We are once again at a crucial point in the world's economic recovery. Everything must go right, or global markets could turn violent.

For the past four years, the world has been unified in its efforts to first ease the economic pain caused by the pandemic and then combat the historic bout of inflation that followed. When the pandemic set in, central banks around the world slashed rates to zero — just as they did during the financial crisis. Then as inflation set in, they started raising rates at a rapid clip unseen in decades. They did all this in nearly perfect time, which ensured that markets remained stable and predictable. But now, the world risks falling out of sync.

The European Central Bank began easing interest rates on Thursday, cutting its benchmark rate by 0.25%. The move is not only a sign of confidence that the eurozone is in the last bouts of its battle with inflation but also an indication of worry that the economy needs a small boost to keep rolling. Investors and economists expect the Federal Reserve to follow suit and cut interest rates in September. And so, the story goes, central banks around the world will begin their coordinated descent into a soft landing — a perfect calibration of that push-pull between fighting inflation and evading a recession.

The thing is, reality has been making a mockery of experts' assumptions all year long. Wall Street started the year expecting inflation to cool off, the economy to slow to a more leisurely pace of growth, and as many as six interest rate cuts from the Fed. Instead, inflation data has consistently come in hot, and the US economy's strength has defied expectations. This combination means there's a good chance that the September cut Wall Street is praying for may never materialize.

"Summer will definitely be interesting," Tamara Basic Vasiljev, a senior economist at Oxford Economics, told me. Her base case is that everything will go according to plan, but there are caveats: "The Fed has proven its ability to fight off any kind of financial stability issues. But what if services inflation keeps surprising to the upside through the summer? Then it becomes apparent they can't even cut in September."

If the Fed doesn't cut come fall, America's high interest-rate regime will be out of step with the rest of the world. And any differential between the US and the rest of the world would send a weird wave of money crashing onto America's shores. That sudden surge of cash could, in turn, add liquidity to our financial system just as the Fed is trying to dry it up and push up prices around the economy. This would make it even harder for the Fed to ease, further diverging US policy from the rest of the world. Think of it as a vicious cycle standing in the way of the world's smooth, soft landing.

Over time, this has the potential to add volatility to already skittish markets. Here in the US, stocks move on mood — one week, Wall Street thinks we're in for stagflation; the next, it believes a soft landing is coming. This divergence in interest policy, over time, has the potential to bring that same frantic energy to currency markets.

The carry nation

Wind is the result of an imbalance: air moving from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. The greater the pressure differences, the faster the wind blows. The same principle applies to the global flow of cash — investors chase imbalances, and sometimes things get blown over in the process.

The US already has somewhat higher interest rates than other countries — the Fed's benchmark rate is 5.25%- 5.50%. These differentials have allowed Wall Street to make what is called a "carry trade": Investors borrow money from a country with low interest rates, invest it in bonds from a country where interest rates are high, and pocket the difference. In this case, that means moving money from the rest of the world and buying US assets, particularly government bonds.

What seems like a slam dunk for Wall Street is not such good news for either the US or the global economy.

This trade has been hot since the start of the year — investment banks like JPMorgan and UBS recommended it to clients, and a Bloomberg index based on selling the lowest-yielding G10 currencies and buying the highest ones has already returned 7% this year. The Institute of International Finance reported that in May alone, Emerging Markets ex-China — where rates are also higher — saw bond-market inflows of $10.2 billion, mostly due to investors benefiting from carry trades like selling Japanese yen to buy Mexican pesos. These trades are "everywhere," Peter Schaffrik, a global macro strategist at RBC Capital Markets, told Bloomberg. And the more rates diverge, the more attractive this march of money from weak to strong becomes.

What seems like a slam dunk for Wall Street is not such good news for either the US or the global economy. At a time when economies in Europe and elsewhere are losing momentum, sucking more money away from these economies will tighten financial conditions while they're trying to avoid a slowdown — especially in crucial regional data like German industrial production, which has come in soft of late. It will also weaken the euro, which will make it harder for the continent to import the energy it needs to fuel its economy and make it more expensive to buy American goods. And in Asian economies, where interest rates are already significantly lower than in the US, things could get even messier.

"We expect that Japan and South Korea will face challenges balancing monetary policy to maintain stability as the dollar appreciates," Nigel Green, the CEO of deVere Group, a global wealth-management firm, told me. "I wouldn't be surprised if policymakers feel the need to intervene in the currency markets or adjust interest rates to manage these effects."

For the US, more money sloshing onto America's shores has the opposite impact of what the Fed wants to achieve: It pushes up asset prices and loosens financial conditions. In other words, it makes it harder for the Fed to fight the inflation that is aggravating consumers.

"There are legitimate concerns that this influx of capital into the US will increase liquidity, driving up asset prices and inflationary pressure, making it more challenging for the Fed to lower rates," Green said. "Increased liquidity can lead to inflationary pressures, which the Fed might need to counteract by maintaining or even raising rates."

