Crypto News: The best stories we didn’t write this year

For many families, December is a month filled with traditions. At Businessweek, we have the Jealousy List, an annual review of journalism committed by others that we most admired this year. Plus: A story about a technological breakthrough that you might have missed. Contact the editor of this newsletter here. If this email was forwarded to you, click here to sign up.

In Catholicism, envy is one of the seven deadly sins. In professional journalism, it's a virtue, albeit too seldomly expressed. Which is why every year, Bloomberg Businessweek commits this cardinal act for all to witness, with our annual Jealousy List. We asked our editors and contributors to identify that one story in 2024 that filled them with the kind of indescribable resentment that theologians once thought was a dangerous gateway to other sins. In this case, however, we simply hope to create a handy guide to some of the best business journalism of the year. And if rival publications are jealous of the Businessweek Jealousy List—so much the better. Here's a sample of the list.

Jealousy personified in American Psycho (2000). Photo illustration by 731; photo: Alamy

Jeremy Keehn, features editor, Bloomberg Businessweek
America Must Free Itself From the Tyranny of the Penny
From the New York Times
How, as a Canadian business editor, did I miss the opportunity for smugness presented by America's inability to eliminate the penny, which Canada did in 2013? And how have I never edited a story with "trochilidine" in it? I looked it up—it means "of or relating to hummingbirds," and, yeah, it was the perfect way to describe American penny production.

Chadwick Matlin, contributor, Bloomberg Businessweek
The Fate of the Finance Bro
From the New Yorker
This podcast starts with an ode to Industry, HBO's disembowelment of capitalism and ambition, and ends with a treatise on David Guetta's remix of a TikTok meme. The episode is an engaging, thought-provoking exploration of why we just can't quit stories about Wall Street, even when we know where they may lead.

Eric Morrow, audience development editor, Bloomberg News
The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel
From YouTube
The future of journalism isn't four-hour-long YouTube videos. But Jenny Nicholson's deep dive into a high-profile Disney error is an eviscerating tragicomedy in the corporate-driven era of fandom. In a world where more people are turning to influencers rather than news brands, there's still a way to tell compelling stories.

Cristina Lindblad, global economics editor, Bloomberg Businessweek
Welcome to Pricing Hell
From the Atlantic
For me the stories that inspire the most jealousy are ones I wanted to assign but never got around to. For that reason, I nearly wept when I saw Chris Beam's story on personalized pricing. The pandemic-induced inflation surge pulled back the curtain a bit on how companies price their products and services. As business journalists, we need to stay on this story even as inflation abates.

Deena Shanker, reporter, Bloomberg News
Make America Healthy Again Hits Capitol Hill
From Food Fix
There is simply no other journalist with an ear to the ground of food policy like Helena Evich Bottemiller. We all know about MAHA now, but Helena saw it coming months ago, covering the emerging RFK Jr. coalition in September. Hindsight is 20/20, so now we can all see just how important the hearing at that time really was. But Helena saw it when it happened. If you care about food policy, get on her newsletter.

Keep reading: Jealousy List 2024

In Brief

President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promise to ensure that all remaining Bitcoin is "made in the USA" is impossible to keep.
An Azeri plane that crashed on Wednesday was hit by Russia air defense, the government-backed Caliber news website said.
2024 was the year weight-loss drugs took over.

ICYMI

This week we're taking a look back at some of Businessweek's most popular stories from 2024. In May, Ashlee Vance introduced us to the first person to receive Elon Musk's Neuralink brain implant, which allows him to control a computer with his thoughts. The story starts with how Noland Arbaugh came to be paralyzed, then continues with his experience post-surgery.

Arbaugh, shown with his dog, Grace, has dreamed of becoming a writer. Photographer: John Francis Peters for Bloomberg Businessweek

Noland Arbaugh still doesn't quite know what happened. He doesn't know many of the key details about how his life took such a drastic and now extraordinary turn. How he became Noland Arbaugh, celebrity cyborg.

It was mid-2016, and he had his first day off as a sports counselor at the Island Lake Camp in Starrucca, Pennsylvania. Arbaugh, then a student at Texas A&M University, had spent two previous summers working at the kids camp. The people and surroundings, including a nearby man-made lake, were familiar, and this day was like many before it. He'd planned to go to the lake with a group of friends.

There were already people in the water when Arbaugh and his companions arrived. After chatting with his friends on shore, Arbaugh and a couple of other guys made a dash for the water to join everyone else. Their plan was to run in and dunk some girls frolicking in the lake. "We all just jumped in together just like you would do going into the ocean," Arbaugh says. "And the two guys got up out of the water, and they went over and picked up the girls and stuff like that. And I just never came back up."

Somehow when Arbaugh jumped in, something or someone—he's still not sure what—bashed into the left side of his head and knocked him out for a moment. As he came to, face down in the water, he tried to move but couldn't. An inexplicable calm came over him. Arbaugh knew right away that he was paralyzed and that there was nothing he could do about it. He pondered his predicament as he held his breath. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. Twenty seconds. No one seemed to be nearby, and he couldn't hold out any longer. "I thought, 'Well, now is as good of a time as ever,'" he says. "I basically took a big drink of water and passed out."

Keep reading: Neuralink's First Patient: 'It Blows My Mind So Much'

How to Waste Less Food

30%-40%

That's how much of the US food supply is wasted, according to the Department of Agriculture. If your fridge is groaning with leftovers this week, here are some key food waste questions, answered.

Education Expenses

"College costs too much. It's definitely always been a concern for low-income families, but as the cost has gotten higher and higher, it does increase the number of families that this is a concern for."

Brendan Williams

Vice president of knowledge at uAspire, a nonprofit that helps students apply for financial aid.

A handful of top US colleges are taking steps to boost financial aid for low and middle-income families as the soaring cost of attendance fuels backlash.