Recent Posts

First U.S. Malaria Infections in 20 Years

Written by Ricky Nave in News

Malaria is back in the U.S. – The CDC identified the first people to be infected with Malaria while in the U.S. in 20 years, with climate change possibly playing a role by increasing mosquito activity and shortening the amount of time needed for mosquito larvae to mature into adults.

Of the 5 cases identified, one occurred in Texas and four occurred in a single county of Florida – Sarasota County, just south of Tampa.

Map showing Sarasota County, Florida

Malaria is not a bacterial, viral, or fungal infection – It’s caused by protozoan parasites which invade and kill individual human liver and blood cells, and can even reach as deep as bone marrow.  As more and more blood cells are destroyed, your body becomes anemic and oxygen deprived.  Eventually the parasites begin binding to the walls of a person’s veins and arteries.  In the lungs, that leads to respiratory failure.  In the kidneys, it leads to kidney failure. In the brain, it leads to coma.

Fortunately, Malaria is usually treatable as long as it’s caught early.

Unfortunately, U.S. doctors aren’t trained to look for it anymore since Malaria was mostly eradicated in the U.S. by 1951.

It was eradicated by draining millions of acres of wetlands, dumping diesel fuel onto lakes and swamps, spraying cities and towns with DDT from airplanes and trucks, and spraying the interior of over 6 million homes with DDT.

Kids being sprayed with DDT at a swimming pool in the 1940s.

Number of People Who Summited Mount Everest by Year (1983-2022)

Written by Ricky Nave in Markets

The number of people summiting Mount Everest each year has increased from 23 people in 1983 to 704 people in 2022. That’s almost a 31-fold increase over a timespan when the overall global population has only increased by 70%. And that’s despite the median travel guide package for Everest exceeding $50,000.

The two interruptions to the exponential growth in Everest tourism occurred in 2014-2015 (due to avalanches) and 2020-2021 (due to Covid travel restrictions).

YearNumber of People who Summited Everest
2022704
2021461
202049
2019899
2018848
2017670
2016678
20150
2014133
2013679
2012574
2011541
2010532
2009463
2008428
2007611
2006483
2005307
2004335
2003264
2002158
2001182
2000145
1999116
1998119
199785
199698
199582
199451
1993129
199290
199138
199072
198924
198850
19872
19864
198530
198416
198323

Canada’s New Law Requires Payment for Links

Written by Ricky Nave in Law,Media & Content Businesses,Tech Industry

Google, Facebook, and Instagram are now required to pay media companies in order to display links to their news articles, under Canada’s new law, the Online News Act.

Immediately after the law passed, Facebook and Instagram announced they would be shutting down all news access for Canadian users.

Justin Trudeau and his political allies who passed the Online News Act have said they believe this withdrawal is only temporary and point to Australia which passed a similar bill two years ago. In that case, Facebook also pulled out in protest but restored news access less than a week later.

However, in Australia, many small media companies were losers in the end. Independent journalist bloggers and reporters didn’t have the resources to navigate the government’s negotiation process, even as part of a collective bargaining group, so they simply got nothing while their larger competitors received subsidies from Facebook.

Putting that aside though, there is still a critical difference between what Canada is doing now and what Australia did two years ago: generative AI.

This time when Facebook said it was shutting off news access, it also said it was conducting ongoing “product tests to help us build an effective [replacement for Facebook news]”. If Facebook decides to replace the 3% of its news feed that consists of actual news articles with AI generated paraphrases, it’s not clear that Facebook’s business would suffer any more than it would by paying news companies for links.

What is clear is that media companies would suffer. A lot. Because media companies gain a LOT more benefit from the free distribution of their links on social media than the social media companies do. Those links funnel users to ads and paywalls that monetize readers directly on media company websites. That’s why you see everyone from small bloggers to the biggest media conglomerates in the world pushing their links on social media without tech companies paying them anything. In fact, about 8 years ago, Facebook was losing so much traffic to media company links posted by its users that the company began systematically throttling the reach of posts that contained links. Most social media companies still do that today.

Despite those issues, a group of 15 U.S. senators led by Amy Klobuchar have advocated for a U.S. version of the Online News Act.

