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☆ The implosion of Silicon Valley's largest bank has investors worried worse is to come: 'There might be some kind of crack in the financial system'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | James Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The implosion of the California lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate has investors worried. Christopher Whalen, the chairman of Whalen Global Advisors, a financial consultancy, said Silicon Valley Bank was "just the tip of the iceberg." He added that the situation at Silicon Valley Bank was "a reminder that many institutions are sitting on large unrealized losses" on bond holdings. Mould said the "fire sale" of Silicon Valley Bank's bond portfolio raised broader concerns. Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker on Thursday implored customers to "stay calm" in an apparent bid to stave off further mass withdrawals and avert collapse.

☆ How We the People Built American English
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Ilan Stavans | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Other ingredients are also required: a territory, a flag, a government, a currency, a postal service and so on. Of course, new languages don’t emerge from a vacuum. They evolve slowly from other languages, acquiring their own character only after a long process of decantation. George Bernard Shaw once purportedly said that England and the U.S. are separated by a common language. That separation is what American English has achieved, not without pain, over a period spanning more than four centuries.

☆ The smartest question to ask in a job interview, according to a CEO who's interviewed hundreds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In a job interview, the questions you ask are just as important as the answers you give. Bean has interviewed hundreds of job candidates throughout his career as a recruiter-turned-CEO. With this question, he explains, you're showing a hiring manager that you're conscientious and driven. With this question, you'll also better understand what kind of learning curve you'll face and how your performance will be evaluated. Ultimately, the secret to acing any job interview is simple, he adds: "You need to sell yourself from the heart."

☆ Here's what we know about Hamilton 68, the Russian online influence tracker called into question by the 'Twitter Files'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Sonam Sheth | Michelle Mark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

A recent "Twitter Files" drop revealed deep concerns among Twitter executives about a database that claimed to track Russian propaganda in "near real time." The now defunct database, Hamilton 68, was widely cited by media outlets, including Insider, before it was shut down in 2018. He wrote that based on his analysis, Hamilton 68 "falsely accuses a bunch of legitimate, right-leaning accounts of being Russian bots." Berger and ASD did not respond to a request to provide Insider with the list of accounts Hamilton 68 tracked. Roth also claimed, after reverse-engineering the list of accounts that Hamilton 68 tracked, that they were "neither strongly Russian nor strongly bots."

☆ More people will make thousands by selling stakes in their homes to Wall Street firms, according to one company that already sees elevated interest from homeowners
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

But high mortgage rates are making it difficult for homeowners to take advantage of this wealth. Home equity investments are a way to raise cash without taking out a new loan. However, higher mortgage rates have made it more difficult for Americans to take advantage of this wealth. He said the company foresees "strong demand" for the home equity investments in the coming months. According to a Redfin analysis of government data, 85% of US homeowners tote a mortgage rate far below today's level of 6%.

The BOJ’s YCC faces a reckoningThe surprise news left investors and analysts trying to parse Ueda's recent commentary. "There is probably a lack of clarity on Ueda's policy leanings at the moment, but at least it is clear that Amamiya (who is seen as a dove) is out. That removes one of the headwinds for the yen," said Christopher Wong, currency strategist at OCBC in Singapore. "The knee-jerk reaction in yen appreciation is more of a reaction to Amamiya being out of the race." I think the new team means that they will redesign the BOJ's monetary policy, not maintain the current policy," said Takayuki Miyajima, a senior economist at Sony Financial Group in Tokyo.

☆ Why Processing Sweden’s Rare-Earth Haul Won’t Be Easy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

The find is adjacent to the company’s Kiruna iron-ore mine, an operation that would eventually be expanded to extract the rare earths plus phosphorus, a critical mineral for fertilizers. The company said it would take 10 to 15 years to start recovering the rare earths. LKAB facilities in Kiruna, Sweden. Also, LKAB reported that its find has a total rare-earth oxide level of 0.18%, a low level of concentration. U.K.-based Pensana PLC aims to mine rare-earth concentrates in Angola, before separating and processing them in the north of England.

☆ A 23-year-old teacher got $25,000 to buy a house so she could live and work in the same city as her students
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The school district is now offering grants to qualifying staffers to lower its turnover rate. The school district is trying to change that by awarding grants to teachers so they can afford homes in the community where they teach. Lillian Snoeyink, 23, is the first grant recipient, receiving a check in January from the Holland Public Schools. Holland Public Schools launched the grant program in January after struggling to attract and retain educators. Holland Public Schools is not the only school district taking drastic measures to help employees afford housing.

☆ Web search as you know it is dead: Microsoft's and Google's new AIs are about to transform how you look for information online
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | James Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AI-boosted search engines from Microsoft and Google are set to change the way we search the web. New versions of Google Search and Bing are meant to give conversational answers to complex queries. It's "more like just asking a personal assistant to do something," an AI expert told Insider. Nadella said in media interviews Tuesday that the AI-powered overhaul of web search represented "a new paradigm" for the industry. The new search AIs draw their answers from the web at large, and information on the web isn't always accurate, to say the least.

