The Bad Place

CounterPunch.org | Whitmer’s Data Center Push Isn’t Just Bad for Michigan – It’s Bad for the World by Jackie Barlow - Stewart Mitchell AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s push to build a massive AI data center in Saline, Michigan—backed by tech giants OpenAI and Oracle—has sparked fierce local opposition because it threatens environmental health, local livelihoods, and global justice. Critics argue the project fuels a broader pattern of U.S.‑supported data‑center expansion that relies on conflict minerals and fossil‑fuel energy sourced from the Global South, financing armed groups and wars in places like the Congo, Venezuela, Iran, and the DRC. The center also expands military‑linked surveillance infrastructure, with companies such as Palantir, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing involved in technologies that automate targeting and mass data extraction. Residents contend that promised economic benefits are outweighed by 24/7 noise, property‑value loss, water consumption, and the diversion of municipal resources, while the state grants tax breaks that sideline public input. The article urges Michiganders to continue resisting these projects, emphasizing that local dissent is being ignored in favor of corporate and war‑profit interests. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/14/whitmers-data-center-push-isnt-just-bad-for-michigan-its-bad-for-the-world/ #Whitmer #Oracle #OpenAI #Palantir #DefenseDepartment #ClayMagouryk

News Headlines | Around 300 jobs under threat at TikTok's Irish operation AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. TikTok, which employs over 2,000 people in Ireland, is planning a reorganisation that could cut about 300 jobs while simultaneously creating hundreds of new specialist Trust and Safety roles in Dublin and redeploying existing staff to higher‑skill positions; the company says the changes will make its global operating model more scalable and agile, but precise cut numbers are not yet confirmed. IDA Ireland’s chief executive Michael Lohan pledged support for affected workers and highlighted the broader shift toward AI‑driven technology, while Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers warned that further job losses in the tech sector would exacerbate economic uncertainty and urged careful budgeting in light of AI’s disruptive impact. Read more: https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2026/0701/1581229-tiktok-to-cut-300-irish-jobs/ #TikTok #IDAIreland #MichaelLohan #JackChambers #business

Slate Magazine | How This New Gilded Age Ends by Mary Harris AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. In the latest episode of What Next titled “How This New Gilded Age Ends,” host Mary Harris and guest Paul Krugman examine how today’s concentration of wealth far exceeds that of the historic Gilded Age, with a shrinking elite increasingly controlling a massive and growing share of assets and working to preserve that dominance, raising the question of whether the current economic ascent can ever be reversed. Read more: https://slate.com/podcasts/what-next/2026/06/americas-richest-have-never-been-richer-or-fewer-in-number #PaulKrugman #CityUniversity #RobGunther #GraduateCenter #economics #EvanCampbell #MadelineThames_Ducharme #PatrickFort #PaigeOsburn

The Copenhagen Post | Nike beats expectations despite decline in China by Ritzau AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Nike’s fourth‑quarter results outperformed analyst forecasts despite a continued slump in the Chinese market. Revenue slipped 1 % year‑on‑year to $10.97 billion, still topping the expected $10.86 billion, while net income rose to $1.07 billion, largely thanks to a $986 million tariff‑related refund. However, sales in China fell about 12 % in the quarter, underscoring ongoing headwinds in the region. The report was highlighted alongside a photo of a man stretching in front of a Nike store in Beijing, illustrating the brand’s presence amid the decline. Read more: https://cphpost.dk/2026-07-01/business-education/business-business-education/nike-beats-expectations-despite-decline-in-china/ #Nike #business

CounterPunch.org | The Latest ‘Sustained Yield’ Scam Will Devastate Montana’s National Forests by George Ochenski AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. George Ochenski warns that the “sustained yield” logging policy championed by former timber lobbyist Tom Schultz—now head of the U.S. Forest Service—is poised to devastate Montana’s remaining national forests. He traces the policy’s origins to a 1995 Montana Senate bill, pushed by Republican Bob Brown, that set a modest harvest level on state trust lands, only to be inflated over the years. Schultz, dubbed “Chainsaw Tom,” now demands that 350‑500 million board feet be cut from Montana’s federal forests within a decade, a figure ten million board feet higher than the original target and far beyond what ecological science deems sustainable, especially amid worsening drought, hotter summers, and shrinking snowpack. The author argues that this “sustained yield” is a misnomer, serving timber interests rather than true forest regeneration, and predicts the result will be expansive clear‑cuts, barren stump fields, and the loss of vital ecosystems. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/23/the-latest-sustained-yield-scam-will-devastate-montanas-national-forests/ #BobBrown #TomSchultz #USForestService #NationalForests #environment

News Headlines | Central Bank Governor warns against spending overruns AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Ahead of Budget 2027, Central Bank Governor Gabriel Makhlouf warned Finance Minister Simon Harris that continued budget‑spending overruns could swell the public‑finance deficit to €25.7 billion by 2030 (up from an underlying €20.4 billion), especially as half of Ireland’s corporation‑tax revenue comes from multinational activity that is highly unstable and is now concentrated in just ten firms that contributed 56 % of payments last year. With corporation tax already accounting for 23 % of general‑government revenue, Makhlouf cautioned against relying on this “potentially vulnerable” source to fund permanent spending increases, urging the government to broaden the tax base and trim exemptions. He also highlighted the broader fiscal risk posed by Ireland’s €210 billion national debt, noting that the annual interest bill is expected to double to €6 billion, and called for debt‑as‑a‑share‑of‑GDP to remain a key policy focus, while expressing optimism that sound policy choices could steer the economy through a turbulent international environment. Read more: https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2026/0713/1583099-central-bank-governors-budget-letter/ #GabrielMakhlouf #SimonHarris #CentralBank #Ireland #Corporationtax

Salon.com | With Roku, Fox just won the streaming wars for the right by Sophia Tesfaye AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. In a week that reshaped American media, Fox Corporation announced a $22 billion purchase of Roku while the Justice Department cleared David Ellison’s $111 billion merger of Paramount with Warner Bros. Discovery, giving the son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison control of both CBS News and CNN. Together these deals concentrate the most powerful levers of the streaming era—distribution, data and advertising—into the hands of a handful of right‑wing billionaires. By pairing Fox’s news, sports and ad empire with Roku’s operating system, Fox will dominate the TV home‑screen discovery layer, while Ellison’s merged empire will control a vast swath of content production. The article argues that this consolidation marks a shift from the old cable‑carriage model to a new “distribution‑as‑gatekeeper” paradigm, allowing conservative owners to shape what Americans see and hear across the country’s dominant streaming platforms. Read more: https://www.salon.com/2026/06/21/with-roku-fox-just-won-the-streaming-wars-for-the-right/ #Roku #FoxCorporation #billionaires #streamingwars #DavidEllison #LarryEllison