As Green mentioned, there's a way for the Fed to fight back: hiking interest rates some more. But jacking up interest rates even further could finally break the back of the until now strong US consumer and send us into a recession. It's the same calculation the ECB is making, though the EU's slowdown is more marked. Given these downsides, the Fed is unlikely to hike, which will create the perfect market for the carry trade to thrive. And as long as US data remains choppy — pointing to sticky inflation one day and disinflation the next — this carry-trade cash will end up sloshing around in the economy. This is a dynamic that central banks from countries already on their rate-cutting path will be watching. They're already seeing growth slow and, on top of that, will have money sucked away to the US, where data has been relatively strong through the first half of the year. Carry-trade cash exploits the dislocations between global economies that are keeping our policies from coordinating. We're in the early innings, but the longer this goes on, the more of an impact it will make. For Wall Street, that means a summer of vigilance. For economists, it means the picture of our economy that they're trying to cobble together with contradictory data is even blurrier. It's a time of increased uncertainty.

Sticky-ing the landing

There is, of course, hope that this divergence will be only a temporary state of affairs. If the US suddenly starts printing weak economic data, that will hasten the Fed's move to cut rates. And there are signs that EU inflation is stickier than policymakers would like, which could slow the pace of cuts enough for America to catch up.

There are already signs of a slight tempering of America's red-hot economy: The household savings rate is at a 16-month low, disposable incomes have made only modest gains, and the amount that people have to pay on credit balances is elevated. The white-hot job market has cooled, and job openings have returned to prepandemic levels. But not every indicator is telling the story of a soft landing. On Friday, May's jobs report showed that the country created 272,000 jobs — way more than the 182,000 expected. The data seesaw stateside continues.

There are limits to how far we can diverge from the United States.

On the other side of the Atlantic, there are signs that UK and EU inflation could be stickier than policymakers had foreseen. EU inflation ticked up slightly to 2.6% in May, surprising the ECB but not shocking it enough to stop a June rate cut. In the UK, stubborn services inflation, which came in at 5.9% for the month of April, may give the Bank of England reason to pause. Oxford Economics' Basic Vasiljev told me that this indicated that the EU and US were moving more in tandem than this policy lag suggests and the current policy divergence would remain short. Even the Bank of Canada, which cut its benchmark rate to 4.75% from 5% last week, is cautiously optimistic the dislocation will be momentary. "There are limits to how far we can diverge from the United States, but we're not close to those limits," Gov. Tiff Macklem said at the Bank of Canada's latest meeting. Not close… yet.

This rosy outlook is not a guarantee: Wall Street still expects three cuts this year from the ECB and the Bank of England. Even in little clips of 0.25%, three cuts would create a divergence traders would exploit. And if September comes and the US is still hot, that exploitation could continue all year long, exacerbating the conditions that are keeping monetary policy out of sync. That sucking sound you'll hear all summer is the sound of Wall Street slurping money from Europe, Canada, the UK, and East Asia into US markets. Policymakers will have to recalibrate. This doesn't mean we won't stick a soft landing — especially if this disordered moment is brief — it just increases the odds of a bumpy ride until we get there.

Linette Lopez is a senior correspondent at Business Insider.

• John and Susan Pazera moved to Colombia six years ago.
• They knew they wanted to retire early, and they saw leaving the US as the only way to do so.
• Their expenses in Colombia are low, and the affordable healthcare makes a big difference.

John and Susan Pazera knew their retirement years would look a lot different if they chose to stay in California.

As sailors, John and Susan — 68 and 64, respectively — were no strangers to travel. In 2001, the couple took a three-year sabbatical and sailed down the West Coast to Central America, where they stopped in Panama. It was a moment of inspiration.

"It started getting us to think that maybe we could retire at a younger age if we moved outside the country," John told Business Insider.

They're not the only retirees to make the leap. BI has previously spoken to a range of Americans who chose to move abroad to seek better and more affordable conditions in retirement. For many older Americans, it can solidify their financial security later in life, especially because just over half of people over 65 said they made $30,000 or less in 2022 while in the US, per the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.

Moving to a new country can certainly present challenges, including the political atmosphere and potential language barriers. John and Susan recommended that anyone seeking to move abroad visit the place they might want to live a few times, especially when it's not tourist season and the weather is not as nice. They also suggested waiting a couple of years before purchasing any property.

"You have to adapt to that country's culture and lifestyle. You can't bring your US mentality to another country and expect everything to be the same," John said. "You have to wipe clean everything that you expect from the US that you think you're going to get from another country."

How they made the move and what life costs in Colombia

When John and Susan started planning, they first focused on boosting their savings. Then, in 2015, they sold their house and cars packed everything away in seven duffel bags and moved to Panama with their two dogs.

They ultimately decided that Panama wasn't the right fit. Having already visited some cities in Colombia, they were familiar with the lifestyle there and felt confident making it their new home.

They said that had they not moved abroad, early retirement would not have been a possibility. Instead, they both retired at 59 — Susan worked remotely for a few years. That's compared to the average retirement age of 63 for women and 65 for men in the US. Plus, they believe their quality of life after retirement is better.

"Everything was just so expensive," John said. "And we were able to afford it, but it's like, do we want to have this lifestyle until we retire? We got to figure out an exit strategy to get out quicker."

They recently purchased property outside of Medellín, Colombia, so they no longer have rent payments, but they estimate they'll owe around $137 a month in apartment insurance and property taxes. When it comes to their basic monthly expenses, they spend about $45 a month on utilities, $40 a month on cell phones, and $36 a month on internet. Healthcare costs vary each month, but they said it's typically around $300.

