Home Economics 2:00PM Water Cooler 12/11/2024 | bare capitalism

2:00PM Water Cooler 12/11/2024 | bare capitalism

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2:00PM Water Cooler 12/11/2024 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Hen Tune of the Day

Northern Mockingbird, New Windfall Island; Lyford Cay, New Windfall, Bahamas.

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In Case You May Miss…

  1. Lina Khan out.
  2. Arnade on McDonald’s: Trump and The Adjuster
  3. Kamala’s flawless marketing campaign, lol.
  4. Hen flu carried by mud on the wind.

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Politics

“So lots of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in reality a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles

Musk GLP

‘We don’t even know who’s working the nation’: South Korea’s ruling celebration stalls for time amid management disaster Channel Information Asia

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Trump Transition

“‘A Present to the Oligarchs’: Trump Decide to Substitute Lina Khan Vowed to Finish ‘Warfare on Mergers’” [Common Dreams]. “President-elect Donald Trump’s choose to steer the Federal Commerce Fee vowed in his job pitch to finish present chair Lina Khan’s ‘battle on mergers,’ a sign to an keen company America that the incoming administration intends to be way more lax on antitrust enforcement. Andrew Ferguson was initially nominated by President Joe Biden to function a Republican commissioner on the bipartisan FTC, and his elevation to chair of the fee won’t require Senate affirmation. In a one-page doc obtained by Punchbowl, Ferguson—who beforehand labored as chief counsel to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—pitched himself to Trump’s group because the ‘pro-innovation alternative’ with ‘impeccable authorized credentials’ and ‘confirmed loyalty’ to the president-elect. Ferguson’s high agenda precedence, in line with the doc, is to ‘reverse Lina Khan’s anti-business agenda’ by rolling again ‘burdensome rules,’ stopping her ‘battle on mergers,’ halting the company’s ‘try to change into an AI regulator,’ and ditching ‘novel and legally doubtful shopper safety instances.’ Trump introduced Ferguson because the incoming administration’s FTC chair as judges in Oregon and Washington state blocked the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons, choices that one antitrust advocate known as a ‘implausible end result of the FTC’s work to guard customers and staff.’” • Dang…

“Trump Goals to Remake Federal Commerce Fee With Two Picks” [Wall Street Journal]. “Trump on Tuesday additionally stated he would nominate the Republican antitrust lawyer Mark Meador as a commissioner. Meador is a former aide to Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), who led the introduction of laws to interrupt up Google. His affirmation would give the GOP a majority on the fee. Whereas Meador would require Senate approval, Ferguson gained’t. He was already confirmed for his commissioner seat in March and can be capable to make the transition to the position of chair.”

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“Crypto Doesn’t Deserve a Tax Exemption” [Tyler Cowen, Bloomberg]. “The obvious argument towards the proposal is just that uniform taxation is healthier than selective tax exemptions. If a decrease capital positive aspects tax fee is preferable, then the aim needs to be to make a smaller minimize that applies to all property. Exempting a single sort of asset is more likely to result in abuses. You would possibly assume that boosting crypto is necessary now, however which sector or asset can be chosen subsequent for particular remedy? It could be one you don’t assume deserves it.” And: “Most of the main supporters of Trump’s marketing campaign have been crypto-connected corporations. You don’t should assume this tax proposal is a few sort of payback to comprehend that this creates issues of notion. Subsequent time round, corporations will provide campaigns monetary help within the expectation of extra favorable tax and regulatory remedy.” • I nonetheless wrestle to know the case for crypto, except or not it’s that Silicon Valley needs to get into finance, and to compete with Wall Avenue they want a particular competence, which seems to be fraud (wonderful, I do know).

* * *

“Prime Republicans break up over technique to maneuver Trump’s 2025 agenda” [NBC]. “The brand new Congress will give Trump and Republicans the chance to cross main laws with out the necessity for any Democratic help underneath a course of known as ‘reconciliation’ However whether or not the GOP will attempt to hyperlink all of its high priorities collectively in a single bundle early subsequent 12 months or break up main points throughout two, smaller payments is a significant topic of debate amongst high Republican leaders. The Home’s high tax author, Methods and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., is warning fellow Republicans towards breaking the agenda up into two payments, during which border safety and power coverage would come within the first and an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax minimize regulation might come within the second. Delaying the tax laws dangers jeopardizing it, Smith and his allies warn, so they need one sweeping bundle.”

