The Market, Energy, Political Page, Part 2, T+20 -- June 20, 2018

Another misleading headline (of course, "misleading" is subject to interpretation): this is the headline --

Washington, DC, votes to boost wages for waiters, bartenders. Tipped workers could see their base pay rise to $15 an hour, up from $3.33.

So, that was the headline from The WSJ. The devil is in the details.

Voters in Washington, D.C., cleared the way [yesterday] for the city to more than quadruple the minimum wage for tipped workers.

Under Initiative 77, blessed by 55.1% of voters with nearly 90% of precincts reporting Tuesday night, the minimum wage for waiters, bartenders and other tipped workers is set to reach $15 an hour by 2025. Currently, tipped workers make a minimum of $3.33 an hour, while non-tipped workers make a minimum of $12.50.

The overall minimum wage in Washington is already set to rise to $15 an hour by 2020; employers are expected to make up the difference if tipped workers’ gratuities don’t push them to the current hourly minimum wage for non-tipped workers.

I would imagine the waiters and waitresses in many of DC's finer restaurants are making well above $15/ hour.

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ATT and Debt

One would have thought ATT already had all the debt it could manage. Now this: ATT in talks to acquire AppNexus for $1.6 billion. From The WSJ. Something tells me that generous ATT dividend is about to become history. That's okay: the greatest investor of all time according to some folks, Warren Buffett, does not like paying dividends either.

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The EU and Negative Rates

This will be fun to watch. The EU now has the tricky task of undoing negative interest rates. Combine that with ever-increasing energy costs, companies in the EU are about to see their costs rise significantly, widening the economic growth gap between the US and the EU. Oh, and Germany says they will spend more money on NATO and their military. LOL. And Germany wants to send more money to some South Korea committee to help atoll nations in the Pacific Ocean fight rising seas due to global warming caused by China.

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Horses

Now that I'm caught up with today's news, something fun -- from The WSJ -- the horses that changed history.

In the years to come, I would learn, as I immersed myself in the literature of Arabians, that breeders regard their potent blood as some sort of equine nitroglycerin, infusing Arabians with agility, speed, endurance and a spirit that has beguiled humans the world over for millennia. Forged in the brutal conditions of the Arabian desert, these horses could withstand extreme heat, cold and thirst and were prized by Bedouins. Camels were reliable for carrying loads across the desert, but on a raid or in battle, a Bedouin would trust his life only to an Arabian horse.

As such, Bedouin breeders began noting lineages of mares and stallions thousands of years ago. They ruthlessly selected for stamina, speed, soundness and courage, allowing only the very best horses to breed. When possible, they fed them dates and camel milk. During birth, foals weren’t allowed to touch the ground, were lovingly bathed and sheltered with the mares in the family tent. Over the centuries, this process produced a super breed, defined by its oversized nostrils and large lungs, which allowed Arabians to run far longer than other breeds. Arab poets dubbed them “drinkers of the wind” and “swallowers of the ground.” The Prophet Muhammad declared them sacred.

Initially, Arabs recognized the military advantage their fast, light horses gave them, especially compared to the large, slow horses ridden by heavily armored European knights during the Crusades, and they were reluctant to trade them to potential enemies. But eventually Arabian blood would course through the veins of the cavalries of the Far East, the Ottoman Empire, Europe and the New World. Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, the Spanish conquistadors, George Washington—all rode Arabians.

Today, the world of racing is completely dominated by Arabian blood. The entire Thoroughbred breed derives from three pureblood Arabian stallions imported to England, which means the winner of every Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes owes it winnings, in some measure, to the inspired toil of ancient desert nomads. But I didn’t know any of that then.

But how did the first horses get to the Arabian peninsula in the first place. They did not originate there. From wiki:

Thus proto-horses changed from leaf-eating forest-dwellers to grass-eating inhabitants of semi-arid regions worldwide, including the steppes of Eurasia and the Great Plains of North America. By about 15,000 years ago, Equus ferus was a widespread holarctic species. [Holarctic? see wiki.]

Horse bones from this time period, the late Pleistocene, are found in Europe, Eurasia, Beringia, and North America. 

Yet between 10,000 and 7,600 years ago, the horse became extinct in North America and rare elsewhere. 

From another site: The exact origins of the Arabian horse are still a mystery.  Its distinctive silhouette is first seen in the art of ancient Egypt more than 3,500 years ago, but it was the nomadic peoples of the Arabian desert, known as the Bedouin, who created and refined the pure breed that exists today.
Without question, Gavin Menzies would/could provide the answer.

And with that, we will quit for awhile. Good luck to all.

Later: a reader sent me this link, with a suggestion to read the penultimate paragraph.