Lumber Prices Are Down and Housing Platforms Are Up

Tuesday morning news drop

• Profits just about double at BMO and Scotia as big banks post quarterly earnings Banks setting aside far less money to cover bad loans than earlier in pandemic (CBC)

• Unprecedented collapse' in lumber prices forces one Canadian sawmill to curb production Lumber companies may have added too much production, too quickly, with lumber sinking 70 per cent since May (Financial Post)

• Carson Jerema: Why the best housing-affordability plan for Canada is no plan at all Vacant-property taxes and bans on foreign buyers don't address why the market is overheated (National Post)

• Ten things to know about the federal Conservatives’ housing platform With a federal election taking place in Canada on September 20, the Conservative Party of Canada has released its platform, which includes several housing-related measures; they include a pledge to create one million new homes in the first three years of a Conservative government. (Nick Falvo)

• Trudeau promises new incentives worth billions and a tax on 'flipping' to help Canadians buy a home Liberal Party releases aggressive housing plan amid a COVID-fuelled boom (CBC)

• Ten things to know about the federal NDP’s housing platform With a federal election taking place in Canada on September 20, the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada has released its platform, which includes important housing-related measures. (Nick Falvo)

• I served in Afghanistan as a US Marine, twice. Here’s the truth in two sentences: 1: For 20 years, politicians, elites + DC military leaders lied to us about Afghanistan. 2: What happened last week was inevitable + anyone saying differently is still lying to you.” (Yahoo News)

• If You Bought Municipal Bonds a Long Time Ago, This Is a Great Time Prices surge, hurting yields for new investors, as Biden comments ignite tax-increase fears and local governments weather Covid-19 (Wall Street Journal)

• The First Step Toward Protecting Everyone Else From Teslas Why the government’s clever investigation into “Autopilot” might actually work (Slate)

• Who Has the Cure for America’s Declining Birthrate? Canada. Over the last century, two moments that transformed America and positioned it as the global economic leader were the post-World War II economic boom and the I.T. revolution of the 1990s. In both cases, America tore down many forms of discrimination and other barriers to harness the talents of marginalized groups in the country and to welcome new ones, injecting demographic vitality into the economy. To continue America’s upward trajectory in the 21st century, the country must reverse its current demographic decline. (New York Times)

• The Delta Variant Is Sending More Children to the Hospital. Are They Sicker, Too? It is not yet clear whether the Delta variant causes more severe disease in children, but its high level of infectiousness is causing a surge of pediatric Covid-19 cases. (New York Times)

Hot Economy, Fixed Income, Crypto, Tether, and a Canadian Covid Hero

Monday morning news drop

• Biden and the Fed Wanted a Hot Economy. There’s Risk of Getting Burned. So far, in a real-world test of a new approach to economic policy, prices have been rising faster than wages. (Upshot)

• Here’s More Evidence That Factor Investing Works in Fixed Income With investors concerned about future inflation as well as persistently low yields, Northern Trust researchers find that systematic factors may provide some new portfolio opportunities. (Institutional Investor)

• Vanguard Total Bond Market: A Success Story For more than 30 years, the fund has delivered on all counts. (Morningstar)

• New Regulation Could Cause a Split in the Crypto Community The infrastructure bill is a watershed moment in the history of cryptocurrency. The technology—at its core a crypto-anarchist, anti-bank, borderline anti-government manifesto disguised as code—has finally acquired that great marker of prestige: a lobby. The fact that some senators were ready to fight in crypto’s corner appears to show that the cryptocurrency industry is more than a gaggle of Twitter accounts and some blue-sky venture capitalists. (Wired)

• From Doge Soldiers to Bitcoinists: A Field Guide to the Crypto Faithful For Ethereans, maxis, yield farmers, and no-coiners, digital assets aren’t just an investment but a way of life. (Businessweek)

• The Tether controversy, explained: How stable are stablecoins? What if a digital currency wipeout could injure — or even destroy — the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem? Lately, there’s been a focus on stablecoins, the quiet power players of the cryptocurrency space. (The Verge)

