The Week Evening Review
Harris fights price-gouging, Indian doctors protest, and Condé Nast partners with OpenAI

 
TALKING POINTS

How will Harris' ban on grocery price gouging work?

Why are grocery prices so high? Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has "laid the blame" squarely at the "feet of businesses," said The Wall Street Journal, and vows to tackle "price gouging" in the grocery sector if elected president. "My plan will include new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises and break the rules," she said. 

"Harris hasn't provided much detail" about how the plan would work, Axios said. Her critics have raised the specter of "black markets and hoarding." But most states already have price-gouging bans prohibiting businesses from jacking up profits during a crisis like a hurricane or pandemic. If Harris' proposed federal ban is similarly "only triggered by emergencies," it might not affect day-to-day grocery prices by much.

'Raising prices faster than costs'
Harris' plan could "create more problems than it solves," Elisabeth Buchwald said at CNN. That's partly because the "jury is still out" on whether price gouging actually raised grocery prices. 

The "war in Ukraine, government spending and pandemic-related disruptions" like the supply chain crisis all played a role. Even then, one economist said, markets usually work out the kinks: When prices rise, the "best policy action in response is actually taking no action."

"Harris is right," said Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times. Financial disclosures showed pretax profit margins nearly tripled at Albertsons during the pandemic and rose significantly at Kroger. 

That suggests the grocery chains were "raising prices faster than their costs." Was it gouging? A federal investigation said no. But it's clear that "corporate profiteering was unmistakably a significant contributor to inflation," said the Los Angeles Times. 

'Kamunism'?
Harris' allies say her price-gouging plan has been "misconstrued" by GOP critics, said The Washington Post. Campaign surrogates have reassured businesses the aim is not to "impose a sweeping new governmental regulatory regime." Still, the pushback has been fierce. The New York Post labeled Harris' plan "Kamunism."

It's unlikely Harris can bring grocery prices down, said The Associated Press. After all, it's "unclear how much price gouging is going on right now." 

Year-over-year grocery inflation was just 1.1% in July, about the same as before the pandemic. That means prices are rising slowly instead of quickly, which might not satisfy voters. But prices that go up rarely go down again and usually in "steep, protracted recessions." That's probably not in Harris' plans.

 
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QUOTE OF THE DAY

'You think he has ever had to take items out of the cart before checking out? Hell, you think he has ever been to a grocery store? That's what the chauffeur is for.'

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on former President Donald Trump's upbringing. She took jabs at Trump during a speech on the last night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

 
 
THE EXPLAINER

Indian doctors' strike brings widespread protests

India's Supreme Court has set up a national task force to ensure the safety of medical workers after days of protests by junior doctors following the rape and murder of a medical student in a Kolkata hospital earlier this month. The killing of the 31-year-old "sparked outrage and nationwide protests," and many junior doctors refused to treat nonemergency patients until authorities "conduct a thorough inquiry and make arrests" within a 72-hour deadline. 

What happened?
The body of the medical student, a member of staff at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, was discovered in a lecture hall on the morning of August 9. She had "settled down for a nap," having worked "nearly 20 hours of a 36-hour shift" in the hospital, said The Independent. 

It was there that she was attacked and murdered before being found the next day. The crime set off "furious protests in several cities" across India, many of which were "led by doctors and other health care workers". But they were joined by "tens of thousands of ordinary Indians demanding action," said France 24. About "a million doctors" took part in the walkout, said The Independent, the "largest in the country in over a decade."

What are protestors demanding?
An intimidating working environment for women medical staff is not a new issue in India, and some doctors say conditions are so bad in some hospitals that they are "contemplating leaving the profession," said i news. The Indian Medical Association said poor infrastructure was a key factor in the attack being able to take place, with a "lack of safe spaces to rest" for women doctors after long shifts. It called for an "overhaul" of "working and living conditions" for doctors at Indian hospitals. The new task force created by the Supreme Court will consider effective safety measures, including "separate resting rooms" for women, adequate lighting across the campus, CCTV coverage" and "quarterly safety audits," said Reuters. 

What will the government do? 
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised "tough punishment" for the "perpetrators of sexual crimes," said the Financial Times. But some women's groups say he has made similar promises since taking power in 2014 but has done "too little to address widespread gender violence."

 
 

Statistic of the day

1,000 miles: The distance that incoming Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol will commute to work via private jet. A spokesperson for the coffee chain confirmed that Niccol, who lives in Newport Beach, California, will not be exempt from the hybrid work policy that mandates employees at the company's Seattle headquarters spend three days a week in the office. 
CNBC

 
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Condé Nast and OpenAI: a deal with the devil?


Publishing giant Condé Nast has signed a deal with OpenAI, the latest partnership between a major media organization and the artificial intelligence company. Publishers are "increasingly" making deals with AI firms to license the use of their content, said Press Gazette. 

This is despite "early doubts" and the high-profile legal action by The New York Times against OpenAI and its main backer, Microsoft. Such deals "commonly include" access to and use of news publishers' content, with a citation "currently promised." But others are more skeptical and even litigious. 

To sue or to sign 
OpenAI "knows that high-quality data matters" in the AI business, and news publishers have "vast amounts of it," said The Guardian. AI labs develop large language models (LLMs), which underpin tools such as ChatGPT by using "trillions of words" online to train them. 

