Today's Takes: Wednesday, June 16

In the absence of God, Science. CDC health officials, politicians, and celebrities that have been blackmailed into doing PSAs agree. "Trust the science," they sing with the earnestness one used to associate with portly choir singers. What they really mean is "Trust the Scientist." We all know this by now, but did you know that Big Science just cleared you to ignore work emails while you're on vacation? You can finally rest easy because they've run the numbers, and its conclusive. If Science is with you, who can be against you? Next time someone chastises you for not reading their emails, just show them this email newsletter (and remind them to sign up). They'll have no choice but to submit after you remind them how the word "vacation" technically applies to any period of time characterized by leisure. That includes trips to the bathroom.

Knowledge is power. Don't be greedy with this knowledge. We've got our own Science to do over here related to how many people read this newsletter.

Thanks for reading.

Headlines

🏦 Central Bank or Bust
Ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy announcement today, rampant speculation around the permanence or impermanence of inflation continues.

• JP Morgan CEO, Jamie Dimon, says he expects inflation to persist
• Paul Tudor Jones gives the green light on inflation trades if the Fed continues to view inflation as transitory
• Noted hedge fund manager Kyle Bass declares he thinks actual inflation is closer to 10%
• U.S. producer prices rose strongly in May adding to inflation fears

The Federal Reserve's aggressive assertion of its presence in markets makes them an outsized point of failure. Fed Chairmain Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are keenly aware that the announcement they make at 2:00 PM EST this afternoon must be couched carefully in delicate language, so as not to spook the junkies they've been peddling easy money to.

🥊 Biden vs. Putin
The Biden-Putin Summit in Geneva gets its own title alongside the G7 Summit and the NATO Summit capping President Biden's tour through Europe. Putin, who has already begun to launch verbal grenades, appears the vastly more competent leader heading into the anticipated showdown. If you're concerned about how Biden will fare during the summit, your concerns are not shared by NPR, CNN, The New York Times, or The Washington Post whose rose colored glasses—or, depending on your disposition, blinders—do not register Biden's declining mental condition, even though they've got high-tech glasses that let them see the "white supremacy" on birds.

🔋 Texas Grid Trouble
A scorching heat wave sweeps through the state driving the heat index as high as 110. Grid operators pleaded with citizens to keep their energy usage to a minimum until Friday as energy demand reached an all-time high Monday. Complicating the surge in demand, the energy capacity of the Texas grid was down ~15% because of power plant outages.

📺 Bring in the Joker
Since his run at the Daily Show ended, Jon Stewart emerges now and again to take a political stand or crack a good joke to make liberal policy and/or missteps more palatable. Monday, the latter occurred as Stewart voiced, to a visibly squeamish Stephen Colbert, the common sense stance on the origins of the coronavirus that your Aunt has been posting about on Facebook for the past year.
    + As an addendum: How Jon Stewart Killed Comedy (Read)

Nashville Politics

• Jim Cooper kicks off ’22 fundraising (Post)
  • Cooper's Democratic challenger, Odessa Kelly, disapproved. She only serves whoever the Justice Democrats tell her to
  • Cooper's Republican challenger, Robby Starbuck, doesn't even live in the district and only moved to the state in 2019
• Metro Council voted to approve $2.6 billion operating budget Tuesday (Tennessean)
  • The plan is $180 million more than the current year’s budget
  • The 34% property tax increase will bolster the increase
  • Teacher's will see raises as high as $7,000
  • 40 additional police officers will be hired
• Panelists to discuss the Tennessee legislation’s ban on critical race theory (Chalkbeat)
• Massive federal funding to locals could put burden on banks (Lookout)

Nashville News

• East Tennessee man arrested for blocking woman's car told officers he was "tired of millennials" (WSMV)
• Sean Brock on city's restaurant scene (Biz Journal)

Nashville Development

• Cracker Barrel raising $275M (Post)
• MDHA approval sought for Dickerson Pike residential building (Post)
• New images released for West End corridor project (Post)
• Germantown commercial building sells for $1.2M (Post)
• Boyle begins next phase of McEwen Northside development with $62 million office project (Biz Journal)

Study Says...

💔 Heart-attack sufferers who receive treatment during periods when interventional cardiologists are away at academic conferences are more likely to survive in the month after their heart attack than patients receiving treatment during nonmeeting days. (Link)

8th Wonder of the World

📈 An excellent example of the power of compound interest, the 30 best performing stocks in the S&P500 over the past 30 years (Link)

Rethinking the Wheel

♟ What would 1-D chess look like? (Link)

Free Facts

"In the summer of 2020, the protesters in the American streets were disproportionately Millennials with advanced degrees making more than $100,000 a year."

From George Packer's essay for the Atlantic which is not worth a read (Read Anyway)

Have a great Wednesday