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— Chase, Founder of NextGen News

Economy

The solar eclipse will bring in more money than the Super Bowl

Much like your freshman year of college, the sun was blacked out on a Monday. In an event that won’t take place again until 2044, a total solar eclipse was visible throughout the US yesterday.

The path of totality made its way through North America, allowing over 31 million people (not counting those who traveled to see it) to see the sun, moon, and Earth align perfectly in the early afternoon.

It could trigger an economic boom

Americans in particular are emptying their wallets to cash out on the celestial event: It’s projected to deliver a $6 billion economic boom to the US economy… which is about six times what the 2023 Super Bowl brought in ($1.3 billion) and around half of all domestic box office sales in 2024 (~$12.16 billion).

Millions of people used their PTO to travel and see the event, paying for flights, Airbnb’s, and going to viewing parties along the path of totality. Cities big and small were packed like sardines:

• Indianapolis prepped for 500,000 visitors, which is more than 7 times the attendance of the Super Bowl it hosted in 2012.

• Niagara Falls was expected to host up to a million people for the eclipse. It usually gets 14 million visitors (throughout the entire year).

Brands capitalized on the huge demand. Companies offered eclipse-themed promotions, like Krispy Kreme’s eclipse donut, and SunChips' limited-edition solar eclipse flavor.

Scientists were excited about the event, too

In fact, they were probably the most excited. Scientists have conducted experiments during total solar eclipses for hundreds of years. While the moon blacked out the sun for several minutes, they clambered to gather data about the solar system and discern any differences in animals’ behavior during the celestial event.

Fun Facts: 

• Helium was discovered during the 1868 eclipse, thanks to our nerd friends.

• Over the past century, only 13 total solar eclipses have been visible in the US, the last one being in 2017.

• Those who want to view the event are urged to wear eclipse glasses (which are at least 1,000 times darker than sunglasses), to protect their eyesight.

Sadly, humanity won’t be able to witness total solar eclipses forever. As the moon moves away from Earth at a rate of 1.5 inches per year, we won’t be able to see any total eclipses in about 600 million years, according to Johns Hopkins professor Sabine Stanley.

US treasury secretary warns China about its exports

Janet Yellen, the US treasury secretary, wrapped up four days of meetings in China yesterday in an effort to improve economic ties between China and the US. Yellen, who is probably most known for eating magic mushrooms during her July trip to China, warned the country against flooding the world with cheap exports.

This is nothing new

Yellen has worried for a long time how the US economy (and others like Mexico and Japan) will be affected by China’s increasingly problematic manufacturing bender.

• Bountiful government subsidies let Chinese producers list prices foreign competitors can’t compete with, which hurts sales for businesses internationally.

• The US, in particular, is concerned about cheap Chinese solar panels and EVs undermining its own efforts to become a center point for green technology.

  • While it may seem like China is keen on green energy, don’t be fooled: China is the world’s leading producer in fossil fuels, as well as the globe’s worst polluter. The country mined 4.56 billion tons of coal in 2022.

The treasury secretary suggested that China could help its economy prosper (and recover from its current slouch) by promoting consumer spending domestically instead of abroad, a win/win for both parties.

There is a real problem

Authorities from several countries (like Brazil, England, Germany and many others) are currently investigating claims that Chinese manufacturers are “dumping,” or illegally selling products at a loss to force competitors into bankruptcy.

Chinese state media says the US is also subsidizing key industries, although it’s not doing so illegally. China recently filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization, claiming American EV subsidies unfairly exclude cars made with Chinese parts.

In the future… Yellen said she could restrict Chinese imports if her warnings aren’t taken seriously.

Who gets the bill for the Baltimore bridge collapse?

The tragic bridge collapse in Baltimore halted maritime commerce in the immediate area, which is already causing devastating losses. So who has to pay for it all? The horrible accident has ceased transportation networks on both land and water. Thus, there will inevitably be a fight over who has to pay, and it might all rest on a vague 19th-century law once used by the Titanic’s owner.

It’s one of the most expensive maritime disasters in history

The bridge collapse could result in insurance claims for as much as $1.2 billion, Barclays says. That doesn’t include the likely nine-digit cost for compensating victims’ families and the businesses affected by the port’s closure.

The company that owns the vessel that crashed into the bridge, Grace Ocean, could garner liability claims of up to $4 billion, according to Morningstar DBRS, a ratings company.

So, who has to pay?

In short, most likely Grace Ocean’s insurer Britannia P&I Club.

• We already know that Maersk (the shipping giant who owns the ship) won’t have to pay, since none of its employees were on board.

