- Is It Time to Break Up Google? (NYT) "Google has an 88 percent market share in search advertising, Facebook (and its subsidiaries Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger) owns 77 percent of mobile social traffic and Amazon has a 74 percent share in the e-book market. In classic economic terms, all three are monopolies. Could it be that these companies — and Google in particular — have become natural monopolies by supplying an entire market’s demand for a service, at a price lower than what would be offered by two competing firms? And if so, is it time to regulate them like public utilities?"
BUSINESS/ECONOMY:
- U.S. Can Afford Trump's Radical Tax Cut (Bloomberg) "Most versions of the plan, if executed properly on the details, would most likely boost economic output and create new jobs. The simplest way to think of an unfunded corporate tax cut is that the federal government has to borrow more money, say at rates in the range of 1 percent to 2 percent, while corporations have more money to invest. Estimates vary for the rate of return on private capital, but 5 percent to 10 percent is one plausible estimate. So in essence, society is borrowing money at 1 to 2 percent and may be receiving 5 to 10 percent in return. That is a net gain, not an economic cost."
BUSINESS/ECONOMY:
- U.S. Can Afford Trump's Radical Tax Cut (Bloomberg) "Most versions of the plan, if executed properly on the details, would most likely boost economic output and create new jobs. The simplest way to think of an unfunded corporate tax cut is that the federal government has to borrow more money, say at rates in the range of 1 percent to 2 percent, while corporations have more money to invest. Estimates vary for the rate of return on private capital, but 5 percent to 10 percent is one plausible estimate. So in essence, society is borrowing money at 1 to 2 percent and may be receiving 5 to 10 percent in return. That is a net gain, not an economic cost."
- ESPN and the cable TV crisis (Axios) "ESPN's dilemma is a reflection of what many in the cable industry are facing today in higher production costs, dwindling subscribers and stagnant ad revenues. By nearly every measure, signs point to thinning margins for the cable industry, and an eventual newspaper-like revenue collapse as viewers migrate their attention to streaming and social media."
HEALTH:
- Long-term birth control is the most reliable. So why do so few young women use it? (WaPo) "One reason is lingering myths about their safety in young women. Older versions of IUDs were thought to be too large for some young women, but that’s no longer a concern... Another reason more young women don’t use IUDs or implants is access, particularly on campus. Cost can be a barrier, as well. Even if you’re paying some of the cost, IUDs are the most cost-effective birth control method, Brandi says. The non-hormonal IUD Paragard is good for 10 years and cost-wise beats paying $20 per month for birth control pills."
- Why flavored waters are bad for your teeth (WaPo) "The problem is that these drinks’ flavor essences, mostly citric and other fruit acids, cause significant tooth erosion... When you add carbonation to flavored water, you get a one-two punch of acidity."
NEWS:
- The Drumbeats Don’t Add Up to Imminent War With North Korea (NYT) "The drumbeat of bellicose threats and military muscle-flexing on both sides overstates the danger of a clash between the United States and North Korea, senior Trump administration officials and experts who have followed the Korean crisis for decades said."
- Judge: Mostly white Southern city may secede from school district despite racial motive (WaPo) "For years, Gardendale, a bedroom community of Birmingham, has been pushing to form its own small school system. That would mean leaving the school system of surrounding Jefferson County, where black students outnumber whites. The Justice Department, which had opposed the separation, declined to comment on the ruling."
SOCIALIZED MEDICINE:
- Republicans exempt their own insurance from their latest health care proposal (Vox) "A bit of background is helpful here. Obamacare requires all members of Congress and their staff to purchase coverage on the individual market, just like Obamacare enrollees. The politics of that plank were simple enough, meant to demonstrate that if the coverage in this law were good enough for Americans than it should be good enough for their representations in Washington. Fast-forward to this new amendment, which would allow states to waive out of key Obamacare protections like the ban on pre-existing conditions or the requirement to cover things like maternity care and mental health services. If Congressional aides lived in a state that decided to waive these protections, the aides who were sick could be vulnerable to higher premiums than the aides that are healthy. Their benefits package could get skimpier as Obamacare’s essential health benefits requirement may no longer apply either. This apparently does not sound appealing because the Republican amendment includes the members of Congress and their staff as a protected group who cannot be affected by this amendment."
SPORTS:
- Meditation, Mindfulness and the Rise of Baseball Shrinks (Ozy) "Today, at least half of major league teams have a full-time mental skills coach on staff, and some, like the Cubs, have implemented comprehensive mental programs at every level of the organization. Baseball is changing — and the new path to success is the six inches between the ears. These days, lodged between morning batting practice and fielding drills, weight training and cryogenic chamber recovery therapy, several meals and, of course, the actual games, players across baseball pencil in time to mentally reset."