• Covid’s Forgotten Hero: The Untold Story Of The Scientist Whose Breakthrough Made The Vaccines Possible The scientist most responsible for this critical delivery method is a little-known 57-year-old Canadian biochemist named Ian MacLachlan. As chief scientific officer of two small companies, Protiva Biotherapeutics and Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, MacLachlan led the team that developed this crucial technology. Today, though, few people—and none of the big pharmaceutical companies—openly acknowledge his ground breaking work, and MacLachlan earns nothing from the technology he pioneered. (Forbes)

• COVID Patients Fighting for Their Lives Are Still Refusing the Vaccine Arkansas has one of the lowest COVID vaccination rates in the country. VICE News embedded at a hospital in Little Rock where patients facing the threat of death still won’t get the shot. (Vice)

• All-Inclusive Magic Mushroom Retreats Are the New Luxury ‘Trips’ Resorts are starting to wake up to the appeal of mind expansion. (Bloomberg)

• The Real Source of America’s Rising Rage We are at war with ourselves, but not for the reasons you think. The politics of the radical right is the politics of frustration—the sour impotence of those who find themselves unable to understand, let alone command, the complex mass society that is the polity today…Insofar as there is no real left to counterpoise to the right, the liberal has become the psychological target of that frustration. (Mother Jones)

• The Real C.E.O. of “Succession” How the writer Jesse Armstrong keeps the billionaire Roy family trapped in its gilded cage. (New Yorker)

• Behind the Purple Curtain with Mysterious Dance Music Legend Moodymann The Detroit native grants a rare interview reflecting on his legacy, his fascination with Prince, and his appearance as a main character in Grand Theft Auto. (GQ)

• Chris and Rich Robinson swore never to speak again. But for the Black Crowes, rock heals all wounds The reunion, which has also spun off a deluxe reissue of “Money Maker,” marks Robinson’s reconciliation with his younger brother, guitarist Rich Robinson, with whom Chris formed the band near Atlanta in the mid-1980s — and with whom he fought explosively over money and creative control even as the Crowes went on to sell millions of records and blanket MTV with soulful, hard-hitting Southern rock songs. (Los Angeles Times)

Videos of the Week, Bitcoin, and Pop Culture Reboots

Friday morning news drop and videos of the week

• Bad News Selling the story of disinformation (Harpers)

• When the Ducks are Quacking Feed’Em Stock issuance highest ever, as firms and Wall Street know when it’s time to sell to eager buyers (GMO)

• Why Bitcoin is Doomed What makes a distributed network secure against attack is the costly redundancy built into the system (whether that redundancy is competing miners in a Proof of Work system or competing validators in a Proof of Stake system). (The Attic)

• How Did Postmedia and CBC Fall for This Bit of Bitcoin Hype? Headlines touted a crypto boom for Alberta. A quick bit of research would have killed the dubious story. (Tyee)

• Waymo Is 99% of the Way to Self-Driving Cars. The Last 1% Is the Hardest The world’s most famous autonomous car shop has lost its CEO and is still getting stymied by traffic cones. What’s taking so long? (Businessweek)

• The IRS has a big opportunity to fix the way Americans file taxes You shouldn’t need TurboTax to file your taxes. The IRS can and should make its own service. (Vox)

• Living and dying with covid How the world is grappling with yet another major coronavirus surge (Washington Post)

• Dissecting the Unusual Biology of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant An ability to build up higher concentrations of viral particles in people’s airways and mutations that might boost its ability to infect human cells could be what gives the Delta variant its evolutionary edge. (The Scientist)

• I’m Sick of Reboots and Rewatches and You Should Be Too We've all spent the pandemic in a pop culture feedback loop. For the love of God, make it stop (Walrus)

• The 21 Most Exciting Young Musicians on Planet Earth In search of music’s voices of the future, each of GQ’s 21 global editions nominated a local artist across a world of genres—from J-pop to flamenco, rap to reggaeton—to show us who’s shaping the zeitgeist and defining the sounds of tomorrow. (GQ)

Videos of the Week

Why Olympians Are So Broke | Big Business Across the US, Olympic athletes are working part-time jobs, driving for DoorDash and Uber, and crowdsourcing funds. We break down how USA Olympians make money, and why the system left many of America’s top athletes broke.

SUNDAY X DIG 'NO SERVICE'

RATTY MATY - NO BAD THOUGHTS Just nuts

Anthony Panza Extreme Citi-Biking In NYC!

Felipe Nunes' "Limitless" Part One of the gnarliest to do it, Felipe charges rails and hills head-on and even hits vert with the Birdman. This part smashes through every barrier. Unreal.

