Europe' case counts hit a new all-time, as did Germany.
Lockdowns, restrictions, and protests (sometimes violent) are everywhere in Europe.
2/7
The world hit a new 10 week high yesterday, and cases are going vertical (orange) line.
3/7
And the US is now moving up, no mistake about it (orange line in the last few weeks).
And, as we have noted before, whenever cases spike in one area, they eventually spike in other area.
4/7
Europe is spiking now even though they have higher vaccine rates than the US
5/7
Michigan has the highest case count in the US.
In fact it is making a new all-time high in cases per 100,000.
6/7
Why bring up Michigan?
Because in 1-hour the Detroit Lions play the Chicago Bears in front of 65,000 maskless screaming fans in DOME STADIUM (read: indoor) Ford Field in Detroit.
Remember a year ago, when case counts were LOWER, they had to play this game with no fans.
7/7
Oh ... and in 48 hours #6 Michigan plays #2 Ohio State in "The Big House" in Ann Arbor. So another 110,000+ maskless fans screaming in the state with the highest case count in the country, and higher than last year's lockdowns.
Are we still following the science???
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It turns out that the biggest soap opera in Trump's nominations is the Treasury Secretary. As the graphic below shows, it is as close to 50/50 as it gets.
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My Take
The Treasury Secretary gets to sit in the room and opine on policy. And their voice will be taken seriously.
But they do not set the policy; the President does. When the president says what they will do, they expect the Treasury Secretary to sell that policy as if it were theirs.
The second part, selling something they don't believe in but are told to do, is something Jamie Dimon will never do, so he will never be the Treasury Secretary. (Dimon wants to tell everyone else what they should sell).
Lutnick will sell whatever you tell him and do it with gusto! Bessert will do so too, but he does not command the room like Lutnick.
In other words, the Treasury Secretary is the administration's chief spokesman. This is a sales job, and it needs a salesperson.
The problem with Yellen was that she needed to be a better salesperson. Yes, she is an outstanding economist, but she was never a good spokesperson for the Biden Agenda.
She would have been a better National Economic Council head, the "smart person in the shadows advising the President."
If I had to guess ....
Lutnick = Treasury Secretary
Bessert = National Economic Council head
A good way to measure the perceived health of the US economy is to measure the public's ability to spend on things they want but do not need, aka discretionary spending.
🧵
2/5
The Conference Board's survey of 3,000 Households asking whether they are planning a foreign vacation in the next six months.
This month, the survey hit another all-time high: 22% of US households say they will vacation overseas in the next six months.
3/5
A foreign vacation is something that absolutely nobody needs but absolutely everybody wants.
You only agree to potentially spend several thousand dollars if you are confident about your job,
investments, and the overall state of the economy.