Amazon sellers are marking products as "collectible" to get around price gouging rules

Thousand-dollar "collectible" dumbbells and hot tubs.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/21273383/amazon-price-gouging-collectible-loophole-dumbbells-hot-tub?source=Snapzu

An ‘Avalanche of Evictions’ Could Be Bearing Down on America’s Renters

The economic downturn is shaping up to be particularly devastating for renters, who are more likely to be lower-income and work hourly jobs cut during the pandemic.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/us/coronavirus-evictions-renters.html?source=Snapzu

Millions Of U.S. Jobs Are Never Coming Back From The Covid-19 Recession

It’s a nice, rosy notion, but one that would strike anyone most workers as wishful—maybe the job losses incurred because of the coronavirus shutdown were largely temporary, and will come roaring back as soon as the economy ‘reopens.’ The reality is a lot more harsh. As weekly jobless claims skyrocket past 30 million in just a matter of weeks, a new study from the Becker-Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago offers a sobering assessment of the extent of permanent damage to the job market.
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/pedrodacosta/2020/05/27/millions-of-us-jobs-are-not-coming-back/#7bd133c75b0c?source=Snapzu

The Case for Letting the Restaurant Industry Die

Tunde Wey, the New Orleans-based activist-artist and cook, describes his radical vision of a more equitable culinary world.
Read more: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-case-for-letting-the-restaurant-industry-die?source=Snapzu

Why the US Dollar Is the Global Currency

A global currency is one that is accepted for trade throughout the world. Some of the world's currencies are accepted for most international transactions. The most popular are the U.S. dollar, the euro, and the yen. Another name for a global currency is the reserve currency. According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. dollar is the most popular. As of the fourth quarter of 2019, it makes up over 60% of all known central bank foreign exchange reserves. That makes it the de facto global currency, even though it doesn't hold an official title.
Read more: https://www.thebalance.com/world-currency-3305931?source=Snapzu

GE is saying goodbye to its 129-year-old light bulb business

General Electric is saying goodbye to the light bulb. The conglomerate is shedding a struggling business founded by Thomas Edison more than a century ago. After years of failing to find a buyer, GE announced Wednesday it will sell its 129-year-old lighting division to smart home company Savant Systems.
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/27/business/ge-light-bulbs-sale/index.html?source=Snapzu

Coronavirus pandemic claims another victim: robocalls

Have you been missing something amid the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders? No, not human contact. Not even toilet paper. Robocalls. Industry experts say robocalls are way down — scam calls as well as nagging from your credit-card company to pay your bill. The coronavirus pandemic has inflicted millions of job losses, and scammers have not been immune.
Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/coronavirus-pandemic-claims-another-victim-robocalls?source=Snapzu

Ex-Windows chief: Here's why Microsoft waged war on open source

Don't blame Microsoft's war on open source all on Steve Ballmer, says former Windows boss Steven Sinofsky.
Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/ex-windows-chief-heres-why-microsoft-waged-war-on-open-source/?source=Snapzu

Proposed bill would ban microtargeting of political advertisements

Just because ads can be targeted to individuals doesn't mean they should be.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/05/proposed-bill-would-ban-microtargeting-of-political-advertisements/?source=Snapzu

When the C.E.O., Already Facing a Crisis, Gets the Coronavirus

Glenn Fogel was in crisis mode. It was late February, and the coronavirus was spreading. Mr. Fogel, the chief executive of Booking Holdings, the online travel giant that owns brands like Priceline.com, OpenTable and Kayak, was spending nearly every waking moment at his computer as a tsunami of travel cancellations poured in. He quickly paused marketing, halted stock buybacks, froze hiring and raised $4 billion in debt.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/technology/ceo-coronavirus-booking-holdings-fogel.html?partner=IFTTT?source=Snapzu

Inflation remote risk compared with Bank of Canada’s bigger worry — depression-inducing mix of deflation and debt

