What I’m Reading
Emergency Measures: Federal lawmakers are pushing California Governor Gavin Newsome to declare a state of emergency and suspend or eliminate regulations to deal with the relentless supply chain crisis. AB5, the state law that restricts carriers from using independent contractors and is under review by the U.S. Supreme Court is one of the targets. Per the letter from lawmakers, the law “creates a chilling effect” and has led to independent contractor drivers who otherwise could be helping move cargo to leave the state, signers of the letter claim. “Without enough truckers to come and unload, this cargo will continue to sit on these ships, just waiting to be delivered.” Freight Waves
Bottoms Up: Despite all the talk about burnout and reevaluating priorities, the soaring quits rate has little to do with white-collar jobs. It’s more about lower-income people getting the chance to move up. Bloomberg
Stumbling Block: Zillow’s failed home buying program is just the latest example of how algorithms will need to become a lot better if they are ever to successfully compete with on-the-ground experts in complex industries where transactions can carry a high degree of risk. Spilled Coffee
Misplaced Blame: Big private equity investors are being scapegoated as the reason that the housing market is so tight. However, these landlords make up a very small percentage of the market and are not the real culprit. Rather, the problem is that not nearly enough has been built over the past decade. The Economist
Upwardly Mobile: Renter incomes are increasing. Nationally, households who have moved in year-to-date during 2021 make an average of roughly $67,000 annually, and that typical income figure reaches about $90,000 for those opting for the luxury Class A stock. That’s 8.4% above 2019 levels. RealPage
Chart of the Day
Retail sales are soaring and its not just a story about inflation. Even in inflation-adjusted terms, retail sales are way above their pre-pandemic trend.
Source: Ben Casselman
WTF
The Simpsons Predicted This: A food blogger was banned from an all-you-can-eat restaurant in China for eating too much food. BBC News
Hero: An Oklahoma mother smacked her teen daughter’s peeping Tom with a baseball bat. (h/t Adam Siegel) Yahoo News
Basis Points – A candid look at the economy, real estate, and other things sometimes related.
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