Episode 28: Whiskey Glasses
In a sign of good faith and progress, the White House reached out to Biden’s transition team this week and offered support, and Trump did say on Thanksgiving that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College formally declares Biden winner. Georgia did a hand recount of its 5 million votes, certifying a Biden win by roughly 12,000 votes. However, the Trump team requested a third (electronic) count, a legal right, given the close race. Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Michigan all certified their votes and confirmed a Biden win. These developments effectively ended any path for a Trump victory, and the final scoreboard shows Biden with 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States on January 20th, 2021.
In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, Biden said his first 100 days as President would focus on immigration reform and pushing a coronavirus stimulus package through Congress. Biden is promoting a plan for 11 million immigrants to obtain citizenship. Biden also stated he would undo many of Trump’s Executive Orders and mandate the following:
Repeal the ban on immigration from Muslim-majority countries.
Re-instate the program allowing “Dreamers” brought to the US illegally as children to stay in the country.
Rejoin the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accords.
The Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972, arguing that it constituted “cruel and unusual punishment.” Four years later, it reversed that decision, amid rising rates of violent crime across the country. Since then, some states have carried out regular executions, but only three men have been put to death by the federal government since the ruling. The last being Louis Jones Jr. in 2003 for raping and murdering a female soldier. The federal government sentenced dozens of criminals to death during the hiatus, but none executed. That changed in 2020 when the Trump administration resumed capital punishment after a 17-year hiatus. The Justice Department executed eight death-row inmates this year, and last week Orlando Hall became the ninth for his conviction in the brutal death of a teenage girl in 1994. Two other prisoners convicted of gruesome murders are scheduled for execution next month, including Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row.
President Trump advocated for the death penalty before he entered the Oval Office. In 1989, he called for the Central Park Five, a group of Latino and Black teenagers wrongly convicted of raping a jogger, to be put to death. More recently, he has called for the death penalty for drug dealers and those convicted of killing police officers. According to the Death Penalty Information Center executive director, federal executions during a president’s transition are unusual. He said that presidents have generally deferred to the incoming administration. The courts have struggled with the constitutionality of executions, with more liberal justices prone to strike down the death penalty, and 22 states and the District of Columbia have abolished capital punishment altogether, and an additional three have governor-imposed moratoriums. President-Elect Biden has pledged to eliminate the death penalty on the federal level and incentivize states to follow suit. However, Biden faced criticism during his Democratic primary campaign for his role in passing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which expanded the federal death penalty’s crimes.
California prisoners defrauded the federal government of millions of dollars this year. Inmates filed 35,000 claims totaling $140 million in pandemic unemployment benefits between March and August. And thousands of federal prisons, jails, and state hospitals (which house sex predators and mentally ill) may have received as much as $1 billion through the fraud scheme. In most cases, the state mailed prepaid debit cards to addresses designated on the applications, with the proceeds later deposited to inmate accounts in jail and prisons. A criminal investigation uncovered fraudulent claims filed under the names and Social Security numbers of inmates at every level of the corrections system, including most of the jails, and all of the state’s 30-plus prisons. Some claims included false names, but others featured real names, including 133 of the state’s 700 death row inmates, totaling $420,000 in pay-out. The list consists of notorious murderers such as Susan Eubanks, who murdered her four sons, and Scott Peterson, who killed his pregnant wife. The CA district attorney said the fraud was possible because the current system does not cross-check the unemployment claims with the state’s jail and prison roster.
First-time unemployment claims rose to 778,000, the second week in a row. This trend is an indication that the rise in COVID cases, and resulting lockdown measures, are harming the economy. Still, this figure is well below the 7 million claims back in March. The unemployment rate stands at 6.9%, and over 20 million Americans rely on some form of unemployment benefit, with many of those programs expiring end of the year. The Consumer Confidence Index dropped to a reading of 96.1 from 101.4 in October. However, home prices witnessed the biggest spike in six years. A 20-city composite index posted a 6.6% gain, up from 5% the previous month. All twenty cities reported higher price increases over the prior year. Phoenix, Seattle, and San Diego continued to see the highest annual gains. Home inventory remains a driver of escalating home prices. There are fewer homes for sale in the US today than ever before, going back nearly 40 years. The median price for previously owned homes has hit a new record at $313,000, up 16% from a year ago. After the housing crash more than a decade ago, many smaller mom-and-pop homebuilders went out of business. The pace of homebuilding has been rising, though it remains well below peak levels over the past 50 years.
And the stock market keeps moving higher. The Dow Jones breached the 30,000 level, which is a noteworthy milestone. (The Dow was trading below 19,000 back in March.) The markets have enjoyed news on several fronts: coronavirus vaccines, clarity around the Election, Biden’s plan to appoint Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary, and the likelihood of a coronavirus relief package.