Theory states that a big increase in the money supply will result in runaway prices, and there are those who are adamant that the hundreds of billions of dollars the Bank of Canada intends to create over the next year can only end in a rerun of the 1970s.
Read more: https://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/inflation-remote-risk-compared-with-bank-of-canadas-bigger-worry-depression-inducing-mix-of-deflation-and-debt?source=Snapzu

An Economist Who Called the 2008 Crash Says We’re In for a Long Depression

In September 2006, Nouriel Roubini told the International Monetary Fund what it didn’t want to hear. Standing before an audience of economists at the organization’s headquarters, the New York University professor warned that the U.S. housing market would soon collapse — and, quite possibly, bring the global financial system down with it.
Read more: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/why-the-economy-is-headed-for-a-post-coronavirus-depression-nouriel-roubini.html?source=Snapzu

How lockdown is changing shopping for good

Big online stores like Amazon or Ocado are based around vast automated warehouses. Smaller and cheaper versions of this tech will be key if smaller stores are to survive through a series of lockdowns during the pandemic.
Read more: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/25/1002168/retail-robots-save-local-store-business-lockdown-pandemic-coronavirus-economic-crisis/?source=Snapzu

A Dollar General analyst complained about store workers getting screwed. He got fired.

Staffers in at least one store were making their own hand sanitizer, and their masks were made of T-shirts.
Read more: https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/05/dollar-general-whistleblower-coronavirus/?source=Snapzu

Indian Railways Gets India's 1st 12,000 HP Electric Engine; At 120 kmph!

A big success claimed by Indian Railways’ for ‘Make in India’ project, as the first WAG12B (12000 HP) locomotive, manufactured under Narendra Modi government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative recently departed from the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya railway station in Uttar Pradesh.
Read more: https://trak.in/tags/business/2020/05/20/indian-railways-gets-indias-1st-12000-hp-electric-engine-can-haul-6k-tonnes-at-120-kmph/?source=Snapzu

US farms are using MORE antibiotics

The use of antibiotics in animals on US factory farms is increasing despite warnings that the practice risks spreading deadly superbugs. Figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday reveal that the sale of antibiotics to American farms jumped from 5,559 tons in 2017 to 6,036 tons in 2018 – a 9 per cent rise.
Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8351201/US-farms-using-antibiotics-despite-warnings-overuse-spread-superbugs.html?source=Snapzu

Coronavirus pandemic claims another victim: Robocalls

Have you been missing something amid the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders? No, not human contact. Not even toilet paper. Robocalls. Industry experts say robocalls are way down — scam calls as well as nagging from your credit-card company to pay your bill. The coronavirus pandemic has inflicted millions of job losses, and scammers have not been immune.
Read more: https://apnews.com/eb60354cc5e9312608e6cd932ab6d8fb?source=Snapzu

Rental Car Giant Hertz Files For Bankruptcy Protection

A decrease in travel amid the coronavirus pandemic has dealt a "sudden and dramatic" blow to the company's revenue.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/23/861450248/rental-car-giant-hertz-files-for-bankruptcy-protection?source=Snapzu

How the Restaurant Industry Viciously Exploits Its Workers

The new documentary “Waging Change” explores how the restaurant world takes cruel advantage of its employees.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-restaurant-industry-viciously-exploits-its-workers-from-wage-theft-to-sexual-abuse?source=Snapzu

EU plans to protect 30% of land and seas by 2030 for biodiversity

At least 30% of EU land and seas will be protected by 2030 to halt the decline of plant and animal species and restore carbon sinks to address climate change, under European Commission plans. The proposed biodiversity strategy, initially due to be released late March and delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, was published on Wednesday.
Read more: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/05/20/eu-plans-protect-30-land-seas-2030-biodiversity/?source=Snapzu

