This week in the news | 30 Sep 23

News from the past week, and a few other things.

Sep 30, 2023

👋 Hello Reader, I hope you had a great week.

Below are the items that stood out to me in the news. You’ll find some great charts on the US’ long-term labor crisis, lots on real estate, the results of a random internet black hole I got sucked into, and much more.

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THE QUICK SHOT 🚀

A lock icon (🔒) indicates articles behind a paywall, and a chart icon (📊) indicates an informative chart/graphic in “Slow Brew.” A megaphone (📣) indicates comments from me.

WORLD

SPACE

NASA’s Osiris-REx Mission Brings Home Largest Asteroid Sample Ever Collected (WSJ🔒)

GOVERNMENT & DEFENSE

TECH & CYBER

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

ChatGPT users can now browse internet, OpenAI says (Reuters)
CIA Builds Its Own Artificial Intelligence Tool in Rivalry With China (Bloomberg🔒)
AI-generated naked child images shock Spanish town of Almendralejo (BBC)
Spotify will not ban AI-made music, says boss (BBC)

LIFE

More schools are adopting 4-day weeks. For parents, the challenge is day 5 (AP News)
These Employers Took On Healthcare Costs, and the Fight Got Nasty (WSJ🔒) 📊
Opinion | Forget About Living to 100. Let’s Live Healthier Instead. (NYT🔒)
Teen arrested after felling of famous Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian’s Wall (WP🔒) 📊 📣

FOR FUN

A connection between James Bond, Roald Dahl, and Benedict Cumberbatch 📣
The Bookshelf - Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson 📣

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THE SLOW BREW ☕

A more relaxed approach to news summaries.

North America

New York inundated with worst floods since 2021, but no deaths reported (WP🔒)

More than a month’s worth of rain fell Friday across parts of New York City and Long Island, much of it within a few hours, flooding utility infrastructure, stranding vehicles and subway commuters, and prompting an emergency declaration. In all, more than 7 inches of rain had fallen in the most waterlogged sections of Brooklyn and Queens from the overnight hours through Friday afternoon, about double their normal precipitation for September.

Travis King arrives back on US soil from N Korea (BBC)

US soldier Travis King has arrived back in the US after being expelled from North Korea following his two-month detention. He was shown on video disembarking from a plane in San Antonio, Texas, at about 01:30 eastern time (05:30 GMT). The 23-year-old reconnaissance specialist illegally crossed into North Korea from South Korea in July. Before arriving home, Pvt King was transferred into US custody in China and then flown to a US military base.

Europe

Who’s Gaining Ground in Ukraine? This Year, No One. (NYT🔒)

Although both sides have launched ambitious offensives, the front line has barely shifted. After 18 months of war, a breakthrough looks more difficult than ever.

Greece, Battered a Decade Ago, Is Booming (NYT🔒)

Laden with debt it couldn’t pay back, Greece nearly broke the eurozone a decade ago. Today, it is one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies. In a significant acknowledgment of the country’s turnaround, credit ratings agencies have been upgrading their appraisal of Greece’s debt, and opening the door for large foreign investors. The economy is growing at twice the eurozone average, and unemployment, while still high at 11 percent, is the lowest in over a decade. Tourists have returned in droves, fueling a construction frenzy and new jobs. Multinational companies, like Microsoft and Pfizer, are investing. And banks that almost collapsed have cleaned up and are lending again, benefiting the broader economy.

I had the opportunity to visit Greece this summer—fabulous country…but also very crowded with tourists! However, I suppose that too is great for its economy. Time will tell whether the wide-spread fires they’ve experience this year will have a significant long-term negative impact on the economy.

Slow-Boil Refugee Crisis Takes Its Toll Even in Germany (WSJ🔒)

The refugee crisis that shook Europe almost 10 years ago never really ended in Germany. Now the country is struggling to cope. More than 322,000 migrants requested asylum here last year, according to the United Nations, numbers second only to the U.S. globally. Germany receives nearly half as many asylum requests as the U.S. despite having just a quarter of the U.S. population and less than 4% of its landmass. The steady inflow partly reflects a choice by Germany, whose government continues to embrace refugees despite increasing public skepticism. Berlin sees the newcomers as a potential solution to an aging population and a shortage of workers, but resentment of migration has intensified among voters, spurring support for far-right forces. A poll earlier this year by Ipsos found that 48% of Germans now believe the country should stop accepting refugees completely, up from 32% last year. The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany political party has seen its support rise to a record 21%.

