25-Year-Old Bank of America Analyst Dies Suddenly of Cardiac Arrest While Playing Soccer at Industry Event
A credit trader from Bank of America who was just 25 years old died suddenly on Thursday night while playing soccer at an industry event, a report by Yahoo/Bloomberg on Friday confirmed.
The credit portfolio and algorithmic trader, Adnan Deumic, reportedly “collapsed of a suspected cardiac arrest” and did not respond to medical treatment, including CPR, the writeup says.
The bank commented: “The death of our teammate is a tragedy, and we are shocked by the sudden loss of a popular, young colleague. We are committed to providing our full support to Adnan’s family, his friends and to our many employees grieving his loss.”
Working out of Bank of America’s London office, the trader was “active in sports”, the report says, noting that he was a native of Sweden and also played ice hockey.
The recent death marks the second loss of a young employee in the firm’s Wall Street divisions. Leo Lukenas, an investment banking associate in New York, passed away earlier this month.
It is unclear if work contributed to Lukenas’ death, and Bank of America is not formally investigating it, Bloomberg reported. The bank stated it is focused on supporting the family and the team, who are devastated.
As the article notes, this incident has sparked discussions within the industry about the demanding, long hours in investment banking. We’re sure there one other topic that it isn’t sparking discussions about…
As has been reported, it is still uncertain what contributed to Lukenas’ death, and Bank of America is not formally investigating it.
The company’s said its focus “doing whatever we can to help and support the family and our team who are devastated,” it commented.
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America’s Dairy Cow Replacement Inventory Collapses to Two-Decade Low
The nation’s food supply chain remains under stress. We’ve been sounding the alarm on America’s beef cattle supply dwindling to the lowest levels in over half a century.
Now, Bloomberg reports that dairy farms are pivoting breeding programs toward beef-on-dairy hybrids, capitalizing on the low beef herds amid last year’s crushing milk glut. However, this comes with mounting risks as the nation’s dairy herd begins to crack.
Hybrid calves are produced by artificially inseminating a dairy cow with semen from a beef bull. This has created a massive upside for struggling dairy farmers battered by volatile milk prices and an unforgiving glut in recent years. Midwest farmers last year were forced to dump tens of thousands of gallons of milk down the drain.
“Milk prices are up and down and so farmers are always looking for a way to offset costs to be as efficient as possible,” said Amy Penterman, the owner of Dutch Dairy, which breeds approximately 70% of its 900-cow milking herd for beef.
Penterman explained the new revenue stream is “rewarding because the beef supply has diminished over the last few years. We’re able to add that extra supply into the market to keep the cost down for our consumers.”
The latest USDA data shows the nation’s beef cattle herd plunged to its lowest level since 1951, primarily due to persistent droughts across the Midwest, surging diesel and feed costs, and high interest rates. Higher costs have forced ranchers to cull an increasing number of beef cows.
On Wednesday, Tyson Foods CEO Donnie King told the audience at the BMO Global Farm to Market Conference in Toronto that he’s still uncertain when US ranchers will rebuild beef herds meaningfully.
One major problem with dairy farms pivoting towards beef-on-dairy hybrids to capitalize on soaring beef prices is the collapse of the replacement dairy cow inventory.
Data from the USDA already shows that the number of available replacement cows for dairy herds in January 2024 plunged to lows not seen since 2004.
Rabobank’s Lucas Fuess warned that if milk prices were to jump, low inventories and higher prices for replacement cows could cause farmers to experience severe margin compression.
Nate Donnay, the director of dairy market insight at StoneX Financial, said the number of replacement dairy cows is already “down to the minimum level” needed to maintain the dairy herd.
“Ten years from now, the beef herd’s probably going to get too big again and prices will be terrible and maybe they don’t want these dairy animals anymore,” Donnay said, adding, “But for the next couple of years, that demand for dairy animals into the beef herd is probably going to stay strong.”
Yet another rolling disaster for the nation’s food supply chain.
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“He Was High as a Kite”: Trump Says He’ll Demand a Drug Test for Biden Debate
Donald Trump said he would demand a drug test on Joe Biden as a condition for debating him, at a GOP dinner in St Paul, Minnesota on Friday.
“I’m gonna demand a drug test,” Trump said, to rapturous applause from the audience of donors at the annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner, as he discussed his upcoming televised debates with President Biden.
