A Belgian man faked his own death and showed up to his funeral in a helicopter. He performed the stunt to “teach his family a lesson” about staying in touch. After his family posted “RIP, daddy” posts on social media, the 45-year-old shared a video of the helicopter surprise on TikTok. He gave a whole new level of truth to the words “now we know he’s watching us from above.”

In today's edition:

• Last Beatles’ song

• Inflation cools down

• Love on Pause

 🔑 Key Stories

Last Beatles Song

Paul McCartney said AI has been used to create ​​“the last Beatles record”

• The Beatles – the best-selling musical group in history – dissolved in the early 1970s. In 1980, a superfan killed songwriter and singer John Lennon; in 2001, member George Harrison died of cancer

• On Tuesday, 80 year-old McCartney – the Beatles’ co-lead singer – told the BBC that AI allowed his team to “extricate” Lennon’s voice from an old cassette tape and create “the last Beatles song”

• The song is widely expected to be “Now and Then,” a love song that Lennon never released

Dig Deeper

• McCartney’s team recovered the demo from a cassette labeled “to Paul” that Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, gave McCartney in 1994. Lennon had recorded it shortly before his death

Trump Pleads Not Guilty

Former President Donald Trump pleaded “not guilty” to 37 counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified information

• Trump faces 37 charges. 31 of those are related to his alleged retention of classified docs; the other 6 are related to alleged actions he took to hide those docs. A Trump aide, Walt Nauta, is also named in 6 counts

• The Justice Department claims that after Trump left office in 2021, he kept boxes full of White House documents, some of which were classified. It said Trump returned 197 classified documents in 2022 but conspired to keep the rest. It also alleges Nauta helped Trump evade authorities

• Trump appeared in federal court on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty; Nauta didn’t enter a plea. It’s unclear when Trump’s criminal trial will begin

Dig Deeper

• Fun fact: Today is Trump's 77th birthday!

Inflation Cooling

Prices rose 4% over the year to May, the lowest annualized inflation rate since May 2021

• The US Bureau of Labor Statistics released inflation data on Tuesday. Those showed that prices grew 4% in May from a year earlier, down from 4.9% in April and below the 4.1% figure economists had predicted

• May’s 4% inflation figure represented the 11th straight month of easing inflation and the lowest inflation figure since March 2021. Core inflation – inflation minus fuel and energy prices – was 5.3%

• Stock indexes made minor gains on the day. The Fed targets a long-term rate of 2% inflation

Delivery Worker Minimum Wage

New York City (NYC) set a minimum wage for delivery app workers – the first US city to do so

• ~65k people work in food delivery in NYC. Per NYC data, they average ~$7.09 an hour before tips – well below NYC’s $15 minimum wage – and don’t receive health insurance, injury compensation, and more

• On Sunday, NYC’s mayor announced the nation’s first minimum wage for delivery workers. It will start at $17.96/hr before tips and increase to $19.96 by 2025

• Labor groups called the law a “historic win” and said it would boost wages; delivery apps said consumers will likely foot the bill for their increased labor costs

Dig Deeper

• NYC has passed other laws to benefit delivery workers, including one allowing them to use the bathroom at restaurants from where they pick up orders. It has also begun converting newsstands into charging stations they can use between orders

🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• A heaven for old men: No Country for Old Men author Cormac McCarthy died from natural causes at 89. He also wrote the acclaimed novels The Road and Blood Meridian

• Netflix and grill? Netflix is opening a pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles called “Netflix Bites.” It will feature chefs that star in various Netflix cooking shows 

• Media malaise: The media industry has announced 17,436+ job cuts this year, marking the most on record. This comes a month after Vice filed for bankruptcy and 2 months after BuzzFeed shuttered its news division

Wildcard

• Quazi-genius: SpaceX has hired 14-year-old Kairan Quazi for its Starlink division. Quazi graduates from college this week, making him the youngest graduate in California history

• Surprise! A New Orleans chef that was reported missing and later dead showed up at his house right when reporters were gearing up to report on his death

• Crikey, it’s the croc killa: A manhunt is underway in Australia for an anonymous caller who claims responsibility for the decapitation of 2 crocodiles found in the last 2 months

👇 What do you think?

