Markets May Be On A Tear This Year, But The Economy Is Under The Most Pressure Since 2008 And Could Still Easily Fall Into Reces

If you've been too busy punching virtual Nazis to take part in this year's Ars Technica Charity Drive sweepstakes, don't worry. You still have time to donate to a good cause and get a chance to win your share of over $4,000 worth of swag (no purchase necessary to win). In the first three days of the drive, over 100 readers have contributed almost $9,500 to either the Electronic Frontier Foundation or Child's Play as part of the charity drive (Child's Play is now leading in the donation totals by about $1,000).

The president of Canadian electric bus and truck manufacturer Lion Electric Co. resigned as the cash-poor company made a last-ditch attempt to stay afloat. Nicolas Brunet stepped down from the post he’d held for little more than a year, according to a company filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission dated Dec.

Eleven months after the Ingenuity helicopter made its final flight on Mars, engineers and scientists at NASA and a private company that helped build the flying vehicle said they have identified what probably caused it to crash on the surface of Mars. In short, the helicopter's on-board navigation sensors were unable to discern enough features in the relatively smooth surface of Mars to determine its position, so when it touched down, it did so moving horizontally.

Google reportedly wants the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to end Microsoft's exclusive cloud deal with OpenAI that requires anyone wanting access to OpenAI's models to go through Microsoft's servers. Someone "directly involved" in Google's effort told The Information that Google's request came after the FTC began broadly probing how Microsoft's cloud computing business practices may be harming competition. As part of the FTC's investigation, the agency apparently asked Microsoft's biggest rivals if the exclusive OpenAI deal was "preventing them from competing in the burgeoning artificial intelligence market," multiple sources told The Information.

Jewel-Osco owner Albertsons is giving up on its merger with Mariano’s parent Kroger and it is suing the grocery chain, saying it didn’t do enough to secure regulatory approval for the $24.6 billion agreement. The move came the day after two judges halted the merger in separate court cases. U. S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson issued a preliminary injunction blocking the merger Tuesday after holding a three-week hearing in Portland, Oregon.

Recently, Congress' Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released its final report. The basic gist is about what you'd expect from a Republican-run committee, in that it trashes a lot of Biden-era policies and state-level responses while praising a number of Trump's decisions. But what's perhaps most striking is how it tackles a variety of scientific topics, including many where there's a large, complicated body of evidence. Notably, this includes conclusions about the origin of the pandemic, which the report describes as "most likely" emerging from a lab rather than being the product of the zoonotic transfer between an animal species and humans.