March 21, 2023 Hello, Insiders. This is Matt Turner, Insider’s editor in chief of business. Amid all the big-money seriousness and jargon of the banking crisis, there have also been some hilarious sly digs. Now, here’s what on tap today: Gen Z is getting into the housing game. Credit Suisse’s investment banking winners and losers by division. Ex-CIA officials are calling George W. Bush a “liar.” — Matt Turner   If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

THE LATEST Amazon, student loans, & more JPMorgan Chase thought it had $1.3 million worth of nickel stored in a warehouse. A closer examination revealed they were bags of stones. More here. Amazon is laying off another 9,000 employees. CEO Andy Jassy emailed staff about the cuts — read the full message here. Biden's Education Department just pushed back the deadline for student-loan borrowers to see debt relief through a one-time reform. Read more.

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THE BIG STORY Ex-CIA officials speak out Eric Draper/National Archives Two ex-CIA officers are accusing President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney of misrepresenting evidence to sell the invasion of Iraq. Insider spoke with the former officials on the 20th anniversary of the US’s invasion of Iraq. They gave a firsthand account of the George W. Bush administration’s attempts to assert a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.  In fact, the evidence assembled by the CIA suggested that no such connection existed. “Nobody comes out and calls Bush a liar,” one of the officials told Mattathias Schwartz, a senior correspondent at Insider. “Everybody is too polite. They use some other term for what he did. But he lied.” READ THE FULL STORY HERE

TOP READS Gen Z housing, ‘brave’ job, & more iStock; Marianne Ayala/Insider Gen Z is coming for the housing market. With technology and know-how that previous generations could have only dreamed of at their age, a growing number of Gen Zers are turning to real-estate investing as an escape from the traditional 9-to-5. Read the full story. Credit Suisse’s investment banking winners and losers by division. Insider spoke to Wall Street recruiters, Credit Suisse insiders, and other experts for clues about what will happen to CS’s investment bank. Find out more. Parents confess to sending their kids to school after COVID exposures. Insider talked to three moms who sent their kids to school after a COVID exposure, despite rules. “It was better for our child to be in school,” one parent said. Get the full story. Inside the demise of Vice. From talks of a $3.5 billion Disney buyout to a “painful” downward spiral that has the media giant scrambling for a buyer, Vice's demise is "a story about companies who gorge on private equity." Read the full story here. A TikToker tried giving out Starbucks gift cards to flight attendants as a travel hack. He told us that he spent $120 total — and felt that the perks he received, like being moved to an exit-row seat on a long-haul flight, were well worth the price. More on the trend here. Courageous job seekers, take note: Ticketmaster is looking for a new social media director — and it's asking the hire to be "brave" after months of fury from Swifties and other fans. More from the listing here. Single family rental investors are getting a rude awakening as landlords. From snakes to rats and reptilian squatters, here are some of the zanier property-management challenges they're dealing with.

TAKE A LOOK Custom tiny homes See inside these custom tiny homes that start at $175,000. Mitchcraft Tiny Homes builds custom tiny homes on wheels that can be brought anywhere in the US. Here are three of the over 70 unique homes the company has built since 2015. Check out the photos.

WATCH THIS Xi Jinping praises Putin Chinese President Xi Jinping praised Vladimir Putin during a visit to Russia to discuss the war in Ukraine. It comes after Putin visited Russia’s territory in Ukraine. Watch here.