The US is the only advanced economy in which maternal death rates are rising. US death rates are now higher than those in Russia. Italian death rates are c. 1/9th of those in the US. Can this be right? If it is, why is it not a HUGE public health issue?

When we say that the German car industry is in trouble, we mean 2008 kinda trouble! @yardeni  via @SoberLook 

Planes made by Boeing and Airbus aren’t faster than they were in the 1970s, but they are 70% more efficient per passenger and mile. Even long-haul flights now beat cars for fuel efficiency per passenger/mile.

Republican lawmakers enacted $889 billion in net spending cuts during the final six years of Obama’s administration by contrast under Trump Congressional largesse has juiced the economy at a rate comparable to the crisis stimulus, but without a crisis!

This is insane! A travel map of the Roman empire that allows you to plot journey times btw locations depending on weather and mode of transport. h/t @simongerman600 

c. 53 m Americans —44 % of all U.S. workers ages 18–64—are low-wage workers. Their median hourly wage is $10.22, and their median annual earnings are $17,950. @MarcelaEscobari  et al @BrookingsInst 

US exported 89,000 more barrels of crude oil and refined petroleum products a day than it imported in September = 1st full month of a positive oil trade balance since the 1940s. Ten years ago imports exceeded exports by 12m barrels a day a decade ago. 

Gaming in California will soon consume as much power as Ghana. @toddjmoss 

The share of wealth held by top 1 % in US at 42.5% is vastly greater than that in any other rich country, c. four times greater than in Italy or Japan.

It is hard to exaggerate the drama of China’s coal-fueled production surge after 2000. It dwarfs the experience of all previous industrial societies. @OurWorldInData