Thank you, construction on the moon, longevity escape velocity, reader survey results, COP29 deal, nuclear weapons, China as savior, GDP outlook positive
November 25, 2024
Every other week, the award-winning Nett Report provides readers with thoughtful perspectives helpful to navigating life in a changing world. Past issues.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Health
On Thanksgiving – let’s remember two small, yet powerful words
Our friends at Nesso Strategies in a November 15, 2024, post, remind us of two small yet powerful words to remember this Thanksgiving: “thank you.” Two small words. Yet so very powerful. The post reminds us of the benefits of practicing gratitude:
Increased happiness and positive mood,
Better sleep,
Greater resiliency,
Better physical health,
and so much more.
Gratitude, at its base level, is the act of giving thanks. Of being thank-full. So thank you, Nett Report readers. And Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. readers and all your friends and families! I feel better already!!
Humanity to achieve “longevity escape velocity”
Computer scientist and futurist Ray Kurzweil believes advances in medicine will create a situation where humans will achieve “ longevity escape velocity” within five years. A November 25, 2024, article in Popular Mechanics says that, “the concept basically states that due to medical and technological advances, we will soon reach a point where our life expectancies lengthen by more than one year per year, effectively giving us time back on the clock. For example, we would still age a year over the span of a year. But our life expectancy would go up by, say, a year and two months, meaning we would functionally get two months of life back.”
Political Divide
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” – Dr. Seuss
Nett Report readers say why Democrats lost and more
In the last issue, I provided the three underlying reasons I think the Democrats lost the presidential election. And I asked readers to take a one-question survey to tell us why they think Donald Trump triumphed over Kamala Harris. Thank you for your responses, which were varied and came from both the left, the right, and the middle - although those who responded seemed to be more from the right than the left. Here’s a sampling of responses.
Because of four main reasons: 1) the economy and inflation; 2) allowing a ridiculously porous Southern border along with the attendant crime and drugs; 3) the continual "in your face" pushing of wokeness, DEI, and gender issues on the American people, who are sick of all these left-wing ideologies; and 4) the President calling half of the American people "garbage" a few days prior to the election.
Democrats and the legacy media continually "looking down their nose", extremely condescendingly, at middle of the road and conservative Americans obviously did not play very well.
It's the border, stupid.
Because they are out of touch with the economic struggles of everyday working Americans.
Americans are just not happy campers.
I really have no idea, but the thought that a 34-count convicted felon and sex abuser was elected is the saddest day in my life since I have been voting.
Harris could not articulate a plan for everyday Americans to be happy, lower costs, be safe. The US is ready for the right female president. Tulsi Gabbard would have beaten Donald Trump.
Putting abortion at the top (a move that was calculated to divert attention away from the dismal failures of a Biden/Harris administration).
Biden should have kept to a one-term presidency as he originally intended. Leaving such a short time for Harris to pull it off was next to impossible. Voters wanted an open primary to choose a candidate without the time pressure.
There is a huge anti-government sentiment among voters who don't really understand the role and need for government. God help them/us when we need a strong government. FDR has been forgotten along with Hitler.
The moral messages of both Cancel Culture and Woke-ism are very negative and, if implemented, would impact the vast majority of Americans who don't like them and don't agree with them. Also, their insistence on the forced teaching of "alternative lifestyles" in public schools runs against the superior rights of parents to raise their underage children according to their moral code. Their applications of Title IX present even more negatives to their political agenda.
Two readers had opinions that were based on conspiracy theories.
One reader suggested Harris paid celebrities for endorsements. FactCheck.org says that’s not true.
Another reader quoted discredited General Michael Flynn as a source, promoting a list of conspiracy theories that is too long to present here and suggesting it was Democratic lies that led to their loss. According to Wikipedia, Flynn pledged an oath to the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory and suggested the president should suspend the Constitution, silence the press, and hold a new election under military authority. Flynn has since become a prominent leader in the Christian nationalist movement, organizing and recruiting for what he characterizes as a spiritual and political war.
