COVID will never fully disappear: https://news.yahoo.com/covid-may-never-fully-disappear-heres-how-we-live-with-it-193657645.html . This week’s edition of 360 is apparently unknowingly designed to prove that no matter which way you look, journalists don’t know what they are talking about in regard to COVID. As readers know, smallpox is the only virus eliminated from the human population, and it had no animal reservoir. COVID is here to stay until medical technology makes major antiviral advances.
COVID is highly infectious. As each new variant becomes dominant, it is typically more infectious and as or more deadly than its predecessors. Yes, the disease will become endemic, but at what level? The vaccines are very effective at preventing symptomatic infection, and extremely effective at preventing hospitalization. Why would everyone assume they will catch COVID? And treatment knowledge continues to evolve rapidly.
And then we have the typical crap from WSJ – don’t let COVID stifle the economy in the long term. Apparently facts don’t matter. Don’t you always assess the situation and manage current circumstances? I could go on, but you get the picture. None of the comments from these journalists should be relied on for anything. With this kind of batting average, you’re out of Major League Baseball.
Delta variant now 99.4% of new US cases as daily cases sit at 148,000: https://patch.com/us/across-america/delta-variant-found-99-u-s-covid-19-cases-cdc . So we’re still looking at over 1 million new cases per week. Some number of these folks will get long COVID or die. The anti-vaxxers represent an ongoing threat to public health.
WSJ: COVID surges in West Virginia as vaccinations lag: https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-virginia-was-a-covid-19-vaccine-success-story-but-now-cases-are-surging-11631957401 . The state has gone from highest per capita vaccination in February to lowest now. This state turned in the highest percentage vote for Orange Julius for 2016 and second-highest in 2020 (behind Wyoming). They now have edged out Tennessee for the highest daily cases of COVID per capita. Clearly, all of these extremes interrelate.
Protest to support January 6 defendants suffers election dysfunction: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/capitol-police-chief-we-are-not-going-tolerate-violence-n1279465 . Unfortunately for the “facts don’t matter” crowd, there is no little blue pill for stupid.
AI will create greater wealth inequality: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-will-exacerbate-wealth-inequality-and-help-ultra-rich-ex-google-exec-142326085.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall . We have known for some time that the greatest current threat to jobs is automation. The observations in this article appropriately update and extend that idea. We also have considerable evidence that this change is already well underway.
This problem creates significant dislocation for the US economy. But the issues for developing countries seem even greater. In particular, many countries in Africa are dependent on mining and other resource extraction and export. Simultaneously, the continent is experiencing a significant population boom.
The college debt burden for millennials and Gen Z: https://www.gobankingrates.com/retirement/planning/will-millennials-gen-z-have-enough-money-to-retire/ . This is an important point, but it misses another important point that is part of the answer: the great wealth transfer: https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhall/2019/11/11/the-greatest-wealth-transfer-in-history-whats-happening-and-what-are-the-implications/?sh=4a7080f54090 . These two trends hit different segments of society. This then gets back to the point in the prior article: massive and increasing wealth inequality in the US.
My view is that wealth inequality must be reduced over time for the economy to reach its true potential, for a variety of reasons. This is only going to occur with greater taxation of the ultra-wealthy, period. While some of this can occur by greater income taxation, direct wealth taxation will also be needed, because the ultra-rich in general do not draw significant salaries. They borrow against their assets. The most palatable way to do this is (1) equalization of income tax and capital gains rates; and (2) much greater estate taxation. The creation of global minimum taxes is an important start.
Does this all sound like Elizabeth Warren? My point is that demographics and wealth inequality foretell some almost unstoppable trends. We need to reverse (not just moderate) those trends, and the sooner we start, the less disruptive the transition will be.
This last comment sounds like climate change, or Social Security. This is because our just-in-time federal governance is not up to the challenges of modern society. We simply move from crisis to crisis, while the number and depth of these crises grow. Seen from this perspective, almost everything coming out of the GOP is a frivolous waste of time.
So what is the microeconomic advice that comes out of this for the younger generations? Spend (much) less than you save. Saving has the double whammy effect of creating wealth while reducing current expenditures. But many of the poorest cannot save, you say. Then their primary short-term objective must be to change their circumstances in order to save. And frankly, I followed this approach from a very young age. It worked out pretty well within 10 years of starting full-time work. Assets create options you don’t otherwise have.
Billionaires in space … um, who cares?: https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-business-travel-florida-science–657f49b1d7c4c914cc81308118fb1573 . This isn’t NASA. Airline traffic seriously contributes to global warming: https://www.worldwildlife.org/initiatives/cutting-aviation-pollution . Why should we have a positive attitude toward tourist trips to space?
WSJ: Saving the sequoias with foil blankets: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-foil-blankets-are-used-to-save-the-worlds-largest-trees-11631973601 . Things are really, really bad in the West. Portland today received its first significant rainfall in 90 days. Take a look at Lake Powell, which has dropped to record low levels: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/lake-powell-water-level-dips-historic-low-rcna1620 . Water there is incredibly important to California and Arizona. Water restrictions have been imposed and are going to get more severe. If we can’t irrigate California’s Central Valley, the nation’s food supply will suffer significantly.