Category: Business

• Two people were injured on an Air New Zealand flight due to severe turbulence.
• A passenger was scalded by hot coffee and a crew member hit the cabin ceiling.
• Turbulence is facing a renewed focus in the aviation sector after the death of a Singapore Airlines passenger.

Two people were injured on board an Air New Zealand flight when it encountered severe turbulence, according to local media reports.

The Airbus A320 was flying from the capital, Wellington, to Queenstown on Sunday when it hit turbulence.

Suze, a passenger on board, told Radio New Zealand she was burned after a full coffee pot was spilled over her during the turbulence.

She added that it happened about 15 minutes into the flight as the cabin crew started the trolley service.

"There's nothing you can do. You're strapped in, you want to stay strapped in, there could be more turbulence and then you've got to deal with the level of burns you've just received," she added. "It was actually pandemonium."

Suze, who did not share her surname, called on Air New Zealand to improve the design of their coffee pots so that the lids are more secure.

A flight attendant was also injured on the flight, the local outlet Crux reported.

"One of the cabin crew told us how she was standing and went up and hit the ceiling," a passenger told Crux.

They added, "The jolting and dropping, tilting slightly sideways, felt like those parts where you go on a roller coaster and start dropping down and then boost back up."

In a statement shared with Crux, the airline's chief safety officer, David Morgan, said customers' safety and well-being is "our number one priority."

"From time to time, clear-air turbulence can occur where rough air is not visible to the flight crew," he added.

Air New Zealand did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The incident comes as the aviation sector considers turbulence more closely following the death of a Singapore Airlines passenger in May. Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, said that airlines could tighten seatbelt rules and use AI to help predict when turbulence might occur.

But Sunday's incident shows that even if passengers are strapped in, flight attendants still have to move about the cabin, and debris can still be a risk for passengers.

• Elon Musk is facing another lawsuit over his turbulent takeover of Twitter. 
• Twitter's former Chief Accounting Officer is suing Musk over $3.75 million in unpaid severance.
• Earlier this year, four other ex-Twitter senior execs sued Musk over unpaid severance. 

Elon Musk's legal battles keep piling up — and now he's facing a lawsuit from another former Twitter executive.

According to a lawsuit filed at the Northern District Court of California this month, the billionaire is being sued by Robert Kaiden, Twitter's former chief accounting officer, over $3.75 million in unpaid severance.

In the complaint, Kaiden said Musk, who bought Twitter in October 2022, falsely accused him and other Twitter executives of misconduct to fire them without cause and avoid paying millions in severance.

The complaint says that Musk "cheated" Kaiden and other executives out of a combined $200 million in severance benefits and that the committee that decided Kaiden's severance claim was a "sham" staffed by employees from Musk's other companies.

Elon Musk and X Corp, formerly known as Twitter, did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal working hours.

Kaiden is the latest former Twitter executive to sue Musk over unpaid severance. Earlier this year, former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and three other former senior executives also sued Musk over unpaid severance, collectively asking for $128 million.

Musk also faces other lawsuits from employees he laid off shortly after taking over Twitter in 2022.

Kaiden, who had been Twitter's CAO since 2015, worked to ensure Musk's takeover of the social media giant went smoothly, according to the lawsuit.

Kaiden also reportedly oversaw a payroll audit to ensure Twitter's employees were "real humans" out of Musk's concern that "ghost employees" still on the books would be given scheduled bonuses, The New York Times reported.

According to the lawsuit, Kaiden received a letter on November 2 informing him he had been terminated immediately for "gross negligence or willful misconduct in the performance of [his] duties." The suit said Kaiden also didn't receive his final paycheck from the company.

The lawsuit also says that Kaiden's claim for severance benefits was reviewed by a committee staffed by Lindsay Chapman and Brian Bjelde, two other defendants who the complaint says work in human resources at SpaceX, another of Musk's companies.

That claim was denied, with the committee citing Kaiden's failure to prevent the Twitter board's spending on takeover-related legal expenses, retention bonuses, and "aggressive" growth plans as reasons for his dismissal — responsibilities Kaiden claims were "invented" to justify his firing.

Both Chapman and Bjelde did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Kaiden is seeking approximately $3.75 million in severance plus interest.

• Scottsdale and Paradise Valley are among Arizona's wealthiest areas.
• I recently visited the two Phoenix suburbs for the first time and was surprised by their offerings.
• The walkable neighborhoods, luxury stores, and stunning homes made me think I could live there.

In April, I flew from my home in NYC to Phoenix to spend 48 hours in Arizona's wealth enclave.

I'd been to Phoenix many times, but I hadn't visited the two suburbs around it that are attracting affluent residents — Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.

Scottsdale is growing faster than nearly every other city in America when it comes to wealth, AZ Central reported in March. Over the past decade, Scottsdale has gained 102% more millionaire residents, according to the USA Wealth Report by Henley & Partners.

