Anyone Can Be a Millionaire; Not Everyone Has Enough Testosterone

[ed. Beavis and Butt-Head have opinions.]

In America, Almost Anyone Can Be a Millionaire

This week, I ignited a small controversy on social media by claiming that “the rich are rich because they work, while the poor are poor because they don’t.” My critics were offended that I would, in their eyes, demean the poor this way. But it’s just simple reality: the top 10 percent of Americans income earners work more than 7 hours per week more than earners in the bottom 10 percent. Less-educated Americans are less likely to work at all than those with more education.

Not looking for work or working too little is indeed the main cause of poverty in America. This may seem unkind, but my critics are missing the wonderful upside: in America, anyone can become wealthy if they work full time and save reasonably over their careers.

This is one of the first things that wowed me about America. I still vividly remember the time I visited Florida from Venezuela in the early 2010s and met a Cuban-American cashier at a local Publix. While she was scanning our items, she told us she was taking a vacation with her husband the following week, a cruise to the Caribbean.

I was amazed. How could a cashier afford to go on a cruise vacation? Cashiers live in deep poverty in Venezuela; in America they get to live like the Venezuelan upper class.

That story is not unusual. The Wall Street Journal recently profiled a Costco worker named Tony Barzar from Arizona. Barzar never went to college, only taking some community college classes without finishing. Nonetheless, working his entire life in grocery stores and Costco, he has amassed over $1 million in his 401(k) account. He also owns a home with a pool and has traveled to Europe twice in the last decade—all while making just shy of $33 per hour.

He got there not by some great feat, but by slow and steady saving.

by Daniel Di Martino, City Journal |  Read more:

Image: Getty

[ed. Hope his job is one that gets taken out by AI sooner rather than later.]

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Hegseth wants a “High-T” military; doctors call it a clinical minefield

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the startling announcement that the US military would begin requiring all active duty and reserve personnel aged 30 and older to undergo mandatory screening for testosterone deficiency. The screenings will take place during yearly health assessments. Those under age 30 can also get screened on request.

In a short video posted on social media, Hegseth explained to the military community that the screenings and possible subsequent treatments are intended to “optimize your performance, your resilience, and your long-term health.” While saying that the initiative wasn’t about “artificial enhancement” and that members could decline treatment, Hegseth claimed that the testing and potential treatment was for “restoring and optimizing” capabilities, protecting “longevity,” and “ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight.”

But will testosterone screening and treatment actually “optimize” our “warfighters”? Will it help most of them live longer? Should everyone else get screened and treated, too?

“A big fat ‘Oh, no'”

Screening people widely for medical conditions and then treating those who need it may sound like a huge social positive. But issues around male hypogonadism—the condition in which the body doesn’t produce enough testosterone—can be complex.

That’s why the Endocrine Society—made up of experts in the complex systems that release hormones in the body—posted a statement on the topic in the wake of Hegseth’s announcement. The document notes that “there is insufficient evidence to support a general recommendation to perform population-level screening for hypogonadism in asymptomatic men with measurement of blood testosterone level.”

To find out why, Ars Technica spoke with Professor Bradley Anawalt, chief of medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center. He specializes in endocrinology and men’s health.

“This is a great big fat ‘Oh, no,’” Anawalt said in reaction to Hegseth’s announcement. “We’re turning the clock back on rational healthcare. … I’m worried about the ethics. I’m worried about the health consequences. I’m worried about unnecessary evaluations, incorrect assessments, and incorrect diagnoses that lead to inappropriate prescriptions of testosterone.”

To understand why, let’s start with the basic question: Why might someone have low testosterone?

by Beth Mole, Ars Technica |  Read more:

Image: Getty|Stefani Reynolds
[ed. Definitely read the Comments Section on this one. It's like a salve for dementia. As one person noted, why does everything from this administration sound like it just came out of The Onion? See also: Bony Soldier Diving On Top Of Grenade Only Makes It Deadlier.]