Middle East

Iran says it has successfully launched an imaging satellite into orbit amid tensions with the West (AP News)

Iran claimed on Wednesday that it successfully launched an imaging satellite into space, a move that could further ratchet up tensions with Western nations that fear its space technology could be used to develop nuclear weapons. Iran’s Communication Minister Isa Zarepour said the Noor-3 satellite had been put in an orbit 450 kilometers (280 miles) above the Earth’s surface, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. It was not clear when exactly the launch took place. There was no immediate acknowledgment from Western officials of the launch or of the satellite being put into orbit.

Israel reopens Gaza crossings, lets Palestinians back to work after two weeks (Reuters)

Israel reopened crossing points with Gaza on Thursday, allowing thousands of Palestinian workers to get to their jobs in Israel and the West Bank, after nearly two weeks of closure prompted by violent protests along the border. Around 18,000 Gazans have permits from Israeli authorities to work outside the blockaded enclave, providing an injection of cash amounting to some $2 million a day to the impoverished territory's economy. The move comes amid stepped-up international efforts by Egypt and the United Nations to defuse tensions and prevent a new round of armed conflict in the enclave.

Iraq wedding fire kills more than 100, relatives identify bodies (Reuters)

A fire ripped through a packed wedding hall in northern Iraq late on Tuesday, killing more than 100 people in a Christian town that had survived Islamic State occupation. Fire fighters searched the charred remains of the building in Qaraqosh, also known as Hamdaniya, through Wednesday morning and bereaved relatives gathered outside a morgue in the nearby city of Mosul, wailing and rocking in distress. Several sources in Qaraqosh said the bride and groom had survived the fire, but Reuters was not immediately able to confirm that or speak to their families. Survivors said hundreds of people were at the wedding celebration, which followed an earlier church service, and the fire began about an hour into the event when flares ignited a ceiling decoration as the bride and groom danced.

Africa

France to Withdraw Troops From Niger After Military Coup (NYT🔒)

France will withdraw nearly 1,500 troops from the West African nation of Niger by the end of the year, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, a decision that could upend the West’s security footprint in the region, including the future of 1,100 American forces based in Niger.

Latest talks between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt over mega dam on the Nile end without breakthrough (AP News)

The latest talks over the mega dam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile River’s main tributary have broken up without an agreement. The two-day talks between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt on the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam ended on Sunday night in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Ethiopia’s chief negotiator, Seleshi Bekele, said the countries had “exchanged constructive ideas on various outstanding issues” and added that his country remains committed to continuing the negotiations. Egypt’s water ministry blamed Ethiopia for the failure to make a breakthrough, alleging that Addis Ababa was “opposed to any compromise.” It expressed concern and said an agreement was needed to protect Egypt’s water security and national interests.

Asia-Pacific

Karabakh Armenians dissolve breakaway government in capitulation to Azerbaijan (Reuters)

Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh said on Thursday they were dissolving the breakaway statelet they had defended for three decades, where more than half the population has fled since Azerbaijan launched a lightning offensive last week. n a statement, they said their self-declared Republic of Artsakh would "cease to exist" by Jan. 1, in what amounted to a formal capitulation to Azerbaijan. For Azerbaijan and its president, Ilham Aliyev, the outcome is a triumphant restoration of sovereignty over an area that is internationally recognised as part of its territory but whose ethnic Armenian majority won de facto independence in a war in the 1990s. For Armenians, it is a defeat and a national tragedy. Some 70,500 people had crossed into Armenia by early Thursday afternoon, Russia's RIA news agency reported, out of an estimated population of 120,000.

China's industrial profits extend slump for January-August, pace of downturn eases (Reuters)

Profits at China's industrial firms extended a double-digit drop for the first eight months, but the pace of declines eased slightly as a flurry of policy support steps has started to stabilise parts of the stuttering economy. The 11.7% year-on-year fall in profits narrowed from a 15.5% contraction for the first seven months, in line with expectations and potentially suggests a modest recovery is beginning to take root for some businesses.

