1. Google Employees Boycott China
Back in August, leaked documents surfaced regarding Google’s plans to build a censored version of its search engine for the Chinese market. The project (codename: “Dragonfly”) has been in the oven since 2017 and has been designed to blacklist phrases such as “human rights,” “Nobel Prize,” and “student protest.” But, as of Tuesday evening, 310 Google employees signed a public letter asking CEO Sundar Pichai and the rest of the management team to cancel plans to build the censored search engine, because, well… Censorship=bad. Freedom=good. Should they compromise their values for economic gain? Executives at Google must remember their mantra of “Don’t Be Evil.” Maybe they should read our What Happens in Vegas Stays on YouTube.
(Source: The Hustle)
2. Trump v. The Fed
The Federal Reserve is what controls our nation’s money supply. Well, more or less. Current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, has raised interest rates a total of 3X this year alone. It doesn’t seem like much at first, but consider this comparison: from the period of 2006 to 2015, the rates were left at zero and not touched at all, so in retrospect, it’s a big deal. Here’s where Trump comes in. To be short and concise, the president is worried that these increases in interest rates will “dampen the rise in the stock market he’s taken credit for and pump the brakes on the economic growth he’s promised.” In fact, he has openly criticized Jerome Powell, stating that he is “not even a little bit happy” with him or with any of the situation that is brewing. Later this week, the chairman is expected to deliver a public statement on the whole situation, in a major Financial Stability Report. Stay tuned for the updates to come.
(Source: Vox, Morning Brew)
3. A Fleet of Birds… Literally
Earlier this week, electric scooter company Bird announced they will start selling to small business owners and entrepreneurs. These folks will then be able to rent out the scooters to others. Sounds like a McDonald’s franchise model. The new business model is called “Bird Platform”. These owners will be considered “independent operators” and will be given the freedom to brand however they please. The operators will be responsible for charging the scooters as well as maintaining them mechanically—Bird is offloading their pain. Bird will be allowing access to their facilities and marketplace in exchange for a 20% share of profits. Bird Platform is expected to begin in December with a focus on the cities they haven’t expanded into yet.
(Source: TechCrunch)
