Good morning. Must-watch TV on Capitol Hill this morning: A House Intelligence subcommittee is holding a hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). It's a follow-up to a government report released last year, which documented 144 UAP encounters from 2004–2021 but left a lot of questions unanswered. Tune in to hear a representative ask a general if ET was nice IRL. —Neal Freyman, Max Knoblauch, Matty Merritt | | | |  | Nasdaq | 11,662.79 | | | | | S&P | 4,008.01 | | |  | Dow | 32,223.42 | | | | | 10-Year | 2.883% | | | | | Bitcoin | $29,997.48 | | | | | Cloudflare | $57.36 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 7:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: You're going to be shocked to hear this, but stocks mostly fell yesterday as recession fears mount. Cloud companies were the main party-foul committers, which is why the tech-heavy Nasdaq fared the worst of all three indexes.
| | | | Dianna "Mick" McDougall, Photo: Getty Images An argument over the sources of—and potential solutions for—the US' current inflation debacle has reached the point where Jeff Bezos, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, the president, and every economic pundit you can think of have all decided to enter the chat. The backstory: Democrats (who are in charge of the White House and Congress) are feeling the pressure to do something about soaring prices. Ahead of this fall's midterm elections, Americans say that inflation is overwhelmingly the top problem facing the country, according to Pew Research. Economists suggest that the drivers of skyrocketing inflation are fairly clear at this point. Rock-bottom interest rates, government stimulus, surging demand for goods, and constrained supply due to Covid and the war in Ukraine have all conspired to send inflation to near 40-year highs. But in breaking with economists, a group of Democrats has focused on something else entirely: corporate greed. Citing record corporate profits, they say that some companies are jacking up prices to pad their bottom lines at the expense of consumers. Or, as Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell called it (not in a nice way), "greedflation." - Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic senators unveiled the "Price Gouging Prevention Act of 2022," which would empower regulators to investigate companies that sharply increase prices and require companies that hike prices exorbitantly to disclose why.
- President Biden also thinks price gouging is contributing to inflation. As part of his plan to fight inflation, he renewed his call for a minimum tax on corporations so that they finally "pay their fair share."
After Biden tweeted out those thoughts, Jeff Bezos felt inspired to go on the attack. The Amazon founder said that conflating higher corporate taxes with lower inflation "is just misdirection." That earned a response from the White House, which yesterday noted that it was "unsurprising that this tweet comes after the President met with labor organizers, including Amazon employees." Bezos replied that "unions aren't causing inflation and neither are wealthy people." One prominent economist is taking Biden's side...kinda. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who warned early on that the government's stimulus measures would lead to inflation, came to the government's defense, tweeting that Jeff Bezos is "mostly wrong in his recent attack" on the Biden administration. While Summers called the corporate price gouging narrative "preposterous" (a view echoed by most experts), he also said it's reasonable to raise taxes as a means of tamping down demand and inflation.—NF | | | Unless your idea of a pleasant afternoon includes staring at white linoleum floors and endless shelves of vitamin bottles, nobody looks forward to waiting in line at the pharmacy. Well, one company is making that a thing of the past—and you can purchase shares until their investment round closes THIS Friday. NowRx is paving the way for a more convenient, affordable, and hassle-free future, thanks to proprietary tech that enables incredible customer service alongside free, same-day medication delivery. And as it turns out, people are pretty pumped about it. Since 2020, the tech-powered pharmacy has seen over 93% growth in prescriptions delivered, with revenues topping $32.3M on an annualized basis as of March. What's more, NowRx has already announced 5 new locations, with an eye on 6 more by the end of 2022—nearly doubling their national footprint. With just 3 days left to invest, get your dose of NowRx shares today! | | Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images  McDonald's is "de-arching" from Russia. In 1990, McDonald's became the first US fast-food chain to set up shop in Russia in a sign of warming ties between the US and its Cold War foe. 32 years later, the company has decided to sell its 850 stores to a local buyer since operating in Russia is "no longer tenable" due to its invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine accounted for about 9% of the company's total revenue last year.
 Baby formula shortage relief. Abbott, the largest baby formula manufacturer in the US, said yesterday that it reached an agreement with the FDA to resume production at a shuttered Michigan plant within the next two weeks. The agreement is subject to court approval, and it will likely require six-to-eight weeks from when production begins to restock shelves. But it represents progress to help alleviate a disastrous shortage that left 40% of all baby formula in the US out of stock two weeks ago.
