Axios PM: Drama in Bidenland — MLB rights historic wrong — 🍦Year-round ice cream

1 big thing: 45 of 50 biggest U.S. companies turned profit since March | Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Facebook   Axios PM By Mike Allen ·Dec 16, 2020 Good afternoon: Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 500 words, a 2-minute read. 🚨 Situational awareness: Some advisers close to President-elect Joe Biden are frustrated over a Glamour magazine interview in which incoming White House deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley Dillon referred to Republicans on Capitol Hill as "f***ers," Jonathan Swan and Hans Nichols report.     1 big thing: 45 of 50 biggest U.S. companies turned profit since March Drone shows cars lining up at Share Your Christmas food distribution event in Kissimmee, Fla. Photo: Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images   2020 has been an awesome year for Corporate America, but not so much for Working America. The big picture: 45 of America's 50 biggest publicly traded companies have turned profits since March, while nearly 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since June, the WashPost reports in a pair of striking stories. "At least 27 of the 50 largest firms held layoffs this year, collectively cutting more than 100,000 workers," according to a WashPost analysis. "[T]he increase in poverty this year ... is the biggest jump in a single year since the government began tracking poverty 60 years ago. It is nearly double the next-largest rise, which occurred in 1979-1980 during the oil crisis," reports WashPost's Heather Long. That gap extends to CEOs versus regular consumers, Axios' Dion Rabouin reported earlier this week. CEO confidence in Q3 was 48% higher than at the beginning of 2019. Consumer confidence was 16% lower than in January 2019. Between the lines: The expiration of enhanced unemployment benefits played a big part in the poverty spike, economists told The Post. The bottom line: "These are times when the strong can get stronger," Nike CEO John Donahoe said in September.     2. MLB recognizes Negro Leagues Satchel Paige warms up at Yankee Stadium before an August 1942 game between the Kansas City Monarchs and New York Cuban Stars. Photo: Matty Zimmerman/AP   Baseball's segregated era will no longer feature segregated statistics, Major League Baseball announced today. Why it matters: Many of baseball's greatest players spent all or part of their career in the Negro Leagues, which launched in 1920. MLB was segregated until Jackie Robinson took the field in 1947. The Negro Leagues was excluded from MLB statistics in 1969, meaning many of its stars were excluded from MLB record books. The big picture: Depending on how MLB's statistics team handles it, some records might look a little different, ESPN notes. "Willie Mays will add some hits to his record, Monte Irvin's big league batting average should climb over .300, and Satchel Paige might add nearly 150 victories to his total." Legendary hitter Josh Gibson could end up with the highest single-season batting average, and his home run numbers were in the territory of Barry Bonds.     A message from Facebook Facebook supports updated internet regulations     We support updated internet regulations to set clear rules for today's toughest challenges and hold companies, including Facebook, accountable for: Combating foreign election interference. Protecting people's privacy. Enabling safe and easy data portability between platforms. Read more     3. Catch up quick Pedestrians walk across a bridge near Eastern Salt Company in Chelsea, Mass., where mountains of road salt wait to be delivered to area municipal depots. Photo: Elise Amendola   The Fed pledged to continue buying bonds until the economy makes "substantial" progress. Go deeper. China became the 3rd country to bring Moon rocks back to Earth. Go deeper. President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration will have limited in-person attendance due to rising coronavirus cases, with a live audience that "resembles a State of the Union" address. Go deeper. New high: The value of bitcoin jumped to $20,000, CNBC reports, citing Coin Metrics market data.     4. 1 smile to go Ice cream in December for a Sullivan's Castle Island customer in Boston. Photo: Stuart Cahill via Getty Images   The pandemic has given a big boost to Big Ice Cream's campaign to get people eating ice cream year-round. The big picture: At-home consumption is up big thanks to people spending so much time on their couches, The Wall Street Journal reports. Between the lines: Frozen food is hard to deliver, especially for instant gratification. "My gut reaction a few years ago was the last thing you want to do is stick a pint of Ben & Jerry's next to a hot Chinese takeaway," said Unilever's head of ice cream R&D. The company is working on new formulas that preserve the taste and texture for refrozen ice cream, the Journal reports.     A message from Facebook It's time for updated regulations to promote data portability     We joined tech partners in Data Transfer Project to build a framework that enables people to move their data securely and easily between platforms. But there's more to do. We support updated regulations to ensure data is safe, portable and used responsibly. Read more     Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? 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