite nation ‘around our highest aspirations’ (WSJ🔒)
Harris used the prime-time address to pitch Americans on her central campaign message since unexpectedly replacing President Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket: She portrayed her opponent, former President Donald Trump as a threat to freedom, arguing she has a more forward-looking agenda on protecting abortion rights and on expanding economic mobility for the middle class.
McDonald’s, long influential in U.S. diets, throws its weight into local elections (WSJ🔒)
McDonald’s for decades has exerted outsize influence on Americans’ meals. Now the Golden Arches are playing a growing role in politics, as the company and its franchisees spend millions of dollars on donations to candidates for public office and political action groups, and have engaged in lobbying in at least 10 states, an analysis of filings shows. In California, the Chicago-based company and its franchisees are seeking to unseat politicians who backed the state’s new minimum wage law for fast-food workers. The chain’s New York restaurant operators helped sponsor ads this year against state legislation that would allow workers to sue employers over wage, health and safety violations. McDonald’s has also hired a lobbyist in Colorado to track local legislation. McDonald’s has long lobbied on Capitol Hill on issues like nutrition and employment, as one of the nation’s largest private employers. But the company realized around 2022 when it started engaging more in California that it was years behind other companies in influencing local policymaking, said Michael Gonda, who oversees the chain’s domestic government relations efforts.
USPS proposes changes to save $3 billion per year, starting in 2025 (NPR)
The U.S. Postal Service wants to save $3 billion annually on changes that reflect its greater reliance on streamlined regional networks — while retaining local mail delivery times of one to three days and allowing customers to track some delivery schedules with greater precision. Election mail won’t be affected, officials said. The proposal, announced Thursday, would adjust mail delivery times while maintaining a commitment to a maximum five-day delivery for the flagship Ground Advantage program nationwide and a maximum three-day delivery for local first-class mail. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the changes to take place next year are necessary to “enable us to operate more efficiently and reliably, grow our business and give us a chance for a viable future” after an 80% drop in first-class mail since 1997 and a corresponding growth in packages. All told, the Postal Service has amassed more than $87 billion in losses from 2007 through 2020. The details were unveiled by the Postal Service ahead of a Sept. 5 meeting in which the proposed changes will be discussed with stakeholders before they are submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission.
Defense
Biden approved secret nuclear strategy refocusing on Chinese threat (NYT🔒)
President Biden approved in March a highly classified nuclear strategic plan for the United States that, for the first time, reorients America’s deterrent strategy to focus on China’s rapid expansion in its nuclear arsenal. The shift comes as the Pentagon believes China’s stockpiles will rival the size and diversity of the United States’ and Russia’s over the next decade. The White House never announced that Mr. Biden had approved the revised strategy, called the “Nuclear Employment Guidance,” which also newly seeks to prepare the United States for possible coordinated nuclear challenges from China, Russia and North Korea. The document, updated every four years or so, is so highly classified that there are no electronic copies, only a small number of hard copies distributed to a few national security officials and Pentagon commanders. But in recent speeches, two senior administration officials were allowed to allude to the change — in carefully constrained, single sentences — ahead of a more detailed, unclassified notification to Congress expected before Mr. Biden leaves office.
Economy
Fed steaming toward September rate cut, minutes from meeting show (Reuters) 📊
The Federal Reserve appears to be very much on track for an interest rate cut in September after a "vast majority" of officials said such an action was likely, according to the minutes of the U.S. central bank's July 30-31 meeting. The minutes, which were released on Wednesday, even showed some policymakers would have been willing to reduce borrowing costs at last month's gathering. The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee left its benchmark interest rate unchanged in the 5.25%-5.50% range on July 31, but opened the door to a cut at the Sept. 17-18 meeting.
Core US inflation eases a fourth month, sealing Fed rate cut (Bloomberg🔒)
Underlying US inflation eased for a fourth month on an annual basis in July, keeping the Federal Reserve on track to lower interest rates next month. The so-called core consumer price index — which excludes food and energy costs — increased 3.2% in July from a year ago, still the slowest pace since early 2021. The monthly measure rose 0.2%, a slight pickup from June’s surprisingly low reading, Bureau of Labor Statistics figures showed Wednesday.