News Headlines | RAM Jam: Why Apple & other tech firms' prices have spiked AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Apple’s recent price‑hike announcement revealed that many of its products – from the Apple TV and iPad Air to the 14‑inch MacBook Pro and the flagship Mac Studio M3 Ultra – have seen price increases of 15‑50%, with the only major line left untouched being the iPhone. CEO Tim Cook blamed “unsustainable” component cost rises, especially a dramatic surge in RAM prices dubbed “RAMageddon,” which has been fed by soaring demand for AI‑driven data‑centre hardware. The same pressure is prompting other manufacturers such as Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, Asus and HP to lift their prices, while the higher cost of processors and memory is also inflating console prices and squeezing consumer budgets. Although Apple’s profit margins remain high, the industry‑wide price inflation could curb consumer spending, with analysts forecasting double‑digit declines in smartphone and PC sales and suggesting that only a few component makers like SK Hynix and Micron will truly benefit from the current cycle. Read more: https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2026/0704/1581697-apple-tech-ram/ #Apple #Samsung #SKHynix #Micron #business

CounterPunch.org | Musk’s Trillion-Dollar Fortune is a Flashing Warning Light for Democracy by Chuck Collins AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Elon Musk’s ascent to the world’s first trillion‑dollar fortune is presented as a stark warning for American democracy, illustrating how extreme concentration of wealth can warp markets, politics and society. The article notes that SpaceX’s recent valuation pushed Musk’s net‑worth past $1 trillion, and highlights his unchecked use of that power: buying and reshaping Twitter into the partisan platform X, donating $291 million to Donald Trump and Republican candidates in 2024, and securing lucrative government contracts while influencing policy through a newly created “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) that undermined agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and slashed humanitarian programs, contributing to hundreds of thousands of deaths. The piece broadens the concern to all U.S. ultra‑wealthy, whose combined $9.24 trillion holdings amplify political sway while ordinary Americans struggle for basic needs, arguing that a wealth tax—illustrated by Oxfam’s estimate that a 10 % levy on Musk alone could lift 800 million people out of extreme poverty—offers a concrete step toward curbing this modern‑pharaonic power and restoring democratic equity. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/29/musks-trillion-dollar-fortune-is-a-flashing-warning-light-for-democracy/ #ElonMusk #SpaceX #Twitter #DonaldTrump #Forbes #MichaelMechanic

Slate Magazine | Wait, Trump Made HOW Much Money as President?! by Ian Prasad Philbrick AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article reports that Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosure shows an explosive rise in personal income—at least $2.2 billion in 2025, more than three times what he reported the year before—driven by $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures, $575 million from real‑estate holdings, and $86.5 million in settlement fees from media and tech lawsuits. Analysts argue this surge suggests the presidency is being leveraged for profit, citing actions such as exempting Trump‑branded crypto tokens from SEC oversight, facilitating a UAE chip deal that coincided with a $2 billion investment in his crypto business, and allowing the Trump Organization to pursue new foreign deals despite earlier promises to refrain. Compared with historical precedents, the scale of Trump's earnings vastly exceeds those of prior presidents and their families, who typically earned millions rather than billions. Trump dismissed the allegations, attributing his gains to a rising stock market and claiming no direct involvement with the financiers, while his sons Eric and Donald Jr. continue to manage the family trust that collects the money. Read more: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/07/donald-trump-corruption-income.html #DonaldTrump #EricTrump #SEC #UAE #GovernmentEthics #HarryTruman #GeorgeWBush #HunterBiden

NPR Topics: News | EV battery recycling has an economics problem. Colorado has a solution by Camila Domonoske AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. EV batteries are full of valuable minerals, yet many salvage yards can’t profit from recycling them because the cost of shipping and processing often exceeds the material value, leaving owners with “liability” batteries that sit unused or become hazardous waste. While large manufacturers like GM can absorb these costs and even earn revenue from recycling, smaller yards lack the economies of scale, especially with the rise of cheaper iron‑phosphate batteries that have little resale value. To address the growing risk of stranded batteries, Colorado enacted a “producer‑responsibility” law requiring the original automakers to take back and properly recycle EV batteries, a move backed by a broad coalition of industry groups, recyclers, and environmental advocates and seen as a model for other states. Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/07/13/nx-s1-5847025/ev-battery-recycling-economics #Colorado #Tesla #GeneralMotors #RedwoodMaterials #BrianBachand

CounterPunch.org | AI Abundance: the Clarity Act and the Stablcoin Wars by Ellen Brown AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. As the United States nears its 250th anniversary, Congress is advancing the “Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act” (H.R. 4766), which would embed privately‑issued, dollar‑backed stablecoins into the national monetary system—promising a new market for Treasury securities and a potential boost to the dollar’s global role, but also giving issuers the power to program, freeze, or seize funds and threatening the deposit base that underpins community banks; critics argue that while stablecoins earn huge profits by converting token sales into short‑term Treasury yields (as seen with Tether’s multibillion‑dollar earnings), their “programmable” nature bypasses constitutional safeguards and could divert anywhere from tens of billions to several trillions of dollars away from traditional banks, undermining credit creation for small businesses and local economies that rely on community banks—institutions historically vital for regional growth and equitable wealth distribution—thereby turning a debate about digital tokens into a broader contest over the future of banking, financial sovereignty, and how best to fund both the federal debt and an AI‑driven economy. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/01/416602/ #UnitedStates #Congress #ClarityAct #Tether #ProjectHamilton

