The intense debates over school openings are missing something crucial: numbers. Without them, it’s essentially impossible to know what to do, or to evaluate what is being proposed. Here’s an analogy. Suppose that the Food and Drug Administration is contemplating a new food safety regulation, or that the Department of Transportation is considering new restrictions on railroads. The White House ...

Bloomberg On the surface the rebound in US retail sales is a V-shaped recovery, but the overall figure obscures lingering economic pain across many of America’s businesses. After a third straight monthly increase, albeit a weaker gain than expected, the total value of US retail sales has rebounded above pre-pandemic levels. But the composition of spending looks substantially different than ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s cabin crew voted in favour of a 500 million-euro ($592 million) savings pact, its union said in a statement, a day after talks with ground staff collapsed. Members of the UFO union agreed to two collective agreements, and also voted in favour of clarifying rules around state wage support and severance payments, according to the statement. ...