Guy Mariano Life On Video | Full Story Guy Mariano started skating over 30 years ago in Burbank, California, in the 1980s, and he’s managed to push the boundaries of street skating more than just about anyone. He revolutionized what was considered possible on a little piece of wood with 4 wheels and no nose—before most of you were even born—and he’s responsible for arguably the most innovative and progressive video parts ever filmed. (In 2018, Mariano was inducted in The Skateboarding Hall Of Fame.) Take a deep dive into Guy Mariano's history with our 'Life On Video' doc series, which ends with one of his heaviest parts to date.

Torren Martyn - LOST TRACK ATLANTIC - Episode 3 - Full Film Lost Track Atlantic is a four-part series that takes you on the journey of a lifetime, from the far North Atlantic to the tropical, equatorial coast of West Africa.

AUDI NINES 2020 'Mixtape' - Peter Kaiser This event and its vibe is something not comparable to any of the others. As Audi Nines is always a season highlight for myself I wanted to showcase what I was able to put down last year as well as carry the events vibe throughout the video, enjoy.

COMMENCAL Canada - Welcome Max Langille Navigating your way into a new career isn’t easy. It takes a lot of time, effort, focus, and a little bit of help to reach what you’ve set out to achieve. If you know Max Langille, you know he’s no slacker and it’s hard to shake his focus once he’s set his mind on something. For now, he’s balancing the seasonal working winters to action packed summers on his ABSOLUT, CLASH, and FURIOUS. Max is excited to see what the future holds and we’re excited to see him grow into his own. WELCOME to COMMENCAL Bicycles, Max…Officially.

Steve Vanderhoek had the Gnarliest's Crash while filming this... I had never seen Steve crash before... I was very scared for him.

BACK IN WHISTLER BIKE PARK!! 2021 My first time in Whistler since 2019 and it feels good to be back! I only had a few hours but made the most of it and smashed out some of my favourite trails!!

PNW Components Presents Drop Into Summer - RAW with Cody Kelley There’s no better way to spend your summer than getting drifty on some dusty trails. Cody Kelley and Justin Olsen (film/photo) journeyed into the Utah foothills to capture the RAW vibes that only solo sessions on loose singletrack can provide. Enjoy 96 seconds of the purest nature and MTB sounds and start planning your next summer riding adventure before the season turns.

Skateistan - To Live And Skate Kabul: Skateistan: To Live And Skate Kabul is a beautifully shot film that follows the lives of a group of young skateboarders in Afghanistan. Operating against the backdrop of war and bleak prospects, the Skateistan charity project is the world’s first co-educational skateboarding school, where a team of international volunteers work with girls and boys between the ages of 5 and 17, an age group largely untouched by other aid programmes.

Food Prices are Going Up, Stolen Bikes, and Coral Reefs

Thursday morning news drop

• Soaring Cost of Food Is Forcing Families to Scrimp at the Dinner Table Inflation is slamming the freezer shut and leading households around the world to make sacrifices. (Businessweek)

• The Best Advantage in Life All else equal, rich parents are the best advantage you can have if you want a career in investment management. In fact, having rich parents is probably one of the best advantages you can have in life and I have the data to prove it. (Of Dollars And Data)

• 40 Things I Don’t Know by Age 40 I’ve seen lots of people share the wisdom they’ve gained over the years on their milestone birthdays. I still have plenty of stuff to learn so here are 40 things I don’t know at age 40: (A Wealth of Common Sense)

• Behind the Fight to Save the Gulf’s Spectacular Coral Reefs About 100 miles from Galveston, Flower Garden Banks is home to some of the healthiest coral communities in the world. Some unlikely allies came together to help expand protections, but will it be enough? (Texas Monthly)

• A bike stolen in Manitoba resurfaced in B.C. It's more common than you think Bicycles can be moved between cities within hours of being stolen, says Canada's only bike detective (CBC)

• California’s yoga, wellness and spirituality community has a QAnon problem It seemed like the end of a typical reiki attunement: A group of women wearing yoga pants and flowing floral skirts, gathered in a healer’s home after a course in the alternative therapy of balancing chakras, clearing auras and transferring energy. But it was the early days of the pandemic and COVID-19 was spreading fast. The women in the room stood so close that their bodies touched. No one wore masks. (LA Times)