The Atlantic | The AI Super PACs Trying to Influence the Midterms by Will Gottsegen AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article explains how AI‑focused super‑PACs are pouring tens of millions of dollars into the U.S. midterm elections to shape the future of AI regulation, echoing the cryptocurrency industry’s 2024 “Fairshake” playbook. Two rival groups have emerged: Leading the Future, co‑founded by Andreessen Horowitz and funded by OpenAI insiders, promotes a light‑touch, pro‑AI agenda and has raised over $140 million; and Public First Action, backed by Anthropic, backs candidates who prioritize AI safety and comprehensive regulation, receiving a $20 million donation earmarked for education rather than election activity. The clash between these factions is epitomized in New York’s 12th Congressional District, where pro‑regulation candidate Alex Bores—formerly of Palantir—faces a barrage of ads from Leading the Future while Public First Action spends to support him, with $26 million versus $18 million respectively backing opposing sides. The race is positioned as a “final exam” for AI‑linked political spending, set against a backdrop of widespread public distrust of AI, protests against data centers, and heightened debate over how the technology should be governed. Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/06/ai-pac-elections-midterm-money/687676/?utm_source=feed #GregBrockman #AndreessenHorowitz #OpenAI #Anthropic #PublicFirst #AlexBores

EL PAÍS in English | Is it legitimate to use AI to write a book? by Ana Vidal Egea AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article examines the growing controversy over the use of artificial‑intelligence tools in literary creation, focusing on the 2025 “Shy Girl” scandal in which a self‑published horror novel was found to be 70 % generated by AI and subsequently withdrawn by Hachette after public outcry; it highlights how publishers, authors and readers are split between viewing AI as a legitimate research aid and condemning it as a threat to originality, especially given the difficulty of reliably detecting machine‑written text and the risk of false accusations against non‑native writers. Canadian author Stephen Marche, who authored a novel with AI assistance and sees the technology as a “camera for a photographer,” notes that the literary world now resists AI‑co‑authored works, while others argue that transparency—such as labeling AI‑generated content under the 2025 European AI Regulation—is essential. The debate extends beyond books to theater, with the AI‑assisted play “Molière Ex Machina” staged by Sorbonne University, illustrating both the potential of AI as a co‑creator and the uncertainty about how much human input is required. Overall, the piece underscores the tension between embracing AI’s creative possibilities and preserving authentic, human‑driven storytelling. Read more: https://english.elpais.com/technology/2026-06-27/is-it-legitimate-to-use-ai-to-write-a-book.html #MiaBallard #StephenMarche #Hachette #Amazon #AI #JudithFeher_Gurewich

English – The Conversation | When companies face hostile takeover threats, they turn to ESG — and the whole community benefits by Lingyi Zheng, Assistant Professor, Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. When a firm confronts a hostile takeover bid, it—and other companies in the same industry—significantly boost their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments, rising by about 3.6‑6.1 % on average, according to a new study of U.S. publicly traded firms. This ESG surge is strongest in firms with fewer anti‑takeover safeguards and in states with constituency statutes that broaden stakeholder considerations. ESG serves as a defensive tool because strong ESG records raise valuation premiums, create legal, regulatory, and reputational hurdles for acquirers with weaker ESG profiles, and demand costly post‑acquisition ESG upkeep. As a result, the threat of hostile takeovers not only prompts targeted firms to invest more in sustainability but also spurs industry‑wide improvements that enhance stakeholder value, community relations, and overall corporate responsibility. Read more: https://theconversation.com/when-companies-face-hostile-takeover-threats-they-turn-to-esg-and-the-whole-community-benefits-284714 #LingyiZheng #USfirms #ESG

CounterPunch.org | How (And Why) AI is Eroding Democracy in the US by Tom Valovic AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. In this article Tom Valovic argues that the Trump‑era “Stargate” program—a $500 billion public‑private partnership with giants such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Nvidia and Oracle—marks a concerted push to flood the United States with AI data centers and surveillance technology, effectively turning the nation into a technocratic, authoritarian apparatus. He points out that the initiative, framed as a race to out‑pace China, actually embeds military‑grade monitoring (e.g., constant police supervision, camera footage from “Flock” devices) and is being embraced by both Republican and Democratic state leaders, including Massachusetts’ Gov. Maura Healey, who is rolling out AI tools across statewide government. Valovic warns that AI’s promise of a “single source of truth” threatens to make the technology a gatekeeper of information, supplanting traditional search and eroding public agency, while also driving hidden data‑center construction that strains local resources. Nonetheless, he highlights growing citizen resistance to the data‑center boom and the upcoming midterm elections as a potential turning point to curb the AI juggernaut and restore democratic oversight. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/23/how-and-why-ai-is-eroding-democracy-in-the-us/ #DonaldTrump #OpenAI #Microsoft #Nvidia #CivilRights #LarryEllison #SundarPichai

CounterPunch.org | How Public Benefit Claims Work…and Why Their Assumptions Matter by Reynard Loki AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article explains that “public benefit” language used by universities, nonprofits, corporations and public agencies is deliberately vague, packing many hidden judgments about what outcomes matter, which groups are counted, and how success is measured into a few buzzwords such as impact, sustainability, or responsibility. These statements rest on baseline assumptions—choices about populations, time frames, and criteria—that shape what is seen as a positive result and what is excluded, so different baselines can lead to vastly different interpretations of the same program. Because these assumptions are rarely spelled out, readers often accept impact claims at face value without realizing that the underlying definitions and measurement frames are flexible and institution‑specific. The piece offers a three‑question framework (what is claimed, what baseline assumptions are in play, and what observable conditions would confirm the claim) to help readers critically assess such statements across sectors, emphasizing that clarity about assumptions—not the presence of assumptions themselves—is essential for meaningful comparison and interpretation of public‑benefit claims. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/29/how-public-benefit-claims-work-and-why-their-assumptions-matter/ #articles2015 #economics

BBC News | Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100,000 jobs globally AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Volkswagen’s chief executive Oliver Blume announced that the group is now considering cutting up to 100,000 jobs worldwide—double the 50,000 cuts previously slated for Germany by 2030—as part of a drive to lower costs that are about 20 % higher than rivals and to streamline operations across all its brands. The proposal comes after a steep profit decline from €22.6 billion in 2023 to €8.9 billion last year, driven by falling sales in key markets such as China (down 26 %) and the United States (down over 7 % amid tariff impacts) and mounting competition from Chinese automakers. While the company has yet to decide the fate of four German factories, including two electric‑car sites, it has already agreed with IG Metall to cut 35,000 jobs at the VW brand and 15,000 elsewhere by 2030, and recent protests have intensified as the broader job‑reduction plan is debated. Some analysts suspect the 100,000 figure may be a bargaining tactic, implying the final number could be lower. Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2wzpwn51lo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss #Volkswagen #VolksGroup #OliverBlume #IGMetall