Cut the middle man: Restaurants plead with customers to abandon delivery apps

One restaurateur gives each bag a personal touch, printing out a small note with a simple message: Grubhub orders are killing his business.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/restaurants-rebel-against-delivery-apps-cities-crack-down-fees-n1211456?source=Snapzu

Hertz preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as Friday night

Car rental firm Hertz Global Holdings Inc is preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as Friday night after failing to reach a standstill agreement with its top lenders, the Wall Street Journal reportrd citing people familiar with the matter.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hertz-glo-hldg-bankruptcy/hertz-preparing-to-file-for-bankruptcy-as-soon-as-friday-night-wsj-idUSKBN22Y2X6?source=Snapzu

Top 1% of British earners get 17% of nation's income

The highest paid 1% of British earners received nearly 17% of all the country’s income ahead of the Covid-19 crisis, according to a study making allowance for the concentration of taxable capital gains among the better off. Analysis by Warwick University, the London School of Economics and the Resolution Foundation of previously confidential HMRC data showed that the top 1% had a growing and much bigger slice of income than previously thought.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/may/21/top-1-of-british-earners-get-17-of-nations-income?source=Snapzu

A 'perfect storm' for chaos: Unemployment system's failures were a long time coming

Delays in unemployment benefits also indirectly affect other In New Jersey, a 60-year-old programming language became the scapegoat for years of neglect after the state's unemployment website struggled to handle the flood of unemployment claims spurred by coronavirus lockdowns.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/decade-neglect-has-caught-u-s-unemployment-offices-n1205056?source=Snapzu

Pandemic Stimulus: How to Hedge Against Inflation in the Wake of $8 Trillion Stimulus

While the US is temporarily experiencing deflation during the pandemic, the more than $8 trillion in combined Congressional, Treasury, and Federal Reserve stimulus will inevitably lead to inflation in the long term. So how do you protect your portfolio against it?
Read more: https://snapzu.com/sparkrental/pandemic-stimulus-how-to-hedge-against-inflation-in-the-wake-of-8-trillion-stimulus?source=Snapzu

Futures retreat as trade tensions add to pandemic woes

U.S. stock indexes eyed a weaker open on Thursday as growing Sino-U.S. tensions and weak retail earnings added to worries about the pace of a recovery from a coronavirus-fueled economic slump. Tensions between the world’s two biggest economies over the origin of the novel coronavirus, which had slowed a Wall Street rally this month, rose to the forefront after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday further criticized Beijing’s handling of the outbreak.
Read more: https://in.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/futures-retreat-as-trade-tensions-add-to-pandemic-woes-idINKBN22X182?il=0?source=Snapzu

Let's Rebuild the Broken Meat Industry—Without Animals

Covid-19 has laid bare many flaws of industrialized animal agriculture. Plant- and cell-based alternatives offer a more resilient solution.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-lets-rebuild-the-broken-meat-industry-without-animals/?source=Snapzu

Phone Scam: Your Auto Warranty Is About to Expire

Knowledgebase Phone Scams Phone Scam: Your Auto Warranty Is About to Expire Phone Scam: Your Auto Warranty Is About to Expire Like many scams, the ultimate aim of this scam is to gain access to your valuable personal information. The scammers can then use this information to gain access to your precious financial accounts and …
Read more: https://121fcu.org/knowledgebase/phone-scam-your-auto-warranty-is-about-to-expire/?source=Snapzu

Sustainability? We are Blaming the Poor for the Wrongs of the Rich

Don’t be fooled by the unfounded, Malthusian belief that overpopulation is the roots of all evils when it comes to sustainability. Population growth is just one of many issues that we should keep an eye on – for sure – but it would be an unforgivable mistake – and a racist one – to give it our undivided attention.
Read more: https://conservationinaclick.com/2020/05/18/blaming-the-poor-for-the-wrongs-of-the-rich/?source=Snapzu

Walmart winds down Jet.com four years after $3.3 billion acquisition of e-commerce company

