Daily Musings — Notable News of the Day
January 12, 2021
The Case for American Optimism
Yet despite all the wailing, the United States is not so much declining as reinventing itself — and, as usual, doing so from the ground up. America as a whole is not a “failed state” but a place where people move from areas of limited opportunity to those with more. The pandemic has accelerated this process.
U.S. coffee shops will only return to pre-pandemic sales in 2023 — report
“The U.S. coffee shop market is enduring the worst trading environment in living memory. However, with a changing political situation, mass vaccinations and operators rapidly adapting with new trading formats, there is light at the end of the tunnel…We expect trading to begin stabilizing from summer 2021, however it will take a number of years for operators to fully readjust to the ‘new normal’”.
Just 39% of Americans could pay for a $1,000 emergency expense
The results mark a slight decline in Americans’ ability to over emergencies compared to past years. In 2020, 41% of respondents said they could afford an unexpected $1,000 bill, while 40% said the same in 2019.
It Was a Joke’: Some Small Businesses Got $1 Relief Loans
The tiny sums were equally frustrating for the banks and other lenders that made the government-backed loans. For each, they were paid 5 percent of the value — meaning they collected just pennies on the smallest loans, far less than they cost to make.
Once again, job losses fall unequally across the US economy
“Such differences in … employment loss between the highest- and lowest-wage workers are almost certainly unprecedented among U.S. recessions over the past 100-plus years.”
Siemens boss expects U.S. to join 2021 global economic recovery
“The United States is an eco-system which always finds its way out, and I am very optimistic this time too…The country has been busy with elections and with everything else, as Europe has been busy with Brexit and the like, you have to say that Asia has been taking that time and using it to move full speed ahead in terms of economic development and growth.”
Nuclear power backers hopeful Biden’s climate focus will boost industry
The United States has about 94 traditional reactors, out of the 440 worldwide, but rising costs have forced many plants to shut with five more expected to close this year in Illinois and New York. Nuclear power faces competition from electricity stations that burn cheap, plentiful natural gas and from renewable power, including wind and solar.
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