The couple said that moving also gave them the peace of mind of knowing that as they age, they'll have a healthcare system they can rely on for any physical ailments they might face.

"If we stay in the US, one of us gets really, really sick with some strange disease, and the insurance company says, 'Well, we don't cover that.' And then it's all out of your pocket," John said. "So all the money you saved your whole life, you have to dip into your savings for something that's not covered by the health insurance companies. But here, we know we can get sick with anything in the world, and we're going to be taken care of."

It's not free healthcare, Susan emphasized, but "it's really eye-opening" to see the quality of care she can get in Colombia for a significantly lower price than she could in the US.

Lower healthcare costs are often a key reason people might choose to leave the US. Another expat, Debra Crockett, previously told BI that she moved to Turkey after battling high health expenses in the US and found the situation to be much more affordable abroad.

John and Susan are grateful that finances are not a concern for them as they continue to live abroad in retirement. But it's more than that — they said their neighborhood is very walkable, they're able to do a range of outdoor activities like hiking and biking, and their neighborhood frequently has cultural events and activities they can participate in.

They achieved their goal of early retirement, and now they can enjoy the benefits.

"It's not easy all the time, but it's forced us to get out into the community and learn because it's complete immersion," Susan said. "And it really feels like the place we are meant to be at this point in time. "

How are you planning for retirement? Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

• The gig economy is expanding beyond delivery and rideshare.
• One example is Shiftsmart, an app that lets workers pick up one-off shifts at a host of employers.
• One Shiftsmart user said it helped him get a full-time job — but he wouldn't go back to it. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a worker in South Carolina who worked for Shiftsmart, an app that allows workers to pick up shifts for various employers, including Google, Subway, and USPS.

The worker worked for Circle K and Parker's Kitchen, a South Carolina-based chain of convenience stores and gas stations, by claiming shifts through Shiftsmart.

The worker asked not to be named for fear of retaliation at work. Business Insider has verified the worker's identity and employment. The story has been edited for length and clarity.

I am homeless, and gig work is pretty much the only thing that kept me above water.

I started with Shiftsmart last year. I needed a way to make extra money, and a friend turned me on to it. I signed up.

I would go to Circle K and work as a cleaner and merchandiser. To start a four-hour shift, I would show up, contact the manager, and let them know that I'm here to assist with whatever they need.

They would put you on certain tasks: Mopping up the floor, cleaning the bathrooms, restocking, just different odd jobs they need to take care of.

There were a whole bunch of other jobs that I could've gotten on Shiftsmart, like a mystery shopper, but most of them were 50 miles away — an hour's drive. You could take them, but then you're out the time and gas money.

If shifts sit unclaimed for too long, they'll entice you by raising the pay. The other day, I went in and worked a little over four hours. The estimated pre-tax earnings would've been $57.17 with a $50 bonus because nobody wanted to pick up that shift.

The bonus will start at $10, for example, then they'll raise it up to $20, then they'll raise it up to $30, and so on until somebody takes that shift. You get paid between 24 and 48 hours after the shift, in my experience.

What's funny is that one of the managers for this Circle K location I worked at through Shiftsmart noticed that I was working hard and said, "Hey, are you doing this just for side money, or are you looking for a full-time job? I would love to hire you." So, I decided to take her up on it and start working there full-time.

Shiftsmart itself has technical issues. Once, I was missing just over $1 of my pay. I had to go in through the app and submit a request. They sometimes correct it, but sometimes you won't hear anything from them. I'm not going to keep going after somebody for $1.17, but that adds up over the scale of thousands of people who could be experiencing the same thing that I am.

It also uses a ranking system. They have a "reliability" score, which is how often you actually show up to shifts and how often you cancel shifts with at least 24 hours' notice. They also have an "on-time" score. That goes down if you are late to work, of course, but if you show up 30 minutes or more early and clock in, then your time will also go down.

I realized that, at the pay rate Shiftsmart and Circle K were offering, it was putting me further into a hole financially. I don't know the exact numbers, but Shiftsmart has to be getting paid by Circle K whenever someone takes a shift. As an employee, I can make more money, and I don't have to deal with the same rankings and compete for shifts.

I'm just cutting out the middleman, in other words.

If you're going to get into gig work, by all means, do your hustle and try to survive, but don't get stuck in it. Understand that these types of gig jobs are not for all people. If somebody gets hurt on the job, they're not covered by workers compensation. I'm not sure I'd do it again.

Shiftsmart did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

Are you a gig worker and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com

• A recent Bankrate survey shows that Americans are less likely to tip workers across a variety of services.
• Still, a high share of US adults who go to sit-down restaurants always tip servers.
• The new survey found 35% of US adults said "tipping culture has gotten out of control."

Many Americans are not willing to leave a tip all the time, and they're becoming less likely to do so.

Bankrate recently published survey results about tipping for different types of services. Across all the categories in the survey, a smaller share of respondents said they tipped all the time than in a 2022 survey from Bankrate's sister site CreditCards.com.

The 2024 survey of US adults conducted from April 29 to May 1 found that 67% percent of those who go to sit-down restaurants always give tips to servers. A way smaller share of adults who go to coffee shops are tipping baristas all the time or when they have to pick up their takeout food. Thirty-seven percent of adults said they "feel like businesses should pay their employees better rather than relying so much on tips," per a Bankrate post about the results.