“I don’t want him coming in like the State of the Union. He was high as a kite!
“I said, ‘Is that Joe up there, at Beautiful Row?’ And by the end of the evening he’s like, ‘Wow!’ He was exhausted, right?
“No, we’re gonna demand a drug test.”
Trump: I want to debate this guy but I’m going to demand a drug test pic.twitter.com/X9NCGloqoU
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 18, 2024
Two debates between President Biden and former president Trump have been set for 27 June and 10 September. The first will be hosted by CNN in Atlanta, and will be fronted by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. The second will be hosted by ABC, with the location and hosts being undisclosed at this time.
In response to the announcement of the debates, President Biden said on Twitter, “Anywhere, any time, any place.”
Meanwhile, Trump posted on Truth Social, “I am ready and willing to debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September.” He called Biden “the worst debater” he has ever debated.
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The Wall Street Journal Wonders Why West Virginia Opposes Mass Immigration
Paul Kiernan has an article in the Wall Street Journal about West Virginia. Why is the state against mass immigration?
Well, we know the WSJ has long championed mass immigration, and this piece gives us an idea of how mass immigration boosters think and the arguments they make.
The title of the article is, “Desperate for Workers but Dead Set Against Migrant Labor: The West Virginia Dilemma.”
The original article is here but you can read the whole thing for free here.
Here’s how Kiernan explains West Virginia’s so-called “dilemma”:
West Virginia shares a demographic dilemma afflicting many parts of the country: an aging population and unfilled jobs. Decades of migration out of Appalachia have left West Virginia older, less educated and less able to work than other parts of the U.S. Its labor-force participation rate—the share of the 16-and-older population either working or looking for work—was 55.2% in March, the second-lowest in the country.
Some other states, including Maine, Indiana and Utah, have sought immigrants to shore up their workforces. But while West Virginia represents one extreme in its labor needs, it represents another in its resistance to immigration.
Why is the solution always mass immigration?
Why doesn’t the article suggest other solutions, such as investment, education or vocational training to keep young West Virginians in the state, rather than bringing in foreigners?
An aging population is not the end of the world, especially with new technology. Japan, for example, develops robots to help care for the elderly.
The article says only 55.2% of the state’s population is working or looking for work. How about mobilizing part of the other 45% and encouraging them to work?
The WSJ is puzzled that West Virginia is fighting illegal immigration:
“Sanctuary cities” have been banned in the state.
The state’s National Guard has been deployed to the Texas-Mexico border.
Bills in the legislature have been introduced to make businesses screen potential workers to make sure they’re legal, to “punish companies for transporting migrants who are deportable under U.S. law,” to give the state authority to remove “inspected unauthorized aliens” (who entered illegally but the federal government allows to work) and to give Texas money for fencing on its border with Mexico.
Moore Capito, running for governor, ran a TV ad in which “he blocks a van of migrants from entering the state.”
The WSJ’s response?
There is little evidence that many recent immigrants—either those who entered the country legally or those who didn’t—have had any inclination to go to West Virginia, the only state with fewer residents than it had in 1940. The portion of its population that is foreign-born is 1.8%, the lowest of any state.
Don’t worry, the state has a cheap labor lobby wanting to change that.
Steve Roberts, president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, says that “We should avoid sending messages, either overtly or through our actions, that this is not a good place to come if you’re willing to work.” Roberts says manual laborers are needed to “do the work that some of us have just gotten too old to do.”
So work to keep young people in the state!
Local historians said the state has long been wary of outsiders, not just from other countries but from other states. “West Virginians don’t want immigration—of any kind,” said Stephen Smoot, editor of the Pendleton Times newspaper. There is even antipathy toward “come-heres” from nearby metropolitan areas who move in and look down their noses at locals, Smoot said.
Well, what do you expect?
“There’s a quality of life that comes from living in a sparsely populated area,” said Smoot. “You don’t have the irritations of constant human contact.”
Yes, some people like to live in sparsely-populated areas. They don’t want urban sprawl everywhere.
The state of West Virginia is famous for its scenery and outdoor recreational activities, which are also sources of income.
West Virginia is right to not promote foreign immigration into the state.
Instead, they can work on solving the state’s problems with the currently-existing population.
