Monday, March 8, 2021

Notations On Our World (Weekly Edition): On the Week That Was in Our World

 




 

We begin on this International Women's Day to pay homage to all the Women of the World who make a difference.   We salute them all.

We present a snapshot of the discourse on the week that was with analysis by the team at Project Syndicate,  the intercept regarding the US Senate Minority Leader,  the Guardian of London and throughout social media on the Pope's Iraq Visit, as COVID  restrictions are being lifted , The Bulwark, and as the Biden Administration's American Rescue Plan is going through its' final formal approval process: 


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redictable Insights provides a unique, crowdsourced perspective at the intersection of politics and prediction markets.

Each edition includes an update on the politics driving the week that was as well as highlights from PredictIt's market analysts.

It's Friday and here are the insights we've been keeping an eye on: We look at how the COVID relief stimulus fight is playing out in the Senate and the possible implications that vote will have on 2022 midterm races. Also, amid dueling scandals, we check in on Andrew Cuomo's odds of remaining New York’s governor through the end of the year.

*Market prices updated as of 9 a.m. EST on Friday, March 5.

MARKETS MAKING NEWS
 

This Week in the Markets

Former Vice President Joe Biden speaking with attendees at the 2019 Iowa Democratic Wing Ding in Iowa.

PHOTO: Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC SA-BY 2.0

Senate COVID Stimulus Vote-A-Rama

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said from the chamber floor on Thursday“no matter how long it takes, the Senate is going to stay in session to finish the bill this week.” But that’s a tall order given what Republicans have planned.

There have already been delays in getting this legislation to the Senate floor, mainly getting a green light from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to ensure the bill is in compliance with Senate rules regarding “budget reconciliation.” This would allow Democrats to pass it with a simple majority and without Republican support.

Putting the CBO issue to the side, some Senate Republicans plan to draw out the debate over the bill as long as they possibly can. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) requested the entire 628-page bill be read out loud, so Senate clerks spent 10 hours and 44 minutes reading the length of the bill, wrapping up after 2 am.

The Senate returned this morning for the “vote-a-rama” in which potentially hundreds of amendments could be introduced in order to further drag out the debate and to bring more public awareness to pieces of the legislation that are particularly contentious or unpopular.

The package is now expected to get a vote on Saturday, but just before the Senate adjourned in the wee hours of the morning, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) asked for three hours of debate once they resume today instead of the possible 20. No Republicans (including Johnson) were there to object so the agreement was made.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is expected to offer an amendment to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour despite the Senate parliamentarian ruling that including it would violate Senate reconciliation rules. He doesn’t expect the amendment to pass, but it will force all members to record their stance on the issue, just like many of the amendments Republicans will be offering. More on that below.

Prices at 7 a.m. EST: How many Yea votes in the Senate for the American Rescue Plan?

 

Johnson is also leading a plan to keep senators “focused” on dragging out the debate. “I’m coming up with a process that keeps people from tiring out. I’m getting sign ups. I’m laying out a three shift schedule,” he said.

The Wisconsin senator's plan isn't novel nor new. Such tactics are often deployed by the opposition party to raise public awareness over highly partisan or contentious legislation and to force a public vote over more unpopular aspects of the bill.

In recent polling, 76 percent of voters supported the stimulus bill, including 60 percent of Republicans. Democrats are aiming to push this relief package through before enhanced employment benefits from the last government stimulus last year run out on March 14. If the Senate approves the legislation, it will move back to the House where another vote is needed before it finally heads to the president's desk.

 

How Will This Play in 2022

Republicans have voiced objections to several aspects of the American Rescue Plan (ARP), including the amount of money going to “bail out” state and local governments which they see as having mismanaged their budgets long before the pandemic, primarily in areas with majority Democrat leadership. They also point out that for a COVID relief bill there is a small amount actually going to deal with COVID (two percent), and an even smaller amount (one percent) directed to helping with vaccine distribution.

Prices at 7 a.m. EST: Will either party control both the Senate and House in 2022?

 

As the minority, the Republicans’ only play is to use the “vote-a-rama” to raise these issues as amendments and use the Democratic votes as possible campaign messaging in the 2022 midterms. The same idea applies to Sanders’ play on the $15 federal minimum wage.

The Republican tactic also shows their base that they’re fighting for conservative priorities, but the bill will pass, ensuring that in the end they aren’t responsible for blocking the popular aid during a pandemic. Vote-a-rama is a win-win for Republicans.

Prices at 7 a.m. EST: Will the federal minimum wage be $9.50 per hour or higher by Sept. 1?

