Insider Finance - Business - Insider Today: DC is too old

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August 4, 2023

Happy Friday! Yet another thing prospective homebuyers may need to be on the lookout for: people selling plots of land they don’t even own.

To be fair, real estate can be confusing sometimes. The same goes for politics, especially when it comes to our older elected officials.

What’s on deck:

Markets: Stop focusing on the Fed and start watching this interest rate instead.
Tech: VMware’s new owner has plans for some deep cuts at the cloud company.
Business: Companies are looking to train their leaders in some extreme ways.

But first, you’re starting to get up there in age.

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THE BIG STORY

Red, white, and gray

Franziska Barczyk for Insider

The commonalities between Democratic and Republican politicians are few and far between these days. But there is one through line: Their old age is under scrutiny.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is said to have granted her daughter power of attorney over her legal affairs. The news comes a week after the 90-year-old senator appeared confused and attempted to deliver a speech in the middle of a Senate hearing vote.

Across the aisle, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made headlines last week after he abruptly stopped speaking in the middle of a press conference before being whisked away.

These recent incidents point to the ongoing debate around America’s gerontocracy, or the concept of old people governing a group significantly younger than them.

As of 2019, adults over 65 made up 16% of the US population — but by the time of the 2020 election, over half of senators were older than 65, as highlighted by Insider. And the 2020 presidential race was the first where both major-party candidates were septuagenarians.

A poll last year by Insider and Morning Consult found that most Americans wanted dramatic changes to address the nation's gerontocracy. Congressional term limits and medical examinations for elected leaders were among the measures garnering overwhelming support with respondents.

But while seemingly everyone is in favor of age limits for elected officials, the reality of those changes being implemented is a pipe dream.

Of course, that’s not to say youth is a guarantee of fitness for office either. But with the undeniable impact artificial intelligence is set to have on our lives, and the role the government will need to play, it seems critical to at least have people who understand the technology in positions of power.

Some experts already think the government is falling behind when it comes to dealing with AI. The Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian has said regulators aren’t equipped to oversee the tech.

And if some of the US’s elected officials can’t make their own legal decisions at home, how can Americans trust them to regulate some of the most complex tech in the world?

READ ON

TOP READS

3 things in markets

Before the opening bell: US stock futures are up early Friday ahead of a key US employment report.

Liu Jie/Xinhua via Getty Images

Why you should be focused on the 10-year US Treasury-bond yield. There’s been plenty of focus on the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, but the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond arguably has a much greater impact on everything from mortgage rates to the stock market.
What the Fitch? Whether it’s Jamie Dimon or Warren Buffett, no one seems to understand the rating agency’s decision to downgrade the US’s credit grade. Here are quotes on the move from eight of the top voices in finance.
How to crush a Goldman Sachs internship. Despite turnover at the bank’s most senior ranks, an entry-level gig at the prestigious firm is still a golden opportunity on the Street. Insiders detail how to convert Goldman’s nine-week internship into a permanent job.

3 things in tech

Broadcom CEO Hock E. Tan. Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Broadcom is planning to drastically slash jobs at VMware. According to people familiar with the matter, the layoffs will focus on nonengineering jobs. An employee previously said Broadcom leadership had expressed wanting to make VMware “lean and flat.”
Dating apps like Tinder and Hinge might soon add AI features. The tools would help users select the best photos for their profile and explain why matches are compatible.
Google just ended a controversial part of its performance-improvement system. The search giant axed its system of “support check-ins.” These manager meetings were precursors to performance-improvement plans (if the employee didn’t step up).

3 things in business

Arantza Pena

RIP to the death industry as we know it. Cremations are on the rise, while casket burials are becoming less popular. A few key factors are fueling this trend: the high cost of burials, lower religiosity, and the entrance of private equity into the sector.
Extreme leadership training. Farewell to trust falls and mini golf. Say hello to military games and pretending to be Tom Cruise in “Top Gun.” Execs at major companies including Nike and Pepsi are said to be paying up to $100,000 for hands-on calm-under-pressure activities.
Wall Street landlords are looking to sell you some houses. Invitation Homes and AMH, the two largest publicly traded managers of single-family homes for rent, are increasingly selling more homes to people, as opposed to corporate entities. But before you get excited, it’s not likely to make homebuying much easier for the rest of us.

IN OTHER NEWS

MMA, Robinhood, & more

Trump pleads not guilty (again). The former president went to court Thursday and pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to overthrow the 2020 election results.
Salesforce quietly cut a popular DEI exec. Jacalyn Chapman spent 12 years at Salesforce and was most recently VP of equality, employee advocacy, and belonging.
Ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York doesn’t want federal workers to work from home. He wrote in an op-ed article that it "negatively affected customer service.”
Mark Zuckerberg’s wife is fed up with his MMA obsession. He shared WhatsApp screenshots of their conversation about him building a fighting cage in their backyard.
Things you should know before getting fillers. An aesthetic physician shared seven tips, including that fillers can cause cold-sore flare-ups.
Robinhood’s stock is tumbling. Its average monthly active users plummeted by 1 million during the company’s second quarter compared with the previous quarter.

WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY

Gymnastics, Pokémon, & Beer + cookies

The US Classic gymnastics tournament begins. The two-day event features Olympians including Simone Biles, Suni Lee, and Jordan Chiles.
Pokémon Go Fest kicks off in London and Osaka. The second weekend of gameplay festivities will happen in New York City.
Happy International Beer Day + National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

LAST LOOK

The fit is fire

Cameron Reed, Juli La, and Sebastian Naranjo

Photos of Gen Z office fashion, which is shaking up workwear. Eleven Gen Zers shared their professional summer outfits, which blend their own styles with corporate expectations.

P.S. We’re working behind the scenes to revamp Insider Today. Got some thoughts you want to share? Fill out our quick, five-question survey.

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Insider Finance - Business - Insider Today: DC is too old

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