But "ravenous" AI models "always need more data." So as AI labs "grow increasingly hungry for reliable, timely and, above all, human-written text," the news industry is "assessing how best to react." 

OpenAI has already signed licensing deals with news agency The Associated Press, French newspaper Le Monde, El País owner Prisa Media and Germany's Axel Springer, which publishes the Bild tabloid. But other news publications and media outlets are "aggressively trying to protect their businesses" from being scraped for AI-generated content, said CNBC. 

The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December, claiming intellectual property violation and copyright infringement. Microsoft and OpenAI are accountable for "billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages," according to a filing in New York. 

Uncertain future
Many in the media industry "seem to have learned from their painful experience with online gatekeepers such as Google and Facebook." But do publishers have "any better chance of holding on to their audiences and online revenues than they did before?" 

Not if history is anything to go by, said Jessica Lessin, the founder of tech site The Information, at The Atlantic. News firms "strike deals to try and ride out the next digital wave" and make "concessions" to platforms that attempt to "take all of the audience (and trust) that great journalism attracts" without having to do the "complicated and expensive work" of real journalism, but it "never ever works as planned."

 
 

Good day 🇺🇸

… for a tattooed veteran. Esperance Fuerzina broke the Guinness World Record for the most tattoos and body modifications by a woman in history. The 36-year-old American has 89 body modifications, and 99.98% of her body is tattooed. The retired Army medical service officer said her body "feels like a complete expression of myself."

 
 

Bad day 👗

… for fast-fashion retailers.There are reports of a lawsuit between the two giants of the fast-fashion world, Shein and Temu. Shein alleges Temu stole its designs and built an empire using counterfeiting, intellectual property infringement and fraud. Shein faces similar allegations from several brands and independent artists, including H&M and Levi Strauss.

 
 
Picture of the day

Divine inspiration

College students in Chennai, India, dress up as Hindu deities Krishna and Radha ahead of the festival of Janmashtami, which commemorates the birth of Krishna.
R. Satish Babu / 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

Skip the shared gym and sweat solo. These portable fitness items easily fit into a suitcase or car trunk.

Bala Bangles wrist and ankle weights
Attach these bands to your wrists or ankles for strength training anywhere, anytime. These versatile soft-silicone-covered bangles offer resistance while doing yoga and pilates or moves like arm curls and circles, mountain climbers, and leg extensions. You can also don them while still at the airport, as they are "great for walking around the terminal and are discreet enough to wear under a jacket or pants," Travel and Leisure said. ($55, Amazon)

IUGA nonslip yoga mat 
Practicing yoga while on the road is a great way to stay grounded. IUGA's nonslip mat has a textured surface that provides grip and stability. At 2 pounds, it is "half the weight of most rubber mats but just as high quality" and comes with a carrying strap for portability, said GearLab. And while many mats are still being made with PVC, this one is crafted out of TPE, a nontoxic, hypoallergenic rubberlike material. ($37, Amazon)

SKLZ Slidez exercise glider discs
These thick double-sided sliding discs work in any situation. Place them on carpet, tile, concrete, hardwood or laminate flooring, and know you will be secure through lunges, squats and pushups. The large studded grips prevent you from being "thwarted by your sweat," Women's Health said. And because the sliders can snap together to form one large slider, you can "mix up your training." ($30, Amazon)

 
 

Poll watch

A majority of Americans across party lines support ending federal taxes on workers’ tips, according to a new Ipsos poll. The poll found that 75% of Democrats, 73% of Republicans and 73% of independents support exempting tips from federal income tax, a policy that has been proposed by both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. 

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'My son and Gus Walz deserve a champion like Tim Walz'
Tina Brown at The New York Times
For people who are "different and have no support, the world can be bleak. Their loneliness can be agonizing," says Tina Brown. Having a "friendly, forgiving workplace to go to is critical. It's often their only taste of community and what makes them such reliable and rewarding employees." Tim Walz has been "such an inspiring role model to kids all your life," so "I urge you: Please make this your cause."

'Let's not learn the wrong lessons from Matthew Perry's ketamine tragedy'
Los Angeles Times editorial board
It's "impossible to say with confidence that Matthew Perry would be alive today" if not for ketamine, says the Los Angeles Times editorial board. But the harm of ketamine is "not in ketamine itself nor even in its rising popularity among the rich and famous." Rather, it's in "using it to prey on the ill and vulnerable for personal gain." Ketamine can have "great therapeutic value when administered responsibly under controlled conditions."

'How simple monitors can prevent air pollution-related illness'
Joshua Graff Zivin, Benjamin Krebs and Matthew J. Neidell at Time
Tracking air quality is a "critical step toward preventing air-pollution-related illnesses, yet monitoring is nowhere near granular enough," say Joshua Graff Zivin, Benjamin Krebs and Matthew J. Neidell. Inaccurate information can "lead to wasted time and money if people stay home from school or work" or "result in poorer health for people who venture out into dirty air thinking it's clean." The world needs the "equivalent of Waze or Google Maps for air quality instead of traffic."

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

moonbow

Moonbows are extremely rare lunar rainbows that appear when moonlight, rather than sunlight, reflects and refracts through falling raindrops. Two especially vibrant ones were spotted this week in the night sky above the U.S. shortly before the rise of the blue supermoon.

 
 

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

Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images; SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP / Getty Images; Photo Illustration by Idrees Abbas / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images; R. Satish Babu / AFP / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images