Saturday, August 06, 2022

Notes today: 

  • The US jobless rate is at 3.5%. The last time unemployment was this low, the Apollo moon landings was in progress. 

  • The Senate parliamentarian determined that the lion's share of the healthcare provisions in the $430 billion bill could be passed with only a simple majority.. 
  • Democrats added in an excise tax on stock buybacks that will bring in $74 billion.
  • For years, Democrats and  Republicans  have called for closing the so-called carried interest loophole that allows wealthy hedge fund managers and private equity executives to pay lower tax rates than entry-level employees. OUT because of Sinema.
  • Eli Lilly and Co.—among Indiana’s largest employers—on the state’s new near-total abortion ban: “Given this new law, we will be forced to plan for more employment growth outside our home state.”


  • UK enacts ownership register for property held by foreign companies and to identify their true owners. It will seek to ensure criminals cannot hide behind secretive chains of shell companies. May help corner the US into doing likewise. 

  • China continued its most provocative military drills in decades. Distraction is needed - see below.
  • Consumer Confidence in China 


  • Millions of households across the south of England could be hit with hosepipe bans within days.
  • The French government has activated a crisis task force to coordinate efforts to alleviate the effects of an “historic” drought exacerbated by an extreme summer heatwave.

  • The drying up of the Great Salt Lake, which is not only affecting local ecosystems but exposing millions of people to the toxic metals from mining that have accumulated in the lake bed over decades & now blow across the city
  • Wildfires in the  Amazon increased by 8% in July 2022 compared to the same month last year, according to official data.
  • @MichaelEMann while it stops short of 50 percent emissions drop we need, the climate deal now poised to pass Senate will be “the most progress we will have made in addressing the climate crisis — ever — from the standpoint of Congressional action.”

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