American auto workers might ditch the assembly lines for picket lines next month. The nearly 150,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) members employed at the Big 3 in Michigan voted overwhelmingly this week to authorize a strike if Ford, GM, and Stellantis don’t reach a deal with the union before the current contract expires on September 14.

A work stoppage at the largest carmakers in the country could be the economic equivalent of a head-on collision.

• A 10-day strike at all three would cost a whopping $5 billion, Anderson Economic Group estimates.
• And good luck shopping for a new ride: A prolonged strike could empty dealer lots. Car inventories are already near an all-time low, while car prices sit near record highs.

What might be on the picket signs?

The UAW asserts that workers deserve to share in the automaking trio’s successes. GM and Stellantis raked in record profits in recent years, and Ford has also seen strong earnings.

The union is demanding…

• A 40% wage increase over the term of the next four-year contract, and a 32-hour workweek (instead of the current 40 hours) without pay cuts.
• The return of benefits like company-provided pension plans and cost-of-living pay bumps that workers lost shortly before the government stepped in to bail out the auto industry during the 2008 financial crisis.

The UAW is also seeking provisions to protect workers as the industry shifts to EV production, which tends to require less labor, often for lower pay.

Looking ahead…the union could launch a work stoppage at just one or two of the automakers or all three (which would be a historic first) if a deal isn’t reached. Analysts think a Stellantis strike is the most likely, given that UAW’s firebrand president, Shawn Fain, dramatically tossed its contract proposal in the trash on a Facebook Live.—SK

Stuck in a perpetual “I’ll do it tomorrow” mindset when it comes to getting your finances on track? You’re not alone. But the market remains challenging and unpredictable—and now’s the time to finally ace your money game.

Luckily for you, we worked with Discover^® to help you do just that. We put together a 30-day financial literacy calendar that covers the ins and outs of money management and shows you how to achieve top-notch financial health.

Curious about what’s included? We’ve loaded this calendar with all kinds of tips and info on subjects like:

• boosting your credit score
• tracking expenses
• planning for retirement

Say hello to 30 days of financial health.

Discover Bank, Member FDIC.

It’s JPow’s party and he’ll raise rates if he wants to. Speaking at the Jackson Hole Symposium, an annual meeting of central bankers from around the globe at a former Wild West outpost, the Fed chair said inflation “remains too high” and “we are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate” and to keep them high. So, why didn’t the stock market nose-dive like it did after last year’s similarly hawkish Powell speech? It helps that inflation has come down considerably since then (which Powell acknowledged) and that he nodded to the dangers of the Fed doing too much as well as too little.

You can soon add Instacart stock to your shopping list. The company filed paperwork for its eagerly anticipated IPO yesterday, setting expectations that it will start publicly selling shares next month. Instacart’s Nasdaq debut is likely to be the first IPO for a major venture capital-backed tech company since 2021. The filing showed that although the company has had to lower its valuation and its core grocery delivery business has slowed, Instacart still raked in $242 million in profit in the first half of this year, thanks in part to revenue from sources like advertising and technology services. The company also revealed that Pepsi has agreed to buy $175 million of the company’s stock through a private placement.

Heineken sold its Russian business for €1. The sale to a Russian conglomerate will cost the Dutch beer company €300 million ($325 million), but it will allow Heineken to finally pull out of Russia entirely. As many Western businesses quickly fled Russia after it invaded Ukraine, Heineken faced criticism for not removing itself faster, and its slow exodus reflects the challenges for foreign companies trying to depart from the nation. But continuing to operate in Russia is no picnic for foreign businesses either: Last month, Russia seized assets of fellow European brewer Carlsberg and yogurt purveyor Danone.

The man who fell from the public’s good graces for keeping Taylor Swift’s original album masters under his thumb has been under a microscope this week for appearing to have lost several high-profile artists from his all-star management roster.

The confirmed departures from Scooter Braun’s management company, SB Projects, are Demi Lovato, Carly Rae Jepsen, BabyJake, Asher Roth, Idina Menzel, and J Balvin. And according to unnamed sources in several publications…

• Justin Bieber is trying to break his contract with Braun, who discovered the swoop-banged singer in 2008, though their deal is supposed to last through 2027, per Billboard.
• Ariana Grande, who has worked with SB Projects since 2013, is also rumored to have said “thank you, next” to Braun.

