| | | | | | | Presented By JPMorgan Chase | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen ·Mar 23, 2022 | | Good Wednesday morning. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,199 words ... 4½ mins. Edited by Zachary Basu. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Wealthy nervous about economy |  Data: Morning Consult/Axios Inequality Index. Chart: Kavya Beheraj/Axios Even though they're still flush with cash from the booming market, wealthier people are increasingly worried about the economy, especially inflation, Axios' Emily Peck and Neil Irwin report. - In March, consumer confidence dropped 7% for those earning more than $100,000 — a much larger dip than for those earning less than $50,000, according to a measure of consumer sentiment out today as part of the Morning Consult/Axios Inequality Index.
Why it matters: High earners still feel better about the economy on average, but have more to lose from declining financial markets. The mix of volatile asset prices, Fed rate hikes and a surge in inflation is walloping their confidence. Between the lines: Financial assets have been particularly volatile since the start of the year. - Wealthy people are more likely to be plugged into financial news and checking their 401k balances, said Jesse Wheeler, economic analyst at Morning Consult.
- They also tend to be older, and may remember living through inflation decades ago: "Young people don't know, and they'll soon find out."
Wage growth has been highest among lower-paid workers. So many high-earning workers have seen their compensation falling when adjusted for inflation. Reality check: Lower-income Americans have much more to fear from rising prices. They tend to have less cushion to handle higher prices for food, gas and other necessities. |     | | | | | | 2. Word of the month: "Deglobalization" | | In Lviv, Ukraine, people hide yesterday in an official underground shelter during an air alarm. Photo: Mykola Tys/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The war in Ukraine has set in motion "deglobalization forces that could have profound and unpredictable effects," Laurence Boone, chief economist of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, said at a press conference last week. - Why it matters: The result, The New York Times writes (subscription), "may well be a fracturing of the world into economic blocs, as countries and companies gravitate to ideological corners with distinct markets and pools of labor, as they did in much of the 20th century."
Flashback ... Axios, May 2020: "The coronavirus is a force for deglobalization." P.S. Bloomberg's lead story as I send AM: "Wall Street Is Scrambling For the Exits in Moscow — and Billions Are at Stake." | | | | | | | | 3. GOP grills Jackson on base's greatest hits | | Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Above: During the 13-hour Day 2 of her four-day confirmation hearing, which ran just past 10 p.m., Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson answers contentious questions from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). - On ABC's streaming coverage in prime time, Dr. Leah Wright Rigueur, a historian and Harvard professor, repeatedly used the words "restrained" and "measured" in describing Brown's answers to Republican questions.
Republican senators asked Jackson about a "compendium of political touchstones animating Republican politicians and voters: critical race theory, parental rights, mask mandates and transgender women in sports," a New York Times analysis notes. - Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asked her about The Times' "1619 Project."
Today's second round of Qs could go another 10+ hours. | | | | | | | | A message from JPMorgan Chase | | Helping address the affordable rental housing crisis | | |  | | | | Around 55% of Black and Latino renter households spend one-third to one-half of their income on rent, limiting their ability to build wealth. JPMorgan Chase aims to build an inclusive economy and improve housing affordability through its business, data, policy and philanthropic resources. | | | | | | 4. U.S. image soars across NATO |  Data: Gallup. Chart: Axios Visuals With President Biden flying to Brussels today for a NATO summit, his diplomacy in his first year produced big gains in overseas approval of U.S. leadership, Gallup found. - U.S. ratings in many countries matched or surpassed levels during the Obama years, including in Germany.
"Between 2020 and 2021, U.S. leadership saw double-digit gains ... in 20 out of the 27 NATO members that were surveyed both years," Gallup said. - Lithuania was the only NATO member where U.S. approval fell (6 points).
