All of those hard-earned Tesla stock price gains going to good use: Because space.
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Elon crashes another rocket
Primary Section
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What can Democrats do and not do around fillibuster?
Via 538: The recent fight between Senate Democrats and Republicans over the rules that would govern the chamber this session was complicated and arcane. All you really need to know is that Democrats don’t seem likely to use their slim majority to gut the filibuster. So, what exactly can Democrats do with a governing trifecta (control of the U.S.
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BofA: US economy to the moon!
Via BofA: You want to know what 6% growth feels like? We have become increasingly convinced of the prospects for exceptional growth this year. We came into the year with an above-consensus forecast of 4.5% which was boosted to 5.0% upon the earlier passage of stimulus. As warned, we are taking another leap forward and
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BofA: Biden to bring wage not asset inflation
Via BofA: President Biden has been busy During his first days in the White House, President Biden has signed 40 executive orders (EO) and memoranda, roughly grouped into the six themes below: COVID containment: A well-coordinated COVID response(mask mandates, invoking the defense Production Act for vaccines/PPE, etc.) argue for a faster return to normalcy. Economic
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Bernie Sanders chases higher wages
Via The Guardian: Leftwing senator tells Guardian the chances of raising the federal minimum are better than ever with new president in White House Senator Bernie Sanders says the widespread suffering caused by the pandemic-induced economic crisis has made it “morally imperative” to increase the US’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. And in an
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Alarm! “US to face underpopulation”
The population ponziteers are at it again, this time warning that the US is facing “underpopulation” because its birth rate has fallen to a 35 year low: The U.S. birth rate in 2019 fell to its lowest level in 35 years, well below the requisite 2.1 babies per woman required to sustain our population through
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American consumer in rude health
Via BofA: A unique feature of the COVID shock is its highly unequal impact on goods versusservicesspending. •Normally fiscal stimulus causes a surge in both goods and servicesspending; in thiscycle services spending could not respond. •The combination of aggressive fiscal stimulus and constraints on spending hascreated a massive surge in“excess”saving. •The recent actual and proposed
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Is the US doomed to be Imperial Rome?
Via Martin Wolf at the FT: Here is what has happened. US President Donald Trump asserted for months, without evidence, that he could not be defeated in a fair election. He duly attributed his defeat to a rigged election. Four in five Republicans still agree. The President pressured officials to overturn their states’ votes. Having
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Gittins: Trump was symptom not cause of US divisions
Darling economic commentator of the left, Ross Gittins, has stuck his thumb directly into the eye of the radicalised anti-American versions of history being pumped out by the likes of the ABC: For a harder-nosed expose of life on the margins of America’s mighty economy, I recommend the recent work of the Nobel prize-winning Scottish
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US COVID hospitalisations about to plunge, growth surge
Via Goldman: We believe that a vaccine-driven reduction in hospitalizations is likely to kick offthe growth rebound through relaxed restrictions and some reductions involuntary consumer social distancing. We model the vaccine impact on hospitalizations in the US, where they appear to have peaked–consistent with the projections of our equity research colleagues a month ago–and in
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Bidencare to lift US worker living standards
Via Goldman: We assess the macroeconomic implications of President-elect Biden’s campaign proposal to modify and expand the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which we believe has a good chance of enactment through the reconciliation process. Because many of the effects of the original ACA would likely recur on a smaller scale, we review the research literature
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Radicalised ABC editorialises end of El Trumpo
Do radicalised ABC editors meet every morning to pat one another on the back on another anti-American, pro-China day at the office? It sure looks like it: He took an escalator in and is taking a helicopter out. When it comes to rides, what a wild one the Donald Trump presidency has been. As a
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How much Biden stimulus will get up?
Via Goldman: President-elect Biden is proposing $1.9 trillion in new fiscal relief measures, in addition to the roughly $950bn Congress approved in December 2020.He has proposed substantial spending in all of the areas we expected, including an additional $1,400/person in stimulus payments, further extension of expanded unemployment benefits (through September 2021 and including a $400/week
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US about to kill the virus
Via BofA: Discharged from hospital. We saw a 2,091 person decrease in the number of people hospitalized in the US with Covid-19 over the last week, the first decline since September 23rd. Just four days ago there was a 7,167 person weekly increase and since then the number has declined gradually. While the decrease
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US politics is setting course for better not worse
As usual, we turn to the ABC for the worst possible take on US politics. Stan Grant has taken a leaf straight out of the “we’re all rooned, said Stanrahan” playbook: CNN called this a “solemn” moment. The impeachment — again — of Donald Trump is about the soul of America. It is more accurate
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Taper tantrum or inflation burst hitting bonds?
