🌎 Suffering from Success

The longest government shutdown in history has finally ended

We’re open for business, baby. On Wednesday night, the House approved a bill to fund the government through early 2026, with President Trump signing it soon after, officially reopening the government after a closure that began on Oct. 1.

How did the gov finally come back online?

The deal to reopen the government came together after seven Democrats and one independent voted for the short-term funding bill in the Senate, even though it left out the Covid-era healthcare subsidies that Democratic leaders had wanted as a condition for reopening.

• Shortly after, six Democrats also voted with Republicans in the House, clearing the way for it to be sent to President Trump’s desk.

The last-minute deal ends a tense standoff that had shut down several parts of the government for more than six weeks and left hundreds of thousands of federal employees uncertain about their next paycheck. See a history of previous government shutdowns here.

So, things are mostly back to normal?

Ehhhh, more or less. Not long after President Trump signed the bill, some things already started returning to the status quo:

• Roughly 800,000 federal workers who were furloughed or working without pay have begun receiving paychecks again, along with back pay.

• The bill also restored full funding for the SNAP program through next September, meaning some of the 42 million Americans who depend on it have already seen their benefits resume.

However, other areas will take a bit longer to get back to normal:

• Flight delays will linger as the FAA keeps reduced schedules in place to ease the strain on air traffic controllers who went unpaid during the shutdown.

• Government data will also be messy for a while. The White House said October’s inflation and jobs report may never be released since data collection halted during the shutdown, leaving the Fed flying partly blind ahead of its December rate decision.

While the shutdown’s end brings some relief, it’s only temporary. The short-term bill mostly maintains current federal spending levels but only extends government funding until January 30, leaving Congress with just weeks to hash out a longer-lasting deal… or this all happens again.

This credit card settlement could change checkout forever

Rewards cardholders might want to skip this one. This week, Visa and Mastercard reached a $38 billion settlement with a group of businesses that accused them of inflating credit card swipe fees, ending a legal battle that had stretched for 20 years.

Unfair practices

Visa and Mastercard have long required merchants to accept all or none of their credit cards, despite each card carrying a different interchange fee, or the charge banks require to process transactions (also known as a swipe fee).

• These fees range from 2% to 2.5% per transaction, with higher rates for cards that offer more rewards or cash back.

However, that all might change under the settlement agreement:

• Visa and Mastercard could cut swipe fees by 0.1% for five years straight, saving businesses more than $30 billion.

• Merchants could also be allowed to accept or decline cards by category (commercial, standard, or premium) and impose surcharges. All reward cards would be grouped under the ‘premium’ category.

Some merchant groups oppose the settlement, arguing that businesses are basically forced to accept rewards cards anyway, since they make up roughly 85% of all cards that are used regularly. They might have a point:

• Last year, US merchants paid roughly $38 billion in interchange fees (a 71% jump since 2019) as Americans increasingly use rewards cards and swipe fees increase in price.

What does this mean for you? The deal could lead some merchants to reduce the surcharges they’ve added on in recent years. On the flip side, though, small businesses might raise fees or stop accepting premium cards, which rely on higher swipe fees to support their various rewards.

The last ever penny was minted this week

The one prominent chin we all loved to look at is officially gone. The US Mint in Philadelphia pressed its final penny into circulation on Wednesday, marking the end of 233 years of one-cent coin production in the US.

Penny pinching

The penny has long served as a monetary staple in the US, but over time, America’s one-cent coin has become less useful in everyday transactions and more of a relic in cars’ center consoles, couches, and drawers.

• Over 60% of the coins, or roughly $16 billion worth, sit unused, according to the US Treasury.

And, while it would be sad never to see Lincoln’s right cheekbone again, it costs a chunk of change to keep the coin in circulation:

• One penny costs nearly four cents to produce, meaning the government lost money on each penny it minted.

• Penny production cost the US $85 million last year alone.

In February, President Trump ordered the Treasury to stop making new pennies, which is expected to save taxpayers $56 million every year, but it might end up costing businesses money in the long run.

Got any spare change?

