Monday, May 19
Robert Reich
They’re just scapegoats. Here’s the real cause of our growing national debt.
Friends,
Last Friday, the credit rating of the United States was downgraded. Moody’s, the ratings firm, announced that the U.S. government’s rising debt levels will grow further if the Trump Republican package of new tax cuts is enacted. This makes lending to the United States riskier.
(Moody’s is the third of three major credit-rating agencies to downgrade the credit rating of the United States.)
So-called “bond vigilantes” are being blamed. They’ve already been selling the U.S. government’s debt, as the Republican tax package moves through Congress. They’re expected to sell even more, driving long-term interest rates even higher to make up for the growing risk of holding U.S. debt.
At A Glance
World's first flying car prototype makes public debut. (w/video)
Malaysians build bridge to help endangered monkeys.
Dolphin researchers win interspecies communication prize.
US News ranks all 50 states.
See the new $1 Space Shuttle gold coin.
The evolution of American school lunches.
See realistic bird costume at Cannes.
Some people have receptors to smell bugs.
Clickbait: Researchers discover life has literal glow.
In The NEWS
America's Financial Center
What is Wall Street?
Wall Street is an eight-block-long avenue in New York City’s Financial District where most of the country's biggest banks have, at one time, had their headquarters, including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America. It dates back to the 1700s with the establishment of two institutions: the New York Stock Exchange and New York City’s first official slave market.
Wall Street eventually came to symbolize the financial center of the US. The street's mythos has evolved into a cultural phenomenon, giving rise to popular movies and books.
Some historians believe the English named “Wall Street” after a wall the Dutch built to keep them out (it runs down roughly the same path as the wall). Others argue that Wall Street could have been named after the Walloons (also known as “the Waal”), the French-speaking early Dutch settlers of Manhattan (read history).
... Read our full deep dive on Wall Street here.
Also, check out ...
> An interactive map of early New York City. (More)
> What is r/WallStreetBets? (More)
> Explaining Wall Street's architecture. (More)
A Fantasy in the Mind
A primer on dreams
Every night, we spend about two hours dreaming—mostly during REM phases when the body is paralyzed, with brain waves closely resembling those during waking periods.
The hippocampus—the brain's memory center—plays a central role in dream construction. Half of all dreams draw from specific real-life experiences, and patients with a damaged hippocampus have been shown to experience less detailed dreams.
Early history is filled with examples of vivid dreams interpreted as prophecy, divine revelation, or a bridge between the living and the dead. Beyond their meaning, psychologists have variously suggested the purpose of dreams is to process difficult emotions, consolidate memories, mentally rehearse real-life experiences, or they are just a byproduct of the complex brain.
... Read our full deep dive on dreams here.
Also, check out ...
> Why only some people remember their dreams. (More)
> The neuroscience behind lucid dreams. (More)
> What are nightmares? (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Our Last Years
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For 20 odd years, one is growing up, going to school, and pretty much taken care of by their parents.
Then for forty some years they work, then for another twenty years they lived retired before passing away into another kind of life or no life at all.
20 - 40 - 20 = 80
maybe 20 - 45 - 25 = 90
Not many people live into their nineties and when that happens, we are looking at:
20 - 45 - 30 = 95
So, life is divided into an unequal third, or pretty much an equal 50/50.
40 - 40 = 80
or
50 - 50 = 100
Most of us, don't think about how our lives may or may not be divided, we just live our lives trying to live it the best way that we can.
My point to all of this is that once we retire, the duration of our lives (based up age 67) is about as long as our life was before we started working.
We need to plan for that eventuality to make sure that we enjoy those last years.
Volcanic white gold: A lithium deposit valued at $1.5 trillion has been discovered in the U.S.
McDermitt Caldera in Oregon is attracting attention for what could be one of the largest lithium deposits ever identified in the United States. Many view it as a potential boost for domestic battery production, while local communities voice concern over the impact on wildlife and cultural sites.
The excitement stems from estimates that value the deposit at about $1.5 trillion. Some geologists say these ancient volcanic sediments could contain between 20 and 40 million metric tons of lithium.
“This feature is 16 million years old, and we’re making decisions in a matter of years,” said Sammy Castonguay, a geologist at Treasure Valley Community College. Castonguay’s statement has stirred local debate over how the development might reshape the high desert. Industry advocates see a path to addressing the ballooning need for electric vehicle batteries.
Sunday, May 18
Robert Reich
Awakening the sleeping giant
Friends,
I wrote an earlier version of this piece shortly after the start of this horrific regime. The regime has become far more horrific since then — worse than I’d feared.
I mentioned then that a woman I didn’t know was about to pass me on the sidewalk and then stopped, turned toward me, and almost shouted, “It’s a fucking nightmare!”
Well, it has been a “fucking nightmare.”
But a “fucking nightmare” is not all bad if it awakens America.
America is like a sleeping giant whose passion for democracy and social justice is fearless, once awakened.
The giant doesn’t awaken easily, but a nightmare can do it.
Remember how Martin Luther King Jr. mobilized the nation against racial injustice? He let everyone see its horrors. Night after night on television, America saw peaceful Black people getting clubbed and arrested for exercising their rights.
At A Glance
How accurate are Hollywood films? A scene-by-scene review.
The investor running his life with AI.
Why are ancient ruins underground?
How couples with separate finances maintain trust.
Why the 1985 Chicago Bears had the greatest NFL defense ever.
Why aquariums don't have great white sharks.
Exploring a new generation's search for religion.
The neuroscience behind curiosity's benefits.
What a region's parking infrastructure says about its values.
Why changing currency's security features is costly.
The origins of the word "cancer."
Peruse a collection of early human fossils.
Visualizing Earth's historical climate.
The story of Italy's unification in the 1860s.
The art in Pompeii that survived Vesuvius' eruption.
In The NEWS
House GOP mega-bill stalls in committee.
A sweeping tax and domestic policy bill favored by President Donald Trump failed to pass the House Budget Committee after five Republicans voted against the measure. Known as the "Big Beautiful Bill," the package has been criticized by fiscal hawks as too costly and by moderates for its cuts to Medicaid. It is expected to be reconsidered next week.
Two of the largest US cable companies to merge.
Charter Communications and Cox Communications—the first- and eighth-largest cable providers in the US by subscribers—announced a merger in a deal consisting of $21.9B in equity and $12.6B in debt.
New York Knicks advance to conference finals.
The Knicks dominated the Boston Celtics, 119-81, to advance to their first Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years. New York had four starters score more than 20 points, while guard Josh Hart turned in a triple-double. They'll face the Indiana Pacers Wednesday (8 pm ET, TNT).
Pharma giant Novo Nordisk ousts CEO.
The Danish firm, maker of GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, has lost ground to competitor Eli Lilly in the antiobesity market over the past two years. Shares of the company have fallen more than 50% since mid-2024 amid increased competition.
Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 93 people.
The Israeli military said an estimated 150 militant targets were struck across the territory, while Gazan officials said hundreds of additional people were wounded. The strikes come as President Donald Trump wraps up a Middle East trip that did not include a stop in Israel. See updates on the war here.
Salman Rushdie attacker sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Hadi Matar, 27, stabbed and blinded the famous author in his right eye during a public lecture in Chautauqua, New York, in 2022. Rushdie has lived under a call for his assassination issued by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini over his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" for three decades.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
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