What the Pentagon leak says about online anonymity

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is as American as apple pie. But it wasn’t always this way, and it’s putting the housing market in a tough spot lately.  A substantial amount of homeowners with low-rate mortgages are choosing to stay put in their homes rather than selling and buying a new one at higher rates. It’s created what’s known as a lock-in effect. On the show today, Andra Ghent, professor of finance at the University of Utah, explains how a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage became the norm in the United States, why it’s now putting the housing market in a bind, and how our mortgage system perpetuates inequality. Plus, could the Danish mortgage model work here?

Then, we’ll get into why the Federal Trade Commission is eyeing pharmacy benefit managers, the third-party companies that negotiate drug prices between health insurance providers and drugmakers. And, an editor at The Points Guy shares the story of a travel lesson learned.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Why do we have a 30-year mortgage, anyway?” from Marketplace
• “A Huge Number of Homeowners Have Mortgage Rates Too Good to Give Up” from The New York Times
• “A 30-Year Trap: The Problem With America’s Weird Mortgages” from The New York Times
• “Denmark’s genius housing fix” from Business Insider
• “Homeowners Don’t Want to Sell, So the Market for Brand-New Homes Is Booming” from The Wall Street Journal
• “FTC Releases Interim Staff Report on Prescription Drug Middlemen” from the Federal Trade Commision
• “F.T.C. Slams Middlemen for High Drug Prices, Reversing Hands-Off Approach” from The New York Times
• “State Pharmacy Benefit Manager Legislation” from the National Academy for State Health Policy
• “Prescription Drugs: Selected States’ Regulation of Pharmacy Benefit Managers” from the U.S. Government Accountability Office
• “Fed Chair Powell talks up progress on inflation but says rate cuts not imminent yet” from CNN Business
• “Software and social media to grab Congress’ attention” from Marketplace

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

In June, global temperatures had surpassed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for 12 months straight, encroaching on the goal set in the Paris climate accord. We’ll explain why scientists use 1.5 degrees as a key benchmark and why it’s important to have hard conversations about climate change. Then, we’ll get into an investigation revealing how insurers profited from false diagnoses of Medicare patients. And, a billion-dollar donation to a medical school and new developments in textile recycling make us smile.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “In a troubling milestone, Earth surpasses 1.5 degrees C of warming for 12 consecutive months” from LA Times
• “June 2024 marks 12th month of global temperature reaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial” from Copernicus
• “Burning Questions: What’s the deal with 1.5 degrees?” from Marketplace
• “‘We’re Not Dead Yet.’ Baby Boomers’ Good Times Drive the Economy.” from The Wall Street Journal
• “Insurers Pocketed $50 Billion From Medicare for Diseases No Doctor Treated” from The Wall Street Journal
• “How the Journal Analyzed Medicare Advantage Data” from The Wall Street Journal
• “Why scientists think they may finally have found a way to recycle clothes” from The Washington Post
• “Johns Hopkins to offer free medical school tuition from $1 billion Bloomberg Philanthropies grant” from The Baltimore Banner
• “$1 Billion Donation Will Provide Free Tuition at a Bronx Medical School” from The New York Times

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Hey Smarties! We’re on a little break for the Fourth of July holiday. So today we’re bringing you an episode from our friends at “This Is Uncomfortable.” It’s all about the fashion industry and the workers who make the clothes we buy (and often throw away). In this episode, producer Alice Wilder introduces us to one garment worker’s personal fight for fair pay and the push to improve conditions for garment workers like her.

Hey Smarties! We’re off for the Fourth of July holiday. So today we’re bringing you a super fun episode of “Million Bazillion” that’ll teach you and your kiddos about a bit of our nation’s history and a highly secretive landmark. It’s all about Fort Knox, known as one of the most secure places in the world, and why it holds so much of the country’s gold. Plus, its role in stabilizing the U.S. economy in a time of crisis.

