Markets, News & Commentary: February 24 2021

in #blog3 years ago

...

 No joy, no virtue. Via InspiroBot.me

Top Stories

Visualizing 500,000 Deaths From Covid-19 In The U.S.

It's high time for humanity to man up and get on with living in the face of certain death. How we're all going to die changes with the times. That we're all going to die, and that the universe is constantly trying to kill us is nothing new.

Take every one of the poetic visualizations in that article. Now more than double them. That's deaths from heart disease and cancer, which we will have with us, year in year out long after this pandemic.

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But those illnesses will have been exacerbated by the unemployment, despair and unhealthy inactivity that we are living under now.

Most of the dead have been Americans 65 and over.

But the youngest people in that cohort had a life expectancy of 69.6 years at birth. Those who died at 70 last year had already outrun the reaper.

Taking nothing away from the gravity of the suffering and loss that accompanies all human mortality — these deaths are normal. What we are doing to our entire society out of the fear of death, is abnormal and maladaptive.

Lockdowns/shutdowns are killing people too.

For some reason journalists aren't as obsessed with counting that. The harm from overreactions to COVID-19 is far more widespread and grim than the disease itself.

Biden Rushes to Address Computer Chip Shortages With Executive Action

President Biden will sign an executive order Wednesday directing a broad [100 day] review of supply chains for critical materials—from semiconductors to pharmaceuticals and rare-earth minerals—with the aim of spurring domestic production while strengthening ties with allies.

I tweaked the headline a bit. It was actually CNBC that characterized the action as a "rush." But in my Opinion WSJ had the better coverage this time. Either way...

Ford Motor Co recently said a lack of chips could cut the company’s production by up to 20% in the first quarter while General Motors said it was forced to cut output at factories in the United States, Canada and Mexico and would reassess its production plans in mid-March.

So, at 100 hundred days, the lighting fast presidential reaction will wrap up 2-3 months after Ford has either found a solution or taken the hit. Thank goodness Washington is here to help!

Pennsylvania teen charged with killing older sister while parents slept, DA says

Claire Miller booking photo

From any point of view this was sad to hear about. I suspect there's a lot more to the story and will be trying to learn more. I feel sympathy for everyone involved — accused, victim loved ones and community alike.

Officers responded to the home just after 1 a.m. Monday after the teen called to report that "she had killed her sister," the district attorney's office said.

Court documents obtained by local news outlets described her as "hysterical" while on the phone.

When officers arrived at the home, they found Claire Miller standing outside and spotted what appeared to be blood in the snow near the driveway, according to a police complaint obtained by Lancaster Online. The teen also appeared to have blood on her pants.

Ever since the corrupt kids-for-cash scheme carried out by sadist judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan I have tried to keep an ear to the ground on issues of juvenile justice and detention in Pennsylvania.

My experience as a court appointed investigator of child abuse and neglect among children in state custody has convinced me that so far very little of the extensive corruption in CPS, foster care and the incarceration of young people has so far come to light.

Communities and individuals like @taliakerch @enjoywithtroy @familyprotection and others are right to take an active skeptical view of these systems.

I'm not sure why my intuition is telling me to watch this case as closely as I can. But I will try to heed it.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo accused of sexual harassment by Lindsey Boylan

Lindsey Boylan accused the New York governor of kissing her in his office in 2018. She left her job as a special adviser to him soon after.

The governor denied the claims via a statement.

I assume neither party's part. Let's have the facts. Lindsey Boylan's version of events can be read here. I don't find most of the accusation very compelling, mainly because — to use her own term — Boylan was acquiescent.

But then again I am not a New York voter anymore. Perhaps it will matter to them differently.

Mind On My Trades, My Trades On My Mind

English survey finds high antibody levels from Pfizer vaccine roll-out

People in England who have received two doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are generating strong antibody responses as the shot is rolled out, researchers said on Thursday, adding that confidence in vaccines was high.

How Pfizer Plans to Combat Covid-19 Variants

Pfizer ‘s chief scientist outlined the company’s plan for fighting the spread of Covid-19 and bringing an end to the pandemic at a Barron’s event on Wednesday.

An oral antiviral designed to combat Covid-19, as well as its variants and other forms of coronavirus, is on track to enter a clinical trial in the first quarter of 2021. The company’s intravenous antiviral is currently in a Phase 1b trial; Pfizer expects that treatment to enter a Phase 2/3 trial by the second quarter of this year.

Tech

Survival game 'Valheim' sold four million copies in three weeks of early access

Players have collectively spent more than 10,000 years in the Viking afterlife.

Funzies

Jeep is cranking up Bruce Springsteen again after DUI charge dropped

Just days after the two-minute ad ran during the game, it came to light that Springsteen had been arrested in November in a national park in New Jersey when he was spotted getting on to his motorcycle after drinking tequila.

Springsteen pleaded guilty to one count of drinking in a closed area during the online hearing, but prosecutors proposed the dismissal of the DUI and reckless driving charges based on the fact that Springsteen's blood-alcohol level was just .02, well below the local limit of .08, and the judge agreed.

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