Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Bad news for retirement

There’s some bad news for Americans planning to retire over the next few decades. How much you can “safely” withdraw each year without fear of outliving your savings just got slashed. Count on only taking out 3.3% of your savings each year, down from the old standard of 4%. For someone with a $1 million portfolio, that’s a drop from $40,000 a year to $33,000. With traditional pensions going extinct and Social Security under increasing threat, there’s not much of a safety net left for Americans who run out of savings. —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.

U.S. President Joe Biden fulfilled one of his key campaign promises Monday, signing into law a massive $550 billion package aimed at fixing the nation’s deteriorating arteries. Overall, the infrastructure bill allocates around $110 billion for roads and bridges, $66 billion for rail and $39 billion for public transit. Another $65 billion is earmarked for connecting Americans to high speed internet while $65 billion will go to the power grid and $55 billion will be spent on drinking-water systems.

U.S. President Joe Biden, seated, signing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 15. Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP

Big-name market watchers are saying the Federal Reserve may have to speed up its reduction of economy-supporting asset purchases in light of the fastest inflation in 30 years. Their calls come at a tricky time for the central bank, which announced plans to reduce its bond-buying program less than two weeks ago. Here’s who is saying what about inflation, the Fed, and what it should do next.

While Elon Musk draws more attention to himself on social media, including by attacking Bernie Sanders after the Vermont senator called for more taxes on billionaires, “The Big Short” investor Michael Burry has been analyzing Musk, and what’s behind his recent antics. He has a theory.

Michael Burry Photographer: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images North America

Why did India and China throw a wrench into the COP26 machine on coal’s behalf? No two nations have added more coal-fired power-plant capacity in the past decade. Also, they mine a combined 14 million tons of the dirtiest fossil fuel every day.  

Global wealth tripled in the last two decades, with the U.S. falling behind as China takes over the top spot. Net worth worldwide rose to $514 trillion in 2020 from $156 trillion in 2000. China accounted for almost one-third of the increase.

The European Union is looking at easing restrictions on state aid for the semiconductor industry, potentially considering a more interventionist approach in light of the chip supply crisis. 

The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 shot yielded the strongest immune response among four vaccines tested in a new study, while Sinopharm’s shot may be particularly susceptible to breakthrough infections. In rich countries where vaccines have been widely available, it’s largely been those who refuse inoculation who have been contracting the deadly virus of late. Now, Austria has put itself at the forefront of a growing effort to stop them from overloading health systems and endangering non-Covid patients in need of hospital beds. Austrian police have been ordered to stop and check individuals on the streets to enforce a lockdown on people who have refused a shot, part of a series of stricter curbs across Europe to counter the renewed surge in infections there. Austrians who can’t show proof of vaccination and are caught going into cinemas, gyms or retail stores face fines starting at 500 euros ($573). Business owners could be slapped with a 3,600 euro fine. In the U.K., Boris Johnson is leaving the door open to new lockdowns and in the U.S.—still the worst hit nation with 15% of all confirmed fatalities and almost 19% of confirmed infections—yet another wave may be forming. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

• Pfizer fights to control the secret of its $36 billion Covid-19 vaccine.
• Putin masses troops on Ukraine border; Western allies mull sanctions.
• Russia blows up a satellite and endangers International Space Station.
• America’s hypersonic missile gap will cost $106 million to fill—each.
• This Chinese developer has yet to pay interest that was due last week.
• Housing market heats up again in Canada with an 8.6% sales jump.
• If Elon Musk is a new Henry Ford, he’ll have to prove it in Germany.

They first time they collaborated was such a smash hit that the only question asked was when former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and Alison Krauss would sing together again. The answer is this week. Plant and Krauss are back with a new album of covers 14 years after their surprise hit with critics and fans, “Raising Sand.”

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. Paul Goguen/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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