A source close to SB Projects denied the Bieber and Grande rumors, and Braun even joked about all the apparent defections, tweeting, “Breaking news...I’m no longer managing myself.”

There may be no bad blood: After selling his holding company in a billion-dollar merger with HYBE, the entertainment company behind K-pop sensation BTS, Braun became the CEO of its US arm in January. A source close to SB Projects told Rolling Stone that Braun is transitioning from his manager era to his chief executive era.—ML

The college football season starts today, but we already know it will be the last of its kind. With all the money grabbing conference realignment that happened this summer, this is the last season for many long-standing rivalries, tailgates, and conference names that at least sort of make sense.

Week 0 kicks off today in Dublin, Ireland, as Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish (fitting) face the Navy Midshipmen, but everyone’s mind is already on next year.

Next season, the Big 10 (which currently has 14 teams) will expand to 18, and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Big 12 will both increase from 14 schools to 16. That means:

• This year’s iconic Oklahoma-Oklahoma State and Washington-Washington State matchups will likely be the last.
• Next year, athletes playing for Oregon and Rutgers will make the longest in-conference trip in history at 2,463 miles.

With so many changes on the horizon, former Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby told the Associated Press, “It does seem like it will feel like a lame-duck year at some point in time.”

More endings: Since 2014, the college football championship has been decided by a four-team knockout tournament. In the 2024 season, the seemingly quixotic idea of an expanded College Football Playoff will involve 12 teams.—CC

Stat: Dallas now has something to brag about besides the brisket at Pecan Lodge. People ranked it the safest out of 16 major US cities in a recent Gallup poll. Some 74% of survey respondents consider it safe to live in or visit, giving it a slight edge over No. 2 Boston (72%) and a big one over No. 16 Detroit (26%). But perhaps more striking than which cities most Americans think are safe is which Americans think it. Political leanings played a big role: Republicans were less likely to rate cities as safe than Democrats by an average of 29 percentage points. And the impact has increased over time—in 2006, the last time Gallup conducted a poll with the same list of cities, that gap was only 2 percentage points.

Quote: “I felt vulnerable and the victim of aggression, an impulsive, sexist, out of place act and without any kind of consent on my part. Simply put, I was not respected.”

Jennifer Hermoso, the member of the Spanish women’s soccer team who was kissed on the lips by the country’s federation president, Luis Rubiales, while celebrating the squad’s World Cup Victory, spoke up for herself yesterday after Rubiales refused calls to resign and decried the outcry over his actions as “false feminism.” And her teammates have her back: They’re refusing to play any matches for the national team until leadership changes.

Read: Poison, bribes, and murder in the seedy underbelly of ’90s boxing. (Vice)

Buy: $4 movie tickets (for today only). It’s National Cinema Day, the best day to make your Barbenheimer dreams come true.

See: Jokić cut loose. And marvel at how tall basketball players look next to everyday types.

Travel tip: Budapest may have a famous park full of toppled Communist-era sculptures, but now NYC has a home for retired playground animals.

Watch: This video will make you appreciate the effort that went into getting you that coconut water.

Book rec: We think that productivity is all about hard work and discipline. But what if there’s another way? In Feel-Good Productivity, Dr. Ali Abdaal uncovers an easier, science-backed path to success—pre-order your copy here.⁺

^{*Sponsored by Southwest Rapid Rewards™ Credit Cards from Chase. +This content is from an editorial partner.}

Brew crossword: Before hitting the tailgate, plop yourself on the couch and solve our full-sized Saturday crossword. Play it here.

Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that knows there’s nothing a little plaster can’t fix. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Today’s property is in Blythe, California, a small town right on the Arizona border. Future owners will get the keys to not one, but two mint green fixer-uppers on the same lot near the Colorado River.

Amenities include:

• 3 beds, 3 baths
• Deserted desert view
• Vintage kitchen with the biggest microwave you’ve ever seen

How much for the hot getaway?

Open House: $229,900

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: quixotic, meaning “exceedingly idealistic and unrealistic.” It’s derived from the name of Don Quixote, who dreamed the impossible dream. Thanks to the many Spanish literature fans who submitted it. Submit another Word of the Day here.