Sometimes it’s hard to tell when reporters are joking and when they’re being serious. On Sunday at the White House daily coronavirus press briefing, more than one reporter asked the president about whether or not he should be wearing a mask to the briefings…while they themselves, were not wearing masks.
One reporter, who was not wearing a mask, noted the former Vice President Joe Biden said he would start wearing a mask outdoors, and he asked President Trump if he and the White House task force would start wearing masks.
“Are we getting to the point where we might see the members of the coronavirus task force also wear face coverings?” the reporter asked. Again, not wearing a mask…
Trump said the advisory was voluntary and that he would have no problem with anyone wearing a mask. Another reporter asked why the first lady recommended that Americans wear masks when they were in public. “She feels that way,” Trump said. “I would wear one,” he said. “Would you like me to wear one right now? That would be a little awkward, I guess. But again, I would wear one if I thought it was important.”
Another reporter asked Dr. Anthony Fauci why he was not wearing a mask. Trump grinned as Fauci responded that the main reason to wear a mask was to prevent sick individuals from spreading the virus. “I had a test today, and it was negative,” Fauci said shortly. The media doesn’t even think anymore.
Are you wearng a mask or is this overblown by the media? Reply to this email and let us know what you think.
Commodities and Climate
A Fossil Fuel May be the Key to Addressing Climate Change
As if you needed anymore evidence that the world is a divided and close-minded place, look to natural gas. Whether you believe climate change is not caused by humans, caused by humans but not reversible, or that climate change doesn’t exist at all, it’s hard to argue against “cleaner air is better air”.
Environmentalists and those at the far left of the Democratic Party want to abolish fossil fuels completely, but one of the key factors in reducing the United States carbon footprint recently, has in fact been a fossil fuel. Natural gas.
Over the past eight years the United States has reduced its emissions of greenhouse gases by more than any other country. U.S. carbon emissions are now at their lowest level since 1992. This happened mostly by switching from high carbon coal to low carbon nat gas and carbon-free solar and wind as one of our primary sources of electricity. Only 40 percent of the total reduction comes from the switch to solar and wind, while the other 60 percent is switching to nat gas from coal.
Wind and solar work for large scale generation of electricity, but it is and will always be reliant on the presence of sun and wind. Since there really is no cheap way to store electricity yet, there has to be a carbon backup. Nat gas is plentiful and it is cheap, but best of all for those concerned with the air, it is clean burning. So next time you’re talking all things climate change with anyone and an argument breaks out, ask the person how they feel about nat gas. If they are against it, then they are hypocrites.
Why You can’t Trust the Media Anymore
People don’t trust the media anymore and twitter may be one of the main reasons. The speed that people are getting “news” means two things. Less fact-checking and more spontaneous personal bias. You almost can’t blame them as they flail around like fish on a line trying not to die. But you can’t compete with the speed of the twittersphere so you should be trying to compete with the accuracy. Nope.
On Sunday, Trump mentioned that he’d seen some places selling gas as low as $0.91 per gallon, which is probbaly not right, but not far off. The misake is understandable. If you understand the most basic supply and demand, you know that supply is way up and demand is way down, with the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and all the lockdowns.
James Hohmann, a national correspondent for the Washington Post chose to go with speed and posted on Twitter, “Trump just said he’s seeing gas selling for 91 cents a gallon. AAA says the national average is $1.94”. Sayin you are “seeing some places selling gas at 91 cents” is not saying that is “the average”. But he didn’t want accuracy, he wanted to call Trump stupid at best, a liar at worst.
Whether you think Trump is stupid or dishonest isn’t the point, the point is, this is why you can’t trust the media. Basic math wasn’t a factor for James, just getting what he thought was an obvious slam out there first, was the point. Turns out many people from rural communities pointed out the him that they were seeing gas around $1.00 a gallon. Good work James, you proved Trump right again.
Pharma is The Place to Be
According to stockbrokers, pharmaceutical companies are in the best position to navigate their businesses through the economic slowdown from the coronavirus lockdowns. Especially versus health care, whose costs are going to be impossible to estimate at this point.
The pharma and healthcare sectors have a critical role in supporting the government and people and they are doing a decent job so far, managing the key medical supplies during this rush of demand. Both healthcare and pharma fall under essential commodities and are basically immune from the business shutdowns.
However, brokerages are pointing out the 21-day lockdown has caused several unprecedented challenges like low employee attendance, shipping and receiving problems and getting supplies like packaging and labelling has not been smooth. That means most plants are not producing what they can.
Pharma though, seems poised to clear up these issues much quicker and respond to pent up demand for non-essential drugs that may be out of stock now. Healthcare may see a lag.
Play it safe and responsible with a pharma ETF’s like PJP (NYSEARCA) or XPH (NYSEARCA) to take advantage of this. Picking the right pharma stock is too hard in times of a pandemic. Most people will be looking for the one that cures COVID-19 and the others will suffer but an ETF will give you more broad-based exposure.
TP Art
Crazy stuff happens in Florida. A Florida man who owns an arts and crafts business has poked fun at the toilet paper hoarding that has gripped the nation because of COVID-19 lockdowns, by hanging a giant roll from his trees.
Donald Ryan, owner of the arts and crafts business “Who Wood Wonder,” hung the replica roll between two trees in his front yard. “I had the pulleys in the trees all along because I do Christmas decorations up there and Halloween and Easter and all kinds of things, so I put it to use,” Ryan said. “I think the whole idea is crazy; the toilet paper phenomenon.”
He built the replica himself partially out of wood, then painted the name of his business on the paper. “Everybody loves it,” Ryan continued. “You got to laugh, or you’re going to just drive yourself crazy.”
We always say if you’ve got wood, don’t waste it. Use it.