List of Senators that Sponsored a U.S. Version of the Online News Act in 2022

In 2022, Senator Amy Klobuchar led a charge to give America its very own version of the Online News Act, which was called the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act“. Here are the 15 senators who cosponsored the bill:

  1. Senator Amy Klobuchar [D-MN]
  2. Senator John Kennedy [R-LA]
  3. Senator Cory Booker [D-NJ]
  4. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI]
  5. Senator Cynthia Lummis [R-WY]
  6. Senator Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]
  7. Senator Susan Collins [R-ME]
  8. Senator Lindsey Graham [R-SC]
  9. Senator Mazie Hirono [D-HI]
  10. Senator Bill Cassidy [R-LA]
  11. Senator Richard Blumenthal [D-CT]
  12. Senator John Thune [R-SD]
  13. Senator Richard Durbin [D-IL]
  14. Senator Joe Manchin [D-WV]
  15. Senator Roger Wicker [R-MS]

References

[1] Canada Bill C-18 — “The Online News Act”

[2] U.S. Senate Bill S.673 (Proposal): Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2022

[3] Meta won’t negotiate with publishers, will end Facebook news in Canada

Terms Defined by the Online News Act

Commission means the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

News content means content — in any format, including an audio or audiovisual format — that reports on, investigates or explains current issues or events of public interest.

News outlet means an undertaking or any distinct part of an undertaking, such as a section of a newspaper, the primary purpose of which is to produce news content.

NOTE: Even if a news business (defined later) qualifies as “eligible” (defined later) under the Online News Act, the Commission may deny the new outlet the right to be bargained about under the Online News Act if the Commission is of the opinion that the outlet fails to satisfy any of the following five criteria:

  • The outlet is operated exclusively for the purpose of producing news content that consists primarily of original news content that is:
  • (a) produced primarily for the Canadian news marketplace;
  • (b) focused on matters of general interest and reports of current events, including coverage of democratic institutions and processes;
  • (c) not focused on a particular topic such as industry-specific news, sports, recreation, arts, lifestyle, or entertainment; and
  • (d) not intended to promote the interests, or report on the activities, of an organization, an association, or its members

News business means an individual or entity that operates a news outlet in Canada.

A news business is eligible under the Online News Act if it meets at least one of the following four criteria.

  • It is a qualified Canadian journalism organization as defined in subsection 248(1) of the Income Tax Act.
  • It is licensed by the Commission under paragraph 9(1)(b) of the Broadcasting Act as a campus station, community station, or native station, as those terms are defined in regulations made under that Act or other categories of licensees established by the Commission with a similar community mandate.
  • It produces news content of public interest that (1) is primarily focused on matters of general interest and reports of current events, including coverage of democratic institutions and processes, (2) regularly employs two or more journalists in Canada, which journalists may include journalists who own or are a partner in the news business and journalists who do not deal at arm’s length with the business, (3) operates in Canada, having content edited and designed in Canada, (4) produces news content that is not primarily focused on a particular topic such as industry-specific news, sports, recreation, arts, lifestyle, or entertainment; and (5) is either a member of a recognized journalistic association and follows the code of ethics of a recognized journalistic association or has its own code of ethics whose standards of professional conduct require adherence to the recognized processes and principles of the journalism profession, including fairness, independence, and rigor in reporting news and handling sources.
  • It operates an indigenous news outlet in Canada and produces news content that includes matters of general interest, including coverage of matters relating to the rights of Indigenous peoples, including the right of self-government and treaty rights.

Notwithstanding the preceding eligibility description, a news business cannot be deemed eligible if it meets at least one of the following three conditions:

  • It is the subject of sanctions under the United Nations Act, the Special Economic Measures Act, or the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law), or is owned or controlled by an individual or entity that is the subject of such sanctions.
  • It has its headquarters in a foreign state (as defined in section 2 of the Special Economic Measures Act) that is the subject of measures under one of the previously mentioned acts.
  • It was previously designated as eligible but had its designation revoked under paragraph 59(1)(c) of the Online News Act.

News content is made available if (a) the news content, or any portion of it, is reproduced; or (b) access to the news content, or any portion of it, is facilitated by any means, including an index, aggregation, or ranking of news content.

Digital news intermediary means an online communications platform, including a search engine or social media service, that is subject to the legislative authority of Parliament and makes news content produced by news outlets available to persons in Canada. It does not include an online communications platform that is a messaging service the primary purpose of which is to allow persons to communicate with each other privately.

Operator means an individual or entity that, through any means, operates a digital news intermediary.

