A 187pc increase in firearms

Licensed gun makers built 11.3 million firearms in 2020, a 187pc increase over the number they made in 2000, according to a federal report that details the significant growth in gun manufacturing in the US. Gun homicides in 2020 surged to their highest levels in 26 years, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The increase continued in 2021, based on preliminary data. The report was issued days after a gunman opened fire on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 and injuring three others.⁠ The majority of guns used in crime are built by manufacturers and often fall into the hands of criminals through theft. Gun thefts from cars and homes have surged in the past two years in major cities and stolen guns have been used in high-profile shootings. A record number of Americans also bought guns over the past two years, driven by concerns related to the pandemic, protests and rising crime.

(Adapted from, “New Federal Report Shows Two-Decade Surge In Gun Manufacturing,” by Zusha Elinson, published on May 17, 2022, by The Wall Street Journal)

Billions lost to Indian piracy

There is something common between Rajamouli’s RRR, Yash starrer KGF: Chapter 2 and Salman Khan’s Radhe. They’re not just superhit movies, they were all pirated way ahead of their release. The latest victim of this cybercrime is Disney+Hotstar. It has filed an FIR complaint against TamilMV, TamilBlasters, Tamilrockers, and application PikaShow TV for carrying leaked content on their platform. “The cumulative traffic on these platforms is estimated at 62 million,” Santosh Ram, station house officer, cyber cell, Bengaluru Police told Business Standard. Over-the-top players have been paying millions to movie producers for exclusive rights – and without direct earnings from the releases, they stand to lose future subscribers. According to a report by Digital TV Research, the loss of revenue for OTT players on account of piracy in India is expected to hit $3.08bn by 2022.

(Adapted from, “Indian OTTs might lose $3bn to piracy this year as leaked content sites see 62 mn footfalls,” by Karuna Sharma, published on May 31, 2022, by Business India, India)

The investment cost of colour

Racial bias and outdated practices are holding back trillions of dollars in allocations to black fund managers, says investor John Rogers. Mr Rogers, who founded the US’s largest minority-run mutual fund firm, Ariel Investments, said the ‘allocation gap’ — when women and people of colour are allocated less capital than white or male asset managers — remains ‘a huge problem’ for the industry. “There is a profound and persistent bias in the industry — an actual belief that people of colour cannot manage money at the highest levels,” said Robert Raben, founder of Diverse Asset Managers Initiative and former US assistant attorney-general. About 70pc of white investment decision-makers in the US still believe that prioritising diversity in their investment management meant sacrificing returns, a Morgan Stanley survey found in October. These beliefs remain even though minority-owned firms either performed as well as, or outperformed, their white-owned peers, according to two different studies.

(Adapted from “The trillions of dollars bypassing black-run funds,” by Madison Darbyshire, published on May 16, 2022, by the Financial Times)

A mini power plant at home

Ford’s F-150 Lightning — the electric version of America’s best-selling vehicle — is a potential game-changer. But not because of its acceleration or its range: it’s the first electric vehicle sold in the US that can tap its battery pack to power your home (or the grid itself) during increasingly frequent climate-driven blackouts. The extended-range Lightning’s 131-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion pack boasts almost 10 times the capacity of a Tesla Powerwall, an $11,000 home backup battery that can’t be driven to the supermarket. It’s “a mini powerplant for your home,” says Jason Glickman, an executive vice president at California utility PG&E. Ford has a backlog of some 200,000 orders, but the utility is already testing how to integrate the truck into its management of the grid.

(Adapted from “How Ford’s Electric Pickup Can Power Your House for 10 Days,” by Todd Woody, published on 31 May 2022, by Bloomberg)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 6th, 2022