Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.
Kirk LaPointe, editor-in-chief, vice-president of Glacier Media:
A leading sleep expert says the stress of the world and our tendency to wake up in the middle of the night means eight hours of bedtime nightly is no longer enough. It’s time to set aside more time – Quartz
https://qz.com/1301123/why-eight-hours-a-night-isnt-enough-according-to-a-leading-sleep-scientist/
Please, understand this is satire. But finally America has a president who can stand up to Canada – The Washington Post
Another take on the housing crisis beguiling Vancouver – Maclean’s
https://www.macleans.ca/economy/realestateeconomy/the-real-estate-war-on-the-west-coast-vancouver/
Given the World Cup, it’s time to take a look at the science of choking – The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/elements/lab-notes/why-a-must-win-situation-is-a-losing-one
Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:
Solar Surpasses Gas and Wind as Biggest Source of New U.S. Power: sunny ways down south - Bloomberg
City of London going energy green - Energy Live News
https://www.energylivenews.com/2018/06/11/city-of-london-pledges-to-use-100-renewable-power/?utm
Australia, U.S. rapidly ramping up LNG trade. Where’s Canada? - U.S. Energy Information Administration
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=36452&src
Emma Crawford Hampel, online editor:
Trump is a bully who thought Canada was weak. He was wrong about us: “If a nation of millions can have a collective character, then it is true what is said about Canadians. We are a stoic, rule-abiding and polite people. We are also smug, passive-aggressive and proud. If you like your maple syrup laced with piss, we will deliver cans of the stuff, painted with quaint winter scenes and sold at a mark-up with a smile” - The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2018/jun/11/trump-canada-bully-trade-trudeau
Sam Roggeveen gives three reasons the Singapore summit had to happen. Reason one: the Cold War is over - The Sydney Morning Herald
Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor
"Data companies are clever and relentless," says Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice-president of software engineering, quoted in Wired’s look at new developments in browser security. But as the story explains, the people behind Apple’s Safari and makers of other popular browsers are showing they’re no slouches in the cleverness department when it comes to efforts to push back against snooping by companies that deploy device “fingerprinting” and ad-tracking to snout around our online activity - Wired
https://www.wired.com/story/apple-safari-privacy-wwdc/amp?__twitter_impression=true
Glen Korstrom, reporter
Exciting news in the transportation and tourism sector as Elon Musk’s Boring Company wins the bid to build a high-speed link between downtown Chicago and one of the world’s busiest airports, O’Hare International Airport:
https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/6/14/17465168/mayor-emanuel-elon-musk-announcement-ohare-express
Albert Van Santvoort, reporter
How does government deficit affect economic growth? A well known Reinhart and Rogoff study looks at financial data since the 1800s trying to determine what amount of government debt slows GDP growth. A problem with this idea is it misses important aspects of both money and GDP. First, there have been massive changes to the global monetary systems since 1800. The most significant change occurred in the 1960s when major currencies finished their transition from a pegged rate to a floating rate. The second point this idea misses is that GDP is a measure of spending, of which government is the second largest contributor behind consumers. It is difficult for GDP to increase if the second largest component is decreasing. Economists at Bard’s College produced a study that examines some of the concerns with this idea. - Bard College, Levy Economics Institute
http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_603.pdf
Continuing with the theme of debt and its effects on GDP, the following piece looks at how private debt helped fuel the 2008 financial crisis. The article highlights concerns about countries, including Canada, who were able to survive the financial crisis through large increases in private debt and how that may have just put off another crash. -The Conversation
Working off of the idea of debt and GDP, many have voiced concerns about the amount of money central banks have introduced into the economy since the 2008 financial crisis. The following World Economic Forum article helps to explain how Banks are mostly responsible for increases in the money supply and how they create money. -World Economic Forum
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/06/do-banks-really-create-money-out-of-thin-air/
Finally, speaking of the financial crisis, in late May the U.S. rolled back the financial regulations enacted in the wake of the financial crisis. While the legislation was said to only impact community banks, the story below explains how the changes will benefit one of the country’s largest banks, Citigroup.-The Intercept
Hayley Woodin, multimedia reporter
What Seattle’s failed ‘Amazon Tax’ means for Vancouver, from Vice:
The Investment Industry Association of Canada’s latest Letter from the President argues that Canada’s proposed rules around passive income will not only impact about 50,000 large companies – it will make financing conditions worse for small business. (You can listen to our BIV Today interview with IIAC president Ian Russell at biv.com/audio):
https://iiac.ca/wp-content/uploads/Letter-from-the-President-Vol.-118.pdf
A company built on a bluff, from New York Magazine, chronicles the history of Montreal-born Vice, now a multi-billion-dollar media empire under new stewardship:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/inside-vice-media-shane-smith.html
