Tuesday morning news drop
The Economy Looks Solid. But These Are the Big Risks Ahead. One concern is that political leaders will mismanage things in the world’s largest and second-largest economies. (Upshot)
Wall Street Scans the Lots as Used Cars Prod Inflation The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, an obscure tracker of wholesale used-car prices, has become closely watched by the finance world’s high rollers. (New York Times)
The Cost of Insuring Expensive Waterfront Homes Is About to Skyrocket New federal flood insurance rates that better reflect the real risks of climate change are coming. For some, premiums will rise sharply. (New York Times)
Cities Are Flouting Flood Rules. The Cost: $1 Billion. If you want publicly subsidized flood insurance, you can’t build a home that’s likely to flood. But local governments around the country, which are responsible for enforcing the rule, have flouted the requirements, accounting for as many as a quarter-million insurance policies in violation (New York Times)
Why China Finally Decided to Ban Bitcoin The move to rein-in cryptocurrency has to do with its desire to exert more control over economic activity in the country. Bitcoin and its brethren were designed as a tool for facilitating transactions without institutional authorities like banks or governments, so allowing them to flourish in any country takes some power away from state actors. (Slate)
An Electrifying Future for Hypercars? After more than 50 years of V8- and V12-powered super- and hypercars that evolved incrementally, change is in the air. Increasingly, the best-performing European, Japanese, and American vehicles are battery powered (Penta)
The Rise of the Pandemic Dashboard Governments around the world have created online tools for the public to view the latest data on Covid-19, but some platforms are better than others. (CityLab)
The NBA’s Anti-Vaxxers Are Trying to Push Around the League — And It’s Working Conspiracy theories in the locker room. Mask police in the arena. Superstars trying to avoid the shot. After bringing back the culture from Covid, basketball confronts its own civil war. (Rolling Stone)
It’s No Time to Die: but is it time to revoke James Bond’s licence to kill? In the 1960s, 007 was a glamorous antidote to postwar austerity, but now he’s more laughable than heroic. Can the Bond brand survive, post-Brexit? (The Guardian)
Justin Tucker’s Record-Breaking Field Goal Was a Thing of Destiny The Ravens kicker booted a 66-yard, walk-off field goal to further cement himself as the greatest kicker in NFL history (The Ringer)
How many empty homes are there in Victoria The 2016 census states that there were 8330 empty homes in Greater Victoria, representing 4.8% of the total in the region. Given we only had 845 active residential listings at the end of August, at first glance it would be reasonable to conclude that we don’t have a supply problem, we have an empty homes problem. (House Hunt Victoria)
