The Daily Feather — White Out

Born between 1965-1980, we Generation X-ers aren’t getting any younger. On Wednesday, a flight attendant asked me what my daughter (sitting beside me) would like to drink. She was not my daughter but was a 22-year-old brunette Australian who could’ve been my daughter. My oldest is two months shy of turning 19. The fact is, being 50-something is more than a vanity check, it’s equally a physiological test. Over the holidays, QI almost lost a friend with a preexisting lung condition that left him susceptible to any germ not for sharing. After testing negative for Covid, the flu and strep on December 28th, he landed in the ICU, fully intubated, with acute pneumonia. Pulmonologists refer to what they saw on his chest x-ray as a “white out.” The lung cavity presents as pure white, not a millimeter not filled with fluid. In doctor-speak, “While the clinical presentation is often non-specific, up to one-third of patients with chronic pericardial effusions develop cardiac tamponade,” which exerts such pressure on the heart, it can’t fill with blood and can be fatal.

Dallas boasts the country’s best pulmonologist. Seeing the likely fatality, three drains were inserted in the groin and neck area, triple protocol. It saved his life. After two tough-guy appearances in front of Congress Tuesday and Wednesday, we doubt Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Hayden Powell, who is not a PhD or medical doctor, will be swayed by the U.S. economy’s x-ray, which is also a “white out.”

“How would we know?” Powell might rhetorically ask if reading this Feather was a group activity. The unemployment rate is expected to stand firm at 3.4% come 8:30 am ET today, remaining the lowest since 1969. Even if it shocks to the upside, say to 3.7% -- an unreal 0.3 percentage point spike – the Fed Chair has already reassured the world that this level remains among the lowest in 75 years.