The Week Evening Review
Mexico City's water crisis, presidential debate defeatism, and the return of meme stocks

 
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

Why is Mexico City running out of water?

Mexico City is on the "brink of a profound water crisis," said The New York Times. North America's most populous city is facing the possibility of a so-called "Day Zero" this summer — perhaps as soon as June 26 — when many taps connected to the main water system will simply run dry. The looming disaster is the product of "years of poor water management compounded by scarce rains" brought on by extended drought. Some neighborhoods are already rationing water, while others are relying on water trucks to fill local cisterns. "

In recent decades, the city's water infrastructure hasn't kept pace with its population growth — while warmer temperatures and infrequent rains have offered fewer opportunities to replenish the aquifers and reservoirs that supply the city.

What did the commentators say?
"This isn't going away," Caroline Houck said at Vox. And it's not just Mexico City. One study of 15 cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America found that many residents already live with a sort of "Day Zero" — the water supply simply isn't available around the clock. Climate change and continuing urbanization mean we'll see more of these kinds of problems. "Higher temperatures drive higher water use" after all. Any solutions will "require political will and money."

"Mexico should be spending billions on water, not oil," Juan Pablo Spinetto said at Bloomberg. Under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the federal office in charge of improving water availability "suffers budget cuts despite growing shortages." Meanwhile, reports show that his government gave oil company Penmex $80.5 billion in subsidies and tax breaks between 2019 and 2023. Investing in Mexico City's water infrastructure, including replacing leaking pipes, would cost a fraction of that. This means shifting the government's bad priorities is "critical for the country's public health and economic viability."

What next?
Mexico City faces the pressing problem of what to do when "Day Zero" arrives. (Some experts are skeptical it will, even as they acknowledge increasing shortages.)  Wealthy Mexicans can buy from private water suppliers, the Los Angeles Times said, but "that's not an option for most residents." Many already rely mostly on bottled water for drinking, washing and even flushing toilets. "What we are going through now," said a hydraulic engineer, "is as bad as we have seen."

 
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QUOTE OF THE DAY

'I have a boundary, and I stand by those boundaries, and that is it.'

Kelly Rowland speaking out after a viral heated exchange with a security guard on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet. "I stood my ground," Rowland said of the incident, after pointing out that other women on the carpet did not "get scolded or pushed off or told to get off."

 
 
talking points

Why the Biden-Trump debates may not matter

The Biden-Trump debates are on. President Joe Biden and Donald Trump last week agreed to meet in two debates under a deal reached shortly after Biden's campaign proposed the matchups. The events are set for June 27 and Sept. 10. 

Biden trails Trump in key swing state polls and needs to turn things around; Trump has been sidelined by his New York criminal trial. Both have much to gain on the debate stage. But voters have had years to form their opinions about them. Will the debates change anything?

Debates are Biden's big chance
The Biden-Trump debates could tip the scales to Biden, said Anthony Zurcher at BBC. He has faced "repeated questions about his age and competence," and sidestepping "face-offs" with Trump "risked convincing the public that he was not up to the task." Now he can tackle the issue head-on, with no live audience in the June debate to sidetrack him with things like pro-Palestinian protests. Plus, holding debates early will help Biden "frame the election as a binary choice" between a steady hand and an aspiring autocrat. 

Biden's surprise proposal amounted to a tacit admission that "he's losing right now" and needs a "Hail Mary gambit to turn the race around," said the New York Post editorial board. He will try to "goad Trump into shooting himself in the foot on things like abortion and early voting." The former president, widely expected to interrupt and shout over Biden, just needs to "keep his cool." 

These spectacles won't change anything
The Biden-Trump debates will be something to watch — "crouched in a fetal position" — but they won't matter, said Matthew Continetti in The Washington Free Beacon. Debates have almost never "decided a presidential outcome." This year we have the "two oldest and two of the least-liked candidates in history." They won't tell us anything we don't already know, and if one of them makes a shocking gaffe, he'll have months to recover. 

It's baffling that either of them "agreed to these no-win campaign stunts," said Jon Gabriel in USA Today. These "debates promise to be a minefield of gaffes" that will make campaign staffers cringe. Maybe Biden and Trump want to meet because they think expectations are so low they can't lose. "If no one falls off the dais or starts chewing the lectern, both sides will call it a success."

 
 

Statistic of the day

43.8M: The number of people expected to travel over Memorial Day weekend. The start of the summer holiday season means at least 38 million people will be traveling in a car, while nearly 3 million passengers are expected to move through airport security checkpoints.
The Associated Press

 
 
the explainer

What are meme stocks and why are they back?

A Wall Street trend has returned: meme stocks. They first came onto the scene in 2021 with GameStop, which created such a fervor that Sony Pictures made a film about the company's rise. Here is why these stocks saw a resurgence earlier this May. 

What are meme stocks? 
Meme stocks are "shares of a company that have gained viral popularity due to heightened social sentiment," said Investopedia. This is typically the result of activity on social media platforms, and accomplished through communities like Reddit and X.

Companies that become meme stocks "have usually performed poorly in recent years, and attracted attention from short-sellers — investors who effectively bet on the price of a share going down further," said Forbes. Part of their appeal is that these stocks are perceived as underdogs, but there is "little connection between a company's meme stock status and its actual performance." 

