Monday, August 4
Headlines
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is an agency within the
US Dept. of Labor. Kevin Carter/Getty Images
Reactions to Trump’s firing of labor statistics chief rolled in all weekend. The president dismissed Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of labor statistics, on Friday, following the release of a weak jobs report for July and major downward revisions to the numbers of jobs created in May and June. Republican Sen. Rand Paul told NBC News, “When the people providing the statistics are fired, it makes it much harder to make judgments that, you know, the statistics won’t be politicized.” On Sunday, White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett defended Trump’s move on Meet the Press, saying of data coming out of the agency, “There have been a bunch of patterns that could make people wonder.” Popular data guy Nate Silver explained the extensive history of Bureau of Labor Statistics revisions in his newsletter, Silver Bulletin, and concluded that the revised figures were likely not political. He noted, “The revisions usually don’t get as much media attention as the headline figures.”
Over 3,200 Boeing fighter jet workers went on strike. For the first time since 1996, members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers working in St. Louis and Illinois stopped work after rejecting a second contract offer from Boeing on Sunday. They are responsible for assembling the F-15 and the F/A-18 defense aircraft, as well as building missiles. Boeing VP Dan Gillian said the company is “prepared for a strike and have fully implemented our contingency plan to ensure our non-striking workforce can continue supporting our customers.” Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said on the company’s Q2 earnings call last week that he was not overly concerned about the impending strike, given that it was much smaller than the one that occurred last fall, when about 30,000 machinists in Washington state went on strike, impacting the production of 737 and 777 commercial jets.
Texas Democrats left their state to break a GOP quorum on redistricting. The TX House Democratic Caucus Chair, Gene Wu, said that he believed 57 of 62 members of the caucus left the state to defy a special session at the statehouse called by Gov. Greg Abbott, effectively blocking a vote on a plan to redraw the state’s US House map to attempt to flip five Democratic seats in the 2026 midterm elections. Most of the 57 went to Illinois at the invitation of Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, but some went to Boston and Albany, NY. They risk incurring a $500-a-day fine while being absent from work, and Abbott has threatened their removal from office. While their absence can’t stop the passage of the bill, the Democrats are hoping to “run out the clock” on the special 30-day session, according to ABC News. On Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said of the lawmakers, “As long as the governor is willing to keep calling sessions, ultimately they have to come home.”—HVL
Reactions to Trump’s firing of labor statistics chief rolled in all weekend. The president dismissed Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of labor statistics, on Friday, following the release of a weak jobs report for July and major downward revisions to the numbers of jobs created in May and June. Republican Sen. Rand Paul told NBC News, “When the people providing the statistics are fired, it makes it much harder to make judgments that, you know, the statistics won’t be politicized.” On Sunday, White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett defended Trump’s move on Meet the Press, saying of data coming out of the agency, “There have been a bunch of patterns that could make people wonder.” Popular data guy Nate Silver explained the extensive history of Bureau of Labor Statistics revisions in his newsletter, Silver Bulletin, and concluded that the revised figures were likely not political. He noted, “The revisions usually don’t get as much media attention as the headline figures.” Over 3,200 Boeing fighter jet workers went on strike. For the first time since 1996, members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers working in St. Louis and Illinois stopped work after rejecting a second contract offer from Boeing on Sunday. They are responsible for assembling the F-15 and the F/A-18 defense aircraft, as well as building missiles. Boeing VP Dan Gillian said the company is “prepared for a strike and have fully implemented our contingency plan to ensure our non-striking workforce can continue supporting our customers.” Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said on the company’s Q2 earnings call last week that he was not overly concerned about the impending strike, given that it was much smaller than the one that occurred last fall, when about 30,000 machinists in Washington state went on strike, impacting the production of 737 and 777 commercial jets. Texas Democrats left their state to break a GOP quorum on redistricting. The TX House Democratic Caucus Chair, Gene Wu, said that he believed 57 of 62 members of the caucus left the state to defy a special session at the statehouse called by Gov. Greg Abbott, effectively blocking a vote on a plan to redraw the state’s US House map to attempt to flip five Democratic seats in the 2026 midterm elections. Most of the 57 went to Illinois at the invitation of Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, but some went to Boston and Albany, NY. They risk incurring a $500-a-day fine while being absent from work, and Abbott has threatened their removal from office. While their absence can’t stop the passage of the bill, the Democrats are hoping to “run out the clock” on the special 30-day session, according to ABC News. On Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said of the lawmakers, “As long as the governor is willing to keep calling sessions, ultimately they have to come home.”—HVL
At A Glance
Photos from this year's World Dog Surfing Championships.
Longest recorded lightning bolt stretches 515 miles.
Russian volcano erupts after being dormant for roughly 600 years.
Nearly one in four US adult is serving as a caregiver.
See house portraits referencing famous movies.
The Utah mail center interpreting bad handwriting.
Explore an upcoming New York City train line.
World's oldest alpaca turns 27.
Clickbait: A face mask for Hannibal Lecter.
Historybook: Jazz legend Louis Armstrong born (1901); Anne Frank and family are captured after two years hiding from Nazis (1944); President Barack Obama born (1961); Meghan, Duchess of Sussex born (1981); Rwanda peace treaty signed (1993).
In The NEWS
The Watergate scandal, explained
The Watergate scandal was a major US political event in the early 1970s, triggered by a break‑in at Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex by operatives associated with President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign.
The subsequent investigation uncovered serious campaign finance violations and a cover-up by the Nixon administration, resulting in nearly 50 criminal convictions and Nixon’s resignation—the only time a US president has resigned. Federal prosecutors adopted the name "The Big Cheese" to refer to the president.
