Insider Today: Biden's denial

Insider Today: Biden's denial
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Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of our top stories. Ever ask your boss if you can finish work early? A CEO who said he's sick of hearing it from employees has gone viral.


On the agenda today:

But first: Takeaways from a chaotic 10 days in the US presidential race.


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This week's dispatch

Joe Biden
Win McNamee/Getty Images; iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI

Pressure on Biden builds

US President Joe Biden had a terrible debate. He's done little to turn things around since and appears to be in denial over the damage done to his campaign.

That's the story of a critical 10-day period in the US presidential race, which kicked off with Biden's historically bad debate performance.

Biden's poor performance led to a Democrat freak out and growing calls for Biden to step aside. In a sign of the public mood, BI's list of the Democrats who could replace Biden saw a sudden and dramatic spike in readership shortly after the debate.

In the days since, there have been excuses, new Biden flubs, and fresh calls from donors and House Democrats for Biden to step down. Republican rival Donald Trump has been posting furiously on social media throughout.

Biden remains defiant. In a Friday interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, he dismissed his low approval rating and questioned polling data that shows Trump is growing his lead in the race.

Crucially, Biden said that only God could get him to drop out, and that he'd be OK with losing to Trump "as long as I give it my all."

Neither sentiment is likely to satisfy the many Democrats who have serious concerns about Biden's mental acuity and electability.


Shadow workers are immersed in darkness behind a screen
Lorenzo Matteucci for BI

The rise of "shadow stand-ins"

It's never been easier to offload your labor. Globalized social networks, ubiquitous software tools, and the pandemic have created a perfect storm — and workers are taking advantage of it.

Across the globe, employees are secretly outsourcing parts or all of their jobs, creating a clandestine world of "shadow stand-ins."

The workers secretly outsourcing their jobs.

Also read:


Younger boomer/older Gen X couple hugging and gazing at sunset, with the wife holding a chubby golden piggy bank
Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI

Golden age of retirement

While many of their peers face a retirement crisis, some boomers are entering their golden years flush with savings.

Three boomers who spoke with Business Insider are a bright spot in an increasingly grim retirement landscape: They're benefiting from now-rare pensions, real estate value increases, and stock-market gains.

How they're winning retirement.


A graph/plug trending upwards toward electrical plug
Tyler Le/BI

The winners of the AI boom

They're not flashy, but they might be worth your cash. Construction, electric, and utility companies are set to benefit most from the AI boom.

They all benefit from the incredible surge in data center construction. And these under-the-radar stocks are already outperforming.

The boring champs of AI.

Also read:


Bobby Jain
Jared Siskin/Getty Images for Madison Square Park Conservancy; iStock; BI

Meet Jain Global's employees

Jain Global, one of the most anticipated new hedge funds in years, started trading this week. Its founder, Bobby Jain, has spent months building out an impressive roster ahead of its launch.

BI has been keeping tabs on the fund's hires, and has a running list of 135-plus new employees, including names, job titles, and past employers.

See our list of new hires.

Also read:

An key exec at hot new hedge-fund Jain Global explains how it will be different.


This week's quote:

"I didn't want to be a rich kid who used connections to get everything."

— Pete Ballmer, one of the sons of billionaire and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.


More of this week's top reads:

Read the original article on Business Insider