Economy
1 in 6 Americans could go hungry amid Covid-19 crisis (Sparky1)
Food insecurity is estimated to surge this year as many Americans — particularly communities of color in urban areas — struggle with unemployment due the worsening pandemic.
In the meantime, the end of July meant the end of the initial round of federal emergency pandemic assistance. Republicans and Democrats in Congress are deadlocked over the scope of a second wave of federal help. No matter what that future assistance looks like, for people like Vought, still waiting for benefits from the spring and living without a financial cushion, the damage has been done.
Majority of Business Owners Say PPP Wasn’t Enough, and They’d Apply for More Help: Survey (Ricardo V.)
Businesses impacted by the pandemic have needs beyond payroll. Although 78.7% of business owners said they would spend at least some of their PPP loan on payroll if there were no restrictions on usage, 50.3% said they’d use a portion of the loan for working capital, while 26% said they’d use it on implementing safety measures and protocols in the wake of the health crisis.
India coronavirus: Gold rush as pandemic roils country’s economy (Sparky1)
This time-tested investment has regained popularity as India’s economy reels from the devastating effects of a global pandemic. When Covid-19 struck, India’s $2.5tn (£1.9tn) economy was already sputtering because of a banking crisis.
One of the results has been a liquidity crunch, which has prompted many Indians to turn to gold as both investment and collateral.
Matt Taibbi: Kansas Should Go F— Itself (thc0655)
That Democrats needed Thomas Frank to tell them what conservatives fifteen miles outside the cities were thinking was damning in itself. Even worse was the basically unbroken string of insults emanating from pop culture (including from magazines like Rolling Stone: I was very guilty of this) describing life between the cities as a prole horror peopled by obese, Bible-thumping dolts who couldn’t navigate a Thai menu and polished gun lockers instead of reading.
Republicans may have controlled government at the time, but when they turned on TV sets or looked up at movie screens, their voters felt accused of something just for living in little towns, raising kids, and visiting church on Sundays. What’s the matter, they were asking, with that?
The Pandemic Isn’t Forcing Moms Out of the Workforce — Dads Are (tmn)
We also need to recognize that the way women get dragged into the role of primary caregiver isn’t always explicit — it’s insidious. Maybe a husband tells his wife that she’s just “better” at handling the toddler’s tantrums, or that the 10-year-old won’t listen to him the way she listens to their mom. He doesn’t remember the name of the kids’ pediatrician — because he’s not the parent who takes off of work when they’re sick — to make their appointment, so his wife might as well do it. He has no idea what his daughter’s shoe size is, or even that she needs new shoes at all. It’s the “myth of the male bumbler” — the absurdity of men believing themselves fit to run the world, but unable to figure out how to do the laundry or put a child down for a nap.
Rich People Are Learning That a Pandemic Is the Ideal Time to Get *All* the Cosmetic Treatments (Sparky1)
While some people’s version of beauty hoarding might be filling the fridge with sheet masks, many are loading up on procedures, everywhere from the plastic surgeon to the dermatologist to more budget-friendly medi-spas. “We’ve seen our busiest days on record since our SoHo location reopened, even allowing for limited occupancy and enhanced safety precautions,” says Kate Twist, CEO and co-founder of cosmetic dermatology boutique Ever/Body.
Body Bags and Enemy Lists: How Far-Right Police Officers and Ex-Soldiers Planned for ‘Day X’ (000)
Germany has belatedly begun dealing with far-right networks that officials now say are far more extensive than they ever understood. The reach of far-right extremists into its armed forces is particularly alarming in a country that has worked to cleanse itself of its Nazi past and the horrors of the Holocaust. In July the government disbanded an entire company infiltrated by extremists in the nation’s special forces.
Rantz: Shock poll shows only 32% support to defund SPD by half (TourGuideDC)
While some media outlets picked up on the poll for showing 53% general support for defunding the policy, the details reveal it’s not what activists or the council had hoped for.
Only 32% support the council’s approach to cut the funding to the Seattle police by 50% despite loud, dangerous riots and protests pushing the idea. That’s only 11% higher than voters, at 21%, saying they don’t want any cuts to the SPD at all.
Minneapolis police tell residents to obey criminals and ‘be prepared’ to be robbed (thc0655)
Officials are now telling residents to be ready and willing to comply with the demands of criminals in an email sent to Third Precinct residents.
