China is responsible for the production of about 90 percent of the world’s rare earth elements, at least 80 percent of all the stages of making solar panels, and 60 percent of wind turbines and electric-car batteries. “People are starting to realize that control of the supply chain is important, otherwise, you have systemic risk because it’s easy for China to shut down supply,” says Ross Gregory, Seoul-based partner of consultancy New Electric Partners. China produces a staggering 98 percent of the world’s supply of raw gallium, according to CSIS, despite the product’s US military applications, including in next-generation missile defense and radar systems. In electric-car batteries, for example, China’s share of the raw materials they require is less than 20 percent, but it holds a 90 percent share of the market for processed versions of the same materials, according to Goldman Sachs. Goldman data suggests that China can build an EV factory in about a third of the time it takes in other countries, while a battery factory in the US will cost nearly 80 percent more than in China.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-09/apple-can-keep-app-store-rules-for-now-as-top-court-spurns-epic
The US Supreme Court let Apple Inc. keep its App Store payment rules in place for the time being, rejecting an Epic Games Inc. request that would have let developers start directing iPhone users to other purchasing options. Justice Elena Kagan said she wouldn’t let a federal appeals court decision take effect immediately, as Epic had sought.
ADHD diagnostic rates are on the rise in the U.S., and posts on TikTok and other social media platforms have convinced even more people that they have attention issues. Even among people who haven’t sought medical care, there seems to be a sense, probably enhanced by regular studies about shrinking attention spans, that focusing is getting harder. A recent U.K. survey found that about half of adults think their attention spans are getting shorter, and plenty of teachers say the same thing is happening with kids. Most people without chronic attention issues could likely focus fairly well if given a task in a quiet, empty room, but they’d probably perform worse if they did the same task in a room where people are talking and music is playing. It’s hard to objectively nail down how long someone’s attention span is and how it’s changing over time. In many cases, Bradbury says, students’ ability to pay attention seems to depend on how interesting they find the material they’re learning and how well it’s presented, which makes measuring their inherent attention spans both difficult and “a little beside the point.”
A.I. technology, however impressive, is still not good enough to handle most jobs. “The demise of industries due to A.I. is just not going to be a thing,” says Sarah Guo, a venture capitalist who invests in A.I. startups. Allen & Overy, a firm that employs more than 3,000 lawyers worldwide, started working with a generative A.I. tool called Harvey last year and hasn’t replaced a single person with it. To underscore the complexity of passing work along to A.I., consider radiologists, who are still in high demand despite serving as a favorite example among those predicting that robots will take their jobs. There certainly will be jobs affected by this wave of A.I., just like how when any new technology arrives.
From Visa cards to digital dollars, crypto is slowly rewiring the everyday financial experience right before users’ eyes. Alongside the card, the crypto firm also launched Gnosis Pay, a PayPal equivalent of sorts that makes it easier for the weird world of crypto to better integrate with current financial networks. Of course, the common factor linking Monerium’s and Gnosis’ new offerings is that users may not even be aware that they’re using crypto. In many ways, the crypto revolution closely resembles the fintech revolution and the arrival of Revolut, N26, and a host of neobanks.
One of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Binance, is facing difficulties and regulatory issues. The article discusses Binance’s rise and fall, its founder Changpeng Zhao’s strategy for expansion, the regulatory challenges it faced, and its influence on the larger cryptocurrency sector. The article addresses Binance’s changing culture and how several ex-employees thought that the company’s emphasis on market dominance and rapid growth had resulted in a lack of respect and value for workers. For example, one former Binance employee even says the company’s joining process included “a specific slide that told you that if you posted on social media that you were a Binance employee, you’d get fired”. Although Binance is portrayed as a community, its, not really a company where you feel respected or valued," says a former employee.
The Tax Office has admitted paying out more than $1.6 billion in fake GST claims as part of a $4.6 billion fraud based on a simple scheme promoted on social media platform TikTok—a total that is twice the previous reports and the biggest tax fraud in Australian history. After being frustrated by the apparent lack of action by the Tax Office, some bank staff shared their concerns informally with the Reserve Bank, which then alerted Treasury and the Tax Office in February last year. The Tax Office launched Operation Protego to pursue the fraud on April 11 last year, and the federal police have since conducted a series of raids that have led to more than 100 arrests. The banks froze the accounts and notified the Tax Office about the transactions, but became increasingly frustrated when the Tax Office took no action against the accounts. Although the Tax Office at first reported that the average amount claimed was $20,000, accountants in western Sydney told the Financial Review that among their clients, the average amount raised from the fraud was more than $80,000. The Tax Office’s prevention measures were overwhelmed as the fraud went viral, with thousands of people making false claims for refunds each day. Several bank executives reached out informally to the Reserve Bank, which met with the Tax Office in mid-February last year.
There’s been a rise of problem gambling and addiction related to the online betting industry in the United States. Using gamblers’ life stories as an example its talks about the growing cohort of problems that have emerged alongside the regulated online betting industry. It also discusses the potential for legal actions and lawsuits against betting operators, similar to the tobacco industry, to hold them accountable for misleading advertisements and contributing to gambling addiction. Overall, it sheds light on the challenges posed by the rapid growth of the online betting industry and the need for stronger regulation and support for those struggling with gambling addiction.
A growing number of US workers say it’s becoming more difficult to save for retirement, according to Charles Schwab’s latest retirement survey. Assuming workers can grow their savings by 7.5% a year after inflation, which is roughly what US stocks have delivered historically, they would have to save $16,000 a year for 30 years to accumulate $1.8 million in today’s dollars. A more efficient way to save for retirement is to combine the growth of stocks with the power of time. It’s a fraction of the savings that would be required to reach the same target over a working lifetime and would eliminate the need for additional retirement savings for the majority of people. The program could be based on need, so that individuals would receive the difference between $1.8 million in today’s dollars and their retirement savings at age 70. One obvious drawback of a need-based system is that it could be a disincentive to save. Some might hesitate to entrust retirement savings to the stock market, but that’s precisely where they belong.
If you are an adult who has not read books for a long time or has never read books, this article offers guidance on how to approach and overcome the challenges of returning to reading as an adult and how to go about reintroducing yourself to reading. It discusses various strategies and tips for individuals who are considering reading books again after a significant hiatus. It addresses the reasons why some adults might have stopped reading, such as feeling overwhelmed, having screen fatigue, or not finding the habit of reading in the first place. The article also highlights the role of librarians and booksellers in helping such individuals discover books that match their interests and preferences. It suggests starting small with shorter books, considering formats like graphic novels or audiobooks, and seeking out content related to their interests in other media. It’s always important to ask for help and find the right book that speaks to you as a reader.