South China Sea: Philippines removes Chinese barrier in contested area (BBC)

The Philippines says it has removed a floating barrier installed by China to block Philippine fishing boats entering a contested area in the South China Sea. The Philippines coast guard said it had been instructed to do so by President Ferdinand Marcos Junior. Manila says China violated its fishing rights with the 300m (1,000ft) barrier in the Scarborough Shoal.

Biden announces new diplomatic ties with two Pacific Island nations (NBC News)

President Joe Biden announced new diplomatic relations with two Pacific Island nations, the Cook Islands and Niue, on Monday at his second annual summit hosting Pacific Island leaders at the White House. The move is part of the administration’s focus to counter China’s influence in the region.

Map for reference:

Blast at rally celebrating birthday of Islam’s prophet kills 52 people in southwestern Pakistan (AP News)

A powerful bomb exploded near a mosque at a rally celebrating the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 35 people and injuring nearly 70 others, police and a government official said.

Space

NASA’s Osiris-REx Mission Brings Home Largest Asteroid Sample Ever Collected (WSJ🔒)

Osiris-REx, the robotic spacecraft that helped deliver the sample to Earth, is part of a mission of the same name launched seven years ago by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to a space rock named Bennu. After a nearly 4 billion-mile journey through space, the 20-foot-long Osiris-REx buzzed by our planet this weekend. It jettisoned a capsule containing rocks and dust collected from Bennu’s surface, which safely landed in the desert of western Utah. The Osiris-REx mission isn’t the first to deliver an asteroid sample to our planet. Two Japanese missions already did so from two other asteroids, in 2010 and 2020. But the size of the expected sample from NASA’s mission dwarfs its predecessors—the largest sample Japan brought back, in 2020, was 5 grams.

Government

Republicans reject own funding bill, US government shutdown imminent (Reuters)

Hardline Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday rejected a bill proposed by their leader to temporarily fund the government, making it all but certain that federal agencies will partially shut down beginning on Sunday. In a 232-198 vote, the House defeated a measure that would extend government funding by 30 days and avert a shutdown. That bill would have slashed spending and restricted immigration, Republican priorities that had little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, trailblazer and champion of liberal priorities, dies at age 90 (AP)

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a centrist Democrat and champion of liberal causes who was elected to the Senate in 1992 and broke gender barriers throughout her long career in local and national politics, has died. She was 90. Feinstein died on Thursday night at her home in Washington, D.C., her office said on Friday. Tributes poured in all day. Opening the Senate floor, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that “we lost a giant in the Senate.”

Defense

Drones Everywhere: How the Technological Revolution on Ukraine Battlefields Is Reshaping Modern Warfare (WSJ🔒)

With thousands of Ukrainian and Russian drones in the air along the front line at a given time, from cheap quadrocopters to long-range winged aircraft that can fly hundreds of miles and stay on target for hours, the very nature of war has transformed. The drones are just one element of change. New integrated battle-management systems that provide imaging and locations in real time all the way down to the platoon and squad levels—in Ukraine’s case, via the Starlink satellite network—have made targeting near instantaneous. The technological revolution triggered by the Ukraine war, Europe’s biggest conflict in nearly eight decades, is calling into question the feasibility of some of the basic concepts of American military doctrine. Combined-arms maneuvers using large groups of armored vehicles and tanks to make rapid breakthroughs—something that Washington and its allies had expected the Ukrainian offensive this summer to achieve—may no longer be possible in principle, some soldiers here say. The inevitable implication, according to Ukrainian commanders, is that the conflict won’t end soon.

DoD Releases Report on Defense Spending by State in Fiscal Year 2022 (Defense)

Today [26 Sep 23], the Department of Defense Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation released its Fiscal Year 2022 Defense Spending by State report to help states and communities better understand how Defense procurement, personnel spending and grants impact their economies. Fiscal Year 2022 is the first year to incorporate DoD grant awards, which were reported to USAspending.gov. The report's graphs, maps, and tables present a range of findings, such as total spending figures, categories of contracted goods and services, major defense vendors, numbers, and types of defense personnel, and, for the first time, grants awarded by DoD.

