Plus: Why The U.S. Should Copy Canada To Fix Its Broken Air Traffic Control System |
Good morning,
In a primary election for mayor of America’s largest city, democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani pulled off a major upset. And some billionaires—especially those who backed his main opponent, former Governor Andrew Cuomo—aren’t happy.While the final count is likely to take a few days, Mamdani won on policies such as a rent freeze, free bus fares and tax hikes for high earners, and faced swift backlash from hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, among others. Dan Loeb of hedge fund Third Point declared on X: “It’s officially hot commie summer.” The Cuomo-aligned super PAC Fix The City raised a record $25 million, but as the Democratic party works to define its future, the outcome shows that big money is no guarantee in politics.
Let’s get into the headlines, |
|
| Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang became about $5 billion richer Wednesday, as his company’s stock was bolstered by bullish analyst projections about its AI offerings. Nvidia shares closed up 4.3%, as the firm surpassed Microsoft as the world’s largest company, with a $3.75 trillion valuation. The back-and-forth over the extent of the damage caused by the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites continues, as the White House and CIA released statements backing President Donald Trump’s claims that the strikes were “highly successful,” with CIA Director John Ratcliffe saying it at obtained evidence that Iran’s nuclear program was “severely damaged.” Then on Thursday, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claimed the bombings didn’t have a major impact and said that Trump acted out of “showmanship.” |
|
 | | Photo by Ron Watts/Getty Images |
|
| | | |
|
|
| The Trump Administration has pushed for a massive infusion of funding to fix the troubled U.S. air traffic control system. But some experts say the U.S. should look to its neighbor to the north for ideas. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has called for Congress to give the FAA tens of billions more to accelerate its modernization programs, claiming upgrades can be accomplished in three years that had previously been budgeted to take as long as 15 years. Bob Poole, a transportation policy greybeard at the Reason Foundation, argued that more money is not the solution to the unremitting decay of the U.S. air traffic control system. The FAA’s troubled procurement staff struggles to define how upgrade programs should be carried out and how the technology should be configured within three years, and amid the chaos in Washington, it’s not clear if Congress will come up with the money. A better way, he said, would be to follow Canada’s lead and privatize air traffic control. In 1996, the Canadian government spun out its air traffic control department into an independent corporation, Nav Canada. That gave it the ability to raise its own funds, and freedom from the narrow interests of lawmakers, who would bridle at any attempts to move jobs out of their districts. The idea of privatizing air traffic control has been explored periodically since the 1970s in the U.S., with the last attempt failing in 2018 as it faced fierce opposition from influential lobby groups for business jet owners and private pilots. Meanwhile, America’s air traffic control infrastructure has continued to crumble after decades of chronic underinvestment. |
|
|
| “Air traffic is increasing and the FAA is struggling to hire enough controllers and give them dependable technology to manage their workload,” says Forbes senior editor Jeremy Bogaisky. “Safety experts warn it’s a recipe for disaster.” |
|
|
| A Trump Media & Technology Group board member and leader of the deal to take Truth Social public has offloaded almost all of his shares in the firm since November, according to SEC filings. Eric Swider netted around $4.4 million before taxes from the sales, and it’s unclear why he got rid of about 90% of his holdings. President Donald Trump and his allies have pushed for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize over the tentative ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran, an award Trump has been angling to accept for years. Trump has been nominated for the award before, and four previous U.S. presidents have won: Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, Woodrow Wilson in 1919, Jimmy Carter in 2002 and Barack Obama in 2009. |
|
| Duke’s freshman phenom Cooper Flagg was selected first in the NBA draft Wednesday night by the Dallas Mavericks, and as a result, he will likely be guaranteed more than $60 million in salary over the first four years of his NBA career. Flagg won’t be the only rookie cashing in: Every first-round selection in this year’s draft is projected to earn a seven-figure salary, although each slot has a diminishing value. |
|
| In the wake of pressure from President Donald Trump, NATO members voted in favor of increasing defense spending to 5% of their annual GDP by 2035 during a summit Wednesday. The alliance reaffirmed its defensive agreement, naming Russia a “long-term threat” to Europe. In a lengthy Truth Social post Wednesday, Trump urged Israel to either drop an ongoing corruption trial against the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or offer him a pardon. Netanyahu was indicted on criminal charges of “bribery, fraud and breach of trust” in 2019, and the case first went to trial in 2020. Trump lamented that Israel was “continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister.” |
|
40.2% | The percentage of college students older than 22 | |
| Nearly 7 in 10 | How many students hold jobs while taking college courses, a 10 percentage point increase since 2016 | |
| 39% | The share of students that are enrolled part-time |
|
| According to one study, managers believe only 36% of employees are delivering great work—but those workers often bear the heaviest load and as a result are sometimes the most likely to leave. It’s critical that leaders find ways to recognize high performers, and likewise, properly audit low performers so that others don’t end up stuck with their work. It’s critical to not overload excellent employees just because they can handle it. |
|
|