☆ Forget 'quiet quitting': Men earning six figures are openly cutting their work hours more than their coworkers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Men earning with college degrees earning at least $100k a year are clocking fewer hours at work. That's as men without degrees have been quitting due to perceived low social and financial prospects. Highly paid men typically work more hours than their peers, Yongseok Shin, an economist who co-wrote the paper, told Insider. Fueling that figure are young men without college degrees, according to the Boston Fed. Higher-paid men with college degrees have more financial mobility, and likely a stronger social self-estimation.

“It was gorgeous, and I was so not expecting it,” said Darion Lowenstein, 41, a video game consultant, who is gay. Though Bill’s role in the game is small, and his mention of being gay brief, it did not go unnoticed by LGBTQ gamers like Bonatsakis. Roughly 10% of gamers are LGBTQ, according to a 2020 survey by Nielsen. And for many of these queer gamers, Durkee said, video games are a lifeline. She said character customization in games such as “The Sims” and “World of Warcraft” can empower queer gamers to express their identity in ways that traditional media cannot.

☆ An Alabama 'election denier' is leading efforts in the state to withdraw from a national organization that combats voter fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Alabama's top elections official is withdrawing the state from a nonprofit known as ERIC. Founded in 2012, ERIC began as a collaboration by election officials in seven states, four of them Republican. A powerful outlierOfficials, including Republicans, have credited the organization with helping clean up their voter lists and prevent fraudulent votes. A former state legislator, Allen was dubbed an "election denier" by the States United Democracy Center, a bipartisan group that promotes election integrity, over his support for overturning the results of the 2020 election. With or without Alabama, he said, ERIC will continue to focus on "improving the accuracy of America's voter rolls and increasing access to voter registration for all eligible citizens."

☆ First-time homebuyers are pretty much screwed in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | Andy Kiersz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Starter homes are typically more affordable houses that are purchased by new home buyers. Their absence has made it difficult for many first-time buyers to afford homeownership. The stark indicator only illustrates that starter homes are vanishing from the US real-estate market. Starter homes are typically smaller, more affordable houses that are purchased by first-time buyers or those on a tight budget. With higher home prices, mortgage rates and property taxes, as well as a possible recession looming in 2023 — that could trigger mass job losses — the odds are stacked against many would-be first-time buyers.

☆ A Wall Street Journal reporter was handcuffed by police while standing outside a Chase Bank. The newspaper is demanding answers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The incident between The Journal reporter Dion Rabouin and the Phoenix officer occurred in late November, but just became public his week after ABC affiliate KNXV reported on the matter. In a statement, The Journal said that it is “deeply concerned” with how its reporter was treated and has asked the Phoenix Police Department to conduct an investigation. The video shows Rabouin repeatedly identified himself as a reporter for The Journal, but the officer did not appear to care. A representative for Chase told me Thursday that the bank did apologize to Rabouin over the incident. The Phoenix Police Department can start now.”The Committee to Protect Journalists has also sounded the alarm over the incident.

The disharmony between the Justice Department’s case and the Biden administration’s gun safety efforts as well as the fears and pressure that a lost appeal could damage gun safety laws are at the crux of the survivors' acrimony. Why are you doing all this (gun reform) and yet you’re fighting it over here?’” said Juan “Gunny” Macias, a survivor who was shot numerous times in the attack and viewed the president’s gun safety priorities as dissonant with the potential Justice Department appeal. The Justice Department has received two extensions to file its appeal brief, now due next week, and is unlikely to receive another one. “I assume the Justice Department is taking this position because the lawyers are looking for the best legal avenues that will give them the outcome they want,” he said. That’s what creates problems like the ones we’re facing.”For fear of what an appeal could mean for U.S. gun laws, a coalition of 37 gun safety organizations sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland in October about the Justice Department’s intention to appeal.

☆ When Does Life Begin?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Elizabeth Dias | Bethany Mollenkof | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +19 min

“It is not black and white.”America’s fight over abortion has long circled a question, one that is broad and without consensus:When does life begin? The question of when life begins has been so politicized it can be hard to thoughtfully engage. Ancient Egypt gave the power to create new human life almost entirely to men. The scientific revolution, from Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to reproductive science, disrupted centuries of thought on human life. “When does the responsibility for a life begin and end?”

☆ 3 friends share how they started a charcuterie side hustle that made $40,000 in its first month
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Amanda Breen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

That's what Ryan Culver, Caroline Elston, and Lowell Bieber, the Indiana-based friends behind charcuterie subscription service Platterful, discovered when they teamed up to launch their venture last year — and made $40,000 in their first month. Culver and Bieber previously partnered on a health-and-wellness subscription box, which they successfully scaled and sold in September 2020. Entrepreneur sat down with the trio to learn how they built their meat-and-cheese side hustle — and continue to fuel its growth. Even though Culver and Bieber had subscription experience, the cofounders did have to contend with a new complication: cold shipping. [With cofounders] you have other people to lean on — if you're having a tough day, maybe someone else is having a good day.