Economy

Why America Has a Long-Term Labor Crisis, in Six Charts (WSJ🔒)

The U.S. economy has been running, improbably, with an unemployment rate under 4% for nearly two years. That isn’t just a holdover from pandemic bottlenecks, when employers let millions of people go and then struggled to find workers when demand roared back, economists and business leaders say. It is a storm that has been brewing for decades, flaring up most recently in the form of labor fights at automakers and airlines. Labor shortages are turning into a long-term labor crisis that could push wages and turnover higher. Work experts have warned for years that the combination of baby boomer retirements, low birthrates, shifting immigration policies and changing worker preferences is leaving U.S. employers with too few workers to fill job openings. While the labor market is softening, none of those factors are expected to change dramatically in the coming years.

Business

Target to Close Stores in San Francisco, Other Cities, Citing Theft (WSJ🔒)

Target, like many big retailers, has complained about retail crime hitting its stores. Now, the company plans to close nine locations across four states, citing elevated levels of theft and safety concerns for its shoppers and employees. The retailer said Tuesday that stores in the New York City, Seattle, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., markets would close effective Oct. 21.

Biden Becomes 1st U.S. President On Picket Line—But Autoworkers Still Haven’t Endorsed Him (Forbes🔒)

President Joe Biden became the first sitting U.S. president to join striking workers on a picket line when he met Tuesday with members of the United Auto Workers union participating in a targeted walkout at a parts operations plant in Belleville, Michigan. The visit comes as Biden—who has repeatedly referred to himself as the “most pro-union president in history”—is seeking the UAW’s endorsement for his reelection campaign, but has faced criticism from the union over his support of electric vehicles and workers’ fears that the transition could prompt job losses.

Las Vegas Hospitality Workers Authorize Strike at Major Resorts (NYT🔒)

Hospitality workers in Las Vegas have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against major resorts along the Strip, a critical step toward a walkout as the economically challenged city prepares for major sporting events in the months ahead. The authorization vote on Tuesday by members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, which collectively represent 60,000 workers across Nevada, was approved by 95 percent of those taking part, according to union officials. Although a vote is a forceful step, it does not guarantee that workers will strike before hashing out a new contract deal with the major resorts. Contracts for roughly 40,000 housekeepers, bartenders, cooks and food servers at MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts expired on Sept. 15, after being extended from a June deadline. Other workers remain on extended contracts that can be terminated at any time.

FTC's Amazon antitrust lawsuit faces high bar in US court – experts (Reuters)

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit accusing Amazon.com (AMZN.O) of abusing its retail market power to stifle competition faces hurdles in court, testing the scope of U.S. antitrust law and posing roadblocks for the agency, legal experts said. The U.S. consumer agency, which enforces federal antitrust law, and 17 states filed their lawsuit against Amazon in Seattle federal court on Tuesday, asking a U.S. judge to consider an injunction and other penalties to combat alleged unlawful conduct. Several legal experts told Reuters that the FTC faces a high bar in trying to show that U.S. consumers would be better off in a world without Amazon's policies in place. The lawsuit said Amazon has unfairly given preference to its own products and that the company's policies punish merchants that want to sell products for lower prices on other platforms.

Theme Parks Pin Hopes on a Fall Rebound After Summer Flop (WSJ🔒)

Theme-park operators are pinning their hopes on a blockbuster fall season, betting that splashy Halloween and Oktoberfest events can make up for a summer season hurt by extreme weather. Shares of regional theme-park operators are lagging behind the S&P 500 this year, as hopes for a robust postpandemic recovery meet the reality of heightened competition for leisure spending and uncooperative weather. Analysts say park traffic improved later in the summer, but the fall season remains pivotal.

Energy

Oil Is Near $100. Shale Isn’t Coming to the Rescue. (WSJ🔒)

U.S. oil prices soared Wednesday to their highest level in more than a year. Most frackers plan to stay on the sidelines. Surging global demand coupled with output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia have sent crude prices to levels not seen since last August. The increase is hitting consumers at the pump, vexing policy makers’ fight against inflation and posing new challenges for President Biden ahead of the 2024 election. Though some analysts say oil prices could soon hit $100 a barrel, U.S. shale companies aren’t rushing to drill more. That means that unlike in past years when frackers flooded the market with crude and alleviated pressure, oil prices might remain elevated until someone else adds production or demand ebbs. In the Permian Basin of New Mexico and West Texas, the most active oil field in the nation, the number of rigs drilling for crude as of last week had declined by about 12% to 314 since the end of April, according to oil field services company Baker Hughes—even as U.S. oil prices jumped by about $13 a barrel over that same period.