* * *

“The Weird Normalcy of Trump 2.0” [Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic]. So Chait obtained a promotion to the Atlantic (for some definition of “promotion”). “A really unusual disjuncture has opened up in Washington between the serene temper and the alarming developments which can be underneath approach. The floor is calm as a result of the Republican presidential candidate gained the election, and Democrats, the one one of many two main events dedicated on precept to upholding the legitimacy of election outcomes, conceded defeat and are cooperating within the peaceable transition of energy. No matter power the chastened Democrats can muster for the time being is aimed inward, at factional struggles over their future route. In the meantime, what is definitely taking place within the capital is, by any rational commonplace, disturbing. Donald Trump is filling his administration with ‘loyalists,’ a prerogative that his opponents have grudgingly accepted as his due. But he’s defining loyalist in maximal phrases, together with the assumption that Trump legitimately gained the 2020 election and was justified in his try to seize energy. The winners are rewriting the historical past of the rebel, and their model of historical past is about to amass the power of regulation.” And: “On Saturday, The New York Instances reported that the Trump transition group is asking candidates for high-level positions within the Protection Division and intelligence companies three questions: which candidate they supported prior to now three elections, what they thought of January 6, and whether or not they believed the 2020 election was stolen. Among the many ‘improper’ solutions, candidates say, are conceding that Trump misplaced the election or that his supporters shouldn’t have tried to overturn the end result.” • As for the 2020 election, see instantly beneath. (I believe all of the huffing-and-puffing about Trump choosing “loyalists” is absurd. In any case, what’s he alleged to do? Decide backstabbers? That stated, a style for Kool-Support shouldn’t be the operational definition of loyalty. Or the power to deceive get forward, though this is Washington, D.C…..

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“Trump attorneys and aide hit with 10 extra felony fees in Wisconsin over 2020 pretend electors” [Associated Press]. “The state fees towards the Trump attorneys and aide are the one ones in Wisconsin. Not one of the electors have been charged. The ten Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that was introduced towards them in 2023. There are pending fees associated to the pretend electors scheme in state and federal courts in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Georgia. Federal prosecutors, investigating Trump’s conduct associated to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, stated the pretend electors scheme originated in Wisconsin. Electors are folks appointed to characterize voters in presidential elections. The winner of the favored vote in every state determines which celebration’s electors are despatched to the Electoral School, which meets in December after the election to certify the result. Two states, Maine and Nebraska, permit their electoral votes to be break up between candidates. The Wisconsin grievance particulars how Troupis, Chesebro and Roman created a doc that falsely stated Trump had gained Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral School votes after which tried to ship to to then-Vice President Mike Pence. Within the amended grievance filed Tuesday, .” • I’ve at all times stated that the “contingent electors” instances have been the necessary, real instances within the Democrat lawfare over 2020 — don’t let the door hit you on the best way out, Fani — as a result of the Trump marketing campaign put civilians within the line of fireside, as right here. So I’m glad to see this case shifting ahead.

2024 Submit Mortem

“No, Kamala Harris Staffers Did Not Run a “Flawless” Marketing campaign” [Jeet Heer, The Nation]. “For anybody who adopted the presidential election of 2024 and regards the victory of Donald Trump as an unlimited tragedy for the USA and the world, the nice foe of serenity is listening to interviews with Democratic Get together strategists. This can be a group that has displayed a mind-boggling unwillingness to simply accept any accountability for dropping—for the second time in eight years—to Trump.” Heer appears shocked, as if this have been new conduct. Extra: “Stephanie Cutter instructed Pod Save America that “the conference demonstrated a whole lot of enthusiasm for Kamala Harris, a whole lot of freshness, future oriented, bringing a wide range of coalitions collectively. We had independents, Republicans, Democrats, enterprise leaders, sports activities figures, everyone coming collectively round a brand new approach ahead and eventually turning the web page.” It’s extremely revealing that Cutter thinks a profitable Democratic coalition consists of “independents, Republicans, Democrats, enterprise leaders, sports activities figures” relatively than being a multiracial coalition of union members, the broader working class, younger folks, civil rights activists, feminists environmentalists, and anti-war activists. Hers is a profoundly depoliticized view of the Democratic Get together as a car of the bipartisan institution relatively than a coalition combating to alter America. This depoliticized ideology permeated the Harris marketing campaign—and doomed it to failure.” • Driving the knife dwelling…