English – The Conversation | It may be almost impossible to make data centers pay their ‘fair share’ of electricity costs by Theodore J. Kury, Director of Energy Studies, University of Florida AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article explains why it is extremely difficult to make large data centers shoulder a “fair share” of electricity costs: the calculation and allocation of those costs involve complex regulatory processes in which state utility commissions identify a utility’s asset and operating expenses, then try to apportion them among residential, commercial and industrial customers based on usage, peak demand and other metrics. Because data centers can dynamically shift their power consumption to avoid coincident‑peak charges, they can often minimize their allocated share, while the massive infrastructure upgrades they provoke—new substations, transmission lines, and additional generation—are spread across all ratepayers. Moreover, consumer advocates are often constrained from directly defending residential interests, leaving households exposed to higher rates if data‑center projects are over‑built or become obsolete. The author urges citizens to engage in regulator hearings and public comment periods to ensure that the costs of expanding the grid are not unfairly borne by ordinary consumers. Read more: https://theconversation.com/it-may-be-almost-impossible-to-make-data-centers-pay-their-fair-share-of-electricity-costs-283946 #PJM #Datacenters #Electricgrid #Ratepayers #Utilitycommissions

CounterPunch.org | Oedipus Shrugs: The Undeep Grammar of AI by Greg Moses AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Greg Moses’s “Oedipus Shrugs: The Undeep Grammar of AI” argues that artificial intelligence cannot be treated as a linguistic or laboring subject because it lacks the lived, unconscious ties that give meaning to human speech and work. He critiques the tendency to label AI agents as “workers” or to frame higher‑education curricula around immediate market‑value skills, warning that such approaches undercut the deeper, psycho‑social understanding that true education should foster. Drawing on Marxist and Freudian concepts, Moses contends that college graduates need robust critical tools to navigate AI’s disruptive impact rather than shallow job‑training, and he warns that Texas’s political climate is turning faculty into wage earners while using AI to prioritize profit over comprehension. Ultimately, he calls for a return to foundational, critical inquiry so that future generations can grasp why a skill matters, rather than being reduced to “motherless” or purely utilitarian functions. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/25/oedipus-shrugs-the-undeep-grammar-of-ai/ #GregMoses #Oedipus

NBC News Top Stories | Anthropic will make Claude Cowork available to users via the cloud by Samantha Elkins AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Anthropic announced that its Claude Cowork agent is moving from a laptop‑bound system to the cloud, allowing users to run scheduled tasks—such as drafting emails—across multiple devices even when those devices are offline, though final approval will still be required from the user. Initially available only on specific devices, Cowork will now be offered first to Max subscription users in beta, with broader plan access planned in the coming weeks, and its usage limits have been doubled through August 5. The upgrade also merges Claude chat and Cowork into a unified workspace with shared file access, positioning Anthropic’s “agentic” AI against similar offerings from Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft while emphasizing a consent‑driven permissions model. Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/anthropic-will-make-claude-cowork-available-users-cloud-rcna353218 #Anthropic #ClaudeCowork #Google #Maxplan #Claude

NBC News Top Stories | Even if inflation cooled in June, experts say price pressure isn’t over by Steve Kopack AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Even though the June consumer‑price index is expected to show a modest dip thanks to falling energy costs, economists warn that overall inflation will remain a persistent problem as price pressures shift from oil and gas to other sectors. After a brief post‑MOU slump, crude and gasoline prices have rebounded, while dwindling storage supplies threaten further spikes. At the same time, a rapid expansion of artificial‑intelligence data centers is driving a surge in demand for memory chips, prompting tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft and Google to raise product prices and fueling broader “price stickiness.” Core inflation—excluding food and energy—is barely easing, keeping the Federal Reserve on alert; officials say a hotter‑than‑expected reading could prompt another rate hike before the July 29 decision. Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/june-cpi-inflation-oil-prices-ai-rcna587311 #ChristopherWaller #Apple #Microsoft #Amazon #FederalReserve

CounterPunch.org | The Global Revolution of Thomas Paine by Jeffrey St. Clair AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article “The Global Revolution of Thomas Paine – ‘To Begin the World Over Again’” by Jeffrey St. Clair (July 5, 2026) examines Paine’s enduring revolutionary vision, highlighting his imagined society in which poverty, ignorance, imprisonment, begging, oppressive taxes and want are eradicated and reason reigns. Using a 1791 satirical engraving of Paine as a backdrop, the piece explores how his ideas about liberty, equality and rational governance continue to inspire contemporary movements and debates, arguing that Paine’s call for a world rebuilt on these principles remains relevant today. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/05/the-global-revolution-of-thomas-paine/ #ThomasPaine #AlexanderCockburn #CounterPunch #featurearticles #JeffreyStClair

The Atlantic | Alan Greenspan Was ‘Not Quite God’ by Annie Lowrey AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Alan Greenspan, who died at 100, shaped the Federal Reserve’s reputation for independence and stability during his 1987‑2006 tenure, steering the economy through Black Monday, the early‑1990s recession, the dot‑com bubble and the Asian financial crisis while fostering a prolonged period of price stability and “great moderation” that bolstered public confidence; his understated, sometimes cryptic communication earned him a semi‑mythic “not quite God” status, but his faith in lightly regulated markets left the Fed vulnerable to the 2008 crisis his successor Ben Bernanke inherited, and although later chairs such as Jerome Powell acted decisively during COVID‑19, the era’s growing anti‑institutional sentiment and partisan politics now threaten the very independence Greenspan fought to preserve. Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/06/alan-greenspan-fed-independence/687687/?utm_source=feed #AlanGreenspan #FederalReserve #Fed #BenBernanke #UnitedStates

The Copenhagen Post | Maersk raises outlook by billions by Ritzau AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Maersk announced that, because of unusually strong demand for container shipping—particularly in the Far East—and a surge in freight rates, it has lifted its 2026 financial outlook. The Danish carrier now projects EBITDA of $8 billion to $10 billion, roughly doubling its previous forecast of $4.5 billion to $7 billion. Read more: https://cphpost.dk/2026-06-30/business-education/business-business-education/maersk-raises-outlook-by-billions/ #Maersk #business