US Strategic Petroleum Reserves (EIA)

I’m not seeing much in the news about this—but at the end of Jun 2023, our US Strategic Petroleum Reserves sat at 347M barrels; the last time it was this low was in 1983. This decrease is due to the US government trying to keep prices down in the US due to supply limits by OPEC and increased prices elsewhere.

Real Estate

Home Ownership Affordability Monitor (Atlanta Fed)

Housing plays a critical role in the U.S. economy. For individuals, owning a home may be their most valuable asset. Home ownership helps meet the basic need of shelter and can support economic mobility (through wealth accumulation) and resilience (stability). However, rising home prices and rents have also led to concerns about housing affordability.

The above chart is very informative; you can see how interest rates are currently the overwhelming cause of negative change in home affordability (leading into this year, home price changes also played a large role). As I do not think rates are likely to change in the months ahead, this will continue to have an impact on the housing marking. Below is a different spin on similar data.

Historical Home Affordability in the United States (DQYDJ)

On this page is a home price affordability history tool for the United States. It contains data from 1971 on, and automatically updates monthly to show home price affordability for the median household income in the US. It also shows affordability for the 25th percentile and 75th percentile of household incomes. This tool uses the historical median home price for single-family homes in the United States, historical 30-year fixed mortgage rates, and estimated non-mortgage costs to figure out a monthly payment on a median home. Then, using historical household income (HHI), it graphs the history of median home affordability at various income percentiles.

And, here’s a regional look:

Home Affordability Gets Even Tougher Across U.S. During Third Quarter As Home Prices And Mortgage Rates Rise Further (ATTOM)

ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its third-quarter 2023 U.S. Home Affordability Report showing that median-priced single-family homes and condos are less affordable in the third quarter of 2023 compared to historical averages in 99 percent of counties around the nation with enough data to analyze. The latest trend continues a two-year pattern of home ownership getting more and more difficult for average U.S. wage earners. The report shows that affordability has worsened across the nation amid a third-quarter increase in home prices and home-mortgage rates that has combined to help push the typical portion of average wages nationwide required for major home-ownership expenses up to 35 percent.

The above graphic is not a very well done in my opinion.
For reference: the scale at the top is divided into four colors divided from 49 to 110, which means that each quadrant is equal to about 15.25 points…which means the middle point (between green & yellow) is 79.5 and the line between yellow and red is 94.75. That is not intuitive.
Moreover, as noted in the graphic, “Under 100 is LESS affordable than historic average,” which means the red areas are better than yellow, green, and blue areas—this is not typically how we use colors in charts.
This all bothered me so much that I emailed the company—they were quick to respond and appreciated the feedback…we’ll see if it makes a difference in the future.

Mortgage Rates Reach Highest Level in Almost 23 Years (Freddie Mac)

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has hit the highest level since the year 2000. However, unlike the turn of the millennium, house prices today are rising alongside mortgage rates, primarily due to low inventory. These headwinds are causing both buyers and sellers to hold out for better circumstances.

Cyber

Chinese hackers stole emails from US State Dept in Microsoft breach, Senate staffer says (Reuters)

Chinese hackers who breached Microsoft's (MSFT.O) email platform this year managed to steal tens of thousands of emails from U.S. State Department accounts, a Senate staffer told Reuters on Wednesday. The staffer, who attended a briefing by State Department IT officials, said the officials told lawmakers that 60,000 emails were stolen from 10 State Department accounts. Nine of those victims were working on East Asia and the Pacific and one worked on Europe, according to the briefing details shared via email by the staffer, who declined to be named.

How TikTok Has Exposed Celebrities And Politicians’ Closest Personal Contacts (Forbes)

TikTok and ByteDance staff around the world have been able to freely access the friend lists of the First Family, top internet stars and other public figures, creating national security risks in a heated election year and endangering the privacy of some of the most powerful people on the planet.

Google User Data Has Become a Favorite Police Shortcut (Bloomberg)

Google maintains one of the world’s most comprehensive repositories of location information. Drawing from phones’ GPS coordinates, plus connections to Wi-Fi networks and cellular towers, it can often estimate a person’s whereabouts to within several feet. It gathers this information in part to sell advertising, but police routinely dip into the data to further their investigations. The use of search data is less common, but that, too, has made its way into police stations throughout the country. Police say these warrants can unearth valuable leads when detectives are at a loss. But to get those leads, officers frequently have to rummage through Google data on people who have nothing to do with a crime. And that’s precisely what worries privacy advocates.

