Economy
The $4 trillion force propelling US stocks to record highs (Sparky1)
Despite the similarities to quantitative easing, the Fed has stressed its current actions are not a return of that 2008 crisis-era bond-buying program, which was aimed at stimulating the economy and boosting markets. The Fed says what it’s doing now is purely a technical fix.
The fix has worked: Borrowing costs in this critical corner of Wall Street are now back in line.
U.S. Resumes Large-Scale Operations Against ISIS in Northern Syria (jdargis)
The resumption of extensive counterterrorism operations capped a tumultuous two months in which many of the nearly 1,000 American troops in northeastern Syria flew or drove out of the country under Mr. Trump’s withdrawal order. Separately, several hundred other troops, some with armored Bradley fighting vehicles, arrived from Iraq and Kuwait under a subsequent order from Mr. Trump to protect Syria’s eastern oil fields from ISIS, as well as from the Syrian government and its Russian partners.
The world’s best pension system is being pushed to the brink (Sparky1)
For global pension funds, low interest rates couldn’t have come at a worse time. Returns on their investments are poised to drop just as a seismic demographic shift takes hold. People are living longer, and populations are aging, which means there are fewer younger workers to pay into the system, keeping it afloat.
Minimum wage doesn’t cover the rent anywhere in the U.S. (KT)
Even the $15 hourly wage touted by labor activists would not be enough to make housing affordable in the overwhelming majority of states, the coalition found. Nationally, someone would need to make $17.90 an hour to rent a modest one-bedroom or $22.10 an hour to cover a two-bedroom place.
Frontline Thoughts: Muddling For Solutions (hail)
Back then, a huge part of the working-age population couldn’t find jobs because there were none to find. Now, the unemployment rate is at record lows. Yet the level of unhappiness is not all that different. Why? How can people have jobs and still be so dissatisfied?
Employment is not a binary condition. Jobs vary qualitatively: wages, benefits, working conditions, security, and more. Further, current conditions include assumptions from the past.
Since the mid-1980s, almost $2.2 billion in low-income housing tax credits have been awarded to construct 27,000 affordable housing units in the state. Just 10% were built in prosperous towns, an investigation by The Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica has found. About 80% were located in struggling communities, literally erecting pockets of poverty. The rest fall somewhere in between.
Exclusive: Humans placed in suspended animation for the first time (newsbuoy)
At normal body temperature – about 37°C – our cells need a constant supply of oxygen to produce energy. When our heart stops beating, blood no longer carries oxygen to cells. Without oxygen, our brain can only survive for about 5 minutes before irreversible damage occurs. However, lowering the temperature of the body and brain slows or stops all the chemical reactions in our cells, which need less oxygen as a consequence.
In Virginia, and elsewhere, gun supporters prepare to defy new laws (Thomas R.)
A resistance movement is boiling up in Virginia, where Democrats rode a platform on gun control to historic victories in state elections earlier this month. The uprising is fueled by a deep cultural gulf between rural red areas that had long wielded power in Virginia and the urban and suburban communities that now dominate. Guns are the focus. Behind that, there is a sense that a way of life is being cast aside.
The Costly, Life-Disrupting Consequences of Poor Diabetes Care (jdargis)
Each of the three diabetes experts I spoke with mentioned insurance problems as a major hindrance for many patients who need to keep their diabetes under control. It is the rare policy that covers consultations for diet and exercise, which can reduce the need for medications and require more time than the 15 or 20 minutes allotted to a doctor visit. But even needed medications are often out of reach financially.
82 Days Underwater: The Tide Is High, but They’re Holding On (jdargis)
This year, Hurricane Dorian and other tropical storms in late August and September likely interrupted the Gulf Stream, which moves water away from southern Florida. Instead, the water backed up, said Chris Rothwell, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Key West. Tides from the Carolinas to Florida, and from the Florida Keys to Tampa, have been six to 18 inches higher than expected.
Lies, damn lies and climate statistics (Afridev)
It will come as no surprise that a recent poll indicated that economists are among the least-trusted professionals. They’ve made blundering mistakes on everything from claiming financial crises can happen to not facing the most obvious recessions.
But all that pales into insignificance when inept economists get involved in modeling climate science. A recession we can recover from, but the breakdown of our planet, we cannot.
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The post Daily Digest 11/25 – Affordable Housing Separated By Design, Minimum Wage Doesn’t Cover Rent Anywhere In U.S. appeared first on Peak Prosperity.
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