The New Republic | Kleptocracy Is Trump’s Most Lucrative Business Venture by Timothy Noah AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article argues that Donald Trump’s presidency has become his most profitable venture, turning the office into a “rentier” enterprise that generates billions without traditional labor. According to his 2025 financial disclosure, Trump earned over $2.2 billion, largely from crypto‑related deals and a 60 percent stake in World Liberty Financial, despite those ventures losing money for other investors. The piece compares his earnings to top CEOs, noting that only Elon Musk’s Tesla compensation surpassed Trump’s haul. It describes how Trump’s family acquired stakes in crypto firms and Trump Media without paying for them, profiting from settlements and pardons tied to his political influence. The author contends that the president’s ability to monetize policy, extract “protection money,” and leverage foreign deals—such as the United Arab Emirates’ investment in World Liberty—illustrates a new, lucrative form of political kleptocracy that dramatically inflated Trump’s net worth from $2.6 billion in 2024 to $6.5 billion by early 2026. Read more: https://newrepublic.com/article/212644/kleptocracy-trump-lucrative-business-venture #DonaldTrump #cryptocurrency #kleptocracy #politics #worldlibertyfinancial #ElonMusk #ChangpengZhao

The Copenhagen Post | Sources: Microsoft to announce layoffs next week by Ritzau AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Microsoft, whose stock has been under pressure from artificial‑intelligence concerns, is slated to announce job cuts that will affect under 2.5 % of its roughly 220,000 employees, with eliminations expected in sales, consulting and the Xbox division, according to unnamed sources cited by Business Insider. Read more: https://cphpost.dk/2026-07-01/business-education/business-business-education/sources-microsoft-to-announce-layoffs-next-week/ #Microsoft #BusinessInsider #Xbox #business

English – The Conversation | ABC will trial using AI for journalism. What are the risks and benefits? by Timothy Koskie, Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Media and Communications, University of Sydney AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The ABC has begun a limited trial of generative AI—specifically Anthropic’s Claude—allowing about 100 staff members to use the tool in news production while also piloting its own AI system to turn regional radio bulletins into written articles; the experiment aims to free journalists for deeper investigative work and expand the broadcaster’s output capacity, but it faces Australian public scepticism toward AI and raises ethical and quality‑control concerns that require rigorous verification, even as AI offers concrete benefits such as faster data analysis, translation, and new investigative possibilities that could help journalists compete in a financially strained media landscape; the success of the trial will hinge on whether the ABC can harness AI to improve efficiency and storytelling without compromising editorial standards or eroding audience trust. Read more: https://theconversation.com/abc-will-trial-using-ai-for-journalism-what-are-the-risks-and-benefits-286841 #AustralianBroadcastingCorporation #Anthropic #ClaudeAI #ABC

BBC News | Chip giant SK Hynix raises $26.5bn in mega US share sale AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix secured a record‑breaking $26.5 billion in its New York share offering—the largest foreign listing in the U.S.—selling 177.9 million American depositary shares at $149 each and seeing the stock jump up to 17 % on its Nasdaq debut. The raise, driven by soaring investor demand (over seven times the shares on offer) and a 2.9 % premium to its Seoul price, gives the company easier access to U.S. capital to fund new plants and high‑end AI chips, bolstering its role as a key supplier to Nvidia. The offering comes as SK Hynix’s market value topped $1 trillion in Korea, its share price tripled this year, and the broader AI boom lifts rivals Samsung and Micron while the IMF notes AI infrastructure spending is cushioning economies from geopolitical shocks. Analysts see the listing as a litmus test for continued enthusiasm for memory‑chip makers, even as some warn it could draw investment away from South Korea’s domestic market, which the government is addressing with over $880 billion in joint investment plans with SK Hynix and Samsung. Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gym70r0y4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss #SKHynix #Nvidia #SamsungElectronics #SouthKorea #Nasdaq

Channel 4 News | Peter Murrell jailed after embezzling £400,000 from SNP funds by Kathryn Samson AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Peter Murrell, the estranged husband of former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon and ex‑chief executive of the SNP, was sentenced on 23 June 2026 to five years and three months in prison after being convicted of embezzling more than £400,000 from party funds, which he spent on luxury items including cars, a motorhome, Le Creuset cookware and Montblanc fountain pens. Read more: https://www.channel4.com/news/peter-murrell-jailed-after-embezzling-400000-from-snp-funds #PeterMurrell #NicolaSturgeon #SNP #politics #scotland #KathrynSamson

NBC News Top Stories | Judge says Trump admin attempted to ‘manipulate the judicial process’ with its IRS settlement by Gary Grumbach, Dareh Gregorian AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled that former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS was filed “in bad faith” to manipulate the judicial process and secure immunity for Trump‑affiliated individuals, rather than to vindicate any legal right. The judge found that the case was never truly adversarial, noting the $1.776 billion “anti‑weaponization” fund was a branding effort, and she imposed sanctions on several of Trump’s lawyers—including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, and attorney Alejandro Brito—and barred another lawyer, Daniel Z. Epstein, from filing cases in the Southern District of Florida for at least a year. Williams also ordered that Trump, his organization, and related parties may not reference the disputed settlement in any future legal or administrative proceeding, and referred the matter to bar associations for possible disciplinary action. Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/judge-says-trump-administration-attempted-manipulate-judicial-process-rcna587321 #DonaldTrump #KathleenWilliams #IRS #JusticeDepartment #TrumpOrganization #ToddBlanche #StanleyWoodward #AlejandroBrito #DanielEpstein

Mother Jones | A Little Law Gives Hope That Government Can Suck Less and Make People’s Lives Better by Sophie Hurwitz AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Effective October 1 2026, New York City will enforce a “Click‑to‑Cancel” rule that requires companies to make ending an online subscription as simple as signing up, allowing consumers to cancel by the same digital method rather than in‑person, by mail or through lengthy phone queues. The rule, announced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, DCWP Commissioner Sam Levine, and former FTC Commissioner Lina Khan, follows a failed federal attempt and builds on similar state laws in California, Maryland, and Colorado. It aims to curb “subscription traps” used by major firms such as Uber and Adobe, which have faced lawsuits for hard‑to‑cancel recurring services, and is expected to save New Yorkers between $21.5 million and $162.5 million annually. Businesses that violate the rule will face civil penalties starting at $525 per violation, with complaints filed through the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and enforced via 311 calls. The initiative is part of a broader city effort to curb predatory pricing and hidden “junk fees,” which researchers estimate cost the average family of four over $3,200 per year. Read more: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/click-to-cancel-new-york-mamdani-lina-khan-dcwp/ #ZohranMamdani #DCWP #FTC #NewYorkCity #politics #SamLevine #LinaKhan