The IRS reiterated its position that taxpayers cannot claim a deduction for an otherwise deductible expense if the payment of the expense results in forgiveness of a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. In May, the IRS ruled that a taxpayer who receives a loan through the PPP is not permitted to deduct expenses that are typically deductible under the Tax Code to the extent the payment of those expenses results in loan forgiveness under the CARES Act. Since businesses are not taxed on forgiven PPP loan proceeds, the expenses are not deductible. The taxpayer has not paid anything out of pocket, so there is no tax benefit or harm. However, some businesses remain unclear on the status of their PPP loan. The IRS suggested if a company reasonably believes that a lender will forgive a PPP loan in the future, expenses related to the loan are not deductible, whether the business has filed for forgiveness or not. If a PPP loan is, ultimately, not forgiven, companies could deduct expenses typically allowed. Under Section 1106(b) of the CARES Act, an eligible recipient of a covered PPP loan can receive forgiveness of indebtedness from a loan in an amount equal to the sum of payments made for the following expenses during the covered period: (1) payroll costs; (2) any payment of interest on any covered mortgage obligation; (3) any payment on any covered rent obligation; and (4) any covered utility payment.
Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, officially pled guilty to three criminal charges and accepted its role in accelerating the opioid epidemic, including paying doctors to prescribe unnecessary prescriptions. The company agreed to an $8.3 billion settlement. However, the price tag is mostly symbolic as the now-bankrupt company’s assets fall well short of that figure. Purdue is one of three drugmakers to file for bankruptcy in recent years in an attempt to negotiate a settlement of opioid-related lawsuits. The billionaire Sackler family, the primary investor of Purdue Pharma, agreed to a separate $225 million civil charge settlement. The opioid crisis has killed more than 450,000 Americans since 1999 and destroyed millions of families. The coronavirus pandemic has heightened drug-overdose problems in some states, as providing treatment becomes more complicated, and social isolation destabilizes those trying to stay sober.
The movie industry is changing due to the pandemic. WarnerMedia said it would simultaneously debutWonder Woman 1984 in theaters and on HBO Max on Xmas Day. Universal struck a landmark deal with theater chain Cinemark that allows it to debut a movie on premium streaming services 32 days after it hits theaters. The typical release window was 90 days, but given the broad theater shutdowns, the industry is scrambling to stay afloat. This announcement follows on the disappointing results of Tenet in US theaters earlier this year. Argentine soccer legend, Diego Maradona, died at the age of 60 from a heart attack. Maradona’s most celebrated goal is arguably against England in the 1986 World Cup. Here’s the clip. Argentina’s President, Alberto Fernandez, declared three days of national mourning to honor the fallen star. If you want something to fear more than snakes, meet the African crested rat. This diminutive creature looks like a cross between a porcupine and a gerbil. The rodent gnaws on poisonous tree branches then grooms itself with saliva, creating a deathly armor of fur potent enough to bring an elephant to its knees.
I. Below are the articles I found interesting the past week:
Joe Biden promises empathy, but that’s a difficult way to lead
Love and money--and how they are connected
How to fend off seasonal affective disorder
How alcohol really affects your body
How Joe Biden’s tax-increase wish list could affect you
30 documentaries that will change your life
II. Stats that made me go WOW!
- The adult streaming site Pornhub reports that it has seen visitors surge nearly 25% since the coronavirus outbreak. The surge in demand is so high that venerable tech publisher, PC Magazine, featured an article on “how to watch porn safely.” Apparently, Jeffrey Toobin didn’t get the memo.
- Roblox, a gaming platform focused on user generated content, filed for an IPO and in the registration statement disclosed that the company sold nearly $1.2 billion of its virtual currency, “ROBUX", during the first nine months of the year, a jump of 171% over the prior year. The gaming platform gained popularity with kids aged 9 to 12 during COVID and averages 36 million users per day, with 25% of the users under the age of 9. The company is planning to list on the NYSE under the symbol RBLX.
III. Name that Tune!
As I write this email, I am listening to Whiskey Glasses by Morgan Wallen.
Wallen was born in Sneedville, Tennessee. His father was a Baptist preacher, and as a child, Wallen took piano and violin lessons. He received a scholarship to play baseball in college, but he chose to pursue music after an injury. In 2014, Wallen competed on season 6 of The Voice, initially as part of Usher’s team and later Adam Levine’s team. In 2015, Wallen signed to Panacea Records and recorded a catalog of songs. Wallen made the news twice this year outside his music. In May, Wallen was arrested outside Kid Rock’s bar in downtown Nashville for public intoxication and disorderly conduct. And in October, Wallen received backlash on social media after videos emerged of him partying at a bar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Wallen was maskless, violating social distancing recommendations, and kissing college-age women. The mishap cost Wallen a featured spot on Saturday Night Live, but some would say it was worth it.
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