well readers, we’re back after a whirlwind of travel last week spanning washington, new york, north carolina, and michigan. we’re also sick as dogs, from something other than COVID, so please excuse the raspier voice than normal, and we hope the fog in our brains didn’t result in an overly muddled issue. in any case, it’s great to be back, and an early happy thanksgiving to all our non-canadian readers.

big idea: Joe’s on a roll

1. Joe had his first good week in a while, kicking things off on monday by signing the trillion dollar bipartisan infrastructure bill, then holding a relatively successful virtual summit with china’s president later in the week, and capping things off watching his signature climate and social policy bill get passed through the House last night. not everything is happy go lucky, of course - inflation is still breaking records, and his approval ratings are in the dumps - but Joe is probably hoping to have turned a corner this week.
2. we talked thru the infrastructure bill in issue 39, so we’ll focus on the other two news items. first, Joe and china’s president Xi managed to significantly de-escalate tensions between the two countries during a virtual meeting - the first time a Zoom call has ever been productive. we’ve extensively covered the issues dividing china and the US in previous issues, and no huge breakthroughs occurred this week. but, the consensus is that it’s fantastic news that the world’s two superpowers can talk without hurling insults at each other like schoolyard children.
3. however, most americans probably care much more about the $2 trillion climate and social policy bill which the house passed friday. now that Joe’s got some momentum, he’ll probably push conservative dems in the senate to negotiate quickly and approve an amended version of the bill sooner rather than later. the current draft includes half a trillion to address climate change, paid parental leave, universal preK, and Medicare drug reforms. we’ll have to cross our fingers and hope the Grinch doesn’t steal christmas...

story to watch: the end of conglomerates

1. corporate conglomerates have taken a beating in the past week, with GE, Toshiba, and Johnson & Johnson announcing plans to split their companies up. is this finally the end of the 1990’s wall street darling - the corporate conglomerate?
2. for years, manufacturing, retail, and tech companies have pursued scale by competing in multiple industries at once. GE famously used to have business units covering everything from broadcast TV to mortgages to jet engines to MRI...