Weekend news drop
Gilded Age or Roaring Twenties? “The Gilded Age in US history spans from roughly the end of the Civil War through the very early 1900s. Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner popularized the term, using it as the title of their novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, which satirized an era when economic progress masked social problems and when the siren of financial speculation lured sensible people into financial foolishness. (Investor Amnesia)
What Happened to Pickup Trucks? Why have pickup trucks morphed into such huge, angry, and dangerous presences? Traffic safety experts, commentators on U.S. automotive culture, and social scientists have suggested a range of forces behind truck bloat. As U.S. drivers buy more full-size and heavy-duty pickups, these vehicles have transformed from no-frills workhorses into angry giants. They are more than just a polarizing consumer choice: Large pickups and SUVs are notably more lethal to other road users, and their conquest of U.S. roads has been accompanied by a spike in fatalities among pedestrians and bicyclists. (CityLab)
10 ways office work will never be the same IKnowledge workers — high-skilled workers whose jobs are done on computers — will likely see the biggest changes, from physical locations to the technology used to the ways in which productivity is measured. How we work impacts everything from our own personal satisfaction to new inventions to the broader economy and society as a whole. From where we work to how our work is measured, office work will be permanently different after the pandemic. (Vox)
Smuggling, price-gouging, dognapping: True tales from inside the great pandemic puppy boom Prices for puppies in the U.S. rose by 36% after the pandemic began, according to PuppySpot, an online listing site for breeders. Goldendoodles were the most popular breed, and for the priciest breed—English Sheepadoodles—prices have soared by ~90%. The puppy demand could also exacerbate already mounting problems: The U.S. government, which buys German shepherd and Labrador puppies for the military on the open market, must compete with civilian puppy demand. (Fortune)
Canadian Property Bubble Nears Systemic Failure, And Not Even A Big Crash Can Fix It Canadian real estate markets have become such a large bubble, even a crash can’t fix prices. That’s what the Globe’s Rob Carrick argued earlier this week. The personal finance expert says it’s now too late for young adults in Toronto and Vancouver. Policy failures made markets so inefficient over the past few years, ownership is now an unrealistic dream for them. As a result, the trend of flight to small towns might be a more permanent shift, even after the pandemic. (Better Dwelling)
Canada calling? Hong Kong residents shift billions abroad after clampdown As China imposed a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong last year after massive protests, residents of the city moved tens of billions of dollars across the globe to Canada, where thousands are hoping to forge a new future. (Reuters)
Why tinkering with the capital gains exemption is the nuclear option for housing market intervention 'You think it's hard to get a home now, imagine if they bring in a new tax on home equity. People will simply stay in their homes longer, maybe to the last parts of their lives' (Financial Post)
Here's how government can cool housing prices without hurting homeowners The three tiers of government should collaborate to address the chronic undersupply of housing (Financial Post)
Wall Street’s Sleepless Nights Junior bankers are burning out. What should banks do about it? (New York Times)