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| Presented By Google |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen ·Jun 24, 2021 |
| Happy Thursday! Smart Brevity™ count: 1,192 words ... 4½ minutes. Edited by Zachary Basu. 💻 Please join Axios' Russell Contreras today at 12:30 p.m. ET for a virtual event on Latino LGBTQ issues. Guests include Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Latino Equality Alliance executive director Eddie Martinez. Sign up here. |
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| 1 big thing: America the laggard |
| President Biden speaks about COVID vaccinations last Friday in the State Dining Room of the White House. Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters We're #28! Or 10. Or 35. For anyone comforted by President Biden's "America is back" mantra, N.Y. Times columnist Nick Kristof stacks up a sobering array of data to warn that the U.S. is actually weak on many vital fronts: - "Greeks have higher high school graduation rates," Kristoff writes (subscription).
- "Chileans live longer."
- "Fifteen-year-olds in Russia, Poland, Latvia and many other countries are better at math than their American counterparts."
- "[O]ne-fifth of American 15-year-olds can't read at the level expected of a 10-year-old."
Why it matters: "How are those millions of Americans going to compete in a globalized economy?" Kristof asks. "[T]he greatest threat to America's future is less a surging China or a rogue Russia than it is our underperformance at home." - The column contends that Biden proposals for a child tax credit, national pre-K, affordable child care and broader internet access would all help: "Our greatest threats today are ones we can't nuke."
Just last week, Times columnist David Brooks looked through the other end of America's telescope and found that the COVID reset had "cleared the way for an economic boom and social revival." - Many Americans used the grievous, anxious year "as a preparation period, so they could burst out of the gate when things opened up," Brooks argued in the column, "The American Renaissance Has Begun."
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| 2. New forecast: Long boom for reopening |
 Data: IHS Markit; Chart: Axios Visuals Economic growth could stay hot for longer than expected, as shortages extend demand, Axios Markets correspondent Sam Ro writes. - Economists tell Axios that while growth may slow, it'll still be unusually strong because so many people and businesses are holding off on purchases — since stuff isn't available, or prices are too high.
Bank of America economist Ethan Harris says the U.S. economy is like "a coiled spring." |
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| 3. Hot post-COVID job |
 Data: Indeed. Chart: Axios Visuals Companies are beefing up HR departments to navigate the return to work, Erica Pandey writes for Axios What's Next. - Human resources job postings are up 53% from their pre-pandemic level — far outpacing the average job posting bump of 31%, according to data from the jobs site Indeed.
Firms face two massive HR challenges in the next year or so: - They need to figure out what balance of remote and in-person work functions best for their workforce.
- And they need to fill open roles as droves of workers quit in "the great resignation."
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| A message from Google |
| Helping small businesses acquire new digital skills |
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| 11 million small businesses would have partially or completely closed without digital tools due to COVID-19, according to a report by the Connected Commerce Council (3C) and Google. To help small businesses adapt and recover, Grow with Google offers free digital training and tools. Learn more. |
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| 4. Axios interview: Commerce secretary on U.S. chip crisis |
| Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo speaks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on June 3. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters Making more semiconductors in the U.S. is an urgent matter of both economic and national security, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo tells Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried. - Why it matters: The U.S., which once accounted for more than a third of global chip production, now makes just 12%.
The most advanced chips are manufactured abroad, nearly all in Taiwan or South Korea, Raimondo said: "Right now we don't make any leading edge chips in America — zero percent." |
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| 5. 💰 Microsoft = second company to $2 trillion |
| Microsoft followed Apple to become the second U.S. company to reach a $2 trillion market value, "buoyed by bets its dominance in cloud computing and enterprise software will expand further in a post-coronavirus world," Bloomberg reports. - "Saudi Aramco eclipsed that threshold briefly in December 2019, but currently has a market value of about $1.9 trillion." Apple is $2.2 trillion.
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| 6. DeSantis takes aim at student "indoctrination" |
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| Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Paul Hennessy/Getty Images |
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| Following his successful effort to ban critical race theory in public schools, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded his war against student "indoctrination" by signing three new bills yesterday, Axios Tampa Bay reporter Selene San Felice writes. The bills: - Require state colleges and universities to annually survey their students, faculty and staff about their beliefs to ensure "viewpoint diversity and intellectual freedom."
