The Week Evening Review
America's aging workforce, 7-Eleven's future in Japan, and bad baseball teams

 
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

Why are older workers staying on the job?

Younger workers are facing a conundrum: Older workers aren't getting out of the way. America's aging workforce is keeping those older workers on the job longer than ever and blocking pathways to advancement for people just starting their careers.

"The fastest-growing segment of the labor force is the 75-and-older worker," said The Christian Science Monitor. Many Americans cite "not being financially secure" as a big reason they stay on the job, said Vox. A quarter of people over the age of 59 have no retirement savings, and a third of Americans over age 65 have mortgage payments to make. That has led to "career ladder gridlock," locking younger workers into "lower-paying, junior-level roles," said Axios. 

What do the commentators say?
The U.S. workforce is "now packed with five generations," said The Washington Post. That includes folks from the "silent generation" born before 1945 down to Gen Z youngsters. That's an unprecedented "demographic traffic jam" that has dimmed career prospects for younger workers. 

What changed? Pensions have largely disappeared. And the age to collect full Social Security benefits rose to 67 in the 1980s. What should be done? The first move should be to "encourage more startups." But smart businesses will find ways to "keep older workers involved without shutting out young talent."

"Millions of people don't have enough money for a comfortable old age," said The New York Times. Working longer is a "partial solution" to that challenge, but staying on the job isn't healthy for Americans whose jobs are "physically, mentally or emotionally taxing." The answer? It's time to shore up Social Security and complement it with a government-sponsored "automatic-enrollment pension plan" for workers whose jobs don't provide the necessary retirement benefits.

What next?
A growing number of workers have decided not to choose between retirement and working. Instead, they are trying "phased retirement." A third of workers 50 and older say they have started "reducing their work hours or job responsibilities," said NewsNation. This way, companies can "hang on to experienced employees," said one analyst, and "encourage them to pass on their wealth of knowledge to younger employees."

 
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY

'There are larger and more toxic butterflies to come.'

"Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin warned fans about jarring deviations from his source material if "'House of the Dragon' goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons three and four." Martin "argued against" the changes already made by showrunner Ryan Condal due to a butterfly effect, with small adjustments leading to massively different outcomes.

 
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A 7-Eleven takeover could change business in Japan

Convenience stores aren't just big business in Japan. They are a linchpin of the nation's culture known as konbini. Now, a takeover bid could change everything.

7-Eleven started in Texas, but the chain quickly became a huge success after opening its first Japanese store in 1974 and has been a wholly owned Japanese company since 2005. Now, Canadian firm Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) has offered an "unsolicited bid" to buy the company, raising an alarm with the Japanese public.

The proposal "marks a watershed even if it falls through," said The Economist. Japanese companies have traditionally had "hostile attitudes toward mergers and acquisitions," but in recent years, government reforms have tried to make businesses "more shareholder-friendly." Two decades ago, ACT tried to purchase 7-Eleven's American operations but was rebuffed. That makes the new bid a test of the country's evolving business culture.

The 'indispensable' company? 
Konbini stores like 7-Eleven are the "pinnacle of what Japan does best," said the Financial Times. They sell everything from food and wine to funeral services and concert tickets. They have even served as critical aid stations during earthquakes. That's why it's an "open question" whether Japanese officials, despite the new shareholder-friendly rules, would "countenance" ACT's takeover bid for such an "indispensable" company. 

Some Japanese customers believe 7-Eleven could use a fresh infusion of outside energy, said The Washington Post. Analysts see another possibility: not that ACT will bring North American ways of doing business to Japanese convenience stores but rather that Japanese practices will filter back to North America. The chain that brings konbini to America, said one analyst, will be "king." 

Coming to America
7-Eleven is already on a "mission" to bring some of Japan's most popular food items to some of its American stores, said Reuters. In Virginia, for example, the company is selling chicken curry rice bowls. The konbini strategy has been "enthusiastically received by fans on social media and food-related websites."

Japan is known for "multigeneration businesses," said Bloomberg. That's a factor in the takeover. The descendants of 7-Eleven founder Masatoshi Ito are the second-largest bloc in 7-Eleven's ownership group. They may be "unwilling to part with their family legacy," said Michael Causton at JapanConsuming. 

 
 

Statistic of the day

72%: The drop in the stock price of Donald Trump's social media company, Trump Media, since its peak in March. Once valued at $6 billion, the organization is now worth only $2 billion. It was trading at $16.98 per share on Wednesday. At its highest, it traded above $66 per share.
The New York Times 

 
 
the explainer

Baseball has been around for a long time, but the sport began expanding its playoffs in 1994, a time better known as the Wild Card era. The worst franchises of this period have a lack of championship wins, rarely make the postseason and generally fail to field consistently competitive teams. These are three of the most disappointing. 

Oakland Athletics
The A's have to play in a concrete mausoleum in front of a dwindling fan base that knows the team will be leaving for Sacramento next year and then Las Vegas. The Athletics haven't won a title since 1989 and have spent most of this century trying to operate a contender on a shoestring budget. Because they had visionary executive Billy Beane at the helm for a long time, they were able to compete using innovative player evaluation metrics. But since 2021, they have been the worst team in the sport by a country mile, including a spirited run at the loss record last year. 

