0:00

Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. With the

0:02

price of just about everything going up during

0:04

inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down.

0:07

So to help us, we brought in a reverse

0:10

auctioneer, which is apparently a thing. Mint

0:12

Mobile unlimited, premium wireless. How did you get

0:14

30-30? How did you get 30-30? How

0:16

did you get 30-30? How did you get 30-40? You bet you get

0:18

20-20, you bet you get 15-15, 15-15, just 15 bucks a month. Sold!

0:23

front for 3 months plus taxes and fees. Promote

0:25

for new customers for a limited time. Unlimited more than 40GB

0:27

per month. Slows. mintmobile.com. The

0:36

Economist. Hello

0:43

and welcome to the Intelligence from

0:45

The Economist. I'm your host, Rosie

0:47

Blore. Every weekday, we

0:49

provide a fresh perspective on the

0:51

events shaping your world. In

0:57

recent decades, America had lost some of

1:00

its pioneering spirit. Giant

1:02

firms dominated the economy. Now

1:04

the country is in the midst of a new

1:07

startup boom and the entrepreneurs

1:09

are spread far beyond Silicon Valley.

1:15

And June Mendoza once bartered a portrait

1:17

for a bottle of cough syrup and

1:20

another for a fur coat. Her

1:23

images captured both the famous and the

1:25

unknown. Our obituaries editor

1:27

paints a picture of her life. First

1:34

up though. 35

1:49

years ago today, pro-democracy protesters were

1:51

massacred in and around Tiananmen Square

1:53

in Beijing. In

1:55

mainland China, the events of June 4th, 1989 have since

1:57

been erased. The

2:00

History Books. But in

2:02

Hong Kong, the anniversary was a

2:04

day for remembrance. A

2:11

video. Was held every year to commemorate

2:13

the crackdown and thousands of people would

2:15

light candles in Victoria Park in the

2:18

heart of the city. But

2:23

was until recently in

2:25

Twenty Twenty. The gathering with

2:27

and understand emmett restrictions and soon

2:30

afterwards aging imposed to Coney a

2:32

national Security law on the territory

2:34

crossings had a demonstrations about June

2:37

the fourth or anything else. Today

2:40

a seed fat is taking place in

2:42

Victoria Park where the town I'm and

2:44

Dad who once remembered. The

2:47

muzzling of Hong Kong vigil. Is

2:49

evidence of a big a trace the

2:51

crossing of political Freedom in the Talent

2:53

tree. And. The imposition of government will

2:55

is playing out in the court. T.

2:59

So. Over three years ago now

3:01

agreed pretty prominent trademarks. The access

3:03

he became known as the From

3:05

Com Forty seven were arrested. For

3:07

crimes against the state. And.

3:10

The Irving is our Asia News Edison

3:12

and that I ended on Thursday and

3:15

fourteen of them were connected to Ramsey

3:17

across it ends and other such he

3:19

runs had already pleaded guilty. And

3:22

this who comes at a really sensitive times the

3:24

Hong Kong because it's when the city would normally

3:26

be preparing for during the fourth. Commemoration.

3:29

What were these activists on trial for?

3:31

Emma? Well. Bagging

3:33

Twenty Twenty say held an unofficial primary

3:36

to try to pick pro democracy candidates

3:38

that fateful would have a really good.

3:40

Chance of winning a majority in an election

3:42

that were scheduled for later that year. And

3:45

they wanted to use the control I got

3:47

my election to try to demand great democracy.

3:50

Or. Supposed the government budget which would

3:52

have forced the resignation that the chief

3:54

executive. He. Was some uncle pylon

3:56

his by Beijing at that time. Law.

3:58

Is the second wave. After the implementation

4:01

of national Supreme law other than

4:03

have to represented by Oliver and

4:05

left a single realize that people

4:07

in Hong Kong she's not of

4:09

how how's he tried. Using it

4:11

as my civil rights and my

4:14

responsibility to come out and to

4:16

represent myself and and other similar

4:19

for under a national security law

4:21

that Beijing Poussin? Yeah. Saw.

