SatSats

 

One of the most fashionable notions of our times is that social problems like poverty and oppression breed wars. Most wars, however, are started by well-fed people with time on their hands to dream up half-baked ideologies or grandiose ambitions, and to nurse imagined grievances.--Sowell

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If Trump thinks that Americans are going to support his party when his message shifts to “suck it up and buy less stuff for your kids this Christmas,” Republicans are headed to a Carter-sized catastrophe.--Nat Rev

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SatSats

Real median household income, for all American households, increased 73 percent from 1968 to 2024. That’s not stagnation. Interestingly, that figure is biased downward because of changing household characteristics, such as smaller families, an aging population, and more single people.

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Foreigners, especially in China, are already cutting back on purchases of our Treasury bonds—owning only 23% of our bonds vs. 34% in 2014.

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Forty-eight million adults in the U.S. read at or below the third-grade level. This is exaggerated by immigration, but still....

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Japan’s estimated child population has shrunk for the 44th straight year to a record low, government data showed Sunday, as the country grapples with a demographic crisis underscored by falling birth rates and a rapidly aging population.

The number of children aged 14 and under, was 13.66 million as of April 1, down 350,000 from a year ago, according to data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications ahead of the country’s Children’s Day public holiday.

By comparison, the proportion of children to the population was roughly 21.7% for the US in 2023 and 17.1% for China in 2024

In 2024, the country recorded 1.62 million deaths, according to the Health Ministry – more than double the number of births.

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*** In the last 30 years, the percentage of people with <=1 close friend has nearly tripled to 20% of the population. The percentage of people who report 10+ close friends has dropped from 40% to 15%. *** The Pirates entered Friday with the third-worst winning percentage in baseball (.316), trailing only the White Sox (.263) and Rockies (.162). The Pirates rank 21st in MLB in ERA (4.31), 24th in fielding percentage (.981) and 27th in batting average (.219). *** There was an approximately 5% decrease in electric- car sales in April, according to estimates from research from Motor Intelligence, while the broader car market grew by 10%. Monthly EV sales in the U.S. have only declined three times since 2021. Tesla reported sales plummeting nearly 13%; Rivian’s R1T pickup and R1S SUV declined by half. *** More than 41 million Americans are on food stamps. *** Russian update from Don: 2 million young Russian men have died or been wounded in Ukraine or fled the country. Inflation report: 14% with a central bank rate of 21% GDP is zero. *** The drop in ocean-freight bookings from China to the U.S dropped 60% since the tariffs took effect, according to Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen. *** Columbia's annual cocaine crop is 3,000 tons. *** The U.S. needs massive amounts of electricity to power the AI race, but it’s getting harder to deliver. About 28% of planned wind, solar and battery projects in the U.S. have been delayed or canceled, up from 10% in 2022, according to an Atlas Public Policy analysis of government energy data.