SWC’s Fast Five

We say goodbye to Justice Ginsburg, hello to an unwelcome COVID milestone and its downward effect on manufactured goods orders, are surprised by the pandemic’s salutary effect on making us more agreeable and we have another miss in the daily asteroid dodgeball game.

So, here’s this week’s Fast Five:

1 The Notorious RGB

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman (after Sandra Day O’Connor) to serve on the Supreme Court and a pioneering advocate for women’s rights, died at her home last week. She was 87.

2 203,000

Early models projected the devastation of COVID-19. There has been one big piece of good news. People infected today are roughly 30 percent to 50 percent less likely to die than those in the early spring, Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, estimates.

3 August orders for big U.S. manufactured goods less than half what economists projected.

Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods increased just 0.4 percent in August following a much larger gain in the previous month. It was the fourth consecutive monthly increase but the most recent uptick was far weaker than the 11.7 percent surge in July.

4 So, COVID brings Americans together as long as everyone has a chance to succeed.

A Public Agenda/USA TODAY/Ipsos survey reveals that Americans across the political spectrum support many measures to create good jobs and boost opportunity. The poll of Democrats, Republicans and independents is part of the three organizations’ Hidden Common Ground project, which seeks to explore areas of agreement on major issues.

5 Not hit by a bus.

A bus-sized asteroid zoomed by Earth Thursday, missing us by this much. And don’t worry, it won’t be back until 2041.