Thirty-five percent of adults said "tipping culture has gotten out of control," per the Bankrate post.

The share of US adults who always tip servers among those who go to sit-down restaurants slipped from the 2022 survey — 73% said this in the 2022 survey. This wasn't the only kind of tipping for which the share of adults using these services who said they always tip slipped, as seen in the table below.

Why people end up giving a tip

Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate, noted to Business Insider some of the reasons people end up tipping. There's when it's typically expected, or people may tip to try to get better service. Another could be to avoid feeling guilt.

"Sometimes we tip more out of guilt, like they flip the tablet around and you feel bad saying no," he said.

Rossman told BI that Gen Xers and baby boomers were "much more likely to say there's too much tip creep and tipping culture's gotten out of control." Still, the survey found 78% of Gen Xers and 86% of baby boomers who go to sit-down restaurants always give a tip.

And younger Americans are less likely to tip at sit-down restaurants. "The fact that only 35% of Gen Zers who go to sit-down restaurants are always tipping, only 56% of millennials who go to sit-down restaurants always tip there — that's a setting where I feel like you should be tipping every time, ideally 20%," Rossman said.

"We're seeing this backlash, though," Rossman added. "Some of it is high prices, some of it is tip creep, some of it is maybe just people feeling like they don't have a lot of money to go around."

A Pew Research Center survey of US adults conducted in August also highlights when people tip. That survey found 77% said service quality is a major factor in deciding whether they tip, and 18% called this a minor factor. Almost a third of adults said how much the worker or workers earn before tips is a major factor, 23% said social pressure is a major factor, and 23% said how much the tip will end up costing them is a major factor.

"Service quality is by far the most cited factor across all age groups, but younger Americans are more likely than older people to consider certain other factors," Pew Research Center said. "For example, adults under 30 are more likely than those 65 and older to point to workers' pre-tip wages, social pressure and cost as major factors when deciding whether to leave a tip."

When to leave a tip

So should you tip every time you place an order, stop in for a haircut, and get an appliance delivery? Rossman said his advice is for people to make a priority list of who to tip.

"Maybe this is especially useful around the holidays, too," Rossman said. "There's pressure to give a teacher gift and to tip the trash guys and the mailman and your kid's daycare provider and everybody. If you can't tip everybody, maybe at least prioritize who really went above and beyond."

Still, Rossman thinks there are several places or services where people should give a tip: at a hair salon or barbershop, food delivery, taxis and rideshares, and sit-down restaurants.

"If you're a rideshare driver, you're paying out of your pocket for gas and insurance, and if people aren't tipping, that's really taking a chunk out of your wages," Rossman said. Similarly, Rossman said many food delivery workers "are footing the bill for things like gas and car insurance."

Rossman said tipping for coffee shops, food trucks, or takeout restaurants are more optional.

"To me, there's a big distinction between where tipping is more expected and where it could be optional," Rossman said. "But I do think the lines are blurring, and I think that businesses are looking to customers to make up some of the difference — that maybe they're reluctant to raise prices any higher; they're looking to supplement their employees' wages."

Are you sick of tipping culture? Are you a server, driver, hairstylist, or other worker who has seen fewer tips lately? Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com.

• The longest traffic-restricted "open street" in New York City is in Jackson Heights, Queens. 
• The working-class, predominantly immigrant neighborhood was an epicenter of COVID-19 in 2020.
• With open streets closing and shrinking across the city, 34th Avenue offers a model of community engagement.

On a recent sunny Friday afternoon in Jackson Heights, Queens, dozens of migrants filled out applications for asylum at folding tables set up in the street outside a local elementary school. Former Manhattan prosecutor Nuala O'Doherty-Naranjo, who operates the free legal clinic three days a week, sat nearby answering questions.

In good weather, she and her team — all volunteers — hold the clinic in the street, which was recently transformed into a car-free public plaza. Steps away, kids played soccer, a little girl tested out the training wheels on her bicycle, and a neighbor led a free crocheting class.

Just a few years ago, that same road — 34th Avenue — was a traffic-clogged artery. But a years-long, grass-roots effort has turned a 1.3-mile-long, 26-block stretch of the avenue — which the city council renamed Paseo Park — into the crown jewel of New York City's embattled Open Streets Initiative.

As New York Gov. Kathy Hochul reverses the city's attempt to reduce congestion in Manhattan, Jackson Heights has managed to cement its open street into a feature the community isn't willing to give up.

Turning a dangerous street into a center of community

O'Doherty-Naranjo remembers that the principal of a public middle school on 34th Avenue — one of nine schools with thousands of students within about 35 blocks — had to direct traffic as kids filtered across the street at dismissal, fighting for space with drivers.

"Drivers would literally just scream and honk at the principal as a thousand kids are crossing the district," said O'Doherty-Naranjo, who was the president of the school's parent-teacher association.

Then, one afternoon in March 2019, a 12-year-old boy was hit and seriously injured by a driver in a Jeep outside another of 34th Avenue's middle schools. That tragedy spurred meetings between the schools, the police department, DOT, and safe street advocates to speed the process of restricting vehicle traffic during certain hours.

Not long after, the pandemic hit. Suddenly, schools were closed and traffic slowed to a trickle. Central Queens' working-class immigrant neighborhoods had become the "epicenter of the epicenter" of the virus. Nearby, Elmhurst Hospital Center became one of the hardest-hit medical centers in the country.

