Thursday morning news drop
If This Is a Recession, We Might Not Know for Months As the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates in its fight against the highest inflation in more than four decades, economic indicators flash signs of a slowdown and questions abound over what is a recession and whether the U.S. has entered one. (Wall Street Journal)
Things Are Clear as Mud This is the weirdest market and economic environment of my career. Michelangelo wouldn’t be able to paint a clear picture of it all. You should always be wary of people with strong opinions about the future, but maybe never more so than right now.
Job Switchers Are Earning a Lot More Than Those Who Stay Even if you’re happy at your job, getting a new job for more pay is a good strategy as inflation eats into paychecks. (Wall Street Journal)
Why Stocks Took a July Vacay From Fundamentals: A discouraging economy took a backseat to technical and relative valuations. Inflation will have a lot to say about how long that lasts. (Bloomberg)
Retail’s ‘Dark Side’: As Inventory Piles Up, Liquidation Warehouses Are Busy: Consumers are buying fewer discretionary goods and returning more. To clear their shelves, retailers are selling to liquidators at steep discounts. (New York Times)
Yes, Social Media Really Is Undermining Democracy: Despite what Meta has to say. (The Atlantic)
States With Abortion Bans Are Among Least Supportive for Mothers and Children They tend to have the weakest social services and the worst results in several categories of health and well-being. (New York Times)
The Supreme Court Is Making America Ungovernable: The West Virginia v. EPA ruling signals a future in which no one in power has the ability to tackle the biggest issues society faces (The Atlantic)
‘US democracy will not survive for long’: how January 6 hearings plot a roadmap to autocracy Trump’s efforts to subvert the elections laid bare the system’s weaknesses, exposing it to greater exploitation (The Guardian)
Made-in-Vietnam Electric Vehicles Are Heading to the U.S. Market VinFast is the latest startup to test American EV demand—and with a novel pricing strategy (Wall Street Journal)
Inside Ferrari’s Plan to Enter the Electric-Car Market The luxury sports-car company aims to start selling a fully electric vehicle in 2025. Can it do that and still be Ferrari? (Wall Street Journal)
Welcome to Chicago, Hot Dog Town, U.S.A. Just don’t even think about asking for ketchup. The Chicago dog has a special place in the city’s heart: a humble, affordable food that anyone can enjoy, across cultures, creeds and proclivities. With French fries, it’s lunch; on its own, a snack. A source of civic pride, the Chicago-style hot dog is a nexus for many people’s. (New York Times)
Beavers are heat wave heroes Animals don’t have AC. But they have beavers. (Vox)
The myth of Marilyn Monroe: how her ‘sex bomb’ image buries the truth Six decades on, the spectacle of Marilyn Monroe’s tumultuous life and death still holds us in its grip. With a major new biopic on the way, her biographer sorts fact from fiction. (The Guardian)