Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures:
• There have been more than 600 mass shootings since January 2022: Mass shootings — where four or more people, not including the shooter, are injured or killed — have averaged more than one per day since this time last year. Not a single week in 2022 has passed without at least four mass shootings. (Washington Post) see also Gun violence in US and what the statistics tell us: Among high-income countries, the United States stands out for its high levels of gun violence. Firearm injuries tend to be more frequent in places where people have easy access to firearms. (BBC) see also We Profiled the ‘Signs of Crisis’ in 50 Years of Mass Shootings. This Is What We Found. These are abridged details from profiles of the suspected or convicted perpetrators of more than 150 mass shootings in the United States.. (New York Times)
• Tesla’s Hurting From Elon Musk’s Twitter Meltdowns. The Question Is: How Much? Since Musk took over at Twitter, his spreading of conspiracy theories and his banning of journalists has eroded much of the goodwill toward him — and Tesla. (CNET)
• I’m a corporate fraud investigator. You wouldn’t believe the hubris of the super-rich: While the fraudsters I’ve encountered are often cunning, sooner or later they get carried. (The Guardian)
• The Weight-Loss-Drug Revolution Is a Miracle—And a Menace: How the new obesity pills could upend American society (The Atlantic)
• Binance Volunteers Work for Swag and Hope for Jobs. It’s Raising Red Flags. The crypto exchange has a network of volunteers known as Binance Angels. (Barron’s)
• China’s Global Mega-Projects Are Falling Apart: Many of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure projects are plagued with construction flaws, including a giant hydropower plant in Ecuador, adding more costs to a program criticized for leading countries deeper into debt (Wall Street Journal) see also They Poured Their Savings Into Homes That Were Never Built: Across the country, instead of apartment towers, uninhabitable concrete structures rise up from idle, overgrown construction sites. Infuriated homebuyers in more than 100 cities rose up in a rare act of collective rebellion last year, vowing not to repay loans on unfinished properties. (New York Times)
• Wind Turbines Taller Than the Statue of Liberty Are Falling Over: Breakdowns of towers and blades have bedeviled manufacturers in the US and Europe. (Businessweek)
• How Charlie Javice Got JPMorgan to Pay $175 Million for … What Exactly? A young founder promised to simplify the college financial aid process. It was a compelling pitch. Especially, as now seems likely, to those with little firsthand knowledge of financial aid. (New York Times)
• ‘Reckless’: Fury among rights groups as Facebook lifts Trump ban: Civil rights groups voice anger at ‘unethical’ decision, while others say the public has an interest in hearing directly from candidates for political office. (The Guardian) see also Trump and Facebook’s Mutual Decay: At least the platform finally added a user. (The Atlantic)
• Takeaways from Sundance’s secret Brett Kavanaugh documentary: Director Doug Liman announced his new documentary at the festival. Then new tips began pouring in. (Washington Post)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Neil Dutta, head of economic research at Renaissance Macro Research. He joined RenMac after spending seven years at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, where he was a Sr. economist covering US + Canada. Prior to that, he was a research analyst at Barron’s.
In Western Democracies, more guns mean more deaths
Source: New York Times
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