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John Deere should be plowing forward on all cylinders. After all, this is supposed to be an American era that cultivates ideal conditions for companies just like Deere to enjoy a bountiful harvest. As the NYT (Gift Article) reports, "John Deere is just the sort of manufacturing powerhouse that Mr. Trump says he wants more of in the United States. The company, based in Moline, Ill., has made farm equipment since 1837. Its green-and-yellow tractors, combines and sprayers help farmers feed the country and produce billions of dollars’ worth of crops for export. The company employs 30,000 workers in 60 facilities across the country and said more than 75 percent of its machines were assembled in the United States. Just 25 percent of the components used in its products come from foreign countries." But John Deere is not reaping what it thought it sowed. John Deere, a U.S. Icon, Is Undermined by Tariffs and Struggling Farmers. Maybe investors, employees, farmers, and everyone else should have taken it more seriously when Trump threatened John Deere during the campaign. Those threats continue to grow like weeds. John Deere already makes a perfectly good manure spreader. America didn't need another one.
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A Horatio Algebra Story
"A new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll finds that the share of people who say they have a good chance of improving their standard of living fell to 25%, a record low in surveys dating to 1987. More than three-quarters said they lack confidence that life for the next generation will be better than their own, the poll found. Nearly 70% of people said they believe the American dream—that if you work hard, you will get ahead—no longer holds true or never did, the highest level in nearly 15 years of surveys." Americans Lose Faith That Hard Work Leads to Economic Gains.
+ Maybe these numbers have something to do with those numbers. The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%. (And this article is from back in 2020.)
+ "There were 1,135 billionaires in the U.S. as of 2024—up from 927 in 2020, according to data from Altrata, a wealth-intelligence firm. The biggest concentration, 255 of them, is in California. But the super rich are also behind businesses in places such as Ridgeland, Miss., and Waunakee, Wisc. Collectively, these people are worth about $5.7 trillion." What We Know About America’s Billionaires.
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Up For Debate
"During my sophomore year, I participated in my school’s debate team. I was excited to have a space outside the classroom where creativity, critical thinking, and intellectual rigor were valued and sharpened. I love the rush of building arguments from scratch. ChatGPT was released back in 2022, when I was a freshman, but the debate team weathered that first year without being overly influenced by the technology—at least as far as I could tell. But soon, AI took hold there as well. Many students avoided the technology and still stand against it, but it was impossible to ignore what we saw at competitions: chatbots being used for research and to construct arguments between rounds." Ashanty Rosario in The Atlantic (Gift Article): I’m a High Schooler. AI Is Demolishing My Education.
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A Fuller Landscape
"In the big-picture context of his career, these assignments run contrary to the all-too-glossy perception of Adams perennially wandering the wilderness with a large-format camera waiting for the perfect moment of light upon a natural landscape. By contrast, Adams’ for-hire assignments were working-class jobs in which he shot an eclectic mix of portraits, architecture and manual labor." A very interesting look at Ansel Adams otherphotography: his work for hire. The article includes many photos, including an Ansel Adams selfie. Lost California photos from Ansel Adams raise compelling questions.
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Extra, Extra
Politcal Science: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a withering barrage of questioning from a Senate committee on his vaccine policy and his record as President Trump’s health secretary, responding at times with clear disdain for the senators, public health data and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which he oversees." He's exactly who's he's always been. That's the problem. Here are some depressing highlights from the hearing. And from Susan Monarez: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the CDC and Me."During my first week as CDC director, a gunman opened fire on our Atlanta headquarters on Aug. 8. Investigators recovered more than 500 shell casings at the scene and more than 180 rounds struck CDC campus buildings ... Just as we began to recover, I was confronted with another challenge—pressure to compromise science itself."
+ Side Gig Jig is Up: It's 2025, so this wasn't the only crazy Senate hearing. Trump’s Fed nominee says he’d keep his White House job even if confirmed by the Senate. You only really have to hear a couple of his answers.
+ Pill Kill: The Texas Senate voted Wednesday to pass a bill that would allow private citizens to sue out-of-state providers of abortion pills for $100,000 or more.
+ Whatever Defloats Your Boat: Using the military for law enforcement "represents a shift away from the vision, dating back to the colonial revolt against an overbearing superpower, that U.S. armed forces should defend the country from external threats but not be used to routinely enforce the law." Trump Is Crossing a Line That Dates Back to the Revolution.
+ Harvard Yard Inches Forward: "Now it is the job of the courts to similarly step up, to act to safeguard academic freedom and freedom of speech as required by the Constitution, and to ensure that important research is not improperly subjected to arbitrary and procedurally infirm grant terminations, even if doing so risks the wrath of a government committed to its agenda no matter the cost." Judge Rules Trump Administration Illegally Canceled Harvard Funding. (This could be another massive decision left up to SCOTUS, which doesn't inspire confidence.)
+ Where the Wild Things Star: "I do not have children, nor am I a child, so it is not for me to say how many readers were lifted from their pigmented doldrums by Julianne Moore’s 'Freckleface Strawberry.' But it is for me to say that having a child qualifies you to write a children’s book the same way that using a toilet qualifies you to be a plumber." The New Yorker on the exploding market of celebrity picture books for kids.
+ Don't Lose Your Sh*t: "The special toilet and the requisite garbage bags of detritus, waste and cigarette butts are so that a foreign intelligence agency, even a friendly one, does not acquire a sample and test it." When Kim Jong Un visits a foreign country, he leaves without a trace. North Korea wipes traces of Kim Jong Un after Beijing meeting with Putin.
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Bottom of the News
"People with a psychiatric disorder are more likely to marry someone who has the same condition than to partner with someone who doesn’t, according to a massive study1 suggesting that the pattern persists across cultures and generations." Spouses tend to share psychiatric disorders. (My wife is also currently working on her newsletter, so I guess I can confirm these findings.)