- Prevent state colleges and universities from limiting student access to ideas "they may find uncomfortable, unwelcome, disagreeable, or offensive."
- Create a K-12 civics curriculum that contrasts the U.S. with communist and totalitarian governments using "portraits in patriotism."
Why it matters: DeSantis, viewed as a top 2024 presidential candidate and a leader in the GOP culture war, hinted his administration might cut funding to schools that don't comply. |
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| 7. Susan Page's next bio: Barbara Walters |
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| Barbara Walters interviews former President Gerald Ford at ABC News election-night headquarters on Nov. 4, 1980. Photo: Steve Fenn/ABC via Getty Images |
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| Susan Page, after N.Y. Times bestsellers on Barbara Bush and Speaker Pelosi, is now tackling celebrity interviewer Barbara Walters for a biography expected in early 2023. - A forthcoming announcement by Simon and Schuster and Javelin notes that Walters was the first woman to host a network morning show ("Today"), and to co-host one of the Big 3 evening shows (ABC).
- Walters, age 91, developed and hosted "The View," and interviewed everyone from Lucille Ball to the Obamas.
Page, the D.C. bureau chief of USA Today, says: "She defined a new sort of journalism ... [S]he was ... sometimes ruthless. She also suffered disdain (some of it on the air from her male co-anchors) and pain." 📚 Valerie Biden Owens — President Biden's sister and longtime strategist — will be out April 12 with "Growing Up Biden," from Celadon Books and Javelin. "Our family's story is a very American one — full of joy but also shadowed by tragedy," Owens said. "[O]ur story, I hope, will resonate and inspire." (AP) |
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| 8. NBC readies streaming push for Tokyo |
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| Graphic: NBCUniversal |
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| NBCUniversal will stream some of the most popular Tokyo Olympics sporting events exclusively on its new streaming service Peacock, Axios Media Trends expert Sara Fischer writes. - Why it matters: It marks the first time that NBC — the longtime exclusive media partner for the Olympics — will make events available to cord-cutters who do not have a cable or satellite TV subscription.
Keep reading. |
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| 9. Success stories: Hamilton Place Strategies sells to PE firm |
| Hamilton Place Strategies, which was founded by Bush 43 alumni and became one of D.C.'s most innovative public-affairs firms, has sold a majority stake to a private-equity firm in Charlotte, sources tell me. - Why it matters: Hamilton Place shook up the Washington model by pioneering "analytical public affairs" — think The Upshot or FiveThirtyEight for reputation management.
The founders — Tony Fratto, Matt McDonald and Stuart Siciliano — worked together in President George W. Bush's White House, and since have added Democrats, including partner Stacy Kerr. - HPS sold to the PE firm Falfurrias Capital Partners.
Keep reading. |
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| 10. Britney's battle ignites global outcry |
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| An L.A. County Sheriff's deputy watches a procession of Britney Spears supporters march outside yesterday's court hearing. Photo: Chris Pizzello/AP |
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| Britney Spears pleaded with an L.A. judge yesterday to free her from a conservatorship that has allowed her father to control her life and $60 million fortune for 13 years, after he brought concerns about her mental health and potential substance abuse to court in 2008. - Why it matters: It was the first time the world had heard directly from Spears about her struggles, which have spawned a global "Free Britney" movement among her fans and fellow celebrities.
The 39-year-old Spears alleged she has been drugged, forced to work against her will and prevented from having children, the N.Y. Times reports. - "I've been in denial. I've been in shock. I am traumatized," Spears said in an emotional phone address broadcast to the court. "I just want my life back."
Read her full statement. |
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| A message from Google |
| Digital safety net helps small businesses adapt, recover, and grow |
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| The Connected Commerce Council (3C) and Google reports that COVID disrupted nearly 9 in 10 businesses. However, digitally advanced small businesses were 3.2 times more successful at retaining customers, and experienced half the revenue losses of their less advanced counterparts. Learn more. |
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