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Once more, with feeling: break up Facebook

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Today's Agenda

TFW the regulators finally come for you.

Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America

How Do You Solve a Problem Like the Facebook, Part II

The second edition of this newsletter, back in ye olden dayes of May 2018, addressed the very big problem of Facebook and what to do about it. It included the hashtag #BreakUpFacebook and boldly predicted such an outcome "seems unlikely to happen during the Trump administration."

This prediction will almost certainly come true, but only due to timing. Because, lo and behold, President Donald Trump's Federal Trade Commission is actually leading the charge to #BreakUpFacebook. This is an unexpected late-season twist, but a welcome one. Facebook's size and vast M&A war chest have long stifled competition, hurting consumers even if its products are free. And that's before you get into how it can make people depressed and spreads dangerous nonsense.

Undoing Facebook's takeovers of Instagram and WhatsApp won't solve all these problems, but such a breakup is the best solution available, writes Joe Nocera. Facebook argues regulators gave it a pass on these deals and can't call backsies. But that's not how the FTC works. And, as Joe notes, emails have since revealed Facebook knew, long before regulators did, that it was buying potential competition. To paraphrase Jeff Lebowski, new stuff has come to light!

As you may recall from the time regulators challenged Microsoft back when the world was new, this fight could take several eons to resolve. In the meantime, Congress can and should toughen outdated antitrust laws, writes Tae Kim. There may even be bipartisan support for such a thing. This would help not only with today's Big Tech problems, but tomorrow's, too.

The Hot New Thing Is Worrying About Inflation

Matt Yglesias tweeted this chart today, which tells a lot of economic stories:

One of the stories it tells is how inflation has been slowly dying since the days when "Back to the Future" was in theaters, even as forecasters repeatedly insist it will roar back to life at any minute. Now, after we've mostly internalized the idea inflation can no longer be a thing, people are warning about it again. You might dismiss this as so much "different this time" talk, but John Authers lays out some compelling reasons inflation could actually happen in 2021, including the best conditions for consumer spending in a generation.

As for interest rates, though, the Federal Reserve seems determined to keep them anchored until this long-awaited inflation has already settled in and asked for a second glass of iced tea, notes Brian Chappatta. In fact, markets getting carried away with inflation talk could make the Fed more dovish, just to prove its point. 

Further Economic Reading: The ECB's latest move is a compromise that shouldn't make anybody happy. — Ferdinando Giugliano

Live Your Best Pandemic Life

The only positive thing you can say about this garbage pandemic is that it reminds us what really matters: health, love, good Wi-Fi. Otherwise, though: pure garbage. More Americans died of Covid yesterday than in the 9/11 attacks. We're about to hit 300,000 deaths in the U.S. alone. The economy is wrecked. Those of us who have stayed healthy have still been damaged in smaller ways. We're depressed. We're unfocused. We're not eating right. We're not exercising. Our sleep is messed up. We're on screens too much. We're ignoring goals and tasks. But anyway, enough about me. Sarah Green Carmichael has some tips on how we can make the rest of this pandemic — and it will last for several more months — not be so awful, by turning our bad new habits into better ones

Few things cure the blues as effectively as remembering how lucky you actually are and helping people who aren't. You can and should donate to your usual charities, but Farnoosh Torabi points out there are also many ways to directly help people who may just be a couple of doors down from you.

Further Pandemic Reading: Of course it's better to get vaccinated than to purposefully catch Covid. — Faye Flam

Adding to Biden's To-Do List

Because we're pretty sure Trump can't control the universe with his mind, President-elect Joe Biden will likely become president-actual on Jan. 20. Even beyond the pandemic and recession, he'll have plenty to do.

Global warming is still very much a thing, and even without Congress, Biden can help by incentivizing Americans to drive more electric cars, writes Bloomberg's editorial board.

He can help the global economy by undoing the many mistakes Trump made on trade, writes Ramesh Ponnuru.

He can boost the U.S. economy, and just make America a better place, by helping the Dreamers, writes Francis Wilkinson. Failing these people as we keep doing is a form of national self-harm. Unfortunately Biden will need Congress to permanently fix the problem.  

Further Biden vs. Trump Reading: There's a history of losing presidents behaving badly in transitions. They usually involve the worst presidents. — Stephen Mihm 

Telltale Charts

Hedge funds have had a decent year, by recent, low, hedge-fund standards. It still wasn't good enough to beat an index fund, writes Mark Gilbert.

Further Reading

If FireEye can get hacked by Russia, then pretty much anybody can. — Tim O'Brien 

GE's $200 million SEC fine comes after a $200 billion market cap loss already inspired it to change its ways. — Brooke Sutherland 

Jamie Dimon seems anxious to make a deal, but none really make sense right now. — Elisa Martinuzzi

Boris Johnson's ploy to split the EU is failing and hardening Europe's position instead. — Lionel Laurent 

Angela Merkel blew it in compromising with Hungary and Poland. — Andreas Kluth

Dubai's investment in an Israeli football team with a hyper-nationalist fan base shows how quickly the Israel-UAE relationship is changing. — Zev Chafets 

ICYMI

Stimulus talks are going nowhere.

Brexit talks are going badly for Johnson.

Negative oil was great for these traders.

Kickers

Centuries later, we have an answer to a seemingly simple math problem.

Your time is worth about $19 an hour.

Young ravens may be as smart as adult chimps.

Pitchfork's 50 best albums of 2020.

Note: Please send $19 and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net.

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