What we’re reading (8/25)
“US Stocks Rise As Investors Await Policy Clues From Fed Chair Powell At Jackson Hole” (Insider). “US stocks rose Thursday as investors embraced some risk before Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell grabs the attention of global financial markets with a speech on monetary policy at the central bank's marquee annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.”
“Why Does The WeWork Guy Get To Fail Up?” (Vox). “In a blog post, a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen wrote that Neumann is returning to ‘the theme of connecting people through transforming their physical spaces and building communities where people spend the most time: their homes.’ Andreessen added that solving housing problems ‘requires combining community-driven, experience-centric service with the latest technology in a way that has never been done before to create a system where renters receive the benefits of owners.’ What any of that means is not exactly clear.”
“IRS To Start Spending Its $80 Billion Budget By Hiring People To Answer The Phone” (Wall Street Journal). “The Internal Revenue Service is planning to spend the first big chunk of its $80 billion expanded budget to hire people who will answer taxpayers’ telephone calls during the 2023 tax-filing season.”
“Twitter’s Whistleblower Problem Is Way Bigger Than Elon Musk’s Bot Complaints” (Vox). “When Peiter Zatko, the famous hacker best known as Mudge, got the job heading up Twitter’s security in November 2020, internet archivist Jason Scott tweeted, ‘you have my full support to walk away after setting the place on fire.’ Zatko may have done just that, if not quite in that order. Several months after he was fired by CEO Parag Agrawal, Zatko blew the whistle on the company, telling the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that Twitter did basically nothing to improve its terrible security — the reason for Zatko’s hiring in the first place — and that the company has a pattern of lying to or misleading the government, investors, and Elon Musk.”
“California E.V. Mandate Finds A Receptive Auto Industry” (New York Times). “The automakers are hurrying to close deals with mining companies and other suppliers that can meet the escalating demand for battery materials. Some are teaming up with smaller companies to expedite the build-out of a nationwide charging network. And they are breaking up their own corporate structures and refashioning them to ensure that the electric vehicle transition is not held back by the conventions of making gasoline-powered products.”
