Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🇺🇸 Breaking down America’s economic disconnect
• 🎟️ The DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against LiveNation
• 🐶 Flying doggos

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.62-minute read (1,230 words).

P.S. We’ll be off on Monday for Memorial Day. Enjoy the long weekend; see you back here Tuesday.

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”

–Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Is the US economy booming or busting? It all depends on who you ask.

According to much of the official data used by economists, the US is in a pretty good spot – but many Americans have a more pessimistic view of the current situation, per a new Guardian-Harris survey.

A few examples:

• 55% of Americans believe the economy is shrinking, and 56% think we’re currently in a recession – however, domestic GDP, the broadest measure of the economy, has grown for seven consecutive quarters.
• 49% think the S&P 500 is negative for the year. It’s actually increased 11+%.
• 49% believe US unemployment is at a five-decade high, though the rate has been near a five-decade low since January 2022 (sub-4%).

“Key” economic data vs. reality

The survey is the latest evidence of a disparity between fairly promising data regarding the jobs and stock markets, and what many Americans experience in their day-to-day lives.

• When it comes to the jobs market, wages have struggled to keep pace with recent price increases. Since January 2021, the Consumer Price Index has risen by 19.9% compared to a 16.8% bump in average hourly wages, while the overall net worth of US households has grown an inflation-adjusted 0.7%.
• And, in the stock market, around three-fifths of Americans own shares either directly or through index funds. But participation is skewed towards the richest 10%, who own ~93% of all public equity wealth.

Looking ahead… There are a growing number of signs that everyday Americans are feeling financially squeezed. US consumer sentiment fell last month to its lowest level since November, credit card delinquencies are up sharply from this time last year, and the Fed this week expressed concern that inflation remains stubbornly high.

📊 Flash poll: Which of the following economic indicators do you consider as the most important when evaluating the US economy? (Choose all that apply)

• GDP
• Inflation/Cost of living
• Interest rates
• National debt
• Stock market
• Unemployment
• Wages
• All of the above
• Other

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🇰🇪 The US is reportedly granting major non-NATO ally status to Kenya. Kenyan President William Ruto began a three-day state visit to the US on Wednesday, during which President Biden is expected to name Kenya as a major non-NATO ally. Kenya will become the first sub-Saharan country to receive this designation, which allows the recipient to obtain more advanced US weaponry and engage in closer security cooperation with America.

🇨🇳🇹🇼 China launched military drills around Taiwan as a “punishment.” Yesterday, China’s military sent army, navy, and air forces into areas surrounding Taiwan as part of large-scale combat drills, which officials said were punishment for “the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces.” The drills came three days after Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te pledged at his inauguration to defend his country’s sovereignty from China, which claims Taiwan is part of its national territory.

🇷🇺 Russia has arrested five top military officials within the past month in a widening purge. The crackdown began last month with the arrest of Russia’s deputy defense minister on bribery accusations. Since then, three other senior Russian military members have been arrested on similar bribery charges – including two top officials yesterday – while a fourth officer who previously criticized President Vladimir Putin was detained for alleged fraud.

A legal battle between nations is now underway.

In one corner of the ring sits Live Nation, “the largest live entertainment company in the world" – and in the other, representing the nation of America, sits the US Department of Justice, which yesterday sued to break up LiveNation over allegedly anticompetitive behavior.

The lawsuit focuses on Live Nation’s “flywheel” strategy of capturing fees and revenue from concert fans and sponsorships, pouring this revenue into signing artists to exclusive promotion deals, and then leveraging this cache of artists to sign venues into exclusive, long-term ticketing deals.

• The company owns or controls 265+ concert venues in North America, including 60 of the top 100 amphitheaters.
• Live Nation also directly manages 400+ musical artists, controls ~60% of concert promotions at major venues, and, through its subsidiary Ticketmaster, controls ~80% of major concert venues’ ticketing – plus a growing share of the resale market.

The result? “... fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services,” according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

These practices have also created many non-governmental enemies for the company over the years – including Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen fans, and the all-powerful Swifties, whose outrage in 2022 led the DOJ to once again take a closer look at how Live Nation conducts business.

Live Nation's response: In a blog post, the company argues its market share is in decline and profit margins are low (1.4%), which doesn't indicate a monopoly.

Zoom out: The Biden Administration has been playing a lot of Monopoly – Go! Over the past year-and-a-half, officials have also brought antitrust suits against Apple and Google.

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💬 Quoted: “An experience that is truly dog-first.”