Via Cornerstone: Long-term Treasury yields have risen sharply since the beginning of the year, as we know. The ten-year rate is up 22 bps; the vast majority of the increase happened starting on January 5th. •The move is also outsized by historical standards: Ten-year yields have moved on net more than that on any othe
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Is this the end for El Trumpo?
Congress has just voted to impeach El Trumpo over the Capilo riot. Will Trump now face an impeachment trial? Not by Republicans in the next few days he won’t: NEWS —> McConnell’s office called Schumer’s people today + told them McConnell would not consent to reconvening immediately under the 2004 emergency authorities, a person familiar
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Trump spared loony removal but impeachment push grows
No loony removal for El Trumpo: BREAKING: Vice President Mike Pence says he WILL NOT invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office – CNBC pic.twitter.com/xQNqurpHzR — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 13, 2021 But, at NYT: Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, has told associates that he believes President Trump committed impeachable
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Here comes the inflation panic
Via Goldman: Bond sell-off indicates new real rates regime Since the start of the year US bonds have been under pressure as the ‘reflationary’ theme has gained momentum. Despite the concerning increase of new COVID-19infections, the Democratic win in the Georgia runoffs, the OPEC oil cuts and stronger-than-expected December data provided solid support for more
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More Trump protests planned?
Via NYT: Officials in state capitals across the country are bracing for a spillover from last week’s violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, with legislatures already becoming targets for protesters in the tense days around the inauguration of the incoming president, Joseph R. Biden Jr. Gone is a large measure of the bonhomie that usually accompanies
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Civility is always the limit of free speech
Australia’s own brand of loons are upset, at The Australian: Senior Morrison government ministers have slammed the silencing of outgoing US president Donald Trump by social media giants after the pro-Trump siege of the Capitol. Josh Frydenberg and Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack spoke out against Twitter’s decision to permanently ban Mr Trump days before
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An historian’s view of the Capitol riot
From Niall Ferguson at Bloomie: Major pandemics often coincide with religious or political contagions. In his “History of the Peloponnesian War,” Thucydides records how, during the plague that devastated Athens between 430 and 426 BC, people seemed to lose their moral compasses. …During the Black Death that swept across Europe in the 1340s, flagellant orders
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Will Trump be impeached?
Decide for yourself: (THREAD) To understand the second impeachment of Donald Trump, we must understand the words that preceded and augmented his January 6 incitement of insurrection. This thread unpacks four key speeches—Don Jr., Giuliani, Mo Brooks, and Eric Trump. I hope you’ll read on and RETWEET. pic.twitter.com/rZT50kfgO9 — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 10, 2021
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ABC loons delight in “American carnage”
Via the ABC’s number one CCP sympathiser, Stan Grant: This week’s insurrection in Washington has been shocking but not at all surprising. It’s part of a long deep unravelling of America. The angry mobs storming the Capitol building reflect a broken country where tens of millions of people have traded the American dream for American
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US Labor Market sours
Ahead of Non Farm Payrolls on Friday, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics has posted poor employment figures for 2020, providing a sobering reminder of the devastation of jobs last year: 242 out of 389 metropolitan areas had decreases in employment for the year ended November 2020 From November 2019 to November 2020, 242 metropolitan
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Trump concedes new administration will be inaugurated on 20 January
pic.twitter.com/csX07ZVWGe — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021 President Donald Trump posted his latest video to Twitter, his first Tweet since his expired suspension for inciting violence. In the address, Trump says he is committed to a smooth and orderly transition: “Now Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on
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US on brink of civil war as Trump supporters storm capitol
There’s been crazy scenes overnight and this morning in the US, where thousands of unmasked pro-Trump supporters have stormed Capitol Hill demanding Trump remain US President: The SWAT teams and the National Guard have been called in to disperse the protesters and a curfew has been called. Here’s a summary of the day’s events via
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US hospitalisations, deaths soon to peak
Via Goldman: Vaccine impact on US Hospitalizations Hospital utilization has been a key factor driving reopening sentiment.COVID-19has proven to be most deadly to vulnerable populations when adequate medical care is not available. Campaigns to “flatten the curve” in March/April had the stated goal of reducing the potential for the pandemic to overwhelm the hospital system.
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If Biden wins Georgia, what will assets do?
Via Goldman: Focus is likely to intensify further on Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections, which will determine control of the Senate. We look here at the implications for key assets of a shift from the current Republican Senate majority to Democratic control of the Senate, using the same cross-asset approach that we have used to
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Biden takes lead in senate race
Via 538: These are 538 adjusted polls. If they prove correct then: Biden stimulus will be unleashed leading to… steepening yield curve (possibly sharp); value rotation rocket; possible blow-off and dump of stocks; falling DXY and rising AUD but also an emerging US growth advantage to reverse it; commodities bid and blowoff especially for copper