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Chapter 1: What concerns are being raised about AI and economic bubbles?
There is a lot of fear these days that AI could be a bubble. So, Nick, is it? I don't know. Right. It is hard to tell. But there are some clues that economists say might kind of sort of help us predict bubbles.
On the Planet Money podcast, the dark art of bubble detection. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. President Trump is on his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he is expected to deliver a speech Wednesday on affordability. But NPR's Mara Liason says his effort to take control of Greenland will likely overshadow his remarks.
Trump isn't following the strategy as far as affordability is concerned. All anyone is talking about in Europe and in Davos, this big business meeting, is Greenland. And he's supposed to be going over there to talk about housing. His advisors have promised a pivot to affordability with a lot of new ideas to bring prices down. He didn't speak about any of them today.
And he even dismissed again the idea that affordability is a real problem.
NPR's Mara Eliason reporting on the press briefing Trump gave Tuesday at the White House. His trip to Davos, meanwhile, got off to a rocky start. Trump was forced to return to the D.C. area to switch planes when Air Force One developed what the White House said was a minor electrical issue about an hour after takeoff.
President Trump has signed an executive order to stop federal agencies from helping Wall Street investors buy single-family homes. The measure says those investors are crowding out first-time homebuyers. Trump signed the order ahead of his address in Davos, as NPR's Stephen Passaha reports.
The order itself is pretty limited.
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Chapter 2: What is President Trump's agenda at the World Economic Forum?
Trump can't ban the sale of homes to institutional investors with an executive order. But his order does tell several federal agencies that in 60 days, they must stop supporting these sales through things like providing insurance or approvals. And it tells his cabinet to review rules to make those purchases harder.
Last year, institutional investors only owned about 3 percent of the single family rental market. But those numbers are much higher in some Sunbelt cities like Atlanta, where it's around 25 percent. But some economists say that what's driving up the price of housing is not the number of Wall Street investors. It's that there aren't enough homes on the market. Stephen Passaha, NPR News.
Some business owners say the presence of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis is hurting their bottom line. Some restaurants have adjusted their operating hours while others have had to shut down temporarily. NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran reports.
In Minneapolis, the restaurants that are open have someone in charge of locking the doors every time a new person comes in. Ricardo Hernandez owns 11 Mexican food restaurants in the city and he's doing this to protect the few clients who come in these days. Hernandez says since federal agents descended in Minneapolis six weeks ago, his restaurants have seen 60% less in sales.
During the height of the COVID pandemic, his sales only went down by 10%. Hernandez says this is not sustainable. He worries he and other business owners will have to close shop if the more than 2,500 immigration agents continue to stay here. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Minneapolis.
And you're listening to NPR News. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is among state and local officials who've been served with grand jury subpoenas. The Justice Department is investigating whether they obstructed or impeded the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities area.
Minnesota Public Radio reports the others receiving subpoenas include Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Japanese public broadcaster NHK says the man who admitted to assassinating former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been sentenced to life in prison. Abe was fatally shot about three and a half years ago during a campaign event.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning of an outbreak of flesh-eating maggots just south of the U.S. border with Mexico. And Pierce Ping Huang reports it mainly affects livestock but can also infest people.
It's called New World Screwworm, and it's a fly whose babies feed on live tissue. The CDC has issued a health advisory noting that the parasite, which is typically found in South America and the Caribbean... has moved up to northern Mexico. So far, there are no cases in the U.S., and the risk to the public remains low.
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