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The World
The U.S. national debt exceeded $30 trillion for the first time, reflecting increased federal borrowing during the pandemic. Total public debt outstanding was $30.01 trillion as of Jan. 31, according to Treasury Department data released Tuesday. That was a nearly $7 trillion increase from late January 2020, just before the pandemic hit the U.S. economy. The total debt comprises debt held by the public and intragovernmental debt. (Wall Street Journal)
World hits ten billion COVID vaccinations: In little more than a year, ten billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally, in what has become the largest vaccination program in history. More than 60% of the world’s population — 4.8 billion people — is at least partially vaccinated with one of the more than 20 approved COVID-19 vaccines. “The world has never seen such rapid scale-up of a new life-saving technology,” says Amanda Glassman, with the Center for Global Development. But there are still huge inequities in access, with just 5.5% of people in low-income nations having received 2 doses. (Nature)
Researchers are asking why some countries were better prepared for covid. One surprising answer: Trust. “We found no links between covid outcomes and democracy, populism, government effectiveness, universal health care, pandemic preparedness metrics, economic inequality or trust in science,” said Thomas Bollyky, one of the study’s authors. Instead, better outcomes appear to have gone hand in hand with high levels of trust in government and other citizens. Perception of government corruption was correlated with worse outcomes (Washington Post, The Lancet)
Vladimir Putin accused the US of seeking to hold Russia back by dragging it into a conflict over Ukraine while insisting he wanted talks with Washington and NATO to continue to avoid a “negative outcome”, such as war. In his first public comments in several weeks since the US warned that Moscow was massing more than 100,000 troops on the border, the Russian president said Ukraine was being used as a “tool” by Washington. (Financial Times)
China called Japan’s human rights resolution a ‘vile’ decision and threatened further measures. Tokyo’s lower house motion expressing concerns about China’s record was described as ‘wanton remarks’ by a Beijing spokesman. Most of Japan’s ruling and opposition lawmakers voted in favor of the resolution, which follows months of tensions between the Asian neighbors. (South China Morning Post)
Fresh party allegations pile pressure on Boris Johnson: Many Tory MPs said the prime minister was on a three-month probation until local elections in May, but a constant drip of new revelations threatens to further undermine his position in the days ahead. Johnson attended a prosecco-fuelled leaving do for a No 10 aide during the strict post-Christmas lockdown, which is now under police investigation. Sue Gray’s investigation into lockdown parties this week revealed several events that had not previously been publicized, including a gathering on 14 January 2021 “on the departure of two No 10 private secretaries”. But the redacted report revealed no further details. (Financial Times, The Guardian)
Single-payer healthcare proposal fizzles: CA lawmakers have declined to vote on a high-profile effort to overhaul California’s healthcare system, putting an end to a proposal that would have guaranteed medical coverage to every resident by levying billions in new taxes. (Los Angeles Times)
Hospitals felt omicron's full force in late 2021, Kaufman Hall says. A respite from treating large volumes of COVID-19 patients was short-lived last fall as people with symptoms filled hospital emergency rooms and boosted visits in December. (Healthcare Dive)
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., suffered a stroke in New Mexico last week and is continuing to recover after having surgery at a hospital in Albuquerque. He is expected to make a full recovery, Carlos Sanchez, the chief of staff, said. But any prolonged absence would have national implications since Senate Democrats and Republicans are evenly split, making every vote critical for passing future legislation or the upcoming Supreme Court nomination. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is a Democrat. (Albuquerque Journal)
Brian Flores, who was fired as coach of the Miami Dolphins last month and was rejected for new jobs with other clubs, has sued the N.F.L. and its 32 teams alleging that they have discriminated against him and other Black coaches in their hiring practices. His filing in federal court comes just days after the Giants, one of the teams he interviewed with for a position, named Brian Daboll, who is white, as their head coach. Flores cited text messages he said were sent by his former boss, New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. In the messages, Belichick appears to congratulate Flores for winning the Giants’ job, which he had yet to interview for at that point. Flores responded by asking if Belichick had intended the message for Daboll, who interviewed before Flores’s scheduled meeting. (New York Times)
Economy
Investors are betting that persistently high inflation will force the European Central Bank to raise interest rates more than once this year, in a challenge to the central bank’s insistence that it expects to freeze rates at historical lows at least until next year. Markets this week pulled forward expectations of tighter policy, with an increase in the ECB’s deposit rate to minus 0.25% — from its current rate of minus 0.5% — now priced in by December. (Financial Times)
‘Headstrong’ women and ‘dependent’ men may get paid less, research finds: Research from economists at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University suggests that expectations for gender behavior that start in childhood could contribute to differences in earnings in early adulthood. Two particular childhood behaviors — whether someone is perceived as “headstrong” or “dependent,” as defined by researchers — have significant associations with early adult income by gender, the research found. A so-called headstrong young woman will earn $2,431 less per year than men in comparable positions, the research found. Meanwhile, she will make $2,092 less if she is one standard deviation higher than another woman on a headstrong scale created by child psychologists. (CNBC)
Nearly half of businesses whose workplace plans were upended by the latest COVID-19 waves have not communicated plans for returning to the physical workplace. Conducted by The Conference Board, the survey also found that only 9% of employees are currently working in the office full time. What’s more, concerns about contracting COVID-19 and exposing family members have doubled over the last seven months. 71% of companies changed return-to-the-workplace plans due to the recent surges. 30% were back in the workplace and reverted to remote/hybrid work. 41% rescheduled or cancelled plans to return. 48% have not determined a date to return to the physical workplace. Relatedly, only 9% of survey respondents are in the physical office full time; 46% are fully remote; 45% work a hybrid schedule, with some days remote and some in the office. (The Conference Board)
A “third place” between home and office: Remote workers have been seeking new types of workspaces, with implications for business and transit. an MIT-supported survey project reveals a twist on this now-familiar scenario: Many workers with location flexibility are not necessarily working from home. Instead, they are taking their work to a “third place,” including cafés, libraries, and co-working spaces. About one-third of nonoffice work hours are spent in such places, the data show, even if those locations put people in closer proximity to others than working at home might. (MIT News)
The open-plan office is dead. Do this instead: Three ways to convince employees that commuting to work is better than working from home. (Inc.)
