the weekly rundown

readers, as we mark the end of 2021, we’re announcing that TWR is closing up shop. our last two quarters haven’t seen the reader growth or engagement that we aimed for, so it seems like an appropriate time to wrap things up. we’ve enjoyed our ride together immensely, and are incredibly proud of the issues we put out and you all read. 

so, for all three of us, thank you for your support, and we’re sure your inboxes won’t miss our 7am wakeup calls on sundays. as we end 2021 and our run, enjoy our top three story picks of the year:

• down with the monarchy, our soapbox rant against the british royalty
• Facebook really is evil, our soapbox rant against Facebook
• and before you think we just ranted this year, auf wiedersehen Angela, our ode to Angela Merkel

readers, as we wrap up the third quarter of TWR, we’re reevaluating how we produce this newsletter and how we can make all of you happier. if you have any suggestions, please reach out - sooner than later! if you’d be interested in joining our team as a writer, editor, or narrator, please also shoot us an email.

1. Joe finally admitted late this week that his big $2 trillion social policy and climate change bill would not pass by the end of the year, possibly dooming his signature “Build Back Better” campaign promise. for the past several months, Joe and senate leadership have insisted that the bill would be passed before christmas, but alas, the Grinch has stolen it. and when we say Grinch, we mean Joe Manchin of course, the most conservative dem in the senate.
2. Manchin is taking issue with the overall price tag of the bill, and specifically seems to be targeting the child tax credit. that $600 per month per child check to most families costs a lot, and was originally passed as a temporary COVID stimulus measure, which progressive democrats wanted to make permanent. this impasse comes even after days of private negotiations between the two Joes, though to be honest we’re surprised either of them have the intact mental capacity for such prolonged thought…
3. dems need unanimous support within their party in the senate to pass anything, so expect to see continued drama over this, immigration, and election rights well into the new year

1. the Fed announced this week that it plans on hiking interest rates three times next year, beginning in march. they are also more rapidly than previously anticipated ending stimulus measures they began at the start of the pandemic. this all comes amid better than expected jobs growth and higher than expected spikes in the cost of consumer goods and inflation. generally speaking, raising interest rates tends to slow down the economy and inflation.
2. of note, the Fed chair only announced his reversal on interest rates after he was reappointed to another term by Joe, which gave him some capital to spend on this politically unpopular move. more likely though, the Fed is realizing that the pandemic permanently shrunk the american labor force, which will force it to maintain higher interest rates than in the past, even if there’s the same level of economic growth.
3. just after the Fed made its announcement, the European Central Bank (the Fed’s equivalent in the eurozone) came out and said they would not be raising interest rates at all next year, and would be continuing its stimulus measures. this would probably be an appropriate time to mention what the Bank of England has going on, but ever since Brexit, we just can’t seem to care at all what the british are up to…
4. anyways, while europe and the US are in different phases of their recoveries, it’s clear that the...

part of our team is traveling this week, so if you’re listening to the audio version of the newsletter, you’re probably noticing a different, more suave, more...distinguished voice. don’t worry, our usual nasally midwestern half-asleep narrator will be back next week, but in the meantime...enjoy. we’re looking for narrators, authors, and editors to join our team, so reach out if you’d like to join in the fun.

1. we get it dude, inflation is on the rise. do we really need to spend like four issues on this? prices of consumer goods rose by almost 7% year-over-year last month, the largest rise in inflation in almost forty years. new car prices continue to have a huge effect on that number, with the chip shortage crippling the industry. restaurant prices have also increased by about 8% since last november, reflecting rising wages across the hospitality sector.
2. what’s confusing the heck out of businesses and economists is the asymmetry in demand for goods versus services. it makes sense to some degree - COVID is making it more difficult for people to travel and play, so inflation in service industries remain low. instead of spending money on services, people are spending money on buying more goods (aka trying to fill the heart-shaped hole in their chests with junk), resulting in crazy high inflation in things like the consumer price index.
3. this goods-services dynamic is the opposite of the typical economic recovery, which is why everyone is a little confused. the big question is how long this role reversal will last, and if full employment can be reached before inflation gets out of control. in the meantime though, continue enjoying those low airline ticket prices, but really - you’ll still be overpaying for 28” of legroom.