The Bargaining Process

Here is how the bargaining process works under the Online News Act:

  • A news business requests the Commission designate it as “eligible”.
  • The news business (on its own or collectively with other eligible news businesses) notifies the operator of a digital news intermediary that it is initiating a bargaining process under the Online News Act. The news business must specify which of its news outlets will be the subject(s) of the bargaining process.
  • If the operator contests the initiation, the Commission will decide (based on the criteria discussed above with the definition of news outlet) whether or not to allow the bargaining. If the bargaining is allowed, then:
  • The news business and the (digital news intermediary) operator will begin negotiation or bargaining sessions over a period of 90 days.
  • If the parties are unable, within the negotiation and bargaining period, to reach an agreement, they may jointly request the Commission extend this period. If both parties do not share a desire to extend, or if the Commission rejects the request, then:
  • The news business and operator will engage in mediated sessions over a period of 120 days.
  • If the parties are unable, within the mediation period, to reach an agreement, they may jointly request the Commission extend this period. If both parties do not share a desire to extend, or if the Commission rejects the request, then:
  • Forced final arbitration sessions will take place over a period of 45 days. The Commission has ultimate authority to decide who qualifies to be an arbitrator. From the Commission’s list of arbitrators, the parties must select three arbitrators. If the parties cannot agree, then the Commission may fill any of the three slots with its own appointees from its roster of qualified arbitrators. As part of the arbitration process, both of the parties must submit a final offer, and the arbitration board (consisting of the three arbitrators) will ultimately select one of the offers to be binding. However, the arbitration can dismiss any offer and require the submitting party submit a new offer if the original offer (1) allows a party to exercise undue influence over the amount of compensation to be paid or received; (2) is not in the public interest because the offer would be highly likely to result in serious detriment to the provision of news content to persons in Canada, or (3) is inconsistent with the purposes of enhancing fairness in the Canadian digital news marketplace and contributing to its sustainability.

FTC vs Amazon Lawsuit Explained

Written by Ricky Nave in Law,News,Tech Industry

“Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is a highly effective (at least in the short-term) and universally irritating way for businesses to retain customers.

Some states such as California, New York, and Maine have already outlawed the practice.

However, the situation at the national level is ambiguous. “Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is a just one example of how some companies intentionally make it confusing and inconvenient for consumers to cancel their subscriptions.

Currently, there’s no explicit federal law that says companies have to make it easy for people to cancel subscriptions. However, the Federal Trade Commission Act does ban “unfair and deceptive trade practices”.

And two days ago, the FTC filed a lawsuit against Amazon for allowing people to enroll in Prime with one or two clicks but requiring them to navigate a “four-page, six-click, fifteen-option” process to cancel. The specific legal accusation was that Amazon’s cancellation policy was a deceptive trade practice because it intentionally misled consumers into making decisions they otherwise would not have made.

In making this argument, the FTC heavily relies on academic research from people like Harry Brignull who have published articles on how certain features of an app’s design can mislead people into making decisions they later regret. Researchers have dubbed these misleading features “dark patterns”.

But is an inconvenient or confusing user experience enough to constitute a deceptive trade practice in the eyes of the law?

A small business may have a confusing cancellation process simply because it doesn’t have a lot of money and what money it does have is put towards improving the sign up process rather than the cancellation process. A startup may require an exit survey so that they can figure out why you cancelled so that they can improve their product for the next customer–that’s good for innovation. And there’s also a big issue of perspective. Every attempt to sell someone is an attempt to get them to do something they would not otherwise have done. If I’m an ethical salesperson, I’ll only try to sell things to people that I believe will make them better off. If I’m an ethical founder of a company that I truly believe will help people, I may want to show someone a screen highlighting the things they’ll lose by unsubscribing before I process the cancellation. That isn’t deceptive under the common language definition of the term, but it could be under the FTC’s definition.

Whether or not the FTC wins will ultimately come down to whether or not it can prove Amazon’s cancellation process met either the deceptive trade practice or unfair trade practice standard.

Deceptive Trade Practice Standard

An act or practice is deceptive where:

  1. A representation, omission, or practice misleads or is likely to mislead the consumer,
  2. A consumer’s interpretation of the representation, omission, or practice is considered reasonable under the circumstances, and
  3. The misleading representation, omission, or practice is material

Unfair Trade Practice Standard

An act or practice is unfair where it:

  1. Causes or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers,
  2. Cannot be reasonably avoided by consumers, and
  3. Is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition.

In 2022, the phone service company Vonage paid $100 million to settle a similar lawsuit with the FTC. Given that Vonage only made $1.3 billion of revenue in 2022, that $100 million settlement was a big deal which means the company must have believed there was a serious possibility of the FTC winning the case. That doesn’t bode well for Amazon.

