Crypto News: If health is wealth, America is dirt poor

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Uncle Sam is dying.
Mexican democracy is rotting.
Your savings account is empty.
Moldova is worried.

Remember in the early 2010s when everyone decided to go gluten-free? Most people didn't actually have a wheat allergy or celiac disease. "Not eating bread makes me feel lighter — and this stuff is actually so filling," people would say, holding up a fistfull of flaxseed crackers. But a few years later, that went out of style. Body positivity! No makeup-makeup! Wellness is dead; martinis are good! But that era, too, seems to be ending, giving way to something far more dangerous than cutting down on bread. Ozempic, a life-saving miracle drug for diabetics, has been weaponized by a hush-hush cult of celebrities who believe that being "thin is power."

People are so obsessed with staying skinny that they are willing to *kill* (indirectly) for it: "All these famous people, stars who don't need to lose weight, are going and getting it," Shane Anthony, a patient with type 2 diabetes, told Bloomberg News reporter Emma Court. "I need it to stay healthy and not die."

There's perhaps no greater metaphor to America's health care crisis than the unhealthy discourse around Ozempic. Adrian Wooldridge says the US obesity rate has increased from 15% in 1980 to 30.5% in 2000 to 41.9% in 2020. And 9% of Americans will struggle with an eating disorder in their lifetimes. Do we really want people to be jabbing themselves with a drug that causes the pounds to "fly off" at the risk of human lives? A culture built on dieting is not a proper remedy for what ails us.

Our relationship with our waistlines isn't the only problem. There's the opioid epidemic, alcohol abuse, mental illness — which Niall Ferguson argues is a scourge that impacts adults as much as kids. Sickness is everywhere, and the Covid-19 pandemic turbocharged what Adrian calls a "health apocalypse." In 2021, life expectancy in the US fell to 76.1 years — a figure that hasn't been seen since 1996.

If we want to stop dying so soon, Lisa Jarvis says, we should probably address another elephant in the waiting room: pregnant people.

The current landscape for maternal health care in America is atrocious. Black women are dying from pregnancy complications three times more often than White women. There are not enough nurses or doctors, and the ones that exist are struggling against the backdrop of abortion bans. It's a national shame that will only get worse in the coming years. Read the whole thing.

While tens of thousands of people were protesting against his new law that hurts Mexico's electoral watchdog, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO, as people call him) decided to tweet an image of what he thought was an "aluxe," or a Mayan elf:

AMLO claimed the photo was recently taken by an engineer, writing that "everything is mystical." But then people noticed that the image he tweeted is at least two years old. Eduardo Porter says that ever since AMLO came into power in 2018, democratic institutions have been stripped of their power. And although there's still stability between the US and Mexico, President Joe Biden can't rely on 50-year-old Faustian peace-keeping tactics anymore. "We are not in the 1970s. Back then, globalization hadn't yet happened. The War on Drugs was just starting. Immigration was muted," Eduardo explains. The only thing that's mystical in Mexico is democracy itself.

Bonus Southern Border Reading: The Biden administration's carrot-and-sticks approach to immigration has plenty of promise. — Bloomberg's editorial board

Americans are notoriously bad at saving money. It's almost as if we get our paychecks and then instantly black out, spending every last penny on completely unnecessary things like Squishmallows, big red boots, Stanley tumblers and glass crystal beads. But Tyler Cowen says our frugality allergy is countered by corporations that do a much better job at keeping their wallets shut. The personal saving rate may be sitting at a pathetic 4.7%, but corporate America is sitting on billions and billions of dollars. There are negative tradeoffs, of course, but having some sort of cash cushion does make the US more recession-proof.

Ukraine and Moldova have a bajillion things in common: Former members of the Soviet Union? Check. Regained independence after the Cold War? Check. Aspirations to join the European Union? Checkity check check. "Viewed from Moscow, Moldova resembles Ukraine before Putin attacked it a year ago," Andreas Kluth explains. Which means that Vladimir Putin might be in his evil lair *right now* planning to assault yet another Eastern European country (Wizz Air seems to think so, at least). The West should send monetary and military support to Moldova now to ensure that Chisinau doesn't become the new Kyiv.

The Winklevoss twins were seminal players in the crypto boom. But when everyone thinks they can get rich in an instant, things start to go downhill. Tim O'Brien spoke with Lionel Laurent about the fine line between between innovation and hucksterism for the latest episode of "Crash Course."

Target is betting big on a brick-and-mortar revival. — Leticia Miranda

Elon Musk's next big quest might pull him away from Twitter. — Parmy Olson

To the 6% of US companies offering on-site child care: Thank you. For the 94% that don't: Please reconsider. — Sarah Green Carmichael

Democracy in the Global South is precious. Don't let Ukraine destroy it. — Pankaj Mishra

Pro-choice states need to understand that the abortion pill is a drug, not a political football. — Noah Feldman

UK banks are playing it super safe because of high interest rates. — Paul J. Davies

SCOTUS is skeptical about Biden's student loan plan.

The vibecession is misleading us.

Apple is planning a great escape.

The FDA endorsed the first RSV vaccine.

The Texas vs. California debate is alive and well.

Scientists want to make AI with real brain cells.

The English major is dead. But it shouldn't be.

Dictionary.com is validating our hellscape.

Pilot makes a 360-degree turn to see the Northern Lights.

The martini galaxy is vast.

Notes: Please send elf sightings and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net.

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