Archive by Author

UN forecasts world population to pass 8 billion this year

The global population is projected to reach 8 billion by mid-November, according to a United Nations report released Monday.  

“This is an occasion to celebrate our diversity, recognize our common humanity, and marvel at advancements in health that have extended lifespans and dramatically reduced maternal and child mortality rates,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a statement.  

“At the same time, it is a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for our planet and a moment to reflect on where we still fall short of our commitments to one another.”  

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

In World Population Prospects 2022, the U.N. also predicts India will surpass China as the world’s most populous country by 2023. 

Report crafters also predict the world’s population will reach 8.5 billion by 2030 and 9.7 billion by 2050, with eight countries accounting for half of the globe’s projected population increase: Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Congo, the Philippines and the United Republic of Tanzania. 

The U.N. expects the planet’s population to peak at 10.4 billion during the 1080s and stagnate at that level until 2100.  

Worldwide population growth is in part linked to increasing life expectancy. In 2019, global life expectancy reached 72.8 years, a spike of almost 9 years since the 1990s. Life expectancy is expected to shoot up to 77.2 years by 2050, according to the report.  

But while the global population continues to rise, the planet’s population rate of growth is not what it used to be.  

In 2020, global population growth fell under 1 percent for the first time since 1950 according to the report, with the decline in part connected to decreasing birth rates in dozens of countries.  

In 2021, the worldwide average fertility rate was 2.3 births per every woman over her lifetime, a drop of 5 births per woman since 1950, the report states. 

Today, two-thirds of humanity live in a part of the world where women are giving birth to fewer than 2.1 children in their lifetime.  

READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA

RETIREES USING THE INTERNET GET A BOOST TO COGNITIVE FUNCTION

EATING MORE COLORFUL FOODS MAY REDUCE RISK OF COGNITIVE DECLINE

STUDY SUGGESTS THIS GAME COULD DELAY THE PROGRESSION OF DEMENTIA

EARNING A BACHELOR’S DEGREE COULD ADD AN AVERAGE OF THREE YEARS ONTO YOUR LIFE, STUDY FINDS

Source: TEST FEED1

Maybe the answer to $5 gas is higher pay

When I started in government in the late 1970s, I worked on energy and inflation. Both were bigger problems then than now. I learned then that presidents get blamed for gas prices and other inflation but can’t do much about them. So, here’s a suggestion: The Biden administration should spend less time pretending it can lower gas and other prices and more on helping people afford them — through higher pay.  

In the 1970s, every president had an anti-inflation program: President Nixon had price controls. President Ford had WIN (“Whip Inflation Now”) buttons. President Carter had airline, trucking and rail deregulation, which eventually lowered prices, and voluntary wage/price guidelines, which probably didn’t. Several presidents released Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPRO) oil and asked the Saudis to pump more.  

The Biden administration also has a plan.  It started with supply-side measures: unclogging ports, urging veterans to drive trucks and encouraging competition in drug pricing and meatpacking. Most are sensible but won’t do much anytime soon.  

Then it went after gas prices: sales from the SPRO, allowing more drilling, complaining about oil company profits, going back to the Saudis hat in hand and now proposing a temporary gas tax cut. None of this will bring back $3-a-gallon gasoline.   

Here’s a different approach: encouraging a wage catch up. Rather than continuing to demonstrate that they, too, can’t stop rising prices, perhaps the president and other Democratic politicians could focus on something they can affect: wages.   

To be sure, wages have been rising, but they’re far from catching up: Average wages in May were 5.2 percent higher than a year before, but average prices were up 8.6 percent. If average wages had kept up for the past year, they would have been $1/hour higher. (The same calculation done for the past two years is almost $2/hour.) Furthermore, there’s evidence that, because of what they actually buy, low-wage earners are hit hardest by inflation. To avoid the greatest hardship from inflation, therefore, wages – at least for lower-wage workers – should rise.  

This is definitely not conventional economic thinking. Most economists, more worried about inflation than inequality, are hoping that wage increases will lessen. They know wage increases complicate the Federal Reserve’s already complicated tasks.   

Nonetheless, with a policy of encouraging at least a one-time catch up of wages, the administration could make some progress on goals it cares about:  

Raising the minimum wage: President Biden has repeatedly spoken in favor of raising wages for working Americans. The administration has taken steps both to raise federal wages and to encourage others to raise theirs. But there’s ample room to do more. In 2021, for example, federal contractors were required to pay a minimum wage of $15/hour, but that same year Amazon, which established a $15 minimum three years earlier, said its actual average 2022 starting wage would be $18, plus roughly $3.50 in benefits. If a $15 minimum wage made sense two years ago, it doesn’t now. How about a new minimum of $16 or $17? 