CounterPunch.org | Abundance Jumps the Shark by Dean Baker AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Dean Baker’s “Abundance Jumps the Shark” argues that the popular “abundance” mantra— which blames excessive government regulation for scarcity and high prices—oversimplifies a complex reality. While some rules indeed block useful projects such as EV‑charging stations or broadband expansion, many regulations chiefly protect wealthy interests, from patent monopolies that keep drugs and medical equipment expensive to bankruptcy laws that let private‑equity firms shed debts and enrich themselves. The piece contends that the housing‑crisis narrative, which blames restrictive zoning, ignores broader factors: a pre‑2006 building boom, a post‑pandemic surge in demand, and Vancouver’s rapid population growth, which together drive up prices regardless of zoning flexibility. Baker warns that a blanket push to eliminate regulations—especially by Silicon‑Valley‑backed “abundance” funders—risks discarding rules that actually curb waste and protect the public, and urges a careful, case‑by‑case assessment before dismantling any regulation. (Originally published on Dean Baker’s Beat the Press blog.) Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/29/abundance-jumps-the-shark/ #DeanBaker #EzraKlein #DerekThompson #SiliconValley #economics

Times of India | Quote of the day by Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott: "My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But…" - why thoughtful generosity should never be delayed AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. MacKenzie Scott, in her 2019 Giving Pledge letter, declared that her philanthropy will be both thoughtful and urgent—she will not wait for perfect, fully vetted solutions but will keep giving until her “safe is empty.” The article explains that while careful preparation—understanding communities, vetting organizations, and planning—remains essential, it should never become an excuse for delay. Since the divorce that gave her a four‑percent stake in Amazon, Scott has donated more than $26 billion through her Yield Giving initiative, favoring unrestricted grants and trusting recipient groups to decide how best to use the funds. This trust‑based, rapid‑giving model, the piece argues, produces real improvements in organizational stability and challenges the conventional view of wealth as something to be preserved rather than actively deployed to address pressing social needs. Read more: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/quote-of-the-day-by-jeff-bezos-ex-wife-mackenzie-scott-my-approach-to-philanthropy-will-continue-to-be-thoughtful-it-will-take-time-and-effort-and-care-but-why-thoughtful-generosity-should-never-be-delayed/articleshow/132347658.cms #JeffBezos #MacKenzieScott #AnnieDillard #GivingPledge #YieldGiving

English – The Conversation | Data center fights pit social values, democracy and capitalism against each other by Lauren Mullenbach, Assistant Research Scientist in Environmental Justice, University of Michigan AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Data center proposals spark nationwide controversy because they pit the profit‑driven ambitions of tech firms and utility companies against local communities’ social values, democratic processes, and environmental concerns; in Michigan, for instance, a university‑Los Alamos data center was blocked when the Ypsilanti water utility refused to supply cooling water, prompting a relocation to a neighboring township, while state officials tout job creation and tax revenue despite the modest employment these facilities actually generate. Power companies covet the massive electricity demand—sometimes equivalent to millions of homes—and lobby for zoning changes, whereas community leaders often support projects for the promise of revenue but may feel powerless against corporate pressure. Everyday residents oppose the noise, land‑use, water consumption, and potential rate hikes, using public hearings and elections to push back, as seen when Utah voters ousted a legislative leader who had backed a large data center. The conflicts therefore reveal deeper clashes among capitalism’s expansion, democratic decision‑making, and the pursuit of environmental justice. Read more: https://theconversation.com/data-center-fights-pit-social-values-democracy-and-capitalism-against-each-other-285680 #technologycompanies #statelegislators #electricityutilities #datacenter #communityleaders

The New Republic | How Trump Plans to Crush Fast-Food Workers by Timothy Noah AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Tim Noah argues that President Trump’s latest Labor Department proposal to narrow the joint‑employer definition will let fast‑food franchisors escape responsibility for the wages and conditions of the workers who actually flip burgers, deepening a long‑standing “fissured workplace” in which corporations off‑load low‑wage labor to independent franchisees and contractors to avoid legal obligations. The rule overturns Obama‑era guidance that treated a company as a joint employer when workers were economically dependent on it, reverting instead to a narrow view that only direct hiring relationships count—a change that courts have already rejected as contrary to the Fair Labor Standards Act. By redefining “employer” to exclude indirect control, the regulation could affect roughly 15 million workers in franchised establishments, stripping them of roughly $1 billion in annual wages and overtime protections. Noah traces this dynamic to decades of franchising strategy, antitrust rulings, and the rise of the “share‑cropping” model that leaves most franchisees—often single‑restaurant owners—with razor‑thin margins and incentivizes the exploitation of their employees, while the parent brands reap profits and avoid liability. The proposed Trump rule therefore threatens to exacerbate economic inequality by further impoverishing fast‑food workers who already rely on welfare and low‑pay jobs. Read more: https://newrepublic.com/article/212452/trump-joint-employer-rule-franchises #McDonalds #LaborDepartment #Trumpadministration #fastfood #minimumwage #TimNoah #DavidWeil

The New Republic | The Important Missing Word That Discredits the Centrists’ New Letter by Michael Tomasky AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. In his piece, Michael Tomasky criticizes a recent letter from moderate Democrat Tom Suozzi and fourteen colleagues that lauds capitalism while conspicuously omitting the single word that undercuts their rhetoric—“monopoly.” He argues that monopoly, not democratic socialists or the government, is the chief threat to genuine competition and that centrist Democrats must confront it if they hope to unite with the increasingly left‑leaning base of the party. Citing rising economic inequality (the U.S. Gini now at 42), the surge of self‑identified democratic socialists, and poll data showing progressives now outnumber moderates, Tomasky urges the party to adopt clear policy commitments—higher taxes on the rich, a solvable Social Security, an $18‑minimum‑wage indexed to inflation, a permanent child‑tax credit, and robust antitrust action—so that Democrats can fight the billionaire “Epstein” class, restore competition, and avoid electoral defeat in 2028. Read more: https://newrepublic.com/article/212449/missing-word-discredits-centrists-new-letter #TomSuozzi #DemocraticParty #Monopoly #Antitrust #economicinequality