1. a Starbucks in buffalo voted to unionize thursday, the first corporate-owned location in the US to do so. this occurred despite a well-publicized and funded anti-union push by the company over the past few months. one other buffalo location voted against unionizing, and a third location voted in favor, but is facing a recount. union organizers are hoping this will inspire viral collective action not only at other Starbucks locations, but across the unskilled sector.
2. the number of americans in unions has halved since just the 1980’s, and the failure to unionize an Amazon warehouse earlier this year was a big loss as well. however, this small Starbucks win will definitely put some wind behind unions’ sails, especially when considering americans are quitting their jobs in droves and unions have the best public image since the 1960’s. we always knew being a Starbucks barista must suck, but apparently misspelling everyone’s names just isn’t a big enough perk to keep them around…

• (The Guardian) finally, a good use of dogs - comforting children as they get COVID shots

1. an analysis this week found that people living in counties which voted heavily for You-Know-Who in 2020 had about

listen, we know supermarkets are crazy these days because of all your last-minute christmas shopping, but seriously - there should be a minimum age required to use self-checkout lanes. we love the idea of not having to interact with another human being to purchase items, especially when those items happen to be six pints of ice cream and a single spoon, we just can’t stand waiting for the otherwise nice 60-year-old grandma in front of us figure out how to use a barcode scanner. 

1. a school shooting just a few miles away from where we live took place earlier this week, ending with four dead children and a teenage suspect being charged with murder and terrorism as an adult. it’s surreal driving around town with christmas parades cancelled and flags lowered, but also, unfortunately, a normal occurrence here in ‘murica. if it seems a bit more traumatic than usual, it’s because it’s the deadliest school shooting since 2018, and the deadliest ever in michigan.
2. while some of the injured are still in the hospital, families are already beginning to question who’s at fault here, other than the terrorist himself. the school itself had safety concerns about the boy, and repeatedly assured parents that oxford high was safe for their children to attend. the suspect’s parents were arrested and are being charged with involuntary manslaughter for purchasing the gun used in the massacre for their son, and apparently resisting the school’s attempts to get psychiatric help for him. the suspect’s parents fled oxford for detroit, where they were arrested while hiding in a warehouse. oh, the irony of reverse white flight...
3. in any case, the true responsible parties here are politicians who stand in the way of common sense gun control, most of whom these days are republican. the last time any new gun control laws were passed nationally were in the 1990’s, when the brady bill mandated background checks and waiting periods for gun purchases. now, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t point out that while an even-then-somehow-ancient Joe Biden shepherded the bill through his committee, a young whippersnapper named Bernie Sanders voted against that common sense gun control measure...

• (AFP) some old guy just casually saunters past a sinking ship off the coast of istanbul. ahh, what it would be like to be this jaded by life...

1. the november jobs report was released this week, and man are we (and economists) a little weirded out. on the one hand, half the number of new jobs were created compared to what was expected - 210,000 versus the projected 550,000. on the other hand, the unemployment rate still dropped to 4.2%, and the percentage of americans...

readers, we’re honestly surprised we managed to hoist ourselves out of bed to write this issue following turkey day. we mean seriously, with black friday sales sucking this year, there was even less of a reason not to just succumb to the usual post-prandial thanksgiving day food coma. alas, we realized we had to stick it out, if only for our canadian readers who, for some reason, celebrate thanksgiving in october.

1. a new COVID variant is making the rounds in people, the stock markets, and the media, so we’re here to tell you we’re confused over the hubbub too. the W.H.O. categorized this omicron variant, first discovered in south africa, a “variant of concern”, an award also given to the delta variant which has wreaked havoc for the past year. fewer than a hundred cases in south africa have been identified and a handful of cases have also been found in the UK and hong kong.
2. within about 48 hours of the new cases being announced, the EU, US, canada, and other nations already banned travelers from south africa and other southern african nations. stock indexes fell sharply on friday as investors worried that omicron could dampen an already unsteady economic recovery.
3. scientists and the W.H.O. honestly know very little about the variant, other than it is quite different from your normal COVID strain - which could potentially make it more virulent, more contagious, more fatal, and/or more resistant to existing vaccines. at this point in the pandemic, health experts are more likely to overreact than underreact to threats. 
4. it will likely take weeks, if not months, to figure out how bad this variant really is. in the meantime though, go get vaccinated dummies, and wear a mask like it’s the 1300’s in europe again.

• (The Atlantic) a turkish squirrel steals a sip of turkish tea (in turkey, in case you were wondering).