Helping workers organize raises wages: As Amazon and Starbucks workers remind us, one of the important ways to raise wages is to organize a union. At Apple, merely threatening to do so in a couple of stores got Apple workers everywhere a $2/hour increase. Here, too, the administration has taken some steps to support both easier organizing and more collective bargaining, but much more is possible.  The National Labor Relations Board elections process remains cumbersome, slow and subject to myriad legal distractions and delays; speeding it up would make returning to work more attractive, reduce labor market bottlenecks and scare businesses pre-emptively into raising wages.   

Another benefit of this approach is that it reinforces market forces instead of fighting them. Wages are already rising because one of COVID-19’s many aftermaths is that workers are less willing to work at their old jobs and their old pay. Rather than making claims about inflation-fighting that are immediately proven false, elected officials could instead support and encourage wage increases that are both popular and already beginning to occur.   

There are, of course, plenty who oppose rising wages: businesses enjoying higher profit margins, the minority who don’t like unions and, sadly, economists who think we’d relive the 1970s.   

Would catching up lead to a wage-price spiral — or prevent one?  In the 1970s, both unions and businesses built inflation into their contracts. Union contracts had cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) that automatically raised wages whenever prices rose. Many commercial contracts had COLAs, too, so both wage increases and price increases automatically fed on each other, leading to a “wage-price spiral.” Economists shorthand this process as being one of inflation “expectations.” But a major part of the problem was that a large part of the economy had pre-programmed COLAs. Inflation back then was on auto pilot.   

The world today is, thus far, quite different. Far fewer workers are union members, and unions play a much weaker role in the economy. Furthermore, almost none have contracts with COLAs. Indeed, one of the benefits of encouraging one-time wage increases would be to create an alternative to restoration of COLAs. It’s also important to note that CPI-based COLAs are today also far rarer in commercial supply contracts.   

It’s no surprise that President Biden and most other Democratic politicians want to say they’re doing something about inflation, but every visit to the gas pump or grocery store shows that, whatever they’re doing, it’s not nearly enough. Maybe, instead, they could help the millions worried about high gas prices get the pay raises they need to afford them.   

Joshua Gotbaum is a guest scholar in economic studies at The Brookings Institution. He was previously assistant secretary of Treasury for economic policy, an official in the Department of Energy and special assistant to the president’s advisor on inflation. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Costco CEO: Consumers 'not doing bad'

Costco CEO Craig Jelinek on Monday said that he has seen evidence that consumers “could be getting cautious” but projected optimism as a number of economists warn of an impending recession.

“Overall, I think the consumer is not doing bad,” Jelinek said in an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

Despite the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate hikes, which aim to cool off demand by making borrowing more expensive, the unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent in June and added 372,000 jobs.

Those job numbers are slower than last year’s growth but remain above pre-pandemic levels.

“As you can see, unemployment is down significantly,” Jelinek added. “If people want to work, they can work. So my view at the moment — things aren’t so bad.”

The low unemployment levels have been matched with prices rising at rates not seen in roughly 40 years. Costco itself has raised prices on its fountain sodas and chicken bakes in its cafes.

As the Fed vows to continue raising rates to curb rising prices, many economists are warning of a recession in the coming months due to supply-side constraints. 

The Biden administration has looked to cast off pessimistic outlooks. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Sunday argued that many are “talking ourselves into a recession.”

Those supply issues are particularly pronounced for commodities like oil and grain, which have been affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But the nationwide average price for a gallon of gasoline fell to roughly $4.68 on Monday, down from recent weeks when prices topped $5 but well above price levels a year ago, according to AAA.

When asked about the recent drop in gas prices on Monday, Jelinek told CNBC he thinks it will bring relief to the “lower cohort.” Many of Costco’s locations offer gas stations for members.

“I am not sure if there is a reason for it to be down at the moment, other than there [are] less gallons being purchased at the moment,” he said. “Oil still fluctuates every time we turn around.”

Jelinek said his stores have also seen changing spending patterns, like a reduction in sales on computers and other hard goods. 

He noted how consumers bought many of those products in mass during the pandemic, so the recent decline could be a result of those sales moderating to normal levels, but he acknowledged the possibility of more reserved consumer behavior.

“The consumer could be getting cautious,” Jelinek said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Zelensky vows 'punishment' for Russian commanders, forces after missile strike at apartment building

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pledging that “punishment is inevitable” for the Russians responsible for a strike on a residential building that killed at least 30, saying those involved “will all be found.”

