What We’re Reading is a roundup of current news and commentary on the challenges and opportunities of aligning business decisions with the long-term health of society. This month, we can’t help but feel like there’s a push and pull in headlines at the intersection of business and society. For every positive story on a given issue, there’s a counterweight, and vice versa.
The Economy
Will Food Prices Stop Rising Quickly? Many Companies Say Yes. (Jeanna Smialek and Jason Karaian, The New York Times) Now there’s a critical indicator to watch this election year!
Key Fed Inflation Measure Rose 0.4% in January as Expected, Up 2.8% From a Year Ago (Jeff Cox, CNBC) Another sign that the worst of inflation is over? Stephen Gallagher, chief U.S. economist at Societe Generale, is quoted as saying: “The key is we’re not seeing the broad nature of increases that we had been more fearful of.”
ESG
More Wall Street Firms Are Flip-Flopping on Climate. Here’s Why. (David Gelles, The New York Times) As political and legal pressures increase around concerted climate action, are companies knuckling under or finding workarounds?
China Proposes New ESG Rules to Keep Up With Europe (Sheryl Tian Tong Lee, Bloomberg) Meanwhile, on the other side of the world China sees ESG disclosure as a key to encouraging foreign investment.
Worker Voice
Amazon Argues That National Labor Board Is Unconstitutional, Joining SpaceX and Trader Joe’s (Haleluya Hadero, AP) But while companies like Starbucks are looking to work with unions, other firms are attempting to undermine the federal agency tasked with laws related to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices.
Starbucks and Workers Union Agree to Start Negotiations (Kelly Tyko and Emily Peck, Axios) This unexpected twist was made possible by changing corporate leadership and a determined union movement. Where do they go from here?
Tech
Photorealistic, AI-Generated Videos Are Here. That’s Probably Not A Good Thing (Darcy Jimenez, Digg) “The possibilities of this highly sophisticated tool are pretty much endless — and that’s precisely the problem.”
Career Websites Face Emerging Role as Salary Transparency Cops (Chris Marr, Jeff Green, Bloomberg) It isn’t hard to find reporting and commentary on the risks of the so-called platform economy. We appreciate this story for the way it highlights a unique constructive role that job sites can play in making public policy stick.
For more on our work to align business with the long-term good of society, sign up for our publications and visit our website. (Please note, the purpose of this newsletter is to highlight what Aspen BSP staff are reading, and is not intended as advertisement or endorsement of content or viewpoints.)
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