| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a convention speech of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's Agenda  Biden and Senator Kamala Harris at the end of a unique convention. Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg Biden Time It would have been pretty hard for Joe Biden to truly flub his big convention speech last night. President Donald Trump had helpfully buried the bar Biden needed to clear deep underground, by portraying the former vice president as incapable of coherent speech. But Biden not only hopped that easy hurdle; in his forceful, empathetic address he presented himself as a fully credible president, justifying the huge polling lead he has over Trump. It wasn't exactly Obama-esque rhetoric, but it was definitely Biden-esque, playing to what America by now understands to be his strengths, as Jonathan Bernstein notes. Those are experience and deep compassion, if a bit rough around the edges. Those qualities also happen to match the quadruple-crisis moment in which the nation finds itself, by Biden's accurate count. Bloomberg LP founder Michael Bloomberg told the convention he will vote for Biden because his track record — which includes cleaning up another economic crisis — is so obviously superior to that of the current White House occupant. "It didn't have to be this bad," Biden said last night, and much of the fault for that is Trump's. That may explain why the beating heart of what Ramesh Ponnuru says is Biden's argument for himself — that he is not Trump — has been so effective so far. Just before Biden spoke, Trump's old Svengali Steve Bannon was arrested by postal workers on the high seas, accused of defrauding Trump supporters desperate to build a border wall. If Biden wins in November, then Bannon's arrest will be a fitting finale to the three-ring grifter circus of this presidency, Noah Feldman writes. It would also mark the start of the Herculean effort to clean up the mess it leaves behind. We'll have to see if Biden is up to that task, but he has at least cleared the first bar. More … Good? Economic News Yesterday we swallowed our usual knee-jerk pessimism to point out household net worth has held up remarkably well in the pandemic. This could cushion the economy even if Congress drives it over a fiscal cliff. Today Tim Duy delivers even more of this frightening optimism, noting Americans have squirreled away a metric truckload of cash during the crisis. Apparently, if all you ever do is buy groceries and watch Netflix, you save money. Who knew? Throw stimulus checks on top of all this not-spending, and Americans are sitting on more than $1 trillion in excess savings. They're also not using as much credit. All of this could keep the economy from crash-landing.  But let's not get carried away! Times are still hard for many of us, and they're about to get harder in the factory sector. A bailed-out Boeing is cashing its government check but laying off even more workers, writes Brooke Sutherland. Maybe we should have attached some strings to that check. Meanwhile, Deere & Co.'s profit forecast for the year was much less awful than expected, but it's also accelerating job cuts. This is part of a disturbing trend in manufacturing, Brooke Sutherland writes in a second column, and it's not one for the optimists. Fresh Lockdowns, and How to Avoid Them As weird as life is for most of us right now, let's not forget it was even weirder back in March, when simply walking the dog or ordering takeout food felt like a spacewalk. Nobody wants to relive those days. But it may not ultimately be up to us. As with so many things in our lives anymore, the coronavirus decides. Even in Europe, which had mostly gotten a handle on Covid-19 over the summer, case counts are rising again, and French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders are reckless to suggest fresh lockdowns aren't possible, writes Ferdinando Giugliano. U.S. colleges are shutting down before the fall semester has barely started, notes Mohamed El-Erian, an extreme measure forced on administrators because college kids think they're invincible and do risky stuff (or so I am told; I spent my college time studying quietly). A substantial segment of America's non-college population has the same problem and could yet force many of us back to sheltering in place. Still, there are things we can do short of mass lockdowns to control the virus, writes Noah Smith. We can force people to wear masks, ban large gatherings and keep those rowdy college kids at home. But most crucially we can use some of the fancy new testing technology coming to market to truly launch a national testing program. Further Virus Reading: It's not dumb to shut down college classes but keep playing college football. — Tyler Cowen Telltale Charts Trader Joe's is wildly popular and productive, but it's also not really built for a pandemic, write Andrea Felsted and Sarah Halzack. For example: Why no online ordering, Trader Joe's?  The whole world may be working from home, but in some countries the quality and affordability of home internet connections is higher than others, writes Ben Schott.  Further Reading Trump's EPA has given oil and gas companies a license to spew methane into the atmosphere. — Bloomberg's editorial board Here are 23 questions Congress should ask the postmaster general, Trump megadonor Louis DeJoy. — Tim O'Brien Trump's push for institutions to divest from China will make it harder for them to make money. — John Authers The poisoning of Alexei Navalny will actually make life harder for Vladimir Putin. — Clara Ferreira Marques In trying to teach the U.S. a lesson, Europe also gave Iran a free pass. — Bobby Ghosh ICYMI Bannon's downfall could herald Trump's. Billionaire Robert Smith's taxes are under investigation. Greeland ice is melting at a record pace. Kickers Highly sensitive to pain? Thank your Neanderthal genes. (h/t Scott Kominers) The end of the universe could be a frigid, lifeless wasteland punctuated by "black dwarf" supernovae. (h/t Mike Smedley) Mystery bacteria can conduct electricity through mud. Efficiency is overrated. Note: Please send electric mud and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. | 
Post a Comment