‘We Just Got Banksy-ed’: ‘Girl With Balloon’ Sells For $1.4M Before Self-Destructing
Economy
World economy at risk of another financial crash, says IMF
the myth of the frugal billionaire
“The implicit message on those kinds of stories is: ‘These people are good, therefore it’s okay for them to be so wealthy,’” said Sherman. “And what I argue in the book is that talking about any of this in that way avoids questions about distribution. Should they have $50 million to begin with, regardless of what they spend it on? That, to me, is a question that never comes up, partly because these representations of rich people as frugal or as spendthrifts is focused on their spending habits, not on what they have.”
Burberry, H&M, and Nike destroy unsold merch. An expert explains why.
"The British luxury brand Burberry brought in $3.6 billion in revenue last year — and destroyed $36.8 million worth of its own merchandise."
"In July 2018, the brand admitted in its annual report that demolishing goods was just part of its strategy to preserve its reputation of exclusivity."
"Shoppers did not react well to this news. People vowed to boycott Burberry over its wastefulness, while members of Parliament demanded the British government crack down on the practice. The outrage worked: Burberry announced two weeks ago it would no longer destroy its excess product, effective immediately."
"Yet Burberry is hardly the only company to use this practice; it runs high to low, from Louis Vuitton to Nike. Brands destroy product as a way to maintain exclusivity through scarcity, but the precise details of who is doing it and why are not commonly publicized. Every now and then, though, bits of information will trickle out. Last year, for example, a Danish TV station revealed that the fast-fashion retailer H&M had burned 60 tons of new and unsold clothes since 2013."
We won’t save the Earth with a better kind of disposable coffee cup
"The problem is not just plastic: it is mass disposability. Or, to put it another way, the problem is pursuing, on the one planet known to harbour life, a four-planet lifestyle. Regardless of what we consume, the sheer volume of consumption is overwhelming the Earth’s living systems."
Meet the Economist Behind the One Percent’s Stealth Takeover of America
"Nobel laureate James Buchanan is the intellectual linchpin of the Koch-funded attack on democratic institutions, argues Duke historian Nancy MacLean."
Why the U.S. Economy Is Having a Boom
The answer is nobody really knows, but there are many people who have ideas.