Survey: Should The Nett Report provide a forum for readers to submit what they believe to be factual information about the political divide so we can help verify or dispute the claims and provide a place for discussion? Survey is anonymous.
Climate Change
“Our world is complex and so are the challenges we face. But we can map out a future, literally, where people and planet thrive together.” - Esri founder and president Jack Dangermond, one of Time Magazine’s Climate 100 who has been recognized for his significant contributions to climate action. Harnessing the power of GIS technology, he’s helping shape environmental policies and strategies and promote biodiversity and climate innovation.
"I'm so mad. It's ridiculous. Just ridiculous. It feels that the developed world wants the planet to burn." - Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, Special Representative for Climate Change for Panama, who called the proposed amount to finance global climate change initiatives too low.
Climate change deal - $300 billion in financing by 2035, what about the US?
Last week was a big week for climate. The 2024 climate change conference, COP 29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, concluded on November 22, 2024, with an agreement for developed nations to provide $300 billion in financing by 2035 “to help poorer nations cope with impacts of climate change.” According to a Reuters story on November 24, 2024, “its intended recipients criticized [the deal] as woefully insufficient.” The Indian delegation representative said, "I regret to say that this document is nothing more than an optical illusion. This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face.” A previous goal to provide $100 billion per year by 2020 was met two years late and expires in 2025. UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon called the deal “an insurance policy for humanity.” The U.S. will likely pull out of the climate agreement when Incoming President Trump takes office.
Can the process used to limit nuclear weapons help to reduce fossil fuels?
According to a November 17, 2024, story by the BBC, nuclear weapons were limited by the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. A total of 191 nations agreed “not to give nuclear weapons to any another state and not to encourage others to develop them.” The treaty came about because of the fear of nuclear war. Because the world has largely failed in reducing carbon emissions, a group of Pacific Island leaders has suggested the development of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty that would “seek to end new exploration and production of coal, oil, and gas, phase out existing stockpiles, speed up the transfer of clean energy technology to poorer nations, enable a just transition for workers and communities, and help countries still dependent on fossil fuels diversify their economies.”
China sees itself as a climate savior and U.S. efforts as irrational
According to a November 12, 2024, article in The Economist, China believes it is a climate savior. “China is already spending more than any other country on the green transition. It is driving global investment into clean-energy technologies, which, as a result, are being rolled out around the world at rates unimaginable just a decade ago … China produces far more clean-energy equipment than any other country. Its companies manufacture enough lithium-ion batteries (which are used to power EVs) to satisfy the whole of global demand. Eight in ten of the world’s solar panels are made in China, according to the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental body. By building whopping economies of scale and competing with each other fiercely, Chinese companies have slashed costs.” An October 16, 2024, opinion in the China Daily, points out similar claims and says the U.S. is escalating the impact of global warming, and its response to global warming is “fundamentally irrational.” The story quotes NOAA as declaring China as the largest national emitter of greenhouse gases but points out that China’s per capita emissions are half that of the U.S. The story claims that U.S. tariffs to protect local manufacturers ”come at a grave cost to the world’s profound common interest in finding real-time and practical ways to curb the generation of greenhouse gases arising from massive and entrenched fossil-fuel consumption.” It should be noted that the China Daily is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Even recognizing that, it is important to understand China’s public perspective.
Oxfam report claims that radically reducing climate inequality is the solution
Oxfam, a global organization that works to end poverty and injustice through campaigning, development, and humanitarian efforts, released a report in October 2024, that claims, “the only way to beat climate breakdown and deliver social justice is to radically reduce inequality.” The organization says “the world’s richest people are using a disproportionate amount of the world’s remaining carbon budget and setting us all on course for irreversible and catastrophic global warming.” The organization’s data show that the emissions of the world’s super-rich 1% “are causing economic losses of trillions of dollars; contributing to huge crop losses; and leading to millions of excess deaths.“
Future of Work / The Economy
“Well, I think I'd be careful. We just don't know yet what these policies are going to look like. My strong advice outside the Fed — and if I were at the Fed — is: Let's be risk managers, not prognosticators. Let's slow down. We're not going to have good clarity on some of these policies maybe until spring of next year.” - Rob Kaplan, vice chairman at Goldman Sachs, and former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas regarding the Trump Administration’s proposed fiscal policies.
