Musk Donates $45 Million to Pro-Trump PAC, Retail Sales Hold Steady, Kelly Slater's Sunscreen

As the meme says: “What a week, huh?” But as the meme also says: “Captain, it’s Wednesday.” And newsrooms across the country have been inundated with headlines.?The Dow jumped 600 points in early trading yesterday, fresh off a high on Monday, in what seemed to be the longed-for broad market rally in a year characterized by a few mega tech stocks fostering all the market’s growth. It can only go up from here, folks! (*It absolutely cannot, and we have no idea what will happen, and this is not investment advice.) Donald Trump’s veepstakes are over with his selection of J.D. Vance. Meanwhile, there are plenty more cheddlines for you today:

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk has donated $45 million to a new super PAC supporting the former president. We spoke with the Wall Street Journal reporter who broke the story.?
• Retail Sales Steady in June from May, Showing Shoppers’ Resilience
• Senate Review: Amazon Prime Day Causes Warehouse Worker Injuries
• Perjury Charges Could Face Man Who Falsely Claimed to Invent Bitcoin
• Surfer Kelly Slater's New Sunscreen Brings the Fun Factor

Cheese out,

Matt Davis, N2K Chedditor

P.S. We have video of a robot performing microsurgery on a quail’s egg.

1. World's Richest Man Comes Out... as a Trump Supporter

Brace yourselves. The world's richest man appears to have switched allegiances to a political party that tends to tax billionaires less than its main rival. The Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk is donating $45 million to a new Trump super PAC. Cheddar spoke with journalist Dana Mattioli, who broke the story. “There's been a secret PAC in the works for a few months now that is going to be backed by lots of Silicon Valley CEOs and investors,” Dana said. “In 2008, [Musk] voted for President Obama, and now he's giving millions of dollars for this PAC.”

Trump has not spoken kindly about electric vehicles; Musk's one public company is kind of all about making them, EVs are also heavily subsidized and SpaceX relies heavily on government contracts, but Musk, on Twitter (which he insists on calling X), urged for an end to the subsidies. And there has been a “broader arc of Musk’s political leanings to the right over recent years,” Dana said. “He's spoken out against DEI and being woke, and I think he's ideologically become more aligned with Republicans.”

“Silicon Valley, historically, this has been a very liberal bastion,” she said. “It's been a big donor base for the Democrats. And what we've seen this election cycle is that the libertarians in the group have shifted more to the right. It feels like, you know, a few years ago, there were definitely some backers of Donald Trump in Silicon Valley, but they were almost closeted. They didn't want to speak about it too publicly for fear of being looked down upon. Now it feels like the people exist in in those circles are more emboldened to come out publicly in support of him.”

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman also emerged from the closet to endorse Trump over the weekend. Word is, he has some serious cheddar to donate to the race, too. Watch Now

2. Consumers Keep Spending Despite Gloomy Forecasts

In June, the American consumer’s wallet didn't snap shut as economists had predicted. Retail sales held steady, triumphantly defying expectations of a downturn. While sales at gas stations and auto dealerships did apply the brakes, shoppers shifted gears in other retail categories, driving a 0.8% surge in consumer spending, according to the latest set of figures.

American consumers remain steadily employed with unemployment at just 4%, but it’s not clear if they could even be overconfident, right now. Lower-income consumers are increasingly using credit cards to maintain their consumption, resulting in higher delinquency rates. Good job it’s day two of Amazon Prime Day, and you can snag a guilt-free bargain while it’s hot, eh? Read More

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3. Amazon Prime Day Causes Warehouse Worker Injuries, Says U.S. Senate Review

Scratch that earlier thought about guilt-free shopping. It turns out Amazon Prime Day tends to cause more worker injuries, according to a new Senate report quarterbacked by Vermont’s independent senator and always-friend-of-big-business?, Bernie Sanders. The report follows a yearlong investigation by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee into Amazon's safety protocols, using company data from 2019 and 2020, and interviews with over 100 current and former employees.

Peak sales periods, particularly the holiday season and events like Prime Day, were identified as times with the highest rates of worker injuries. D'oh! This has really put the kibosh on several major purchases we were planning to make right after putting this newsletter to bed. Sanders criticized Amazon for prioritizing profits over worker safety, citing the company's substantial earnings against the backdrop of hazardous working conditions. Despite Amazon's denial of underreporting injuries and insistence on adherence to safety reporting protocols, the Senate report suggests significant underreporting, including failure to refer injured workers for appropriate medical care to minimize recordable incidents.

The report acknowledges Amazon's efforts in reducing injury rates since 2019 but criticizes the company for not adequately addressing the core issues, including understaffing during peak times. Amazon hit back at the Senate's findings, asserting that the report overlooks its safety improvements and misrepresents the company's progress in reducing injuries. Read More

4. Note to Self: Don't Claim to Have Invented Bitcoin

An Australian computer scientist who brazenly declared himself the enigmatic creator of Bitcoin—a.k.a. Satoshi Nakamoto—has found himself in the crosshairs of the law in London. Craig Wright is now swept up in a saga that could see him facing perjury and forgery charges. The identity of Bitcoin's mysterious inventor has long been hotly debated. Wright's bold assertion in 2015 that it was, in fact, him, catapulted him into the spotlight, yet his evidence crumbled under scrutiny.

London's High Court Judge James Mellor minced no words, labeling Wright's acts a "serious abuse" of the court process. Now he’s hinting that he’ll pass Wright’s case along for possible perjury charges. The Crypto Open Patent Alliance, a vanguard of tech companies, emerged victorious against Wright, exposing his claims as forgery on an "industrial scale" and safeguarding the free development of the blockchain technology that underpins Bitcoin.

As the dust of their courtroom battle settles, Judge Mellor's decisive measures—including injunctions against Wright and orders to publicize the ruling—serve as a reminder of the risk of claiming to invent Bitcoin when you didn’t. Read More

5. Surfer Kelly Slater Drops In on Skincare With ‘Freaks of Nature’

If there’s one universal piece of advice we have for you, as the song goes, it’s to wear sunscreen. Especially if you’re a professional surfer like Kelly Slater out in the water all day, when as he puts it, “you’re going to get fried.” With that resolved, rugged gaze and shaved head of his, and worldwide diagnoses of skin cancer spiking year-on-year, Mr. Slater decided he wanted more sun protection without all the chemicals. He wanted a more eco-conscious sunscreen, and that’s why he’s partnered with Freaks of Nature, a new sunscreen company with a focus on naturally sourced ingredients.

We met with one of the firm’s co-founders, Lucas Derksen, on a New York City beach recently to talk more. He’s focused on a “truly holistic skincare solution for an athlete consumer,” he said, making sunscreen that includes molecules based on spider silks. The firm’s products are primarily sold online right now but looking to break into retail outlets. The best advice Lucas can give you when it comes to sunscreen is, “put it on thick.” Also: Don’t forget your ears! Watch Now

Matt Davis is a writer who lives in New York with his wife and son.