The strike took out two high-rise apartment buildings in the Donetsk region, and a rescue operation has so far only been able to save six of the dozens of Ukrainians trapped in the rubble, Zelensky said in his nightly address to Ukrainians on Sunday amid the months-long war.

“You know, Nazi murderers are found and brought to justice even when they are 90 or 100 years old. They are caught all over the world. Of course, we don’t want to wait that long. But I give this example to show that punishment is inevitable for every Russian murderer.”

When that happens, Zelensky said, Russians shouldn’t expect to turn to their government for backing.

“Russia will be the first to abandon them when political circumstances change,” he said.

Zelensky’s message comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new passport decree expanding a fast track to Russian citizenship for Ukrainians. He’s also introduced the Russian ruble as currency in occupied areas, part of ongoing moves to delegitimize Ukraine.

Attacks in Ukraine’s east, such as the one in the Donetsk region this weekend, underscore the challenges as Zelensky presses Ukraine toward reconstruction. 

He returned from a conference in Lugano, Switzerland, last week with a $750 billion recovery plan and the Lugano Declaration, a document calling for increased government transparency and a crackdown on corruption in order to facilitate postwar recovery.

“We have to hold on, we have to fight together on all fronts now — on the political, information and economic fronts, without showing weakness anywhere,” Zelensky said Sunday. 

Source: TEST FEED1

US leads in number of trees gained — and lost

Millions of acres of trees have grown across the globe and especially in the U.S. during the first two decades of the 21st century even amid growing deforestation.  

But although the U.S. is among three countries with the highest levels of new growth, it experienced one of the highest levels of tree loss over the same period. 

New data from the University of Maryland and the World Research Institute, which tracks trees at least 16 feet tall, shows the world gained nearly 131 million hectares of tree growth from 2000 to 2020, and 36 countries gained more trees than they lost. 

Europe experienced the highest net gain over 20 years at 6 million hectares – one hectare is equal to 100 acres.  

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, and Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in South Asia also showed net increases. 

The U.S., Russia, and Canada together accounted for half of the trees gained, but each country experienced a net loss. Overall, the data shows a net loss of more than 100 million hectares. 

Meanwhile, researchers warned new growth does not cancel out the loss of carbon rich “old growth,” noting that old growth areas provide the ideal ecosystem for many plants and animals to thrive. 

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news. 

Researchers said the “groundbreaking” dataset, which tracks both tree height and tree loss and gain, allows for a fuller picture of greenhouse gas emissions and absorption. The team is hopeful this will aid in monitoring climate change mitigation and reforestation. 

READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA 

GARDENING CAN IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH, EVEN FOR NOVICES 

POSITIVE INTERACTIONS LINKED TO SENSE OF PURPOSE, STUDY FINDS 

BECOMING ‘HANGRY’ IS A REAL THING, NEW STUDY SUGGESTS 

MOST AMERICANS HAVE POOR CARDIOMETABOLIC HEALTH 

OVERDOSING ON VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENTS IS POSSIBLE AND HARMFUL, DOCTORS SAY 

Source: TEST FEED1

Uber secretly lobbied prominent politicians, leaked files show

Ride-hailing app Uber secretly lobbied prominent politicians in countries across the world — including the current leaders of the United States., France and Germany — to achieve its regulatory and political goals, according to leaked internal company files released over the weekend. 

The “Uber Files” — which include emails, text messages and other documents from 2013 to 2017 obtained by the Guardian and shared with dozens of other media outlets — detail an extensive lobbying network that included many former aides to top political figures in the U.S. and other countries as Uber sought to expand its operations across the globe.

In many regions, governments tightly regulated taxi licenses, making Uber’s expansion plans a major disruptor to traditional industry rules. 

The reports reveal how Uber broke through those obstacles by leveraging its lobbyists to win over figures like President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor  Olaf Sholz of the company’s goals when the men were in lower political offices. 

In all, the leaked documents revealed more than 100 meetings with public officials from 18 countries and European Union institutions. An advisory firm further helped Uber compile lists of more than 1,850 “stakeholders” to influence in 29 countries, according to the documents.

The documents also revealed how Uber capitalized on violence against drivers to its political advantage. 

Lobbyist Mark MacGann, who was central to Uber’s expansion efforts across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, came forward publicly as the source of the documents in an interview with the Guardian published on Monday. 

MacGann told the outlet he decided to leak the documents because he believes the ride-hailing company skirted laws during its expansion and misled people about the benefits to drivers while lobbying for loosened regulations.

“There has been no shortage of reporting on Uber’s mistakes prior to 2017,” Uber Senior Vice President of Marketing and Public Affairs Jill Hazelbaker said in a statement, responding to reports about the leaked communications. 