“The which means of, and in, McDonald’s” [Chris Arnade, Chris Arnade Walks the World]. “Trump’s McDonald’s picture op, which whereas it has been adjudicated to demise, continues to be an awesome illustration of what many elites nonetheless miss about his attraction. Trump’s superpower has lengthy been signaling to working stiffs that he’s ‘identical to you’ regardless of being on the floor something like them. His love of McDonald’s, which I imagine is as real as any politician can ever have, is a kind of indicators, and perhaps his handiest, as a result of it makes his critics go hyperbolic in a approach that indicators that they aren’t ‘identical to you.’ McDonald’s is wildly common with each group of Individuals, uniting each demographic within the US — it crosses financial class, race, gender, city versus rural — with the only exception of the extremely educated, particularly teachers. They alone as a gaggle have ethical points with it, and whereas they could use it, they achieve this grudgingly, normally to appease crying youngsters or for a relaxation cease on an extended journey. So Trump’s embrace of McDonald’s turns into a political twofer. He’s considered one of you, he’s a a back-row man at coronary heart, and whereas he needs to be a member of the front-row, given his training and wealth, he’s not as a result of they despise him for lots of the identical causes they give the impression of being down on you — for what he eats, how he talks, and for what he believes in, and the way he arrives at these beliefs, which isn’t by spending years studying by means of authorised syllabi (techne), however having gone out into the world and discovered from it, one mistake after the subsequent (metis).” • Nicely value studying in full, like every little thing Arnade writes (for a overview of his ebook Dignity, see NC right here). And on The Adjuster, arrested in a McDonald’s, see beneath.

Democrats en déshabillé

“Newsom’s Large Alternative: Single Payer Or His Insurance coverage Donors?” [The Lever]. From 2022. “The present push for single-payer could also be doomed to the identical destiny as its predecessors. Even when the invoice manages to cross the meeting earlier than the top of the day Monday and passes the state senate, there isn’t any assure Newsom will signal it into regulation. Regardless of his marketing campaign promise, the California governor has lengthy been allied with insurance coverage corporations opposing the reform…. UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest well being insurer, can also be opposing the single-payer invoice, and has been urgent its workers to foyer California lawmakers towards passing the laws. The insurance coverage big has contributed $130,000 to Newsom’s campaigns since 2011, and $513,000 to the state Democratic celebration since 2007. In 2019, UnitedHealth Group and considered one of its subsidiaries donated $100,000 to Newsom’s inaugural fund. Now, whether or not Newsom’s relationship with Blue Protect, Anthem, and UnitedHealth will influence his decision-making on CalCare is an open query, says Court docket at Client Watchdog.” • Social homicide has many accomplices….

Syndemics

“I’m in earnest — I cannot equivocate — I cannot excuse — I cannot retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

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Covid Assets, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; contains many counties; Wastewater Scan, contains drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Normal Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be happy to contact me on the tackle given with the vegetation. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!

Assets, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater stories); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (wastewater); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

Assets, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).

Assets, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, KF, KidDoc, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep protected on the market!

Transmission: H5N1

“Central Valley is floor zero for hen flu outbreak” [Sun-Gazette]. “The Central Valley is the epicenter for the hen flu epidemic drastically lowering the state’s poultry provide and barely dropping its milk provide…. The 2 farm animal companies are a few of the state’s most necessary ag industries, clustered within the Central Valley, typically simply down the street from one another. The names of the affected services usually are not made public. However when greater than half of the state’s dairies are quarantined because of the virus and a few 8 million chickens within the state needed to be destroyed – together with over 5 million egg layers representing about half of the egg laying flock within the Golden State – Californians will little doubt really feel the shortages on the grocery retailer…. Whereas the state isn’t releasing the placement of the dairies, all 32 of the state’s confirmed instances of hen flu in people have been within the Central Valley, California’s nation’s high dairy producing area…. Each industries are on an identical viral an infection timeline which additionally coincides with the annual wild hen migration, which many specialists agree is the unique supply for the illness.” And eighteen paragraphs down, the buried lead: “Now there’s concern the fast rise in infections at each confined animal services could also be linked, with one affecting the opposite. Analysis exhibits that , says the business publication EggNews.” • Oh.

