BUT HOLLYWOOD KEEPS PUSHING US AWAY: Larger Screens, Heated Seats, Sushi: Theater Owners Want You Back.
Archive for 2023
May 31, 2023
WORLD BEING CRUSHED BY A LEFTY INTELLECTUAL FAD: Low Population in 2050 for $50 Trillion Economic Loss – Over Ten Times More Than Climate Change. “All of the developed countries except Israel have a total fertility rate below the replacement level of 2.1. Dropping total fertility from 1.5 to 1.8 down to 1.1 drops the working age population by 20-30%. Dropping total fertility from 1.1 down to 0.8 drops the working age population by another 10%.”
UPDATE: Eugene Volokh writes
Glenn: I looked at the linked article, and it seems to look at total decline in economic output, rather than per capita decline; indeed, its estimates of total decline seem to be entirely proportionate to the reduction in working age population: “If your economy has 30% fewer people and all the people had on average the same productivity then you would lose 30% of your economy.” (I appreciate that a reduction in working age population might not yield an exactly proportionate reduction in total population, given the possibly different numbers for retirees; but at the very least it would sharply reduce the total population, and thus largely offset the decline in economic output on a per capita basis.)
And it’s per capita output that’s important, right? I assume we wouldn’t say that a country with 100M people and an output of $1T per year is 5 times richer than a country with 10M people and an output of $200B per year – we’d probably say the latter country, with a per capita GNP of $20K is richer than the former, with a per capita GNP of $10K, right? Or am I missing something?
I’m not sure if per capita output is the only thing that’s important. I thought of that when I read the piece, but then I thought that China’s economy is relevant because it’s huge, not because its people are extraordinarily productive per capita. Anyway, it’s up to you whether you think this is significant, but here’s Eugene’s perspective.
SO MUCH FOR GRATITUDE: Trump Attacks His Former Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
WELL, THEY’RE PROGRAMMED BY PEOPLE WHO LACK SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE THEMSELVES: Self-driving cars shown to lack social intelligence in traffic.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China to realize manned lunar landing by 2030. “According to Lin, the goal also includes mastering the key technologies such as Earth-moon manned roundtrip, lunar surface short-term stay, human-robot joint exploration, accomplishing multiple tasks of landing, roving, sampling, researching and returning, and forming an independent capability of manned lunar exploration.”
THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC CALLED AND SAID THAT IT’S TIME TO HIT THE BRAKES ON 2023: Backlash Grows Over Male Transvestite Greeting Children at Disneyland.
EAT MORE MEAT: Could low iron be making mental health symptoms worse? “The bottom line: eating iron-rich foods is important for everyone, and many people don’t get enough iron as it is. But people with mental health conditions may specifically want to ask their doctor or other health provider to order a blood test that measures their iron levels in a particular way. If the result on that test—called a ferritin test—is low, it’s important to increase iron in the diet, and to take iron supplements if a health care provider recommends them.”
MILTON FRIEDMAN ISN’T RUNNING THE SHOW ANYMORE: With Inflation, Even Workers Earning Six Figures Feel the Sting.
Financial fragility has been widespread among workers as inflation and prices remain high.
And while the pain is being felt primarily among low-income workers, there’s a surprising group of employees who are also feeling the squeeze: those earning six figures.
Several recent studies indicate that not only is financial stress on the rise among all workers, but high-income employees are feeling less confident about their financial situations than they were a year ago, when inflation hit a four-decade high.
Households earning more than $100,000 per year saw the biggest drop in financial well-being compared with a year ago, according to a poll by Morning Consult released last month. While scores dropped from 2022 to 2023 among all U.S. adults polled, the scores among those making six figures dropped 2.45 percentage points to 57.07 from 59.52 a year earlier. Comparatively, year-over-year financial well-being scores for those making between $50,000 and $99,000 dipped 0.59 points, from 51.90 in 2022 to 51.31 in 2023, while scores for those making under $50,000 dropped 0.86 points, from 46.24 in 2022 to 45.38 in 2023.
Meanwhile, just over half of high-income workers—those making $100,000 or more—said they are living paycheck to paycheck, a jump from 42 percent a year ago, a report out earlier this year from LendingClub found. Another report from financial wellness firms Salary Finance and FinFit found that workers at all income levels are feeling financial stress—nearly 60 percent of those making under $55,000 feel financial stress, but roughly 40 percent of those making over $200,000 feel it, too.
“Higher-income earners are feeling the pressure,” said Deepa Chatterjee, chief operating officer of Dayforce Consumer Services at Ceridian, a Minneapolis-based human resource software firm.
Gooder, and harder, America: The ghost of Milton Friedman is haunting President Biden.
Flashback: The ‘cabal’ that bragged of foisting Joe Biden on us must answer for his failed presidency.
NOW OUT FROM ANDREW WAREHAM: Distant Waters (The Call of the Sea Book 8).
VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP [VIP]: Anthony Bass Goes to Re-Education Camp. “Toronto Blue Jays star Anthony Bass went to re-education camp after sharing a wrongthink Instagram video, but it’s all right, everything is all right, the struggle is finished. He has won the victory over himself. He loves Big Brother. That’s the big crazy on today’s Insanity Wrap — an entire week’s worth of nuttiness wrapped up in one easy-to-swallow medicated news capsule.”
Plus:
- Whiteness is a cult and white women are the high priestesses.
- A Chicago shooting with a happy ending.
- California doesn’t stand a goat of a chance.
So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.
Related: A Tale of Two Pitchers and Their Encounters With the Pride Mob.
I’M SO OLD, I REMEMBER WHEN BIDEN WAS GOING TO RESTORE TRUST WITH OUR TRADITIONAL ALLIES: U.A.E. Says It Exited U.S.-Led Naval Force. “The United Arab Emirates said Wednesday that it had pulled out of a U.S.-led multinational security force that works to counter Iran in the Middle East, where the Persian Gulf nation has expressed disappointment with American efforts to deter Tehran.”
QUESTIONS NO ONE IS ASKING: Chris Christie gets a super PAC — who is ready for candidate Christie?
SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS ALSO STORED IN CHINA: Surprise! U.S. TikTok Creators’ Financial Info Is Stored in China.
RACE, SEX, ETC. QUOTAS FOR FOOTNOTES, BECAUSE ACADEMIA IS STUPID AND GETTING STUPIDER: “Citational Justice.”
GREEN NUDE EEL: School official laments electric buses cost ‘5X more’ and are riddled with ‘performance issues.’
Emile Lauzzana, the environmental sustainability director of Michigan’s fourth-largest school district, recently told the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education that the district’s electric bus fleet has had “a lot of downtime and performance issues.”
“It’s been a tough 2 1/2 years with this program,” Lauzzana said.
“We’ve been learning a lot about this technology,” Lauzzana also said. “Electric buses are approximately five times more expensive than regular buses, and the electrical infrastructure, which was originally estimated to be only about $50,000, give or take, for those four buses ended up being more like $200,000.”
Why am I not surprised that the Ann Arbor school district has an environmental sustainability director?
READER FAVORITE: Flat Plug Power Strip, Ultra Thin Flat Extension Cord. #CommissionEarned