Much in our modern lives depends on GPS. But the United States’ GPS system is getting old and hasn’t kept up with international competition. We’ll get into how this leaves the U.S. vulnerable to national security threats. And, new data shows that as abortion protections have eroded across the country, more young women have been getting sterilized. Plus, one nonprofit’s work to give kids who’ve aged out of foster care a bona fide college move-in experience, and a women’s soccer stadium’s surprise success story.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Why GPS Is Under Attack” from The New York Times
• “Rate of Young Women Getting Sterilized Doubled After Roe Was Overturned” from MedPage Today
• “Move-In Day Mafia Helps Kids From Foster Care Settle In College” from Black Enterprise
• “No One Wanted to Finance Their Stadium. Now Every Game Is a Sellout.” from The Wall Street Journal

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

It’s been about four years since the great remote work experiment took off for many employees who work computer-bound jobs. After plenty of back and forth between return-to-office mandates and work-from-home advocates, neither side really won. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the share of Americans doing some or all of their work from home has leveled off to about 35%. On the show today, The New York Times’ Emma Goldberg explains who’s working from home these days and how it’s impacting both employees and their bosses. Plus, the commercial real estate question looms large over the remote work debate.

Then, we’ll get into why the Joe Biden administration’s new protections for workers in extreme heat could be threatened by recent Supreme Court rulings and a potential second Trump presidency. And, the CEO of GS1, the company administering retail barcodes, didn’t see the QR code takeover coming.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Work From Home Data Shows Who’s Fully Remote, Hybrid and in Person” from The New York Times
• “Research: How Remote Work Impacts Women at Different Stages of Their Careers” from Harvard Business Review
• “More Americans now prefer hybrid over fully remote work, survey finds” from Axios
• “Remote Workers Are Losing Out on Promotions, New Data Shows” from The Wall Street Journal
• “Dell said return to the office or else—nearly half of workers chose “or else'” from Ars Technica
• “Tesla delivered fewer vehicles to customers for the second quarter in a row” from The Verge
• “Biden to announce heat rules as climate-related deaths rise” from Politico
• “Fact check: Republicans, not Democrats, eliminated the Senate filibuster on Supreme Court nominees” from USA Today

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

A Supreme Court ruling today gives companies a dramatically wider window to challenge federal regulations with lawsuits. We’ll get into why this is particularly important in light of a separate decision to overturn the Chevron doctrine, and how it could impact other federal regulations like the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete clauses. Then, we’ll discuss the Supreme Court’s decision on former President Donald Trump’s immunity case and where the heck we go from here. Plus, what you can do to protect the health of our democracy.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Supreme Court rules Trump has some immunity in D.C. election interference case” from NBC News
• “Supreme Court Extends Time Frame for Challenges to Regulations” from The New York Times
• “Biden to extend overtime protections for 1 million workers” from The Hill
• Post on Bluesky from Squire Boone
• “American democracy is cracking. These ideas could help repair it.” from The Washington Post
• “Five Strategies to Support U.S. Democracy” from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• “How to Protect Democracy” from Protect Democracy
• “Opinion | John Lewis: Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation” from The New York Times

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

There were no fireworks for the Democratic Party during last night’s debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. While Trump made false claims throughout the night, Biden did little to assuage fears that he’s not up to the job. We’ll get into how the Biden campaign’s fundraising strategy is already shifting and what it might mean for downballot races. Then, we’ll weigh in on Fourth of July travel and drone light shows during a game of Half Full/Half Empty!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Debate takeaways: Trump confident, even when wrong, Biden halting, even with facts on his side” from AP News
• “Biden-Trump presidential debate draws 48 million TV viewers” from Axios
• “Politics and ‘a tale of different economies”’ from Marketplace
• “Why taxpayers keep footing much of the bill for new sports stadiums” from Marketplace
• “Google puts an end to continuous scroll” from Marketplace
• “MTV News Website Goes Dark, Archives Pulled Offline” from Variety
• “Fourth of July travel is set to break records. Here’s how to plan.” from The Washington Post
• “Why drones are replacing fireworks shows” from National Geographic
• “We RICK ROLLED The City of Austin, TX With 600 Drones” on YouTube

