Episode 5: Good Hearted Woman
This week's news cycle continued to feature BLM protests, a deadly police shooting of a black man in Atlanta (by a white cop), some positive economic data which, in part, fueled stock market indexes higher. Fed Chairman Powell testified before Congress and suggested that despite the record increase in May retail sales, the US is in a deep recession with an uncertain timeline. Furthermore, Powell made it clear that the Fed will need to continue to support the economy and the markets, given some sectors of the service economy may be damaged for years. Powell urged Congress to remain vigilant on passing legislation that will support the economy, especially small businesses, and that further increases and liberalization of unemployment insurance benefits and direct payments to lower-income families may be needed. The upshot is it appears lower interest rates are here for the foreseeable future, the Federal Reserve will continue to expand the balance sheet and increase debt levels to support the economy, and there appears to be no concern about down the road inflation.
I. Below are the articles I found interesting the past week:
The looming bank collapse
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/coronavirus-banks-collapse/612247/
The Fed is buying individual corporate bonds
PG&E raises $9 billion of debt as it works toward bankruptcy exit
Trump team weigh $1 trillion for infrastructure to spur economy
Jon Stewart is back to weigh in
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/15/magazine/jon-stewart-interview.html?smid=em-share
UC Berkeley history professor’s open letter against BLM, police brutality and cultural orthodoxy
Supreme Court ruling on gay-rights complicates Trump effort to hold evangelical voters
What happens to the brain during cognitive dissonance
John Bolton: the scandal of Trump’s China policy
https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-bolton-the-scandal-of-trumps-china-policy-11592419564
China is collecting DNA from tens of millions of men and boys
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/world/asia/China-DNA-surveillance.html
Buy your own Spot robot for $75,000 (check out the imbedded promo video and be prepared to shake your head)
https://www.theverge.com/21292684/boston-dynamics-spot-robot-on-sale-price?utm_source=morning_brew
Elon Musk productivity secrets
https://medium.com/swlh/top-10-elon-musk-productivity-secrets-for-insane-success-dae584c88e03
How anxiety affects your focus
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200611-how-anxiety-affects-your-focus
7 tips from neuroscience for CEOs dealing with Covid-19 stress
https://chiefexecutive.net/7-tips-from-neuroscience-for-ceos-dealing-with-covid-19-stress/
How to get the unquantifiable benefits of cold showers
https://medium.com/better-humans/how-to-get-the-unquantifiable-benefits-of-cold-showers-7c2c86a9a9a2
Scientists say most likely number of contactable alien civilizations is 36
Amateur investors are speculatively piling into stocks and it will end in tears
Ford is releasing its new version of the Bronco on OJ Simpson’s birthday (his infamous dash in a white Ford Bronco was 26 years ago this week)
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/this-is-when-the-2021-ford-bronco-debuts
II. Stats that made me go WOW!
- PG&E, California’s largest utility, legally acknowledged that its faulty electrical grid was to blame for Northern California’s ‘Camp Fire’ in 2018. The CEO pled guilty on behalf of the company to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of illegally setting a fire. PG&E agreed to pay the maximum fine of $3.5 million. The Camp Fire burned 153,000 acres and destroyed 18,800 structures, including 11,000 homes. The estimated cost of the Camp Fire was $16.5 billion. PG&E declared bankruptcy protection as part of a $13.5 billion payout plan to victims from the fire, plus the California Public Utilities Commission fined it nearly $2 billion for negligence. This week PG&E completed a $9 billion debt deal to help finance the company as it emerges from bankruptcy and will leave Chapter 11 with more debt than when it entered bankruptcy.
- In research that polled 2,000 UK officer workers, 79% admitted they weren’t productive during the workday and asked how long they were productive the average answer was ‘2 hours and 53 minutes’. Activities that occupied their time instead of work were as follows: checking social media 47%; reading news websites 45%; chatting with colleagues about non-work activities 38%; making hot drinks 31%; smoking breaks 28%; text messaging 27%; searching for new jobs 19%.
- NASA is sending a new toilet to the International Space Station this fall to replace the one installed in the 1990s. The new toilet will be more comfortable (especially for women), feature toe bars that allow astronauts to stay anchored while using it, and be able to treat urine and process it into drinking water. So I’m wondering if astronauts in space are supposed to drink eight glasses per day?!
- Italy is the fifth most visited destination by international tourist arrivals (France is #1). The President of Italy’s travel and tourism association doesn’t expect the country to reach 2019’s international tourist levels until 2023
- The phase 2 trial of using MDMA under medical supervision to treat PTSD involved 107 participants who had chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD and had suffered from PTSD for an average of 17.8 years. Most subjects received just 2–3 sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. The results: two months following the MDMA-treatment, 56% no longer qualified for PTSD, and at the 12-month check-up, 68% no longer had PTSD. On August 16th, 2017, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to MDMA for the treatment of PTSD. Check out the video for an overview of the treatment process (https://maps.org/news/multimedia-library/8080-unpacked-treating-ptsd-with-mdma)
- At the start of the year, Hertz stock was trading at $16, with almost $19 billion in debt. When Covid-19 hit, and travel screeched to a halt, the company filed for bankruptcy on May 22nd. Four days later, Hertz stock was trading at $0.40. Now for the crazy part. Hertz stock then went ballistic, surging over 1,400% to $6 on June 8th (reminder that Hertz is still bankrupt). There were 96.000 Robinhood traders (retail investors) who bought Hertz shares over one week. Hertz stock is currently trading at $2.
III. Name that Tune!
As I write this email, I am listening to Waylon Jennings and his hit “Good Hearted Woman.”
The song’s chorus, “she’s a good-hearted woman in love with a good timin’ man” is brilliant! But I’m also drawn to this iconic verse because it reminds me of my parents! The song was written by Jennings and Willie Nelson in 1969 (my birth year!) and inspired by the marital drama of Ike and Tina Turner. The song became the title track of the album released in 1972. As for Waylon, he is unequivocally a country music legend and considered a founding pioneer of the Outlaw Movement, along with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams Jr, Merle Haggard, David Allan Coe, and Johnny Cash. Waylon’s work in the music industry started at an early age when he talked his away into a Disc Jockey job when he was 14. He went on to play bass guitar for Buddy Holly at age 20 and, fortunately, gave up his seat on the ill-fated plane that went down in 1959, killing all band members. Born in Arizona and raised in Texas, Jennings moved to Nashville in 1965 to pursue his music career, and he lived with Johnny Cash in an apartment. Waylon confesses that he doesn’t remember much about those years living with Cash as they primarily survived on amphetamines. Waylon’s party lifestyle caught up with him. After decades of smoking (6 packs per day), excessive drinking, and drug use, Jennings’ life ended with poor health, including diabetes (which resulted in an amputated foot) and heart by-pass surgery. Waylon was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and died the following year at age 64. Waylon was married four times and had six children.
Happy reading and have a great weekend!