• A novel jet charter company is bringing a whole new meaning to the term VIP. The sold-out maiden voyage of Bark Air took flight yesterday afternoon, carrying 10 Very Important Pups and their owners, who paid $6,000 for the trip. Upon boarding the flight, the dogs were met with a cabin full of soothing music, lavender-scented towels, and all the treats they could stomach – including “doggie champagne” (chicken broth) and “barkaccinos” (cups of whipped cream). Bark Air says it’s already received 15,000 requests for routes outside of its current LA-NYC-London options.

✈️🛣️ Stat of the Day: If your weekend plans involve hitting the road or tarmac, you should probably prepare for extra company. According to AAA, 43.8 million Americans are expected to travel over Memorial Day weekend this year, the most in almost two decades.

🤔 Did You Know? The average age of cars and light trucks in the US now stands at a record-high 12.6 years, per S&P Global Mobility. No word yet on whether vehicles are banding together to form the AAARP.

📰 Worth a Read: Why Leopold and Loeb Committed Cold-Blooded Murder in the ‘Crime of the Century’ → (Smithsonian Magazine)

• ☝️ The European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope released its first scientific data yesterday, alongside new images of the cosmos.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Headway

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board (S&P: -0.7%; Dow: -1.5%; Nasdaq: -0.4%); the Dow turned in its worst daily performance of 2024.
• 🪙 The SEC gave initial approval to a rule-change that allows ETFs to buy and hold ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency; ETF issuers still need one final sign-off from the regulator.
• 🚀 SpaceX is reportedly considering a plan to sell existing shares at a price that would value the private company at $200 billion.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 The WNBA will award Toronto an expansion team starting in 2026, marking the league’s first team outside the US.
• 🏌️🚨 The Louisville police officer who arrested Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer, as he was driving to compete in the PGA Championship last Friday didn’t activate his body cam, contrary to protocol; police released footage of Scheffler’s arrest from two other cameras, though the department said they both fail to capture the initial interaction.
• 📺⏱️ CBS’ “60 Minutes” was the No. 1 most-watched news program on television for a 50th straight season.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Asutra

• 🌀 The NOAA forecasted an 85% chance that this coming US hurricane season – from June-November – will be busier than average, with record-high projections for named storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes.
• 🐦‍⬛ Crows have the ability to “count” out loud, producing a specific and deliberate number of caws in response to visual and auditory cues, per a new study published in Science.
• 🐄🦠 A second person in the US has tested positive for bird flu linked to dairy cows, Michigan health officials announced; it was a farmworker who exhibited mild symptoms and has since recovered.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🚂 Norfolk Southern reached a $310 million settlement with the EPA over damages from the 2023 derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.
• 🎓🏛️ The leaders of Northwestern, UCLA, and Rutgers testified before a House committee regarding their treatment of pro-Palestinian encampments on-campus.
• ⚖️ The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that South Carolina’s new legislative map doesn’t illegally discriminate against Black voters, overturning a lower court’s ruling. (The decision) | ⚖️ The families of Uvalde school shooting victims filed a $500 million federal lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers who were part of the law enforcement response. (Read more)

CLICKBAIT

• 🏆🎶 Apple Music’s 100 best albums of all time list.

Colorado State University is preparing for an event seven years in the making: the blooming of a corpse flower named Cosmo. 

Tammy Brenner brought Cosmo to CSU in 2016, and has been caring for it ever since. The corpse plant species is known for the pungent smell produced during blooming – and after more than half a decade, CSU's is finally ready to bloom.

• Corpse plant blooms only last 2-3 days, and happen every 3-5 years. 

🌿 Smell ya later: The conservancy where Cosmo lives will be open to for public corpse flower viewings – and smellings – each day of the bloom, which is expected to begin sometime this weekend.

Our weekly news quiz is live. How well did you pay attention this week? Let’s find out.

Below are three lists of ingredients. All you have to do is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Ground beef
• Cracker crumbs
• Yellow onion
• Egg
• Garlic powder
• Salt & pepper
• Feta cheese
• Finely chopped dill pickles
• Mixed herbs
• Whole milk yogurt

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Dry soba noodles
• Toasted sesame oil
• Natural peanut butter
• Soy sauce
• Honey
• Rice vinegar
• Garlic
• Toasted sesame seeds
• Green onion

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Active yeast
• Warm water
• Flour
• Sugar
• Baking powder & soda
• Butter
• Shortening
• Buttermilk

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☝️ Recipe #1: Dill pickle meat balls

✌️ Recipe #2: Sesame peanut noodles

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Angel biscuits