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a huge blow to the Securities and Exchange Commission today when it ruled against its use of in-house judges to enforce securities fraud laws. We’ll get into why the decision will make the SEC’s job harder and what it could mean for other federal agencies. Plus, we’ll bust a common myth about Social Security and explain why homeownership is key factor in how Americans are faring in this economy.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “US Supreme Court faults SEC’s use of in-house judges in latest curbs on agency powers” from Reuters
• “The Supreme Court’s chaotic SEC v. Jarkesy decision endangers ‘hundreds of statutes'” from Vox
• “Social Security cuts are inevitable by 2035 unless lawmakers act” from Marketplace
• “How the Inflation Reduction Act could change the future of one Native American reservation” from Marketplace
• “Credit card delinquencies are climbing” from Marketplace
• “Are we living in a K-shaped economy?” from Marketplace

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

This year’s Supreme Court decision season has been a busy one, and it’s not over yet. We’ll get into the court’s leaked opinion on emergency abortions and two other expected decisions that have the business world watching. Plus, another round of Cybertruck recalls and why it’s fine to keep referring to X as Twitter (per one Supreme Court justice).

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Supreme Court Poised to Allow Idaho Emergency Abortions: Exclusive” from Bloomberg
• “Trump’s immunity, Jan. 6, abortion: The Supreme Court’s most controversial decisions are about to drop” from Politico
• “What would Congress do without Chevron deference?” from Roll Call
• “Tesla recalls every Cybertruck again” from Mashable
• “Tesla is recalling the Cybertruck again, this time because a piece can fly off” from CNN
• Tweet from John Shelton about the Supreme Court and the X/Twitter name debacle
• Your donation powers the journalism you rely on. Give today to support “Make Me Smart.”

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Lonely Leadership

What are leadership struggles? Many leaders act as if the point they’ve reached in their careers was easy to reach. From my perspective, as I progressed throughout my career, I ran into many different struggles. These struggles are some that I believe every leader will encounter. Rather than hiding these struggles from you, I will be putting them out in the sunlight for all of you to see. I have come to realize that all leaders are alike. As much as we think we are different, we are not as unique as we think. We all share the same struggles. On today’s show, I will be discussing the various struggles all leaders face and how to counteract them.

The first leadership struggle I’ve encountered is lonely leadership. As you progress through an organization it gets harder to find people that understand you. Great leaders are told that transparency is a must. Be transparent. Share things with others around you. While transparency holds importance, is it always the answer? Transparency is only important to a point. There are some things you should not be transparent about.

You should never be transparent about your self-doubt. Being open about your struggles with employees can cause them concern about your organization. Secondly, never be transparent about your opinion of others. Especially key stakeholders. They will find out. My philosophy is to never burn a bridge no matter what. This decision has come back to benefit me throughout my career.

Thirdly, never be transparent about confidential information shared with you. I’ve seen may promising leaders sidelined because of issues of integrity and trust. Building a reputation of integrity as a leader is crucial. It can be lost in just one decision. Don’t make that mistake. This will shatter your career. Being a leader is lonely. Who can you share things with? Your spouse? Not always. I remember when I was at Teligent and we were the hottest new thing. We were on the cover of Business Week, Forbes, WSJ, NY Times etc. My wife was at her hairdresser one day, and the hairdresser was drilling her about information on Teligent. He assumed she had access to confidential information and was getting aggressive. After that, me and my wife came to an agreement to protect her. I do not share any confidential information with her. Never. She doesn’t want to be in that position.

Is there anyone you can be transparent with? Your coach or mentor. Let your board/shareholders know that you have a coach or mentor. If you’re going to share confidential information with someone, they should sign a non-disclosure agreement. All of this said, you will be lonely as a leader. It comes with the position. Do you have someone that you can be transparent with?

What Got You Here Won’t Keep You Here

Will the skills that helped you reach your position keep you there? These things will not keep you here or progress you in your career. Look at me for instance. My specialty is technical work. I have not touched technical work in 15 years. I had to learn new skills in order to advance. How did I learn those different skills? Right out of college, I was told by my mentor Bob that in order to find success, I had to broaden my playing fields. I knew my specialty very well, but I needed to have a variety of experiences. What did I do? I rotated in marketing, sales, finance, IT, etc. I did everything. While these experiences broadened my knowledge, it wasn’t enough. What were the skillsets that brought me to success?

