Extra, Extra
Conflict of Interest: For years, Trump railed on Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates. Today the Fed, now led by Trump’s handpicked leader, Kevin Warsh, voted to raise rates to fight persistent inflation. Will Trump be angry? That probably depends on his portfolio. Trump has been making more stock trades than all of Congress combined while backing a ban that excludes him. And you? Here’s what a rate hike means for your credit cards, mortgages, savings accounts and auto loans.
+ Creative License: “A joint analysis of the camera’s data indicated that it had captured millions of images over the span of just a few weeks, cataloguing people, bicycles, and even small details such as bumper stickers. In one instance, the Flock camera identified an American flag patch on a motorcyclist’s bag.” Hacked Data Shows What Flock Cameras Really Record. Meanwhile, Boston is the latest city to dump Flock, saying it shared data nationwide in violation of contract.
+ Blue in the Red: “It is a pattern seen across many industries in China, especially as economic growth slows. Companies in search of new sources of profit jump into promising emerging businesses, using inexpensive state-backed financing to scale up—and sometimes play fast-and-loose with intellectual property regulations. This quickly causes gluts, crashing prices.” It might not sound like it, but this is a story about blueberries. WSJ (Gift Article): Driscoll’s Gave China Its Blueberries—Then China Swiped the Secret to Growing Them. (It’s worth a reminder that while all blueberries are blue, not all blue berries are blueberries.)
+ Glacial Pace: “About 12.5 trillion tons of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979, which is enough frozen water to stack ice five feet deep across the continental United States.”
+ Arena Amplification: “Ed Sheeran’s tour of North and South America was plunged into chaos Tuesday when four of his supporting acts abruptly quit in solidarity with the rapper Macklemore, who was dropped for making pro-Palestinian comments onstage.” However one feels about Macklemore’s messaging, anyone could have seen that banning him from arenas would turn this into a much bigger and louder issue.
