Apr 5, 2019

Axios PM

By Mike Allen
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Mike Allen

Tomorrow, we're publishing a truly fascinating deep dive on the future of work for millennials. We'll cover how automation will impact careers, a new crop of jobs that are emerging for the middle class and how wages are faring.

Situational awareness: Trump wants interest rates cut, the economy added 196,000 jobs last month, Michael Cohen's lawyers released new Trump allegations, a Japanese spaceship bombed an asteroid and Saudi Arabia threatened to stop using dollars in oil trading.

1 big thing: Slow the hell down

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

The right to drive fast may not be as sacrosanct in the U.S. as Germany, but it comes at a price either way.

  • 🚨USA Today: "Increased speed limits have killed nearly 37,000 people over the last 25 years, according to new research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety," USA Today reports.
  • "The study concluded that a 5 mph increase in the speed limit causes an 8% increase in death rates on interstates and freeways. It causes a 3% increase in deaths on other roads."

The big picture: "41 states have roads with speed limits of at least 70 mph."

Between the lines: Germany considered speed limits for environmental reasons earlier this year, but then backed off, the N.Y. Times reports.

  • "Germany is woefully behind on meeting its 2020 climate goals, so the government appointed a group of experts to find ways to lower emissions in the transport sector. Cars account for 11 percent of total emissions, and their share is rising."
  • "A highway speed limit of ... 75 miles per hour, could cover a fifth of the gap to reach the 2020 goals for the transport sector, environmental experts say."
  • "Irate drivers took to the airwaves. Union leaders menacingly put on their yellow vests, hinting at street protests. And the far-right opposition used the opportunity to rage against the 'stranglehold' of the state."

The bottom line: "Every time you raise speed limits, you see more deaths," said IIHS vice president for research and statistical services Charles Farmer.

2. Pic du jour
Photo: Ozkan Bilgin/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

A flock of geese is tended to at a farm in Ipekyolu district of Turkey's eastern Van province.

3. 1 fun thing: Jordan Peele's "The Twilight Zone"

Jordan Peele arrives for the CBS All Access New Series 'The Twilight Zone' premiere. Photo: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

"The Twilight Zone," one of the most iconic shows in U.S. history, is getting remade—again—this time by the buzziest auteur around, Jordan Peele, Flipboard's Mia Quagliarello writes for Axios.

Between the lines: Creator Rod Serling originally developed the anthology series in the 1950s to comment on the state of the world in the wake of McCarthyism.

What to watch: Peele himself pops up as the deadpan narrator, just like Serling did at the beginning and end of each episode. Other players include Kumail Nanjiani, Tracy Morgan, Adam Scott, Sanaa Lathan, and Seth Rogen.

The bottom line: "Still a work in progress," said The Ringer.

  • "For the most part, the new series feels like anthology storytelling by the numbers, more concerned with Easter eggs and recurring themes ... than with trying to emulate what the original show did so well — making audiences see the world with more clarity." — The Atlantic

Go deeper: If you're hungering for more like this, go for progenitors like "The X-Files," "Room 104," the film "Her," and of course "Black Mirror."

  • Here's a spoiler-ific list of Easter eggs in the first two episodes.
  • These are the 25 best episodes of the original Twilight Zone, according to Rolling Stone.
  • Watch the first episode of the new series for free on YouTube.
Mike Allen