Fed officials uneasy about job market as they get ready for Jackson Hole (Reuters) 📊
Federal Reserve officials gathering at the annual central banking conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this week can take some satisfaction that the U.S. unemployment rate, at 4.3%, remains low by historical standards. But it usually is: The U.S. experience of unemployment since the late 1940s has involved jobless rates that far more often than not are below the 5.7% long-run average, until they rise fast and far above it, a phenomenon Fed officials are worried about repeating. The emerging trend is not fully clear. The steady rise in the unemployment rate from 3.7% in January of 2023 to 4.3% as of July 2024 has also been accompanied by an increase of 1.2 million in the number of people looking for work - something that is usually considered a positive sign for the economy but that can cause the unemployment rate to rise.
Economy added 818,000 fewer jobs than previously reported (The Hill)
The U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from March 2023 to March 2024 than initially reported, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), larger than the typical annual adjustment. The annual BLS revision of the previous year’s job gains showed 2023 employment growth falling 0.5 percent from what the Labor Department first reported. Such annual revisions typically increase or decrease the previous year’s employment levels by 0.1 percent, the agency said. Wednesday’s revision — the largest since 2009 — could fuel concerns that the Federal Reserve may be behind on cutting interest rates, which it hiked from near zero in March 2022 to a range of 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent in July 2023.
Citi says hedge funds are using dollars for new carry trades (Bloomberg🔒)
Citigroup Inc. says the carry trade is back, but with a key difference: hedge funds are borrowing US dollars rather than the yen for their wagers on emerging markets. The greenback is trading at its lowest since March and hedge funds have been using it since Aug. 5 to buy emerging-market currencies, including the Brazilian real and Turkish lira, according to Kasikov.
Business
Judge tosses FTC ban on noncompete agreements (WSJ🔒)
A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday struck down a landmark regulation issued by the Federal Trade Commission that sought to ban employers from using noncompete agreements to prevent most workers from joining rival firms. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown ruled that the commission’s authority to police unfair methods of competition couldn’t be used to issue substantive regulations that ban an entire category of conduct. The ban, issued in April, was part of FTC Chair Lina Khan’s effort to crack down on tactics that restrict the ability of workers to switch jobs. Outlawing noncompetes is hugely popular with many workers, and the FTC estimated its rule would have boosted earnings by allowing employees to move more freely between companies.
Welcome to Y’all Street, Texas’ burgeoning financial hub (WSJ🔒)
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that Texas investment-banking and securities employment has increased 111% over the past 20 years and 27% since the pandemic, compared with 16% and 5%, respectively, in New York. The number of people employed in finance overall has risen 13% in Texas since 2019, compared with 2% in New York and 3% nationally. Dallas now ranks second to New York City among metro areas in the number of workers employed in finance-related industries. Other cities, particularly in the Sunbelt, have seen growth as those services increasingly seek to be closer to customers nationwide.
Corporate boards are failing in their No. 1 duty (HBSWK)
General Electric, Wells Fargo, and Boeing all chose the wrong CEOs for the job, says Bill George, creating big problems for the companies. George outlines five common mistakes boards of directors make when selecting leaders and provides advice for picking the appropriate person for this all-important role. Top five mistakes companies make in choosing the wrong CEO: 1) Companies are not grooming successors within the company. 2) Companies often choose a successor who pledges to lead the business in the same direction as the current CEO. 3) Business allow the current CEO to dominate the hiring process. 4) Companies choose an outsider who is a poor fit with the company’s culture. 5) The board often doesn’t give the new CEO a clear mandate.
Where all the sports betting money actually goes (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
Legalized sports gambling lets state governments tax what used to be an illicit and off-the-books activity. But where does the money go, exactly? In some instances, not far: Arkansas allocates 17.5% of its taxed revenue to horse breeding awards and racing purses. And of the $2.7 billion the US states collected in the previous four quarters, less than 2% went directly to those arguably most in need: problem gamblers and the programs built to support them.
Shein sues Temu over copyright infringement—claiming fast fashion rival sells counterfeits (Forbes🔒)
Shein, the Chinese-owned fast-fashion giant, is suing rival Temu for copyright infringement, alleging the retailer “masquerades” as an online marketplace by copying products sold by Shein, which faces similar allegations from other brands and retailers.
