America’s got problems even $100 billion won’t fix

Follow Us Get the newsletter This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a school audit of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's Agenda We'll need more than $100 billion each to fix American schools and broadband access. We'll need more than patent waivers to end a global vaccine shortage. The GOP will need more than personal attacks on Biden. Netflix will need more "House Hunters" content. Sometimes $100 Billion Isn't Enough One hundred billion dollars sounds like a large amount of dollars, because it is. But context matters. Amazon makes $100 billion in revenue every quarter. That feels like, I don't know, almost too much? Although to be fair, I am writing this newsletter inside a WFH fortress built of empty Amazon boxes. But then there's the $100 billion President Joe Biden wants to spend on America's crumbling public schools. Again, sounds like a lot. But with roughly half of all the schools crumbling, $100 billion is not enough to cover the damage, writes Andrea Gabor. She suggests we make districts submit audits of schools in order to get cash, so we at least know the money is going to the most desperate places.   Biden also wants to spend $100 billion to get broadband internet to more Americans, so kids can stop doing homework in McDonald's parking lots. Once again, this is a very big number that is also inadequate, writes Bhaskar Chakravorti. It undercounts the number of people who need access, for one thing. Biden's plan also relies on local municipalities to build out the plumbing. Bhaskar suggests we can pay for much more access, and also get better broadband for our buck, by a) taxing Big Tech's ludicrous profits (see Amazon, above, along with all the rest of them) and b) enlisting Big Tech's help in building the networks. When you've only got a $100 billion budget, every little bit helps. Further Economic Stimulus Reading: Supporting Black entrepreneurs will support the whole economy. — John Hope Bryant  Paid Post This company is disrupting a $200 billion industry. Businesses have seen the value of becoming more consumer-centric for years, but the auto insurance industry is one of the last sectors to do so. Historically, drivers have to do the bulk of the work when it comes to shopping for competitive rates. With hundreds of insurance companies to choose from, it's hard to find the best quote for you. Everquote is on a mission to change that. Learn more about how Everquote is helping drivers across the country take control of their savings. EverQuote Foiled Again, Plankton: Vaccine Edition It sounds simple enough: The developing world needs vaccines. Big Pharma owns the recipes for vaccines. Just take the recipes from Big Pharma and give them to the developing world, right?  Maybe not. Stealing a secret formula is a good plot for a SpongeBob episode, but it falls apart as a way to get vaccines to the developing world, writes Bloomberg's editorial board. Also necessary are ingredients, factories and expertise. Sending extra vaccines where needed is the simplest approach. But paying companies to provide those ingredients, factories and expertise would help, too. In the developed world of the United States, we're starting to have more vaccines than we know what to do with. That's partly because so many of our youths prefer exposing themselves to Covid the old-fashioned way: sucking it out of each other's belly buttons in a bar. Podcaster Joe Rogan (a youthful 53) spoke for his fellow kids when he said healthy young people should fear vaccines more than Covid. He backed down when outrage rightfully ensued, but Faye Flam writes we should be glad Rogan started a conversation about the real risks of young people not getting vaccinated. Further Covid Reading: Here's how India went wrong and how to fix it (spoiler: It's vaccines). — Bobby Ghosh  Republicans Need a Plan B (for Biden) Late last week, on a walk to Marine One, the president of the United States bent down and picked a dandelion and handed it to his wife. Does this knowledge fill you with: admiration indifference  seething rage If you answered 3, then apparently you are Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield, who burned up precious Newsmax airtime ranting about the act. I mean, sure, I wouldn't pick a dandelion for my wife, either. But I also understand this is why I live inside an Amazon-box fortress. Stinchfield is emblematic of the right's failure to sustain attacks on Biden's personality, character or competence. Ramesh Ponnuru suggests they just give up already. Aren't there some policies they could attack instead? (See spending, above.)  Because the Republican Party has become the Trump Party, the personal attacks will likely continue. But Tim Scott, who delivered the GOP response to Biden's congressional address, offers another way, writes Robert George. He keeps the personal attacks to a minimum, along with the racism and nativism, while offering actual solutions to actual problems. This is less fun to talk about than Disney canceling Snow White or whatever, so it may not catch. But still: There is another way. Bonus Politics Reading: Amy Coney Barrett's book deal is just the latest conflict at the Supreme Court. It should straighten up or risk losing trust. — Tim O'Brien  Telltale Charts Discovery stock took a hit in the Archegos blowup. Netflix needs reality content. Discovery+ has that content. You do the math. Or, better yet, let Tara Lachapelle do it.  Your Mother's Day flowers probably came from Colombia, writes Justin Fox.  Further Reading Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are starting to seem like they weren't made for these times. — Tara Lachapelle  In Afghanistan, the West once again forgot the lessons of Vietnam. — Max Hastings  Proxy filings show companies keep shelling out millions for executive perks, from apartments to security details. — Michelle Leder  Tesla is learning the hard way it can't be as dismissive of regulators in China as it is in the U.S. — Anjani Trivedi  AI writing is still not as good as human writing and may never be. — Leonid Bershidsky  Evidence is mounting that it's better to read physical books than digital ones. — Stephen L. Carter  ICYMI Refusing a vaccine is legal but could cost you your job. Hollywood is moving to Albuquerque. LSD and cargo shorts don't always make a successful CEO. Kickers Archaeologists discover a 2-million-year-old home. (h/t Ellen Kominers) Archaeologists discover an "embassy" in a Mayan city.  Scientists discover why human feet keep washing up onshore. (h/t Scott Kominers for the past two kickers) Just how long can people live, exactly? Notes: Please send feet and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net.   Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more. You'll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. Learn more.   You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022