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Health News
The shortage of asthma medication, specifically liquid Albuterol, was caused by a number of factors, including manufacturing issues, supply chain disruptions, and increased demand due to COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The Omicron variant, which was first identified in November 2021, continued to be the dominant strain of COVID-19 in March 2023. Omicron is highly transmissible but less likely to cause severe illness than previous variants. As a result, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths decreased significantly.
Lilly dramatically cut insulin prices to avoid Medicaid rebates. Eli Lilly announced that it was cutting the list prices of some of its older insulin products by up to 70%. This move was made in order to avoid having to pay Medicaid rebates for hiking the prices of its drugs faster than the rate of inflation.
The Economy
SVB, or Silicon Valley Bank, was a bank that specialized in banking for tech startups. It collapsed in 48 hours after announcing that it needed to raise $2.25 billion to shore up its balance sheet.
The main reasons for its failure were:
- A withdrawal of deposits by its startup clients who faced a challenging environment for fundraising and IPOs due to higher interest rates.
- A lack of capital adequacy due to its heavy exposure to low-interest mortgage securities and illiquid securities backed by startups.
- A panic-induced bank run by its venture capital community who feared losing their money.
SVB’s collapse was the largest U.S. banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis and the second-largest ever. More than three years ago the CEO of the bank actively lobbied for the rollback of regulations saying they were too onerous. He sold $3.6 million in stock two days before the bank collapsed.
The Environment
Alaskan Fisheries Near Collapse
The Alaskan halibut fishery experienced a catastrophic drop and the crab boats made famous in the reality show “Deadliest Catch” have been stuck in port for two years after the near-total collapse of the snow crab population and the decades-long decline of red king crab. At the same time, subsistence and sport salmon fishing on the state’s two largest rivers has been shut down because of dwindling salmon runs.
Meanwhile, trawlers scrape 3 – 4 billion pounds of fish (including the salmon that Inuits are not allowed to catch) annually from the sea floor, and throw two-thirds of it overboard as bycatch. And while red king crab and snow crab fisheries have been shuttered this year, the trawl industry has still been permitted to discard up to 4.3 million individual snow crabs and 32,000 red king crabs as bycatch – and they don’t always reach their cap. Conservation groups and fisheries scientists that the trawl industry is causing greater damage to marine habitat than previously assumed and that the removal of vast quantities of pollock, an important source of food for other species such as fur seals and Steller sea lions, is causing disruptions to the larger ecosystem.
Wild Mammal BioMass 10% of Human’s
All wild mammals account for less than 10% of humanity’s combined weight, which amounts to only about 6 lb. of wild land mammals per person. And when you add all our cattle, sheep, and other livestock, that adds another 630m tonnes. That is 30 times the total for wild animals. Domestic dogs have a total mass of around 20m tonnes, a figure close to the combined biomass of all wild terrestrial mammals, and they also compete for Earth’s resources with wild animals.
Politics
Former President Donald Trump’s Indictment Over Stormy Daniels Hush Money
Trump’s former Lawyer Michael Cohen admitted paying Daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet about her claims of having had sex with Trump on one occasion years before the election. Trump repaid Cohen with campaign funds that were marked legal fees, hence the indictment for fraud.