Real Estate
U.S. home sales edged up in July, prices still near record highs (WSJ🔒) 📊
U.S. home sales rose slightly in July, ending a four-month streak of declines, and prices remained near record highs at a time when the cost of housing has become a hot-button election issue.
Boomers buying houses had it bad in the ’80s. Millennials have it worse. (WSJ🔒) 📊
Today’s housing market is the most difficult in decades, a great frustration for millennials and Gen Zers looking for a starter home. Baby boomers can relate. Home-buying affordability dropped last fall to the lowest level since September 1985, and it fell near that level again in June. In 1985, when Ronald Reagan was president and Microsoft launched Windows 1.0, millions of Americans of the baby boomer generation were in their late 20s and early 30s, the prime first-time home-buying years. They also found themselves priced out of the market. But because buyers in the mid-1980s had much more housing supply available, homes became more affordable as mortgage rates fell in subsequent years. First-time home buyers these days have it considerably harder. While affordability is likely to improve by the end of the year if borrowing rates ease and inventory continues to grow, it won’t get significantly better for home buyers without a lot more home building, economists say.
What Kalamazoo (Yes, Kalamazoo) reveals about the nation’s housing crisis (NYT🔒)
I’ve been writing about housing and the economy for two decades, and have watched as the nation’s housing market has made the journey from boom to bust to deficit, seemingly without pausing for a normal middle. There are lots of reasons this happened, but they center on a big one: the late-2000s housing bust, which the country has never fully recovered from. Or as Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, a data and consulting firm, put it: “The Great Recession broke the U.S. housing market.” In the years leading up to the Great Recession, homebuilders were starting about two million homes a year. That number plunged during the crisis and never fully rebounded. Builders have since started an average of about 1.1 million new homes a year — far below the 1.6 million needed to keep up with population growth. The nation’s housing shortfall is now between 1.5 million and 5.5 million units, depending on the estimate. That deficit makes everything tighter. And it means that whenever there’s a jump in housing demand — like when millennials entered the housing market in large numbers in the early 2010s, or when families shifted to bigger homes during the pandemic — it sparks against the metal of an underlying lack of supply.
World's largest 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas (Reuters)
As with any desktop 3D printer, the Vulcan printer pipes layer by layer to build an object – except this printer is more than 45 feet (13.7 m) wide, weighs 4.75 tons and prints residential homes. This summer, the robotic printer from ICON is finishing the last few of 100 3D-printed houses in Wolf Ranch, a community in Georgetown, Texas, about 30 miles from Austin. ICON began printing the walls of what it says is the world's largest 3D-printed community in November 2022. Compared to traditional construction, the company says that 3D printing homes is faster, less expensive, requires fewer workers, and minimizes construction material waste.
Personal Finance
Fewer teens want to drive. It’s changing how they spend. (WSJ🔒)
The percentage of 19-year-olds with a driver’s license dropped steadily from 87.3% in 1983 to 68.7% in 2022, according to most recent data from the Federal Highway Administration. The decline in younger consumers’ interest in buying cars is partly due to how vehicle prices have risen in recent years. Average new car prices are up 32.2% since 2019, J.D. Power data shows. The average is $44,604 as of July.
Cyber
US intelligence officials say Iran is to blame for hacks targeting Trump, Biden-Harris campaigns (AP)
U.S. intelligence officials said Monday they were confident that Iran was responsible for the hack of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, casting the cyber intrusion as part of a brazen and broader effort by Tehran to interfere in American politics and potentially shape the outcome of the election. The assessment from the FBI and other federal agencies was the first time the U.S. government has assigned blame for hacks that have raised anew the threat of foreign election interference and underscored how Iran, in addition to more sophisticated adversaries like Russia and China, remains a top concern. Besides breaching the Trump campaign, officials also believe that Iran tried to hack into the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris. The hacking and similar activities, federal officials said, are meant to sow discord, exploit divisions within American society and possibly to influence the outcome of elections that Iran perceives to be “particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests,” officials said.