Nestled between Scottsdale and Phoenix, Paradise Valley is the richest municipality in Arizona. The desert mountain town of grand estates is known as the "Beverley Hills of Arizona," and it's a billionaire hot spot.

Real-estate agent Shawn Shackelton, who has been selling luxury homes in Paradise Valley and Scottsdale for over two decades, told Business Insider that incoming residents are typically entrepreneurs, C-suite executives, medical professionals such as doctors and PAs, and young retirees.

After five years of living in NYC, I couldn't imagine ditching the big city life. But while spending one night in each Phoenix suburb, a few things about the area surprised me. And some of these surprises made me realize I could see myself moving to a place like Scottsdale or Paradise Valley.

Commuting from New York City to nearby cities and towns can take a while, so I was surprised by how quickly I could travel between Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.

I grew up in a New York City suburb, and every trip to the airport took at least an hour.

So, I was thrilled when my cab ride from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to Downtown Scottsdale took only 20 minutes.

And when I was headed to the airport on my way home from my hotel in Paradise Valley, it only took 15 minutes. It was easy to see the appeal of living near an international airport.

I took both cabs around noon, so traffic was minimal. However, according to Google Maps, commuting between Phoenix and Scottsdale or Paradise Valley can take 30 minutes or longer during rush hour.

Ultimately, I found that the three areas were close enough together to navigate easily throughout my trip. While staying in Paradise Valley, I grabbed dinner in Scottsdale, which was less than 30 minutes away by car during rush hour. Back in New York, getting to nearby cities can take over an hour — depending on which borough you live in.

I wasn't expecting the area to have so much to offer for all types of travelers.

Arizona has a lot to offer when it comes to the luxury travel scene, Condé Nast Traveler reported in 2023.

Scottsdale alone hosted nearly 11 million tourists in 2022, and together, they spent $3.2 billion on their trips, according to the city's Tourism and Events department.

During my trip, I stayed in two of the state's top hotels — first, at The Phoenician in Scottsdale, "Arizona's Leading Resort," according to the 2023 World Travel Awards. I spent my second night at the boutique Hermosa Inn, which Travel + Leisure called the best hotel in Arizona in 2023.

I was expecting to feel like a VIP in both accommodations, and I did. However, the experiences were so different that I realized the area suits a wide range of travelers — and not just in hotels.

Scottsdale has mountain hikes for adventurers. I spotted luxury spas for those looking to recharge, high-end department stores and boutiques for shoppers, public sculptures for art enthusiasts, and an old town area for history buffs.

In Scottsdale, The Phoenician felt like a mega-resort.

The Phoenician was massive. The 600 acres were filled with five pools, eight restaurants, several shops, a spa, and a sprawling golf course.

Inside, the hotel had a modern, Southwestern style with warm hues and geometric details and 645 rooms.

The hotel reminded me of a mega-cruise ship. There was so much to do that you could spend your entire trip to Scottsdale on the property without getting bored.

But not without getting lost — if you're directionally challenged like me. I spent 30 minutes looking for my room after exploring the property.

In Paradise Valley, the Hermosa Inn provided a more intimate experience.

With just six acres of gardens, adobe structures, 43 stand-alone casitas, and one pool, the Hermosa Inn was smaller than The Phoenician and had a more cultural feel.

The inn, originally built by a cowboy and artist in 1936, is rooted in history. From the lobby to the casitas, the whole property transported me back in time with traditional Southwestern architecture and interior decor, such as rustic furniture, wooden beams, and historical works of art.

Unlike The Phoenician, which would be perfect for families, the Hermosa Inn seems to be made for travelers who want a unique and secluded experience packed with culture.

I thought I'd enjoy a couple of days in the sun, but dry heat is a different beast.

In New York, April can be pretty hit or miss weatherwise. Sometimes, we'll have a sunny, 65-degree Fahrenheit day, and other times, it'll be 40 degrees Fahrenheit and rainy.

However, Scottsdale is known for its year-round warm weather, so I was excited about having a couple of sunny days in the desert.

But I didn't expect it to be so warm — upwards of 90 degrees Fahrenheit when I visited in April. And unlike in NYC, the heat was dry, so I felt I got dehydrated easily. It seemed like I had to drink twice as much water as I do at home.

If I ever move to Arizona, the weather will take some getting used to.

In Scottsdale, I was impressed with the architecture.

Like New York, Scottsdale has a mix of modern and historic buildings. However, historic architecture in the Southwest looks different.

I spotted warm-toned, adobe buildings in Scottsdale with geometric features and modern glass skyscrapers. Some buildings seemed to combine modern and traditional elements.

I was also surprised to find walkable neighborhoods in the Phoenix suburb.

One of the best things about living in NYC is not needing a car. While Scottsdale as a whole is a car-dependent city, I was surprised to find that some neighborhoods are walkable, like the downtown area, which is lined with shops, restaurants, and businesses.

Unlike NYC, the area's luxury housing seemed separate from less expensive homes.