Artificial Intelligence

ChatGPT users can now browse internet, OpenAI says (Reuters)

ChatGPT users will now be able to surf the web, Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI said on Wednesday, expanding the data the viral chatbot can access beyond its earlier September 2021 cutoff. The artificial intelligence startup said its latest browsing feature would allow websites to control how ChatGPT can interact with them. "Browsing is available to Plus and Enterprise users today, and we'll expand to all users soon.” The startup also announced a major update earlier this week that would enable ChatGPT to have voice conversations with users and interact with them using images, moving it closer to popular AI assistants like Apple's Siri.

CIA Builds Its Own Artificial Intelligence Tool in Rivalry With China (Bloomberg🔒)

The Central Intelligence Agency is preparing to roll out a feature akin to OpenAI Inc.’s now-famous program that will use artificial intelligence to give analysts better access to open-source intelligence, according to agency officials. The CIA’s Open-Source Enterprise division plans to provide intelligence agencies with its AI tool soon. The AI tool will be available across the 18-agency US intelligence community, which includes the CIA, National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and agencies run by branches of the military. It won’t be available to policy makers or the public.

AI-generated naked child images shock Spanish town of Almendralejo (BBC)

A sleepy town in southern Spain is in shock after it emerged that AI-generated naked images of young local girls had been circulating on social media without their knowledge. The pictures were created using photos of the targeted girls fully clothed, many of them taken from their own social media accounts. These were then processed by an application that generates an imagined image of the person without clothes on. So far more than 20 girls, aged between 11 and 17, have come forward as victims of the app's use in or near Almendralejo, in the south-western province of Badajoz. Police are now investigating and according to reports, at least 11 local boys have been identified as having involvement in either the creation of the images or their circulation via the WhatsApp and Telegram apps. Investigators are also looking into the claim that an attempt was made to extort one of the girls by using a fake image of her.

Spotify will not ban AI-made music, says boss (BBC)

The boss of Spotify says he has no plans to completely ban content created by artificial intelligence from the music streaming platform. Earlier this year the platform pulled a track featuring AI-cloned voices of the performers Drake and The Weeknd. Daniel Ek told the BBC there were valid uses of the tech in making music - but AI should not be used to impersonate human artists without their consent.

Education

More schools are adopting 4-day weeks. For parents, the challenge is day 5 (AP News)

Hundreds of school systems around the country have adopted four-day weeks in recent years, mostly in rural and western parts of the U.S. Districts cite cost savings and advantages for teacher recruitment, although some have questioned the effects on students who already missed out on significant learning during the pandemic. For parents, there also is the added complication, and cost, of arranging child care for that extra weekday. While surveys show parents approve overall, support wanes among those with younger children. In more than 13,000 school districts nationwide, nearly 900 operate on a truncated schedule, up from 662 in 2019 and a little more than 100 in 1999, said Paul Thompson, an associate professor of economics at Oregon State University.

Health

These Employers Took On Healthcare Costs, and the Fight Got Nasty (WSJ🔒)

A bruising battle over hospital costs in Indiana previews a growing trend: Employers are sick of the ever-rising price of healthcare, and they are ready to do something about it. The fight started with the simple goal of helping Indiana employers learn what they were spending on hospital services received by their workers. Gloria Sachdev, who is chief executive officer of the Employers’ Forum of Indiana, launched research that produced a stunning takeaway: They paid the most out of all the states studied. “Employers were mad,” said Sachdev. “Literally pounding-on-the-table mad: ‘This is ridiculous. We’ve got to do something about this.’ ” A drive for legislation, ultimately supported by companies including the engine maker Cummins and Chrysler’s parent, Stellantis, turned into a brawl. An employer-backed group targeted patients’ phones with digital ads about high prices when they visited hospitals. Hospitals warned of cuts to crucial medical services and government price fixing. There was cursing. The resulting law, passed by Republican lawmakers with bipartisan support, contained significant actions for tackling high healthcare costs. Now the Indiana campaign—and Sachdev, who testified in Congress earlier this year—is getting attention well beyond the state. In places including Texas, Florida and Maine, employer groups are pushing for legislation blunting hospital costs, saying they are fed up with increasing rates and fees, as well as the failure of private efforts to contain them.