“Be prepared to give up your cell phone and purse/wallet,” the police said in their email, a copy of which was obtained by Alpha News. The email said citizens should listen to criminals and “do as they say.”
Doug Casey on Covid-19, Fedcoin, and the Future of Western Civilization (Jane L.)
When George Floyd was killed, it was the most unified in opinion I have seen America since 9/11. Everyone thought that cop was a piece of [expletive] who needed to be in handcuffs. Everyone thought he should’ve got the perp walk.
A moment when there’s literal total agreement somehow gets turned into the most divisive issue of my lifetime overnight. How does that happen?
A School Reopens, and the Coronavirus Creeps In (tmn)
Administrators began an emergency protocol, isolating the student and ordering everyone who had come into close contact with the person, including other students, to quarantine for 14 days. It is unclear whether the student infected anyone else.
“We knew it was a when, not if,” said Harold E. Olin, superintendent of the Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation, but were “very shocked it was on Day 1.”
We Need to Talk About Ventilation (tmn)
The coronavirus reproduces in our upper and lower respiratory tracts, and is emitted when we breathe, talk, sing, cough, or sneeze. Figuring out how a pathogen can travel, and how far, under what conditions, and infect others—transmission—is no small deal, because that information enables us to figure out how to effectively combat the virus. For COVID-19, perhaps the most important dispute centers specifically on what proportion of what size droplets are emitted from infected people, and how infectious those droplets are, and how they travel. That the debate over the virus’s modes of transmission is far from over is not a surprise. It’s a novel pathogen. The Columbia University virologist Angela Rasmussen told me that, historically, it took centuries to understand how pathogens such as the plague, smallpox, and yellow fever were transmitted and how they worked. Even with modern science, there are still debates about how influenza, a common annual foe, is transmitted.
Angiotensin-Converting Enzymes Play a Dominant Role in Fertility (Votivation)
As shown in this review, infertility is associated with MetS, risk factors of which might impair the reproduction. Moreover, there is no doubt that ACE1 and ACE2 have gained recognition as significant regulators of the physiology and pathology of the reproductive system. The sperm–egg fusion process is associated with the ADAMs-associated protein ACE1 and IZUMO1-interacting protein ACE3. However, the fertility of Ace1/Ace2, Ace1/Ace3, and Ace2/Ace3 double mutants has not been addressed. If these double-mutant mouse models are generated, the association between ACEs and the cause of infertility could be elucidated more clearly. Moreover, ACEIs have become first-line drugs for the management of PCOS-related IR in infertile females and idiopathic oligozoosperm in males, although some controversial results have been observed. Thus, the aforementioned findings require confirmation in larger multicenter studies.
Unsanitized: The Fed’s Emergency Lending Programs Are Killing the Planet (edelinski)
Not only is it morally unconscionable to facilitate the burning of the planet by catering to the oil industry, it’s financially stupid. The industry’s crash has been years in the making: oil and gas stocks have dropped 72 percent since 2014, while the S&P 500 has gone up 76 percent. Since that time, companies have sacked 50,000 workers, bringing down the workforce by one-quarter. Nearly every year in the last decade, energy firms have been the top issuers of junk-bond debt, with $72 billion outstanding as of March. There have been over 200 bankruptcies since 2016. There’s not much of an industry to save, and inducing private investment into the sector just magnifies the risk.
A CRISPR first produces squid as clear as glass (000)
Knocking out TDO made the animals transparent. CRISPR successfully deleted TDO in more than 90% of the animals’ cells, suggesting that the technology could be similarly efficient in modifying genes involved in cephalopod brain function.
The researchers say that their next step is to modify the hummingbird bobtail squid (Euprymna berryi), which is smaller and easier to maintain in laboratories.
Gold & Silver
Click to read the PM Daily Market Commentary
Provided daily by the Peak Prosperity Gold & Silver Group
Article suggestions for the Daily Digest can be sent to dd@peakprosperity.com. All suggestions are filtered by the Daily Digest team and preference is given to those that are in alignment with the message of the Crash Course and the "3 Es."
The post Daily Digest 8/3 – Gold Rush As Pandemic Roils India’s Economy, Coronavirus Creeps In As A School Reopens appeared first on Peak Prosperity.
from Peak Prosperity https://ift.tt/3fswkpU