 

Market Pulse: The first day for the “How many ‘Yea’ votes in the Senate for the American Rescue Plan” market reflected the partisan split in the vote to take up the bill. Traders priced the “50 votes” contract as high as 77¢ (after the opening hour of trading) before it closed at 71¢. That is almost 45¢ above the second highest traded contract of “51 votes,” which would require at least one Republican to cross the aisle.

Traders banking on a final vote tally of “51 votes” hope that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) will switch her vote when the time comes. The Alaskan senator voted along party lines on Thursday when she voted against advancing the bill, but has yet to say how she will vote at the final hurdle.

The market tracking a federal minimum wage hike this year is trading at 16¢ and has been hovering between 20¢ and 13¢ all week. With traders holding the price of this contract at near market lows, it would appear something drastic would need to happen for this market to resolve yes by Sept. 1.

 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) speaks at opening of a new terminal at LaGuardia Airport.

PHOTO: Delta News Hub / Flickr / CC BY 2.0

Cuomo Digs In as He Refuses to Resign

At a press conference on Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) told reporters that he would not be stepping down amidst multiple accusations of sexual harassment and a scandal involving the deliberate coverup of COVID-related deaths in the state’s nursing homes.

Regarding the sexual harassment, Cuomo apologized that he “acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable” and said “I truly and deeply apologize for it. I feel awful about it. And frankly, I am embarrassed about it.” Cuomo also said during the presser, “I do not believe I have ever done anything in my public career that I am ashamed of.”

New York legislative leaders have announced a plan that would immediately remove the emergency authority given to Cuomo last year in the wake of the pandemic. Several Democrats have called on Cuomo to resign this week, including six socialist legislators, Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D).

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) released a report in January concluding that the executive office should have included the number of people who died after being transferred from long-term care facilities in its nursing home death toll.

James also declared this week that she would launch an investigation into the allegations against Cuomo after two former aides and a woman he interacted with at a wedding accused him of sexual harassment.

Price at 7:30 a.m. EST: Will Andrew Cuomo be Governor of New York at the end of the year?

 

Market Pulse: Despite the growing scandals, traders have stayed bullish on Cuomo’s chances of making it through the end of the year as governor. The market finished its first day of trading on Feb. 25 at 71¢ and its lowest closing price was 47¢ on March 1 when a third woman came forward with sexual harassment allegations. Since then the market has generally trended upwards and closed Thursday at 57¢.

The market doesn’t seem to reflect sentiments about the nursing home coverup, which broke on Jan. 28 — almost a month before the market opened — and has mostly been overtaken by the sexual harassment claims in the news. Though, a new report from the Wall Street Journal this morning has seen a 6¢ jump in the contract price to 63¢ as of 10 a.m. EST.











 
PS on Sunday
MARCH 7, 2021
This week at Project Syndicate, Nouriel Roubini warns that the same cohort of precariat workers and wannabe investors who were shafted in 2008 are now being duped again; Joseph S. Nye, Jr., considers what could cause the US and China to go to war; Kenneth Rogoff says longer-term inflation risks are skewed much more to the upside than many seem to realize; and more. Join the conversation.

Economics & Finance

The COVID Bubble


Nouriel Roubini worries that the US recovery is heading for another bout of market mania that will leave Main Street worse off.

Politics & World Affairs

What Could Cause a US-China War?


Joseph S. Nye, Jr., sees the greatest danger in both sides' misperception and miscalculation of changing power balances.
PS. The latests on politics for less than $9 per month. Subscribe now.

Economics & Finance

Are Inflation Fears Justified?


Kenneth Rogoff warns that threats to central-bank independence and globalization pose bigger long-term risks than many realize.

Culture & Society

The Green Shoots of COVID Solidarity


Ngaire Woods urges rich-country leaders to deliver on their promises of a rapid global vaccine rollout.
Biden’s China Challenge

On Point

Biden’s China Challenge


Christopher Smart reviews four recent books examining the past and present of Sino-American relations.

Economics & Finance

The Goldilocks Stimulus Myth


Yanis Varoufakis shows why there is no longer any amount of additional US fiscal spending that is just right.

Culture & Society

The Second Jacksonian Age


Gordon S. Wood highlights the striking similarities between the current political era and an earlier “epoch of the hoax.”
Is Inflation Alive?

The Big Picture

Is Inflation Alive?


PS commentators assess whether advanced economies’ massive stimulus programs could trigger rapid price growth.

Politics & World Affairs

A Test for Ivory Coast’s Democracy


Alassane Ouattara is confident that the upcoming parliamentary election will reinforce his country's recent progress.

Politics & World Affairs

When Special Drawing Rights Aren’t So Special


Hannah Wanjie Ryder and Gyude Moore highlight the limitations of a newly popular mechanism for supporting poorer countries.
The Growing Threat of Far-Right Extremism

Opinion Has It podcast

The Growing Threat of Far-Right Extremism


Cynthia Miller-Idriss and host Elmira Bayrasli discuss how right-wing groups recruit and mobilize supporters – and how to stop them.

