Side Hustle.

The saxophone surgery.

Delivery of today’s News Items was delayed due to an internet “maintenance outage.” Sorry about that.

1. Over half of working Americans have considered holding multiple jobs to pay their living expenses as inflation remained stubbornly high in September and real wages fell. About 38% of workers have looked for a second job, while an additional 14% have plans to do so, according to a survey of more than 1,000 full-time US employees by Qualtrics International Inc., which makes software used by over 16,000 organizations. At the same time, 18% of working adults said they had moved to an area with a lower cost of living to cut expenses, and another 13% plan to do so. Working parents, in particular, are in the hot seat. About 70% say their pay isn’t keeping up with rising expenses. A recent Brookings Institution study estimated that the current spike in prices means it will now cost more than $300,000 to raise a child to age 17, up $26,000 since inflation took hold. (Sources: bloomberg.com, qualtrics.com)

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2. From an op-ed by four members of President Biden’s advisory board on Covid-19:

We are nearly three years into the Covid-19 pandemic, a health crisis so long, disruptive and deadly, it should have transformed the country’s preparation for the next public health emergency. Sadly, it has not.

We say this as members of President Biden’s Covid advisory board in the weeks before he took office. We have since followed and been part of the public health response to the pandemic. We are deeply dismayed by what has been left undone. (Source: nytimes.com)