Notes From All Over -- France: Electricity Shortage -- January 8, 2021

Before we get started, breaking news:

$2,000 stimulus checks all-but-guaranteed. US jobs report for December: US employers unexpectedly shed 140,000 jobs. Economists were expecting a gain of 50,000 jobs. Anyone want to hazard a guess the stimulus checks will be bigger or this will simply be the first of many. Quick: who will be the new chairman of the US Senate budget committee? That should answer your question.

Does anyone think that the IRS won't extend the filing AND paying date by four months this year? There may be some exceptions: perhaps those earning more than $50 million / year will be required to pay on time. By the way, that's why a lot of CEOs take their pay in "benefits" rather than income. I remember Steve Jobs famously pegged his salary at $1/year.

Chinese flu watch: Being reported today over at twitter (we'll see if we can find a link later): The French have been "asked" in a very nice way to "confine at home" due to Covid-19, and to turn down their thermostats (heating) and their televisions due to an electricity shortage. Are you kidding me?

202One Summer Olympics: unlikely at best. 

Now it's being reported that Japanese airlines have cut their domestic flight schedules after their government declared a state of emergency to contain a rise in Covid-19 infections.

Does one really think Japan is gong to invite thousands of Japanese from across their islands to show up in Tokyo to put on a spectacular opening and closing ceremony to entertain thousands of foreign athletes and tens (hundreds?) of thousands of privileged white people (tourists from the US, Britain, and the EU where Covid is raging).

Masks: by the way, I don't know if folks are paying attention, but now that the football playoffs are here, and basketball season has started, more and more games are being played; more and more fans are attending, and more and more players and coaches are not wearing masks. And those that do wear masks, most of them are wearing their masks around their necks. Those who still wear their masks on their face, cover their mouths, but not their noses. What a joke. Seriously.

One step forward, two steps back: Japan has fired up a brand new 650 MW coal-fired power unit at its Hitachinaka complex, taking its coal-fired power capacity to almost 8,000 MW.

Vaccine rollout in New York state has been a "total mess." As of last night, Thursday, January 7, 2021, even as new cases are surging, Governor Cuomo has vaccinated only 430,000 people out of 1 million doses distributed. Why aren't we seeing photographs of folks standing in line to get their vaccinations? My hunch is that the powers-that-be are rationing the vaccines to ensure that there is enough vaccine for the elite and privileged. One notes that the DC politicians all got their vaccinations. Previously posted. 

And despite all this "bad news," the market will open at new highs today and will close at new all-time highs. What a great country.

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