March 18 2024
Adult children
FLASH Putin wins 5th term, extending leadership through 2030
1 US economy boosted by immigration
2 Immigration is top reason why people disapprove of Biden
3 Global mental wellbeing remains depressed after pandemic
4 Parents financially support adult children
5 Russian economy remains resilient
Sports
3/18/1925 “Tri-State Tornado” hits, the deadliest in U.S. history
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1 US economy boosted by immigration
You have to marvel at America’s economy. Not long ago it was widely thought to be on the brink of recession. Instead it ended 2023 nearly 3% larger than 12 months earlier, having enjoyed one of the boomier years of the century so far. And it continues to defy expectations. At the start of this year, economists had been forecasting annualised growth in the first quarter of 1%; that prediction has since doubled. The labour market is in rude health, too. The unemployment rate has been below 4% for 25 consecutive months, the longest such spell in over 50 years. No wonder Uncle Sam is putting the rest of the world to shame. Since the end of 2019 the economy has grown by nearly 8% in real terms, more than twice as fast as the euro zone’s and ten times as quickly as Japan’s. Britain’s has barely grown at all.
Strong demand has been met by growing supply. America has 4% more workers than it did at the end of 2019, thanks in part to rising workforce participation, but mainly owing to higher immigration. The foreign-born population is up by 4.4m, a figure which may undercount those who arrived illegally. And the expanding workforce is being put to productive use. America’s flexible labour market has almost certainly made it easier for the economy to adapt fast to a changing world.
Economist
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/03/14/americas-extraordinary-economy-keeps-defying-the-pessimists
2 Immigration is top reason why people disapprove of Biden
As President Joe Biden starts his reelection year with more Americans disapproving than approving of how he is handling his job, Gallup finds his detractors mainly focused on issues when explaining their view, with immigration the single most often-mentioned factor.
respondents were asked to explain, in their own words, why they approve or disapprove of Biden’s job performance. In that survey, 41% of Americans approved -- a record low for an incumbent president at this stage of his presidency -- while 54% disapproved.
Specific issue-related concerns account for the largest share of Biden critics’ explanations for disapproving of his job performance. Immigration is the most top of mind, at 19%. The next highest is his handling of the economy (9%), followed by inflation (5%). Four percent cite his handling of foreign affairs, generally, as the main reason they disapprove of the job he’s doing, while 3% cite his handling of the situation between the Israelis and Palestinians, specifically.
Gallup
https://news.gallup.com/poll/610322/immigration-leads-reasons-biden-detractors-disapprove.aspx
3 Global mental wellbeing remains depressed after pandemic
This is our fourth annual Mental State of the World Report that provides a perspective on the Internet-enabled global population. In focus this year is one key trend – that the dramatic decline in mental wellbeing that occurred between 2019 and 2020, and continued into 2021 through the COVID-19 pandemic, continues to persist with no sign of recovery. The expectation may have been that once the lockdowns lifted and the threat of COVID-19 subsided that our collective mental health would begin a recovery towards its pre-pandemic levels. However, the data across 64 countries argues otherwise – that the effects of diminished global mental wellbeing have become a new normal. Indeed, many of the shifts that the pandemic brought about persist, from an increase in remote work to increased use of single use plastics, and could all have a contributing effect that must be studied and understood
Sapien Labs Mental State of the World Report
https://sapienlabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/4th-Annual-Mental-State-of-the-World-Report.pdf
4 Parents financially support adult children
Our third annual review of parental patronage reveals that the trend of parents financially supporting their grown children may be here to stay. Many are still spending heavily on their kids, even at the risk of straining themselves financially as they approach retirement or live on fixed incomes.
47% of parents with grown children provide them with some form of financial support (not including adult children with disabilities). This is a similar rate to last year’s report. On average, parents providing financial support give $1,384 to their children monthly. That’s more than twice what the average working parent in our study contributed to their own retirement savings monthly ($609 on average). 61% of adult children living with their parents don’t contribute to any household expenses, including rent. 46% of parents who financially support adult children give them money for vacations and discretionary spending, and 18% help their adult kids pay off credit cards. 58% of parents agree they have sacrificed their own financial security for the sake of their adult children. Last year, only 37% of parents said the same. Though most parents attach some strings to the help they give their adult kids, 29% of parents do so without any conditions.
Despite a general improvement in the economy in recent months, the practice of parents financially supporting their adult children has not decreased since our previous study. This may indicate that the economic recovery, evidenced by high employment, falling inflation, and economic growth, hasn’t reached young Americans unwilling or unable to wean themselves off their parents’ help.
Savings.com
https://www.savings.com/insights/financial-support-for-adult-children-study
5 Russian economy remains resilient
Many in the West hoped that Western sanctions and Mr Putin’s blunders in Ukraine, including the senseless sacrifice of legions of young Russians, might doom his regime. Yet it survived. As our study this week of life in Vladivostok shows, its resilience has several foundations. Russia’s economy has been re-engineered. Oil exports bypass sanctions and are shipped to the global south. Western brands from bmw to h&m have been replaced with Chinese and local substitutes. In textbooks and the media a seductive narrative of nationalism and Russian victimhood is promulgated.
Economist
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/03/14/rogue-russia-threatens-the-world-not-just-ukraine
Sports
UConn, UNC, Purdue, and Houston nab top seeds in NCAA tournament
Selection Sunday began with a pronouncement of the 2024 NCAA Tournament men’s heavyweight, as Connecticut — aiming to be the first back-to-back national champion since 2007 — was crowned the No. 1 overall seed out of the East. Other frontrunners Houston (South) and Purdue (Midwest) were also named the No. 1 seeds in the bracket, with North Carolina (West) snagging the final top seed, edging out Iowa State and Arizona. The tournament is scheduled to begin Tuesday with the First Four round. The No. 1 seeds — and the rest of the tournament field — will play first-round games Thursday and Friday.
Kansas gets #4 seed
Scottie Scheffler wins 2024 Players golf tournament, the first back-to-back champion ever
3/18/1925 “Tri-State Tornado” hits, the deadliest in U.S. history
The worst tornado in U.S. history passes through eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana, killing 695 people, injuring some 13,000 people, and causing $17 million in property damage. The Tri-State Tornado of 1925 traveled 219 miles, spent more than three hours on the ground, devastated 164 square miles, had a diameter of more than a mile and traveled at speeds in excess of 70 m.p.h.
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