WSJ What’s News – Episode Summary

Date: October 20, 2025
Title: Soaring Insurance Rates Have States Considering Price Caps
Host: Alex Osola
Notable Guest: Jean Eaglesham (WSJ reporter, insurance industry)
Other Contributors: Bel Lynn (AI and tech coverage)

Brief Overview

This episode looks at major developments in business and finance, focusing on:

• A widespread Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage disrupting major platforms
• Soaring home and auto insurance rates across the US, with some states exploring controversial price caps
• The California dilemma: balancing affordability and availability in insurance markets
• Notable market movements, especially Apple’s record high, and other business headlines
• Din Tai Fung’s rise as America’s most successful restaurant chain

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Amazon Web Services Outage (00:18–02:37)

• Scope & Impact: Major AWS outage affects millions, bringing down websites and services across sectors, including Facebook, Snapchat, Fidelity, Venmo, United Airlines, and Amazon’s own shopping platform.
• Technical Details: Outage triggered by an error in a tech update to a widely-used database service (DynamoDB) in Amazon’s oldest data centers.
• Underlying Issues:
  • “There's a lot of legacy and sort of older tech there. And so those are some of the underlying issues at play here.”
    — Bel Lynn (01:57)
• Larger Context: Outages in cloud services are increasingly noticeable as more of the economy relies on them.

2. The US Insurance “Cost Crisis” (02:37–06:25)

a. Surging Premiums

• Rates doubling in some states:
  • “Rates up to doubling in some states so far outstripping inflation.” — Jean Eaglesham (03:27)
• Key drivers:
  • High inflation in repair and replacement costs
  • Rising home values
  • Natural catastrophes (hailstorms, wildfires, etc.)
• Pain for consumers:
  • “Homeowners and drivers are really feeling the pain of this.” — Jean Eaglesham (03:53)

b. States Respond: Considering Price Controls

• Illinois: Governor seeks power for regulators to veto rate hikes after a major State Farm premium increase.
• Louisiana: Bans “excessive” rates, allowing regulators to demand refunds without actuarial justification.
  • “They can be defined as excessive without any actuarial underpinning. So you don't have to show that there's no basis for it. You can just say it seems excessive to me.” — Jean Eaglesham (04:11)

c. The California Example: Warning and Lessons

• California’s 6.9% cap: Held for decades, keeping rates below national average despite high risks.
• Recent Crisis: Major insurers stopped selling new policies, leading to difficulties for homeowners in finding insurance.
• Regulatory Response: Reversal with rapid double-digit rate approvals to keep insurers in the market.
• Balance Issue:
  • “We can't really have affordability unless you have availability. So you have somehow persuade the insurers to keep selling.” — Jean Eaglesham (05:33)
  • Regulators nationwide struggle to protect policyholders without causing an insurer exodus.

3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Insurance has this long, long history of being regulation by state that exempts it from federal antitrust laws. And these states take their own approach to whether they think price caps are appropriate or not.”
  — Jean Eaglesham (04:11)

• “That's a balance the regulators say they're trying to draw, which is very difficult. So protecting policyholders without leading to a California style exodus of insurers.”
  — Jean Eaglesham (06:02)

• “Homeowners and drivers are really feeling the pain of this.”
  — Jean Eaglesham (03:53)

Important Segments with Timestamps

• AWS Outage Breakdown – 00:18–02:37
• Insurance Rates Crisis Overview – 02:37–03:27
• Why Rates Are So High—Contributing Factors – (03:27–04:04)
• State-Level Caps & Responses – (04:04–05:01)
• Drawbacks of Price Controls: The California Example – (05:01–05:59)
• Regulators’ Balancing Act in Other States – (06:02–06:21)

Additional Headlines Covered

Apple Hits New Record High (06:29–07:36)

• Strong iPhone 17 sales—up 14% vs previous year—driving shares up nearly 4%, surpassing Microsoft in market cap.
• “Apple’s rise boosted major indexes. The Nasdaq led the gains, adding 1.4%...” — Alex Osola (06:29)

Posthumous Effects of Charlie Kirk’s Death (08:08–09:30)

• Bible sales in the US spiked 36% year-over-year to 2.4 million copies sold in September.
• Disney+ and Hulu cancellations surge after Jimmy Kimmel’s temporary removal post-Kirk comments.

Kering Sells Beauty Business to L’Oréal (09:31–10:18)

• $4.66 billion deal transferring top perfume brands and rights for Kering’s luxury lines to L’Oréal.
• Delivers Kering a strategic refocus amid lagging Gucci sales and a four-year stock decline.

Supreme Court to Weigh Gun Rights for Drug Users (10:18–10:56)

• Federal ban on gun ownership by illegal drug users under review. The law was the basis for Hunter Biden’s previous conviction.

Middle East Diplomatic Tensions (10:56–11:32)

• President Biden’s administration and Trump administration figures engage in ceasefire negotiations following renewed violence between Hamas and Israel.

Din Tai Fung: America’s Most Successful Restaurant Chain (11:32–12:52)

• Highest average sales among US restaurant chains: $27 million per location, with lines hours long at its flagship Manhattan spot.
• The US expansion continues, driven by social media buzz and the popularity of its famous dumplings.

Summary Tone and Style

• Clear, concise, and neutral reporting, typical of The Wall Street Journal.
• Objective coverage: presenting the perspectives of industry experts (e.g., Jean Eaglesham) alongside market facts and regulatory details.
• Accessible language for a general business audience.
• Memorable, direct quotes highlight complex regulatory tensions and real-world consumer impacts.

For Listeners Who Missed It

• The episode gives a comprehensive look at why insurance rates are soaring—and why the supposed fix of price controls is so controversial and fraught with unintended consequences.
• It distills nationwide trends into understandable stories—whether it’s insurance, tech outages, or hot new business trends (like Din Tai Fung’s TikTok-fueled success).
• Quotes and explanations from experienced WSJ reporters provide clarity on what’s behind the headlines and what businesses, consumers, and regulators are grappling with right now.