GOVERNMENT

Building Back Better

Now that Christmas trees are littering street corners and the champagne's run out, it feels like the right time to think about what's next and how we climb out of this pandemic. Which brings us to rule No. 1 of any successful plan: You need a catchphrase. 

This summer, the winner for the Covid recovery slogan competition was Build Back Better. You might remember Triple-B from when Joe Biden adopted it as his campaign slogan. Or when it was taken up by leaders in the UK, New Zealand, and Scotland, as well as other organizations around the world. 

• If this was high school English, they'd all flunk for plagiarism. "Building Back Better" was adopted as part of the United Nations' Sendai Framework for disaster recovery in 2015. The basic idea is using a disaster like a tsunami as an opportunity to build back with more resilient infrastructure, better preparations, and a more equitable society.

We have a lot of building to do 

Starting with the obvious: pandemic preparedness, which moved from the government's "nice-to-have" to "we need this more than a premium Zoom account” list. 

There's no shortage of reports about how pandemic game plans were weakened before Covid arrived on American shores, and how a lack of to-do lists, institutional knowledge, and scientific leadership factored into the severity of the U.S.' early outbreaks. 

Step 1 to building back better: Do the opposite of whatever that was. Experts have recommended that Biden (and future presidents) strengthen the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The Oval Office can't coordinate everything, but it does need to coordinate. 

• Agencies involved in the coronavirus response, including the CDC, DHHS, and DHS, weren't always keeping up with the group text. The White House needs a designated leader to coordinate cross-government action and communication with states and cities. 
• Speaking of, it also needs a clear framework for federal, state, and local governments’ responsibilities. 

Step 2: Spend money. States may need their own pandemic budgets. The CDC needs to be better equipped for tasks like setting up national testing and tracing. Federal, state, and hospital stockpiles need some topping off. Whoever makes vaccines needs a raise.

• The WHO's Global Preparedness Monitoring Board estimates that good pandemic preparedness investments would cost $5/person annually. "It would take 500 years to spend as much on investing in preparedness as the world is losing due to Covid,” the board writes. 

Step 3: Make sure your friends stay friends. The Council on Foreign Relations recommends that the U.S. remain in the WHO. Though it’s a flawed institution, the council argues, it's the best multilateral body to coordinate international action, aid, and accountability. 

• Also make frenemies. "We will have to work with China," former diplomat Nicholas Burns told the WaPo. "Our political leaders have a responsibility to compete, but in a smart way and not drive this relationship into a ditch."

Step 4: Untangle the supply chain. Covid-19 exposed our dependence on China for critical medical supplies (along with other goods) and showed that global supply chains have become increasingly complex without becoming more resilient. Supply chains "were designed for cost and efficiency, but without really a thought to what could go wrong along the way," per McKinsey partner Susan Lund.  

Great, now we're prepared for the next health crisis. But how do we emerge stronger from the current economic crisis? 

It should equitable

The pandemic highlighted the racial inequalities present in American society. Black and Hispanic or Latino workers have been more likely to lose their jobs and to serve as essential workers in frontline, low-wage roles. And Black, Hispanic, and Latino business owners were less likely to get CARES Act funds.  

To build back better, more efforts are needed to address racial and class disparities in the recovery itself. You might have heard of the "K-shaped recovery," in which wealthier Americans generally rebounded while those at the bottom have been left even farther behind.

• To turn that K into a Nike swoosh, the U.S. needs to address the historical disinvestment that has left some communities and groups of workers behind. Aid should be progressive to help lift the most vulnerable and impacted, according to the OECD. 

Some areas to start: Unemployment benefit programs, paid sick leave, food assistance programs, rural economic development, broadband access to allow more workers to participate in the remote work revolution, and programs to train or reskill workers at the local level. 

• Harvard economic policy professor Jason Furman suggests tying future responses to improvements in economic indicators (instead of arbitrary timeframes) so that assistance scales up or down depending on how much we need it. 

The recovery also needs to be green

The climate clock is ticking down, and the brief dip in emissions from the pandemic's shutdowns is bouncing back.

An equitable and successful economic recovery can align with other long-term needs for a sustainable future, such as reducing emissions, protecting biodiversity, creating more circular supply chains, and generating jobs in new industries. 

• The government's "most effective tool" for the latter is increasing infrastructure investment, Furman said. The Biden administration has promised $2 trillion in infrastructure spending that it says will create 10 million jobs tied to clean energy.

Full circle: Climate change is also linked to pandemic preparedness. "The economic pressures driving biodiversity loss and the destruction of ocean health can have cascading impacts on societies, and may increase the risk of future zoonotic viruses (those which jump from animals to humans)," the OECD writes. 

Big picture: Covid-19 has arrived during a pivotal moment for American capitalism. Tying together all these ways we could improve—healthcare, access and equity, infrastructure—"is the need for urgent decisions taken today to incorporate a longer-term perspective," the OECD writes.

SPONSORED BY BOSE

We Slept Great This Week

Usually our upstairs neighbor—we’ll call him Bart—keeps us up at night with his noisy shenanigans. But Bart’s no match for our Bose Sleepbuds™ II. 

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So while Bart fails to learn a Bach concerto, we are lost in dreamland. And when his pet billy goat (also named Bart) gallops around his apartment, we’re falling asleep to soothing sounds with the Bose Sleep app. 

Basically these Sleepbuds are a Bart Buffer that will have you be noise-free, stress-free, and sleep-full.

Get your best night’s sleep with Bose Sleepbuds™ II today. 

IMAGE

Snapshot from 2020

On Oct. 4, 20,000 chairs were laid out on D.C.'s National Mall to remember the then-200,000 lives lost in the U.S. from the coronavirus. Today, they'd need over 50% more chairs. 

One of the strangest parts of 2020, and there have been a lot, has been the lack of a time and place to collectively mourn. As optimistic as I am entering 2021, this image will stick with me as a reminder of all the people that won't head into the new year with us.

Q&A

Behind the Brew: Alex Hickey

Hometown: Heidelberg, Germany

What you would be doing if not writing for the Brew: If I'm being realistic, probably working on the Hill wondering why I'm getting paid peanuts. If I'm being idealistic, foreign service.

One thing you are snobby about: Baking chocolate. My happy place is the kitchen, but if you show up with some Hershey's morsels, things will go downhill real fast. 

First R-rated movie: Not sure I ever graduated past PG-13…but there is a decent chance my first R-rated flick was Love, Actually. 

What is something fun you did that you'd never do again? Bungee jumping off a bridge in the Italian Alps. It was a memorable experience, but it doesn't hold a candle to skydiving and I don't recommend engaging in death-defying activities when there's a language barrier. 

If you could safely eat any inedible object, what would it be? Ever been in a Lush store? Everything in there looks like dessert. 

Recommend literally anything: I'll never stop plugging Anker's ergonomic wireless mouse. It's an absolute game-changer. I also curate Brew's Bookshelf on the side, so if you're ever on the hunt for a good read, check it out.

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GAMES

Friday Puzzle

Try to solve this Word Pyramid. 

How it works: Take the letters of the word “pea” and rearrange them into a word that starts with “h.” Do the same for each of the new words you create until you get to the bottom.  

pea

h _ _ _

s _ _ _ _

_ _ r _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ n

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ l

ANSWER

Pea
Heap
Shape
Phrase
Sharpen
Shrapnel