Canada’s new middle class lives paycheck to paycheck, unwilling to give up certain lifestyle choices.
finance
I’d Gladly Pay You Tomorrow For a Hamburger Today, If Only My Debit Card Weren’t Frozen
Ubiquitous digital payments: harbinger of a glorious future, or smokescreen for powerful interests that want to control (and undermine) choice and capitalism?
Money: It Can’t Buy Love, But Can It Rent You a Best Friend?
In Bloomberg, Patrick Clark introduces us to Dusty Wunderlich (real name), the man who’s trying to monetize man’s best friend by leasing out purebred dogs.
I’m Renting a Dog?
Can purebreds on leases democratize credit? The Nevadan behind Wags Lending thinks so.
Borges and $: The Parable of the Literary Master and the Coin
Thirty years ago, the world lost a great literary mind—the Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. Today, Elizabeth Hyde Stevens revisits the financial conditions that produced this life of pure literature, finding unexpected hope in the darkest period of Borges’ forgotten past.
Will Technology Eventually Replace Marc Andreessen?
One challenge for Andreessen is whether venture itself has a skills problem. If software is truly eating the world, wouldn’t venture capital be on the menu? The AngelList platform now allows investors to fund startups online. Its co-founder Naval Ravikant said that “future companies will require more two-hundred-thousand-dollar checks and way fewer guys on Sand […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our favorite stories of the week.
A Brutal Dictator, and the Wall Street Hedge Fund That Gave Him $100 Million
Mugabe’s men were setting up command centers for torture and killing in areas that voted for the opposition, the man told McGee, and regional party leaders like him were told to draw up lists of people to target. The ambassador learned that Mugabe’s government had landed critical funding, totaling $100 million, only days after the […]
A Brutal Dictator, and the Wall Street Hedge Fund That Gave Him $100 Million
Mugabe’s men were setting up command centers for torture and killing in areas that voted for the opposition, the man told McGee, and regional party leaders like him were told to draw up lists of people to target. The ambassador learned that Mugabe’s government had landed critical funding, totaling $100 million, only days after the […]
What Undergrads Talk About When They Talk About Money: Our College Pick
When administrators, parents, and professors discuss money in the context of higher ed, they mean student loans and tuition. But when students talk money, it’s much more about who’s got it and who doesn’t. For students of modest means at America’s elite colleges, money acts as a barrier to extracurricular or social activities, or even […]