☆ The 'Secure 2.0' retirement legislation leaves a 'huge problem untouched,' labor economist warns. How these changes could help
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Sporrer/Rupp | Image Source | Getty ImagesParticipation in workplace retirement plans may soon be expanded, thanks to new efforts from lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Secure 2.0 would require certain employers with retirement plans to automatically enroll eligible workers in those plans. Create a universal retirement planFor starters, we should abandon the hope that employers will cover everyone with retirement plans, according to Ghilarducci. "A universal access plan is one in which everyone, regardless of what their employer does, is in a retirement plan," Ghilarducci said. The idea is included in the Retirement Savings for Americans Act, which would establish portable tax-advantaged retirement savings accounts for workers.

The defamation case brought by actor Johnny Depp against his ex-wife Amber Heard came to an end on Wednesday after a seven-person jury unanimously ruled in favor of Depp. The jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages in his defamation suit. Depp also claims she is not the victim of domestic violence but instead the perpetrator. 2022On April 11, the weekslong defamation trial kicks off, with Heard and Depp appearing in court in Fairfax County, Virginia. The jury unanimously finds that Heard defamed Depp, awarding him $5 million in punitive damages and $10 million in compensatory damages.

☆ EU angst over “Buy American” reopens old wounds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Rebecca Christie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The European Commission is the main gatekeeper on state aid, which the EU limits to protect fair competition in the single market. Von der Leyen’s plan might let it decide which champions are deserving in the first place. The free spending has sparked concerns of a handout war with other European countries, particularly given the EU’s recent focus on fiscal discipline. Von der Leyen wants to create a central pot of money to provide catch-up funds to smaller countries. Relaxing EU state aid rules fairly won’t be easy, and Europe will need a clearer industrial policy beyond handing out cash.

☆ Lensa, the AI portrait app, has soared in popularity. But many artists question the ethics of AI art.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Morgan Sung | Morgan Sung Is A Trends Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

Social media has been flooded with Lensa AI portraits, from photorealistic paintings to more abstract illustrations. In a lengthy Twitter thread posted Tuesday morning, Prisma addressed concerns of AI art replacing art by actual artists. For some artists, AI models are a creative tool. While the value of art is subjective, the crux of the AI art controversy is the right to privacy. Without decades of examples to learn from, he said, the AI images that looked just like his illustrations would never exist.

☆ Three things crypto investors need to know in a post-FTX world, according to financial advisors
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

While the dramatic story of the firm's failure isn't over yet, it's a post-FTX era in crypto world, and the biggest takeaways for investors are already clear, according to financial advisors. "Investors need to differentiate between blockchain technology and exchanges," said Daren Blonski, managing principal at Sonoma Wealth Advisors. Here's what advisors say about it: Whatever you do, don't leave your crypto on exchanges There's a cutesy mantra in crypto: "Not your keys, not your coins." But as crypto becomes more popular and centralized companies provide easy onramps, advisors agree: it's time investors learn to control their funds. "It's on advisors to understand what happened before rendering some sort of judgment about it," said Adam Blumberg, cofounder at Interaxis, a crypto education and training company for financial advisors.

☆ An early-stage HIV vaccine is showing positive results. If it works, it would be first successful HIV vaccine after almost 40 years of research.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Sarah Braner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An early trial for an experimental HIV vaccine candidate has shown promising results. 97% of recipients in a phase 1 study showed immune system activity in response to the vaccine. Researchers have been trying to create an HIV vaccine for nearly 40 yearsHIV is notoriously difficult to vaccinate against. By evolving and changing quickly, it can avoid the immune system by making itself harder to recognize. "That's sort of a whole new way of thinking about how to make a vaccine," Schief said.

☆ Blended travel lets people switch from work to leisure with ease. Here's how hospitality and travel companies are accommodating this experience.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Crowne Plaza Hotels | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

For business travelers, this means combining work with leisure or blended travel. Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts reimagined its hotel spaces, amenities, and service culture to help travelers flex between work and leisure. "Many other hospitality brands put the blend into bleisure, but at Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, we know the future is about flexibility." Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts"It's vital to provide these transitional moments for the new breed of connected traveler," Taggart said. Book your blended travel experience at Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts.

☆ ‘Grave urgency’: Over 400 business groups plead with Congress to prevent rail strike
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —More than 400 business groups are calling on Congressional leaders to be prepared to prevent a freight rail strike that could start causing chaos in the economy as early as next week. The 449 business groups – which range from the Aluminum Association and the Beer Institute to the US Apple Association and the Window & Door Manufacturers Association – said this is a matter of “grave urgency” as even a short-term work stoppage would cause large problems. A rail strike could become a reality as early as December 9, causing shortages, spiking prices and halting factory production. They noted that the potential rail strike earlier this year caused “significant disruptions” for critical goods and products, including fertilizer, chlorine and other items, before the strike was averted with an 11th-hour tentative deal. “The uncertainty of rail service during this year’s protracted contract negotiation has created enormous anxiety.”

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