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Warsaw Bans Crucifixes From City Hall
Poland’s capital has instructed civil servants not to display crucifixes and other religious symbols at Warsaw City Hall, sparking backlash from conservative groups.
According to the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, officials will not be permitted to hang crosses or crucifixes on the walls or keep them on their desks. Government employees will still be allowed to wear crosses while at work, however.
The new rules are part of a broader set of regulations aimed at combating various forms of discrimination. Officials have been instructed to use gender-neutral language, address people by their preferred pronouns, and not discriminate against same-sex couples. “Warsaw is the first city in Poland to adopt such a document,” City Hall spokeswoman Monika Beuth said.
Some politicians and religious groups have argued that such regulations are inappropriate in a predominantly Catholic country.
“I think this decision is unnecessary,” said Szymon Holownia, the speaker of the Polish parliament. “I have found a large number of crosses on the walls of the Sejm. While I personally will not hang crosses in public offices, I don’t think that today in Poland we need a war on whether crosses should be taken down from walls.”
Conservative member of parliament Sebastian Kaleta promised to ask the prosecutor’s office to check if the capital’s policies violate any laws, while Catholic activist group Ordo Iuris urged people to send complaints to the city hall.
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski defended the new rules and blasted “the hype in the media.” He explained that the guidelines were put in place to ensure an inclusive environment and uphold Poland’s secularism.
“Everyone has the right to their faith, or the lack thereof. This includes civil servants and clerks. [But] anyone who comes to the office to handle their business has the right to feel that he or she is in a neutral office. As simply as that,” the mayor wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday. “No one intends to wage a battle against any religion in Warsaw.”
Speaking at a news conference, Trzaskowski said the regulations would not apply to hospitals, schools and social welfare centers. He further clarified that although the guidelines bar religious ceremonies from taking place in government buildings, they will not apply to “traditional historical celebrations,” such as the commemoration of the 1944 uprising of Warsaw citizens against the Nazi occupation during World War II.
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NATO Members ‘Considering’ Sending Troops to Ukraine – Report
Several US allies within NATO are “inching closer” to sending soldiers into Ukraine to train its armed forces, the New York Times has reported. Some American military contractors are already on the ground to repair US-supplied weapons systems.
Facing troop shortages, the government in Kiev has asked the US and NATO to “help train 150,000 new recruits” inside Ukraine, so they could be sent to the front faster, according to the American outlet.
The move “would be another blurring of a previous red line” and could draw the US and the EU “more directly into the war,” the Times noted. Although the White House has publicly opposed sending instructors, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff thinks it is inevitable.
“We’ll get there eventually, over time,” General Charles Q. Brown Jr. told reporters on Thursday, while traveling to Brussels.
One problem with deploying NATO instructors to Ukraine would be having to shift already scarce air defenses away from the battlefield in order to protect them from Russian air and missile strikes, the Times noted. According to the outlet, the US would be obligated to defend any NATO instructors inside Ukraine from attack, “potentially dragging America into the war.”
French President Emmanuel Macron first raised the issue of sending NATO troops to Ukraine back in February, as an idea that should not be ruled out. Estonia and Lithuania have since expressed support for either sending instructors or support troops, to free up Ukrainian soldiers for combat duty.
The White House is “adamant” that it will not put American troops on the ground in Ukraine – including instructors – and has urged NATO allies not to do it either, an anonymous White House official told the Times.
Meanwhile, Britain, France and Germany are working on a plan to send contractors to maintain weapons in the combat zone, the US outlet has revealed. Though the US has banned defense contractors from going to Ukraine, “a small number have already been allowed in, under State Department authority, to work on specific weapons systems like Patriot air defenses,” the Times noted.
American instructors used to be part of a NATO training program in Yavorov, in western Ukraine, but were withdrawn in early 2022. Russia has since struck the facility with missiles multiple times.
NATO has trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops in Germany, Poland, the UK and elsewhere. Western tactics have proven less than adequate during the summer 2023 offensive, however. The Times has described the Ukrainian battlefield as “far different and more intense than what American forces have fought on in recent years.”
According to anonymous US military officials, training inside Ukraine would allow American instructors “to more quickly gather information about the innovations occurring on the Ukrainian front lines, potentially allowing them to adapt their training.”
Earlier this week, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said that “moving training closer” to Ukraine would make sense, but added that London did not want to put British troops on the ground.
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