I'm used to seeing neighborhoods with a mix of expensive and affordable housing in New York. But that didn't appear to be the case in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.

I spotted modest homes in the Phoenix suburbs, but they were nowhere near the mega-mansions. Generally, it seemed like the cheaper housing and luxury estates were separated by elevation — the streets higher up in the mountains were lined with exclusively high-end homes.

In North Scottsdale, I was amazed by mansions in the hills that reminded me of castles.

About 40 minutes north of Downtown Scottsdale, DC Ranch is home to the most expensive real-estate listing in the city — a $54 million mega-mansion.

I got a private tour of the 4,400-acre community, which is made up of four villages, and most have shops, restaurants, golf clubs, and other businesses within walking distance of many of the homes. There's even a school in the community that students walk and bike to.

Ultimately, DC Ranch felt like a little town that could sustain itself without trekking to Downtown Scottsdale.

In the most expensive village, Silverleaf, mansions line long, winding roads up the mountains. It looked nothing like the luxury housing in NYC, mostly sky-high, sprawling apartments.

My jaw dropped as we drove by these homes, most of which had multiple buildings and dramatic entryways. There was a variety of architecture up there. As I passed through the desert landscape, I was reminded of medieval castles and Greek villas.

The biggest surprise during my trip to Arizona's wealth enclave was thinking I could see myself living there.

I don't see myself leaving NYC for a long time. Still, when I do, I may consider this luxury desert oasis thanks to its surprisingly walkable neighborhoods, stunning architecture, and proximity to a bigger city, Phoenix.

If I can take the heat — and the price — there's a chance I'll call this area home someday.

• Mississippi County offers up to $50,000 for new home builds or renovations to attract residents.
• The Work Here, Live Here program aims to boost the local economy and grow the population.
• The incentive is available to employees of local companies and has drawn 80 new homeowners.

Mississippi County, Arkansas wants to help residents build their dream home, as long as they agree to live in the area for at least four years. To accomplish this goal, it's offering up to $50,000 per household for a renovation or new build.

The program — called Work Here, Live Here — is the county's effort to boost the local economy and grow the population, which is just under 40,000 people, per the 2022 Census. A two-and-a-half hour drive from Little Rock, the county borders Tennessee and includes cities like Blytheville and Osceola.

Work Here, Live Here is organized and partially-funded through a group of Mississippi County industries, community groups, and financial institutions like Farmers Bank & Trust. It first started providing resident and mover incentives in the fall of 2022.

The county is one of the nation's top steel-producing areas, President and CEO of Farmers Bank & Trust Randy Scott told Business Insider. And, the incentive program is only available to employees of specific companies, like steel producers River Steel, US Steel, and Atlas Tube. Eight companies have partnered with Work Here, Live Here so far, and Scott expects more to join this month.

"We want homeowners that are gonna stay here," Scott said.

Mississippi County's incentive program is part of a recent wave of efforts across rural America to increase populations and local businesses. Areas like Lincoln County, Kansas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Columbus, Georgia are paying people to move there, offering perks like discounted gym memberships, internet credits, tax breaks, and up to $10,000 in cash to new residents.

Mover incentive programs have become especially popular in the aftermath of the pandemic, as more jobs are remote or location flexible. And, as the cost of living continues to rise in US cities — especially on the coasts — more prospective homebuyers are being priced out. Some are turning to these smaller cities and counties in the Midwest or South.

For Mississippi County, this growing housing demand has provided an opportunity to build their towns and cities.

"They're going to be here for generations to come," Scott said. "They're your future registered voters, future school board members, future enrollments in the schools."

With housing incentives, Mississippi County hopes to see population growth

In the 20 months since Work Here, Live Here launched, the program has drawn 80 new homeowners to Mississippi County. And, according to Scott, the majority of them are first-generation homebuyers, young people, and young families.

The housing incentive program offers a 10% forgivable loan on a new home construction with a maximum home cost of $500,000, meaning some families can receive up to a $50,000 housing credit. Existing homes can receive a forgivable loan of up to 5% for a renovation.

Per data provided to BI from Work Here, Live Here, the program has already led to the construction of 28 homes and the renovation of 52 existing homes. The average price of homes purchased is $270,253 and the average benefit received is $28,767.

"We will have an individual that gets the incentive," Scott said. "And within a week, everyone that works on his shift with him is calling us saying 'hey, how can I participate as well?"'

Work Here, Live Here was initially focused on keeping residents who already lived in Mississippi County, but it has also attracted homebuyers from out of state, Scott said. Participants have come from Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, and Ohio.

As more families move to or settle in Mississippi County, Scott expects it will have a positive effect on businesses, the school system, and public spaces. Now, he and other northeast Arkansas leaders want to get the word out.

"Once we start having population increase — and there's no reason why we shouldn't with other jobs we have created — the quality of life will follow," Scott said. "You'll get the restaurants, you'll get the retail shops, you'll get the amenities."

Have you been paid to move? Are you open to sharing your pros and cons of moving to a new city? If so, reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@businessinsider.com.