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TABLE 1: Every day Covid Charts

Lambert: CDC’s wastewater web page loaded. No Thanksgiving surge that I can see.

Wastewater
This week[1] CDC December 2 Final week[2] CDC (till subsequent week):

Variants [3] CDC December 7 Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC November 30

Hospitalization
New York[5] New York State, information December 10: Nationwide [6] CDC December 5:

Positivity
Nationwide[7] Walgreens December 9: Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic November 23:

Vacationers Information
Positivity[9] CDC November 19: Variants[10] CDC November 4:

Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC November 20: Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC November 20:

LEGEND

1) for charts new as we speak; all others usually are not up to date.

2) For a full-size/full-resolution picture, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Home windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open picture in new tab.”

NOTES

[1] (CDC) Excellent news!

[2] (CDC) Final week’s wastewater map.

[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has completed an awesome job normalizing successive waves of an infection.

[4] (ED) Down.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Truly improved; it’s now one of many few charts to point out the complete course of the pandemic to the current day.

[7] (Walgreens) Down.

[8] (Cleveland) Down.

[9] (Vacationers: Positivity) Leveling out.

[10] (Vacationers: Variants). Positivity is new, however variants haven’t but been launched.

[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.

[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.

Stats Watch

Inflation: “United States Client Value Index (CPI)” [Trading Economics]. “Client Value Index CPI in the USA decreased to 315.49 factors in November from 315.66 factors in October of 2024. The annual inflation fee within the US rose to 2.7% in November, from 2.6% in October and matching markets expectations. On a month-to-month foundation, the CPI elevated by 0.3%, probably the most since April,

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Manufacturing: “Boeing wins $450.5M contract for Japan’s F-15 Tremendous Interceptor upgrades” [Aerotime]. “Boeing has been awarded a $450.5 million contract by the US Air Drive (USAF) to help the F-15 Japan Tremendous Interceptor Program. Beneath this contract, , Boeing will purchase the methods wanted to improve the Japan Air Self-Protection Drive (JASDF) F-15J fleet.” • Industrial coverage….

Manufacturing: “Boeing Inventory Is Taking Off. Right here’s Why.” [Barron’s]. When you play the ponies…. “Wall Avenue expects Boeing to achieve 360 deliveries for all of 2024, in line with FactSet. That isn’t sufficient to earn a living. In the beginning of 2024, earlier than the door plug incident, Wall Avenue projected 2024 deliveries of about 700 jets and web earnings of about $3.5 billion. The Avenue has since revised that estimate to a lack of $8.9 billion. Tuesday’s positive aspects depart Boeing shares down about 37% for the 12 months and about 34% for the reason that Alaska Air incident. Shares have been up about 1% from simply earlier than the strike, when 737 MAX manufacturing was paused.”

Manufacturing: “Is China able to tackle Airbus and Boeing? Not simply but” [Business Times]. “Certainly one of its promoting factors [of the COMAC C919] is that it’s extra environmently pleasant than its European and American counterparts. Comac designed its C919 with environmental sustainability as an goal – the jet made its first business flight on sustainable aviation gas (SAF) in September. The biofuel could be constructed from algae or agricultural, forestry, meals and even municipal waste. It’s claimed to chop carbon emissions by as much as 80 per cent in contrast with petroleum-based jet gas. It has been reported that GallopAir, a Brunei-based startup airline, has positioned an order for the C919. Vietnam Airways, Indonesia’s TransNusa, Air Asia and Brazil’s Whole Linhas Aereas have expressed curiosity.” • “919” jogs my memory of “707,” however 9 is an auspicious quantity in China.

* * *

Right now’s Worry & Greed Index: 51 Impartial (earlier shut: 48 Impartial) [CNN]. One week in the past: 56 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Dec 11 at 1:27:47 PM ET.