2.9 billion records, including Social Security numbers, stolen in data hack: What to know (USA Today)
An enormous amount of sensitive information including Social Security numbers for millions of people could be in the hands of a hacking group after a data breach and may have been released on an online marketplace, The Los Angeles Times reported this week. The hacking group USDoD claimed it had allegedly stolen personal records of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, reported by Bloomberg Law. The breach was believed to have happened in or around April, according to the lawsuit.
Life
Doctors can now save very premature babies. Most hospitals don’t try. (WSJ🔒)
Medical advances over the past several decades have given hospitals the ability to save younger and younger premature newborns. Yet most hospitals don’t try—and parents often aren’t aware of what’s possible or that other hospitals, even just a few miles away, might offer their newborns a fighting chance. Doctors are now capable of saving the lives of babies born at 22 weeks and, in rare cases, a week earlier, with improved techniques to help tiny lungs develop and protect fragile skin and organs. Hospitals with extensive experience resuscitating extremely premature babies report survival rates as high as 67% for babies born at 22 weeks. Some U.S. hospitals aren’t sufficiently equipped or capable of pulling off the new advances. Others have chosen not to offer the care, saying it is likely to fail, is expensive—typically more than $100,000 a child, and sometimes much more—and subjects tiny, fragile infants to needless pain and the risk of long-term disabilities. Instead, they often provide comfort care: wrapping the newborn in a blanket, placing it on the mother’s chest and sometimes giving medicines to ease the child’s final moments. The difference can be a matter of life or death for the roughly 8,000 infants born between 22 and 24 weeks gestation in the U.S. each year.
Why people have fallen out of love with dating apps (Economist🔒) 📊
Start with the disillusionment. Apps that once felt fun have, for many, become wellsprings of frustration. The network effects that initially propelled services such as Tinder, in which a widening choice of partners lured in ever more users, have now made them exasperating. Users grumble about spending hours sorting through tens of thousands of profiles. Half of women surveyed by Pew said they felt overwhelmed by the number of messages they received. It doesn’t help that 84% of Tinder users are men. So are 61% of those on Bumble, which is targeted at women. Many users also fret about scams. Perhaps the biggest threat to the future of dating apps, though, is the growing share of singles looking offline for love.
A Japanese woman who loves bananas is now the world’s oldest person (AP)
Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman, became the world’s oldest living person at age 116, following the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Guinness World Records. Her age and birthdate — May 23, 1908 — were confirmed by the Gerontology Research Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older, and put her at the top of its World Supercentenarian Rankings List. Itooka lives in a nursing home in the city of Ashiya, a city in Hyogo Prefecture that also confirmed her birthdate. She assumed the title of world’s oldest person after Branyas’ family announced the 117-year-old’s death Tuesday. Itooka celebrated her birthday three months ago, receiving flowers, a cake and a card from the mayor. Every morning, she has a popular yogurt-flavored drink called Calpis. Her favorite food is bananas.
Hundreds of Britons advertise for suicide partner (BBC)
More than 700 people in the UK have posted on a pro-suicide website looking for someone to die with, a BBC investigation has found. The site, which we are not naming, has a members-only section where users can look for a suicide partner. We have connected several double suicides to the “partners thread”. Our investigation also found that predators have used the site to target vulnerable women.
Education
Millions of kids are still skipping school. Could the answer be recess — and a little cash? (AP)
Years after COVID-19 upended American schooling, nearly every state is still struggling with attendance, according to data collected by The Associated Press and Stanford University economist Thomas Dee. Roughly one in four students in the 2022-23 school year remained chronically absent, meaning they missed at least 10% of the school year. That represents about 12 million children in the 42 states and Washington, D.C., where data is available. Before the pandemic, only 15% of students missed that much school. Society may have largely moved on from COVID, but schools say they’re still battling the effects of pandemic school closures. After as much as a year at home, school for many kids has felt overwhelming, boring or socially stressful. More than ever, kids and parents are deciding it’s OK to stay home, which makes catching up even harder. So far, the solutions that appear to be helping are simple — like postcards to parents that compare a child’s attendance with peers. But to make more progress, experts say, schools must get creative to address their students’ needs.
A new problem with four-year degrees: The surge in college closures (WSJ🔒) 📊
Over 500 private, nonprofit four-year institutions have closed in the last 10 years, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. That is three times what it was in the decade prior. Rachel Burns, a senior policy analyst at SHEEO, estimates at least 1.25 million students were affected by these closures. (Many more for-profit institutions have closed in this period as well.) The pace of closures is expected to continue as federal Covid-19 funding dries up and applications drop due to a reduced birthrate, according to analysts and educators.