• A new study by Citymeals on Wheels surveyed 500 older New Yorkers about their access to food.
• Sixty-five percent of respondents said they live on $15,000 per year or less.
• Fifty-six percent receive SNAP benefits, but 34% said it's not enough to meet basic needs.

The Big Apple's Silent Generation and baby boomers face daunting food insecurity as they struggle to obtain regular meals, feel socially isolated from people who can help them get food, and lack support from government benefits like SNAP.

A new survey of 500 older people by nonprofit meal-delivery service Citymeals on Wheels and CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute highlights persistent hunger among New York's aging population: Forty-eight percent of people surveyed said they experienced some level of food insecurity in the past 12 months.

Food insecurity included worrying that food would run out before they received more money, or not being able to grocery shop or cook for themselves due to physical or psychological barriers.

The survey sampled New Yorkers over the age of 60; boomers are people between 59 and 75, and Silent Generation members are older than that. Survey participants either belonged to an older adult center or have received home-delivered meals, according to Citymeals on Wheels. Researchers aimed to gauge the effectiveness of such programs.

Researchers found that 65% of older New Yorkers surveyed are living on $15,000 a year or less. That's just 20% of the median household income in New York City, which was $74,694 in 2022, according to the Census Bureau. What's more, 32% of the people surveyed said they don't receive any Social Security benefits.

In New York City, there are nearly 1.8 million people aged 60 and older. Almost 10% of those individuals attend older adult centers and 27,547 received home-delivered meals last year, according to Citymeals on Wheels.

Another gleaning insight from the study is the mental health concern among New York City's aging population. Forty-five percent of survey respondents said they do not have friends or family who can provide them with at least one meal a day. And 82% of respondents said they have never utilized mental health services.

Among older people, social isolation such as being home-ridden or detached from technology can contribute to feelings of loneliness. Forty-five percent of respondents said they have little to no internet access and 38% said loneliness and depression were a concern.

Persistently high food bills

Fifty-six percent of respondents said they receive cash assistance for groceries through SNAP.

However, SNAP benefits are often not enough to pay for groceries. In fact, about 34% of respondents said the SNAP benefits they received were not enough to meet their needs.

One respondent said their income is just above the SNAP eligibility level, highlighting the precarious financial situation of ALICEs — asset limited, income constrained, and employed people who are trapped between making too much for benefits but too little to sustain themselves financially.

And while inflation is cooling, the cost of eating out is still a sore spot for many Americans right now. The cost of groceries remained flat from April to May, but the cost of food away from home, like eating at restaurants, increased 0.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And the cost of limited-seating food, like fast-food joints, increased 0.2% in the same time period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's a burden for cash-strapped New Yorkers who might find it easier to eat a quick meal out than cook at home.

In fact, 41% of survey respondents said they're only sometimes or never able to grocery shop, and 15% said they're not able to cook for themselves, citing physical and mental difficulties.

Have you found it difficult to manage your food bills? Has the price of a favorite meal recently changed or surprised you? We want to hear from you. Email this reporter at jtowfighi@insider.com

• Bethany Dobson lost 44 pounds after she learned about nutrition and strength training.
• Dobson's new understanding of calories and protein helped her make new versions of her favorite foods.
• She shared her pizza, cheeseburger pie, and brownie recipes with Business Insider.

When Bethany Dobson started learning about nutrition and strength training, it was a game changer.

For years, she thought she had to eat a restrictive diet and do tons of cardio to lose fat. But she realized she just needed to understand how calories work and, to a lesser extent, macros (proteins, carbs, and fat).

This knowledge enabled Dobson, 22, from the UK, to develop higher-protein and lower-calorie versions of her favorite meals to help her hit her nutrition goals without feeling deprived, meaning fat loss became sustainable.

About four years ago, she lost 44 pounds, and has maintained her healthy lifestyle since.

Although all macros are important in a balanced diet, eating enough protein is particularly important for fat loss, because it helps keep you feeling full. It also helps the body hold on to muscle while losing fat, which means you actually change your body composition.

As more people have become more interested in fitness and muscle-building in recent years, the size of the global protein supplements market surpassed $23.45 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $49.68 billion by 2032, according to Precedence Research.

However, dietitians generally advise aiming to get protein in your diet through whole foods before turning to supplements.

Following the success of her own fitness journey, Dobson is now a full-time fat loss coach and personal trainer, and she published her second e-book of recipes this month.

Dobson shared three of her most popular high-protein recipes with Business Insider, all approved by registered nutritionist Charan Bijlani.