Healthcare

“The which means of, and in, McDonald’s” [Chris Arnade, Chris Arnade Walks the World]. Splitting in two what Arnade conceptualized, accurately, as a unity: “I’ve seen two questions raised. The primary is, why would somebody ‘so cautious’ as Luigi go right into a McDonald’s? The second is, how on this planet was he seen?, provided that it’s a soulless franchise the place it’s best to be capable to simply mix in, since every is identical, bland, and closely trafficked area. But, after over a decade buying an off-the-cuff PhD in McDonald’s research, with a minor in psychological sickness, I might have scripted this newest occasion right down to the outline of the regulars who first seen him. I’m going to exit on a limb right here, regardless of it being too early to take action, and counsel that Luigi is affected by paranoid schizophrenia. I’ve met a whole lot of these in McDonald’s, as a result of in addition to offering them with all of the issues each different clients needs, additionally it is a ‘actuality protected area.’ It’s considered one of, it not the one, place within the ‘actual world’ they’ll go, seize a cup out of the rubbish can, and sit at their nook desk and slot in, at the very least for an hour or two, with out encountering too many risks. It turns into, for a lot of deeply troubled folks, their solely life line to regular society. It’s a job McDonald’s, to its credit score, has accepted. I’ve witnessed many episodes the place the workers and morning regulars exit of their approach to assist those that are available which can be struggling the worst. From free meals, to requires assist, to having their husband come and restore their broken-down automotive, freed from cost. Which is why the second query, how on this planet was he seen, isn’t stunning in any respect. Every McDonald’s is a group, and regardless of being a franchise constructed for the quick and transactional, they’ve change into long-term and social. I’m penning this from the McDonald’s in my city, the place I do most of my writing when at dwelling, and I ‘know’ nearly all the 2 dozen or so oddballs that are available, like me, and sit in a nook, both starring on the wall, ranting right into a cup, or engaged on their beat up laptop computer. The morning regulars, the evolving group of 5 or so guys who’re on the door when it opens (5:30 a.m.), in addition to the afternoon regulars, and all the workers all ‘know’ these oddballs and may a brand new one are available, sit in a nook, and begin performing a bit off, they’ll discover. That just about at all times meaning ultimately providing to assist, or on this uncommon case, noticing and calling the police.” • For the “McDonalds as a Neighborhood” half, I believe Arnade is spot on. For the “Luigi as paranoid schizophrenic” I believe each Arnade and the regulars could also be performing on their priors. The Mighty Wurlitzer is, in any case, at this very second cranking as much as the best potential the message that “The Claims Adjuster” was loopy, as a result of — Soviet psychiatry involves thoughts, right here — he had, because the cops put it, “ailing will towards company America.” (Arnade’s footnote 4 is a solution to this, however I believe it proves an excessive amount of. It might be potential, for instance, to argue that every one Marxists “are remarkably logical, however ranging from absurd premises,” therefore “Excessive IQ paranoid schizophrenics.” The cops would love this, after all. As would many conservatives. I imply “Frankly, these parasites merely had it coming.” Insane?

Clarifying:

Talking of “ranging from absurd premises”….

“Luigi Mangione’s Full Story Isn’t On-line” [New York Magazine]. “[W]hat’s most hanging about Mangione’s intensive on-line file is that, had it been compiled earlier than the taking pictures came about, it wouldn’t have raised a lot alarm. You possibly can spend hours studying these posts, sifting by means of his follows, and on the lookout for clues about what Sort of Man he’s, however the supportable theories are fairly skinny: Mangione had a web based profile consonant along with his identification and context. He shared and posted and adopted like a 20-something striver with a foot within the tech business, listened to Rogan, and regarded himself a rationalist or at the very least unusually rational.

