7 crisis in the canal, the heat's on Tesla

our team has a complicated relationship with the social medias. it’s not that they’re not fun to use, it’s just that they’re...you know, destroying democracy and causing genocides. anyways, TWR is now on twitter! @faisalc93 & @ahmedhcheema, we’d love to hear from you!

big idea: crisis in the canal

Reuters

1. a quarter-mile long, ten-story deep ship ran aground in the suez canal Tuesday, blocking all traffic in the longest such stoppage ever. hundreds of ships are waiting around the canal for it to reopen. the latest digging efforts failed, but officials are hoping high tides today and tomorrow will refloat the monster-sized boat. we’re sure Ross’s pivot skills from “Friends” would help.

2. the suez halves the travel time between europe and asia, with the only other route involving weeks of travel along the pirate-infested coast of africa. the canal carries a whopping 10% of all global trade, with an estimated $400 million of goods delayed per hour it is closed. oil prices shot up 4% on friday as a result.

3. this is a huge black-eye for egypt’s latest dictator, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whose economic plans centered around an $8 billion expansion of the canal. the suez only accounts for 1.5% of egypt’s GDP, but is a critical source of foreign currency. the canal has long been a symbol of the end of colonialism in the region, with the UK and france losing a war in the ‘50s over control of it.

4. this whole episode highlights just how critical a few canals and channels are to our globalized economy. the panama canal carries 5% of global trade, the strait of malacca between malaysia and indonesia carries a staggering 40%, and the strait of hormuz between iran and the arabian peninsula transports 25% of all crude oil. these numbers help explain china’s shenanigans in the south china sea, and iran’s in the persian gulf.

story to watch: the heat’s on Tesla

1. Tesla had a terrible week - it was caught threatening and firing workers who tried to unionize its plant in california, Consumer Reports called out its privacy-invading in-car cameras, the government is investigating 23 accidents involving Autopilot, and investors are increasingly viewing EV stocks as a bubble, not a boom. we don’t think smoking some pot will help solve these problems, Elon.

2. the regulatory and consumer honeymoon of Tesla is over. it’s finally being viewed as just another corporation - motivated by profit, hiding dirty secrets, and dodging the law. while its union-busting tactics are egregious even compared to Amazon, the story around Autopilot is worse. 

3. despite Tesla claiming it makes the safest cars ever, its flagship ‘autonomous’ driving product lacks key LiDAR technology (pioneered by Google’s Waymo), allows consumers to use it without paying attention to the road (an obstacle solved by GM and VW), and people have died with Autopilot engaged in similar driving environments years apart. disturbingly, Tesla refuses to acknowledge that calling their product ‘Autopilot’ encourages people to take their eyes off the road and not actually drive, despite it neither being safe nor near autonomous.

this week’s image: school field trip

• (Reuters) an italian shepard’s child completes virtual school work on ‘take your daughter to work’ day (jk, that’s been every day for the past year #rona)

this week’s number: $10 million for reparations in Chicago suburb

1. in an unprecedented act, the evanston city council voted on monday to distribute $25,000 in housing grants as reparations to every black resident affected by racist zoning policies since 1919. the money comes from a $10 million pot funded by donations and marijuana sales taxes.

2. this is unusual in many ways (it’s a local effort, not state or federal, it’s housing grants, not cash, and it’s tied to jim crow policies, not slavery), but is hopefully the first step in settling the debt we owe to black and native ‘muricans. there’s currently a bill in congress to create a commission studying the issue of reparations, but little organized action elsewhere.

what we’re watching: “Superstore” series finale

1. “Superstore”, the 22 minute NBC comedy with 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, ended its six season run on thursday night. starring America Ferrera (of “Ugly Betty” fame) and created by an alum of “The Office”, it was a workplace sitcom set in a walmart-like grocery chain. 

2. one of the few shows focusing on the ‘murican working class, it had painfully hilarious storylines on single motherhood, affordable healthcare, unionization, and undocumented immigration. we’re devastated to see it go, but thrilled to have enjoyed it for so long.

and, in case you missed it:

• GM became the first major industrial company to have an even gender-split corporate board

• Joe’s first press conference as president was a snooze-fest, other than him promising to run for re-election with auntie Kamala in ‘24

• an ontario motorcyclist was caught with a hand-drawn, misspelled license plate. that wasn’t actually illegal, but the mounties took him in after he refused to reflexively apologize when stopped.

the weekly rundown is produced by Yunus, Faisal, and Ahmed. learn more about us and email us your comments and feedback!