Startup Stash - Bye, Bye Periscope 👋

• Easter is the symbol of hope, renewal and new life. 
• No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn
• When you put hope and faith together, you can raise positivity in a negative world. 

The herculean plan to revolutionise American infrastructure is here. Last week, US President Joe Biden released an elaborate plan to fuel $2 trillion into the American economy affecting various sectors - R&D, climate change, housing, transportation, energy, any many more. 

So what exactly is this plan?

$700 billion: To deal with natural disasters by upgrading power and water supplies, and rehabilitation facilities. 

$620 billion: In transportation and infrastructure improvements projects like roads, railways, public housing, schools, electricity, etc. 

$580 billion: To boost domestic manufacturing and set up hubs for venture capitalist investments in start-ups and entrepreneurship. 

$50 billion: To protect communities most at risk rom climate disasters. And to increase investment in start-ups and climate change technologies to prevent extreme wildfires; rising sea levels and hurricanes; new agriculture resource management. 

$300 billion: For research and development into communication technologies, biotechnology, and rural development. And research into climate focussed projects energy storage, carbon capture and storage, biofuel/bio-products, and electric vehicles.

$100 billion: To improve internet and broadband infrastructure

$400 billion: To improve care facilities in old age homes and for the elderly and the disabled.

Phew… 
 

But where’s the money coming from? 

From hefty taxes of course. The Biden administration plans to raise a whopping $3.42 trillion in taxes over the next decade, much to the dismay of some Republicans and capitalist giants. Unfair? Not so much. 

Photo credit: Americans for Tax Reform

Why this plan? Why now? 

1. The tiff with China, that started during the Trump era, is not in the mood to end any time soon. The Chinese economy has been proliferating and with several silk road deals underway across Asia, it is vying to dominate trade across most of the continent by the next decade. Fuelling money into start-ups and infrastructure is Biden's way to boost the American economy and promote local manufacturing in the U.S. 
2. Since Greta Thunberg’s speech at the UN that put countries to shame for their passive stance on climate change, and Trump’s callous attitude towards the issue, the U.S. has become more proactive in tackling the issue. 

Analysts believe it will take at least 10 years for any real results of the plan to be visible. 

But global markets showed their immediate excitement. NASDAQ, S&P, FTSE, Nikkei, Sensex, and HSI were all up the day after the investment was announced.
 

Speaking of Markets…

The U.S. stock markets had one of the best 365-day trading period since World War II. 

This time last year, world stock markets were plunging into what seemed like a never ending abyss. The crash in some countries was worse than that in 2008. 

U.S markets fell 34% in a month!

Fast forward to today, markets have rebound to surprising levels. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq have soared 76%, 75% and 95% respectively, as of March 2021. Nikkei 225 index touched 30,000 for the first time since 1990. 

Wonder Why? 

Historically high unemployment, extreme economic pressure and, at the root of it all, a global health crisis claiming millions of lives. Yet, the stock markets have rallied through the past 12 months like nothing ever went wrong. Analysts suggest the reason for this is two-fold. 

First, the stock market activity is a measure of future expectations not the current situations. One can say that during the peak of the health crisis, people hoped for a better tomorrow. And this hope drove up investments in stocks that had lost almost half their value due to the pandemic. And second, the FAANG companies made more profits during the pandemic because WFH led to an increase in the use of social media and streaming platforms. Since these 5 stocks make up 25% of the index value, they were able to pull up the weight of the index.

Many suggest that the rise of the markets to such levels is a euphoric bubble doomed to burst eventually. 

• YouTube experiments with hiding the number of dislikes on its videos: The reason, the platform says, is to improve creator experience. It is noted that the dislikes on a video may have a negative effect on the viewers and in turn affect targeted ad campaigns on the video. For now, the platform is rolling out this feature for only a select audience who cannot opt out of the experiment. 
   
• Instagram adds TikTok Duet-like Remix feature in Reels: After the success of Reels, Instagram has launched another TikTok inspired feature on its platform called ‘Remix for Reels’. The new feature which is open to all users worldwide, will let you create your own Reel by recording alongside an existing one. It can be used to create new videos as well remix the old ones. Learn more about this feature here.