4:23

Activity basically became tantamount

4:25

to sebastian. Where. Is

4:28

the defendants lawyers would say that really? What

4:30

a dumbass? Just kind of normal fiscal dealing

4:32

the next from his then. Who's paying

4:34

for every year? which am guess or

4:36

he said but because his pivot nineteen

4:39

measures are. In not time, they also

4:41

arrested the Forty Seven and they changed

4:43

the rules to. Exclude there is

4:45

not deemed patriotic to Beijing from

4:48

politics. But. This

4:50

isn't just the bass excluding a group

4:52

of people from the political process, Is

4:54

it what to the convictions mean for

4:56

the territory? Thought they

4:58

really represent that kind of on getting

5:01

strangulation as any kind. Of to send in

5:03

Hong Kong. You. Know. The government

5:05

initially said that the national security laws to

5:07

be used sparingly. But at least two

5:09

hundred and forty four people have been arrested. undress,

5:11

and son. And Nj say that

5:13

thousands more have been charged on the separate

5:15

laws. The application. To democracy. And

5:18

none of those accused under the. National Security law

5:20

had gone to trial. Was found innocent

5:22

until the to acquittals that we saw. On

5:24

Thursday last week. So. Those

5:27

two acquittals quite interesting to name

5:29

suggests that some kind of justice

5:31

is actually happening in Hong Kong.

5:33

Possibly. There's still a very

5:36

strong, independent legal system and the majority

5:38

of cases, but when it comes to

5:40

the National Security law, you know that

5:42

was a one hundred percent conviction rate

5:45

until Thursday. Possibly. They to

5:47

acquittals d just sit There is still a

5:49

bit of independence even when it comes to

5:51

than national security door. Others

5:53

have suggested that the government was that she

5:56

just getting embarrassed about the conviction, race or

5:58

their it has already said that it will

6:00

appeal and been granted getting less in Hong

6:02

Kong and March. Third party as unite is

6:05

a new national security door saying is Ah

6:07

School Twenty Three which broadens and runs alongside

6:09

say existing law. And paid by Beijing. And

6:11

twenty twenty. And. Has article twenty

6:14

three been changing things for protesters in Hong

6:16

Kong? particularly in the run up to do

6:18

in the fourth. File. Last

6:20

week we saw the first arrests under

6:22

the new measure. They were

6:24

related to some social media posts

6:26

about that scene fourth anniversary of

6:28

tournaments Square and one of those

6:30

arrested blaze tell her tongue who

6:33

was one of the organizer original

6:35

organize as as the vigils. He's.

6:37

Already imprisoned for other national scarce

6:39

your charge as and he's also

6:42

arrested her mom. and yes, They

6:44

are see arrested her uncle to to he

6:46

became the. Eight person's the arrested

6:48

on. To the needle. So. All of

6:50

that has really meant that the atmosphere

6:52

in the city ahead of the Sharon

6:55

I'm an anniversary has been one as

6:57

sort of quiet resignation. As one

6:59

person who attended The Visuals almost every year when

7:01

they were running. Told me. Good.

7:03

Receivers World. Which

7:06

were. Security

7:09

risk group from overburdened

7:11

some clues if you

7:14

embarrass. You. Zero.

7:18

Brooklyn Bridge Scotus during.

7:23

The two birds birds, birds

7:25

true. True.

7:27

But. Sports. Said. As a real

7:30

sense said people are very on at ten. Am

7:32

I your painting at grammar and grim?

7:35

A picture of Hong Kong? It sounds

7:37

increasingly like mainland China. Is there a

7:39

difference though between the two. I

7:42

think in terms of political freedom not

7:44

really dead national scares. You know that

7:46

bringing Hong Kong in the mainland as

7:48

a closer together an article twenty three

7:51

will probably ensure that the last. And.

7:53

There's a judicial independence. Settle out.

