Economy

At least 80,000 people died of flu last winter in U.S., CDC says (Adam)

CDC officials do not have exact counts of how many people die from flu each year. Flu is so common that not all flu cases are reported, and flu is not always listed on death certificates. So the CDC uses statistical models, which are periodically revised, to make estimates.

CDC officials called the 80,000 figure preliminary, and it can be slightly revised. But they said it is not expected to go down.

What’s the True Cost of Unreported Sexual Harassment? (jdargis)

It’s an undisputed fact that women often don’t report sexual violence; the Department of Justice estimates that two out of every three sexual assaults aren’t reported to the police. That makes it hard to understand the full toll of these events on individuals and on society as a whole. Using data on crime victims, several studies put the cost of rape and sexual violence somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 per victim. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated in 2016 that the national economic burden is $263 billion a year. More than half is attributed to a general loss of workplace productivity, with medical costs, criminal justice fees, and property loss and damage each accounting for a portion. About one-third of the cost is borne by taxpayers.

Invisible Swarms Of Particles Envelop Us All. Come Have A Look. (tmn)

For a study recounted in this week’s issue of Cell, Snyder and 14 other research participants donned the devices—some for a week, others for a month, one for a year, and Snyder for 890 days—as they passed through more than 60 distinct locations. Every so often, Snyder and his team collected the exposometers, sequenced the biological material in their traps, and analyzed the abiotic bits with a mass spectrometer. Finally, they translated their tens of billions of readouts into a colossal database of environmental exposures some 40,000 entries strong—the first such catalogue of its kind.

Merk Research: Fed Chart Book (Axel M.)

As part of Merk's in-house research we regularly evaluate a consistent set of charts covering the economy, equities, fixed income, commodities and currencies. The aim is to keep our eyes open and to look through the noise of the headlines, avoiding the distractions of sensationalized click-bait. In sharing this content, we offer a cross-check to your own thinking and aim to add value to your own process.

Sherlock Holmes Investigates Magnitsky’s Death (Afridev)

Sherlock Holmes investigates the death of Sergei Magnitsky, as well as looks into the possible role his associates, first of all Bill Browder, might have in his passing.

Don't Underestimate The Trade War Impact On Oil Demand (Michael S.)

The International Energy Agency, on the other hand, has kept its 2019 demand forecast unchanged in the latest fundamentals update, at 1.5 million bpd, up from this year’s projected 1.4 million bpd. Yet the agency noted that demand could be stronger were it not for the trade war and signs of stalling economic growth in emerging economies.

An Unforeseen Climate Beast Awakens (Paul D.)

Time and again the same storylines about “scientists surprised by how much faster the climate system is changing… way ahead of the models,” should start sinking in that anthropogenic climate change is on the march in a big way. Yet, leadership, especially in America, is as cavalier about the risks as General Custer was when informing his courier: “It looks like we caught’em sleeping.” It is axiomatic that wipeouts are never anticipated!

New Climate Debate: How to Adapt to the End of the World (Paul D.)

Jem Bendell, a professor at the University of Cumbria who popularized the term deep adaptation, calls it a mix of physical changes—pulling back from the coast, closing climate-exposed industrial facilities, planning for food rationing, letting landscapes return to their natural state—with cultural shifts, including “giving up expectations for certain types of consumption” and learning to rely more on the people around us.

Monsanto's Glyphosate Linked To Global Decline In Honey Bees (Alex M.)

The report titled “Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) on September 24. It provides enough evidence that glyphosate could be seen as the contributing factor to the rapid decline of honey bees around the world, otherwise known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind the queen.

Beyond Neonics: New Study Shows Glyphosate Also Major Threat to World's Honey Bee Population (Paul D.)

While it has been widely established by the scientific community that the class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids(or neonics) have had devastating impacts on honey bees and other pollinators, new research shows that Monsanto's glyphosate—the world's most widely used chemical weed-killer—is also extremely harmful to the health of bees and their ability to fend off disease.

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