Health
WHO Director-General declares mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (WHO)
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has determined that the upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of countries in Africa constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR).
Feeling old? Your molecules change rapidly around ages 44 and 60. (WP🔒)
In a new study, scientists at Stanford University tracked age-related changes in over 135,000 types of molecules and microbes, sampled from over 100 adults. They discovered that shifts in their abundance — either increasing or decreasing in number — did not occur gradually over time, but clustered around two ages. “Obviously you change throughout your entire life. But there are two major periods when there are lots of changes: One is when people hit their mid-40s, and one is when they hit their 60s,” said Michael Snyder, a geneticist at Stanford University who co-wrote the study, in a phone interview. On average, the changes clustered around the ages of 44 and 60.
The people getting new knees and hips in their 40s (WSJ🔒)
The average age of hip- and knee-replacement patients is getting younger. As average life expectancy ticks up, many Americans are no longer willing to sacrifice decades doing their favorite activities, such as skiing, hiking or playing pickleball, to sit in pain, doctors say. And staying sporty into your 50s and 60s is good for your physical and mental health. “In the past, people would just say, ‘I don’t run, I have bad knees,’” says Dr. Ran Schwarzkopf, an orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone. Now, he says, “they’re not willing to accept limitations that arthritis gives.” The other reason younger people are getting replacements is the growing prevalence of obesity in the U.S. More than 40% of U.S. adults have obesity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, up from roughly 30% in 1999. Excess weight puts more pressure on the joints—roughly 4 pounds for each additional pound of body weight—leading more patients to need replacements earlier in life. For patients ages 45 to 64, there was a 211% increase in inpatient hip replacements and a 240% increase in inpatient knee replacements between 2000 and 2017, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (Records after 2017 are less accurate due to changes in Medicare coding.) There was also an increase in joint replacements for patients ages 65 to 84, but the rise wasn’t as steep.
Some patients who appear unconscious know what’s going on (WSJ🔒)
As many 100,000 Americans with severe brain injuries are unresponsive, showing few or no signs that they are aware of themselves or their surroundings. But one in four people with this kind of injury can perform cognitive tasks on command, according to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The responses were detected with brain scans that show the patients are conscious but have no motor control. The findings could influence decisions about whether to continue life support or how caregivers interact with patients who appear unconscious but might be aware of what’s happening around them.
Cancer-causing benzene is used to make store-brand cold relief medicine (Bloomberg🔒)
While it may seem like the only difference between extended-release Mucinex and its generic store-brand counterpart is the price tag, the latter potentially exposes users to a deadly cancer-causing chemical. Millions of Americans who buy the store-brand option at various major US chains are unknowingly choosing a drug that risks containing a potent carcinogen called benzene, according to a Bloomberg analysis of government data. Benzene can cause blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.
Food & Drink
A TikTok cucumber craze has Iceland in a pickle (NYT🔒)
The influencer, Logan Moffitt, has set off a worldwide wave of chopping, pickling, and crunching by sharing viral recipes for cucumber salads prepared in a plastic deli container. In Iceland, the virtual craze has created a real-world problem: A nationwide cucumber shortage.
NOTE: This sounds alarming, but then I remember this is Iceland we’re talking about, where the population is only about 400,000. So for them to run out of something, especially a vegetable, could be a common occurrence. For reference, the state of North Dakota has a population of nearly 800,000.
Nature
Most climate policies don’t work. Here’s what science says does reduce emissions. (WSJ🔒)
An evaluation of more than 1,500 climate policies in 41 countries found that only 63 actually worked to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Subsidies and regulations—policy types often favored by governments—rarely worked to reduce emissions, the study found, unless they were combined with price-based strategies aimed at changing consumer and corporate behavior. The study, published today in the journal Science, used an AI algorithm to sift through a database of environmental prescriptions compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based economic agency, between 1998 and 2020. These policies ranged from energy-efficient standards for household appliances to a carbon tax on fossil fuels like oil and gas. The fraction of policies that worked combined financial incentives, regulations and taxes, according to the study.
