Thursday morning news drop
How Democracies Spy on Their Citizens NSO Group is perhaps the most successful, controversial, and influential firm in a generation of Israeli startups that have made the country the center of the spyware industry. The inside story of the world’s most notorious commercial spyware and the big tech companies waging war against it. (New Yorker)
Abortion could light a powder keg in the U.S. Here's what happens in the aftermath First we'd see bans in two-dozen states. Then fights over cross-border movement of people, pills and payments (CBC)
Why Does the Stock Market Go Up Over the Long-Term? The economy grows and corporations earn more money. In 1928, earnings per share for the S&P 500 was $1.11 while corporations paid out $0.78 per share in dividends. By 2021, it was $197.87 and $60.40, respectively. Over the past 94 years, earnings on the U.S. stock market have grown at an annual rate of 6% while dividends have grown 5% per year. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
ESG Investing Is Hard. Doing It via ETFs Is Harder Passive funds with a do-good focus have become one of the hottest corners of finance. (Bloomberg)
Why Netflix Is the Worst Performing Stock in the S&P 500 Shares in Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft have all fallen this year, but Netflix has come in for the harshest punishment. (New York Times)
Everything’s a WeWork Now Years after the coworking giant’s highly publicized decline, its principles have permeated traditional offices and unlikely work spaces alike. (Wired)
The winners and losers of Apple’s anti-tracking feature Apple’s big privacy update came out a year ago. What did it do for you? (Vox)
The surprising resiliency of Russia's economy (and why it won't last) Continued oil and gas exports and a propped-up ruble is allowing Moscow to weather the West's sanctions (CBC)
Pusha T Uncut The poet of coke rap holds forth on his No. 1 album It’s Almost Dry, his Drake beef, and the difference between Kanye and Pharrell. (GQ)