Barbecue chicken cheesy stuffed crust pizza

Serves one

Ingredients

For the base:

• 70 grams self-raising flour
• 100 grams 0% fat Greek yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed herbs
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 grams light cheese for the stuffed crust

For the toppings:

• 100 grams cooked chicken
• 10 grams pizza Sauce
• 15 grams BBQ Sauce
• Chopped onion
• Chopped pepper
• 10 grams light cheese

Method

1. Mix the flour and seasonings in a bowl, then add the Greek yogurt. Mix until a dough is formed. You may have to add some more water or flour to get the right consistency.
2. Sprinkle some flour onto a surface and roll out the dough.
3. Line the edges of the dough with cheese and fold over to make the stuffed crust.
4. Add the toppings.
5. Place on a greaseproof paper-lined tray and bake in the oven at 180°C (356°F) for 20-30 minutes, or until the dough is cooked.

Nutrition

Calories: 583

Protein: 59 grams

Carbs: 64 grams

Fat: 10 grams

Bijlani told BI that Dobson's recipe is a great higher-protein pizza option that sounds full of flavor.

"Opting for wholewheat flour would be an easy way to make this meal slightly more nutritious with some added fiber," she said. "Adding some extra veggies onto the pizza or having a side salad would be a way to ensure that there's a serving of veggies."

Cheeseburger pie

Serves four

Ingredients

For the potato fries topping:

• 600 grams white potatoes
• Salt and pepper

For the burger filling:

• 750 grams 5% fat ground beef
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed herbs
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 beef stock cube, dissolved in 50 milliliters boiling water
• 1 teaspoon tomato puree
• 20 grams burger sauce

For the cheese sauce:

• 2 light cheese slices
• 20 milliliters 2% milk

For toppings:

• 6 light cheese slices
• Crinkle-cut gherkins

Method

Potato fries:

• Slice and microwave the potatoes for five to seven minutes.
• Spray with olive oil, season, and air fry for 20 minutes at 200°C (392°F) or bake in an oven for 30 minutes at 180°C (356°F).

Filling:

• Season the ground beef with the herbs and garlic powder, then fry with the onion until brown.
• Add other ingredients and simmer for five to 10 minutes.

Cheese sauce:

• Melt the cheese slices with milk in a small frying pan until smooth.

Assembly:

• Put the beef mix into a large baking dish then top with the cheese slices and potato fries. Bake for five to 10 minutes at 180°C (356°F) until the cheese is melted.
• Top with the gherkins and melted cheese sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 458

Protein: 50 grams

Carbs: 34 grams

Fat: 15 grams

Bijlani said that keeping the skin on the potatoes is a great way to up the fiber content of the meal.

"By using a variety of herbs and spices you're able to add a lot of flavor and could even eliminate the salt entirely," she said, adding that another option is to use a low-sodium stock cube.

While gherkins are great, Bijlani recommends adding vegetables or a salad to increase fiber and boost gut health.

Chocolate brownie overnight oats

Serves one. You can also make in bulk and store in the fridge for three to four days.

Ingredients

• 40 grams rolled oats
• 30 grams chocolate protein powder
• 100 grams 0% fat Greek yogurt
• 10 grams cocoa powder
• 50 millileters almond milk
• 10 grams chocolate chips
• 2 drops vanilla extract

Method

1. Mix everything together in a jar, ensuring there are no lumps.
2. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.

Nutrition

Calories: 385

Protein: 40 grams

Carbs: 42 grams

Fat: eight grams

Bijlani said this recipe is high in fiber thanks to the oats and also high in protein, thanks to the protein powder and yogurt.

"Adding some nuts or seeds would be a way to add some healthy fats, more fiber, and plant diversity, which your gut will love," she said. "By using vanilla extract, you're able to add some sweetness without any extra sugar and could even reduce the amount of chocolate chips."

Fresh or frozen fruit would make it a more balanced meal and add more flavor, Bijlani said.

• Fans can tune into Elon Musk's gamer livestreams on X, which can last multiple hours.
• Musk streams under the handle cyb3rgam3r420 and plays games and answers questions via the chat.
• Recently, Musk talked SpaceX, plans for reaching Mars, and favorite podcasts.

Elon Musk has never been shy in sharing his thoughts through social media, and fans can now tune into hours of his musings through his gaming livestreams.

A known avid gamer, the Tesla CEO has recently been streaming live on X, formerly Twitter, the social media company he owns. The livestreams are under his gamer-focused handle @cyb3rgam3r420 (yes, it references 420 — a favorite number of Musk's), not his usual @elonmusk handle.

But as one of Musk's recent livestreams demonstrates, they offer Tesla fans and those interested in his various other companies, like SpaceX or Neuralink, another channel to hear the billionaire riff on his plans.

The sessions last several hours (his latest stream was over five hours long), and while Musk was partly focused on playing a video game — in this case, "Diablo IV" — he also responded to people in the livestream chat.

Gaming aside, it's classic Musk. He talks in a stream-of-consciousness fashion about Tesla, SpaceX, X, Neuralink, and the future, sometimes touching on some of his go-to points, such as his concerns about human population levels and encouraging his friends to have more children.

