Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures:
• What China Just Learned From the Iran War: Beijing watched America bomb Iran and drew its own conclusions about red lines, deterrence, and Taiwan. The lessons are not the ones Washington wants China to learn: A blockade of Taiwan would hurt the global economy more than Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. (The Atlantic)
• Job Growth on ICE: Krugman crunches the numbers on how immigration enforcement is freezing the labor market. You can’t deport workers and grow employment at the same time—pick one. (Paul Krugman) see also The Disillusioned College Grads Turning to the Labor Movement: At workplaces from Starbucks to Apple, highly educated downwardly mobile young people are organizing for better conditions. A new generation of educated workers is discovering unions, and the labor movement hasn’t been this energized in decades. The future of organized labor wears a hoodie and a master’s degree. (New Republic)
• The Most Powerful People in the World Are Obsessed With Media Again: Sam Altman is buying his favorite show, Larry Ellison is buying CNN to merge it with CBS News, Jamie Dimon is toying with launching a venture. It may mark a new era of vanity media owners. History suggests this never ends well for journalism. (Hollywood Reporter)
• After record highs, Colorado’s legal pot market hits a harsh comedown: The first state to legalize weed is now watching its market collapse. The lesson for every state legalization effort: the green rush ends and reality follows. (Washington Post)
• When Bill Ackman Vented Over $2 Million, Fellow Billionaires Rushed to Commiserate: Bill Ackman lost $2 million on something and other billionaires lined up to feel bad for him. The world’s tiniest violin is back in stock at Pershing Square. The investor revealed a family office feud. The world’s richest man came to his defense on social media. (Wall Street Journal)
• A Historian Spent 30 Years Interviewing Nazis. He Identified 12 Warning Signs of Fascism. All 12 Are Present in America Right Now: Three decades of interviews with actual Nazis distilled into a 12-point checklist. Spoiler: the checklist is fully checked. Read it and decide for yourself. (Uncensored Objection)
• The Bills That Destroyed Urban America: Joseph Lawler traces how postwar highway and housing bills gutted American cities more effectively than any wrecking ball. The planners dreamed of gleaming cities. Instead ,they brought three generations of hollowed-out downtowns and flight to the suburbs. (The New Atlantis)
• Trump’s Economy: You’re Either an Insider or a Chump: The Bulwark on the two-track economy Trump is building. The insiders trade ahead of policy announcements and the rest of us pay the bills. The grift is the point. The president is enriching friends, pardoning criminals, and impoverishing everyone else. (The Bulwark)
• Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your Life: The personal cost of standing up to immigration enforcement is enormous—lost jobs, legal fees, and social ostracism. Wired profiles the people willing to pay it anyway. (Wired) see also Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown An investigation into BORTAC and BORSTAR agents and their use of force during the administration’s immigration enforcement surge. A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history. (Wired) see also What spending probes at DHS reveal about Kristi Noem’s time in office: Kara Voorhies, a little-known contractor, worked closely with top aide Corey Lewandowski and had wide influence over contracts under Noem’s leadership. (Washington Post)
• Cigarettes Get a Sequel: Hollywood’s ‘Cool’ Bad Habit Is Back: Smoking is making a comeback on screen after decades of public health campaigns drove it underground. Hollywood’s coolness machine never stays reformed for long. (The Ankler)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Mike Pyle, Deputy Head of BlackRock’s Portfolio Management Group (PMG) and member of the Global Executive Committee. He helps oversee $5 trillion in client assets across systematic & discretionary strategies as well as directly overseeing PMG’s hedge funds platform. He also heads the BlackRock Investment Institute.
Change in Straight of Hormuz Traffic
Source: @JoshEakle
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