CounterPunch.org | Kevin Warsh, Fed Transparency, and Corruption by Dean Baker AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. In this June 22, 2026 article Dean Baker examines the implications of President Trump’s appointment of Kevin Warsh as the new Federal Reserve chair, noting the paradox between Warsh’s past reputation as an inflation hawk who opposed expansionary policy during the Great Recession and Trump’s expectation that he will lower interest rates. Warsh has pledged to shrink the Fed’s balance sheet by selling trillions of bonds, a move that would likely push long‑term rates—affecting mortgages and car loans—higher, potentially contrary to Trump’s goals. More concerning to Baker is Warsh’s stated intent to roll back the recent trend toward Fed transparency, reversing the openness introduced by Greenspan, Bernanke, Yellen, and Powell. By limiting public disclosure of policy discussions, Warsh could create fertile ground for insider trading and corruption, echoing the broader “Trump‑style” corruption the author argues characterizes the administration’s second term. The piece concludes that Warsh’s approach threatens both economic stability and the integrity of the central bank. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/22/kevin-warsh-fed-transparency-and-corruption/ #KevinWarsh #DonaldTrump #FederalReserve #OpenMarket #WayneAngell

EL PAÍS in English | He Tingbo: The woman who wants to change the chip industry by Daniel Soufi AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. He Tingbo, president of Huawei’s semiconductor division, unveiled a new “Tau scaling law” that aims to keep chip performance rising by shortening signal‑travel time through vertical LogicFolding rather than shrinking transistors, a move prompted by the limits of Moore’s Law and U.S. sanctions that cut Huawei off from external chip‑making equipment. After six years of development and 381 chips already mass‑produced, the upcoming Kirin 2026 could be the world’s first processor using this technology, prompting both optimism—analysts see it as a coherent post‑Moore framework—and caution over heat, yield and cost challenges. The strategy reflects Huawei’s broader push for self‑sufficiency after the 2019 trade blacklist, building an independent semiconductor ecosystem despite setbacks that once slashed revenue by 81 %. Read more: https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-06-15/he-tingbo-the-woman-who-wants-to-change-the-chip-industry.html #GordonMoore #HeTingbo #Huawei #HiSilicon #Kirin #JensenHuang

CounterPunch.org | The Troubling Precedent of Federal Immunity for Corporate Pollution by Matt Sedlar AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article reports that the Department of Justice has asked a federal court to dismiss the NAACP’s lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI over its “Colossus” gas‑turbine plant, arguing that the turbines are essential for data centers that run the AI tool Grok—deemed critical to U.S. military operations in Iran—and that federal policy, national‑security interests, and the public‑interest outweigh local environmental concerns, even asserting that citizens lack standing to sue under the Clean Air Act. The case stems from complaints by residents of Memphis’s predominantly Black Boxtown neighborhood, who say the methane‑burning turbines emit nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and carbon monoxide linked to asthma, heart disease and cancer, with measured pollutant levels rising sharply after the plant’s installation. The DOJ’s stance mirrors a recent Supreme Court ruling in Plaquemines v. Chevron, which framed corporate environmental liabilities as federal matters when tied to government contracts, potentially granting corporations a special shield that weakens local regulatory power. The article warns that such precedents could erode community protections against corporate pollution unless state regulators or a more environmentally focused administration intervene. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/29/the-troubling-precedent-of-federal-immunity-for-corporate-pollution/ #ElonMusk #xAI #NAACP #EPA #environment

Observer | When the Future Came to City Hall: The Forgotten Blueprint for A.I. Governance by Michael John Gorman AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article argues that today’s AI governance crisis can learn from the 1976 Cambridge debate over recombinant‑DNA research, where ordinary citizens—not just scientists or regulators—were convened in a public review board to weigh risks, craft safeguards, and ultimately enable a thriving biotech hub. It notes that leading AI firms now acknowledge the need to slow development, while AI’s rapid spread poses unprecedented societal, security, and mental‑health challenges. Rather than choosing between reckless acceleration or outright prohibition, the piece advocates a third path: ground‑level citizen assemblies that deliberate AI policy locally, similar to past successes in DNA oversight, Irish abortion reform, and Taiwanese digital forums. By involving the public directly, the author contends we can build trusted, effective regulations that both protect the public and foster innovation, just as Cambridge’s inclusive approach helped launch today’s most innovative district. Read more: https://observer.com/2026/07/what-cambridge-dna-debate-teaches-ai-governance/ #Anthropic #Asilomarconference #artificialintelligence #regulation #technology

NPR Topics: Home Page Top Stories | 'Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep' is full of beautifully written grotesqueries by Gabino Iglesias AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Paul Tremblay’s latest novel *Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep* is a wildly original blend of psychological, dystopian, sci‑fi and horror that follows Julia Flang, a former semi‑pro gamer stuck in dead‑end jobs, who accepts a lucrative but ethically fraught job: using a controller‑built‑into‑a‑phone to puppeteer a man in a vegetative state (dubbed “Bernie”) and ferry him from California to the East Coast. The story alternates between ordinary, chronological chapters from Julia’s point of view and fragmented, second‑person “fever‑dream” sections that plunge readers into Bernie’s disorienting consciousness, while the narrative constantly interrogates AI‑driven control, the nature of consciousness, corporate greed, and what it means to be human. Tremblay’s experimental layout—boxes, moving text, and meta‑writings that break the fourth wall—creates a grotesquely beautiful, unsettling reading experience, mixing dark humor with big philosophical questions, and solidifies the novel as a top‑tier, innovative horror work that confronts the growing anxieties around generative AI. Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/06/30/nx-s1-5874625/dead-but-dreaming-of-electric-sheep-paul-tremblay-review #PaulTremblay #JuliaFlang #Bernie

The Copenhagen Post | US inflation has taken a surprising dip by Ritzau AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. US inflation fell more than expected in June, with consumer prices rising only 3.5 % year‑on‑year, down from 4.2 % in May and below the 3.8 % forecast, a drop largely driven by a 5.7 % fall in energy costs; according to Kristian Skriver, head of macroeconomics at Dansk Erhverv, the softer data should give Federal Reserve policymakers greater confidence to keep interest rates at their current level. Read more: https://cphpost.dk/2026-07-14/global/us-inflation-has-taken-a-surprising-dip/ #KristianSkriver #DanskErhverv #FederalReserve #global

