The 10-Point.; A personal, guided tour to the best scoops and stories every day in The Wall Street Journal, from Editor in Chief Gerard Baker.
Good morning from New York,</br></br>The U.S. economy is improving and the unemployment rate is falling, but we report on what seems to be a fixed feature of our new economy. More than one in six prime-working-age men doesn't have a job--a chronic condition that, economists say, shows how technology and globalization are transforming the job market faster than many workers can adapt. In a society that has long venerated work, the bleak prospects for the long-term unemployed--who aren't included in the unemployment rate if they stop actively searching for work--has been raising concern among policy makers and economists. We tell the stories of family men who never recovered from the recession, young people who have put major life events on hold and others for whom the job market might have passed them by.</br></br>The Obama administration is revising its contentious drone program in Pakistan. We report that senior U.S. officials have told their Pakistani counterparts that they will narrow the program to target a finite short-list of known terrorists and aim to eventually end it before the conclusion of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's current term. Pakistani officials have long complained that the CIA keeps a rolling list of terrorist targets, making the program self-perpetuating. The revision, we find, reflects not only Pakistani objections to the strikes but logistical constraints on the CIA as U.S. troops are expected to pull out of Afghanistan at the end of 2014. We note, however, that strikes may continue if Afghanistan approves a security pact to keep U.S. troops in the country longer.</br></br>Is it hypocritical for a business aimed at maximizing health outcomes to sell cigarettes? The second-largest pharmacy chain in the U.S. has decided it is. In an unprecedented move, CVS said on Wednesday that it plans to stop selling all tobacco products nationwide by October. "Cigarettes have no place in an environment where health care is being delivered," said the company's CEO. Our story looks at what the move means for the $100 billion tobacco industry as it struggles with slumping sales and widening smoking bans, and for CVS as it attempts to evolve from a drugstore into a health-care company. We also consider the million-dollar question of whether other retailers will follow CVS's example.</br></br>The arrest of Charles Shrem, one of the best-known bitcoin advocates, is a setback to the popular currency that has been raising concern among regulators and governments. We profile the 24-year-old founder of a popular website that allowed users to buy and sell bitcoin, who faces legal troubles in connection with his currency exchange and an online black market. We find that his arrest underscores the challenges faced by bitcoin and its supporters as they try to expand the currency's influence. Despite his legal predicament, Mr. Shrem remains hopeful: "2014 will be like the Industrial Revolution for bitcoin," he said in an interview on Wednesday, while serving house arrest.