Travel
The boom in travel spending has slowed (WSJ🔒)
Overall leisure demand is slowing, but the story isn’t the same across all income levels or destinations. High-income consumers continue to travel but have favored international destinations, skipping out on domestic trips like theme-park visits, travel executives say. Lower-income travelers have a different reality. “They’ve spent all that money,” Hilton Chief Executive Chris Nassetta said in last week’s earnings call. “They’re now borrowing more and so they have less available, less disposable income and capacity to do anything, including travel.”
The airport security liquid rules that refuse to go away (WSJ🔒)
One of the most confounding airport policies isn’t going away anytime soon in the U.S. The Transportation Security Administration’s so-called 3-1-1 rule limits the amount of liquids, gels and aerosols that fliers can pack in their carry-on luggage. For many years now, fliers have been hopeful that the rules would be changing as aviation-security officials suggested an end to the liquids restrictions was on the horizon. New computed tomography, or CT, scanners can determine whether a given liquid poses a danger or not. But the TSA calculates it needs around 2,200 CT machines “to reach full operational capability across all the nation’s airports,” a TSA spokesman said. The agency, which says it has deployed about 40% of the necessary machines, estimates that it won’t reach its final goal until 2042 based on its funding projections.
Entertainment
Fringe TV Series
NOTE: My wife and I just finished watching the series Fringe for the second time. The last time was 10 years ago. If you like sci-fi, with a mix of X-files and The Matrix, then it’s for you. Directed by JJ Abrams and consisting of exactly 100 episodes over 5 seasons, it’s one of the top 5 sci-fi series ever rated. Highly recommend.
Sports
Gastroenteritis rates higher in Seine events than in previous Olympics (MedPage Today)
Athletes who swam in the Seine during the Olympic games in Paris had higher rates of gastroenteritis than those in games past, a U.S. Olympic official told MedPage Today. About 10% of athletes who competed in the triathlon or open water swimming events developed gastroenteritis, compared with about 1% to 3% of athletes in the same events in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, Jonathan Finnoff, DO, chief medical officer of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), told MedPage Today editor-in-chief Jeremy Faust, MD, MS, in an interview.
When N.F.L. dreams end, NASCAR’s pit crews beckon (NYT🔒)
NASCAR races can cover up to 600 miles, with cars zipping around the track approaching 200 miles per hour. Yet races are often won by seconds, or even slivers of a second, and a slower pit stop can cost teams hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money and potential sponsorships. Every second saved in a stop is worth about 20 car lengths on the track. Last season, the average margin of victory was 1.11 seconds, and it was under one second in 19 of the 36 races. The margin of victory was under one second in 10 of the 23 races so far this season. The pursuit of that edge is why Hendrick, Gibbs, Penske and other big race teams invest millions of dollars to hire and train dozens of tire changers, jackmen and gas can carriers who can work in chaotic conditions on race days 38 weeks a year. Teams are building state-of-the-art gyms and hiring top trainers, chefs and yoga instructors. They are also paying hefty salaries — some can reach $200,000 or more — to sign top athletes and lure pit crew members away from rivals.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy could be the most glamorous games yet. Here’s how to attend them. (Afar)
With a first-of-its-kind opening ceremony on the Seine, scores of new world records, and internet memes that all but transformed the games into the planet’s most wholesome reality show, the Paris Olympics was one for the books. If you missed out on the big event in 2024, you’re in luck: Your next chance to attend the Olympic Games in Europe is around the corner. Planning for the Milano-Cortina Winter 2026 Olympics has officially begun—and the upcoming games, the fourth ever to take place in Italy (following the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin) and the first in Milan, is anticipated to be nothing short of glamorous.
For Fun
Second-largest diamond ever found is discovered in Botswana (NYT🔒) 📊
The diamond was so large that it obscured the face of Botswana’s president as he held it up for closer inspection on Thursday. President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found.
Have a great weekend!
The Curator
Two resources to help you be a more discerning reader:
AllSides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news
Media Bias Chart - https://www.adfontesmedia.com/
Caveat: Even these resources/charts are biased. Who says that the system they use to describe news sources is accurate? Still, hopefully you find them useful as a basic guide or for comparison.