• The preliminary repair costs should be covered by the $350 million bridge insurance policy bought by the state of Maryland, but the last check will probably go to Britannia P&I Club.

Mutual insurance associations like the Britannia P&I Club (P&I stands for “protection & indemnity”) allow shipowners to group together and combine risk so they can buy coverage from huge insurance companies to cover accidents that result in losses (at least ones that don’t involve the actual ship).

• Organizations like these insure around 90% of cargo traffic that runs through oceans, according to the International Group of P&I Clubs.

However, a single insurer won’t get a giant tab with all the losses from the bridge disaster, an official told the WSJ. This is because the Britannia P&I Club offers coverage that can go to to billions of dollars, and the cost of reimbursement is spread between a group of around 80 reinsurance companies.

What about the “Titanic law”?

As costs skyrocket and find their way on Grace Ocean and Britannia P&I Club’s doorsteps, they will get hit with tons of lawsuits from various parties, like the victims’ families, the state of Maryland, and others who were affected by the collapse.

Grace Ocean might to try to reduce its losses by using an old maritime law, The Limitation of Liability Act, legal scholars say.

• The act caps a ship owner’s liability at the cost of the ship and the value of the freight it was carrying.

The law was passed in 1851 to ideally make maritime trade less risky for shipowners. However, when it was enacted, most ships were still made of wood and probably couldn’t take down a steel bridge.

If Grace Ocean wants to benefit from the law, the company has to prove it didn’t know about a technical defect that led to the crash before it crashed, so I’m sure they have all hands on deck for this one.

Grab Bag

The bird flu is back

Everyone’s favorite avian flu is on the rise again. Cal-Maine, the largest egg producer in the US, halted all operations at a Texas facility earlier this month and culled almost 4% of its flock, along with 1.6 million hens, after detecting the bird flu.

What’s going on?

The virus, which is carried by migrating waterfowl, is spreading rapidly around the country, and hitting Texas hard in particular.

But it’s not just birds that are affected:

• The virus has infected cattle as well. It’s been reported in seven Texas dairy herds and looks like it spreads from cow to cow.

• One person who had contact with cows contracted the virus. However, their only symptom was pink eye, according to the state health department.

• The CDC says the threat to humans is low.

Egg prices may take a hike: Cal-Maine accounts for 20% of the egg market, and the production halt could run up prices. After a bird flu outbreak in 2022, the cost of a dozen eggs hit a record $4.82 early last year.

That being said, you shouldn’t have to worry about milk. Cows recover from the sickness, and the USDA doesn’t have any qualms about the safety of milk, since pasteurization destroys the virus.

The newest time zone isn’t where you’d expect

Now you’ll have yet another time zone to add to your schedule. NASA’s newest task, an order right from the White House, will be to develop a unified standard of time on the moon.

• Coordinated Lunar Time, or LTC, will help countries, private space companies, and, at some point, celestial industries synchronize

Space time

While it might not seem like a hard undertaking, making LTC a reality isn’t as easy as adding an hour to EST.

• The moon has less gravity than Earth, so time naturally moves faster there than our planet, where time is kept by hundreds of atomic clocks around the world to measure the changing energy of atoms (which was news to me).

• Experts are saying that the moon needs its own atomic clocks, so that we can measure time there more efficiently.

But, a moon time zone would require everyone on Earth (no, not literally) to agree on one standard. The European Space Agency is working on tracking moon time already, so we’re a bit ahead of where we need to be.

The first of many steps: A time zone is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to creating a completely operational moon economy. DARPA, an R&D agency under the Department of Defense, has already started collaborating with companies to develop a moon railroad (and other lunar technology) to transport supplies and materials around the surface of the moon.

Fast Facts

Pee Predators: Cicadas, which are about to swarm parts of the country, are the strongest urinators in the entire animal kingdom. Trillions are expected to emerge in the US, so get ready for a lot of pee.

Lucky Lottery: A Powerball player in Oregon won the $1.3 billion jackpot on Saturday, the eighth-largest prize in US lottery history.

Magic Migration: A “fish taxi” carrying over 100,000 Chinook salmon smolts overturned in Oregon. But surprisingly, more than 75% of the fish that spilled out of the tanker made it safely into a nearby creek, which they’ll use to migrate to the Pacific Ocean.

Mutt Motherboard: A Boston Dynamics robot will replace trained dogs at Fairbanks International Airport. We might need a Marley and Me reboot.

Copulation Castration: The Masters tees off on Thursday in Augusta, and Tiger Woods is preparing in a rather interesting way.