🌞 Puffer Coat – September 27 2021

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00am ET.

• Markets: Investors will be watching D.C. very closely this week as lawmakers race to pass legislation to avoid a government shutdown by the end of the month and debate raising the debt ceiling. Elsewhere, economic data on consumer confidence is also due for release.

Today’s Live Show

WASHINGTON TO START STIMULUS BATTLE TODAY

Join us on today’s live morning show at 9:00 AM EST right here.

On today’s show:

Can Nancy Pelosi get an infrastructure stimulus bill past a divided Washington goalie? We’ll loook at the very lastest on stimulus and what it means for families looking to pay off some burdensome debt.

Click here to RSVP and set a reminder and I’ll see you at 9:00 AM Eastern.

The Lead: Stimulus Week In Washington

credit: getty

Congress will be extra busy this week trying to approve an increase of the debt limit and voting on President Biden’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. The clock is ticking on the debt limit. If no agreement is reached by Friday, the government will be forced to shut down again.

The infrastructure package will come up for a vote in the House of Representatives on Thursday. Debates begin today. Some members say that they will not vote on this package before the debt ceiling problem has been solved. The bill to fund the government through December and suspend the debt limit until the end of 2022 passed the House last week but Senate Republicans oppose it.

No one can say what will happen but we’ll pop some popcorn for all the wheeling and dealing that must happen this week to keep the U.S. running.

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Covid Conflict of Interest

credit: getty

A research group that was studying the origins of Covid has disbanded itself because of ethical conflicts and ties.

The group in question was led by Columbia University’s Jeffrey Sachs. It had links to EcoHealth Alliance, which had accepted U.S. research funds to study bat coronavirus with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“I just didn’t want a task force that was so clearly involved with one of the main issues of this whole search for the origins, which was EcoHealth Alliance,” Dr. Sachs told the Wall Street Journal.

Dr. Sachs’ task force will continue to study the origins of Covid but not with EcoHealth. It will “include input from other experts on biosurgery concerns including government oversight and transparency regarding risky laboratory research.”

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization’s own study of Covid origins has gone nowhere and a U.S. intelligence report could not obtain cooperation from China so reached no real conclusion either. It seems the world will never get a straight answer to this question.

Modern Family

credit: ap

Democrats are looking to expand eligibility for the Child Tax Credit. This means that you would not have to be a relative of a child to receive this money. The credit would instead apply to anyone who cares for a child, related or not.

Researchers say that hundreds of thousands of children in the U.S. are cared for by people who are not related to them. Under the current Child Tax Credit payment program, those people would not receive the $3,600 per child payments to help them support those children. Democrats proposed a change to this rule in their proposed new tax plan.

Not everyone agrees that this should be done. The IRS worries that it cannot verify these payments and worry about what it would mean for other child tax benefits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Under newly proposed rules, an adult would qualify for the tax credit if they maintain a “secure environment” where the child lives, are involved in “financial and other support” as well as take responsibility for their education and medical care.

News By The Numbers

credit: usgs

22,800 years. That is the age of the oldest human footprints in North America, found recently in New Mexico. Scientists were able to determine the age after discovering seeds on top of the prints.

3,500. That is how many shark fins were confiscated in Colombia on their way to Hong Kong. Shark fins are believed to have health benefits but it is illegal to kill sharks for this purpose so the Colombian government is investigating the fins’ origins.

$250 million. That is the value of a lawsuit filed in New York City by residents of 432 Park Avenue. The skyscraper, located in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the world, is claiming that the developers failed to address over 1,500 defects in the building, resulting in “life safety issues.”

21 kilograms. That is how much carfentanil one couple in California had on them when they were arrested and charged with multiple felonies. Carfentanil is some dangerous stuff. It is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than regular-old fentanyl. It is used to tranquilize elephants.

Mosquito Season Heating Up

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Summer may be over but you may have noticed that mosquito season is not. Scientists say that this is due to climate change.

This summer brought a record for both heat and rain, two things that mosquitos love. For every 1 degree warmer the planet gets, the air is saturated with 4% more water. The more rain there is, the more pools and puddles there are for mosquitoes to lay their eggs.

Mosquitoes can carry disease and multiple states have issued public health warnings. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York has requested federal funds to fight off the invasion in New York.

“The mosquito is the state bird of New Jersey,” Andrew Dobson, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, told Grist. “But this year seems much worse than normal.”

That’s a joke. The state bird of New Jersey is the American Goldfinch.

Plastics In Your Poop

credit: acs.org

A new study shows that baby poop contains up to 10 times more microplastics (MP) than adult poop.

Shit!

The study focused on polyethylene terephthalate (PED) and polycarbonate (PC) in infants and adults. These are chemicals found in microplastics that are known to disrupt the natural endocrine system and are linked to all manner of health problems from cancer to Alzheimer’s. The study found that “infants are exposed to higher levels of MPs than adults.”

Why? 

Many baby bottles, food containers, toys and pacifiers are made with these chemicals. Also, babies crawl on the floor and can pick up debris a lot easier than walking adults. So what can we do to protect our babies’ bodies from processing plastics through their little systems? Reduce your use of plastics in your house, period! Use glass instead wherever possible and vacuum and sweep the floor more often. Also, support legislation that bans these chemicals from everyday items and let your local representatives know that you want this!

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