The lockdown also shed a harsh spotlight on the area's lack of green space. Jackson Heights has among the least amount of park space of any New York City neighborhood.

With people cooped up in small apartments, O'Doherty-Naranjo and a group of other neighbors decided to start pushing to restrict traffic along most of 34th Avenue. They got the go-ahead, but they needed manpower to enforce it. About 100 volunteers were soon recruited to help set up and take down metal barricades at each intersection every morning and night to block the street from through traffic.

These days, 34th Avenue is the neighborhood's public backyard. All pass-through vehicle traffic is prohibited between 7 am and 8 pm every day of the year, although cars can still park on all of the blocks that aren't plazas.

The blocks immediately outside each school are permanently vehicle-free, an increasingly popular safety measure around the world. Residents have cleaner air and quieter and safer streets, as well as a community space they desperately need. Traffic accidents on 34th Avenue involving pedestrians are down 61%, according to the City Department of Transportation, and crashes with injuries are down 34%.

On a Friday afternoon in late May, 19-year-old City College student Braulio Tellez hung out eating pizza with his mom and sister while perched on the tree-lined median that runs along the center of the open street. Tellez grew up in the neighborhood and sometimes carries his telescope out at night to observe the moon and planets from the quiet of the road.

"It helps remove all stress," Tellez said of the traffic-restricted street. "I love it."

A 'superhighway' of pedestrians and bikes

Jim Burke, a longtime pedestrian and transit advocate, had lived in his apartment building right on 34th Avenue for a dozen years when the pandemic hit. But he knew virtually none of his neighbors. In the early days of the pandemic, bored in their apartment, Burke and his partner started regularly playing a coin-tossing game in the street. Soon, neighbors and kids began joining in.

Burke grew up in the Bronx and the Rockaways and remembers that as kids, he and his friends "owned the streets," where they played every day. He figured adults and kids alike should have that same experience on 34th Avenue.

"One thing led to another and then we started raising money," Burke said. "People looked out their windows and said, 'Oh that looks like fun, I don't want to stay in my house for another minute.'"

O'Doherty-Naranjo and Burke co-founded the 34th Avenue Open Streets Coalition and used the funds they raised to put on programming — hiring yoga and Zumba instructors to teach free classes, volunteers to lead English lessons, and even enlisting doctors to dispense free medical advice. The effort was entirely volunteer-powered for the first 18 months before the city stepped in to help.

"In the summer, I see a lot of people doing activities, or going out, walking, kids playing with chalk — just cool things that I didn't have when growing up," said Yorladiz, a Jackson Heights native who regularly walks her four-year-old daughter up and down 34th Avenue. "It's yoga night, it's salsa night — they're always doing something."

These days, Burke can't spend more than a few minutes on 34th Avenue without running into a neighbor he knows.

"It's become this superhighway of kids and families and neighbors," O'Doherty-Naranjo said.

These days, controversy on 34th Avenue mostly concerns a surge in mopeds, which tend to use the street as a cut-through.

Shekar Krishnan, the councilman who represents the neighborhood, held a "Moped Crisis" town hall recently and says the City needs to come up with a plan to redesign the street to keep mopeds off of it and create safer ways for them to travel on other streets. If the Department of Transportation is going "to oversee the expansion of public space, in addition to their other work," Krishnan said, "they need to get far more serious, and ambitious, and creative in how they do so — and, frankly, listen to the communities."

Burke and O'Doherty-Naranjo don't want to ban mopeds from 34th Avenue. They recognize that other streets often aren't safe for moped drivers, many of whom are delivery workers.

Funding for open streets can be hard to come by, however. Across the city, 83 miles of open streets dwindled to about 20 miles between 2020 and 2022. DOT only allots $20,000 a year for 34th Avenue, Burke said, which is just a fraction of the funds needed to operate the open street all year round. The city has also been slow to reimburse neighborhood groups supporting open streets across the city.

Burke estimates 34th Avenue needs at least $50,000 a year to operate with a decent amount of programming — and the City still owes it $10,000 from last year. The more money the street has, the more instructors, artists, and musicians it can pay to lead workshops, beautify the street, and put on performances.

Unlike many other open streets across the city, 34th Avenue isn't a commercial street — it's entirely residential in between its many schools and one small park. "A lot of the places that New York City has done these kind of more groundbreaking projects, they've been in wealthy neighborhoods," Dawn Siff, the director of the Alliance for Paseo Park, a nonprofit supporting the open street.

Siff and others hope 34th Avenue will become a public park that prioritizes people on foot. She pointed to models in cities like Mexico City and Paris. Just across the East River, there's a great model in Manhattan's High Line.

O'Doherty-Naranjo and Burke want to see the open street extended all the way down to the end of 34th Avenue near Citi Field. They all envision a greener street, with flood mitigation like rain gardens — and more public art. Burke said he hopes the city will eventually be filled with connected open streets.

"Someday, my dream would be to interconnect them, where you could visit every neighborhood," he said, "and you could do so by traveling on an open street with your family, whether you're walking, or using a wheelchair, or biking."

Do you live on or near an open street in New York City or a traffic-restricted street elsewhere? Reach out to this reporter at erelman@businessinsider.com.