She noted that the company has since hired a new CEO, who Hazelbaker said rewrote the company’s values, prioritized safety and made Uber a “different company.”

“We have not and will not make excuses for past behavior that is clearly not in line with our present values,” Hazelbaker said. “Instead, we ask the public to judge us by what we’ve done over the last five years and what we will do in the years to come.”

Many of the reports in part focus on the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Uber executives schmoozed and lobbied world leaders and oligarchs.

Then-Vice President Biden showed up late for his meeting with Travis Kalanick, Uber’s co-founder and then-CEO, at the forum, according to the investigation. 

But Biden was so impressed with Kalanick’s pitch of how Uber was transforming cities and the workforce that he appeared to amend his speech delivered later that day on digital advances.

“Ride-sharing companies employ tens of thousands of new people,” Biden said during his speech. “I met with the CEO today of one of those companies, saying he’s going to add two million new jobs this year, allowing them freedom to work as many hours as they wish, manage their own lives as they wish.”

Uber executives in Davos also met with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.K. Chancellor George Osborne, according to the investigation.

The investigation found that although the Osborne meeting was made public, Uber held meetings with six U.K. Tory cabinet ministers that were not disclosed, but the Guardian reported that it is unclear if lobbying rules would require such declarations.

The files also painted Macron, the French president who was then serving as finance minister, as a close Uber ally. 

The investigation revealed more than a dozen undisclosed communications between Uber and Macron or his aides between September 2014 and February 2016, including four reported meetings between Macron and the company.

French lawmakers in 2014 had passed a law banning one of Uber’s low-cost services. The documents show a series of communications the following October, when authorities in the French city of Marseille appeared to ban the company’s UberX service.

MacGann, the source of the leak, sent a text to Macron, the documents show.

“Could you ask your cabinet to help us to understand what is going on?” MacGann wrote.

“I’ll look into this personally,” Macron wrote back. “Send me all the facts and we’ll decide by tonight. Let’s stay calm at this stage, I trust you.”

The suspension order was revised hours later, according to the reports.

Kalanick, Uber’s founder, also met with Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, in 2016.

“Right now you are seen as aggressive,” Rutte told Kalanick, according to meeting notes published as part of the investigation. 

Rutte advised Kalanick to “change the way people look at the company” by stressing the benefits of Uber. 

“This will make you seem cuddly,” he told Kalanick, according to the notes.

Source: TEST FEED1

How excessive protein consumption can pollute drinking water

Americans consume some of the highest total and per capita amounts of protein in the world. While this may be good for human health, new research shows the country’s water quality might suffer because of it. 

Balancing individual protein consumption can reduce the level of nitrogen pollution in U.S. aquatic systems by 12 percent, according to new research published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. This could also lead to a four percent overall reduction in nitrogen in air and water. 

“When protein consumption outpaces physiologic protein demands, excess amino acids are degraded in the human body and nitrogen is excreted and released to the environment, mainly in the form of urea,” researchers at the University of California, Davis explained. 

Elevated nitrogen levels in water can lead to eutrophication or excessive nutrient richness, which contributes to high plant life growth and decreased animal life, due to a lack of oxygen. Excess nitrogen can also contribute to toxic algal blooms and have negative effects on drinking water supplies. 

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

To estimate nitrogen excretion rates, investigators assessed current U.S. protein consumption rates and recommended consumption rates, along with population demographic data. Based on previous studies, they estimated protein has a 16 percent nitrogen content, 80 percent is excreted in urine and 10 percent in feces. 

Models showed that if Americans adjusted their protein intake to recommended amounts, nitrogen excretion rates would be 27 percent lower in 2055 than they are today, despite projected population growth.

However, should current levels of consumption continue, nitrogen rates will increase by 20 percent from 2016 to 2055. This is due in part to a growing aging population that requires more protein to build muscle mass and combat frailty. 

Authors also found coastal cities have the greatest potential to reduce this pollutant on track to enter their watersheds. In particular, the Chesapeake Bay and Great Lakes areas, along with the mouth of the Mississippi River are all regions with high concentrations of land-based nitrogen pollution. 

In addition, although technologies that can remove 90 percent of nitrogen from wastewater exist, less than 1 percent of sewage is treated with these technologies due to their high cost. 

“It’s interesting to think about possible ways to cut into those nitrogen losses beyond expensive technology,” said lead study author Maya Almaraz in a statement. “Dietary changes are a healthy and cheap way to do it.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Barr subpoenaed in Dominion defamation case against Fox News

Former Attorney General William Barr has been issued a subpoena in connection with Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox News, court records show.

