Joe Biden needs to turn the page on a problematic August, but can he?
The U.S. president’s approval rating is at the lowest point since he took office, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average, following America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
ICU beds are again in short supply in parts of the U.S., with Covid-19 cases averaging 160,000 a day and about 100,000 patients hospitalized nationwide, a somber postscript to a promised “Summer of Freedom” that never really arrived.
Biden plans tomorrow to travel to New York City and New Jersey, where flash flooding killed at least 40 people when remnants of Hurricane Ida hit the region.
The trip follows his visit Friday to Louisiana, where the storm wreaked havoc after making landfall, spotlighting progressive Democrats’ concerns about climate change and their demands the Biden administration do more to combat it.
This all sets the backdrop for a pivotal month for Biden’s economic agenda. Democratic leaders have been hoping to leverage their narrow margins in the House and Senate to pass key elements of the president’s $3.5 trillion tax and spending package.
But Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia whose vote is potentially decisive, dealt a blow to that effort last week when he demanded a “strategic pause” and argued for a smaller package of measures.
Manchin’s move fueled speculation that Biden’s agenda could be headed for defeat in Congress this fall.
It’s too early to say whether that’s true. But it’s clear the president could use a break or two to start changing the political narrative away from perceived missteps.
The success of his agenda and his party’s fate in next year’s midterm elections could hang in the balance. — Kathleen Hunter
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Global Headlines
Anemic growth | The resurgent pandemic sparked by the spread of the delta variant is hurting efforts to reopen factories, schools and offices. Enda Curran examines data from last week that captured a worldwide weakening as infections hit travel and spending and worsen supply bottlenecks that are dampening manufacturing and trade.
Tax revolt | U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to Parliament this week facing a backlash from members of his Conservative Party over reports he’s planning a tax hike on workers to boost funding for social care. That was something the 2019 Conservative manifesto pledged not to do.
Leaving Afghanistan
Millions of refugees have fled to neighboring countries and could seek asylum in Europe
Source: UNHCR
It is far more difficult now for desperate Afghans to reach Europe than six years ago when Turkey became a kind of human superhighway for refugees fleeing from Syria and elsewhere. The Taliban said today international flights from Afghanistan will resume shortly as Qatar and Turkey help restart operations at Kabul airport.
Military action | A Guinean military unit seized power and arrested President Alpha Conde, roiling global aluminum markets on concerns about supply disruptions from the world’s biggest exporter of the metal’s raw material, bauxite. The coup is the third time soldiers have taken control of a government in Africa in about a year after similar actions in Mali and Chad.
Final salvo | The board of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s Next Digital used a resignation letter to criticize the Hong Kong government for bypassing the courts and using a China-imposed national security law to drive the company out of business. Next Digital’s Apple Daily newspaper, which backed pro-democracy protests in 2019, was raided by police in June and closed weeks later.
- Hong Kong property tycoons will reportedly be limited to two seats per family on the body that chooses the city’s leader, the latest move by China to curb traditional power bases in the Asian financial hub.
Best of Bloomberg Opinion
Bracing for trouble | Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has called for a show of support tomorrow as he battles low ratings amid a string of political, economic and legal challenges. Bolsonaro believes he can still turn around his chances for next year’s election and that Independence Day is an opportunity to rally his base. But as Daniel Carvalho and Simone Iglesias report, there are concerns that things could get ugly.
What to Watch This Week
- Chancellor Angela Merkel waded into the German election campaign with a ringing endorsement of Armin Laschet after another poll showed the Social Democrats extending their lead over her conservatives.
- Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono was the favorite to succeed Yoshihide Suga as Japan’s next premier in two weekend opinion polls as the ruling party prepares to elect a new leader on Sept. 29.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow on Thursday.
- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a phone call yesterday that international negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal had to lead to the removal of sanctions.
- Venezuela’s opposition replaced one of its representatives in talks being held in Mexico after President Nicolas Maduro’s government vetoed his participation in the negotiations that resumed on Friday.
Thanks for the 35 responses to our Friday quiz question, and congratulations to Wayne Berman who was the first to identify Brazil as the country whose president laid out three outcomes for next year’s elections — he will win, get arrested or be killed.
And finally ... China’s push for “common prosperity” is not just about taxing the rich but also directing resources into rural areas and those on lower incomes, says Li Shi, an economics professor who has advised Beijing and is known as “Mr. Chinese income distribution.” He notes the income gap has widened over the past five years due to the rise of the technology and financial sectors — and taxation has done little to improve the situation.
— With assistance by Rosalind Mathieson, Alan Crawford, Muneeza Naqvi, and Gordon Bell
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September 06, 2021 at 05:00PM
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A Presidency in Need of Some Good News - Bloomberg
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