La mia intervista settimanale a Le Fonti TV, con Manuela Donghi. Tutti gli argomenti del giorno, sviscerati bene (banche centrali, procedura di infrazione, dati europei, ecc), ed un paio di infografiche molto utili per investire.
Mese: giugno 2019
Intervista LeFonti TV martedì 4 giugno 2019
Bespoke Brunch Reads: 6/2/19
Food
Moneyball for Cattle Is Creating an American Steak Renaissance by Lydia Mulvaney and Michael Hirtzer (Bloomberg)
Cheap, accessible genomic testing is reducing uncertainty and raising quality in the top tier of US beef herds. [Link; soft paywall]
6 Hot Takes About the Right Way to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich (Bon Appétit)
A compendium of analysis on the right way to make the most time-honored of American snacks, but no consistent result: smooth, crunchy, bread type, jam flavor… [Link]
Chinese Repression
Four Is Forbidden by Yangyang Cheng (ChinaFile)
A remarkable narrative about growing up in a society where the great traumas are suppressed in the name of political expediency; noteworthy as we approach the anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square in early June. [Link]
‘If I disappear’: Chinese students make farewell messages amid crackdowns over labor activism by Gerry Shih (WaPo)
In the height of ironies, the Chinese Communist Party has been detaining and disappearing Marxist students who are pushing back against inequality and corruption in the ostensibly communist nation. [Link; soft paywall]
Labor Markets
Child Care Is Expensive, But Providers Themselves Struggle To Get By by Elly Yu and Martin Austermuhle (American University/WAMU)
While childcare costs have spiraled dramatically higher and out of reach of many working families, the actual workers who keep an eye on the little ones haven’t seen their extremely low wages push much higher, an apparent conundrum. [Link]
Google’s Shadow Work Force: Temps Who Outnumber Full-Time Employees by Daisuke Wakabayashi (NYT)
The majority of people who work “at” Google are temporary employees or contractors, making full-time employment status and the benefits that come with it nothing but a dream for most of the people who keep the company running. [Link; soft paywall]
Politics
What Republicans And Democrats Are Doing In The States Where They Have Total Power by Perry Bacon Jr (FiveThirtyEight)
The concept of “revealed preference” is a useful tool from economics; forget what someone says they’ll do, what will they actually do? This article attempts to illustrate revealed preference of both parties by looking at state-level policies put into place over the last couple years when either party has full control. [Link]
Rep. Josh Gottheimer Is A Really, Really Terrible Boss, Former Staffers Say by Ryan Grim (The Intercept)
An amusing set of anecdotes related to a run-of-the-mill meeting with constituents held by a New Jersey Democrat with some extreme sensitivity to his public image. [Link]
Where Democrats And Republicans Live In Your City by Rachael Dottle (FiveThirtyEight)
The great sort has created a geographic fissure between red and blue states, as well as between rural and urban areas. But there are also large splits within cities that create plenty of local polarization within metropolitan areas. [Link]
Higher Education
UIC to offer in-state tuition to students from any of the 573 tribal nations in US (University of Illinois at Chicago)
In a first (as far as we are aware) the University of Illinois at Chicago is offering in-state tuition discounts to students from any of the 573 American Indian and Alaska Native tribal nations scattered around the country. [Link]
The Books of College Libraries Are Turning Into Wallpaper by Dan Cohen (The Atlantic)
While students still expect libraries to be full of books, most of that expectation is driven by aesthetics: the Yale Library has seen a 64% decline in book checkouts over the past decade. [Link]
Public Health
Measles Cases Reach Highest Level in More Than 25 Years, C.D.C. Says by Liam Stack (NYT)
Thanks to misinformation and the following decline in vaccination rates, measles is making a massive comeback; decisions to avoid vaccination has put thousands of children at risk of a disease that widespread vaccination had at one point all but eliminated. [Link; soft paywall]
Conspicuous Consumption
Someone Bought a $400,000 Diamond Ring at Costco by Matthew Boyle (Bloomberg)
In its report on quarterly results this week, Costco management noted a “significant diamond ring purchase, in the $400,000 range”. [Link]
“Salvator Mundi” was pulled from the Louvre’s blockbuster Leonardo da Vinci show. by Nate Freeman (Artsy)
A massive Leonardo da Vinci show is set to open in Paris this October, but curators are excluding a work sold for $450mm at Christies in November of 2017. The furor relates to who actually painted the work, either the master himself or other painters studying under him. [Link]
Trash
Treated like trash: south-east Asia vows to return mountains of rubbish from west by Hannah Ellis-Petersen (The Guardian)
Developed countries have been shipping massive volumes of trash to Southeast Asia, with plastics and discarded technology piling up in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. National governments are starting to get sick of it. [Link]
Don’t Overestimate The ‘Semi’ In Semiautonomous Cars by Alex Davies (Wired)
Semiautonomous driving features can be a problem for consumers because they are inconsistent in terms of features and functionality, creating dangerous gaps between what consumers expect and what cars are designed to do. [Link; soft paywall]
Foreign Relations
The Moment Merkel Realized Trump Changes Everything for Germany by Patrick Donahue (Bloomberg)
A tick-tock detailing the frame of mind for German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she grapples with the failure of the United States in dealing with its long-term allies. That phenomenon will extend beyond the current President’s term as hard-won credibility has been squandered. [Link; auto-playing video, soft paywall]
The Lighter Side
The Kentucky Derby, as Told by the Horses by John Kenney (The New Yorker)
What would horses who run the Kentucky Derby have to say about the race if they were able to tell us what is on their minds? [Link; soft paywall]
Quartz Daily Brief
Good morning, Quartz readers!
