• State pension funds eye crypto investments, cheered on by lobbyists: In five states, lawmakers have advanced legislation in support of the idea, as industry advocates tease the potential for sky-high profits. (I am too conservative, or does this seem incredibly reckless?) (Washington Post) see also Forty-Eight Hours at the MAGA-fied Crypto Lovefest: The crowd at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville hopes Trump can make crypto great again. (Businessweek)
• ‘Zombie’ Condos, Angry Residents and a Ruling That Stunned Miami’s Developers: Court ruling in favor of holdout unit owners casts new doubt on dozens of Florida condo terminations (Wall Street Journal)
• RealPage Has Been Accused of Price-Fixing Rents. Now It’s on the Offensive: The software company has pushed back hard against claims that its algorithms helped make rent in the US too damn high. Property owners and managers aren’t entirely convinced. (Wired) see also Rent Going Up? One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why. Texas-based RealPage’s YieldStar software helps landlords set prices for apartments across the U.S. With rents soaring, critics are concerned that the company’s proprietary algorithm is hurting competition. (ProPublica) see also Landlords Used Software to Set Rents. Then Came the Lawsuits. Antitrust cases contend that use of RealPage’s algorithm, which lets property owners share private data, amounts to collusion. (New York Times)
• Online sports betting hurts consumers: New evidence makes it clear that more lawmakers need to take the issue seriously. (Slow Boring)
• DOJ: TikTok’s Chinese owner built search tool for users’ views on abortion, gun control: The department said TikTok’s China-based owner had access to a search tool that would have allowed employees to collect data on users’ views on divisive issues. (Washington Post)
• These Swing State Election Officials Are Pro-Trump Election Deniers: At least 70 pro-Trump conspiracists are election officials in key battleground counties — and they are poised to make a giant mess on Election Day. (Rolling Stone) mirror (Yahoo) see also With voting under attack, Arizona schools don’t want to be polling locations: As false information about elections continues to spread, many school leaders in Maricopa County have closed their doors to the democratic process. (Washington Post)
• Georgia Board Grants Local Officials New Power Over Certifying Elections: Across the country, conservative organizations and allies of former President Donald J. Trump have sought to grant local election officials more authority over the certification process. (New York Times)
• Think you are sick? It may be the nocebo effect. Negative beliefs or expectations about a treatment or experience may elicit symptoms of feeling sick, even when the intervention is a sham. (Washington Post)
• Climate change deniers make up nearly a quarter of US Congress: Climate denialists – 23 in Senate and 100 in House – are all Republicans and make US an outlier internationally (The Guardian) see also 31% of Republicans say vaccines are more dangerous than diseases they prevent: The partisan divide on vaccine falsehoods threatens the health of children nationwide. (Ars Technica)
• Elon Musk’s misleading election claims have accrued 1.2 billion views on X, new analysis says: The nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate said that Musk’s debunked claims are spreading widely and do not appear to be subject to X’s Community Notes fact-checking system. (NBC News)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this this week with Meir Statman, Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University. His book “What Investors Really Want” has become a classic that explains what drives investors. His latest book is “A Wealth of Well-Being: A Holistic Approach to Behavioral Finance.”
This is the worst 3-day crash for Japan’s stock market in data back to 1973
Source: @JeffWeniger
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