Quick two weeks went by and have been pretty busy. Starting to warm-up in Arizona. Been spending more time outside while I can and before it gets hot. Environment, Consumerism, Technology Micro-Apartment Makeover Includes Mini-Loft and Space-Saving Furniture, treehugger.com, Kimberley Mok. The comfort and livability of a 300-square-foot apartment are beautifully improved in this smart renovation. What changes after the Norfolk Southern train incident in Ohio, qz.com, Ananya Bhattacharya. Transport secretary Pete Buttigieg proposed that railway companies join the Federal Railroad Administration’s Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3), which was first piloted in 2007. Your car may not be as safe as you think. Here’s why,
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run75441 considers the following as important: climate change, Education, Healthcare, In-Box, politics, US EConomics
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Quick two weeks went by and have been pretty busy. Starting to warm-up in Arizona. Been spending more time outside while I can and before it gets hot.
Environment, Consumerism, Technology
Micro-Apartment Makeover Includes Mini-Loft and Space-Saving Furniture, treehugger.com, Kimberley Mok. The comfort and livability of a 300-square-foot apartment are beautifully improved in this smart renovation.
What changes after the Norfolk Southern train incident in Ohio, qz.com, Ananya Bhattacharya. Transport secretary Pete Buttigieg proposed that railway companies join the Federal Railroad Administration’s Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3), which was first piloted in 2007.
Your car may not be as safe as you think. Here’s why, consumeraffairs.com, Mark Huffman. IIHS is raising the requirements for its Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards for 2023.
Airlines making major changes so families can sit together, consumeraffairs.com, Gary Guthrie. fter United Airlines announced that it is rolling out a new family seating plan, American and Frontier have joined in, all preaching to the choir of travelers who’ve been grumbling about that issue for decades and are now all offering free group seating for families.
What Isaac Asimov Can Tell Us About AI—And Robots That Love, The Atlantic, Jeremy Dauber. The science-fiction writer imagined artificial intelligence—and what it might want—long before this uncanny reality ever became our own.
Why the CHIPS acts includes requirements for childcare, marketplace.org, David Brancaccio, Alex Schroeder, and Erika Soderstrom. Companies want some of the billions of dollars in government money earmarked to bring the manufacturing of semiconductor chips back to America to provide childcare to workers.
End Student-Loan Payment Pause: Lender SoFi to Federal Court, businessinsider.com, Ayelet Sheffey. “The Department of Education should immediately cancel all federal student loans. Don’t feed the parasites.”
In the future, we will finally Ask Jeeves, The Atlantic, Charlie Warzel. “Have a Question?” he beckoned. “Just type it in and click Ask!” And ask, I did. Over and over.
Office towers go higher, bigger, greener – but what’s the point? SWI swissinfo.ch, Ruedi Waiti. Many people are finding that only part of a week’s work needs to be done in the traditional office. It is astonishing that Roche feels the need to build two, if not three, giant towers.
Healthcare
Medicare Plan Commissions May Steer Beneficiaries to Wrong Coverage, MedPage Today, Cheryl Clark. Agents and brokers who sell Medicare plan coverage often steer their clients to a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan. It earns them a higher commission compared with a Medigap supplemental plan with traditional Medicare that better serves the beneficiary’s needs.
‘Listeria Is Everywhere,‘ MedPage Today, Claire Panosian Dunavan. Never underestimate this (sometimes) deadly bug that can easily taint modern foods.
Why North Carolina is Finally Getting to ‘Yes’ on Medicaid Expansion, Center For Children and Families (georgetown.edu), Adam Searing. The effects of this bill will be significant on the health and financial security of a very large number of people. In North Carolina, including especially its rural hospitals, will benefit substantially financially as well. The state’s federal incentive bonus for expanding is approximately $1.8 billion.
WHO Still Working to Identify the Origins of COVID-19, medscape.com, Reuters Staff. WHO still working to identify the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its director general said on Friday. A U.S. agency was reported to have assessed the pandemic had likely been caused by a Chinese laboratory leak.
White House plan calls for small boost in VA program budget, (militarytimes.com), Leo Shane. The Department of Veterans Affairs would see its lowest increase in program spending in nine years. Occurring under the federal budget plan outlined by the White House on Thursday. Mandatory benefits spending would jump by more than 12% to cover the costs of new toxic exposure care approved by Congress last year.
U.S. houses aren’t prepared for an aging America, grid.news, Anna Deen. Baby boomers don’t want to go to a senior care facility. Eight in 10 in fact say they’d rather age in place. The problem? Most houses aren’t designed for older adults.