1. the number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell to a 52-year low of 199,000 people last week. that’s incredibly astonishing, especially when considering the population has skyrocketed from 200 million then to almost 330 million today, and it follows eight straight weeks of declining unemployment claims.
2. so what’s the bottom line? the economy is strong, despite rising inflation due to supply chain issues. it’s clear that the Fed is much more concerned about reaching full employment than inflation, a constant tension they face when setting monetary policy. on our end, we think it’s high time - the Fed’s maniacal obsession with inflation over the past two decades (along with a crippled governmental response to the recession) has led to rising inequality, slow growth, and valuing wealth over earned income.

1. a quick read by our favorite consultant who also shares a name with a

well readers, we’re back after a whirlwind of travel last week spanning washington, new york, north carolina, and michigan. we’re also sick as dogs, from something other than COVID, so please excuse the raspier voice than normal, and we hope the fog in our brains didn’t result in an overly muddled issue. in any case, it’s great to be back, and an early happy thanksgiving to all our non-canadian readers.

1. Joe had his first good week in a while, kicking things off on monday by signing the trillion dollar bipartisan infrastructure bill, then holding a relatively successful virtual summit with china’s president later in the week, and capping things off watching his signature climate and social policy bill get passed through the House last night. not everything is happy go lucky, of course - inflation is still breaking records, and his approval ratings are in the dumps - but Joe is probably hoping to have turned a corner this week.
2. we talked thru the infrastructure bill in issue 39, so we’ll focus on the other two news items. first, Joe and china’s president Xi managed to significantly de-escalate tensions between the two countries during a virtual meeting - the first time a Zoom call has ever been productive. we’ve extensively covered the issues dividing china and the US in previous issues, and no huge breakthroughs occurred this week. but, the consensus is that it’s fantastic news that the world’s two superpowers can talk without hurling insults at each other like schoolyard children.
3. however, most americans probably care much more about the $2 trillion climate and social policy bill which the house passed friday. now that Joe’s got some momentum, he’ll probably push conservative dems in the senate to negotiate quickly and approve an amended version of the bill sooner rather than later. the current draft includes half a trillion to address climate change, paid parental leave, universal preK, and Medicare drug reforms. we’ll have to cross our fingers and hope the Grinch doesn’t steal christmas...

1. corporate conglomerates have taken a beating in the past week, with GE, Toshiba, and Johnson & Johnson announcing plans to split their companies up. is this finally the end of the 1990’s wall street darling - the corporate conglomerate? 
2. for years, manufacturing, retail, and tech companies have pursued scale by competing in multiple industries at once. GE famously used to have business units covering everything from broadcast TV to mortgages to jet engines to MRI...

part of our team is travelling this week, so if you’re listening to the audio version of the newsletter, you’re probably noticing a different, more suave, more...distinguished voice this week. don’t worry, our usual nasally midwestern half-asleep narrator will be back next week, but in the meantime...enjoy ;)

okay, so we’re not going to lie - we’re not 100% sure this will land in your inbox at 7am instead of at 8am (or possibly 6am). we’ve been on this earth for more than 80 years (collectively, though we do write like a grumpy 80 year old man at times), and we still have no idea how daylight saving time works. so, we guess the point of this is to say: we hope you enjoy, regardless of what time it is or should be.

1. dems failed miserably in off-year elections tuesday, losing the virginia governor’s race, barely holding onto the new jersey governorship, and losing dozens of local races across solidly blue areas. let’s be clear - the dems running in these races were highly qualified, good candidates, and were often incumbents. voter turnout was also record-high in some places. yet, dems still lost across the board. progressives can’t even say that it’s all the moderates’ fault, as a socialist lost to a write-in candidate for mayor in buffalo. 
2. what caused the losses? well, Joe’s approval ratings are in the dumps, dems have spent literally months arguing about an infrastructure bill and a climate policy bill, and the economy is good, but not great, with rising inflation. the pandemic stubbornly continues to impact people’s daily lives, which definitely hurts the democrat’s base enthusiasm. so, we guess people are just...tired and frustrated, and that translates electorally to voting out the ruling party. 
3. the good news is that Joe seems to be paying attention, and pushed house progressives to pass the $1 trillion infrastructure bill which has been waiting for their approval for weeks now. Joe will make a big deal out of signing it, and that’ll buy some time for him to figure out how to pass the climate bill through the senate sometime soon. who knows, maybe america will remember why they elected a slightly-senile, aviator-wearing grandpa in time for midterms next year.