India to launch its own digital currency — a digital rupee — in the 2022-2023 financial year which begins Apr. 1. India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the introduction of the digital rupee would be based on “blockchain and other technologies.” India would be one of the world’s largest economies to introduce a so-called central bank digital currency if it sticks to its plans, following in the footsteps of China which is testing a digital yuan. (CNBC)
Thailand axed its planned 15% cryptocurrency tax in a move that follows proposals to limit digital currency payments. (Financial Times)
New York City leads the crypto-VC funding race over Silicon Valley. (Bloomberg)
The January forecast for the U.S. citrus harvest is looking bleak for Florida orange growers. The 2021/22 season, running from fall into the summer, is expected to consist of fewer than 45 million 90-pound boxes in the state. If the predictions are true, California’s orange crop would be larger than Florida’s for the first time, as the Western state is expected to harvest more than 47 million of the boxes. One of the results of the meager harvest could be rising orange juice prices. The threat is more existential to Florida citrus growers, however, which have for many years been dealing with a worsening outbreak of bacterial disease citrus greening, which is behind the calamity. The Florida harvest would be the worst in more than 75 years. (Statista)
Technology
Alphabet posted another quarter of strong sales growth, capping a year when profit nearly doubled despite mounting regulatory pressure that threatens the search giant’s future. The company’s dominance in online search, video and internet ad sales made it one of last year’s leading beneficiaries of an upswing in digital advertising, with 4Q21 revenue of $75.33 billion, an increase of 32% from a year earlier. (Wall Street Journal)
Alphabet shares will shortly become a lot more plentiful. The company announced a 20-for-1 stock split, which will increase shares outstanding from 663.7 million to more than 13 billion. Alphabet’s stock price, which closed today at $2,757 (but which was trading around $3,000 in the after-hours market), should in theory drop to around $138 after the split. It throws down the gauntlet to Amazon, which hasn’t split its stock recently though its shares trade at a similar price level to Alphabet’s. (The Information)
Another week, another gaming acquisition. First Take-Two acquired Zynga, then Microsoft acquired Activision-Blizzard, and now Sony just announced the acquisition of Bungie. Each of these acquisitions is interesting in their own right, but taken as a set they paint a picture of industry evolution that extends far beyond gaming. (Stratechery)
What Sony sees in Destiny developer Bungie: The Bungie ouroboros speaks in many ways to the nature of modern gaming. The industry is consolidating rapidly as large platform owners race to build out more expansive software and services ecosystems to sell new hardware and stay ahead of potentially disruptive new forces like subscription gaming and the cloud. And in Bungie, Sony has found a company with unparalleled technical expertise, strong intellectual property and a devout customer base. Other keys: 1) Bungie’s future is bright, but it’s brighter with PlayStation. 2) It’s all about the content (and the talent that makes it). 3) Sony’s exclusivity strategy is becoming more flexible. (Protocol)
Watch this space: The FTC rather than the DOJ will handle the antitrust review of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. Focus will be on potential harm to rivals. (Bloomberg)
Electric Vehicles:
Ford reportedly plans to increase EV spending by up to $20 billion. The effort, led by a former Apple and Tesla executive, calls for Ford to spend an additional $10 billion to $20 billion over the next five to 10 years converting factories worldwide, according to the report. (Bloomberg, CNBC)
Cruise is opening up its driverless robotaxi service to the public in San Francisco as the GM subsidiary creeps toward commercialization with a fresh $1.35 billion investment from SoftBank Vision Fund. (TechCrunch)
Pinterest is expanding its augmented reality “try on” feature to home furniture. With the update, users will be able to preview how furniture and other home decor will look in their space. The company has teamed up with major retailers, including Wayfair, Crate & Barrel, Macy’s and Target, which have made more than 20,000 products to the service. And, like Pinterest’s earlier AR try-on features for beauty products, the new furniture pins are shoppable, so users can buy the items they are trying out. (Engadget)
Smart Links
iPad deliveries remain squeezed as Apple prioritizes iPhones. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Tax haven U.A.E. to introduce levy on corporate profits. (Wall Street Journal)
California water officials warn state could face third consecutive dry year. (CNBC)
Pandemic shortages haven’t shattered the case for “just-in-time” supply chains. (Wall Street Journal)
Home generator sales are booming with mass outages, climate change and COVID. (WBUR)