Class Warfare

“SF tech CEO’s billboards are ‘dystopian.’ That’s how he needs it” [SFGATE]. “Thursday afternoon in San Francisco: On one aspect of Mission Avenue, lodge staff chanted and banged on a drum outdoors the Marriott Marquis, a part of a monthslong strike for increased wages and extra jobs. On the opposite, a tech firm’s billboard proclaimed, ‘Cease hiring people.’ Varied variations of the provocative commercials are emblazoned throughout town on rotating display screen shows on bus shelters and on basic vinyl billboards on poles and buildings, plugging the San Francisco startup Artisan. SFGATE spoke with Artisan’s CEO concerning the marketing campaign. The corporate has simply 30 workers and is lower than 2 years previous; its solely present product is a man-made intelligence ‘gross sales agent’ known as Artisan, constructed to automate the work of discovering and messaging potential clients. It’s a basic AI-age thought, considered one of many such instruments flooding the tech world. However the billboards in San Francisco are much less routine. Bleak is likely to be a greater phrase, or mean-spirited. And in a metropolis laden with jargony commercials, these are simple to know. Most function a dark-haired, purple-eyed persona and some rows of textual content. Some critique people and distant work: ‘Artisans gained’t complain about work-life stability’ and ‘Artisan’s Zoom cameras won’t ever ‘not be working’ as we speak.’ Others are extra direct: ‘Rent Artisans, not people.’ A number of embody the road, ‘The period of AI workers is right here.’ The gist is crystal clear: Artisan is promoting automation to employers. In a video spot concerning the ‘gross sales agent’ device on-line, Artisan says it really works with ‘no human enter’ and ‘prices 96% lower than hiring somebody to do her job..’” “Artisan.” Of all of the names to decide on.

Information of the Wired

“That Therapeutic Sound” [Nautilus]. “Music boosts the immune system, particularly immunoglobulin IgA, a substance that travels to the location of mucosal infections by lowering cortisol. While you’re burdened, cortisol shuts down the immune system, as a result of cortisol normally spikes in response to an specific proximal risk, like a lion working towards you. Over 1000’s of years of evolution, the cortisol system found out that in the event you’re going to should battle a lion, you’ve obtained to protect all of your sources to battle or to flee…. So, what does preserving your sources imply at a physiological and metabolic stage? It means shutting down your digestive system. That may wait until later. Shutting down your libido, since you don’t have time for that now. Shutting down your immune system. That’s why folks with continual stress have compromised immune methods. And in the event you can scale back psychological and bodily stress, you’re enabling your physique’s immune system to do what it’s meant to do. Music can promote IgA ranges. They’ll promote cytokine manufacturing, the manufacturing of pure killer cells, T cells, plus, they’ll enhance serotonin, which boosts your temper, which in flip, can create this cascade of neurochemical exercise.” • Hmm. To not go all woo woo, however Lengthy Covid?

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Contact info for vegetation: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a examine if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photographs of vegetation. Greens are nice! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! In order for you your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it initially of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize through the use of your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From KW:

KW writes: “Yahara River Flowage, Madison, Wisconsin A marsh seed pod of some type, framed in duckweed. A foot from the shore. Dredged a long time in the past when the neighborhood’s homes have been constructed, today the marsh is being inspired to take over.”

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I’ve had a correspondent characterize my views as sensible cynical. Let me briefly clarify them. I imagine in common applications that present concrete materials advantages, particularly to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime instance, however tuition-free school and a Submit Workplace Financial institution additionally fall underneath this heading. So do a Jobs Assure and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can ship on such applications, as a result of the 2 are completely different flavors of neoliberalism (“As a result of markets”). I don’t a lot care concerning the “ism” that delivers the advantages, though whichever one does should put frequent humanity first, versus markets. May very well be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t a lot care, so long as the advantages are delivered.

To me, the important thing challenge — and this is the reason Medicare for All is at all times first with me — is the tens of 1000’s of extra “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton research, and different current research. That giant physique depend makes Medicare for All, on the very least, an ethical and strategic crucial. And that stage of struggling and natural harm makes the issues of identification politics — even the worthy battle to assist the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — shiny shiny objects by comparability. Therefore my frustration with the information movement — at present for my part the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the opposite by out-of-power liberals and their allies within the State and within the press — a information movement that continually forces me to give attention to issues that I regard as of secondary significance to the surplus deaths. What sort of political financial system is it that halts and even reverses the will increase in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I’m additionally very hopeful that the persevering with destruction of each celebration institutions will open the area for voices supporting applications just like these I’ve listed; let’s name such voices “the left.” Volatility creates alternative, particularly if the Democrat institution, which places markets first and opposes all such applications, isn’t allowed to get again into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I like the tactical stage, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been running a blog about it day by day for fourteen years, however every little thing I write has this angle in the back of it.