7:56

and as we see with the town of

7:58

and square remember and For many

8:01

years, 30 years, that was a

8:03

sort of really clear example of the

8:05

way in which Hong Kong was far

8:07

more independent than the mainland. And

8:10

the fact that now remembrance of Hong Kong, not

8:12

just in terms of the vigils, but even in

8:14

terms of books about the

8:16

massacre, for example, being removed from

8:18

bookshelves, all the kind

8:20

of memories of Tiananmen are being smashed

8:22

out. And that's bringing Hong Kong several

8:24

much closer to the mainland. Emma,

8:28

thank you so much for your time. Thank

8:30

you very much for having me. Hi,

8:43

this is Matt and Sean from Two

8:45

Black Guys with good credit. From a

8:47

local business to a global corporation. Partnering

8:51

with Bank of America gives

8:53

your operation access to exclusive

8:55

digital tools, award-winning insights, and

8:57

business solutions so powerful you'll

8:59

make every move matter. Visit

9:01

bankofamerica.com/banking for business to learn

9:03

more. What would you like the

9:05

power to do? Bank of America,

9:08

N.A. Copyright 2024. Here's

9:14

the truth about AI. AI is

9:16

only as powerful as the platform it's built

9:18

into. Service now puts AI

9:20

to work for people across your

9:22

business, removing friction and frustration for

9:24

your employees, supercharging productivity for your

9:27

developers, providing intelligent tools for

9:29

your service agents to make customers happier,

9:32

all built into a single platform you can

9:34

use right now. That's why the world

9:36

works with ServiceNow. Visit servicenow.com/AI

9:38

for people. If

9:44

I say pioneering spirit, you'll be

9:47

thinking, America, right? From

9:51

the light bulb to the motor car,

9:53

processed food to, well, the Internet. Innovation

9:56

has been core to America's

9:58

strength and identity. What

10:00

was the core of this? What was the seed?

10:02

What is the essence of Microsoft? I think there's

10:05

a lot of elements that go into it. A

10:07

vision of what software could do. What was your

10:09

vision? Well, a computer on every

10:11

desk and in every home. This is one

10:13

device. And

10:19

he is calling it iPhone.

10:23

The world has been under this illusion

10:25

that electric cars cannot be as good

10:27

as gasoline cars. That if you have

10:29

to go with an electric car, you're

10:32

accepting a product that's worse. What

10:35

the Model S is fundamentally about is breaking

10:37

that illusion. But more recently, not

10:39

so much. America seemed to

10:41

lose something of its entrepreneurial verve.

10:45

In the early 80s, nearly 40% of

10:48

American firms were startups less than five years

10:50

old. By

10:52

2018, that share fell to 29%. Now

10:57

the dasle is back. There

11:00

was a big increase in startups in 2020-2021 at the

11:02

start of the pandemic. Simon

11:07

Rabinovich is our U.S. economics editor. And

11:10

that might be expected because of the many

11:12

disruptions to life and the ways that people were trying to

11:15

reinvent the ways of working. The

11:17

surprising thing is that the increase

11:20

in startups has continued, such that

11:22

at this point, you could say America is really in the

11:24

midst of a world. It's

11:26

a full-fledged startup boom. So

11:29

Americans are finding their entrepreneurial spirit

11:31

again. That's pretty exciting stuff. Yeah,

11:35

and it might seem a little bit odd to

11:37

some listeners because America is always sort of thought

11:39

of as a go-getting country. The

11:42

early 2000s brought us Facebook, Instagram,

11:44

Twitter type of companies. But

11:47

really, for quite some time, economists have been

11:49

concerned that although you've got these big tech

11:51

giants, the startup culture

11:54

in America had begun to weaken. If

11:57

you look at the numbers over the last four

11:59

years, the increase in the numbers has continued. increase

12:01

in business formation is about 80% compared

12:04

to what it was before the pandemic. It

12:07

works out to about 5.5 million

12:09

companies being established annually in America.