Politics & World Affairs

What Should Biden Do About Venezuela?


Ricardo Hausmann and José Ramon Morales-Arilla warn that negotiations without sanctions, as some advocate, is a strategy that leads nowhere.

Culture & Society

Build Back Equal


María Fernanda Espinosa highlights the limitations of policies aimed at helping those who were “left behind” by globalization.
No More Free-Lunch Bailouts

From the Archive

No More Free-Lunch Bailouts


Mariana Mazzucato and Antonio Andreoni show why governments can and should attach mandatory conditions to state aid to private businesses.


Joe Biden Has Been Making His Own Luck

And he’s not throwing away his Top Shot.

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

1. American Rescue Plan

Amie Parnes and Jon Allen have written an insider’s account of Biden’s path to the presidency titled, “Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won The Presidency.” The premise of their tome is true in the narrow sense. Like anyone who rises to the presidency, Joe Biden caught a few breaks, of course. And yes, thanks to the quirks of the electoral college, Biden’s victory was a squeaker, even though his popular vote margin was the second largest of the 2000s. 

But as he is poised to sign into law a massive, legacy-defining COVID relief package that will, among other things, fund the vaccine surge that will ensure every desiring adult will be jabbed by May, well ahead of the pace he inherited. I feel compelled to point out that we got here thanks to luck that Joe Biden made for himself, and for all of us. 

In November of 2017 Joe Biden did an interview with Peter Hamby of Snapchat and Vanity Fair during which he laid out what a campaign that he didn’t exactly want to run would be premised on. Hamby summed up the Biden message as one about how “a certain set of ideals tether us together as Americans, and that above all else, character counts.” 

This was...not the prevailing view about the state of the country or the path to victory among the other Democratic candidates, strategists, or left wing pundits. Biden was derided for his obliviousness and naivete when he would bang on about bipartisanship. He was underestimated and in every interview I gave about the Democratic Primary his campaign was compared to my former boss, Jeb

Yet, when he launched his campaign he was undeterred, calling the unity doubters out explicitly saying, “I know some of the smart folks say Democrats don’t want to hear about unity. The angrier a candidate can be, the better chance they have to win the nomination. I don’t believe it. I really don’t. I believe Democrats want to unify this nation.” 

It turns out Biden was right and almost everyone else was wrong.

The landmark legislation he is set to sign has the support of around 70% of the public, depending on which poll you choose. And in his statement on the Senate vote yesterday, Biden stuck to the same nostalgic norminess that he was spewing back in that November 2017 interview. 

“By passing this plan we will have proved that this government, this democracy can still work...When I was elected I said we were going to get the government out of the business of battling on Twitter and back into the business of delivering for the American people.” 

Biden’s next task will be harder. Can he actually “break the fever” and win over Republicans on needed legislation now that his reconciliation card has been played. (Is there a less than $15 minimum wage deal he could cut, for example?) Can he ride the wave of good feelings following the end of the pandemic to see his dream of unity fulfilled? 

It’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure. But at this point, who is to doubt him? The Biden craps table is pretty hot. His bets have paid off. And it’s those of us who were desperate for someone to rid us of Trump who seem to be the lucky ones so far. 

2. If you had the luck of the Irish, you'd be sorry and wish you were dead.

I had a few other nits to pick when it came to the notion that Joey just benefited from the luck of the Irish. There were few things Parnes and Allen covered that from one vantage point might seem “lucky” but looked at in a different way made Biden’s degree of difficulty even higher. 

Parnes and Allen credit Elizabeth Warren with eviscerating Mike Bloomberg in the Las Vegas debate, clearing a key rival for the establishment/neoliberal/red dog vote in the primary. They cite a Biden aide saying that “he was going to be a major problem for us, but that changed things.” 

But the fact that Bloomberg was even in the race at that time was preposterous. Warren’s debate performance coincided with an opposition research avalanche that the Biden comms team was dumping on Bloomberg’s head. And while he claimed he was running as the “electability” candidate—the one man standing between America and a Trump vs. Bernie general election—that was never true. He wasn’t any better positioned to be nominated than Mayor Pete or Amy Klobuchar, particularly after Iowa. He didn’t have the support of black voters that propelled Biden to victory in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday. 

Despite the spanking that he received from Warren on the debate stage and having circles run around him in the media by Biden, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar, Mayor Mike still stayed in the race spending millions of dollars to bank early votes that largely would have broken for Biden once Pete and Amy decided to be team players. All things considered, I’d say the fact that Biden swept Super Tuesday despite having a Bloomberg anchor in most states makes his victory more impressive, not more lucky. 