• “I Got a Second Chance”: From Puff Daddy to Diddy to Love Sean Combs was the original influencer. Now the artist and mogul is defining his next era—and launching a record label. (Vanity Fair)

• The beautiful world of heavy metal: Why does a genre obsessed with death attract the kindest people? (UnHerd)

• All the Best Cars as the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Returns The glamorous classic car show was back in full force—with the cars to match. (Bloomberg)

Inflation in Canada, Afghanistan, and the Return of CM Punk

Wednesday morning news drop

• Inflation rate spikes to highest level in a decade, at 3.7% in July sharply higher prices for furniture, shelter were major factors in increase. (CBC)

• American CEOs make 351 times more than workers. In 1965 it was 15 to one Rather than address stagnant wages for hourly workers and yawning inequality, corporations are blaming a ‘labor shortage’ (The Guardian)

• The Pret Index: Wall Street Latte Sales Approaching Bear Market Sales of cappuccinos and tuna baguettes are close to entering a bear market in downtown Manhattan, in London’s business district and in Paris. The setback comes as major financial services firms push back return-to-office plans, with the delta variant having driven the average number of new Covid-19 cases in New York City up to almost 2,000 a day—a level not seen since April. (Bloomberg)

• Why Afghan Forces So Quickly Laid Down Their Arms Opposing Afghan factions have long negotiated arrangements to stop fighting — something the U.S. either failed to understand or chose to ignore. (Politico)

• Billions spent on Afghan army ultimately benefited Taliban Built and trained at a two-decade cost of $83 billion, Afghan security forces collapsed so quickly and completely — in some cases without a shot fired — that the ultimate beneficiary of the American investment turned out to be the Taliban. They grabbed not only political power but also U.S.-supplied firepower — guns, ammunition, helicopters and more. (AP)

• This Is What Taliban Control Looks Like in 2021 For all the recriminations and finger-pointing about how the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan so rapidly, there is a hard truth that needs to be reckoned with: The Taliban have spent years preparing for the eventual U.S. withdrawal. (New York Times)

• Canada’s forests haven’t absorbed more carbon than they’ve released since 2001 Up until the last two decades, our forests had the power to sequester in excess of a hundred megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year (Narwhal)

• An Audacious Case for an Ancient Building Style: The Courtyard The idea of arranging housing around enclosed central spaces could find fresh applications in crowded urban areas like Manhattan, designers say. (CityLab)

• This CM Punk thing is really happening, isn’t it? AEW does everything short of officially declaring his return return of CM Punk and Bryan Danielson. There are a couple hard and fast rules in wrestling: 1. Everyone comes back. 2. Nothing is real until it happens. (Deadspin)

• CM Punk’s ‘Pipe Bomb’ 10 Years Later: A Look Back At The 2011 Game-Changing Promo. CM Punk’s Pipe Bomb promo, as it became known in the past decade, quickly turned one of wrestling’s slowest periods into must-watch television, leading to one of the most consequential moments not only in WWE’s storied history, but professional wrestling as a whole. (Cinema Blend)

The Pipe Bomb promo was controversial; WWE cut his mic, it hit a raw nerve, got people talking, and got some wrestling fans excited as a bunch of children in a Mcdonald’s play place. From the UFC to entertainment industry, controversy often creates cash.

Climate Change and the Housing Market, and Walmart vs Amazon

Tuesday morning news drop

Lower interest rates encourage people to take more risks, in general. There is little question about this. By taking short-term interest rates to zero, the Bank of Canada and Federal Reserve have “forced” most investors to find better ways to allocate cash. Take a look at most “high-yield” savings accounts. At a yield of 2% it is enough for people to still keep a material cash position. At 0.5%, people will often look for other options. Riskier options. Lower interest rates are definitely pushing up the value of stocks. Although people were doing crazy things with their money in the 90’s when the 10-year was around 6%. While their is truth to this statement, people have different goals, risk tolerances, and time frames that are not impacted by macroeconomic forces.

