Mandating that employers disclose salary ranges in their job postings makes some sense, I suppose. The goal of salary-disclosure legislation now on Beacon Hill: to reduce income inequities for women and people of color, who advocates say tend to underestimate their asking salaries, as the Globe reports. OK. 

But what if the salary ranges are ridiculous to the point of meaninglessness? Example: I just saw a posting for a full-time job on LinkedIn with a pay range of $40K to $160K. That’s a big range. So big as to be a joke. And that’s what employers are going to do: provide big, fat meaningless pay ranges. No wonder business groups like this bill.

This instantly vaults into one of the top business stories of 2024: The massive global IT outage, perhaps the largest in history. And it was all caused by a cybersecurity firm’s update of code into Microsoft Windows. … Think about it. Such a simple and routine procedure caused so much chaos. Now think about what might occur in the event of outright cyber-warfare between, say, China and the U.S. Or in the event of a highly sophisticated cyber-terrorist attack. Remember: no one thought 9/11 was possible until it happened.

Odie Henderson, the Globe’s movie critic, has a terrific “most-watched-movies” piece. Not the best movies he’s ever watched. Just the most watched, a few of them the result of old flicks being replayed over and over again on TV stations while he was young. I guess I have my own most-watched-movies list, a few of them stretching back to those old Saturday morning movies that used to routinely replay on Channels 56 and 38 in Boston. The criteria for my list: A.) I have to like the movies, though not necessarily love ‘em. B.) I know most of the lines by heart C.) I can’t avoid seeing them somewhere on TV to this day. D.) I usually can’t stop myself from watching all or part of them when I stumble upon them. When you get right down to it, they’ve all kind of morphed into guilty pleasures.

Just fyi: Unlike Odie’s list, I notice that many of mine are old blockbusters. Nothing wrong with that. It’s just something I noticed.  Here goes with my most-watched movies, in no particular order:

1. Star Wars (the original three flicks) 2. Lord of the Rings (and not The Hobbit trilogy) 3. Journey to the Center of the Earth (an old Saturday morning movie favorite – and still a Fox Movies favorite). 4. Battle of the Bulge (another old Channel 56 special) 5. Animal House (I admit it) 6. Casino (currently my favorite and most watched Martin Scorsese flick) 7. The Godfather (I and II). 8. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (I don’t know why I like this one more than the original) 9. A Christmas Story (my mother, who grew up with four brothers and had five sons, loved this holiday classic). 10. Jaws (talk about knowing every line; also, Steven Spielberg nailed the Cape and Islands mindset of the ‘70s).

Honorable mentions: A.) Predator B.) The Princess Bride. C.) Jeremiah Johnson (actually a very good movie). D.) The Maltese Falcon (ditto – and it was also the first “grown up” movie I ever truly liked) E.) The Birds. F.) The Omen (an underrated horror classic overshadowed by The Exorcist, itself an honorable mention, I guess).

Surprise omissions: Clint Eastwood movies (love Clint, just not as much as others); Goodfellas (I overindulged on this one); Saving Private Ryan (ditto), Woody Allen movies (the very early ones).

I get the feeling David D’Alessandro is actually describing his egotistical self in this piece, not necessarily others in the Boston business community. Still, he has a point: business leaders are definitely overreacting to Michelle Wu, blaming her for woes that have far more to do with market forces than her policies. … The Globe’s Shirley Leung wrote a similar ‘anybody-but-Wu’ piece earlier this spring.

Normally, a presidential candidate tacks to the center during a general election. Not Joe Biden. His numbers are so shaky that he’s still trying to nail down support from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Meanwhile, he’s lashing out at moderate Dems who are feeling the heat in battleground states and telling him what he doesn’t want to hear. … This is getting pathetic.

Update – From WBUR: “Panic over Biden’s chances sets in among some N.H. Democrats.”

Update II – Scott Van Voorhis does a much better job than I when it comes to connecting the Biden-progressive dots. … Rent control as a national issue? More college-loan forgiveness actions? Classic small dreams with no power to stir men’s souls.

Politico has a great story on how the GOP’s focus and policies have changed under Trump, jettisoning conservativism for a populism that borders on anti-capitalism. “I think what we’re witnessing now is a full on frontal assault on conservatism,” says Marc Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. … Btw: The story focuses a lot on Teamsters leader Sean O’Brien’s anti-big-business and pro-labor speech at the GOP convention. Axios has more on the “fiery” speech by O’Brien, a local Southie boy. … Politico piece via John Ellis’s excellent News Items.

I liked the lede of Eliot Cohen’s Atlantic piece on how a second Trump presidency won’t change U.S. policy that much:

“Donald Trump will likely become president again come January 20, 2025. The drama of an aging and diminishing President Joe Biden clinging to office despite the despair of Democrats who can read their candidate’s prospects clearly is not without its Shakespearean elements. As Regan says of King Lear, “He hath ever but slenderly known himself.” Like many a tragedy, Biden’s choice and its consequences were eminently foreseeable.”

Btw: I hope he’s right about our foreign policy under a Trump II presidency.

We kind of knew this. But the NYT is confirming that the president is relying on relatives and a ‘tiny group of loyalists to steer him through’ the current party controversy over his continued candidacy. … Biden’s recent post-assassination-attempt appearances haven’t exactly instilled confidence in his leadership, that’s for sure. … I don’t know about you, but at this point I’m kind of resigned to a Trump win in November and a probable GOP takeover of Congress.

Is Prime Day the new President’s Day or Black Friday, i.e. a day when the media sucks up to major retailers for all the advertising they’ve done (or might do) with outlets? It appears so. Or at least it’s a variation of the non-news news stories that the media used to regularly churn out to please car dealerships every President’s Day or department stores leading up to Black Fridays. … Now it’s Amazon’s Prime Day. And it’s here! Now! Often with lots of exclamation points!!!! Take it away NBC and CNN and CBS, all three of which acknowledge they may get commissions on purchases via their links. And the NYT? Yes! Though its Wirecutter editor boldly states the Times is out to separate the good from the bad Prime Day deals. No mention of commissions. … Wait. What’s this? An actual non-pseudo-news news story about Prime Day? 

Update — And here’s a pleasantly surprising story from the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: “Prime Day is mostly a good deal for Amazon, not you.”

I initially missed this piece by Banker & Tradesman’s Steve Adams, who reports on how Allston, long known as a “student ghetto,” is changing due to the housing shortage and recent developments. This graf jumped out at me: 

“In a half-acre sliver of land alongside the Massachusetts Turnpike, a new 7-story apartment building called The Indie has begun marketing studios ranging from 329 to 351 square feet for occupancy this fall. The minimum rent: $3,113.”

Update – The Globe is reporting that the median price of a Greater Boston home hit $960,000 in June. … Meanwhile, Scott Van Voorhis reports on how a major housing bill has stalled at the State House amid Senate-vs-House squabbling.