The scandal spurred significant reforms: new campaign‑finance laws, stronger ethics oversight, and tighter limits on presidential authority.
... Read our full deep dive on the scandal here.
Also, check out ...
> Gerald Ford is the only president not elected to the office. (More)
> Scandals that got the "-gate" treatment. (More)
> The wife of Nixon's attorney general was kidnapped. (More)
Going Public
A 101 on IPOs
An initial public offering, or IPO, is the process of a private company becoming public. In an IPO, a company puts up shares of the company on the stock market for the public to purchase.
IPOs often have all the pomp and circumstance of a graduation ceremony, as they are one of the biggest milestones a company can achieve. From Apple in 1980 to Reddit in 2024, every public company has gone through an IPO at some point.
To begin the process, a company hires investment bankers (who earn roughly 7% of the IPO’s gross proceeds) to help set the organization’s target valuation range—an estimate of how much the company is worth—and schedule an IPO date. From there, the bankers market the IPO to hedge funds and other large potential investors.
Transitioning from a private to a public company allows an organization to more easily raise a significant amount of capital. This helps the company expand.
... Read our full take on IPOs here.
Also, check out...
> The 25 biggest IPOs of all time. (More)
> Inside the circus that is the opening day of an IPO. (More)
> How private companies can bypass the IPO process. (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Retired
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It is important, before you retire, to plan out your retirement income. For instance, you can receive full benefits at age 67 which average $1,500/month nationwide. Then you can look at any retirement plan that you might have with your employer.
If I had stayed working at the Community College in TN, I would be receiving another $2,000/month in addition to my Social Security. Unfortunately, I was not that smart... instead, I was more interested in trying to increase my salary than planning for my retirement.
Looking back, that was a mistake.
Another option for you if saving money while you are working and then when you retire you can invest that money into a mutual fund or into a high-rate CD at your bank or credit union.
Mutual Funds historical earn 8-10% annually over a twenty-year period of time for the last 60 years. High-rate CDs are about half that amount and you receive about $400/$100,000.
At any rate, one must plan for retirement and the sad news is that most people don't so when they are eligible to retire, they are always caught off guard, and many are forced to continue working or work parttime to cover expenses.
One achievement that made a difference for my wife and I was becoming debt free 10 years before we retired, so we learned to always pay off our credit card debt before any interest was earned.
Be like a carpenter... measure twice, cut once
Scientists Find Secret Code in Human DNA
One person's junk is another's treasure.
An international team of scientists have found that strings of "junk" DNA in the human genome that were previously written off as having no useful function are actually pretty important after all.
The work, published as a study in the journal Science Advances, focuses on transposable elements, a class of DNA sequences that can "jump," via a biological copy-and-paste mechanism, to different locations in a genome. These "jumping genes" take up nearly 50 percent of human DNA; in other organisms, the proportion is even higher.
Sunday, August 3
Silver staffers aren’t leaving the office
Jacoblund/Getty Images
The promise of midday golf games and spending three hours drinking one cup of coffee at a McDonald’s is not enough to keep older Americans retired. As of last year, workers over the age of 75 are the fastest-growing group in the workforce.
Baby boomers (anyone in the 61–79 age range) are either refusing to retire or, increasingly, reentering the workforce. In some cases, they need to, as the cost of living increases and the Social Security eligibility age creeps higher. Additionally, only about 24% of boomers have defined pension benefits, and only half of private sector workers have access to employer 401(k) plans.
But some, especially white-collar workers, are choosing to spend their golden years in an office:Industries like nuclear energy are desperate for seasoned experts as the country starts to bring plants back online.
Less labor-intensive jobs mean older people can work longer with more flexible schedules. Doing a desk job for extra money might be more attractive if you’re doing it from a nice office with central air.
Older Americans are also becoming entrepreneurs: As of 2023, nearly a third of new founders are 45+, and the percentage of businesses founded by people 55–64 is rising.
Looking ahead…nearly 11 million older workers are employed right now, and that number is expected to jump by ~97% in the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.—MM
Robert Reich
Sunday thought: Where can we find hope?
Here's where you might look
Friends,
It gets bleaker and bleaker. He’s eviscerating environmental protections. He accuses Obama of treason. He’s ripping up labor protections. He wants to privatize Social Security. He fires the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he doesn’t like the job numbers. He forces the Smithsonian to take down an exhibit that includes his two impeachments. The European Union, Japan, Columbia University, and CBS are all surrendering to him.
Many of you ask me where I get my hope from, notwithstanding.
Three sources.
First, from all the young people I work with every day. They’re enormously dedicated, committed to making the world better. They’ll inherit this mess, and they’re ready to clean it up and strengthen our democracy. They also have extraordinary energy. And they’re very funny. It is impossible not to be hopeful around them.
At A Glance
Why cartoon characters wear gloves.
Nine unusual festivals in the US.
What was it like to ride the Transcontinental Railroad?
Roughly 10 million people get sick from food annually in the US.
How to teach kids emotional regulation.
Funeral for 92-year-old showcases the 3,599 books he read over 60 years.
The 50 most valuable private companies in the world.
What the music of the Romantic era was like, with examples.
Disease was responsible for two-thirds of the deaths in the Civil War.
Cameroon's peculiar tradition of spider divination.
Inside a mosquito factory fighting against global disease.
How a Russian bot factory is taking over online poker.
A Kenyan activist's bold plan to feed millions of students daily.
The 25 most populous cities in the Americas.
The mystery of the declining birth rate in the US.
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