As for the COVID-19 pandemic, I understand the macabre POV that Anita Dunn shared about COVID being the “best thing that ever happened to him” given that it exposed Trump’s gross incompetence and allowed Biden to campaign on his strengths (empathy) rather than having to suffer through rally size comparisons and “what about your gaffes” campaign culture. 

But here again, wasn’t Biden making his own luck? His “sleepy” competence and “healer-in-chief” brand were both cultivated intentionally. It wasn’t inevitable that the Democratic nominee would have those traits. Plus Trump was an absolute outlier in seeing a favorability decline amidst the pandemic, most world leaders and U.S. Governors saw their numbers go up. 

It seems just as likely to me that COVID was another challenge that Biden had to overcome as much as it was a lucky break. 

3. Top Shot 

Like pretty much everyone else I know, one area where I did not make my own luck was in monetizing my baseball card collection. For years I would page through the old Beckett checking out how much my 1990 Topps Frank Thomas no name card was worth. In the end, I think the answer was pretty much zero. 

Well, good news gamblers! Thanks to late stage capitalism, pandemic boredom, and the American entrepreneurial spirit, the trading card experience has been updated for the digital age with TopShot, a “collectible, blockchain-based highlight repository” that has taken the crucible of sport by storm. 

This seems to me like a modern day Beanie Baby, but based on my track record, I’d take the Top Shot luck into your own hands. Bleacher Report’s Sean Highkin explains

Developed by Vancouver-based Dapper Labs, the company behind the popular CryptoKitties game, Top Shot "moments" like Settleman's James dunk are essentially virtual sports cards, folding short highlight clips into a package with 3D animations and player stats. They utilize blockchain technology, which is the backbone of the cryptocurrency world, to ensure transparency in production and verify the authenticity of these digital collectibles, known as NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

Copies of a specific Top Shot moment are given a serial number to indicate how many are produced. Lower serial numbers are considered more valuable, along with serials that match the player's jersey number (Settleman bought the No. 23 serial copy of the James dunk, for example). Different runs are given names like "Cosmic," "Holo" and "Metallic Gold," just like limited-edition physical trading cards.

"If we were dealing with normal cards, I'd say 'I love Ja Morant' and you'd say 'I love Zion Williamson,' and we'd argue about who's going to have the better career," says Luc Doucet, a freelance advertising producer and crypto trader who hosts another Top Shot podcast called The First Mint. "But the next layer is we can say, 'What do you think is better, the Ja steal to end the game or the Zion block where he sends it into the rafters?' You can argue on a different level of fandom about which one should be worth more. And then see what the market thinks."


GOP 2024 hopefuls: Never too early to start

GOP 2024 hopefuls: Never too early to start

Even as the Monday quarterbacking of the last election continues, the near endless cycle of fundraising, staffing up, and jockeying for the next presidential race has informally begun.

 

Sidekicks emerge for a 2024 Trump ticket that could reshape Republican Party

Sidekicks emerge for a 2024 Trump ticket that could reshape Republican Party

Former President Donald Trump is barely out of the White House, let alone declaring he will actually run for a second term. Yet, the starting gun was seemingly fired this week on the race to become the former president's running mate in 2024, with advisers suggesting his best chance of reclaiming the office resides in choosing a black or female sidekick.

Read the full story here.

On Politics

February 27, 2021

Author Headshot

By Lisa Lerer

Politics Newsletter Writer

Hi. Welcome to On Politics, your wrap-up of the week in national politics. I’m Lisa Lerer, your host.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

The golden statue of the former president being wheeled through the halls of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday may have been a touch on the nose, considering the obvious Old Testament allusion.

But if you were looking for clues about the direction of the Republican Party after the Trump years, an effigy of Donald Trump in an American flag bathing suit may be as symbolic as any golden calf.

In recent years, CPAC has evolved from a family reunion of Republican libertarians, social conservatives and a hawkish foreign policy establishment into Trump-chella.

This year has been no exception, with speaker after speaker focusing on the pet issues of the former president. “Are your votes being distorted?” one ominous video asked, flashing photos of President Biden on the big screen. Mr. Trump plans to address the crowd on Sunday and anything he says about his future political ambitions will inevitably overshadow the entire event.

Yet, the former president may not end up running again — continuing legal issues could kill his bid — but there’s little question that he leaves the party reshaped in his image. Even though Mr. Trump often failed to articulate a comprehensive policy doctrine, he has fundamentally remade what being a Republican means.

That shift was made strikingly clear in the remarks of politicians who hope to lead their party into the future — with or without Mr. Trump.