23 free money for families, carbon tariff future

readers, know it took all our self-control not to spend this entire issue talking about how soccer’s racist and penalty kicks are stupid. our better angels won out, especially when we remembered we’re sponsoring a local soccer team and all the hate mail we got when we bashed college sports in issue 18. if you’d like to hear that soccer rant anyways, kick us an email!

big idea: uncle sam rolls out child tax credit

1. as part of Joe’s march stimulus package, 35 million families began receiving up to $300 per month, per child this week. this is the biggest anti-poverty step the US has taken in decades, with 90% of families expected to benefit and childhood poverty expected to drop by half. we know uncle sam is usually that creepy uncle who spies on you, but this eid he remembered to bring some cash to buy your love.
2. the stimulus bill only funded the program until december. dems are hoping that once americans get used to seeing those monthly checks, they’ll demand their GOP congressmen renew the tax credits indefinitely. the chances of that are fairly good right now - nothing riles up republicans like democrats claiming to be pro-family. it’s policies like these which could encourage americans to have more babies, something we discussed in issue 12.
3. this is also a bit of a social experiment. policymakers are hoping that providing this money on a monthly basis (instead of in a lump sum when you file your taxes) will stabilize living situations and encourage parents to spend on their kids.
4. this $110 billion is the last big bucket of stimulus money to slosh around in our economy, so expect some knock-on effects. grocery stores like Target and clothing retailers like Nike have said they expect the cash to boost back-to-school sales. 

story to watch: carbon tariffs are the hot new carbon tax

1. in preparation for the next climate summit this november in glasgow, china, the EU, and senate dems all released longterm green infrastructure plans this week. the european and american plans both include proposals for implementing carbon tariffs, a newish concept which will likely play a big role in future trade wars.
2. the idea is for the US & EU to impose import taxes (tariffs) on high-carbon products (like steel, cement, and fertilizer) produced overseas. production of these items are moving to developing nations which don’t force companies to abide by pollution or carbon controls. by imposing a tariff, the US & EU would be leveling the playing field for domestic companies which do follow those laws and have higher costs as a result.
3. passing and implementing such a system would be incredibly complex and take the better part of a decade, but could theoretically reduce carbon emissions instead of just shifting them to poorer countries. the hope among some environmentalists is just the threat of such tariffs will be enough for third world countries to move more quickly on regulating carbon markets.

this week’s image: photojournalist killed

• (NPR) pulitzer-prize winning photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed by taliban crossfire on friday. he was known for his work covering the rohingya refugee crisis, the wars in iraq & afghanistan, and india’s pandemic response.

this week’s number: 68% of far-right TV watchers are vaccine hesitant

1. a recent study found that 68% of republicans who watch far-right TV outlets like Newsmax or OANN are either vaccine hesitant or refuse to get vaccinated. compare that to 45% of republicans who watch Fox News, or 27% of all democrats.
2. while Joe is right in that social media platforms are “killing people” with vaccine misinformation, it’s also true that these extremist TV networks are doing the same, and there’s statistical evidence to prove so. if you’re still vaccine hesitant, we hope you know you’d probably fit in well at a maga rally.

what we’re...not...watching: “Black Widow”

1. “Black Widow”, the latest Marvel blockbuster, was released last weekend in theaters and on Disney+, and...well to be honest, we still haven’t bothered watching it. has Marvel’s spell over pop culture finally popped? 
2. Disney revealed less than 2% of its Disney+ subscribers watched it, and only about eight million movie tickets were sold, an anemic number for Marvel. there are a variety of theories as to why superhero movies were so popular for the last 10+ years, but it’ll be interesting to see if COVID changes any of that. while we’re waiting to figure that out, please excuse us as we go complete our Iron Man Lego set.

and, in case you missed it:

• some rich white dude flew really high into the sky last week, and another rich white dude is gonna try this week
• the EU has ruled it is totally okay and not at all islamophobic for companies to fire women wearing hijab
• plans to convert the tunnel between detroit and ontario into a COVID vaccination clinic were cancelled by canada’s health ministry. remind us again why single payer systems are so great?

the weekly rundown is produced by Yunus, Faisal, and Ahmed. learn more about us and email us your comments and feedback!