In his latest stream, for example, he talked about:

• The logistics of terraforming and building a self-sustaining city on Mars — which he estimates could be done in 20 to 30 years. "I think we'll launch the first Starship to Mars in less than three years," he said.
• When asked whether he'd like to die on Mars, Musk responded, "Sure, why not die on Mars. I just don't want to die on impact."
• His AI company, xAI, bringing its chatbot Grok to Tesla. Musk said users will be able to ask it to go pick up a friend or groceries.
• His optimism about Optimus humanoid robots, which he anticipates will come to Tesla within the next year or two.
• Musk's podcast recommendations, which included "The Age of Napoleon" and Dan Carlin's "Hardcore History."
• SpaceX's plans to take a lens from a ground telescope and put it in space. Musk said combining the ground lens with more advanced electronics would "probably be roughly 10 times the resolution of Hubble."
• Starship's 3D metal printed engine parts and the multiple prior iterations Musk went through before settling on the final rocket design.
• He also answered random questions from the chat, like what he's drinking (Diet Coke) and whether Tesla plans to launch a phone (no).

In some ways, his game sessions feel like an extended edition of his speeches during a Tesla earnings call or while onstage at a company event or panel interview. But it's rare to see a CEO stream and talk for hours about such a range of topics, free from PR handlers, and for people following Musk, they might just hear something new between dungeon fights and quests.

This is not the first alternative account Musk has been found using. He appeared to have an X account where he would tweet as his now-four-year-old son X Æ A-12.

America is running headlong into a big problem: Boomers are getting older. In the coming years, the retirement-age population will balloon to its largest size yet, drawing down Social Security funds, overwhelming retirement homes, and leaving a labor shortage in its wake.

Larry Fink, the 71-year-old CEO of the asset-management behemoth BlackRock, offered a two-part solution to the looming retirement crisis in his annual March letter to shareholders. In order to avoid economic catastrophe, he argued, people should save more money and work longer. "What if the government and the private sector treated 60-plus year-olds as late-career workers with much to offer rather than people who should retire?" Fink wrote. The current Social Security retirement age is 67, but most Americans depart the workforce earlier than that. If more people kept working into their late 60s and 70s, the impending crisis would soften.

In some ways, Fink's solution sounds nice and even sensible — many able-bodied, energetic 70-year-olds are happy to stay employed and contribute to the economy, so why not encourage more people to do the same?

The problem is that his plan overlooks a few key realities. For one, many older people cannot work because of a disability or because they need to care for someone else with a disability. The second is that those who are willing and able to work are often unwanted. Despite a legal ban on discriminating against people 40 and older in the workplace, it's still common.

Instead of making it easier for Americans to save for retirement and work as long (or as short) as they want, Fink is setting up a catch-22: The economy needs aging Americans to work longer, but many companies simply don't want them.

Down in Texas, Daniel Ross has been busy. As a founding partner of Ross Scalise Employment Lawyers, an Austin firm that represents people who have experienced age discrimination, this isn't necessarily a good thing. Over the past five years, he said he's noticed an increase in age-discrimination cases, especially those alleging wrongful discharge. "Here in Austin, we have a lot of tech jobs and tech companies," he said. "They want to look younger."

In 2023, a Society for Human Resources Management survey found that 30% of workers felt discriminated against because of their age at some point in their careers.

"This absolutely isn't good when we are in a moment in time where we still have so many more jobs to fill and people who are trained to fill them," Emily Dickens, SHRM's head of government affairs, said about the survey results.

We've got one group of people who are apparently only hiring their own age group, because they seem to be biased against those younger than them and older than them.
Stacie Haller, a chief career advisor at ResumeBuilder.com

According to the US Chamber of Commerce, there are 8.5 million open jobs in the US and only 6.5 million unemployed people looking for work. The shortages span several industries, with healthcare, hospitality, and business services such as accounting topping the list for the most unfilled positions. In the Texas tech scene, job openings are on the rise. But despite the shortages, many companies are reluctant to fill their open roles with older people.

Patrick Button, a professor of economics at Tulane University, has done extensive work on employment discrimination, mostly through what's known as résumé correspondence field experiments. These studies involve creating fictional résumés that vary in a few ways and using them to apply for job openings. The number of callbacks that each résumé receives indicates the employer response to that type of worker.

One of Button's studies looked at "bridge jobs," part-time jobs in administration or retail that many people use to ease into retirement and cushion their finances. "The ability to get these sorts of jobs is one mechanism that older people use to work longer and then provide better security for themselves in retirement," Button said. He and his coauthors sent out 40,000 résumés they wrote to represent different age groups: younger workers between 29 and 31, middle-aged workers between 49 and 51, and older workers between 64 and 66. They applied to listings for administrative, retail sales, security, and janitorial positions — all typical bridge jobs that attract applicants from every demographic.

Among women, they discovered a 3 percentage-point drop in résumé responses around age 50 with a significant decline around 65. For men, the decline appeared at age 65. The results were clear: "There is a significant amount of age discrimination in the ability to take these jobs, particularly against older women," Button told me.