• Max is the latest streaming service to boost prices.
• Spotify also recently announced its monthly subscription was getting more expensive.
• Overall, your streaming bill this summer is likely higher than last year.

It's not just your electrical bill that's expected to go up this summer.

Your streaming bill is also likely to hit your wallet harder this summer compared to last year.

Ten of the top streaming services have boosted prices at least once in the past year, according to an analysis conducted by Business Insider.

Max was the latest to boost prices, effective immediately for new subscribers and by the next billing date on or after July 4 for current subscribers.

Ad-free plans will increase from $15.99 to $16.99 a month and $149.99 to $169.99 a year for annual plans. The Ultimate ad-free plan which includes 4k UHD streaming, will increase from $19.99 to $20.99 a month and $199.99 to $209.99 a year.

Those with the ad-supported plan will be spared — for now. Max's streaming plan with ads remains at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.

Max wasn't the first price hike announced this week. A day earlier, Spotify announced that Premium monthly plans for Individual, Duo, and Family were increasing by $1, $2, and $3, respectively.

Video and music streaming services have overwhelmingly surged since last summer, and not just by raising existing plans.

They've also seen some changes. Amazon Prime Video introduced ads earlier this year. If you want to avoid them, you were forced to upgrade to a more expensive plan, which costs an extra $2.99.

Netflix first introduced its ad-supported plan back in 2022, which has remained the same price since launch, $6.99, and helped the company's subscriber base reach new heights.

The changes highlight the efforts that streaming companies are making to boost their revenue per subscriber — which included an industry-wide crackdown on password-sharing. Netflix led the charge, announcing that it was limiting viewership to household members and charging $7.99 a month for each outside user. Since then, many of its rivals are planning to follow suit, including Disney+ and Max.

Some streaming companies are also moving toward bundled pricing, with the combined costs of multiple streaming services starting to rival cable TV. An analysis conducted by the Financial Times last August priced a top US streaming service bundle at $87, exceeding the $83 average cable package.

However, viewers who don't mind some ad breaks will still find themselves enjoying streaming as a cheaper cable alternative.

With prices continuing to rise along with the heat, it will be interesting to see if consumers add pruning their streaming package to their summer chores list.

• Emily Piehl owns a house with a big backyard in Antioch, about 60 miles from downtown Chicago.
• A year ago, she started renting out her backyard as a private dog park, charging $10 an hour.
• The income she is earning from the side hustle, through the app Sniffspot, has helped the single mom of two.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Emily Piehl, a 54-year-old elementary school STEM teacher from Antioch, Illinois, who started renting out her backyard on Sniffspot in 2023. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a single mom living in Antioch, Illinois — between Milwaukee and Chicago — with two teenagers and a hound.

I've been teaching for a long time and earn a decent amount of money, but the cost of living has increased. In the past, I've had some trouble paying bills. I don't have a spouse or a roommate, so I don't have other income coming in — it's just me and my kids.

A little less than a year ago, I saw an ad on Facebook about hosting on Sniffspot. It's an app that helps homeowners in renting out their yards as private dog parks. It's a good option for dog owners with reactive pets or those who are uncomfortable with traditional dog parks.

After finding out more information about Sniffspot, I decided to clean up my backyard and give it a try.

I'm making a good amount of money

I have a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house. It has a large fenced backyard that's about a quarter of an acre. There aren't a lot of trees, making it a great spot for dogs to run around and have fun.

Since starting to rent out my yard last July, I've earned $3,000 so far. While it's not a large amount of money, it covers nearly two mortgage payments. Additionally, it has allowed me to purchase new tires for my vehicle, handle bills, and recently, fund a two-night hotel stay for my kids and me to travel to Pennsylvania to visit my sick dad.

Before Sniffspot, these extra expenses would have really impacted my monthly budget.

It's not difficult becoming a Sniffspot host

Preparing my yard to host wasn't difficult. I didn't have to do any major tree trimming, just some cleaning up.

I added a patio umbrella, relocated a table to a specific area, placed cushions for chairs, and bought some dog toys. I probably spent around $200 — I didn't put a lot of money into it.

There aren't many Sniffspots in my area, but I have visitors often, even during the winter months.

Sniffspot allows hosts to set their price, though they offer a recommended price. To determine my rate, I looked at similar Sniffspots within a 10- to0 15-mile radius. I settled on $10 per hour.

The company has a policy where, if guests bring additional dogs, they receive a 50% discount. A lot of my guests have two dogs, so if they come for an hour, they're charged $15. Sinffspot takes out their fees, so I typically earn around $11.12.

I could charge more, but I don't want to charge too much and not have people come.

When I started, the first visitors I had were two women I know, and my neighbor across the street.

Now, I have around six to eight regular visitors. Two of them have memberships and visit frequently, with one even coming twice a day or at least every day. Then there are others who come every once in a while. Recently, I've been getting a lot more returning guests.

The people who use my property are mainly in their 20s and 30s. While I've never asked them directly, I imagine many of them live in areas without fenced yards.

I have minimal contact with visitors

I typically don't have any direct contact with guests. They just schedule through the app and notify me of their arrival.

I provide information on accessing the yard through the side gate, and then they have the space to themselves. If they have any questions, they can message me through the app, which makes everything convenient.