What are some notable meme stocks? 
GameStop is the company most associated with meme stocks. In January 2021, it underwent a short squeeze, or a "flood of retail trading that drove its shares to extreme highs, which in turn squeezed short sellers who had bet against it," said Seeking Alpha. This drove the price of GameStop way up on Wall Street. At one point, it was worth more than American Airlines. But in a few months, the company had leveled out. Other notable meme stocks have included AMC, Carvana, Kodak, and Beyond Meat. 

Why are they back in the news? 
The current resurgence can be traced back to financial investor Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty. Gill recently "made a triumphant return to the internet with a single post that sent GameStop and other meme stocks soaring," said Quartz. He "drove the first short-squeeze of the video game retailer's stock" in 2021, and after emerging on May 12, shares of GameStop "soared once again."

This time around, though, companies "have more shares trading in the market than they did in 2021," said Nick Battista to The Associated Press — so there was less of a frenzy around the stocks. Just days after Gill's post, shares of GameStop and AMC plummeted.

 
 

Good day 🪽

… for a teen known as "God's influencer." Pope Francis has recognized a second miracle attributed to Carlo Acutis, paving the way for the computer prodigy to become the first millennial saint. Acutis, born in 1991 in London and raised in Italy, is sometimes called the "patron saint of the internet." He died at age 15 from leukemia in October 2006.

 
 

Bad day 🪸

… for Norway. One of the world's largest environmental groups is suing the Norwegian government for allowing deep-sea mining in its seabeds. The organization believes the country violated Norwegian law "without adequately assessing the consequences," said Karoline Andaur, the CEO of WWF-Norway. Allowing the government to ignore its own rules would set a "dangerous precedent."

 
 
Picture of the day

Down under the lights

An art fan wanders through Dark Spectrum, an immersive light show in abandoned train tunnels under Wynyard Station in Sydney, Australia.
David Gray / AFP / Getty Images

 
 
Puzzles

Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

 
 
The Week recommends

The weight loss journey can be hard enough without all of the conflicting information and trends out there putting pressure on you. From the Ozempic craze to fad diets, social media and the internet are filled with methods for losing weight quickly. However, there are healthier and less intense ways to start on the right path to losing weight and keeping it off. 

Set realistic goals and be flexible
Experts say that the key to making new health habits and behaviors stick is to have realistic expectations. Losing about one to two pounds a week is the safest and most sustainable, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Avoid having a goal be reaching a specific number on the scale because that has a "pass/fail connotation," said Deviny Mo, manager of UCLA Health Sports Performance. 

Talk to a health care professional
With weight loss requiring long-term commitments to adopting healthier habits, it is good to prioritize building relationships with medical professionals who can help you along the journey. "That's the biggest tip I would give: to create a long-lasting relationship with a primary care doctor," said Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, known as Dr. Mike on Youtube, said to CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the podcast Chasing Life. While many people use urgent care as their primary source of health care, that is not ideal. You will not get the "benefits of having a longitudinal relationship with a single provider." 

 
 

Poll watch

More than half of all Americans identify as part of the middle class, according to a new Gallup poll. The poll surveyed 1,001 adults and found that 54% see themselves as middle class. This includes 39% who say they are solely "middle class" and 15% who say they are "upper middle class."

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'Ford's EV Stockholm syndrome'
The Wall Street Journal editorial board
Ford's "expensive bet on electric vehicles isn't paying off," says the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. The company is working to comply with government EV mandates, and this means that Ford is "supporting the administration's regulation because it wants to socialize EV losses across the industry." The White House is "using subsidies and mandates to take companies captive to its climate agenda." Ford is the "latest business to come down with Stockholm syndrome, but it won’t be the last."

'The evolution of Bill Maher'
Nicole Hemmer at CNN
"Bill Maher has built a brand as a risk-taking contrarian," says Nicole Hemmer. Years ago, there "was a time when Maher could say something shocking. You wouldn’t know it from reading his new book." Despite the comedian's reputation, Maher's "worldview is built not on transgression — nothing here is likely to shock you — but rather a relentless nostalgia for the good old days, before Democrats went 'woke' and Republicans went coup-crazy."

'Sam Alito's flag flew upside down. Are his ethics?'
Ruth Marcus at The Washington Post
The upside-down flag at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's house "shouldn't come as much of a surprise," says Ruth Marcus, because he "has been doing the moral equivalent for years — and at the office, which is way worse." Alito is the "Fox News-iest of justices, most likely to pick up on conservative media talking points and most predictably partisan." But the "recusal standard that applies to all federal judges ... hits home when it comes to Alito."

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

exposome

The measure of all the environmental exposures in a person's lifetime and how those exposures relate to potential health issues. Due to the massive scope of our environmental exposures, scientists will "increasingly need to turn to artificial intelligence for help" to understand the human exposome, said Harvard Medical School. 

 
 

Evening Review was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harold Maass, Joel Mathis, Summer Meza, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz, Anahi Valenzuela and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images; Jim Bourg / POOL / AFP via Getty Images; Reuters / Brendan McDermid; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images