Today marks one year since Bernie’s mittens took over our social media feeds and, perhaps more importantly, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was sworn in as the 46th president of the US.

How’s he doing? Let’s take a quick spin.

Economy: Biden’s overseen a historic recovery in the labor market, where the unemployment rate has plunged to 3.9% from a pandemic high of 14.8%. Problem is, there is currently too much money chasing too few goods. Inflation hit its highest rate since 1982 in December, while wages haven’t kept up with price growth.

• Median earnings for full-time workers grew 2.6% annually in the fourth quarter. Consumer prices, on the other hand, gained 7% in December.

Climate: Biden had the US rejoin the Paris climate agreement to reassert American leadership on environmental issues. But reaching his goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030 will be a monumental challenge: Emissions climbed 6.2% last year as coal plants revved back to life.

Covid: The pandemic continued to rage throughout Biden’s first year in office. Despite the availability of vaccines, more people died of Covid in the US in 2021 than in 2020.

• Getting Americans vaccinated has proven to be a major challenge. Biden’s vaccine mandate on large employers was blocked by the Supreme Court, and only 63.8% of Americans are fully vaxed, putting it behind virtually all of its wealthy peers.

Geopolitics: Biden withdrew all US troops from Afghanistan in chaotic fashion and has maintained an adversarial relationship with China and Russia. He said yesterday that he expects Russia to invade Ukraine.

Domestic agenda: Biden signed a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill last spring and a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which represents the biggest federal investment in the nation’s roads, trains, and other important nuts-and-bolts networks in more than a decade. He also extended a moratorium on student loan payments through May 1.

• Other priorities have run out of steam on Capitol Hill, where the Democrats have the slimmest of majorities in the Senate. The Build Back Better Act, which would have poured huge sums into environmental, health, and social programs, didn't get enough support.
• Biden told reporters yesterday that he thinks Democrats can get “pieces, big chunks of the Build Back Better law signed into law.”

Looking ahead…Biden’s approval rating is in the dumps at 40% (Obama’s was 49% at the same point in his presidency). Democrats are hopeful that by taming inflation and the pandemic, Biden will get a popularity boost ahead of pivotal midterm elections in November.—NF

The Texas power grid is about to get its biggest test since last February’s deep freeze.

*Meteorologist voice*: After a cold front moved into the Lone Star State earlier this week, temps are set to drop below freezing today and tomorrow.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Texas’s power grid operator, says the grid is ready to roll. On Tuesday, it released a report after inspecting 321 power facilities that account for 85% of the grid’s power. The number of facilities with potential problems dropped from 16 in December to three.

No one wants a repeat of last year, when disastrous blackouts caused millions of Texans to lose electricity, killed an estimated 700 people, and cost the state’s economy between $80 billion and $130 billion.

Politicians hot potatoed blame for the disaster, but eventually passed a bill that would require plants to winterize their operations or face a fine of $1 million per day.

But there’s still a lot of work to do. Key energy infrastructure like pipelines and gas processing plants won’t be fully weatherized until later this year (a legislative loophole allowed them to take their sweet time). And just this month, more than 10% of gas production in Texas was stopped for two days due to freezing temps.—MM

Soon, you’ll still be able to get exclusive content from your favorite influencers on Instagram—if you’re willing to pay for a monthly subscription.

Instagram announced a “Subscriptions” feature yesterday that will grant users access to exclusive Stories and Lives, plus add a purple badge next to their name that’s visible to creators. Hey, it might improve your chance at a DM slide.

Some other details:

• The feature is part of a limited test that’s rolling out to just 10 creator accounts, including astrologist @alizakelly and Olympic gymnast @jordanchiles.
• Creators can charge $0.99 to $99 per month for their Subscriptions; Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri hailed recurring payments as “one of the best ways to have a predictable income” that’s not dependent on people hearting individual posts.
• Meta has pledged to not take any share of the new revenue stream until at least next year.

What’s the business strategy? Subscriptions could incentivize creators to make more content on Instagram—in turn luring their fans to spend more time on the social platform that ranks as teens’ chuegy third-favorite behind Snapchat and TikTok.—JW

Stat: “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” a song written by Lin-Manuel Miranda for the film Encanto, is a bigger hit than even “Let It Go.” It rose to No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart (“Let It Go” peaked at No. 5), and also became the highest-charting song from a Disney animated movie since “Colors of the Wind” in Pocahontas—26 years ago.

Quote: “This is one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible issues…I’ve seen in my aviation career.”

Emirates President Tim Clark blasted the US’ handling of the C-band 5G rollout near airports, telling CNN his company wasn’t aware of the potential safety issues until a day before the launch. Global airlines have canceled flights to the US or had to switch aircrafts as Verizon and AT&T switched on 5G service.

Read: How a Brooklyn funeral home is trying to put a modern spin on death. (Marketing Brew)

Schools around the country are facing a sub shortage so severe they can’t even stomach a Jimmy John’s joke right now. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed an executive order Tuesday to allow state employees to work as substitute teachers while keeping their current jobs, and yesterday New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham even asked the National Guard to help grade all those personal essays.

Given the detrimental effects of Zoom school, officials are desperate to keep classrooms open. Problem is, Covid outbreaks are leading to dramatic staff shortages and draining substitute teacher reserves. So how are they coping?

• States including California have rewritten the requirements to become a substitute teacher in order to speed up the hiring process and make it easier for retired teachers to come back.
• Kansas lifted requirements for substitute teachers to the extent that individuals with no college experience can step in.
• In some Utah districts, principals are asking parents to be subs.

Big picture: At least 7,030 schools (about 7%) across the country canceled in-person classes last week because of Covid issues, like outbreaks or staffing shortages, according to the school tracking site Burbio.—MM

Mission accepted. From space to national defense to cybersecurity, Endeavour is deploying $1B+ of capital into the Space and Defense industries. Join Endeavour in taking on this $2.8T addressable market and become an investor before the opportunity closes tomorrow, 1/21!*

Dropping knowledge is what we do: Check out our Money Scoop Tax Guide. It’s got answers to some of the season’s toughest questions—starting with “Why are taxes so confusing?” Check out the guide here.

Happy b-day, Mac: Yesterday would have been Mac Miller’s 30th birthday. Check out his legendary Tiny Desk concert, recorded just one month before he died in 2018.

Book recs: Five Books is a super useful website for book recommendations. It gives you the top five books written on certain topics, such as “best historical fiction set in the ancient world” or “best books on cryptocurrencies.”

Wellness tips: Improve your mindset with these recent podcast episodes from the Morning Brew studio: 1) The truth about the wellness industry 2) How to create a routine to manage your mental health 3) Why do houseplants make us happy?

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Brew Mini: Huge shoutout to our puzzle wizard Mary Tobler, who has now written 100 crosswords for Morning Brew. Go, Mary! Try her 100th puzzle today.

Three headlines and a lie

Three of these news headlines are real and one is faker than that pop-punk “When We Were Young” festival. Can you guess the odd one out?

1. Heidi Klum says one of her legs costs more to insure than the other
2. A California city is overrun by crows. Could a laser be the answer?
3. Bono reviews U2: ‘I’m just so embarrassed’
4. Why Microsoft’s next acquisition target might be Zillow

Whether you’re saving for retirement, a big purchase, or financial security in general, an extra $1,000 will put you one step closer to your goal.

Well, maybe we can help. The Brew is giving away $1,000 to 5 readers—to enter the contest, all you need to do is refer 3 people to the newsletter by Saturday.

Talk about a great ROI.

*Only readers with a US address are eligible to participate. Check out the terms and conditions here.