The big-box retailer bought the startup in 2016 to accelerate its expansion into e-commerce and help it fend off Amazon.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/19/walmart-winds-down-jetcom-four-years-after-3point3-billion-acquisition.html?source=Snapzu

An Intimate Look at Italy’s Saffron Harvest

In the Abruzzo region of Italy, harvesting the lucrative spice is a centuries-old tradition, infused with a deep-seated passion for the land and its history.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/travel/italy-saffron.html?source=Snapzu

An AI can simulate an economy millions of times to create fairer tax policy

Deep reinforcement learning has trained AIs to beat humans at complex games like Go and StarCraft. Could it also do a better job at running the economy?
Read more: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/05/1001142/ai-reinforcement-learning-simulate-economy-fairer-tax-policy-income-inequality-recession-pandemic/?source=Snapzu

Sony says its relationship with Microsoft is ‘deepening’ following cloud tech deal

Sony has said its relationship with Microsoft is “deepening” following continued discussions around licensing the Xbox parent’s cloud server technology. Microsoft and Sony announced a “strategic partnership” in May 2019, which will result in the PlayStation maker using Microsoft Azure data centres for cloud gaming and content streaming services.
Read more: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sony-says-its-relationship-with-microsoft-is-deepening-following-cloud-tech-deal/?source=Snapzu

Dust bowl conditions of 1930s US now more than twice as likely to reoccur

Climate breakdown means conditions that wrought devastation across Great Plains could return to region
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/18/us-dust-bowl-conditions-likely-to-reoccur-great-plains?source=Snapzu

Opinion | Franklin Roosevelt Put Young People Back to Work. Let’s Do It Again.

Nearly 7.7 million American workers younger than 30 are now unemployed and three million dropped out of the labor force in the past month. Combined that’s nearly one in three young workers, by far the highest rate since the country started tracking unemployment by age in 1948. Nearly 40 percent worked in the devastated retail and food service sectors.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/opinion/coronavirus-unemployment-youth.html?source=Snapzu

Jonathan Ive and the Future of Apple

Inside the top-secret lab where the world’s most powerful design team created the Apple Watch.
Read more: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/23/shape-things-come?source=Snapzu

How Etsy Became America’s Unlikeliest Breadbasket

Homebound consumers are flocking to the site for scones, biscuits, muffins, breads, doughnuts and...alkaline tahini spelt cookies. Homebound chefs are eager to satisfy this newfound hunger for baked goods.
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-etsy-became-americas-unlikeliest-breadbasket-11589601602?source=Snapzu

Why new U.S. rules on selling chips to Huawei could be a 'big blow' for the Chinese tech giant

Huawei relies heavily on chips from TSMC, which may no longer be able to sell to the Chinese tech giant. Meanwhile, finding alternative suppliers could be a huge challenge.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/18/huawei-faces-big-blow-from-new-us-rules-to-cut-off-chips.html?source=Snapzu

Coronavirus May Finally Be the End of the Open-Plan Office

My Inc.com colleague Geoffrey James memorably called open-plan offices "the dumbest management fad of all time." And with good reason. Not only do many workers loathe the interruption-prone, privacy-free spaces, but science shows they don't even achieve their stated aim of fostering greater collaboration.
Read more: https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/at-least-maybe-coronavirus-will-finally-kill-open-plan-office.html?source=Snapzu

Business In The 2050s: How The Future Of Work Might Look

Predictions of the future are often wildly inaccurate. For example, Back To The Future promised us hoverboards, while almost everyone who saw Blade Runner couldn’t wait to get their hands on a flying car. Unfortunately, neither are readily available to the general public yet, which is a crying shame.
Read more: https://quaymagazine.co.uk/business-in-the-2050s-how-the-future-of-work-might-look?source=Snapzu

