| Good morning. The pandemic has forced uncountable cancellations, but it is no match for the mighty Girl Scout cookie industry. This year, the Girl Scouts is partnering with Grubhub to offer contactless delivery and pickup of their cookies, beginning Feb. 1 in select markets. | | | |  | NASDAQ | 13,112.64 | - 0.12% | | | | S&P | 3,795.54 | - 0.38% | | | | DOW | 30,991.52 | - 0.22% | | | | GOLD | 1,846.30 | - 0.46% | |  | 10-YR | 1.128% | + 4.10 bps | | | | OIL | 53.72 | + 1.53% | | | *As of market close | - Economy: During a Q&A yesterday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that the central bank's two-pronged stimulus gambit—low interest rates and a bond-buying program—will remain in place as long as necessary to nurse the economy back to health.
- Covid-19 update: Texas was the first state to hit 1 million Covid cases...and it's now the first state to hit 1 million vaccinations. California is No. 2, with 975,000 doses administered as of Wednesday.
| |  Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, Joe Biden (49554623208), CC BY-SA 2.0 | When President-elect Joe Biden drops the "elect" next Wednesday, he won't get to spend his first days breaking in the White House bowling alley. The US coronavirus outbreak is as bad as it's ever been, with cases past 23 million, daily deaths near record highs, and jobless claims up to nearly 1 million last week. In a primetime speech yesterday, Biden outlined his ambitious $1.9 trillion economic plan to tackle his No. 1 priority. The details About half the package provides aid for American households. Biden wants another round of direct payments, this time worth $1,400, as well as additional $400/week in federal unemployment benefits that run through September. The $300/week approved in December's relief package will run out mid-March. - Biden also proposed a $15 minimum wage, expanded paid leave (including sick leave and family leave for parents with childcare responsibilities), rental assistance, extending the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums through September, and expanding child tax credits and food assistance programs.
- $35 billion for low-interest loans and $15 billion in grants for small businesses (with a focus on those owned by women and minorities).
Another $400 billion is allocated for fighting Covid-19, including $160 billion for nationwide Covid testing, containment, and vaccination (Biden has a goal of 100 million shots in his first 100 days). Biden also called for $350 billion for struggling state and local governments (including $20 billion for tribal governments). Republicans have strongly opposed similar relief measures before. Can he do it? With slim majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats may be able to help Biden push this through. Still, the proposal will serve as 46's first legislative test to win bipartisan support. While he could use a process known as "budget reconciliation" to get it through the Senate with Democrats' 51-vote majority, Biden is hoping to coax out at least 10 Republican yeas. If he does, he'll make history. "No GOP senators voted for Bill Clinton's first economic plan, and only three did so for Barack Obama's," Bloomberg reports. | |  Francis Scialabba | US carbon pollution dropped by 10.3% in 2020 to the lowest level in three decades, according to an estimate from Rhodium Group this week. That will significantly help the country hit targets outlined in the Paris Agreement. - Why the drop? a) the curbs on travel caused by the pandemic and b) the coal industry's collapse.
But…you knew this was coming...there's still a lot of work to do. A new study from NASA concluded that 2020 tied 2016 for the hottest year since record-keeping began in 1880. - Because the global pandemic wasn't stressful enough, last year we faced record wildfires in the US and Australia on top of warming Arctic and oceanic temperatures.
And the UN would like to remind you that climate change affects the economy—and that we should structure climate financing accordingly. The international body urged world governments to bulk up plans for climate adaptation to dodge economic devastation, especially for developing countries, which are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. | |  Francis Scialabba | The internet's encyclopedia and your 10th-grade English teacher's nemesis is just one year away from legal drinking: Today, Wikipedia turns 20. The backstory: Wikipedia was founded in the Web 1.0 era of the early-aughts when incumbents like Yahoo were still working out how best to archive the internet's endless information (Google was still an obscure startup). The site that would become Wikipedia—called Bomis—decided to try to tackle that puzzle by allowing users to contribute "wikis." And now? Wikipedia is a major hub in the internet ecosystem. It's the 13th-most-popular website (ahead of Netflix and Reddit), and its articles are viewed more than 20 billion times per month. Wikipedia's reputation is also shinier than those of other internet platforms such as Facebook and Google. - CEO Jimmy Wales credits Wikipedia's nonprofit structure for preventing a descent into viral misinformation. Wikipedia's revenue comes from grants and user donations, not advertising or investors expecting explosive growth.