• Organization design - How do you structure a team? You have to be willing to adjust in order to create a successful organizational structure.
• People Reading - Each person is unique and you have to commit to learning them.
• Consensus Building – Learn the individuals and their objectives. I do one on one calls with each member of my board before meetings. This helps me to get a better grasp on the thoughts and feelings of each member.
• Objective Setting – How do you set good objectives? use OKR’s/make sure they are clear and measurable. Grant autonomy letting your experts use their skills to achieve ultimate success.

Consequences of Ideas and Statements

Ideas and statements made as a leader have consequences. Things will get taken out of context and all the sudden they become the “new law”. When I was CEO at Cable Labs, I told my team that the most common statement they would hear was “Phil said”. In many cases what I said was misinterpreted or misused. The best proof point of this in my career is press coverage. If you google my name and read the articles on the first 16 pages of google, not a single article got the situation 100% correct. At Cable Labs, we had issues with the press pushing out false information. This caused employees to start worrying about the longevity of our Colorado office. I had to call a meeting with my all my employees to address this issue. I made a commitment to my staff that day that they would hear from me first, and not the press. In fact, this created a new culture at Cable Labs called the “no surprise rule” to constantly remind my employees of this. Why do I do this? Because ideas and statements can be a disaster. You need to be hyper-vigilant about what you say, how you say it, and how you operate. Are you conveying statements the right way?

Creative Self-Doubt

What is the number one skill leaders are expected to have? Creativity/ ingenuity leading to product, service, and operational innovation. Many leaders get promoted to a leadership role because of innovation they are credited with. Look at Nobel Laureates. There is a trend of peaks seen from the recipients of Nobel awards. One in their mid-twenties and one in their mid-fifties. The question comes down to this. Do you still have your creativity?

What type of innovator are you?

Conceptual Innovators - “Think outside the box,” challenging conventional wisdom and suddenly coming up with new ideas. Conceptual innovators tend to peak early in their careers.

Experimental Innovators - Accumulate knowledge through their careers and find groundbreaking ways to analyze, interpret and synthesize that information into new ways of understanding. The long periods of trial and error required for important experimental innovations make them tend to occur late in a Nobel laureate’s career. Success comes from recognizing that as an innovator we need to shift from the conceptual to the experimental.

Let’s connect; I am on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. If we do connect, drop me a note and let me know. The email address is feedback@philmckinney.com or you can go to PhilMcKinney.com and drop me a note there. If you are looking for innovation support go to TheInnovators.Network or want to be challenged to develop the next big idea, check out our Disruptive Ideation Workshops. Don’t forget to join our Innovators Community to enjoy more conversations around innovation.

Peter Shankman, a pioneer in modern PR, marketing, advertising, social media, and customer service, profiles the famously nice executives, entrepreneurs, and companies that are setting the standard for success in this new collaborative world.

He explores the new hallmarks of effective leadership, including loyalty, optimism, humility, and a reverence for customer service, and shows how leaders like Jet Blue's Dave Needleman, Tony Hsieh of Zappos, Steve Jobs of Apple, Ken Chenault of Amex, Indra Nooyi of Pepsi, and the team behind Patagonia harness these traits to build productive, open, and happy workplaces for the benefit of their employees, themselves, and the bottom line.

Dr. Robert Malone is the inventor of mRNA Vaccine technology. 
Mr. Steve Kirsch is a serial entrepreneur who has been researching adverse reactions to COVID vaccines. 
Dr. Bret Weinstein is an evolutionary biologist. 
Bret talks to Robert and Steve about the pandemic, treatment and the COVID vaccines. 

Steve's paper on COVID vaccine reactions: https://trialsitenews.com/should-you-get-vaccinated/ 

Steve's Twitter: @stkirsch 
COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund: https://www.treatearly.org/team/steve-kirsch 
Dr. Malone's website: https://www.rwmalonemd.com/mrna-vaccine-inventor 
Robert's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwmalonemd 
Robert's Twitter: @RWMaloneMD 

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Find Bret Weinstein on Twitter: @BretWeinstein, and on Patreon. 

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Theme Music: Thank you to Martin Molin of Wintergatan for providing us the rights to use their excellent music.