12:12

Other parts of the world, including

12:14

Europe, have seen some increase in

12:16

startups, but nowhere nearly on the

12:18

same scale as what America has

12:20

seen. 5.5

12:22

million companies is a lot. What are they actually

12:25

doing? Many of the

12:27

companies aren't going to be the

12:29

next Silicon Valley meta-style company. Many

12:32

are fairly small people who are starting

12:35

up food trucks or starting a

12:37

catering service or a small accountancy,

12:39

but there are also amidst the

12:41

5.5 million, some that potentially will

12:43

grow into bigger and more important

12:45

enterprises. What's interesting is that when

12:48

you look at the change in the nature of

12:50

these companies in 2020, 2021, at the height of

12:52

the pandemic, a

12:55

lot of the startups were catering to the

12:57

working from home revolution, online retailing, that

12:59

kind of thing. Since

13:01

mid-2022, there's been quite a discernible

13:04

shift where many of the more

13:06

promising startups are tech companies, often

13:08

ones that have some

13:10

application related to artificial

13:12

intelligence. So aside

13:14

from the people starting companies from their

13:17

bedrooms during the pandemic, are we seeing

13:19

basically a kind of new Silicon Valley

13:21

rush? What are the

13:23

notable characteristics about the current trend of

13:25

startups? Is that it's actually much

13:28

more broadly based? Yes, there

13:30

obviously have been important companies such as

13:32

OpenAI coming out of Silicon Valley, but

13:34

in fact, it's incredibly dispersed nationally. Partly

13:36

that goes back to the pandemic. You

13:38

had so many talented people who chose

13:40

to live in smaller communities and of

13:42

course with the rise of remote work.

13:45

That helped to spread talent

13:47

throughout the country. A second factor is

13:49

that the job market is incredibly tight

13:51

right now and that has given people the

13:53

confidence to go out and start a new job,

13:55

start a new company. If it doesn't work out,

13:57

they can go back to what they were doing.

14:00

before. And when you

14:02

look at technology like AI, it's

14:04

not just the big companies that

14:06

you've heard about in Silicon Valley.

14:08

It's lots of smaller companies that

14:10

are catering to smaller businesses or

14:12

smaller niche consumer platforms that are

14:14

looking at ways to apply it.

14:16

I went to Greenville, South Carolina.

14:18

It's a small city, a population

14:20

of about 50,000. It's not the

14:24

kind of place that's known for its entrepreneurship.

14:26

You now have a real cluster of tech

14:29

companies that have started up there. I

14:31

looked at one company that was

14:33

developing earrings as wearable tech to

14:35

help women to monitor their health,

14:37

to monitor their menstrual cycles. I

14:39

looked at another company that was

14:41

using AI to help small businesses

14:43

manage overly cluttered inboxes. And Greenville

14:46

was just one city that I went to. I could

14:48

have gone to any number of cities, Boise, Provo,

14:53

Providence, they're all to varying

14:55

degrees seeing similar startup booms.

14:58

Wow, earrings that measure menstrual cycles

15:01

definitely sounds like something to be

15:03

celebrated. But how sustainable is this

15:05

rise in new startups really? There

15:08

is always a question about the sustainability of

15:10

things. So you have lots of companies that

15:12

are now trying to get their workers to

15:14

come back into the office more often. So

15:16

you can imagine that could put

15:18

a little bit of sand in the gears.

15:20

Another big issue is funding

15:22

for all of these startups. One of

15:24

the things that's happened over the last

15:26

few years is that interest rates have

15:28

gone up dramatically. And that's had spillover

15:31

effects for funding for startups, venture capital

15:33

funding, which is for slightly more mature,

15:35

you know, startups, while there is lots

15:37

and lots of fundraising early on during

15:39

the pandemic. Starting last year, VC

15:42

funding fell sharply in America. And

15:44

so that could ultimately prove to

15:46

be a constraint. So

15:48

far, at least because the big

15:51

VCs had done so much aggressive

15:53

fundraising, when interest rates were a

15:55

lot lower, They're still sitting on

15:57

a lot of dry gun powder, which means that.