Dying to go out to eat? Here's how viruses like Covid-19 spread in a restaurant

Even as Covid 19 deaths in the US continue to grow, now surpassing 85,000, many states have begun loosening lockdown restrictions. Regardless of the wisdom of such moves, it’s clear that there’s a desire to return to something resembling normalcy across the country, as in Wisconsin, where locals returned to packed bars this week.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/15/how-coronavirus-spreads-in-restaurant-video?source=Snapzu

El-Erian: Worst recession since Great Depression ahead, 2009 will look like a flesh wound

Another 3.84 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. The report comes on the heels of worse-than-expected GDP data for the first quarter. Allianz Chief Economic Adviser Mohamed El-Erian joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel to weigh in on why he says there is more pain to come and how the U.S. can avoid the mistakes of the last recession.
Read more: https://money.yahoo.com/el-erian-worst-recession-since-154048623.html?source=Snapzu

Google Chrome Will Throttle 'Resource-Heavy Ads'

The new Better Ads Standards update underscores Google’s dominance in online advertising.
Read more: https://www.adweek.com/digital/google-chrome-will-throttle-resource-heavy-ads/?source=Snapzu

U.S. “Beef” Industry To Lose Over $13 Billion Dollars

Anew report from the (NCBA) the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association an animal agriculture meat lobby group is projecting an over $13 billion dollar loss due to COVID-19. The report compiled by a team of economists will be used to determine how much government aid relief the industry will receive because of the pandemic.
Read more: https://vegannewsnow.com/2020/05/15/u-s-beef-industry-to-lose-over-13-billion-dollars/?source=Snapzu

Sears’ Headquarters Was Supposed to Turn a Sleepy Suburb Into a Boomtown. It Never Happened.

To lure Sears into a Chicago suburb, officials crafted the largest tax break package ever awarded to a company in Illinois. It resulted in revenue shortfalls, disappearing jobs and unexpected tax burdens, a Daily Herald and ProPublica review showed.
Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/sears-headquarters-was-supposed-to-turn-a-sleepy-suburb-into-a-boomtown-it-never-happened?source=Snapzu

There Are Sensible Ways to Reopen a Country. Then There's America's Approach

This brutal spring, the U.S. faces two great crises. Over the past 14 weeks, 84,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. That’s 28 times the death toll of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, more than the U.S. combat deaths in the Vietnam War, and one-quarter of the total global casualties from the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more: https://time.com/5836607/reopening-risks-coronavirus/?source=Snapzu

Apple buys virtual reality company NextVR

Apple has purchased virtual reality company NextVR, Apple confirmed to CNBC. The purchase is further evidence of Apple’s plans to enter virtual reality and related augmented reality technologies as a new product category, although the company has not announced firm plans or a new hardware product, aside from AR software for iPhones.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/14/apple-buys-virtual-reality-company-nextvr.html?source=Snapzu

US Grocery Prices See the Biggest Jump in Nearly 50 Years

The culprit is rising costs for products including meat and eggs during the pandemic.
Read more: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/us-grocery-prices-see-the-biggest-jump-in-nearly-50-years/?source=Snapzu

Telegram now tells US investors to leave its blockchain project and take 72% refund - The Block

After delaying its blockchain project for one more year last week, Telegram is now asking U.S. investors to leave the project immediately by taking 72% refunds.
Read more: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/64023/telegram-now-tells-us-investors-to-leave-its-blockchain-project-and-take-72-refund?source=Snapzu

JCPenney gives executives bonuses ahead of deadline for possible bankruptcy filing

As JCPenney struggles with missed debt payments and prepares for a possible bankruptcy filing, it approved bonuses of $1 million or more to its top four executives. JCPenney won't comment on its bankruptcy plans, but it disclosed that it missed two recent debt payments: $12 million due to bond holders on April 15, and a $17 million payment due on a credit line this past Thursday. The grace periods for those missed payments are Thursday and Friday this week, suggesting a bankruptcy filing could be imminent.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/investing/jcpenney-bankruptcy-bonuses/index.html?source=Snapzu