“We’ve never had anything like it,” Allen Sinai, chief economist and strategist at Decision Economics, told the Wall Street Journal. “A collapse and then a boom-like pick-up… is without historical parallel.” Several factors back Sinai’s claim, the WSJ noted in a 3 June analysis: This year through May, 830,000 new businesses were formed that intend...
Tag: jun 8 2021
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SOLID JOB GAINS NOT SO SOLID
U.S. employers hired 559,000 workers in May, almost double April’s revised number of 278,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported. The gains fell short of economists’ median estimate that the economy would deliver 674,000 jobs last month, according to Business Insider. In a 1 June speech to the New York Economic Club, Fed governor Lael Brainard...
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SPACs: HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW?
Almost 260 special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have amassed $87 billion they must invest by a deadline that is becoming harder to meet, according to data firm SPAC Research. A SPAC or “blank-check company” is a special category of company that goes public, typically at $10 a share, even though it has no assets. When it...
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CHINA POWER SHORTAGES: LESS COAL, MORE CLEAN ENERGY?
With China’s economy strong and our forecast that it will grow some 8 percent this year, its factories are having a hard time keeping on top of pent-up demand. The Financial Times reported on Thursday that Beijing ordered factories in industrial areas to use less power… and, in some cases, even close for a few days...
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TENSIONS HIGH: ISRAELI POLICE ATTACK RUNNERS
Israeli police in Sheikh Jarrah on Friday were accused of injuring 23 runners who took part in a run to offer solidarity with families facing eviction in the city. Al Jazeera reported that the two-mile race drew hundreds who wore white T-shirts with “7,850” written on them, representing the number of people who face eviction....
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THE FACTS
By Bradley J. Steiner, American Combato While we try to be courteous and patient – too often with individuals whose apparent capacity to appreciate it appears to be significantly diminished – we’ve just about decided to simply delete any inquiry that qualifies as “insipid” and just leave those who cannot or will not think to...
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SOLAR PANELS’ OTHER USE
In India, solar panels aren’t just making energy. They’re also parasols that are saving water. Throughout much of India, summer temperatures linger in the high 80s or into the 90s. The heat evaporates water from the 80,000 kilometers – about 48,000 miles – of irrigation canals in the province of Gujarat, where crops feeding millions...
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CHEMICAL BLEND CREATES NEW MUSCLE TISSUE
At the University of California at Los Angeles, researchers have combined forskolin, a compound extracted from the root of the Indian Coleus plant, and RepSox, a drug-like molecule made in the human body, in a blend that can spark the growth of new muscle tissue. The cocktail ignites the massive, rapid growth of muscle stem...
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PILOT PROJECTS EXTRACT RARE EARTH MINERALS FROM COAL WASTE
Hidden in the piles of slag, ash, and debris left behind when coal is mined and burned are rare earth minerals necessary for building electronic necessities from chips for smartphones to motors for electric cars. Now the U.S. energy department is investing $19 million to test new processes through which cobalt, dysprosium, neodymium, and other...