16:00

If you are promising start up. The

16:02

hurdle might be a little bit higher,

16:04

but you probably still can find willing

16:06

investors. Good. News: If you've

16:08

got funding, What about if you don't

16:11

have funding or you're not ready to

16:13

launch your own wearable tech or ai?

16:15

Some. Other any benefits to the

16:17

rest of the economy. Where. It's

16:20

really important for the rest of America

16:22

and ultimately for the rest of the

16:24

world as well because the more that

16:26

you have new company's coming up with

16:28

new ideas and challenging established companies had

16:30

can evade themselves More that generates throws

16:32

the more that generates new job as

16:34

I hope for the also will pay

16:36

slightly higher wages. Now there is an

16:39

important note here which is that so

16:41

far the economic data as not registered

16:43

this kind of a positive impact so

16:45

he can see the sort of being

16:47

formed but we can't see the lock.

16:49

On consequences for economic growth, One

16:51

possibility is that to a certain

16:53

extent this might be a repeat

16:56

of the noise in the eighties

16:58

that I did. Eighties observers could

17:00

see that personal computers were beginning

17:02

to spread thread the economy businesses

17:04

were shifting their models. Mobile phones

17:07

are just over the horizon. it's

17:09

but it wasn't until the midnight

17:11

you know indies that the economic

17:13

impact of all those innovations really

17:15

percolated through Tess, the efficiency with

17:17

which the American economy was operating.

17:20

And maybe something similar is at play right

17:22

there where the start of boom started. And

17:24

Twenty Twenty and it's continues until now, but

17:26

it's really dark and obese until the end

17:28

of this decade that you really see it

17:30

paying dividends for the economy at large. So

17:32

these startups, they're still very young. Let's give

17:35

them a few years to make their mark.

17:38

Twenty two times he didn't. Think

17:41

he rosie. Two

17:58

men deserve to out of. window

18:00

one day to see the ideal

18:02

man. Anne

18:04

Rowe is the Economist's obituaries editor.

18:09

She was at the time

18:11

busy painting for past presidents

18:13

of the Royal Society of

18:15

Engineers and suddenly there was

18:17

this face in the background which actually

18:19

she thought would be a wonderful one

18:22

to draw. She

18:24

opened the window and said

18:26

to the chap who was discovered and was

18:28

busy about his work just putting up the

18:30

tubes. She said would you like to sit

18:33

for me and he said yes. Most

18:40

of her career was not spent in quite

18:42

such a random way. She

18:48

was famous for painting all the grandees

18:50

of the land, for example

18:53

the royals. She did Prince

18:55

Philip three times, Diana twice,

18:58

Charles three times and the Queen five

19:00

times. She got very good at painting

19:03

pearls. After

19:08

that she did generals, archbishops,

19:11

sporting personalities, entertainers,

19:13

great musicians. She

19:16

was very very busy but

19:19

about a third of her productions were

19:21

what she called her pick-ups which was

19:23

when she went out into a restaurant

19:25

or the street or in shops and

19:28

just saw a really fascinating face. Her

19:32

gift for catching a likeness wasn't anything

19:34

she'd learned to do. She reckoned

19:36

she was just born with it like perfect

19:39

pitch but her

19:41

childhood was spent touring around

19:44

theatre productions in Australia because her

19:46

parents were theatre musicians and

19:49

she was the little girl backstage

19:51

who had a drawing book and all

19:53

she wanted to do was sketch the

19:55

interesting faces she saw performing. In

19:58

fact at 14 in her

20:00

school uniform she also went to life

20:03

classes but she didn't turn her hair

20:05

at all at seeing naked men she

20:07

was just interested in faces and bodies.

20:16

She was very strict with her sitters. They

20:21

always wanted to wear something smart or

20:23

some favorite rather over the top jacket

20:25

or that sort of thing but she

20:27

wanted to do them as they seemed

20:29

most relaxed. Whenever

20:31

they sat to pose for her they would

20:34

be pretty tense at first but then there'd

20:36

be a break or something would happen and

20:38

immediately they'd relax and she would say to

20:40

herself that's it and pounce with

20:42

her brush capture them.