Economics
The Economist’s glass-ceiling index, The Economist, Author. The economist’s glass-ceiling index measures the role and influence of women in the workforce across the OECD club of mostly rich countries.
Amid Economic Uncertainty, Employers Are Quiet Hiring; Workers Are Mad, businessinsider.com, Rebecca Knight. Nearly 65% of employees feel they’re being asked to do work outside of their job description. Or what they’re being paid for. This is according to research by Mmhmm, a videoconferencing platform. In January conducted an online survey of more than 1,000 US knowledge workers.
Where Are All The Cars? employamerica.org, Alex Williams. The problem is, there’s now a 5 million automobile air pocket.
The State Space: March 2023, employamerica.org, Skanda Amarnath. Growth is slowing but also stabilizing around a non-recessionary outcome for now. Inflation will take 12-18 months to firmly come back to pre-pandemic norm.
Inflation in 2023: Causes, Progress, and Solutions, Roosevelt Institute, Mike Konczal. There are now 4 million more jobs than the February 2021 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projection, with unemployment 1.5 percent lower and labor force participation 0.2 percent higher than what the CBO estimated would have happened without the American Rescue Plan.
Rising rates are big trouble for the tech sector’s go-to banks, qz.com, Scott Nover and Nate DiCamillo. One of the most popular banks for cryptocurrency companies, Silvergate Bank, announced March 8 that it’s winding down, largely a consequence of a faltering crypto market and the failure of its most high-profile client, FTX.
Biden budget would cut deficit by $3 trillion, tax American rich, cnbc.com, Emma Kinery. President Joe Biden released his budget on Thursday, vowing to cut $3 trillion from the federal deficit over the next decade, in part, by levying a 25% minimum tax on the wealthiest Americans.
Labor
Quits vs. Openings: The Fed Needs To Choose Wisely, employamerica.org, Preston Mui. While all labor market indicators show a strong labor market, the difference is one of magnitude: the job openings data point to a far tighter labor market. The ratio of job openings to unemployed is now 1.90, far above its pre-pandemic peak of 1.24. Meanwhile, the quit rate continued to fall and is now 2.5%, just off its pre-pandemic peak of 2.4% . . .
How Companies Are ‘Quiet Firing’ White-Collar Workers, businessinsider.com, Madison Hoff. “Quiet firing happens when managers fail to adequately provide clear expectations, feedback, support, career development, and recognition for an employee in a way that makes them feel ignored and pushes them out of an organization,”
UAW Head Ray Curry on Brink of Historic Loss to Shawn Fain, theintercept.com, Daniel Boguslaw. IN A HISTORIC election that could dramatically reshape the 400,000-member United Auto Workers union, insurgent challenger Shawn Fain currently leads incumbent Ray Curry by a margin of 645 votes for the union’s top leadership role.
How GM plans to cut jobs by offering to pay workers who quit, (qz.com), Ananya Bhattacharya. The Detroit-based automotive manufacturer is looking to downsize as part of its aim to cut $2 billion in structural costs over the next two years. But instead of handpicking the employees who get to leave and stay, the company will let a “majority” of its 58,000 US white-collar employees opt for a Voluntary Separation Program.
Government
America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan, The Economist, The marines are training for a war with China, probably precipitated by an invasion of Taiwan.
How AP reporters exposed problems in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, journalistsresource.org, Naseem S. Miller. Less than two months before, the two had published a story revealing that more than 100 federal prison workers had been arrested, convicted or sentenced for crimes since 2019, a number much higher than in other law enforcement agencies. In response, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee had called on the U.S. Attorney General to fire Carvajal. And now Carvajal was resigning.
Blogs
Infidel753: Truths and inspirations, 6 March 2023.
Last Week in God …, Homeless on the High Desert, g’da said
Substacks:
Fox News Admits Lying, Trump Lies to CPAC, Tucker Carlson Hates on Trump, GOP Hates on Tucker Carlson, Walgreens Gets Boycotted, Racism Among Louisville Police, and More, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, (substack.com)
Letters from an American, March 8, 2023, Heather Cox Richardson. Biden’s budget plan, they wrote, will “save hundreds of billions of dollars by seeking to lower drug prices, raising some business taxes, cracking down on fraud and cutting spending he sees as wasteful, according to White House officials.” Those officials said that, over the next ten years, the plan would cut deficits by close to $3 trillion.
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Interesting Stuff from My In-Box, Maybe? February 11, Angry Bear