As expected but slightly hard to believe given where things stood just months ago, the U.S. Senate managed to pass a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill on Tuesday, with 19 Republicans joining Democrats in approving legislation aimed at rebuilding “the nation’s deteriorating roads and bridges” and funding “new climate resilience and broadband initiatives” - NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch and Law360 and Bloomberg
July Consumer Price Index figures are due out this morning, which means that inflation will probably be a trending topic not long after. Economists are expecting a moderated but still-high increase in prices in the 5.0 to 5.5% range - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
No big deal. Just an MIT-led startup that may be laying the groundwork for fusion energy—the technology “long held out as one of the most significant . . . needed to combat the effects of climate change because it could generate an abundance of inexpensive clean energy” - NYTimes
We told you these takes were coming; more, now, on Fed Chair Powell’s odds for reappointment when his 4-year term expires next February - WSJ
The Upshot considers whether the U.S. productivity boom that the pandemic appears to have jump-started can survive a post-Covid workplace or whether the extra effort is simply not sustainable - NYTimes
Google announced a series of new steps it will take in an effort to protect teenage users on YouTube and its search engines, “becoming the latest technology company giant to adopt tougher standards in the face of criticism that companies are not doing enough to protect children” online - NYTimes and Bloomberg
Stablecoin creator Tether Holdings released information this week providing the most detail so far on the “assets backing its widely used digital currency, seeking to address regulatory concerns that it hasn’t previously disclosed enough about the currency’s underpinnings.” Stablecoins, like Tether, are made to “mimic the value of the U.S. dollar,” and the “peg to the U.S. dollar is meant to give assurance that a tether is as safe as owning dollars” - WSJ
Meanwhile, bitcoin is back on fire to start the week, up more than 50% from recent lows and prompting speculation about a charge to $100k - Bloomberg
GreenLight Biosciences, a mRNA vaccine developer, is taking advantage of the success of mRNA-based Covid vaccines and will merge with a SPAC to go public as part of a deal that values the company at nearly $1.5 billion - WSJ
Striking a lot of Cold War/spy-nerd chords with this Times feature on the “puzzlers” working to reconstruct Stasi records of decades of surveillance of its own populace - NYTimes
Stay safe and get vaxxed,
MDR
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