Looking ahead...while Wikipedia has defied the haters (mostly the aforementioned high school teachers) with its improved track record on weeding out misinformation, it faces a new decade with unprecedented challenges for internet companies. + Optional homework: Jimmy Wales on How I Built This (less wonky) and Conversations With Tyler (extremely wonky). | |  | We at Morning Brew specialize in puns. Unfortunately, we do not specialize in doing our taxes (cut to us pulling an all nighter trying to figure out what a "dependent" is). Luckily, H&R Block's team of tax pros have agreed to help you this time around—so allow us to drop their immense wealth of knowledge on you all. (Seriously, Block guarantees your maximum refund—or your money back.) With Block, you can do your taxes on your own terms. - Visit an office: Walk in, make an appointment, or just drop off your docs and go.
- Keep it remote: Send 'em a pic of your docs, and they'll do the work. Just sign and approve online.
- Do it yourself: Doing your taxes online but need some help? Block has tax pros ready to help, if you need it.
And there's more where that came from. Let Block have your back this tax season. | |  Francis Scialabba | The first fully virtual CES wrapped up yesterday, and attendees probably can't wait to get back to Vegas for next year's event—if only to confirm that Vegas still exists. Emerging Tech Brew has highlights from the world's biggest tech show. Robots: A self-driving John Deere tractor. An automated machine for removing honeycomb from a beehive. A personal butler that will pour you wine and fold your laundry. These were all new launches from robotics companies, which received a boost from the urgency to go "contactless" during the pandemic. Wearables/health/wellness: Can better tech keep us healthy? If you're bullish, then CES had plenty of gadgets for you. HealthyU, a remote health monitoring device from HD Medical, made headlines for its ability to handle seven different biometrics. Plus: "smart" masks, blood pressure sensors, and a vibrating headband that allegedly reduces stress. Phones: The event wasn't technically part of CES, but yesterday Samsung unveiled its new flagship Galaxy S21 line, which consists of three phones that start at $799. The S21 Ultra, at $1,199, aims to be the Voss water of smartphones. Get the full recap on CES 2021 with Emerging Tech Brew's CES hub. | |  Francis Scialabba | The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew's Weekly News Quiz has been compared to telling people you read Sapiens. It's that satisfying. Ace the quiz. | | - Petco and Poshmark shares both popped on their first day of trading publicly.
- Delta posted its first annual loss in 11 years due to the pandemic. It's aiming to stop its cash burn ($12 million/day in Q4) in the spring.
- Instacart, Trader Joe's, and Dollar General announced they'll pay workers to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
- Google closed its $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit.
- WandaVision, the first Marvel series on Disney+, premieres today.
- An interview with the GM of Harry's, the D2C grooming startup, about the company's expansion plans.
| |  | Two tax breaks in one newsletter? That's just one example of the kind of primo service you can expect from H&R Block, our pals making this tax season easy. You could save $10 or more when you switch from TurboTax, and they guarantee every refund you deserve. And they have many ways to file, so you can do it on your own terms. Block has your back—let 'em help you today. | | | Any potato fans out there? Taco Bell shows how you do a product announcement in 2021. Follow Friday: Escape somewhere beautiful with these A+ photographers on Instagram: Giulio, Emilie, Hannes Becker, Dylan Furst, and Mel. Three music recs: 1) Zayn's new album is out today 2) we're all crying to Olivia Rodrigo's debut single "Drivers License" this week and 3) listen to the 21 artists of YouTube's Black Voices grant program. Like these music recommendations? They're from Sidekick, our newsletter for new music, movies, recipes, and more. Subscribe here. | | | Today's Friday Puzzle is what's known as a "Fermi problem," which is a question that requires you to make rough estimations of things you would never have thought about otherwise. Here we go: How many cups of coffee were consumed in the US this past week? This one is perfect for a friendly (or unfriendly) competition among your coworkers. You can find the answer below. | | | When you share the Brew, you earn rewards. From Brew swag like t-shirts and coffee mugs to exclusive content, we've got something for everyone in our premier rewards program.  Hit the button below to start sharing the Brew. Click to ShareOr copy & paste your referral link to others:
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