20:45

Her formal

20:49

artistic training

20:51

was really almost none. She went for two spells at art

20:53

college, didn't really learn anything. She moved

20:56

to London and like many Australians she headed

20:58

up in Elle's court

21:01

with a single gas ring and not much more money

21:03

than the bus fare and she began to paint to

21:08

bring in money and also as barter she bartered one

21:10

picture for some cough syrup and

21:12

another for a fur coat. She did get a

21:14

paying job at last when she became the illustrator for the

21:17

Belle of the Ballet

21:22

comic strip in Girl magazine. She did

21:24

that for five years but it

21:26

was really the painting that was making her

21:28

reputation and in the end she was rushed

21:30

off her feet with commission. She

21:33

would drive herself and

21:35

the easel the length and breadth of the country to wherever her

21:38

sitters were and lug the easel up and down stairs herself even into old

21:40

age and while she was bringing

21:46

up her family she would race around the

21:48

country in just the same way. She seemed

21:50

to have indomitable energy. As

22:01

she painted, she made some very

22:03

good friends, wonderful friends. And

22:07

this was partly because of the intimacy of

22:09

the situation. It was a good place to

22:11

chat. She always chatted a lot.

22:13

They could have conversations. They knew

22:15

they were confidential. But

22:17

there were also long, companionable silences

22:19

when she was working and the

22:22

sitter too was working, helping

22:24

her to achieve the task.

22:27

And the only person she found she

22:29

really couldn't connect with was Margaret Thatcher.

22:32

She found her so controlling and

22:34

so rigid that there was

22:37

nothing there, she said. And

22:39

she was rather dissatisfied with the picture that came

22:41

out of that. In

22:46

fact, she was very rarely satisfied with anything

22:48

she did because she was

22:50

always aware of the balance

22:53

she wanted to strike between getting a

22:55

really good likeness, which needed energy

22:57

and dynamism and had to appear

23:00

to be a good likeness to the sitter

23:02

and to anyone who knew the sitter and

23:05

making a great painting. Was

23:15

she trying perhaps to catch the soul

23:17

in her subjects? And was that why

23:19

she kept going back to ordinary people?

23:22

Because there was a way there in which she

23:24

could focus on the

23:27

energy of someone whose background she didn't

23:29

know at all. No,

23:31

she said she thought it was rather pompous

23:33

to talk about capturing the soul. She

23:36

just found wonderful faces to

23:39

draw. And one of

23:41

those was the scaffolder who

23:43

had appeared to her that morning. And

23:45

his picture ended up in a special

23:47

People's Project exhibition in Gerten College, Cambridge.

23:53

Where he hung beside a

23:56

coracormaker and a blacksmith and

23:59

a wheeler dealer. all sorts of

24:01

people painted by other artists, and

24:04

looked as proud and happy in his

24:06

work as anyone could wish for. In

24:10

fact, June Mendoza thought

24:12

he could quite justifiably hang beside

24:14

the Queen. Anne

24:21

Rowe on June Mendoza, who has died

24:23

aged 99. That's

24:33

all for this episode of The

24:35

Intelligence. Let us know what

24:37

you think of the show. You can get in touch

24:39

at putpostateconomists.com. We'll

24:43

see you back here tomorrow. Hi,

25:03

this is Janice Torres from Yoquiero Dinero.

25:05

If you own or operate a business,

25:07

whether it's a local operation or

25:09

a global corporation, partnering

25:12

with Bank of America could be your smart move.

25:16

By teaming with Bank of America, you'll

25:18

enjoy exclusive digital tools, award-winning

25:20

insights, and business solutions

25:22

so powerful you'll make every move

25:25

matter. Position your

25:27

business to capitalize on opportunity in

25:29

a moment's notice. Visit

25:31

bankofamerica.com-bankingforbusiness to learn

25:34

more. What

25:36

would you like the power to do? Bank

25:38

of America, N.A. Copyright 2024.