“Recession fears have diminished, inflation is trending back toward 2%, and the labor market has rebalanced but remains strong,” - David Mericle, chief US economist, Goldman Sachs Research
Goldman Sachs: 2024 beat expectations, 2025 to see 2.5% growth
A November 20, 2024, report by Goldman Sachs Research says the U.S. economy is expected to outperform economist expectations in 2025, as it did in 2024. “Goldman Sachs Research predicts US GDP will grow 2.5% on a full-year basis. That compares with 1.9% for the consensus forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.” Three key policy changes under the incoming administration are expected to affect the economy:
Tariff increases on imports from China and on autos may raise the effective tariff rate by 3 to 4 percentage points.
Tighter policy may lower net immigration to 750,000 per year, moderately below the pre-pandemic average of 1 million per year.
The 2017 tax cuts are expected to be fully extended instead of expiring and there will be modest additional tax cuts.
Goldman Sachs says policy changes will offset effects on economic expansion over the next two years. “The drag from tariffs and reduced immigration will likely appear earlier in 2025, while tax cuts will likely boost spending with a longer delay.” The research firm projects that the Federal Reserve will continue to cut the funds rate down to a terminal rate of 3.25-3.5% (the policy rate is 4.5% to 4.75% now). Goldman Sachs Research forecasts another solid year of global economic growth in 2025. It projects the US will outperform expectations while the euro area lags behind amid fresh tariffs that are anticipated from the Trump administration. Worldwide GDP is predicted to expand 2.7% next year The euro area economy is expected to expand 0.8%.
Fortune’s 100 Most Powerful People in Business
Fortune has released its list of the 100 most powerful people in business. The publication says the people on this list are those whose “words, deeds, and wealth shape what others around them think and do.” Here are the top ten:
The Nett Light-Side
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” - John Wooden, revered UCLA basketball coach
Architect predicts moon construction site by 2032
I don’t know if architect Bjarke Ingels is a follower of John Wooden, but his imagination is not stopping him from doing what he thinks he can do: establish a construction site on the moon by 2032. Ingles wants to use “solar-powered lasers to essentially melt moon dust into a sort of lunar obsidian,” according to a November 13, 2024, story in Fortune. He would use 3D printing equipment from his company ICON to construct buildings on the moon. Project Olympus is being developed in conjunction with NASA. The U.S. plans to launch a crewed mission to the moon surface no earlier than late 2026. “
Check out Jupiter from Juno spacecraft
NASA’s Juno spacecraft regularly returns images to earth. The most recent is from its 66th close passage to Jupiter. A November 14, 2024, story in My Modern Met shared the image above. "Since the mission doesn’t have a team of scientists dedicated to image processing, this labor relies on the work of citizen scientists, who have done some spectacular work by producing images that highlight the turbulent storms on Jupiter.”
The day that time changed in 1883
We have all grown up accepting time zones and now can find the time anywhere in the world. It wasn’t always that way. According to historian Heather Cox Richardson in the November 17, 2024, issue of Letters from an American, “railroads across the United States operated under 53 different time schedules, differentiated on railroad maps by a complicated system of colors. For travelers, time shifts meant constant confusion and, frequently, missed trains. And then, at noon on Sunday, November 18, 1883, railroads across the North American continent shifted their schedules to conform to a new standard time. Under the new system, North America would have just five time zones.”
Carl Nettleton is an award-winning writer, speaker, thought partner, facilitator, and subject-matter expert regarding water, climate, sustainability, the ocean, and binational U.S.-Mexico border affairs. Nettleton Strategies, the consultancy he founded in 2007, is a trusted source of analysis and advice on issues at the forefront of public policy, business, and the environment. He helps people and organizations to think strategically about their options for change. He is also the founder of OpenOceans Global, a nonprofit addressing ocean plastic in a new way.