Earlier this week, we learned that the Trump administration had tasked Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross with monetizing space. This struck us as a unique staffing move not only because Ross’s reported habit of falling asleep during key meetings suggests he shouldn’t be within a 100-foot radius of a piece of heavy machinery, but because, to our knowledge, he doesn’t know jack shit about outer space. Alleged wealth inflation? Guy’s an expert. Fashion that screams “I feel at home among robber barons”? There’s nobody better than him. Wall Street fraternities? Ross is your man. But space? Not so much. This being the Trump administration, though, expertise is in no way a prerequisite; Ross, obviously, is being brought in to “implement a more business-friendly approach” by “rolling back regulatory burdens,” and not because he has even a perfunctory grasp of the subject matter at hand, which became even more painfully obvious thanks to a CNBC interview.

In an appearance on the business network today, Ross said that the White House hopes to “turn the moon into a kind of gas station for outer space,” which it will do by using “the dark surfaces that you see when you look up at the moon, [which] are actually hundreds of feet of solid ice”; “break[ing] the ice down into hydrogen and oxygen,” and “us[ing] those as the fuel propellant.” The only problem? According to Dr. Kevin Peter Hickerson, nuclear physicist and Surely You’re Joking host, Ross is ostensibly talking out of his ass.

“Hundreds of feet of solid ice? That’s not even remotely true,” Hickerson told me, noting that the patches Ross referred to are actually ancient lava flows. “Yes, there is water on the moon, but it’s not pure ice, it’s about 0.1 percent of the mass and locked up in rock.” He added that, while there is ice on the moon’s poles, “and we can possibly extract water and make fuel from that . . . it’s not the cost-effective venture he’s suggesting.” Perhaps, Hickerson noted, Ross was referring to the “sci-fi fuel of the future” called Helium-3 that does exist on the moon, but that scientists haven’t figured out how to use yet. “Maybe someone mentioned that to [Ross] and he got confused,” Hickerson posited.

“I don’t think these folks have the firmest grasp on science or engineering,” Phil Plait, an astronomer and science communicator who writes for SYFY.com, told me. “They might think we’re going to set up a 7-11 on the moon, but it’s not like that. We don’t have the technology. If we go to the moon it’s to explore it, scientifically, and we should do that, but it’s not to make money, not initially.” Memo to Mick Mulvaney: don’t factor moon revenues into the White House budget just yet.

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Well this isn’t a great look . . .

On Thursday, Barclays PLC disclosed in its annual report that women in its investment banking unit are paid half that of their male colleagues, a gap that widens to a whopping 79 percent when discretionary bonuses are taken into account. Speaking to reporters, Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley said the bank is “confident that men and women across our organization are paid equally for doing the same job,” which is kind of strange statement to make when you just released a report proving that’s not the case at all. By way of explanation, the bank noted that there are just a ton more men than women in senior positions—of 555 senior managers, less than one-third are women, and the nine-person group executive committee has just one female: Laura Padovani, who is serving as the bank’s interim chief compliance officer.

According to Staley, though, they’re all over the problem. “I want to make it clear that Barclays is doing its part in the long evolution of providing gender equality,” he said. “We are not going to give absolute targets, but we’d like to get the gap down.”

Trump wants to give gun bonuses to any teachers who show up to school packing

Because Trump thinks that the country should be run like a Trump Inc. subsidiary, and that if you dangle a few crisp $100’s in someone’s face they’ll just about do anything, he’s now pitching this idea as a way to reduce school shootings:

President Donald Trump called for paying bonuses to teachers who carry guns in the classroom, embracing a controversial proposal to curb school shootings hours after offering a full-throated endorsement of the National Rifle Association.

Trump told state and local officials gathered at the White House on Thursday to discuss school safety that “you can’t hire enough security guards” and teachers could carry concealed weapons and “nobody would know who they are.” He said that teachers would go through “rigorous training” and could get “a little bit of a bonus.”

Donny Trump Jr.’s business trip is going well

The president‘s oldest son, who on Tuesday complained that no one ever mentions all the sacrifices his family has had to make thanks to daddy’s new job, reportedly racked up $15 million in just one day while slinging condos in India. Earlier in the week he sniffed that “it‘s a shame” he and his siblings get no credit for “the opportunity cost of the deals that [they’re] not able to do” because of perceived conflicts of interest (which ethics officials say they’re flagrantly violating anyway).

Elsewhere!

Ray Dalio sees 70 percent chance of US recession by 2020 (NYP)

SandRidge Report Reveals the Cost of Quarreling with Carl Icahn (Bloomberg)

Companies announced $173 billion in stock buybacks so far this year (Axios)

Wilbur Ross, who called raising gas taxes a “horrible idea,” says Trump is considering a hike (CNBC)

Steve Eisman Says Wall Street Execs Mistook Leverage for Genius (Bloomberg)

Risky Business: When Parents Hire Their Children as Real-Estate Agents (W.S.J.)

What Bitcoin Rout? Sales of New Digital Tokens Are Still Soaring (W.S.J.)

Jay-Z racked up an $80,000 bar tab and left an $11,000 tip (CNBC)

As Trump trashes NAFTA, Mexico turns to Brazilian corn (Reuters)

Man chugs bottle of ketchup to set Guinness World Record (UPI)