Kamala Announces Her Running Mate 🤝

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Politics

Kamala picks a running mate

Kamala Harris has chosen her Vice President, picking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz over Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania Governor) and Mark Kelly (Arizona Senator), who was described as the clear third option. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Secretary of Transportation Peter Buttigieg were also considered.  

The 60-year-old Walz is a former schoolteacher and retired Army non-commissioned officer, who has served as the Governor of Minnesota since 2019. He first got into politics in 2004, when he volunteered for John Kerry’s presidential campaign. He was inspired to get involved after taking students to a George W. Bush rally and did not like how the security team handled his students political opinions after realizing they were supporters of Kerry. 

Due to the circumstances of Harris replacing Joe Biden, already this late in the race, this whole process was sped up. Harris and her team finished their initial interviews with the final six candidates on Friday, before Harris met with her final three on Sunday - wrapping up the fastest and most intense vetting process of a running mate in modern history, which became official with Tuesday’s announcement. 

Her decision was not made until the Sunday sit downs. Harris was told by her team that she could win with any of the three finalists listed above (Walz, Shapiro, Kelly), but Walz evidently won her over. 

According to the New York Times, in regards to Harris’ decision, it was an “instinctive reaction to an instant connection, rather than a data-driven exercise.” Many believed Shapiro would be the pick, in part because it might help Harris win his crucial state of Pennsylvania. Or even Kelly, for the same reasons with Arizona. 

Cedric Richmond, a former White House Adviser who was part of the selection team, said that Harris “wanted someone who understood the role, someone she had a connection with and someone who brought contrast to the ticket.”

Kelly, a former astronaut, was seen as the third option of the bunch throughout. And, according to reports, Shapiro was very focused on his role and responsibilities as VP in the interview process. Which might have been seen as a concern, as Shapiro hopes to one day run for President himself. You wouldn’t want a VP trying to make decisions to best position HIM and HIS future, using the opportunity you gave him to prop himself up, as opposed to being your right hand man.

Meanwhile, Walz seemed the opposite, as he said he’d be willing to do anything for the team (which one of us hasn’t said that in a job interview before?). Harris, afterwards, described him as “joyful” and being “so open,” according to sources.

Which made it fitting when Walz, in their first rally together on Tuesday, said “thank you [Kamala Harris] for bringing back the joy.”

Walz had previously joined Harris on her trip to an abortion clinic in Minnesota in March. At the time, she praised him as a “great friend and adviser.”

In their first campaign together on Tuesday, Walz said he would love to debate JD Vance, which came around the same time he called Vance and Donald Trump “weird” and “creepy as hell.” 

We are 89 days from Election Day - Let the games begin!

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  EconomyIs a recession coming?

Monday was the biggest daily drop in the stock market since September of 2022, with the fear of an impending recession only growing.

The S&P 500 closed down 3% on Monday, while the NASDAQ composite dropped 3.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.6%.

This comes following troubling data being released in the July job report, and no rate cuts from the Fed. Unemployment went up last month and is at its highest since October 2021.

Which is concerning in regards to the Sahm Rule, which states: if unemployment’s three-month average rises by at least half a percentage point over the past 12 months, the nation is likely in a recession. This is named after Claudia Sahm, the former Federal Reserve economist, who told Bloomberg that we’re not currently in a recession, but are “getting uncomfortably close” to one.

Meanwhile, Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard, wrote, "In sum, no recession today, but one is increasingly inevitable by year-end if the Fed fails to act," in a note to clients this week. 

The S&P has now dropped more than 8% since July 16th, while The Dow has dropped more than 6% since July 17th.

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  PartnershipBranded BillsPersonality Hats are in

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If you want to make a statement with your company merch, hit up Branded Bills.

  Finance$2.9 Trillion Wiped from Stocks Amid Broad Selloff

Following up on the economic concern above: $2.9 trillion was wiped from stocks on Monday, in the worst day since the 2020 Covid-19 crash.

The technology sector was hit, as Microsoft dropped 2% and Nvidia dropped 5%. Alphabet (Google’s parent company) fell 2.7%, while Meta fell 3.3%.

But no one was immune. Amazon dropped 11% and Tesla dropped 1.92%. In the financial sector, JP Morgan Chase dropped 1.8% and Berkshire Hathaway dropped 1.5%. Eli Lilly, in healthcare, sunk 4.1%. Even Coca-Cola declined by 0.9%, while Proctor and Gamble went down 1.7%.

The energy sector (such as Exxon and Chevron) also saw declines, which indicates the widespread nature of the market downturn.

Following a tough few days, the stock market did bounce back on Tuesday, as the Dow rose 0.8%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each added 1%.

 Trump advocates for Bitcoin?

It’s been a tough stretch for Bitcoin, as well, as its price has dropped rapidly since Friday. CoinTelegraph estimated losses of $500 billion in a three day period over the weekend, leading to Bitcoin dropping below $50,000 on Monday for the first time since February 2024.

Former (and maybe soon current) President Donald Trump has been attempting to position himself as pro-crypto in recent weeks. However, he didn’t seem to do the cryptocurrency any favors this week when announcing it could be used to pay off the nation’s $35 trillion national debt. 

On Fox Business on Friday, Trump said “who knows? Maybe we’ll pay off our $35 trillion, hand them a little crypto check, right? We’ll hand them a little bitcoin and wipe out our $35 trillion.”

Following these remarks, Bitcoin dropped by 12% in 24 hours. Causation? Or Correlation?

Trump did speak at a bitcoin conference in Nashville last month, saying he would make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet” if elected. 

Trump, who wasn’t as big of a fan of cryptocurrency last time around (calling it “highly volatile” and even said he “wasn’t a big fan”), also spoke about creating a “strategic national bitcoin reserve.” 

Based on the past week, maybe Trump was right the first time.

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  TechGoogle, a monopoly?

A judge this week ruled that Google’s self-titled search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation. In a word? Monopoly. 

The decision was issued by District Judge Amit Mehta after nearly a year-long trial and three months after closing arguments. It was the biggest antitrust showdown since regulators went after Microsoft 25 years ago for its dominance of personal computer software. 

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” read the ruling from judge Mehta.

Google holds a 89% market share for search engines, which increases to 94% on mobile devices. They have spent more than $26 billion annually to make sure Google is the default search engine in as many places as possible. And it’s certainly paid off: Google currently handles 8.5 billion searches a day worldwide, which is nearly double of what it was just 12 years ago.

The reason why this (being a monopoly) is an issue, is because it thwarts any competition and allows Google to charge advertisers inflated rates. All while not having to invest any more time and/or money to improve their product, which in turn hurts the consumers. 

Monopolies are not good for us consumers. Think of Ticketmaster (who the U.S. Department of Justice is going after next with a similar lawsuit, following the outcome of this one). They bought out Live Nation and are now the only source to buy tickets to events firsthand. And because of that, they can charge whatever fees they want. Because what other option do you have? Sometimes the fees are as high as the actual ticket price! Competition is always good for the consumer.

Maybe you’re an old school wrestling fan? Tell us that (then)-WWF wasn’t better in the 90’s before buying out WCW and ECW, its two competitors… yeah, we thought so. 

A September 6th hearing has been scheduled to determine what sort of changes or penalties should now be imposed. Who knows what those might be, but it has been floated that maybe Google would no longer be allowed to be the default search engine of iPhones following this. This could open the door for other competitors, such as Microsoft. 

At the same time, Google said they plan to appeal this decision and an appeal could apparently take as long as five years. So maybe nothing will actually change for a while…

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