Although the last penny was just pressed, shortages of the coin have been a growing problem for merchants since mid-summer:

• Some grocery stores asked customers to trade pennies for gift cards worth twice the amount to try and hoard the coins.

• Other stores are rounding purchases to the nearest nickel. Kwik Trip, for example, rounds down at penny-less locations, which will cost the chain a few million dollars each year.

The shortage has caused some trade groups to push for federal rules on cash rounding so that businesses are protected from lawsuits by customers who feel like they’re getting shortchanged.

There’s one more issue: The nickel still costs 13.8 cents to make, and since demand will likely rise, it could cut into some of the expected savings the government will get from ceasing penny production.

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Netflix just opened its answer to Disneyland

You should expect fewer rides and more VR mini golf. The streaming giant officially opened its first permanent venue, called Netflix House, in a Philadelphia suburb this week in an attempt to expand its digital footprint into the real world.

What is Netflix House?

The massive 100,000-square-foot space is designed for fans to walk into the worlds of their favorite shows, from Stranger Things to Wednesday to One Piece, with a level of immersion you can’t find anywhere else.

• The location includes everything from a restaurant and bar to a retail store, theater, nine-hole mini-golf, photo zones, VR games, and escape rooms—all centered around your favorite IPs. See some photos here.

While admission is free (and you don’t need a Netflix account to enter), many of the individual experiences are ticketed. For example, a ticket to the One Piece “Quest for the Devil Fruit” escape game can cost you up to $60, depending on the day.

Why bring its shows IRL? Netflix’s goal isn’t immediate profit… it’s brand loyalty. By extending its shows into real-world experiences, the company hopes to keep fans engaged with its IPs, which should translate to more subscriptions. It’s the same playbook Disney and NBCUniversal have perfected for decades, though Netflix is sticking to screens rather than theme parks.

Netflix isn’t stopping at just one: A second Netflix House is set to open in Dallas next month, with a third already planned for Las Vegas in 2027.

Harvard is worried its classes are too easy for students

Turns out, too much academic success might be a problem. America’s oldest university is facing student backlash after an internal report suggested undergraduates are performing too well, prompting officials to explore ways to recalibrate grading.

Suffering from success

The 25-page report, which was conducted by Harvard’s dean of undergraduate education, revealed that life for the Ivy League university’s undergrads is going a little too well:

• Roughly 60% of undergraduates scored straight A’s last year (a sharp rise from around 25% two decades ago), and the median GPA has climbed to 3.83 (up from 3.29 in 1985).

Well, students must be studying more, right? Well, not really. Undergraduates now spend an average of 6.3 hours per week studying outside of class, slightly up from 6.08 hours in fall 2006, per the report.

Harvard’s response to the high grades?

Some faculty surveyed in the report said they were “seriously concerned” about the prevalence of high grades and recommended adapting the curriculum. That didn’t elicit a great reaction from the student body:

• Some students described the announcement as disheartening, with one student saying they spent the whole day crying after reading the report.

• Many feel the critique treats them unfairly, arguing their strong grades reflect rigorous work rather than lenient grading.

Some staff are on their side: In response to the backlash, a group of professors said they’ve felt pressure to hand out higher grades to avoid student complaints or enrollment drops, and that reversing the trend could discourage academic exploration.

Catch up on this week’s weird news

 > A powerful geomagnetic storm caused the northern lights to light up the sky across much of the US earlier this week. See some of the best photos from the event here.

 > A specialist doctor in Scotland successfully removed a brain clot from a cadaver in Florida using a remotely guided robot, marking the first-ever transatlantic robot-assisted thrombectomy.

 > Drone mapping revealed that thousands of unexplained holes in the Andes Mountains may have served as an ancient flea market during pre-Inca society.

 > Toyota unveiled a crab-like autonomous wheelchair that replaces wheels with four legs so users can climb stairs, traverse uneven terrain, and even lower themselves to floor level.

 > Typhoon Kalmaegi, which flooded much of Southeast Asia and killed at least 24, caused severe coastal erosion that exposed a centuries-old shipwreck off the coast of Vietnam.