Covid-19

1905 Supreme Court Decision Supported Government-Mandated Vaccines

A decision by the Supreme Court in 1905 upheld the government’s right to mandate smallpox vaccines and rebuffed the claims of a plaintiff who, like today’s anti-vaxers assert, “that they have the personal liberty under the U.S. Constitution to decide for themselves whether to take the shot.” The court ruled that the plaintiff “cannot deprive his neighbors of their own liberty — in this case by allowing the spread of disease.” Politico provided a comprehensive review of the 1905 case and its relevance to today in its September 8, 2021, issue. Smallpox was eradicated in 1980.

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Covid origins explored in Science Magazine, lab leak unlikely

For an in-depth review of the source of the Covid virus, a September 2, 2021, article in Science magazine provides analysis of why most researchers have concluded that “the virus, like many emerging pathogens, made a natural ‘zoonotic’ jump from animals to humans.” The article admits that the lack of cooperation from China has made it difficult to fully explore the lab-leak hypothesis.

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Italy to require a Covid work passport, UK scraps plan for an event passport

Italy has become the first European country to require a Covid passport to go to work, according to a September 17, 2021, story in Fortune. The Netherlands will require a vaccine passport or a negative coronavirus test to enter bars, restaurants, museums and theaters. Political resistance has been fierce in both countries. Meanwhile, “England has scrapped its plans to make entry into nightclubs and large events contingent on presenting a vaccine passport,” according to a September 12, 2021, BBC report. “Political pushback made it unviable at this time.”

Climate Change

Companies engaging on climate, but countries need to step up

Rich Lesser, CEO of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) told CEO Daily on September 13, 2021, that “there’s a level of engagement at the most senior levels of companies on tackling climate change that has never been higher … It’s getting the kind of attention that digital and technology were getting five years ago. You almost can’t be in a discussion with CEOs where they aren’t talking about this.” To get there, Lesser believes governments need to step in by imposing a price on carbon emissions and penalties on companies and countries that fail to take action and providing incentives for climate technology breakthroughs. “Absent government action, I don’t think business will go far enough or move fast enough,” he said.

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Pepsi setting ambitious sustainability goals

An example of corporations moving forward is PepsiCo, which CEO Daily reported on September 15, 2021, is putting “sustainability at the center of how the company will create growth and value.” The firm plans to have net zero emissions by 2040, net water ‘positivity’ by 2030, and a 50% reduction in the use of virgin plastic per serving by 2030.

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Countries aren’t doing enough about climate

If companies require countries to set policies to push their climate initiatives, then current trends aren’t good. CBS News reported on September 16, 2021, that the United Nations found that “none of the world's major economic countries have sufficient plans to combat climate change.” The majority of the G20 countries, which make up more than 80% of the world’s GDP and 60% of the global population, “have failed to meet their obligations,” including the U.S. According to a CNN story on September 14, 2021, a Pew Research Center poll of 18,000 people in 17 developed countries “expressed serious doubts that international climate efforts would effectively address the magnitude of the climate crisis -- 52% of respondents lacked confidence a multilateral response would be successful, while 46% were optimistic that nations could respond by cooperating.”

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North Sea wind has stopped blowing, causing energy shortage, and the need to use gas reserves

The combined efforts of European countries to develop offshore wind resources in the North Sea has been a major investment in decarbonizing their electricity grids. According to a September 16, 2021, story in Fortune, “just as Europe needs energy the most, the wind in the North Sea has stopped blowing, forcing regional energy markets to scramble for gas reserves to heat homes and power businesses.”

The Political Divide

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Former president Bush on terrorism, abroad and at home

In the September 11, 2021, issue of Letters from an American, the newsletter reports on former President George W. Bush’s reflections on the attack on American 20 years later. He called out the similarities between today’s domestic terrorists who attacked the Capitol on January 6 and the terrorists of 9/11. “There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home,“ he said. “But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them.”

The Future of Work / The Economy

Policy changes to make stakeholder capitalism a reality

A September 9, 2021, CEO Daily interview with Jeffrey Hollender, co-founder of Seventh Heaven, a Vermont company making eco-friendly products, revealed the three biggest policy changes that he believes would make stakeholder capitalism a reality.

• Full cost accounting. Putting a price on carbon is a big step in that direction. Companies have been encouraged to dump their externalities on society, and they would behave differently if they had to pay for those externalities.
• Digging in on the human side of the business. When companies underpay workers, it is another form of externality, leading to higher costs for society. A $15 minimum wage would be another “big step in the right direction.”
• Stop encouraging companies to avoid paying taxes by shifting their profits to overseas tax havens. A global minimum tax would move in that direction.

Seventh Heaven was sold to Unilever in 2016, and Hollender now heads the American Sustainable Business Council.

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Four reasons the next recession will be worse than the last one

A sobering report in the September 11, 2021, issue of eurasiareview writes that "with the market at all-time highs and seemingly endless 'free liquidity' being provided by the Fed, the last thing most people can envision right now is a major recession.” However, the article says we are in an “everything bubble” and the next recession could be worse than 2008 and gives four reasons why:

• Extremely high asset valuations. Stocks are trading 30% higher than the prior all-time high during the tech bubble peak of 2000 using the market-capitalization-to-GDP ratio. And home prices are 27% higher than at the peak of the 2006 housing bubble.
• Weak economic fundamentals. All the taxes, regulations, and other government interventions in the economy in recent decades have created a weaker and more fragile economy that will make the next recession even worse.
• Excessive debt levels. The U.S. total debt–to–GDP ratio is near recent all-time highs and higher than the high levels preceding the Great Recession. Global debt-to-GDP is also at record-high levels of over 300%, as is U.S. federal debt to GDP, at 125%.
• Limited policy options. The primary case for economic growth over the past 12 years since the Great Recession ended has been “free liquidity” provided in seemingly endless amounts by the Federal Reserve. With the federal funds rate at 0.1%, it doesn’t leave much room for the Fed to cut rates to try to prevent a recession, particularly with inflation at over 5% now.

The Nett Light-Side

Scientists toilet train cows to avoid pollution and climate impacts

Cattle urine is high in nitrogen, and when it breaks down in soil creates nitrate and nitrous oxide. Nitrate contaminates water supplies and nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. In barns, it creates ammonia, another polluting gas. Now, to address these polluting impacts, scientists have toilet trained cows by teaching them to withhold urination until they are in the right place, a latrine pen, according to a story in the September 14, 2021, issue of ScienceAlert.

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Orangutan knows how to wear glasses

In case you don’t believe that animals are smarter and more observant than we give them credit for, check out this video of an orangutan in a zoo in Indonesia who picks up a pair of sunglasses and knows exactly what to do with them!