Other studies have found a similar pattern: A 2024 survey of 1,000 hiring managers conducted by ResumeBuilder.com, a website that helps people write résumés, found that more than one-third of respondents admitted to a bias against candidates older than 60 and Gen Z candidates.

"We're in a situation where we've got one group of people who are apparently only hiring their own age group, because they seem to be biased against those younger than them and older than them," Stacie Haller, a chief career advisor at ResumeBuilder.com, told me.

Several companies have recently come under fire for explicit age bias. A 2018 ProPublica and Mother Jones investigation found that IBM had an express, top-down program in place from 2013 until 2018 to fire workers over 40 and replace them with workers under 40. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that there was "reasonable cause" to believe that IBM discriminated against certain employees based on their ages. The case is ongoing.

Sure, we've all been told that life isn't fair — usually by the people who hold all the cards — but the system isn't set up to help people work longer or save more money.

In 2023, the pharmaceutical company Lilly was ordered by the EEOC to pay a $2.4 million fine for a program it operated between 2017 and 2021 to attract "early career" salespeople, which included incentives for managers to hire people under 40. The same year, Scripps Medical Clinic in San Diego was ordered to pay $6.9 million for setting a mandatory retirement age for physicians of 70, regardless of the doctors' interest or abilities.

More often, though, the discrimination is less explicit. Ross, the age-discrimination lawyer, said that most of his cases involve circumstantial evidence. He told me that people who would never dream of making remarks about race, gender, or religion will casually joke about old people, ask people when they are retiring, or otherwise contribute to making an older colleague feel unwelcome. Often, he said, this kind of circumstantial evidence helps him build cases.

Age discrimination happens for a host of reasons. We live in a youth-obsessed culture, and gray hair doesn't reflect corporate branding. Employers may assume that older workers have health problems and so might require more time off or that they're out of touch with rapidly changing technology. Some managers don't know how to talk to their older reports. And some older workers have heard all the corporate buzzwords and blather before, so they don't buy into management's sloganeering, rendering them "difficult."

"Companies want to create a younger workforce. And I think one of the reasons they want to do that is so they look like a younger workforce to customers and to potential employees who are statistically going to be younger than 40 or so," Ross said.

In an ideal world, older workers could retire peacefully, leaving the work of running the country's economic engine to younger generations while they enjoy a well-deserved break. But increasingly, retirement-aged Americans are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They can't retire when they want to because they don't have enough money saved up. But they can't continue working, either, because companies don't want them.

Larry Fink is correct that most industrial countries have not prepared for the economic impact of an aging population. In the US, the Silent Generation and older baby boomers have enjoyed relatively rich pension and healthcare benefits. But for most retirees, it simply isn't enough. Fewer than half of boomers have enough retirement savings, with one-fifth saying they have none at all. Already, retirement-age Americans are struggling to get by, reckoning with working into their 70s in order to stretch their meager savings.

The problem with Fink's assessment is that it just isn't realistic. He's asking people who have not yet retired to work longer than their elders did and to save even more money, without changing the systematic barriers to either. Sure, we've all been told that life isn't fair — usually by the people who hold all the cards — but the system isn't set up to help people work longer or save more money. Already, younger generations are panicking about how much money they need to save in order to retire.

For Fink and others in the executive class, the dilemma is this: They can either pay workers more and let them work longer so that they can be better prepared for retirement, or they can pay more in taxes so that the government can provide better retirement benefits that allow people to stop working when they need to.

They can't have it both ways. If they ignore the problem and do nothing, they will leave the average person to live out their golden years in bad financial shape — sparking an economic disaster for everyone.

Ann C. Logue is a writer specializing in business and finance. Her most recent book is "Options Trading." She lives in Chicago.

• Four of the world's 11 "impossibly unaffordable" housing markets are in California, a study found.
• There are seven of these pricey markets across the US and Canada, per the Demographia report.
• The study blamed land use policies for constraining housing supply and driving up prices.

Fans of "Selling Sunset" know just how expensive property in California can be.

In fact, four of the 11 most unaffordable housing markets in the English-speaking world are in California — and seven are in the US and Canada, a new study has found.

San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego are all "impossibly unaffordable," according to the 2024 Demographia International Housing Affordability report.

The median house price in San Jose last year was 11.9 times the gross median household income in that market, per the report published by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a Canadian think tank.

The median price-to-income ratio was 10.9 in Los Angeles, and not much lower in San Francisco (9.7) and San Diego (9.5). In other words, if the median household income was $100,000 in those markets, the median home cost more than $900,000 in the two most affordable locales, and almost $1.2 million in San Jose.

The researchers classified a ratio of 9 or higher as "impossibly unaffordable," saying it was virtually unfeasible for a middle-income housing to raise enough financing to afford a typical home in the area. That level of unaffordability didn't exist three decades ago, they noted.