• (The Atlantic) a home is covered in ash on the canary islands, where a volcano has been apparently erupting since september 

1. an analysis by the Fed found that 1.5 million more americans retired than expected since the pandemic started last year. as we have previously talked about, this is contributing to a falling percentage of americans actually working and contributing value to the economy. the big question economists are asking is if these retirements are temporary - will older workers reenter the workforce to ease shortages when the pandemic flames out and working conditions improve? we guess we can do our part and stop making fun...

readers, we’re just going to say this once: it’s halloween tonight, so gird yourselves accordingly. go buy up all the eggs and toilet paper you can get your hands onto - not because there’s a COVID shortage, but so those neighborhood youths can’t attack you again. don’t say we didn’t try to save you...

1. for the second time this month, dems failed to pass massive infrastructure or climate bills. again, bickering between the progressive and moderate ends of the party prevented any work from getting done. 
2. Joe unveiled a $1.75 trillion climate bill earlier this week, which conservative dems in the senate (namely Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema) refused to back publicly, despite them negotiating on the package for months. because of that, house progressives refused to vote on another $1 trillion infrastructure bill, fearing that if they vote for the infrastructure bill, the climate policy bill will never actually pass.
3. Joe could’ve forced everyone’s hand by publicly backing both bills and telling house dems to fall in line, but he didn’t...and left the US for the G-20 summit after everything fell apart. there’s still time before the end of the year for dems to pull it together, and the odds for success are much higher now that the outline of a climate policy bill has been announced. however, the devil (and Sinema) are in the details, so there’s a very real possibility dems will be running in the midterms next year with no accomplishments to point to.

1. for the second year running, college enrollment declined substantially. since 2019 undergraduate enrollment has dropped by 6.5%, with this year’s drop being nearly identical in scale to last year’s. colleges are surprised, to say the least - they figured the recovery from COVID would boost enrollment, not dent it further. 
2. the drop is almost exclusively felt by community colleges and smaller four year universities at the lower end of the market. of note, enrollment among black students fell the most dramatically, at 5.1% this year alone.
3. so, what’s happening? basically the job market is so hot right now that high school students and older professionals who are switching careers don’t think they need a degree to get a job - and they’re right, at least in the short-term. the problem will come in the long-term, after the next recession, or when automation or outsourcing takes out a few more million jobs. these poorly trained workers won’t have many career options at that point, and will either have to settle for a lifetime of low paying jobs, or go back to college later in life.

Image caption

• (The Atlantic) shepherds drive thousands of lambs through the streets of madrid, part of an agreement for free passage through the city dating back to 1418. baa-utiful.

1. UCLA released an annual report on the state of diversity in hollywood,...

look, after we wrote this issue we realized like half of it has to do with the climate crisis, but don’t blame us - it’s called a crisis for a reason, okay? we promise, we won’t be as doom and gloom next week, apart from the usual warning to be on the lookout for halloween shenanigans. we’re like 94% sure it’s not a coincidence that our house gets egged every october 31st...

1. nearly two years into the nightmare that is COVID, supply chain issues continue to...plague us. there are shortages of everything from computer chips to glass bottles, delays in everything from christmas toys to school bus pickups, and not enough employees in industries from trucking to...well, unloading trucks. thank god none of our writing team say...works in logistics...and spends most of his time in a warehouse shipping goods…
2. anyways, we’re pointing out things you’ve probably already noticed because the problem is getting worse, not better. despite Joe announcing last week that a couple of the busiest ports in the US would begin running 24/7, the backlog of ships waiting to unload in california just set a historic record. more than 100 huge container ships are anchored off the coast of LA. LA’s port sees 40% of all our imports and 30% of all exports, and has seen shipping volumes increase by a quarter since last year.
3. so, just remember that when Costco is out of your favorite toilet paper, it’s probably stuck on some ship in the pacific, and you should probably start using a bidet anyways.

1. a climate summit starts next week in glasgow, scotland, where the goal is to come up with a plan to make the world carbon neutral by 2050. this is the follow-up to the paris climate agreement, where countries agreed to limit warming to two degrees celsius. glasgow is viewed as where nations need to come up with solid plans to back up their promises made in paris.
2. the main showdown will be between developing and developed economies, with poorer nations asking for $100 billion to subsidize their shift away from fossil fuels. expect some of us rich people to don tophats and monocles and pretend that the third world should come up with the money on their own.
3. plenty of companies and NGOs are putting together press releases in preparation for the talks. australia has been ranked the worst rich country for the climate, Exxon is considering giving up on some oil projects, Amazon and Ikea are promising their shipping will be carbon neutral by 2040, and even the british Royal Mint is planning on recycling gold from cell phones into new coins. we knew we should’ve kept that old cracked Nokia 3310...

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