🤔 I double-checked with Gallup about that outlier 82% U.S. approval in Albania (graphic above). That's in line with previous years: Albania, along with Kosovo, usually leads European countries in approval of the U.S. | | | | | | | | 5. Afghan girls left in tears as Taliban breaks promise | | A fourth-grader walks home from school, through an alleyway near her home in Kabul, Afghanistan, in October. Photo: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters The Taliban today backtracked on a promise that girls' high schools would reopen, saying they'll remain closed until a plan is drawn up to open them in accordance with Islamic law, Reuters reports from Kabul. - Teachers and students from three high schools around the capital said girls had returned excitedly to campuses this morning, but were ordered to go home. They said many students left in tears.
"[W]e all became totally hopeless when the principal told us, she was also crying," said a student, not being named for security reasons. The backdrop: The international community has made the education of girls a key demand for any future recognition of the Taliban, which took over the country in August as foreign forces withdrew. - The U.N. and U.S. condemned today's closures.
On Tuesday evening, a Ministry of Education spokesman had released a video congratulating all students on returning to class. | | | | | | | | 6. Tesla Gigafactory opens in Germany | | Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild via AP Elon Musk claps yesterday as the ceremonial first car rolls out of Tesla's Gigafactory factory, on Tesla Straße in Grünheide, Germany. - Tesla opened its first European factory on the outskirts of Berlin in an effort to challenge German automakers on their home turf, AP reports.
The Austin-based company says the Gigafactory will employ 12,000 people and produce 500,000 vehicles a year once it's fully running. - Initial production will focus on Tesla's Model Y compact SUV.
Musk danced for fans as the first cars rolled off the line. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the opening ceremony. Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild via Getty Images 🥊 Tesla began building the vast facility less than three years ago, before it received official permits to do so. Had those permits not been issued, the company would have had to level the site. - "That's a different company risk culture," German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said, when asked to compare Tesla's approach with the slow pace of German construction projects.
Berlin's nearby new airport opened with a nine-year delay. | | | | | | | | 7. 👀 One to watch: Potentially massive hack |  | | | Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) | | | | Hackers who took responsibility for attacks on Nvidia and Microsoft claim to have compromised Okta, which provides "single sign-on" identity services to thousands of companies, Axios' Scott Rosenberg reports. - Okta confirmed yesterday there was an incident in January in which hackers used a customer support worker employed by a third-party company to gain some access to Okta's systems.
Why it matters: Okta, little-known outside of the industry, provides a layer of login security for hundreds of millions of users at a wide array of firms and organizations that adopt its login system. - Depending on the severity of the incident, which is hard to gauge right now, the damage could be widespread.
Zoom out: Wired reports that security experts are already drawing comparisons to the SolarWinds incident of 2020, in which hackers gained access to a wide range of companies and government agencies. | | | | | | | | 8. 🏀 Viewers flock to Cinderella's big dance | | Saint Peter's star Doug Edert celebrates after a three-pointer against Kentucky last week. Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images Two March Madness games featuring 3,000-student Saint Peter's University of Jersey City, N.J., landed among the 20 most-watched television programs in prime time last week, AP's David Bauder writes. - With the frenzy building, the Peacocks' second-round victory over Murray State drew more viewers on CBS — 6.69 million — than the Jesuit school's first-round upset of Kentucky (5.46 million).
Davidson vs. Michigan St. drew 4.96 million, making it the week's 16th-most watched show. - The Saint Peter's games ranked No. 5 and 11, with "60 Minutes" at No. 1.
🔮 What's next: In the Sweet 16, Purdue is heavily favored over Saint Peter's on Friday at 7 p.m. ET. (FanDuel Sportsbook has the game as the Sweet 16's biggest spread — 12.5 points.) - Go deeper: AP moved a story slugged, "Who is Saint Peter's?"
| | | | | | | | A message from JPMorgan Chase | | Data-driven policy helps address the affordable housing crisis | | |  | | | | Businesses, community leaders and policymakers must advance solutions that address housing instability. "Data-driven policy reforms will help families who have been locked out of stable, affordable homes," said Heather Higginbottom, Head of Research & Policy and Co-Head of Global Philanthropy. | | | | 📬 Invite your friends to sign up here to get their daily essentials — Axios AM, PM and Finish Line. |  | It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications. | | | |
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