Money and Computing

Chair Jerome H. Powell at the "2021 Just Economy Conference" sponsored by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Washington, D.C. (via webcast): "Together, over the past year, we have been making our way through a very difficult time. We are not out of the woods yet, but I am glad to say that we are now making real progress. While some countries are still suffering terribly in the grip of COVID-19, the economic outlook here in the United States has clearly brightened. Vaccination levels are rising. Fiscal and monetary policy are providing strong support. The economy is reopening, bringing stronger economic activity and job creation." more »

Editor's Note: We found ourselves considering a copy of Knit Your Own Dog that we had acquired some years ago but hadn't followed through on that order. Beyond that our grandchildren may be of the age that this might no longer have an appeal in their dorm rooms. But for Joan Cannon the subject held appeal: "My son-in-law is allergic to cats. I don't know about his sons, who are polite to our dogs. No one in that group seems ever to have wished for a pet. It makes me nervous about their children, should they ever have any ... "Reams have been written about how animals — pets, in most cases — contribute to the comfort of human lives. Most of us have wept over Flag in The Yearling, Black Beauty, Old Yeller, and many more." more »

"Add at least four years of free education. Investing in education is a down payment on the future of America. As access to high school became more widely available at the turn of the 20th Century, it made us the best-educated and best-prepared nation in the world. But everyone knows that 12 years is not enough today. The American Families Plan will make transformational investments from early childhood to postsecondary education so that all children and young people are able to grow, learn, and gain the skills they need to succeed. It will provide universal, quality-preschool to all three- and four- year-olds. It will provide Americans two years of free community college. It will invest in making college more affordable for low- and middle-income students, including students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and institutions such as Hispanic-serving institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs). And, it will invest in our teachers as well as our students, improving teacher training and support so that our schools become engines of growth at every level." more »

A collection of research and insights from Stanford experts who are revealing the stakes of emission cuts, enabling better carbon accounting, predicting the consequences of future emission pathways and mapping out viable solutions. Scholars consider how the legal system might protect and regulate non-human actors. A new analysis suggests the health care industry can reap many of the economic benefits of a “Medicare for All” program through incremental changes to the private health care market. AI expands the reach of clinical trials, broadening access to more women, minority and older patients more »