Spring Forward
The MStreetX Newsletter
Friday, April 2, 2021
The Months Ahead
MStreetX's newsletter continues to bring you the top stories and breaking news that impacts business, the economy, and the world.
First Female Mayor Voted In Due To Prank
On April 4th, 1877, the town of Argonia, Kansas held its mayoral election, less than a month after women were allowed to vote municipally. As a prank, several men placed Susanna Salter on the mayoral ticket in order to ridicule the officer of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and mother of four to protest against women being allowed to vote and being involved in politics. Salter didn’t even know she was running until her name showed up on the ballot, and republican representatives showed up on her doorstep asking her about it. She agreed to run, and the republican party elected her to run to show the pranksters “a thing or two.” The pranksters didn’t think anyone would vote for a woman, but Salter won with 2/3 of the vote and became the first female U.S. mayor. Source.
Biden’s Mask Mandate and CDC Warnings
The Biden administration is pushing to increase vaccine access in hopes of more vaccinations to fight the increasing rise of the virus. Biden called for governors and mayors to reinstate mask mandates as the CDC warns of a possible fourth surge of cases calling it “impending doom.” Infections and hospitalizations are on the rise with a seven-day average of 63,000. Public health experts say the U.S. is seeing a “race” against the vaccination campaigns and new coronavirus variants, as well as a public hesitancy due safety fatigue as we come into the second year in the pandemic. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC pleaded with the American public to” just hold on a little longer” and get vaccinated, the U.S. has “so much reason for hope.” Source.
Ever Given and the Economy
Ever Given’s plight is becoming commonplace in the shipping world. The Ever Given is a 1,300 foot, 220,000 ton vessel but there are over 100 similarly sized and ever larger ones being built. Most of the high traffic waterways are narrow and out-dated, creating logistical nightmares and major accidents. As the demand for consumer products is skyrocketing, container ships are often loaded to and over capacity, and losses are astronomical. Losses are not just due to containers falling overboard, but also due to stranding’s, each hour the Ever Given was stuck cost the economy $416 million an hour. With increase in sizes and cargo falling into the sea, experts are urging people to see the Ever Given as “a warning” and we need to rethink how shipping is done. Source 1, 2.
NFTs and the Future
Physical art is usually seen as one of a kind, while digital art is easily replicated. NFT is a non-fungible token, meaning the asset can be “tokenized” acting as a certificate of ownership, that can be bought or sold. The world has seen the artist Beeple’s art auctioned for $69 million for the NFT. While this art has already been copied and shared an infinite amount of times, the certificate of ownership now belongs to crypto investors, and Metapurse founders Vignesh Sundareson and Anand Venkateswaran. Many art and tech experts are skeptical of NFTs and the Beeple art auction as they believe it may be an effort to bluff the market in order to gain value. Many are warning the public to be careful as this could be a “bubble”, but in any case NFTs are going to be an important part of art history. Source 1, 2.
Vaccinations Increase Urging Economy Towards Normalcy
Bureau of Labor Statistics shattered the economist predictions in hiring and employment data released. January was slated for 67,000, but reality it was 233,000, and in February the prediction was 89,000, but the U.S. saw an increase of 468,000. March alone saw an increase of 916,000 jobs. Unemployment dropped to 6 percent which is a huge stride from it’s peak of 14.8. A strong indication that the U.S. labor market is working it’s way back faster to pre-pandemic number, as Covid vaccinations continue to rise. President Biden spoke out saying that the country still has a while before it is able to recoup from a year of “devastation.” Source.
Pandemic Traveling
The CDC has updated its domestic travel suggestions for those who are fully vaccinated. Certain self-quarantine requirements and testing has been changed but still recommend avoiding large groups of people and continuing mask wearing. Officials are still discouraging nonessential travel as Covid cases are still on the rise and new Covid variants are becoming concerning. However, these small steps are still pointed at continuing towards pre-pandemic life, albeit in a slow and guarded manner. Source.
