Monday morning news drop
Staff shortages and COVID patients pushing hospitals to breaking point In much of the country, the number of COVID cases is falling, but people are delusional, do not understand, or have no empathy for the impact on healthcare workers. The Omicron variant may result in less severe illness, but inside many of the country's hospitals, the work is more demanding than ever. That's largely because health care workers have left since the start of the pandemic as hospitals are reporting critical staff shortages. (60 Minutes)
Canada's unmarked graves: How residential schools carried out "cultural genocide" against indigenous children Last year, when archeologists detected what they believed to be 200 unmarked graves at an old school in Canada, it brought new attention to one of the most shameful chapters of that nation's history. Starting in the 1880's and for much of the 20th century, more than 150,000 children from hundreds of indigenous communities across Canada were forcibly taken from their parents by the government and sent to what were called Residential Schools. Funded by the state and run by churches, they were designed to assimilate and Christianize indigenous children by ripping them from their parents, their culture, and their community. The children were often referred to as savages and forbidden from speaking their languages or practicing their traditions. Many were physically and sexually abused, and thousands of children never made it home. (60 Minutes)
Foreign firepower: China is not entirely loving its Olympic hockey team Canadian- and U.S.-born players — several with no obvious Chinese heritage — are filling out the roster (National Post)
A Change by Apple Is Tormenting Internet Companies, Especially Meta Meta’s stock prices plunged after the company reported that Apple’s privacy features would cost it billions this year. It’s not the only tech giant to take a hit. (New York Times)
Facebook and Google’s Ad Addiction Can’t Last Forever Facebook’s first-ever drop in users is an ominous sign for a business that relies almost entirely on ads. Google’s ad revenue is down to 81% of the company’s total — 10 years ago it was up around 97%, like Facebook’s today. (Bloomberg)
Value Investor’s Guide to Web3 Web3 is attracting a flood of investor interest but is rife with hype and speculation. A value investing approach can help. We adapt our “intangible value” lens to crypto and build a value strategy in small-cap tokens. We also create Web3 industry classifications and crypto stock portfolios. (Sparkline Capital)
More Homes Than Ever Are Selling for $50 Million. What’s Inside? In 2020, however, the U.S. luxury housing market, fueled by historically low interest rates and a roaring stock market, rose to unprecedented heights. And then it rose even higher. At least 42 residential properties sold for more than $50 million last year, about a 35% increase from the year before. Four of these properties were in the Hamptons, where the Macklowes, three decades ago, decided to buy their summer home. (Bloomberg)
Workers Are Having Their Moment. How Long Can It Last? Most workers are benefiting from a tight labor market that developed during the nation’s recovery from Covid-19. Those in highest demand are in some cases the ones who started out further behind, with fewer gains before the pandemic. They include the young and the less educated, as well as those who work in lower-wage industries and perform blue-collar tasks. Many are based in the South. Wealthier, older, college-educated professionals in other parts of the country are also making gains. Wages are rising, and just about anyone who wants a job can get one in certain industries. The demand for labor is not expected to abate anytime soon. (Wall Street Journal)
The Rise of the $2.5 Billion Ugly-Shoe Empire: From shearling Uggs to Hoka dad sneakers and rainbow Tevas, Deckers Outdoor Corp. keeps selling us the most hideous uglycore footwear. (Businessweek)
Reasons to Abandon Spotify That Have Nothing to Do with Joe Rogan The Swedish streaming service has fostered a music-distribution model that is singularly hostile to the interests of working musicians. It pays out, on average, an estimated four-tenths of a cent per stream, meaning that a thousand streams nets around four dollars. That arrangement has reaped huge profits for major labels and for superstars while decimating smaller-scale musical incomes—as perfect an embodiment of the winner-takes-all neoliberal economy as has yet been devised. (NewYorker)
The Big Plans That Built New York City: The ideas promoted by the tri-state Regional Plan Association, which turns 100 this year, read like an anthology of what U.S. urban planning got right — and wrong (Bloomberg)
American democracy is under threat. But what is that threat, exactly? Is it election theft, minority rule, voter suppression, or all of the above? (Vox)
The Battle for the World’s Most Powerful Cyberweapon A Times investigation reveals how Israel reaped diplomatic gains around the world from NSO’s Pegasus spyware — a tool America itself purchased but is now trying to ban. (New York Times)
Polar bears move into abandoned Arctic weather station – photo essay Photographer Dmitry Kokh discovered polar bears living in an abandoned weather station in Kolyuchin, in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation, while on a trip to Wrangel Island, a Unesco-recognised nature reserve that serves as a refuge to the animals. (The Guardian)