Monday morning news drop
The prosecutors of Derek Chauvin Scott Pelley speaks with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the prosecutorial team that convicted Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. (60 Minutes)
How Robinhood Made Trading Easy—and Maybe Even Too Hard to Resist The app popularized zero-commission brokerage, eventually forcing its major competitors to follow, and introduced millions of millennials and Gen Zers to the market. It’s also attracted critics, including U.S. lawmakers and a state securities regulator, who say Robinhood makes investing very real money feel too much like a game and encourages frequent trading by its novice users. Is the app that brought zero-commission trades and a mobile-first design to millions of investors too good at what it does? (Bloomberg)
The 4 Types of Robinhood Traders It’s important to remember not every Robinhood trader is the same. This new hoard of active investors isn’t all YOLO-ing their entire paychecks or stimulus payments. I see 4 different types of Robinhood traders. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
The Price of Nostalgia: America’s Self-Defeating Economic Retreat What the U.S. economy needs now is greater exposure to pressure from abroad, not protectionist barriers or attempts to rescue specific industries in specific places. Instead of demonizing the changes brought about by international competition, the U.S. government needs to enact domestic policies that credibly enable workers to believe in a future that is not tied to their local employment prospects. The safety net should be broader and apply to people regardless of whether they have a job and no matter where they live. It is the self-deluding withdrawal from the international economy over the last 20 years that has failed American workers, not globalization itself. (Foreign Affairs)
JetBlue’s Founder Is Preparing to Launch a New Airline in a Global Pandemic In the present environment, comfort with upheaval is an asset. It would be wrong to call the airline industry stable, with its rich history of bankruptcies, takeovers, and ruinous price wars—but it’s very hard to break into. David Neeleman has made his career and fortune doing just that. “After deregulation, the failure rate of new airlines has been in the mid-90s or up. Most people have done one new entrant—and failed. A few have maybe tried another one. David has been involved in four successful startups. It’s unmatched.” (Businessweek)
Cities Are Our Best Hope for Surviving Climate Change: Whatever Climate Change Does to the World, Cities Will Be Hit Hardest: Cities currently consume two-thirds of the global energy supply and generate three-quarters of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions. Luckily for human civilization, they’re also extraordinarily motivated to minimize their cost to the climate—and quickly. Because cities are uniquely vulnerable to climate change, they’re also likely to be remade the fastest by the human need to survive and eventually thrive on a warmer planet. Cities are made of cement, glass, and steel. They absorb heat and repel water. That’s a big problem as the world warms and seas rise (CityLab)
Liz Cheney vs. MAGA: The Wyoming congresswoman challenged Republicans to turn away from Trump after Jan. 6. Instead, they turned on her. (New York Times Magazine)
The Men Who Turned Slavery Into Big Business The domestic slave trade was no sideshow in our history, and slave traders were not bit players on the stage. (The Atlantic)
Can America’s Road Builders Break the Highway Habit? The Biden infrastructure plan pledges a rethink of federal transportation priorities. But the government agencies that build and maintain U.S. highways might not all be along for the ride. (Bloomberg)
The Incredible Rise of North Korea’s Hacking Army The country’s cyber forces have raked in billions of dollars for the regime by pulling off schemes ranging from A.T.M. heists to cryptocurrency thefts. Can they be stopped? (New Yorker)
Gretzky reflects on McDavid's quest to defy odds with 100-point season They told Wayne Gretzky it couldn’t be done, too. And then they gave up telling him anything. As we prepare to follow Connor McDavid’s quest for 100 points in a 56-game season — something many believed could not be done — we should be cautious when we say things like, “Well, how’s he going to average over two points per game in his final 11 games?” (Sportsnet)