Today's Question:

Should people spend a lot on their weddings, because it's such a momentous occasion, or should they be frugal, because it's such a major expense?

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🌯 Roca Wrap

Last year, the CEO of Signet Jewelers – the owner of Zales and Kay Jewelers and US’ largest jeweler – said 2022 would be the “year of the wedding.”

A year later, though, she and others are singing a different tune.

Signet’s stock tumbled last week after it announced a double-digit percentage drop in revenue and reductions to its projected earnings.

But why are weddings on the decline?

In 2022, the US recorded an estimated 2.5M weddings – the most since 1984. The bump was attributed to couples whose weddings were postponed because of the pandemic, as well as couples who got engaged early in the pandemic and finally married.

But since then, the number of weddings has plummeted. Analysts are split on why.

Signet has blamed most of its troubles on the pandemic, which led to less dating and fewer couples meeting.

Given that most couples date for at least 2 years before getting engaged, lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 would result in couples meeting in late 2021 or 2022, and not getting engaged until later this year or next.

But some are more skeptical, and say the wedding industry’s problems run deeper.

In 1990, for every 1,000 Americans, 10 got married. By 2019, that figure had fallen to 6. Between 2016 and 2019 alone, the figure fell more than 10%, from 7 to 6.

Studies show the share of people who think marriage is necessary is rapidly declining.

A 2020 Gallup poll found that 40% of Americans do not believe it’s important to be married to have children, up from 23% in 2006. In a 2019 Pew poll, just 53% said “society is better off” if couples who want to be together long-term marry. That same year, 53% of US adults were married, down from 72% in 1960.

Along with shifting societal preferences, financial conditions have deterred people from marrying.

According to wedding platform The Knot, the average US wedding cost $34,000 last year – about 50% of the US median household income ($70,000) – while the average engagement ring cost around $5,000.

Meanwhile, the average US millennial has $48,611 in debt, per Credit Karma, and inflation has caused prices to rise more than 15% in the last 3 years.

According to the Wedding Report, which tracks wedding-related data, Americans spent $52B on weddings in 2019. At the peak in 2007, they spent $63B – $113B in 2023 dollars. That means Americans are spending around half as much on weddings as they used to.

Signet, the US’ largest jeweler, has blamed its declining sales on short-term trends, mainly the pandemic and inflation.

But others say that those trends – while worsening the problem – obscure the truth: Marriage is a dying industry in the US.

Do you think marriage rates have bottomed out, or will they keep falling? If you have thoughts, let us know at [email protected]!

 🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Are chiropractors legit?
Yes, game changer: 64%
No, pseudoscience: 36%

Yesterday's Question:

In 20 years, which state do you think will have a bigger population, and why: Florida (21.8M people as of 2021), or New York (19.8M people as of 2021)?

Kelly from New Mexico: "Florida. For the last 3 years people of right minded thinking have been moving to Florida to escape what a lot of us see as government over-reach. I think that's going to continue."

Rawson from Brazil: “I think New York will have a bigger population because of the rising sea and it is eating up land in Florida.”

Jim: “NOT Florida. Let me count the whys: Trump. DeSantis. And if you need more reasons: hurricanes, rising sea levels and it's the lightning capital of the country.”

Jonathan from Houston, Texas: “Easily Florida, the entire northeast is clearly on the decline. Just check migration patterns in the US over the last few years. High cost of living coupled with draconian laws (gas stove ban anyone? Lol) have accelerated this movement.”

Denise from Granbury, Texas: "Neither…it will be Texas. Everyone is moving here"

🧠 Final Thoughts

Happy Wednesday, Roca Nation. As you read this, we have just touched down in Atlanta. We're on our way through the Peach State with Alabama as our final destination. Stay tuned to read about our experiences there!

Hope your weeks are going well.

—Max and Max