Opinion | Forget About Living to 100. Let’s Live Healthier Instead. (NYT🔒)

Our country is long overdue for an audacious health goal. The average life span in the United States doubled during the last century, a stunning achievement. Equally stunning is that life expectancy is now stagnating, a revelation that has mostly been met with a collective shrug. The Census Bureau predicts that by 2034, there will be more people in the United States age 65 or older than under 18, for the first time in history. Increasingly people are suffering from addiction, other chronic diseases and injuries, even at younger ages. Our current state of politics, mired in narrow debates about who does and does not deserve health insurance, is not up to meeting these challenges. We need a fresh approach to talking about health before we can improve it.

Many great points here…an increased life span is no good if there’s terrible quality of life. What good is extending life span at the expense of quality of life?

Nature

Teen arrested after felling of famous Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian’s Wall (WP🔒)

The tree stood proudly for hundreds of years, set alone in a dramatic dip in the Northumberland, England landscape right by Hadrian’s Wall. Perhaps England’s most-photographed tree, the Sycamore Gap tree drew visitors from afar and appeared in the 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” Now it’s just a stump. The beloved tree’s centuries-old life came to an end in what authorities think was a deliberate act of vandalism.

Despicable. Here’s what it looked like before being cut down:

Entertainment

Michael Gambon, Dumbledore actor in ‘Harry Potter,’ dies age 82 (CNN)

Actor Michael Gambon, best known for playing Albus Dumbledore in most of the “Harry Potter” movies, has died at 82 following a “bout of pneumonia,” a statement issued on behalf of his family said on Thursday, PA Media news agency reported.

Hollywood’s Writers Emerge From Strike as Winners—for Now (WSJ🔒)

Hollywood writers are able to return to work Wednesday after a five-month strike, having secured major wins in the form of staffing guarantees, increased pay and the potential for more upside when streaming shows hit big. Here are the major provisions in the writers’ agreement: Writers will receive greater insight into how shows perform on streaming services. Union members will be able to share in the success of content that performs well on streaming services. Studios and streamers will hire a minimum number of writers per project. Royalties will increase. Studios will be transparent about how they use AI.

Top Creators 2023 (Forbes🔒)

Creators. Influencers. Streamers. Vloggers. Whatever you call them, these powerful social media personalities are calling the shots in entertainment and advertising. To rank the world's Top Creators, Forbes crunched data on the earnings, follower counts, engagement rates, and entrepreneurial activities of thousands of internet personalities with the help of the creator marketing firm, Influential.

For Fun

Sometimes you get into an internet black hole that leads you to interesting things—such was the case this week.
I learned from a reader of this newsletter (Brig Gen Shawn Campbell) through a newsletter of his that Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond stories, also wrote the story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! After looking online to find out that was indeed true (sorry, Gen Campbell, I just couldn’t believe it), I read that the screenplay for the 1968 movie was co-written by Roald Dahl.
Roald Dahl was a WWII fighter ace with the Royal Air Force, but he is better known as the author of many popular books--Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, and many others.
Last week, Netflix released the first in a series of short story adaptations of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Produced by Wes Anderson, it’s full of Anderson’s trademark of muted colors and balanced cinematography. The dialogue is fast-paced (so buckle up!), but with superb acting (as usual) from Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and others, it’s a fun nested-doll type of story crammed into 40 minutes.
Oh, by the way, the actor, Dick Van Dyke, who starred in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! is still alive—he turns 98 later this year.

The Bookshelf

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

I’ve read Isaacson’s biographies of Steve Jobs, Leonardo Da Vinci, Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and like those, this biography of Musk did not disappoint. My biggest takeaway from the biography is just how complicated Elon Musk is. Much like Jobs’ “reality distortion field,” Musk has the ability to push people to do things they don’t believe possible. Isaacson refers to this as Musk’s “demon mode.” The upside is that he is able to get others to accomplish more than thought possible; the downside is that he can be ruthless. One thing is for certain, if you ever plan to work at a company Musk runs, then you better be willing to give your “A game” 24/7. He does not suffer fools and he expects everyone to work as hard as he does—to include sleeping at/under their desk when needed.

Have a great weekend!

The Curator