US COVID deaths and hospitalizations fall: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-deaths-hospitalizations-are-falling-us-rcna57205 . While the article quotes distinguished doctors, much of this is babbling and incorrect. Daily average deaths of 315 is certainly an improvement over 571, but still equates to 115,000 deaths annually. It is unknown whether another variant will come along that creates higher mortality than the current dominant strains. COVID and long COVID’s contribution to deaths from comorbidities is still poorly understood. The pandemic is not over.
Omicron BQ.1/BQ.1.1 become dominant in US: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/new-coronavirus-subvariants-surpass-ba5-dominance-rcna57294 . As these subvariants descended from BA.5, BA.5 is now expected to fade rapidly.
US overdose deaths may be peaking: https://apnews.com/article/science-health-covid-opioids-death-rates-ba8af16246240aae4b044238ce19e6b6 . Actually, with the curtailment of opioid availability, there is a good chance this is a peak.
Tyson Foods ends employee vaccine mandate: https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2022-11-16/tyson-foods-ends-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-for-employees .
Dengue fever in Arizona may have been locally transmitted: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dengue-fever-case-arizona-may-224100509.html .
Zero COVID causing social unrest in China: https://apnews.com/article/health-china-social-media-beijing-94dee24454984179f79b493cf0589d62 . Stupid, stupid, stupid … WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-continues-to-relax-covid-measures-even-as-local-officials-battle-record-cases-11668591460 .
The US Treasury yield curve inversion is screaming RECESSION: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/31/2-year-treasury-yield-tops-10-year-rate-a-yield-curve-inversion-that-could-signal-a-recession.html .
US credit card debt increases 15% in a year: https://news.yahoo.com/credit-card-debt-222049660.html . In the face of increasing interest rates, this very expensive debt often foretells bankruptcies in lower income households.
WSJ: UK inflation predicts recession: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-inflation-hits-41-year-high-as-recession-looms-11668582865 .
Amazon begins layoffs: https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2022-11-16/amazon-begins-mass-layoffs-among-its-corporate-workforce . As mentioned previously, laying off 10,000 employees is a significant layoff. But it is not a “mass layoff” in a company with 1.6 million employees. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-to-cut-10-000-employees-from-corporate-ranks-11668617313 .
WSJ: FTX bankruptcy: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftx-collapses-into-bankruptcy-system-that-still-hasnt-figured-out-crypto-11668550688 . More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftxs-collapse-leaves-employees-sick-with-anger-11668603708 . Still more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-committee-to-hold-hearing-on-ftx-collapse-11668612170 .
More crypto cracks: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/silbert-s-once-10-billion-crypto-empire-is-showing-cracks/ar-AA14clIS?cvid=111ea8d517de4b2f84624a3851023112 . I agree that more transparency will be required in the future. This will be imposed by the accounting profession, and quite possibly by government regulators as well.
Still more crypto cracks: https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/22/11/29753685/winklevoss-brothers-led-gemini-unable-to-meet-customer-redemptions-as-its-lending-platform . During my decade at Johnson & Higgins, I got to know Howard Winklevoss, previously a Wharton professor. His twin sons went to Harvard, where they ultimately accused Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for Facebook. The settlement was $650 million, I believe. The twins were Olympic rowing champions, and then of course named their crypto firm Gemini. More: https://www.thestreet.com/investing/cryptocurrency/ftx-collapse-begins-to-spread-to-other-crypto-exchanges . And: https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/walking-time-bomb-worse-than-sbf-nouriel-roubini-slams-binance-ceo-cz-432SI-2945552 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-lender-genesis-suspends-withdrawals-after-ftx-collapse-11668607332 .
McConnell swats away Scott: https://apnews.com/article/florida-mitch-mcconnell-congress-9f1be1d3635127dbb3e17a3fae1ac86d . We learn that Scott underperformed in the campaign while leaving the election fund $20 million in debt. That may limit their ability to help Herschel Walker.
McCarthy wins GOP nomination for Speaker: https://apnews.com/article/kevin-mccarthy-nancy-pelosi-congress-government-and-politics-dc947aadd41de192e4d1f018d0eaf193 . The GOP has no plan for governance, and governance looks particularly hard in the House. So the agenda may just be “oppose everything”.
GOP “divided” on Orange Julius candidacy announcement: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3737570-republicans-divided-as-trump-kicks-off-2024-bid/ . In private, they know OJ is done. But the cowards want someone else to break the news to the MAGA Republicans. The GOP remains broken, and cannot heal until they move past OJ and his lying corruption. None of these losers are fit for office.
This does increase the odds that Biden will run. However, when it is clear OJ will not win the GOP nomination, Biden could reassess. If those are the two nominees, OJ will suffer an incredibly crushing defeat. And he will again take the GOP down with him, particularly those who failed to stand up against him. The economy should look much better in two years; Ukraine will have defeated Russia (unless the GOP tries to stop war funding).
“Florida man makes announcement” as Murdoch media buries OJ: https://news.yahoo.com/new-york-post-trump-florida-man-makes-announcement-162902923.html . OJ cannot maintain his popularity without Fox’s support. Murdoch has moved on, and has trained his weapons against OJ. OJ will start pressing his grievances against Fox and the world, a message almost no one wants to hear. OJ stretched his 15 seconds of fame to 7 years, but the end approaches.
OJ’s opponents look to pound him into the ground: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-magaga-2024_n_6374b3b6e4b0afce04694b20 . Laurence Tribe is well-known for his brilliant legal arguments. This is hilarious. And this from George Conway: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/george-conway-says-trump-is-bound-to-lose-in-2024-because-too-many-americans-would-crawl-on-broken-glass-to-vote-against-him/ar-AA14cBS8?li=BBnb7Kz .
The utter insanity at Twitter continues: https://www.aol.com/finance/musk-tells-twitter-staff-opt-141141415.html . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-gives-twitter-staff-an-ultimatum-work-long-hours-at-high-intensity-or-leave-11668608923 . Let’s break this down. After terrifying the workforce and letting half of them go, it turns out this was only a shot across the bow. First, we have Musk’s belief that engineering can solve everything – a dubious starting point for a social media company. Secondly, the remaining employees must agree to be exploited to the extreme. What is their reward? Third, content moderation remains in complete chaos. That is a central quality control point, and the key thing advertising customers are looking for. Will the new content controls control Musk’s politically charged tweets?
Musk has earned hundreds of billions of dollars by exploiting his workforce. This feels like NASCAR management. People watch with the fascination of the potential for a disastrous crash. Government regulators need to intervene with two broad societal goals in mind. First, what protections can be provided to salaried, non-union workers? Massive overtime without compensation is unacceptable. Second, what are the penalties for promulgating misinformation on the Internet? The Twitter Eli Lilly “free insulin” fiasco should be actionable. Otherwise, there is no consequence for intentionally lying which proximately causes serious harm.
NASA prepares a return to the moon: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/nasa-heads-back-moon-artemis-launch-rcna57290 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/artemis-i-moon-launch-attempt-set-for-early-wednesday-11668516669 . Still more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/artemis-i-launch-moon-mission-nasa-11668529576 . And: https://www.wsj.com/articles/artemis-i-mission-has-smooth-start-after-nasas-historic-moon-launch-11668606190 .