Where We Are This Week 12/29/22
Pelé, Nord Stream, and the Omnibus Bill is hot, hot, hot.
The holidays are almost over, and the new year is waiting just around the corner. This means many of your friends and family members will be relishing their last days of indulgence and self-gratification before embarking on their 2023 resolutions - the majority of which are destined to fail.
Precious few new year’s resolutions are actually inculcated into habits. So few in fact that they’ve been relegated to the stuff of myth and legend, joining ranks with Bigfoot and Nessie. ‘There once was a woman, long ago, who vowed to stop biting her nails once the calendar year began anew, and lo, six months later her fingernails had entered the forbidden orifice not once’ et cetera.
Yet, despite the likely destination of these commitments, the new year still holds the promise of progress and self-improvement, and 2023 is no different in that regard. This year could be the year we treat our resolutions more like obligations and less like The Secret - vision-boarding our desires in hopes they will miraculously manifest themselves. Or maybe, 2023 is the year we throw away the convention entirely, and treat each day as an opportunity to be a better version of ourselves for our partners, our families, and us.
The Omnibus Bill Gets Tropical
President Biden and several members of his family are currently vacationing on the island of Saint Croix in the Caribbean, and joining them for a brief respite from the toils of Capitol Hill is the 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill. The bill made the voyage via a commercial airliner under the supervision of White House staff.
Some may take this opportunity to lampoon the optics of our President luxuriating in the middle of a recession whilst signing a $1.7 trillion spending bill, but not me! No, instead I’m marveling at how quickly our 80-year-old president was able to read, decipher, and comprehend the document that is 3.5 times bigger than my copy of War and Peace. It only took me a few days to get through the behemoth in between the holidays and sleeping - you know, just reading a few pages here and there. The only concern I have is what type of ice cream he had while he casually flipped the pages.
Okay. Maybe the optics do bother me a little. Should the “leader of the free world” be vacationing in the first place? President Trump golfed more than 200 times during his four years in office, and now Biden is on his second lavish vacation in a few months. I know presidential leisure time is always a top priority for the American people.
American officials are consistently, if not increasingly, tone-deaf. Ted Cruz had the gall to call out President Biden for his vacation amid the challenges Americans are facing at home this winter. Remember when Ted Cruz chartered a private jet for a little getaway during Texas’s winter-weather crisis a couple of years ago? Pepperidge farm remembers.
Russian Self-Sabotage?
Nearly three whole months since the explosions of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines occurred, legacy media and government officials are now saying that Russia likely had no involvement.
Why is this relevant? Because in the aftermath of the apparent sabotage of the pipelines, NATO and US officials alike were laying the blame at the Kremlin’s feet. Immediately afterward rejoining with a rousing chorus of “If I only had a brain” - presumably.
Very few sought to examine the incentives that would result in Russia destroying such a valuable tool of leverage. Russia controlled the pipeline, they wouldn’t have to render it nonfunctional in order to extort the EU. Turning it off is much less expensive than blowing it up, and it could then be turned on again if Europeans clamored for fuel, and loosened their sanctions. Now, Russia is preparing to spend $500 million in order to fix the pipelines. Doesn’t exactly ring of self-sabotage, does it?
The question will be asked: if not Russia, who? But I have a sneaking feeling that this bothersome question will be shrugged off in the near future. Der Spiegel reported that the CIA, in perhaps a self-fulfilling prophecy, warned Germany of potential attacks on the pipeline just weeks before. In another wild coincidence, the Baltic Pipe, a brand new natural gas pipeline operated by NATO countries opened one day after the Nord Stream pipelines began spewing into the Baltic Sea. Then there’s this.
Russia deserves all the credit for its role in the violence, but isn’t glaringly obvious that America and its NATO allies should be shouldering some blame, as well? There are too many perverse incentives at play preventing a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Now, clearly jealous of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, BlackRock wants a piece of the action. The multi-national investment firm has agreed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy to direct private investment to Ukraine in an effort to rebuild the country.
Additionally, BlackRock will be paid handsomely for the consultation role it assumed in the Ukrainian government - a government largely propped up by billions of US taxpayer dollars. Fortunately, as we’ve been assured from their business dealings at home,
BlackRock’s investment in the war-torn nation will be in no way predatory.
Pelé
Brazilian footballing legend Pelé died on Thursday. He had been in and out of the hospital for the last several months with colon cancer, and at age 82, he passed away.
Pelé is the man who gave us samba-style, the free flowing, awe inspiring style of football that blurred the lines between sport and art. For me, Pelé’s name is synonymous with football, and is single-handedly responsible for bringing the game to the United States. Growing up, playing soccer in the 90s and 00s it was Pelé who was a household name, not Maradona, not Maldini, Cruyff or Best, but Pelé, the black Brazilian who grew up playing barefoot in São Paolo.
While Argentina is still delirious from celebrating their World Cup win, their South American rival is in sharp contrast. Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro declared a three-day mourning period for the footballer, and national landmarks have been lit up green in his honor. Pelé’s funeral will take place at Santos’ stadium - his former club - over a two-day period at the first of the new year.
Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, he shaped Brazil into the footballing powerhouse we know today by winning three World Cups in 12 years, and instilled fear into the hearts of every European defender. It’s another case where sport can be instructive; we can only strive to emulate in our lives the courage, grace, freedom and joy with which he played football. Pelé may be gone, but he leaves with us the game he made beautiful.
Happy new year. Happy tomorrow.
~FDA