A filing made in Delaware Superior Court and dated July 8 indicated Barr had been sent a subpoena as Dominion works to prove Fox knowingly aired false information about the company following the 2020 election.

Dominion filed a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox last March, alleging the conservative cable news giant had aired defamatory claims made on its airwaves falsely suggesting the company engaged in fraud during the 2020 election.

Barr famously broke with Trump following the election, saying the Department of Justice had found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the election as the former president and many of his allies had claimed.

The former attorney general’s comments on Trump and his claims of voter fraud have been a central feature of the evidence laid out by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“My opinion then and my opinion now is that the election was not stolen by fraud,” Barr said during taped testimony played during a recent committee hearing, adding nothing he’d seen since then had changed his opinion.

In a recent filing, Dominion’s legal team argued Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch “decided to promote former President Trump’s narrative after Trump’s condemnation of Fox damaged its stock and viewership.”

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis last month denied a motion from Fox Corp. to dismiss the the suit, writing that the voting systems company “adequately states a claim for defamation per se against Fox Corporation based on its theory of direct liability.”

Fox has moved to dismiss the case on First Amendment grounds, saying in a recent statement that “limiting the ability of the press to report freely on the American election process stands in stark contrast to the liberties on which this nation was founded.”

The company last week announced it had hired Dan Webb, a veteran defense attorney and high-profile lawyer, as part of its legal team fighting the Dominion case.

Dominion and Smartmatic, another voting systems company, have also sued a number of smaller conservative cable networks for airing false claims about the election.

Source: TEST FEED1

Cancel August recess: We must do our job

As Congress returns to Washington after spending the last two weeks out of session, we find ourselves with just three session weeks left in Washington to complete our legislative business before we adjourn again on July 29 for six weeks of August recess. I know the value of spending time in our districts, which is why I make the almost two hour drive in from my home in Montross, Va., and back home each day. I spent the June recess visiting 13 businesses, hearing from my constituents, and traveling throughout the 1st District of Virginia. However, I also know our constituents expect us to get our jobs done, and the bottom line is that we have not finished our work. 

One of Congress’ most basic duties is to pass a budget and fund our government — yet, year after year, we continue to find ourselves budgeting by crisis. Instead of buckling down and getting spending bills done on time, we allow our government to be funded by continuing resolutions (CRs). These last-minute, stop-gap measures deny lawmakers the opportunity to thoroughly debate government spending and update funding priorities. CRs also prevent federal agencies from recruiting and/or hiring necessary staff, efficiently managing existing programs, or cutting programs that are wasting taxpayer dollars. Years of passing CRs to fund the government have led to wasted taxpayer money and government inefficiencies.

When we return to Washington, we will have just six weeks of session remaining until the end of the fiscal year. While I am encouraged by the work the Appropriations Committee did over recess to get all 12 FY2023 funding bills passed out of committee, I am less hopeful that the House will be able to complete all 12 bills before Sept. 30, which leads us to another CR to fund our government. Unfortunately, a lack of accountability to complete our most basic duties has become far too common in Washington, and we must change that culture. That is why I have consistently introduced legislation, such as the Stay on Schedule Resolution, that would force Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to keep members of Congress in town until all 12 appropriations bills are passed instead of adjourning for the August recess. 

Returning to completing appropriations bills before the end of the federal fiscal year — moving spending bills through the committee process and the House floor where we read, debate, and vote on them — instead of relying on a CR, will go a long way towards bringing transparency and accountability back to the budget and appropriations process. This would also create tangible steps to reduce our debt and deficit. Today, the national debt stands at more than $30 trillion. If we continue down our current path and continue to use this broken process, we will push the problems of today onto our children and grandchildren. We need to know where our money is going and work through our funding packages in a responsible, thoughtful, and deliberate way — not rushed through at the last minute. 

Last week, as I have done for years, I sent the Speaker a letter urging her to cancel August recess considering the incredible work members of Congress still must complete. In addition to failing to complete all 12 appropriations bills, our nation currently faces enormous challenges both at home and abroad that require direct attention and action from members of Congress. Between soaring inflation, skyrocketing energy costs, an unprecedented border crisis, and mounting national security challenges, members of Congress have a duty to work for the American people. 

The challenges ahead of us require a commitment to late nights, weekends, and remaining in Washington throughout August until the work is done. If the job isn’t done, you don’t give up and head home for vacation. The same standard should apply to Congress. We can’t continue to find ourselves in these completely avoidable situations. I urge Speaker Pelosi to realistically look at the challenges we face and keep members of Congress in Washington until we complete the work of the American people.

Rob Wittman represents the 1st District of Virginia. He serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Armed Services Committee, where he serves as the ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee.

Source: TEST FEED1