TRUMPTELL:
- Trump’s lies are working brilliantly. This new poll proves it. (WaPo) "With the White House visibly agitated by the possibility of brutally negative coverage of President Trump’s tenure thus far, he has insisted that the press is misrepresenting his record, while also vastly inflating it himself — thus preparing his voters to dismiss everything they are being told about his historic lack of accomplishments. ...enormous majorities of his voters believe the news media regularly publishes false stories. Even bigger majorities of them believe the news media’s falsehoods are a bigger problem than Trump’s falsehoods are, while only small fractions think Trump tells falsehoods or that his lies are the greater problem."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- A Dying Man's Lost Recipe Made His Daughter a Multimillionaire (Bloomberg) "...he left behind something that would change her life: a recipe for fried meat on a stick. The university dropout who once worked as an office lady now sets strategy for the $82 million Kushikatsu Tanaka Co."
TODAY'S SONG:
- Doomsday (Ryan Adams)
HEALTH:
- Long-term birth control is the most reliable. So why do so few young women use it? (WaPo) "One reason is lingering myths about their safety in young women. Older versions of IUDs were thought to be too large for some young women, but that’s no longer a concern... Another reason more young women don’t use IUDs or implants is access, particularly on campus. Cost can be a barrier, as well. Even if you’re paying some of the cost, IUDs are the most cost-effective birth control method, Brandi says. The non-hormonal IUD Paragard is good for 10 years and cost-wise beats paying $20 per month for birth control pills."
- Why flavored waters are bad for your teeth (WaPo) "The problem is that these drinks’ flavor essences, mostly citric and other fruit acids, cause significant tooth erosion... When you add carbonation to flavored water, you get a one-two punch of acidity."
NEWS:
- The Drumbeats Don’t Add Up to Imminent War With North Korea (NYT) "The drumbeat of bellicose threats and military muscle-flexing on both sides overstates the danger of a clash between the United States and North Korea, senior Trump administration officials and experts who have followed the Korean crisis for decades said."
- Judge: Mostly white Southern city may secede from school district despite racial motive (WaPo) "For years, Gardendale, a bedroom community of Birmingham, has been pushing to form its own small school system. That would mean leaving the school system of surrounding Jefferson County, where black students outnumber whites. The Justice Department, which had opposed the separation, declined to comment on the ruling."
SOCIALIZED MEDICINE:
- Republicans exempt their own insurance from their latest health care proposal (Vox) "A bit of background is helpful here. Obamacare requires all members of Congress and their staff to purchase coverage on the individual market, just like Obamacare enrollees. The politics of that plank were simple enough, meant to demonstrate that if the coverage in this law were good enough for Americans than it should be good enough for their representations in Washington. Fast-forward to this new amendment, which would allow states to waive out of key Obamacare protections like the ban on pre-existing conditions or the requirement to cover things like maternity care and mental health services. If Congressional aides lived in a state that decided to waive these protections, the aides who were sick could be vulnerable to higher premiums than the aides that are healthy. Their benefits package could get skimpier as Obamacare’s essential health benefits requirement may no longer apply either. This apparently does not sound appealing because the Republican amendment includes the members of Congress and their staff as a protected group who cannot be affected by this amendment."
SPORTS:
- Meditation, Mindfulness and the Rise of Baseball Shrinks (Ozy) "Today, at least half of major league teams have a full-time mental skills coach on staff, and some, like the Cubs, have implemented comprehensive mental programs at every level of the organization. Baseball is changing — and the new path to success is the six inches between the ears. These days, lodged between morning batting practice and fielding drills, weight training and cryogenic chamber recovery therapy, several meals and, of course, the actual games, players across baseball pencil in time to mentally reset."
TRUMPTELL:
- Trump’s lies are working brilliantly. This new poll proves it. (WaPo) "With the White House visibly agitated by the possibility of brutally negative coverage of President Trump’s tenure thus far, he has insisted that the press is misrepresenting his record, while also vastly inflating it himself — thus preparing his voters to dismiss everything they are being told about his historic lack of accomplishments. ...enormous majorities of his voters believe the news media regularly publishes false stories. Even bigger majorities of them believe the news media’s falsehoods are a bigger problem than Trump’s falsehoods are, while only small fractions think Trump tells falsehoods or that his lies are the greater problem."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- A Dying Man's Lost Recipe Made His Daughter a Multimillionaire (Bloomberg) "...he left behind something that would change her life: a recipe for fried meat on a stick. The university dropout who once worked as an office lady now sets strategy for the $82 million Kushikatsu Tanaka Co."
TODAY'S SONG:
- Doomsday (Ryan Adams)
Sign up for email distribution of the Day's Most Compelling News below or by visiting Top of the News
No comments:
Post a Comment