Bird flu got to the minks. Are humans next?

Plus: Erdogan makes a disaster worse. [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, easy kindling for Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [The bird flu]( is coming for the minks. - Earthquake relief is [hampered by Erdogan](. - The GOP is beyond thirsty [to cut Social Security](. - [Credit card interest rates]( are crushing people. Zombie Minks Seriously, what is it about minks? These animals are always [causing trouble](. Last October, [a mink farm]( in northwestern Spain was infected with a deadly bird flu, H5N1. More than [50,000 minks]( were euthanized as a result. Then there was [Denmark’s Great Mink Disaster of 2020](, when more than 15 million minks were culled to prevent the spread of coronavirus, only to [rise from their graves]( shortly thereafter. Thanks to [that catastrophe](, I now have a recurring nightmare in which hordes of radioactive minks come back from the dead and wipe out human civilization. Although mutant weasels are more likely to appear in a new HBO show than in real life, [animal viruses pose a major risk to humanity](, Faye Flam writes. The mink problem is a direct result of our desire to consume mass quantities of meat, eggs and other dairy products. That has encouraged farmers to crowd their farms with animals. But claustrophobic chickens are not good at fending off the flu. They literally are “genetically identical, have no immunity to influenza and make easy kindling for viral bonfire,” according to [this investigation]( from The New Republic. And so we get outbreaks [of H5N1](, causing [egg prices to skyrocket]( and mink farms to become hotbeds of infection. The solution to our MCDD (Mink Chicken Disease Disaster) is two-fold, Faye explains: - Stop crowd-crushing our chickens, even if it means paying more for eggs. - Re-evaluate our love for [mink fur](, which might be responsible for [the next pandemic](. Your mom’s grumbling about [the cost of her ham and cheese omelette]( at the local diner is [the least of our worries](. Bird flu can now reach all sorts of new hosts, from [seals]( to [grizzly bears](. It’s not clear whether H5N1 can be transmitted to people, but if the minks keep stirring up trouble, we may soon find out. Dealing With Disaster No matter how much you read about the earthquake that has rocked Syria and Turkey, nothing can compare [to seeing]( Mesut Hancer holding the hand of his dead 15-year-old daughter Irmak lying in bed, crushed beneath slabs of concrete: Photographer: Adem Altan/AFP via [Getty Images]( Bobby Ghosh, who witnessed two of this century’s most catastrophic quakes in Gujarat and Haiti, writes that the “hideous sights, sounds and smells of suffering [are painfully familiar](.” When such tragedies strike, he notes, NGOs normally jump into action, monitoring everything from aid distribution to government corruption. But in Turkey, charitable organizations, community groups, journalists and other critical actors have been suppressed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for years: Erdogan, like many of his fellow populists, has made a hobby of stripping Turkey’s civil society to its bare bones. Now his government, overwhelmed by disaster, needs help from the very NGOs Erdogan has spent years destroying. While these groups will no doubt do what they can, residual paranoia about his erratic behavior will surely hamper their efforts, which helps nobody. [Read the whole thing](. Retirement Rant Marjorie Taylor Greene calls President Joe Biden [a liar](. But is he, really? The last time Theresa Ghilarducci checked, a GOP plan to raise the retirement age to 70 is [a plan to cut Social Security benefits](. Despite [all the heckling]( at Biden’s State of the Union address last night, many House Republicans are eager to cut benefits, even if that means putting vulnerable seniors at risk. “America’s retirement security has eroded into random acts of kindness and GoFundMe pensions,” Teresa writes, referring to [an 82-year-old Walmart cashier]( who can finally retire after going viral on TikTok. Elderly Americans are increasingly turning [to the gig economy]( to help make ends meet. Watching this Domino’s delivery driver [collapse under a pile of pizzas]( should convince you this won’t end well. Proposing more cuts to our already-frayed social safety net will only worsen the situation. Telltale Charts Late fees are a major nuisance, but capping them alone won’t cure our credit-card headache, Alexis Leondis writes. We must also [put a lid on mind-bending interest rates](, some of which have already topped 30%.  Javier Blas’s fun fact of the day: Biden talked about oil more than Donald Trump did in any of his State of the Union addresses. By going off-script, the president said out loud what many energy security experts have been thinking for a while now: America [needs oil for “at least another decade](.” The Video Store - The history of [police militarization](. — Stephen Mihm - How [the Biden economy]( works. — Kyla Scanlon - Is Jerome Powell's [$190,000 salary]( fair? — Ale Lampietti Further Reading The US must prevent Vladimir Putin from blowing up the last remaining [nuclear arms control treaty](. — Bloomberg’s editorial board There’s [one tipping rule]( that matters more than all the others. Do you follow it? — Tyler Cowen With Microsoft’s Bing on its tail, Bard might be [Google’s biggest risk yet](. — Parmy Olson Don’t believe the doom-and-gloom economic forecasts: [UK consumers are absolutely buzzing](. — Andrea Felsted Poland and the Baltic states [were right not to trust Russia](. But that alone doesn’t make them European leaders. — Andreas Kluth [CEOs are making a mistake]( being too pessimistic about the economy. — Conor Sen Brazil’s [Lula da Silva needs friendship](, not tough love, from Biden. — Eduardo Porter Corporate America may finally see the benefit of [keeping workers in a downturn](. — Kathryn A. Edwards ICYMI Bard is not [impressing investors](. Nestlé’s [peanut allergy pill]( is a dud. [The NSA]( is wooing laid-off tech workers. High fashion is [for the kids]( ... … and comedians [are babysitting]( them. Kickers The [largest penguin]( was a monster bird. Coffee survived [the asteroid]( that killed the dinosaurs. (h/t Mark Gongloff) Mealworms discover a [700 pound acorn jackpot](. [Joe & The Juice]( got accused of money laundering. (h/t Leticia Miranda) Meatloaf is getting [a rebrand](. Notes:  Please send “carnivore bread” and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022