What we’re reading (10/30)
“Big Tech Companies Reap Gains as Covid-19 Fuels Shift In Demand (Wall Street Journal). “Tech giants including Amazon.com Inc. and Google reported strong quarterly sales and profits that showed how pandemic-era demand for their digital services and gadgets is driving them to new heights even in the midst of a debate about their market power.”
“Delta And Pilot Union Reach Preliminary Deal To Avoid Furloughs Until 2022” (CNBC). “Delta Air Lines and the union that represents its pilots have reached a preliminary cost-cutting agreement that would avoid furloughs until Jan. 1, 2022, the union said Thursday. The agreement still needs approval from Delta’s early 13,000 pilots. The agreement would reduce monthly minimum guaranteed hours by 5%. The company had planned to furlough up to 1,941 pilots. Airline employees who are furloughed generally retain rights to be recalled by the company, but given the industry’s downturn in the pandemic, it’s not clear when that could be.”
“Economy’s Big Rebound Leaves A Shortfall As Progress Slows” (New York Times). “U.S. economic output increased at the fastest pace on record last quarter as businesses began to reopen and customers returned to stores. But the economy has climbed only partway out of its pandemic-induced hole, and progress is slowing. Gross domestic product grew 7.4 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The gain, the equivalent of 33.1 percent on an annualized basis, was by far the biggest since reliable statistics began after World War II.”
“What GDP Can And Cannot Tell You About The Post-Pandemic Economy” (The Economist). “Pity the world’s chartmakers. For years, normal economic fluctuations will be dwarfed by the extraordinary gyrations of 2020, such as the third-quarter gdp figures that are now rolling in. These data are informative—measures of output today are in part a reflection of governments’ success or failure in controlling the spread of covid-19. Yet they can easily mislead, and should be treated with care.”
“‘I’d Like To See It For Myself’ - Meet The ‘Dark Tourists’ Booking Trips To Wuhan” (Vice). “A controversial vacation trend, “dark tourism” refers to travel to sites connected with death and atrocity. This could be places like Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, but arguably also school trips to World War Two memorials or a visit to the Berlin Wall. Wuhan, the former epicentre of COVID-19, is the latest destination for dark tourism trips. After the city’s 76-day lockdown ended in April, residents have attempted to return to some kind of normality, with recent GDP data now suggesting that China may be the first major economy to recover from the pandemic. And as the country’s economy improves, so does Wuhan’s tourism sector, attracting visitors curious about the deadly virus’s initial focal point.”