• One Number to Gauge Where the Economy Is Headed The yield on the 10-year Treasury note is often a reliable indicator of how Wall Street views the prospects of economic growth — especially when other data points send confusing signals. (New York Times)

• People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart Proof that the online future has arrived: The biggest e-commerce company outside China has unseated the biggest brick-and-mortar seller. (New York Times)

• A Massive Landslide Sends a Wake-Up to BC’s Mining Sector Melting glaciers in the ‘Golden Triangle’ expose new deposits. And pose huge risks. (Tyee)

• Congress’s Financial Conflicts Go Beyond Rand Paul’s Wife A simple fix: Politicians, their staffers and their spouses shouldn’t trade stocks. (Bloomberg)

• Delta Is Bad News for Kids More children are falling ill because more are being infected. More children are falling ill because more are being infected. (The Atlantic)

• Taliban seize power amid chaos in Afghanistan All U.S. Embassy staff in Kabul, including the mission’s top diplomat, were being evacuated. (Politico)

• The Runaway General: The Profile That Brought Down McChrystal The Rolling Stone profile of Stanley McChrystal that changed history (Rolling Stone)

• ‘South Park’ Co-Creator Matt Stone on his $900 Million Deal Moments after Stone signed his new deal with ViacomCBS, we spoke for about an hour about his plans for “South Park,” his disdain for “Space Jam 2” and what it means to have his biggest payday yet. (Bloomberg)

• Will climate change lead to an island population explosion? This year’s fire season has been particularly destructive and may be on pace for another record as well as destroying the entire town of Lytton and many other homes around the interior. The increase in fire severity is not solely due to climate change of course, with our misguided forest management also sharing the blame. The combination of causes aside, it’s not a situation that will likely change for the foreseeable future. For those lucky enough to not be near those fires, the secondary effect has been the smoke. Endless choking smoke. (House Hunt Victoria)

Climate Change and Canadian Real Estate Markets

Monday morning news drop

• Climate risk scores could reshape Canadian real estate markets, some experts say 'We run the risk of people being trapped,' U.S. professor says (CBC)

• Canada's biggest public pensions heavily investing in fossil fuels, new report suggests Pension funds say oil and gas investments can be leveraged in transition to cleaner energy (CBC)

• It’s hard to be a moral person. Technology is making it harder. Digital distractions such as social media and smartphones wreak havoc on our attention spans. Could they also be making us less ethical? (Vox)

• Still Unsure About Getting The COVID-19 Vaccine? Start Here. We’ve collected some of the most common concerns with vaccination mentioned by people who are vaccine hesitant, and we’ve provided evidence-based responses to each one. If you or someone you know share any of these concerns, click through to see what information is out there to help you make this important decision. (FiveThirtyEight)

• The Lucrative Business of Stoking Vaccine Skepticism How misinformation peddlers are using crowdfunding sites to bankroll their work. (Slate)

• Unvaccinated America, In 5 Charts So who, exactly, are we talking about? Three in 10 American adults remain unvaccinated, according to the latest survey from the KFF. But they’re not a monolith — their reasons, backgrounds, politics and willingness to eventually get vaccinated all vary. (Fivethirtyeight)

• What Are Stores Even Thinking With All These Emails? It feels like every company and organization I’ve ever transacted with sends me email every week. Some every day, even. Some multiple times a day. My mortgage broker emails on my birthday and holidays. So does my dentist. Certain retailers email much more often. (The Atlantic)

• Why A Secretive Chinese Billionaire Bought 140,000 Acres Of Land In Texas Sun’s decision to invest in Texas also highlights the difficult situation facing China’s moguls. Over the past few years, the Chinese Communist Party appears to have grown more antagonistic toward private enterprise and wealthy business people. In recent months Chinese authorities reined in globetrotting billionaire Jack Ma, moved to restrict overseas listings and ordered educational companies to become non-profits. Tycoons like Sun, who thrived under Chinese state-backed capitalism, may be feeling pressure to move capital abroad as they grapple with the shift in political winds. (Forbes)

• How the explosive growth in satellites could impact life on Earth Satellites are set to grow by 1,000%+ in the next decade. They might help us predict pandemics and save the planet. (The Hustle)

• Why China’s crypto cowboys are fleeing to Texas Tracking the Bitcoin bros seeking cheap power, lax regulation, and Austin’s best brisket. (Rest of World)