The study analyzed housing affordability in 94 major markets across eight countries including the US, Canada, Australia, China, and the UK. Hong Kong (16.7) topped the ranking for a 13th time, followed by Sydney (13.3) and Vancouver (12.3), which have secured top-three spots in 15 and 16 of the last 16 years respectively.

Honolulu (10.5), Melbourne (9.8), Adelaide (9.7), and Toronto (9.3) rounded out the list of "impossibly unaffordable" markets.

Most affordable markets

At the other end of the spectrum, Pittsburgh (3.1) ranked as the most affordable US market, followed by Rochester (3.4), St. Louis (3.4), and Cleveland (3.5).

The report's authors blamed the astounding lack of affordability in some markets on governments constraining housing supply.

"The crisis stems principally from land use policies that artificially restrict housing supply, driving up land prices and making homeownership unattainable for many," they wrote.

They gave examples of policies designed to combat urban sprawl, such as greenbelts, boundaries, and densification. These can "severely constrict the land available for housing," and "higher land values translate to dramatically higher house prices," they added.

US housing has become especially unaffordable in recent years for other reasons. Unprecedented amounts of government spending during the pandemic, rock-bottom interest rates, and shortages caused by global supply chain disruptions drove inflation to a 40-year high of over 9% in 2022.

The Federal Reserve's solution has been to raise interest rates to above 5%, which has driven mortgage rates up from below 3% to two-decade highs of about 7%. One consequence has been that homeowners who've locked in cheap mortgages don't want to lose them by selling, contributing to an inventory shortfall that has pushed home prices even higher.

Affordability crisis

At the same time, many consumers have been hit by soaring food, fuel, and housing costs. They're also paying more each month toward their credit cards, car loans, and other debts due to rate increases. That has crimped their ability to save and borrow at a time when home prices are near record highs, resulting in an affordability crisis.

Whether land use restrictions, monetary and fiscal policy, or reluctant sellers are most to blame for "impossibly unaffordable" housing markets, the dream of homeownership is clearly out of reach for many people.

• Almost every summer, I travel to Taiwan in order to enroll my children in local summer camps.
• I can send my four kids to a full week's camp — including lunch — for cheaper than the US. 
• My children are immersed in my culture and can practice speaking Chinese with locals.

Every year, it seems like the rush to sign my kids up for summer camp begins earlier and earlier. For some of the more competitive programs, enrollment can begin as early as January or even November/December of the previous year.

As a mother of five, that's too much for my addled brain — let alone my wallet. Unless it's concert tickets to K-pop band BTS, I try never to compete for anything — mostly because it spikes my blood pressure, and I hate the anxiety it induces.

Instead, I send my kids to summer camp in Taipei because not only will my children have fun and learn, but they'll be doing so in Chinese.

Immersing my children in family, language, and culture

One of the primary reasons I enroll my children in local camps is so that they are forced to speak and listen to native Chinese speakers. Though my children have Chinese tutors and can speak, read, and write the language, I know that is an artificial environment. Being able to speak and respond in a classroom environment is very different than doing so in "real" life.

I choose to throw my kids in a Chinese only environment so that they have to communicate in Chinese out of necessity. Truthfully, many Taiwanese people will try to speak English to my kids even though my kids understand Chinese just fine.

Plus, not only do my kids get to see our relatives, but they also experience a whole new way of living for four to eight weeks. They try new foods, live a car-free existence and navigate the bus, subway, and train systems — sometimes unaccompanied — and have far more personal freedom than I would allow them in the US due to safety. They also venture out on their own to buy food from local restaurants and convenience stores.

Summer camps in Taiwan are so much more affordable

Every year, it seems as if the cost of summer camps in the US increases — and while I do want people to be paid a fair wage, it can also be true that with four children, paying for camps becomes cost-prohibitive. However, thanks to the exchange rate of about $1 USD to $32 NTD and the lower cost of living in Taiwan (on average, it is 35.6% lower than in the US), I can sign up my children for a fraction of the cost.

For example, through our town's parks and recreation department, a half-day camp for five days costs around $300 a week. If I enrolled them elsewhere for a week-long full-day camp, the price range is around $725 to $1,200 (and doesn't include lunch). For a weeklong sleep-away camp for five days and four nights, the cost is about $2,000 to $3,000.

However, even in Taiwan's capital and most expensive city of Taipei, I can enroll my kids in all the fun camps I would not consider in the US due to cost. A one-week, full-day camp, including lunch, is about $207 per child. If I wanted to be fancy and send them to a Model UN-like camp for the same amount of time, it would be $529 per child. For an 8-day, 7-night sleep-away camp for teenagers, the cost for the entire camp would be $711.

Not only summer camps but vacations, too

Yes, the cost of traveling to Taiwan is expensive (the average round-trip flight will be $1,200 to $1,500 during peak season), and of course, I do have to pay for additional housing, but food expenses will be lower, and we don't have to pay for utilities. But I also try to maximize the time spent in Taiwan, so the trip doubles as a vacation, too. In the end, I will choose to gift my children an international summer of family and fun over costly US camps any day of the week.