References

[1] FTC press release: FTC takes action against Amazon for enrolling consumers in Amazon Prime without consent and sabotaging their attempts to cancel

[2] Court Filing: FTC’s initial complaint against Amazon

[3] FTC Act section 5(a) [15 U.S.C. 45(a)]

[4] Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) section 4 [15 U.S.C. 8403]

[5] 16 CFR part 310 — Telemarketing Sales Rule

[6] FTC Act section 5 consequences for banks

[7] WSJ: Vonage will pay $100 million to settle FTC allegations of trapping customers in subscriptions (2022)

[8] WSJ: Subscription companies rethink irksome cancellation policies (2021)

[9] FTC press release: Federal Trade Commission proposes rule provision making it easier for consumers to “click to cancel” recurring subscriptions and memberships

What is a “negative option feature”?

In the context of online businesses, a negative option feature means a provision of an offer which interprets a customer’s silence (or failure to take an affirmative action to reject goods or services, or to cancel the agreement) as acceptance of the offer.

Hunter Biden to Plead Guilty to Federal Tax Crimes

Written by Ricky Nave in News,Taxes

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal federal tax charges.

Hunter was charged with two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax.

Willful failure to pay federal income tax can be a crime that is classified and prosecuted either as a misdemeanor (IRC 7203) or a felony (IRC 7201). Hunter was charged with the lesser crime (the misdemeanor), and the U.S. Attorney for Delaware is recommending to the judge that Hunter only receive probation for the crimes. In principle though, Hunter’s dad, as President, could pardon him of any crime.

That’s a safety cushion we normal people don’t have, so if you’re a business owner who is years behind on your taxes, contact me today so I can help you catch up on your bookkeeping backlog.

21 Controversial Business & Finance Topics to Increase Audience Engagement

Written by Ricky Nave in Marketing, Sales, and Community,Media & Content Businesses

Controversial articles and videos get more comments, and more comments means more virality for your content. So if you are a marketer or content creator in a finance or business niche, then it helps to make at least 5-30% of your posts on controversial topics related to finance or business. Those pieces of content help you to get in front of fresh people who haven’t seen your stuff before. In this article, I cover 21 examples of highly controversial business and finance topics for you to take inspiration from when making your own content.

NOTE: Just because you are covering a controversial topic doesn’t mean you necessarily need to take a controversial viewpoint (although you can if you want). For example, when the Trump Organization was convicted of fraud in December 2022, I posted a TikTok describing the structure of the Trump Organization, and it went viral. Sometimes objective, fact-based content about a controversial topic (especially when that controversial topic is already in the news) performs better than over-the-top, emotionally-charged content.

But without further ado, here are the topics:

1. Unions

Should people be forced to pay union dues in order to work, even if those dues are used to donate to political candidates they don’t like?

Should “right-to-work” laws actually be called “right to free ride” laws?

Do unions help workers by ensuring they are paid more, or do they hurt workers by making jobs more scarce?

Are unions good or bad for the economy?

2. Billionaires Avoiding Taxes

The very first article I ever shared on Hackernews went super viral, bringing in 100,000 visitors to my 6-month old blog in just 3 days. The article was about how almost anyone could use opportunity zones to avoid capital gains tax. However, on Hackernews I titled the post “How to have a billion dollar exit with zero capital gains tax“.

Billionaires are controversial in general, but billionaires avoiding taxes and “not paying their fair share” are even more controversial. That’s part of why that article went so viral.

Other examples of content that have gone viral based on this theme include:

  • Trump’s tax returns
  • Biden’s proposal for a new “billionaire minimum tax”
  • Senator Warren’s proposal for a wealth tax

3. Inheritance

Is inheritance fair? Are any billionaires truly self-made? Should inheritance be taxed at a higher rate?

4. Crypto

Are any cryptocurrencies actually valuable or they all scams and pyramid schemes? Is crypto going to replace most of the traditional financial system? Are DAOs going to replace corporations?

5. ESG

Should investment fund managers consider environmental sustainability and employee diversity when deciding which companies to invest tens of millions of Americans’ retirement money into, or should they always just pick the companies that are expected to generate the highest returns?

6. Stakeholder Capitalism

Is stakeholder capitalism a fundamental violation of fiduciary duty or is it a necessary change that capitalism needs in order for our society to continue working for everyone?

7. DE&I

Should companies consider the color of someone’s skin when deciding whether or not to hire them?

Should someone who is gay be hired when there is a straight person with more experience who could be hired instead?

Just typing those questions raises my heart rate slightly, and that’s exactly what you want when you create content.

