🌞 Fake Steak – December 09 2021

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

• Markets: Bitcoin mining has hit a record pace. Miners have been moving to new geographies since May, when China outlawed the energy-intensive practice. The U.K. Pound hit a new 2021 low thanks to a new round of Covid restrictions. 

The Lead:Wages and Inflation

credit: istock

Could wages start to keep up with inflation? New research suggests maybe. 

The Conference Board’s latest wage survey shows that companies are planning to increase wages by an average of 3.9% in 2022. That’s nice but that is less of a raise than people on Social Security are getting next year, which is 5.9%. Inflation is currently above 6%. So a 3.9% average raise is not all that exciting in the end but it’s not nothing. 

Google says it will give every employee a holiday bonus of $1,600 each. Maybe that will help them retain workers. The Labor Department says that fewer people are quitting their jobs than in recent months. On Wednesday, a new report showed that job openings increased to 11 million positions available but fewer people were hired. The number of people who quit was down by 205,000 but there were still 4 million people who bailed on their jobs. 

Economists want to use the word “recovery” so badly but these numbers just won’t let them. 

America's Electric Slide

credit: giphy

President Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that sets new goals for the federal government to cut carbon emissions by 65% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. 

The bill states that all federal vehicles must be electric by 2035. The administration does not plan to phase out gas-powered vehicles on the road though. 

Carmakers have applauded the President’s moves towards electric cars because they are likely to receive big government subsidies to comply. 

But are electric vehicles really the answer? They are still made of things that must be manufactured and mined. NBC News reports that some areas in the Philippines are being destroyed by mining for nickel to make lithium batteries for EVs. 

Plug-in vehicles may not be the rainbow solution we are all seeking. They are better, sure, but they still take a toll on the planet. 

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Taxpayer Funded Religious Schools

credit: getty

The Supreme Court is hearing a case this week that will decide if religious schools should receive federal funding. Right now, the law forbids this. 

In 1947, the courts decided that no tax dollars should support any religious activity or institution. However, in Maine, some students in remote areas are given state money to attend a private school if they live too far from a public school. The state does not give the students money if they go to religious schools though and that is being challenged. 

If the Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs, Maine would have to give students money to attend schools that, for example, specifically teach that homosexuality is “perverted.” Is doing so supporting a religious organization? Or is not doing so discriminatory against religious organizations? That is what the court is deciding. 

Even if the court decides that the religious schools must not be exempt, the schools may not take the money because schools that receive state funding cannot discriminate on the basis of sexuality and these schools want to keep doing that. Still, it’s an interesting case to watch because it could have far-reaching consequences for private and religious education. 

News By The Numbers

credit: abc

12. That is how many U.S. cities hit an all-time high record for homicides in 2021. Five of those cities broke records last year too. Philadelphia leads the country with 521 homicides as of December 6. 

100%. That is the Rotten Tomatoes score of the new horror movie “The Last Rite.” 0%. That is the chance that I will watch it. 

14 years. That is the prison sentence for a man who was caught trading rhinoceros horn in Vietnam. This is the harshest prison sentence for this offense to date. 

127. That is how many journalists are currently being detained in China. A new report says that China is the “world’s biggest captor of journalists.” 

A Country Divided

credit: forbes

Social scientists asked themselves this question: If a global pandemic could not unite Americans, is there any hope of unity at all? 

So they devised a model to see if there was hope for the “United” States. Their model says there isn’t. Nope. Doomed. 

“We see this very disturbing pattern in which a shock brings people a little bit closer initially . . . but if polarization is too extreme, eventually the effects of a shared fate are swamped by the existing divisions and people become divided even on the shock issue,” one of the researchers says. “If we reach that point, we cannot unite even in the face of war, climate change, pandemics, or other challenges to the survival of our society.” 

Okay. Let’s try to avoid this. Here is a list of things we all agree with. Feel free to add your own and send it to us! 

• Pets are great.
• Babies need to be held and loved.
• Velvet gives me goosebumps and shouldn’t exist. 
• Wait, was the last one too political? 

Today's Live Show

TODAY'S LIVE SHOW AT 9AM EASTERN

Join us on today's live morning show we look at stories that might make us uncomfortable: 

• Wages aren't keeping up with inflation.
• Americans are more divided than ever.
• Should your tax dollars go to support religion?

Click here to RSVP and I'll see you at 9 AM Eastern. And feel free to start chatting in our chat room.

What's Trending?

credit: getty

Fox News Christmas Tree is trending because the 50-foot tree in front of Fox News was set on fire by an arsonist who is believed to be homeless. 

Sanna Marin is trending. She is the Prime Minister of Finland. She went to a nightclub on Saturday after her foreign minister tested positive for Covid. She was told she could go out but she left her phone at home and says she didn’t get the follow-up message saying that she should isolate. She has apologized. 

Florence Pugh is trending because she says she was blocked from Instagram after posting what can be construed as spoilers from the show Hawkeye where she plays the Black Widow. 

Listerene is trending after a U.S. Senator said that “standard mouthwash” kills Covid. The makers of Listerene say that it doesn’t. In fact, some experts say that mouthwash is bad for you because it destroys healthy mouth bacteria. 

#AndJustLikeThat is trending because Sex and the City’s new season is now available on HBO and the premiere was last night and oh the pretty dresses! 

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