San Diego Padres
The Padres are still looking for their first title. As part of the 1969 expansion, they have been to the playoffs only six times in the Wild Card era. More recently, it certainly hasn't been for lack of trying. Situated in one of the game's smallest media markets, the Padres under General Manager A.J. Preller have spent lavishly and made a series of splashy acquisitions but keep getting outfoxed by their upstate rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2023, the team missed the playoffs despite sporting an enormous $250 million payroll. 

Seattle Mariners
Baseball awarded Seattle a franchise in its 1977 expansion, and the Mariners have been pretty consistently bad ever since. Despite a fluke 116-win season in 2001, the Mariners missed the playoffs for an unfathomable 20 straight years. They aren't cheap exactly — their payroll has frequently ranked in the top half of the sport — but management usually leaves enough holes on the roster to sink the team. They look likely to miss the playoffs in 2024 for the 22nd time in 23 years.

 
 

Good day 🎒

… for California schoolchildren. State legislators approved a bill that would reduce homework loads. The Healthy Homework Act, now on the governor's desk for approval, will encourage schools to avoid excessive or unnecessary assignments to combat student stress..

 
 

Bad day 📉

… for Nvidia.The AI chipmaker that was "briefly the world's most valuable company" had the "worst day in the history of the stock market" based on its loss in total market value, said CNN. The tech titan's share price dropped 9.5%, equivalent to $279 billion, which is "worth more than all the shares of some of America's biggest companies, including McDonald's, Chevron and Pepsi."

 
 
Picture of the day

By a nose

Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis casts a triumphant sideways look as he edges past Norwegian 400-meter hurdler Karsten Warholm at the finish line in an exhibition 100-meter sprint in Zurich. The two track stars raced at Letzigrund Stadium on the eve of the Diamond League meeting after some training ground banter escalated into the one-to-one contest. 
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via 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

September marks the start of Halloween season, which means spooky vibes and dressing up as someone other than yourself. This month's new releases will give you plenty of costume inspiration. 

'English Teacher' (Sept. 2)
FX's new series "English Teacher" stars, and was created by, Brian Jordan Alvarez, who plays a gay educator named Evan Marquez working at a Texas public school. The comedy series is a "drier, snarkier, world-wearier older brother to Quinta Brunson's 'Abbott Elementary,'" said Angie Han at The Hollywood Reporter. (Hulu)

'Child Star' (Sept. 17)
Coming of age in the spotlight usually means growing up way too fast. A new documentary features interviews with, and archival footage of, a host of former Disney Channel actors and other Hollywood stars who found on-screen success at a young age, including Drew Barrymore, Christina Ricci, JoJo Siwa and Kenan Thompson. The project also marks the directorial debut of Demi Lovato, a child actor turned pop star. (Hulu)

'Agatha All Along' (Sept. 18)
This alliterative new Marvel series is a spinoff of 2021's "WandaVision," only this time it's sorceress Agatha Harkness' time to shine. Kathryn Hahn reprises her role as the titular witch, still trapped in Westview under a spell Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff placed on her in the previous show's finale. Agatha is "forced to live out a true-crime drama as a detective investigating the murder of a young Jane Doe," said Entertainment Weekly. (Disney+)

 
 

Poll watch

Nearly 6 in 10 young Africans are considering moving out of their country because of government corruption, according to the 2024 African Youth Survey. The survey polled 5,604 people ages 18 to 24 in 16 African nations and found 58% are "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to consider emigrating to another country in the coming years. 

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'How the quiet war against press freedom could come to America'
A.G. Sulzberger at The Washington Post
It's "beyond shortsighted to give up journalistic independence out of fear that it might later be taken away," says A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times. But a "new model is being crafted that aims to undermine the ability of journalists to freely gather and report the news." People "cheering on such attacks" would "do well to remember why press freedom is not a Democratic or Republican ideal but an American one."

'The future of warfare is electronic'
Porter Smith and Nathan Mintz at The Wall Street Journal
The war in Ukraine is "demonstrating that 21st-century conflicts will be won or lost in the arena of electronic warfare," say Porter Smith and Nathan Mintz. Modern combat is a "choreography of lightweight, unmanned systems driven by a spiderweb of electronic signals," but the U.S. "trails in the dark arts of electronic warfare." If the U.S. works to "retool our approach to electronic warfare, America will tip the scales in favor of deterrence."

'Germany's leaders get yet another wake-up call'
Bloomberg editorial board
Germany's centrist leaders "must heed the message that voters keep sending them: If they want to avert a descent into extremism, they need to offer a much bolder vision for the country," says the Bloomberg editorial board. A recent far-right victory is a "troubling post-war first for a party whose local leader has used banned Nazi slogans in speeches." But the "result suggests that voters are simply fed up with the status quo, not longing for the fascist past."

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

rusticle

Iron-rich formations of rust resembling icicles that litter the sunken Titanic's surface. Their presence proves that bacteria are feasting on the vessel. Some experts hypothesize that what's left of the Titanic will fully disintegrate within the next few decades due to the "minuscule microbes" that are "actively recycling the ship's parts into the ocean ecosystem at this very moment," said Discover magazine.

 
 

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; Soichiro Koriyama / Bloomberg / Getty Images; Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images; FlixPix / Alamy