The economic landscape has presented an array of challenges that have profoundly affected the business community. Some of the most significant challenges include soaring inflation rates, escalating interest rates, increased minimum wage, looming fears of a recession, and a tangible decrease in revenues for many sectors…
ECONOMIC UPDATE—MARKET OVERVIEW
As trend forecasters, we note that “Opportunity misses those who view the world through the eyes of their profession.” What this means is that when a person is deeply absorbed with whatever sector of work they live in, and stuck in a political/social belief system, they are blind to the essential current events forming future trends.
“THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH!”
Jim Cramer, the famed host of CNBC Mad Money, made this comment just last week. He said, “The Stock Market Reflects the Strength of The Economy.”
THE SUPER-RICH KEEP GETTING SUPER RICHER
“Global net wealth staged a significant recovery in 2023, growing by 4.3% after a difficult year in 2022,” according to the annual Global Wealth Report prepared by the Boston Consulting Group.
MASSIVE TECH GIANT THEFT OF HUMAN CREATIVE CONTENT UNDENIABLE—NOW WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Generative AI systems that “create” conversations, blog posts, articles, images, video, music etc. all have one thing in common.
PALESTINIAN LIVES DON’T MATTER: ISRAELI KILLING SPREE IGNORED BY WESTERN MEDIA
Google up “how many Palestinians have died since October 7” and the top reference that pops up is this one: “Gaza ministry says 34,535 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes since Oct. 7,”…
FOR TRUMP, IT PAYS TO BE AN UBER HAWK FOR ISRAEL
Donald Trump, the former president, has been seeing massive gains in Jewish support after portraying President Joe Biden as insufficiently loyal to Israel, even after the Biden administration provided the country with billions in weapons and diplomatic support during the genocide in Gaza.
Global Economy
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
This year’s surge in mergers and acquisitions has rewarded Goldman Sachs with a 150-percent gain in its second-quarter profits, lifting them to $3 billion.
TOP TREND 2023, OFFICE BUILDING BUST: COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE BUST UNDERMINING BOND DEALS
Thanks to the tumbling values of commercial properties, defaults are on the rise in a sector of the debt market known as single-asset, single-borrower bonds (SASBs).
TOP TREND 2024: EV GO FU
After five years of mapping a road to an all-electric future, designing electric vehicles (EVs) and retooling factories to make them, and investing billions of dollars along the way, U.S. car companies are hitting the brakes.
The Israel War
PALESTINIAN LIVES DON’T MATTER: ISRAELI KILLING SPREE IGNORED BY WESTERN MEDIA
Google up “how many Palestinians have died since October 7” and the top reference that pops up is this one: “Gaza ministry says 34,535 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes since Oct. 7,”…
THOUSANDS PROTEST IN ISRAEL DEMANDING NETANYAHU TO AGREE TO CEASEFIRE BEFORE TRIP TO D.C.
Major protests broke out across Israel on Saturday night calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas before making his trip to Washington, D.C., to address the pro-Israel U.S. Congress.
U.K. SAYS IT WILL RESUME FUNDING FOR UNRWA AS ISRAEL CONTINUES TO TARGET UN FACILITIES
Britain's new government announced last week that it will resume funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), after the previous government suspended all aid—alongside the U.S.—after Israel claimed, without evidence, that the agency was a hotbed for Hamas terrorists.
AI
AI QUICK TAKES:
In case people aren’t already buying enough stuff on Amazon, the global retailer is offering the services of Rufus, an AI shopping assistant, to all U.S. customers.
AI SYSTEMS WILL USE UP THE INTERNET IN LESS THAN 10 YEARS. THEN WHAT?
Generative AI models get “smarter” by subsuming more and more information found on the Internet.
AI IS TRAINING TO QUICKLY IDENTIFY PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN SPECIES
Scientists estimate that millions of species, mostly insects, have yet to be identified. Researchers at Indiana University are trying to change that: they’re training an AI to sort the known from the unknown.
Hi-Tech Science
DRUG COCKTAIL CURES DIABETES IN MICE
Scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital and the private City of Hope research center have created a combination of drugs that has reversed diabetes in three months in tests on mice.
LASERS INSTANTLY TURN WASTE PLASTIC INTO TINY DIAMONDS
At Germany’s University of Rostock, scientists blasted plastic waste with lasers and microdiamonds rained out.
LIVING ROBOTS REPRODUCE THEMSELVES
In “‘Living Robots’ Made From Frogs” (9 Feb 2021), we introduced readers to Xenobots, biological machines made from frog embryos’ heart and skin cells. Microsurgeons assembled the cells according to a design evolved by a computer. The cells formed tiny organisms that moved.