Videos of the Week, Inflation, and a Terrible Time for Savers

Friday morning news drop and videos of the week

• MacKenzie Scott’s Money Bombs Are Single Handedly Reshaping America With almost $8.6 billion in gifts announced in just 12 months, Scott has vaulted to the tippy top of philanthropic giving, outspending the behemoth Gates and Ford Foundations’ annual grants — combined. But, for someone who is single handedly reshaping nonprofits, Scott, who declined to comment for this story, has only given the public glimpses into the thinking driving her decisions. (Bloomberg)

• U.S. Inflation Is Normalizing: The temporary inflation spike associated with reopening is already beginning to fade as prices that were depressed during the pandemic continue to normalize and as consumer demand for motor vehicles continues to moderate.. (The Overshoot)

• This Is a Terrible Time for Savers In an upside-down world of financial markets, expected returns after inflation are at record lows. (New York Times)

• Smart Cities, Bad Metaphors, and a Better Urban Future Shannon Mattern’s new book, A City Is Not a Computer, digs into the data, dashboards, and language that keep people from building better, safer communities. (Wired)

• The devastating wildfires of 2021 are breaking records and satellites are tracking it all

  Wildfires in Siberia have broken a record for annual fire-related emissions of carbon dioxide. (Space)

Videos of the Week

Chapter 11 tv 011

Back to Oz 2021 John John FlorenceFun on the road. Follow the moments between the @World Surf League events in Newcastle, Narabeen and Margaret River.

XXL Waves At Teahupoo With Nathan Florence, Jack Robinson, And More The world's best big wave surfers including Nathan Florence, Lucas Chumbo, and more pull into massive bombs at Teahupoo in Tahiti.

GRIFFIN PAULSON | FREAK MODE | RADIO BIKES x TITLE MTB It takes dedication to push the bar. Constantly living on the edge that is falling to the dirt or successfully riding out. Griffin has put in the work; devoting his life to the sport and it’s gone to show.

QUEEN CITY CINEMA - CINEMA BMX We sent the squad on down to Queen City, Cincinnati, Ohio, for a week of nothing but good times and bangs in the streets. Watch Nathan Williams, Corey Martinez, Dakota Roche, and Garrett Reynolds put their personal touch on plenty of classic rustbelt gems.

YELLOW | Odyssey BMX Nothing but YELLOW spots w/ the crew and a bunch of the homies. Riders - Justin Spriet, Travis Hughes, Hilario Olivos, Broc Raiford, Zach Krejmas, Gary Young, Jarren Barboza, Tom Dugan, Aaron Ross, Stone Kepler, Chase Krolicki, Scott Marceau, Preston Okert, Barney, Shmalec, Speedy G, Poor Homie Rich, Boyd Hilder, Jacob Cable, Denim Cox, Corey Walsh, Matt Nordstrom, and Murray Loubser.

Kyle Walker's "RUBY" Vans Part Kyle kills a trove of fresh and iconic spots with his classic repertoire before grinding rails too big to measure. SOTYs are made of somethin’ else...

David Reyes' "Thank You" Part David joins Daewon and Torey at Thank You with a part full of hefty rails, ditch dives, darkslides and a HEAVY NBD at Clipper to close the curtains.

Hermann Stene's "Real" Part Cuttin’ down Cardiel Hubba, piecing together tasteful lines and handling an absurd ramp to rail, Hermann’s versatility is a treat to watch. Don’t miss this.

Stoke the Fire - Official Trailer TGR’s Stoke the Fire explores our athletes’ evolution within skiing and the pure joy that manifests from that process. The stoke means different things to different people based on where they are in their evolution.

China Crackdown, Predicting Earthquakes, and the Price of Coffee

Thursday morning news drop

• There’s a big shift hitting the housing market The rush of buyers into the housing market during the pandemic absolutely crushed housing inventory—the number of homes on the market—with that figure falling for 12 consecutive months. By April, housing inventory was down a staggering 53% from a year earlier. However, the trajectory has flipped: For two straight months the number of homes for sale has gone up. Homes listing on realtor.com rose 3% in May, then again by 9% in June. Now, new home sales are falling—their pace in June was the slowest since the onset of the pandemic. Every indication is that the market is shifting a bit in buyers’ favor. Why the sudden cooling? Home shoppers are finally showing some reluctance to pay top dollar. (Fortune)

• Will the Pandemic Productivity Boom Last? Fewer workers are making more stuff. If it lasts, that’s big news for the economy of the 2020s. (Upshot)