 Elon Musk might want to renegotiate with Twitter. Musk said that seeking a takeover at a lower price was not "out of the question," which, while yet another plot twist in this melodrama, was somewhat expected. Twitter's stock had fallen below its price before Musk first disclosed his stake, indicating that investors were increasingly bearish on the deal going through at the initial price of $54.20/share.
| | The US flag flies at half staff over the US Capitol Building to honor the one million Americans who've died from Covid. Image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images The US Covid death toll officially reached 1 million in recent days, a tally greater than the combined populations of Boston and Orlando. Coming slightly more than three months after the country reached 900,000 deaths and less than two and a half years after the first recorded US cases, it's a reminder that despite dropped mask mandates and summer months approaching, the virus continues to be a threat. New Omicron subvariants that appear adept at eluding immunity from prior infections have caused yet another spike in reported cases and hospitalizations. US cases have jumped 60% over the past two weeks, to an average of 90,000 new cases every day. - That figure is almost certainly far short of the real infection rate, as states have shuttered many large testing sites, and cases discovered from at-home tests often go unreported.
Looking ahead…New York City is poised to raise its Covid alert level to "high" in the coming days (it was raised to "medium" on May 2), as hospitalization rates in the city near the critical benchmark of 10 admissions per 100,000 residents. A mask advisory urging residents to use face coverings indoors has been issued, and, as the subvariants continue to spread across the country, more cities could follow suit.—MK | | Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Most homeowners can expect their wildfire risks to double over the next three decades due to climate change, according to a new report from the nonprofit First Street Foundation. The report included a first-of-its-kind tool to measure wildfire risk on individual properties, accounting for factors such as a home's roof type or the vegetation near the house. A quick summary of the findings: - 80 million homes have some level of wildfire risk in the next 30 years, and at least 10 million homes fall between the "major" or "extreme" risk categories.
- States like California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Oklahoma have the most at-risk homes. But states including New Jersey, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas will likely see their fire risks grow more than 200% in the next 30 years.
- By 2052, 50% of the US counties that will see fire risk jump the most are in Georgia.
You can view your home's risk score here or on listing sites like realtor.com. Zoom out: Wildfire seasons are lasting longer and setting new records for destruction. Just yesterday, the New Mexico Calf Canyon Fire became the largest in state history after burning 298,060 acres.—MM | | VCG/VCG via Getty Images Stat: With residents cooped up in their homes and dealerships closed, not a single car was sold in the city of Shanghai last month. It highlights the severe economic harm that the government's "zero Covid" policies have had on the economy, sending some measures of economic activity to their weakest levels since the pandemic began. Quote: "At the moment we think Boeing management is running around like headless chickens." Michael O'Leary, the CEO of Irish airline Ryanair, summoned every curse word in the dictionary to chew out Boeing management for delivery delays. "You wonder what the hell their sales team has done in the last two years," he said. "Frankly most of them seem to [be] sitting at home in their f***ing jimjams working from home instead of being out there selling planes to customers." Ryanair has had to trim its spring and summer schedules because Boeing hadn't yet sent the planes that were ordered, O'Leary said. Read: Liberals should be worried about the conservative comedy scene. (Politico) | | - Here's what we know about the victims of the Buffalo supermarket shooting.
- Goldman Sachs is giving senior staff an unlimited number of vacation days, and all employees will be required to take three weeks off a year beginning in 2023.
- The Supreme Court ruled against a campaign finance law that limits candidates from using post-election contributions to pay off loans to their own campaign. It's a win for Sen. Ted Cruz, who was challenging the Biden administration.
- JetBlue launched a hostile takeover bid for Spirit Airlines after Spirit opted for a merger with Frontier. Here's a quick explainer on hostile takeovers.
- Product placement is going to overwhelm your favorite show.
| | | Free YETI + lightning-fast IT? Yep, you can have it all, thanks to our friends at Electric. IT decision-makers at companies with 10–500 employees can score a  FREE YETI just for taking a qualified meeting with them. Ready to power up your IT strategy? Schedule a demo with Electric here. | | Green texters not allowed: Here are 10 ingenious iPhone hacks. Claim victory in a verbal duel: Here are 38 ways to win an argument, according to German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Think better: This is a collection of tools and frameworks that helps you solve problems and make decisions. Technical support: Today's IT pros are facing a multitude of challenges, and IT Brew is creating a space to talk about them. On May 19, our virtual event will bring professionals together to discuss the industry's biggest obstacles. Don't miss it. | | Brew mini: "US city that's home to more than 150 weddings per day" (five letters) is your sample clue. Solve the puzzle here. Console trivia The Nintendo Switch just became the fourth-best selling console in US history in terms of number of units sold. Can you name the top three? | | | PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii | | | Written by Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt, and Max Knoblauch Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → - Emerging Tech Brew: AI, crypto, space, autonomous vehicles, and more
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