WHAT TO WATCH FOR TODAY
Donald Trump drops in on the UK. The US president will meet various British royals and lunch with the Queen as he kicks off a three-day state visit. He sparked controversy beforehand by backing Boris Johnson as the next Conservative Party leader (and thus prime minister).
Huawei moves forward. The Chinese telecoms firm begins defending itself in a trade secrets case in a Texas federal court against CNEX, a microchip company backed by Microsoft and Dell. Meanwhile the company has scaled back its phone production following blacklisting by the US, according to the South China Morning Post.
International lawyers call for the EU’s prosecution over migrant deaths. A detailed legal submission to the International Criminal Court argues that the EU, Italy, Germany, and France should face punishment for a deterrence-based migration policy linked to the deaths of thousands of migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean fleeing Libya
Mexico and US meet for tariff talks. Mexican economy minister Graciela Márquez Colin said on Twitter that she had secured a meeting for today with US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross. Trump yesterday stepped up his threat of a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports starting June 10, saying he was “deadly serious.” The tariffs are set to increase by 5% each month to hit 25% unless Mexico stems the flow of migrants into the US.
Apple gathers developers. The company hosts its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California from today through June 7. Expect changes or updates to iOS, macOS, and built-in apps like Maps, Mail Home, and iMessage.
OVER THE WEEKEND
China and the US implemented tariffs against each other. The US started collecting higher tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods at seaports early Saturday morning. In response China began slapping increased retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of American goods.
FedEx became entangled in the trade war. China announced an investigation into the US delivery company, which it said violated Chinese laws by diverting packages sent to Huawei to the US instead. China recently announced it would create a list of “unreliable” foreign entities, following the US blacklisting Huawei.
The leader of Germany’s Social Democrats quit. The resignation of Andrea Nahles, prompted by the party’s weak performance in the recent EU elections, could destabilize chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition and further undermine her succession plan.
US regulators found new flaws with the Boeing 737 Max. The Federal Aviation Administration revealed that more than 300 planes of the grounded aircraft series and an older model may have improperly manufactured wing parts that need to be quickly replaced. Meanwhile, the global airline industry cut its 2019 profit expectations to the lowest in five years amid rising fuel costs and trade tensions.
China defended its 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Ahead of tomorrow’s 30th anniversary of the crushing of the student protest movement, Chinese defense minister Wei Fenghe made a rare public acknowledgement of the event and said that stopping the “political turbulence” was “correct.” On Saturday, Twitter apologized for suspending accounts critical of the Chinese government, citing “false positives” and “errors.”
North Korea’s former top nuclear envoy reappeared alongside Kim Jong Un. Kim Yong Chol was seen at a musical performance with the country’s leader yesterday, possibly contradicting a report by a South Korean newspaper last week that he had been sent to a re-education camp for his role in the failed Hanoi summit with Trump in February.
QUARTZ OBSESSION
There’s simply not enough shade. Poor urban design practices have left sidewalks and shared spaces unsheltered from the sun. In a rapidly warming world, trees have tremendous cooling power, and access to shade isn’t a nicety, it’s an environmental justice issue. Grab some cover with the Quartz Obsession.
MATTERS OF DEBATE
Join the conversation with the new Quartz app!
A perfect summer is a no-plan summer. Clear your calendar and rejoice in boredom.
We don’t need any more mason jars. They’re terrible for drinking and an overdone aesthetic.
Multiple career goals are better than one. Being realistic about career success can help us avoid “arrival fallacy.”
SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
Conservation efforts have sparked a return of the great white shark.Hundreds of them have been spotted near Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Millennials spend as much proportionally on luxuries as their parents did at their age. They just have far less money to begin with.
Google and Apple are upending Japan’s salary traditions. Global competition for tech talent is forcing Sony to reconsider a seniority-based approach to pay.
The Tamagotchi toy is making a comeback. A new and improved version of the classic egg-shaped plastic pet will be released in North America next month.
A meal with Warren Buffett costs over $4.5 million. That was the winning bid for an annual “power lunch” with the Berkshire Hathaway CEO benefiting charity.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, unwanted mason jars, and affordable lunch partners to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our appand becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Mary Hui and edited by Isabella Steger.
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