Some controversial keywords related to DE&I are:

  • Affirmative action
  • Racial equity
  • Inclusive hiring
  • Racial quotas
  • Boardroom diversity

8. Woke Brands

Is it fair for a company to sponsor a trans-woman (biologically male) athlete instead of a biological woman athlete, given that biological women only get 1% of all sports sponsorship money?

Is it inappropriate to allow trans-women (biological men) to use the the same bathroom that small girls use?

Should brands like Disney be boycotted for glamorizing transgenderism in kids films? Do boycotts even work?

9. Living Wages

Imagine coming across YouTube videos with any of the following titles:

  • “How to Replace Your American Employees with Cheap Columbians”
  • “All My Employees Are Overseas, And I Pay Them $1.50/Hr”
  • “Why I’ll Never Hire an American Again”
  • “How to Legally Pay Your Employees Less Than Minimum Wage”
  • “Amazon Saved $3 billion in 2021 by Paying Less Than $15/Hr”

Did any of those stir your emotions a bit?

Minimum wages and “living wages” are hot topics.

10. Fair Trade, Free Trade, and Trade Wars

Does free trade exploit less developed countries or does it help them develop economically?

Is fair trade actually more fair than free trade? Who benefits from fair trade anyway? Is fair trade even effective at helping the people in less developed countries?

Is free trade possible between the U.S. and China when China insists on stealing American IP?

11. Immigration

Is overpopulation or population decline a bigger risk?

Do immigrants make it harder for Americans to get jobs or do they help the American economy by taking jobs we don’t want for wages so low that Americans won’t accept them?

Is it fair that taxpayer money is being spent on housing immigrants in hotels for months?

Would allowing more immigrants into the U.S. help bring down inflation?

Do immigrants strain America’s welfare system?

12. Climate Change

Should pension fund managers consider climate change risk when making investment decisions?

Is climate change an increasing risk to Florida real estate investors?

Is climate change at fault for increasing Florida insurance premiums?

Should insurance companies be allowed to raise prices faster in order to keep up with increasing climate risk?

Not everyone agrees that climate change is real, so any content you make which simply assumes it is real and discusses implications of it (e.g. “How Climate Change Is Causing an Insurance Crisis in Florida”) will naturally get some people commenting to tell you how wrong you are (yay engagement).

13. Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy could replace fossil fuels, but is it safe? Physicists say yes, but the majority of the public doesn’t think so. Where would all that nuclear waste go? How dangerous is it to live next to a nuclear plant?

I made a basic listicle-style TikTok about nuclear power plants, and it got over 13,000 likes and hundreds of thousands of views.

14. Trump’s Business Activities

Is Donald Trump an amazing business man or a subpar business man who only generated subpar returns on the wealth he inherited?

Is he being unjustly attacked for political reasons or were his business dealings criminal?

15. Elon Musk

Elon is a billionaire (controversial) who makes electric vehicles to prevent climate change (controversial) and talks about spending billions to go to Mars (controversial to the people who say “we have enough problems to solve here on Earth”).

He bought Twitter (controversial both politically and financially), talks about free speech (controversial), and engages in juvenile behavior online (controversial).

16. Online Censorship

Are social media companies censoring Republicans? Are they doing enough to censor hate speech? Is it appropriate for kids to see transgender content online?

Should Section 230 be amended? Repealed entirely?

17. Student Loan Forgiveness

Should college be free? Should student loans be forgiven? Would that be fair to the majority of Americans who haven’t attended college but still pay taxes?

18. Retail Crime

Retail theft and organized retail crime have been on the rise for years. A California law restricting the ability to go after people stealing less than $1,000 of merchandise is controversial.

Are Democrats being too lenient on criminals?

Are immigrant “sanctuary cities” to blame?

Is inflation to blame? Inflation is certainly a consequence since retailers have to raise prices to cover the costs of more theft.

Do we need more police funding to solve this problem?

19. Big Oil

Are big oil companies ruining the planet, or are they essential to our civilization?

Does the U.S. government go to war over oil?

Should oil companies be taxed more?

20. AI Fear

People are afraid that AI is either going to take over the world or replace their job.

21. U.S. Defense Industry

The U.S. Defense Industry (also known more ominously as the “military-industrial complex”) is controversial in several ways.

  • Is it immoral to work at a company that makes missiles that sometimes kill innocent civilians but also help to keep America safe from terrorists?
  • Does the U.S. spend too much money on defense when it should be putting some of that money towards universal healthcare or childcare?
  • Is there collusion between certain members of the defense industry and certain politicians, at the expense of the taxpayer?

If you’re looking for even more specific inspiration, check out my list of 36 controversial money & business questions to ask on a podcast.