- This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories. If you're interviewing for a job in the coming weeks, check out these five questions to ask at the end. They could help you seal the deal.
On the agenda:
- WiFi Money promised the easy life. Investors wound up ruined.
- Blue-collar jobs are booming right now.
- The man leading the fight to legalize MDMA therapy.
- Inside Google CEO Sundar Pichai's big leadership shakeup.
But first: Markets are throwing off déjà vu vibes.
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This week's dispatch
Investors go back to the future
Stocks hit record highs. Roaring Kitty is moving markets. Crypto adverts are on TV. It's like the past two years never happened.
The Dow closed above 40,000 for the first time on Friday, driven by signs of slowing inflation.
Keith Gill, the retail trading personality known as Roaring Kitty, tweeted for the first time in three years. The tweet didn't say much, but it was enough to send GameStop's shares spiking.
And with bitcoin hovering near record highs and the crypto winter seemingly behind us, crypto companies are on the front foot once more.
The market euphoria stands in stark contrast to what's going on away from Wall Street.
War rages on in Ukraine and the Middle East. Consumers still feel downbeat about the economy. We're headed for what's likely to be a deeply contentious US election.
For now, investors are shrugging off those concerns.
WiFi Money's risky allure
WiFi Money promises its followers "the ability to make money anywhere in the world, by doing one simple action…. connecting to WiFi." It sold Americans the idea that with a bit of hustle, they could soon live the easy life.
But since its founding in 2020, the company has left a trail of lawsuits alleging fraud, bankruptcies, mental breakdowns, and financial devastation.
Meet the ultimate Instagram hustlers.
The hottest jobs right now are blue
Want a six-figure salary? You don't need to go to Wall Street or Silicon Valley to land one. Instead, blue-collar jobs are booming right now.
Jobs that don't require sitting in front of a computer are in high demand. Demand is high, opportunities abound, and companies like Walmart and UPS offer six-figure salaries and lucrative benefits.
It's getting hot under the blue collar.
Also read:
- Meet the HIFIs: High-income earners who feel financially insecure but can't quit their luxury spending
- AI analyst says plumbers' and electricians' jobs are safe but AI models like GPT-4o 'will impact any job that has data'
- In a white-collar recession where $100,000 jobs are hard to find, women are winning out
One man's mission to legalize MDMA
For decades, Rick Doblin and MAPS, the nonprofit he founded, have been pushing to legalize medical MDMA. Now, the FDA could issue its approval as soon as this summer.
However, insiders have begun voicing concerns about possible ethical lapses in clinical trials and questioning whether MAPS can effectively lead the movement into the future.
Why some advocates are sounding the alarm.
Google's leadership shakeup
In April, Google CEO Sundar Pichai executed one of the most dramatic executive shakeups in the company's 25-year history.
Pichai combined two of the company's major units — platforms and devices — into a supergroup focusing on Android, Chrome, and gadgets, like the Pixel phone.
How Pichai redesigned his leadership team.
Also read:
- Google just gave us a tantalizing glimpse into the future of AI agents
- Google's Android chief says AI will reset the battle with Apple for mobile supremacy
This week's quote:
"They're just three years late giving the right person the job honestly."
- A former Amazon executive on AWS boss Adam Selipsky's successor.
More of this week's top reads:
- High prices have risen from the dead — and some economists are scared witless.
- I left JPMorgan and escaped the "golden handcuffs." I have no regrets.
- Apple needs a revolutionary new product. Is Tim Cook up to the job?
- A millennial investor feels happier after ditching most of her Zoom meetings.
- AI bots are battling it out over job searches. It's total chaos.
- Peloton's demise is another in a long line of failed fitness fad.
- Adam Neumann is now in the publishing business.
- A Trump voter proved Mike Lindell wrong. Now he wants his $5 million.
Heads-up, Apple and the rest of Big Tech: Disney wants better app store deals.
The Insider Today team: Matt Turner, deputy editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.