I've never felt uncomfortable with people in my yard. They've always been respectful of the property and clean up after themselves. I haven't encountered any problems so far.

I had a guy visit a few times who had recently adopted a new puppy from a local rescue. He was working with a dog trainer because his dog would bark and lunge at people while walking.

The trainer suggested trying out a private dog park. He mentioned that the first time his dog was off the leash in my yard, it was his first time ever. It made me so happy.

It's nice to peek out of my kitchen window and see all of the dogs running around and having fun.

The passive income has been a blessing

I am a single parent, and I don't have family in the area. For a long time, I've been trying to find ways to make extra money without having to do a lot of extra work. (I even considered driving for UberEats for a while.)

While there are other methods to make money, like renting out rooms in your homes, I prefer not to do so while my kids are at home.

Being on Sniffspot helps me have a little comfort. When I first started, my 17-year-old son told me, "That's passive income, mom." He's right.

Hopefully, more and more people will learn about Sniffspot.

• Three Gen Z software engineers at Google shared their résumés that landed them an interview.
• One applied with references and the other two sent in cold applications. 
• All three interned at a Big Tech company, had a 3.6 GPA or higher, and studied computer science.

Google is well known for offering its employees cushy Silicon Valley pay and enviable office perks — but it's also known for being extremely competitive.

The tech giant reportedly receives millions of applicants a year and has been said to be more difficult to get into than Harvard.

So what does the résumé of a successful applicant look like?

BI spoke to three recent graduates who now work as software engineers at Google. They each shared the résumé they used to land an interview — but it's important to remember there's no silver bullet for getting your foot in the door at Google.

Two of them sent in cold applications, and the third applied with references. All three went through Google's lengthy interview process which included a super round of interviews that lasted multiple hours.

The three résumés varied in style and content. Some were heavy in text and others didn't fill the full page. But one factor all three applicants had in common was an internship at a Big Tech company.

They also all had a degree in computer science and listed their GPAs, which were between 3.6 and 3.8.

Check out their résumés below and see what the Googlers had to say about what they think stood out in their applications.

Kevin Tsui is a 24-year-old software engineer at Google. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Computing and Information in 2022 and said he applied to Google with no referrals at the time.

Tsui said he felt it was important to show multiple years of work experience, even if not every internship was related to what he does now.

He also said he felt that spending two years at a bigger name, like Amazon, which also gave him global product experience, may have helped him stand out.

Tsui said he decided to include outside interests on his résumé, like cooking and traveling, because he wanted to show that his coworkers could connect with him outside work.

A job isn't just doing that kind of work 24/7, Tsui said, you need to "be a person" in your off hours.

Tsui said he felt that it's important to be a team member and sociable.

Eric Stein is a 23-year-old software engineer at Google. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 2022 and applied with three connections at the company.

He said he thought his involvement with the Google Developer Student Club was the biggest contribution to his résumé, and it ended up getting him his references too.

"That showed my commitment to Google and my commitment to improving the world around me with technology," Stein said.

He said another highlight on his résumé was his inclusion of personal projects, like being the cofounder of Pareto Touch. He said he thought of it as a testament to his willingness to find work if he didn't have any. He also said he thought it showed his dedication to sharpening his skills.

Matt Wilkinson is a 24-year-old software engineer at Google. He graduated from American University in 2021 and applied to Google without a reference.

He said he thought his experience at Roku stood out the most on his résumé. While he's not necessarily working in the same specialization at Google that he did at Roku, he worked in a software engineering role at both jobs.

Wilkinson said he started off as a finance major and switched after sophomore year. He said because of that, he didn't have as many tech experiences and felt it was important to include some projects he worked on related to the field. He also said he thinks his role in one of the projects helped show leadership.

Do you work at Google? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work device and email at aaltchek@businessinsider.com

• Gen Z graduate Jane started working two jobs in college to pay for her rent and save for a mortgage.
• She told Business Insider being over-employed has a detrimental impact on her health and well-being.
• Jane said working hard is worth it if she can achieve FIRE by her early 30s.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jane, a 25-year-old over-employed worker in Canada. She asked to use only her first name for privacy reasons. Business Insider has verified her identity and employment. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I work two jobs a day. The first is my 9-to-5, and after that, I work in customer service until 10 p.m. I work twice as hard now so I can stop working earlier. My goal is to retire early, hopefully in my 30s.

I started working two jobs while I was finishing my sociology and business major in college in 2021.

There were so many remote opportunities during and following COVID-19. If I were having to commute between two jobs, I don't think I'd be doing this.

I was influenced by the FIRE community

I came across the FIRE movement (financial independence, retire early) on Reddit. I started documenting my FIRE journey on TikTok. I want to show there's a different path to retiring at 65.

My logic is to front-load my investing to my 20s and hope it pays off in the future. I want to be financially independent so that I can become "work-optional." I think that, in this economic climate, completely retiring and never making money again may no longer be possible.

But it might mean that I can take career breaks or have periods of life when I can cut back on work.

In college, I worked up to 40 hours alongside a 9-to-5

When I first started working two jobs in college, one was a 9-to-5 in marketing, and the other was in customer service, which I still have. Back then, I'd spend between 30 and 40 hours a week doing that on top of the 9-5. I book appointments for people. If they have an issue with their furnace or their toilet, I'd book a technician or a plumber. It's less stressful than marketing, where sometimes I worry about the projects overnight.

