News Story of the Day: The U.S. economy created 1.763 million new jobs in July, beating the market forecast of 1.6 million. This is down from the 4.8 added jobs in June. The unemployment rate slipped to 10.2 percent, coming in lower than the 10.5% reading in the previous month. Hiring did slow down a bit last month, which explains why the leading stock indexes did not pop in the aftermath of the report.
Chart of the Day: The Federal Reserve’s printing press has remained relatively flat in recent weeks. Could this explain why the leading stock indexes are experiencing less volatility and finish the sessions up 60 points or down 20 points? It is fascinating, considering that the Fed’s mantra is unlimited asset buying.
Illustration of the Day: Chances are, anybody who wears a Che Guevara t-shirt has zero clue about history.
Quote of the Day: Walter Block recently wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, here is a brief snippet:
Until such time as Homo sapiens should decide to rejoin nature, some of us can only hope for the right virus to come along.” So pronounced David M. Graber in 1989. In case it wasn’t clear he was serious, he added that he was “not interested in the utility of a particular species, or free-flowing river, or ecosystem, to mankind. They have intrinsic value, more value—to me—than another human body, or a billion of them.”
Who is this guy? Some uneducated drunk mouthing off at a bar? No. He’s a scientist with a doctorate in biology from the University of California, Berkeley (that figures). He was employed as chief scientist of the Pacific West Region for the U.S. National Park Service for more than three decades. He is a published author in refereed journals. The article I’m quoting—a review of Bill McKibben’s “The End of Nature”—was published in the Los Angeles Times.
Why was Mr. Graber so eager for masses of human beings to drop dead? Because, he wrote, “human happiness” is “not as important as a wild and healthy planet. I know social scientists who remind me that people are part of nature, but it isn’t true. Somewhere along the line—at about a billion years ago, maybe half that—we quit the contract and became a cancer. We have become a plague upon ourselves and upon the Earth.”
All we have to do to cease being a “cancer” on the planet is turn the clock back half a billion years—roughly 1,000 times the span since Homo sapiens emerged—and Mr. Graber will get off our case. True, that would mean no airplanes, polio vaccines, metals, dentistry, Mozart, air-conditioning, plans to go to Mars. But who needs those things anyway? It is more important that we again become part of nature, as we were, happily, eons ago.
Tweet of the Day: Andrew from Don’t Walk, Run! Productions is out with a new t-shirt. Christmas is still four months away, but this would be a great present.
New t-shirt and merch available in my Teespring store! What do you think?https://t.co/eiTJGw62b9 pic.twitter.com/f9kCoBem7L
— Andrew @ Don’t Walk, RUN! Productions (@DontWalkRUN) August 7, 2020
Video of the Day: Everyone needs more Joe Biden videos. So here is one more!
Leave a Comment