• Want to Improve Your Career? Become an Uncertainty Killer Reduce uncertainty for others as much as you can. Become an uncertainty killer. That’s it. I guarantee that if you can make other peoples’ lives more certain, they will sing your praises. You will build trust at every turn and create allies wherever you go. People may even publicly call you “a machine” and impart positive attributes to you that you may not actually have. (Of Dollars And Data)

• Inside The Coronavirus Haul Of A Wall Street Whiz Kid “Crisis Investing: How To Maximize Return During Market Panics,” which showed that the best time to deploy money into the market was when high yield spreads were above 600 basis points, a gauge of extreme fear. Rasmussen’s new fund called the Verdad Opportunity Fund, which would draw investors’ capital when junk bond spreads blew out to such levels, and invest in small, undervalued companies. (Forbes)

• Why Xi Jinping Waited Years to Launch His Crackdown on Tycoons: As China investors search for clues about which industries might be next in President Xi Jinping’s crackdown, they’re also pondering another question: Why now? U.S. tensions, Xi’s bid for third term help explain timing ‘The crackdown is just the beginning — it’s the prelude’ (Bloomberg)

• Is Taiwan Next? In Taipei, young people like Nancy Tao Chen Ying watched as the Hong Kong protests were brutally extinguished. Now they wonder what’s in their future. (New York Times)

• There’s an Earthquake Coming! The newest warning systems give users ten seconds’ notice. What can be done in that time? (New Yorker)

• How Your Cup of Coffee Is Clearing the Jungle It seemed like an easy crime to stop: protected Indonesian rainforest, cut for coffee farms. But a globalized economy can undermine even the best-laid plans. (New York Times)

Housing Bubble and Mortgage Rates, a Balanced Portfolio, and Brooksy

Wednesday morning news drop

• Ask an Expert: Is the Housing Bubble Going to Burst? Mortgage rates are low and housing prices keep rising. Is an end in sight? (Walrus)

• Diversifying Your Portfolio Isn’t Zesty, But It Works Forget about multiplying money 10 times in a short period and stick with the steady gains. (Bloomberg)

• Is an Equal-Weighted Stock Index Better Than a Tech-Heavy One? Nope, says Northern Trust’s asset management unit. But they both have big drawbacks. (Chief Investment Officer)

• Hackers Steal $600 Million in Likely Largest DeFi Crypto Theft; Hackers perpetrated what is likely the biggest theft ever in the world of decentralized finance, stealing about $600 million in cryptocurrency from a protocol known as PolyNetwork that lets users swap tokens across multiple blockchains. Security researchers are trying to track down the attackers as they have begun moving the funds to decentralized exchanges. (Bloomberg)

• To Save Ourselves, We’ll Need This Very Different Economy What would ‘getting serious’ about the survival of civilization look like? (Tyee)

• Plant-Based Fish Is Rattling the Multibillion-Dollar Seafood Industry Beyond and Impossible showed the potential for plant-based proteins. Now tomatoes are coming for tuna (Businessweek)

• How ‘The Pet Revolution’ Unleashed A New Top Dog In America Dogs have come a long way since the days when they were put to work on farms and fed scraps. They’ve even come a long way since just a few decades ago when they spent their nights in the doghouse. Dogs now sleep inside on orthopedic beds. They get top-notch healthcare and visits to psychiatrists who prescribe them antidepressants. They see acupuncturists and psychics. They get massages and spa days. They wear sweaters. (NPR)

• 'No doubt' Canada now in 4th wave of COVID-19 as cases spike across much of the country Vaccines, restrictions may ward off worst outcomes as delta spreads — but pressure on hospitals still possible (CBC)

• Why Can’t Anti-Vax Athletes Just Tell the Truth? Dissecting the many bogus reasons sports stars are sabotaging the fight against COVID-19 (Inside Hook)

• The Bryson dilemma: DeChambeau caught in no-win situation with fan abuse The tournament slipping away, the frustration mounting, Bryson DeChambeau prepared to take out all his aggression on his tee ball. His group was on the clock. He’d made a momentum-killing bogey on the 15th hole. And a CBS cameraman had just walked up to apologize for keeping his camera fixed on him a beat too long, prompting DeChambeau to give a sarcastic wave. A single voice – a female fan – broke the dramatic tension. “Let’s go, Brooksy!” (Golf Channel)