I also had a lot of homework. My marketing job was flexible, so I could do my college work during my lunch breaks or quiet periods. In reality, a remote office job is rarely 40 hours a week.

I had physical symptoms of stress

I was incredibly stressed during that period. I was determined to keep up seeing my friends and go to the gym too, so I sacrificed my sleep. I slept between four and six hours a night.

I had a permanent headache. It was really difficult.

I was renting, and I felt like I needed to prove that I could keep making my rental payments. I also wanted to buy a property, and having the income meant I could secure a mortgage in 2021. Having the FIRE mentality helped me push through.

I got all my schoolwork done, but it did take away from my college experience in some ways. If I'd had more time, I would've cared more about my major. But, investing in a property at that time was beneficial. Looking back, it was worth the trade-off.

I kept up my 2 jobs after college

It felt natural to continue working two jobs after graduating from college in 2022.

If I couldn't start out with a high-paying job like people going into STEM jobs, the least I could do is work harder.

I landed a new job as a marketing specialist, which was also 9-to-5. I kept up my customer service job, working 65 hours over two weeks. I did that from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on the weekends.

I'd take two days off a week from my second job. Working on weekends sucked. I really wanted one day a week to lie in. But I don't find it hard to switch between the two jobs. I don't find customer service as mentally draining as marketing. It's not stressful, it's just time-consuming.

I live frugally

I have a weird relationship with money, which I'm trying to work on. I earned 47,000 Canadian dollars so far this year from both jobs, which is around $34,000, plus commission, which varies. I save about 70% of that a month. I invest most of my savings. It's not for everyone, but it was important to me that I became financially literate in my 20s and was able to start investing early.

I live at home with my family too, and rent out the property I bought in college.

When I'm not spending money, I feel stingy. But when I do spend it, I feel guilty. Instead of buying lunch or a drink with dinner, I feel like I should save money for bigger things.

I struggle to keep up with hobbies

I used to go rock climbing and paint, but I don't have time for hobbies. I try to see my friends when I have evenings or weekends off. But after working all day, I often just want to stay at home and decompress. I could go to the gym or take a walk at lunch, but I often want to nap instead or play on my phone. I just want to do something passive.

When the sun goes down at 6 p.m. in winter, I've had days where I look out of the window and realize I've had no sun or exercise all day.

To give myself more time to go outside and exercise, I reduced my customer service job hours to 55 hours over two weeks and stopped working Sundays in May. I'm still burned out, though.

My family is proud of my ambition, but I think they'd prefer I didn't work so hard. Living at home, they can see how it affects me.

There are also so many smart people in my community. I feel pressure to keep up. My older brother is quite accomplished, so a little of the pressure I feel comes from comparing myself to him.

My drive to continue outweighs my burnout. I know it's not good for my physical and mental health or my sleep, but I'm so focused on my goal that I'm willing to sacrifice that for a few more years.

If you work two full-time jobs and would like to share your story, email Ella Hopkins at ehopkins@businessinsider.com.

• Alphabet, Inc. on Wednesday announced the appointment of its new CFO, Anat Ashkenazi.
• Ashkenazi previously worked at Eli Lilly for more than two decades.
• She will receive a nearly $10 million signing bonus, $1 million salary, and stock options.

Alphabet, Inc. on Wednesday announced the appointment of Anat Ashkenazi as its new Chief Financial Officer, who will oversee Alphabet and Google operations.

Upon signing up with the tech giant, the former Eli Lilly executive raked in a $9.9 million signing bonus, The Wall Street Journal reported, in addition to an equity grant worth $13.1 million in the form of restricted stock units, plus her $1 million annual salary — with eligibility for annual bonuses up to 200% of her base salary.

Ashkenazi will stay on as senior vice president and CFO at the pharmaceutical company through the end of July before taking on her new role with Google. A search is underway for her successor at Eli Lilly where she worked for over two decades, Business Insider previously reported.

According to her biography, Ashkenazi graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she earned her bachelor's degree in finance and economics, and Tel Aviv University, where she earned her MBA.

Before joining Eli Lilly in 2001, she worked in financial services at Maalot Standard & Poor's and Bank Hapoalim in Israel.

More notably, the last 23 years of her career have been spent in various roles across Eli Lilly — including positions in strategy, finance, and, most recently, as senior vice president, controller, and CFO of Lilly Research Laboratories.

As senior vice president, she served as CFO for several of the company's global sectors, including manufacturing and research and development, and oversaw the corporate strategic planning team.

During Ashkenazi's tenure, Eli Lilly has achieved a market cap of over $800 billion, largely thanks to two of the company's newer products — Mounjaro and Zepbound, popular antidiabetic medications for weight loss and treating type 2 diabetes.

Her transition to Google comes as the tech giant invests heavily in artificial intelligence. Alphabet's stock hit its all-time high on May 21 at $179.54 per share.

"This was a strong candidate that fills a void for Alphabet at a key time in its growth transformation and AI Revolution," Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities managing partner, told Business Insider: "She has a strong reputation and great CFO experience. Right hire at the right time."

In her new role at Google, Ashkenazi will succeed Ruth Porat, who served as CFO before she was named chief investment officer last year.

Representatives for Google and Eli Lilly did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.