CounterPunch.org | The Left and Breaching Capitalism’s Digital Fortress by Rezgar Akrawi AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article argues that the left’s struggle for socialist liberation now takes place in a digital battlefield where algorithms, artificial intelligence, big‑data analytics and monopolistic tech platforms serve as the primary instruments of capitalist domination. It explains how recent crises—from the 2008 financial collapse to the COVID‑19 pandemic and the AI boom since 2023—have shown that capitalism uses advanced technology to sidestep its exploitative core, worsening labor precarity while enriching a handful of corporations. To survive, the left must move beyond treating technology as a peripheral tool and instead develop a collective, open‑source digital vision that puts AI and data under democratic control, creates cooperative platforms, and integrates scientific methods with grassroots organizing. By mastering the logic of algorithms and building “popular” or “digital cooperative” alternatives, the left can transform technology from a means of oppression into a weapon for social justice, labor rights, and a humane socialist future. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/26/the-left-and-breaching-capitalisms-digital-fortress/ #economics

Observer | CrowdStrike President on How Claude Mythos Rattles the Cybersecurity Industry by Tim Keary AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. CrowdStrike president Michael Sentonas explains that Anthropic’s new AI model Claude Mythos—highlighted for its ability to pinpoint vulnerabilities in browsers and operating systems—has sparked intense industry interest and concern, prompting “the phones” to go crazy when CrowdStrike’s involvement was announced. Through participation in Anthropic’s Project Glasswing and OpenAI’s Trusted Access for Cyber program, CrowdStrike is testing the model, advising CEOs, CIOs and CSOs on its capabilities, realistic expectations, and associated risks, while also offering practical guidance on vulnerability scanning and cost management. Although Mythos has not yet produced major surprises for CrowdStrike internally, its potential to accelerate the discovery and exploitation of thousands of vulnerabilities daily could dramatically shift the cyber‑threat landscape, especially as export controls are lifted and access broadens. Sentonas emphasizes that organizations must prepare now, using programs like Project Glasswing, before such frontier AI tools become widely available to attackers. Read more: https://observer.com/2026/07/crowdstrike-president-claude-mythos-rattle-cybersecurity/ #CrowdStrike #Anthropic #ClaudeMythos #artificialintelligence #cybersecurity #MichaelSentonas

CounterPunch.org | A Hard Reset for Corporate Power by David S. D’Amato AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. In “A Hard Reset for Corporate Power,” David S. D’Amato explains how Hawaii’s recent law — which prohibits corporations from spending money to influence elections by redefining corporate charters — is part of a broader “Corporate Power Reset” movement that seeks to dismantle the state‑created privileges that enable corporate dominance. He argues that corporations are not natural market actors but legal fictions granted special rights by the state, and that this intertwined state‑capital relationship underlies systemic inequality, political capture, and the erosion of democratic accountability. By rewiring corporate statutes rather than merely regulating campaign finance, the movement aims to expose and confront the deeper structural power of the corporate economy, challenging the notion that corporate influence is a separate, “private” sphere and urging a fundamental reevaluation of how economic and political power are co‑produced. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/01/a-hard-reset-for-corporate-power/ #Hawaii #CorporatePower #SP500 #assetmanagementfirms #economics

The Copenhagen Post | Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs globally by Ritzau AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Microsoft announced it will cut around 4,800 jobs—about two percent of its global workforce—in a comprehensive restructuring, with the majority of the reductions targeting its Xbox gaming division, according to AFP. Read more: https://cphpost.dk/2026-07-07/global/microsoft-cuts-4800-jobs-globally/ #Microsoft #AFP #Ritzau #Xbox #global

News Headlines | Microsoft informs Govt of threat to Irish-based jobs AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Microsoft has warned the Irish Government that its global reduction of roughly 4,800 jobs – about 2.1 % of its workforce – could affect its Irish operations, which total around 6,000 employees across Microsoft and LinkedIn. The cuts come as the company pours money into AI infrastructure and seeks efficiency gains, while its shares have dropped nearly 23 % in the first half of 2026, the worst performance since 2022. Microsoft, which had about 228,000 full‑time staff as of June 2025, has already offered voluntary buyouts to roughly 7 % of its U.S. workforce and is feeling pressure from rising AI‑related costs, a softening gaming division, and broader tech‑sector layoffs at firms such as Amazon and Meta. The Irish Department of Enterprise has received the collective redundancy notice, but Microsoft has not disclosed how many Irish jobs are at risk. Read more: https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2026/0706/1582029-microsoft-job-cuts/ #Microsoft #DepartmentofEnterprise #LinkedIn #Xbox #AshaSharma

News Headlines | PwC staffer working remotely from India instead of Dublin AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. A Workplace Relations Commission adjudicator dismissed a PwC employee’s claim of unfair dismissal after finding that senior associate Jasch Asher had been working remotely from India for weeks in breach of his contract, which required him to be based in Ireland and limited overseas remote work to 30 days. PwC discovered his location through access‑card and internet data, suspended him, and when Asher admitted he intended to stay in India and refused to return to Dublin, the firm terminated his employment. The adjudicator concluded that Asher “was the author of his own predicament,” that PwC had “substantial grounds” for the dismissal under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, and therefore dismissed the complaint. Read more: https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2026/0709/1582594-pwc-staffer-working-remotely-from-india-instead-of-dublin/ #PwC #JaschAsher #WRC #CiaraOReilly #NiamhOCarroll

The Atlantic | SpaceX Just Needs the Money by James Surowiecki AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. This year’s record‑breaking IPOs—SpaceX’s $75 billion offering and the pending floats of AI leaders Anthropic and OpenAI—signal a fundamental shift in the technology sector: unlike earlier tech listings that chiefly let early investors cash out, today’s companies are going public to fund the exorbitant costs of competing in the AI race, with SpaceX alone burning $1 billion a month on AI and OpenAI losing $38.5 billion last year. As public markets flood with tens of billions of new shares, even established giants such as Alphabet, Oracle, and potentially Meta are issuing stock to bankroll AI initiatives, a trend that contrasts with the 1990s boom of IPOs and reflects a broader move toward massive capital‑raising despite ongoing unprofitability, raising questions about market sustainability and the risk of a bubble. Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/06/spacex-ipo-tech-companies/687659/?utm_source=feed #SpaceX #Anthropic #OpenAI #Alphabet #Oracle #JamesSurowiecki #CharlieWarzel #OwenLamont