Welcome back to the Monday Good News roundup. Where your intrepid GNR Newsroom (Myself, Killer300 and Bhu) bring you the good news to start your week off right. Not much to say as a preamble this week so lets get right down to business with the good news.
We Ended 2023 On A Real Upbeat Note - The news in the last few weeks has been remarkably encouraging - stock market hits all time highs, prices *fell* last month, mortgage rates keep dropping and interest rates are coming down next year, economic growth remains robust and wage growth/new biz starts and prime-age worker participation rates remain at highly elevated levels, gas prices and rents are coming down, crime and murder rates plummeted across the US in 2023, and renewable and domestic oil production broke records last year. We also saw consumer sentiment spike up, and December polling for Biden and the Dems improved. Congratulations everyone. America and the Democratic Party enter 2024 in really good shape.
We ended 2023 on a real strong note and its important we don’t squander that, so lets get ready to dig deep and kick ass in 2024.
The tally of road crash deaths is heading in the right direction—downwards.
The new 2023 World Health Organization report on road safety shows that, since 2010, road traffic deaths have fallen by 5%—and that would translate into a 16% drop if the rise in global population was accounted for.
108 countries reported a drop in road traffic-related deaths between 2010 and 2021.
Ten countries succeeded in reducing road traffic deaths by over 50%: Belarus, Brunei Darussalam, Denmark, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Russian Federation, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
35 more countries made notable progress, reducing deaths by 30% to 50%.
Fewer people dying is always good news.
GOP Talking Points Evaporating - Been a rough few months for GOP talking points. Consider (much of the backup for this section can be found here):
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The economy sucks - stock market at all time highs, strongest recovery in G7, consumer sentiment rising, economy booming, real wage growth highest in decades. The President promised he would get us to the other side of COVID, successfully, and he has
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Inflation is killing us - inflation is now back to pre-pandemic levels in several measures, overall prices *fell* last month, gas/rents/mortgage rates are falling across the US, groceries only increased 1.7% over the last 12 months less than a typical 12 month period. Read this to better understand why I don’t think the data supports “the people are down now due to ‘lived experience’ argument” and there is more optimism about the economy than is understood right now
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Biden has waged a war on American energy which created high gas prices - high gas prices came from Putin and OPEC, and in 2023 domestic oil and renewable production broke records. America has never been more energy independent. This may be the stupidest of all current GOP memes
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Crime is out of control - crime and murder rates across the US keep plummeting, violent crime rates are half of what they were 30 years ago, and murder rates continue to be much higher in red states
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Democrats keep printing money, driving inflation - the annual deficit is trillions less than when Biden came to office
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Biden’s poll numbers are terrible - a majority of independent polls taken after Thanskgiving have Biden tied with Trump or ahead; the Congressional Generic has moved over 3 points in our direction since October; battleground House polling show Democrats ahead of the Republicans; consumer sentiment is rising; large sample polls of Hispanics and young voters show Biden replicating his 2020 results. Are we where we want to be? No. But is Trump ahead? Absolutely not
And yet there are still people who believe those non existent talking points. Frustrating I know, but its good to keep these things on hand to dispute them.
The mother of all election years. The Super Bowl of elections. Whatever you want to call it—outlets have gotten creative—2024 will be one for the record books, with more people voting than any other year in history.
The Atlantic Council, a think tank, counted 83 elections, more than 50 of them national, occurring in 78 countries. That includes seven of the world’s ten most populous countries: India, the United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, and Mexico are all expected to hold national elections this year.
Some of these elections are just for show, as in Russia or North Korea, and many of them are likely to be flawed. But even “all-but-certain outcomes can still be worth watching,” as Koh Ewe writes in TIME. Russia’s vote, for instance, may hold signs as to whether the public is growing tired of the war in Ukraine.
Aside from the heavy hitters above, we’re interested in Mali and Chad, where presidential elections have been promised after years of military rule following coups. If they occur, writes Eric Bazail-Eimil in Politico, “that could encourage other African countries that have also experienced recent coups to move back toward democratic rule, including Niger, Gabon and Sudan. If they don’t, it will set back the yearslong efforts . . . to restore civilian rule.”
Iran is holding parliamentary elections, the country’s first time voting after mass protests in 2022 following the death of a young woman while in police custody. And Taiwan, Mexico, South Africa, and the United Kingdom all have significant elections planned as well. Of the many roundups of this year’s upcoming elections, Foreign Policy’s, here, is the most comprehensive and informative.
This election bonanza is often framed as a “buckle up” story; The World Economic Forum sees geopolitical volatility as the world’s biggest risk this year. Billions of the people going to the polls are certain to have a resounding impact. But just as progress is not guaranteed, neither is regress. Let’s see what 2024 has in store.
Once again big election year, I’m pretty confident going in but lets make sure we bring it home.
More patients on insulin will pay less for the drug this year after a leading manufacturer joined rivals in curbing monthly costs or lowering prices.
Why it matters: Amid a broader debate over high drug prices, rising insulin costs sparked outrage given that it's an old drug that millions of Americans with diabetes depend on.
- The drugmakers' recent moves to curb insulin costs also represented a win for the Biden administration, which pressured companies to make the products more affordable after the Inflation Reduction Act capped monthly insulin costs at $35 in Medicare.
Driving the news: As of Jan. 1, insulin maker Sanofi capped monthly out-of-pocket costs at $35 for its most popular product, Lantus, for patients with private insurance. Patients without insurance have already been able to get it at that cost.
- Sanofi's move was announced last March — around when key rivals Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk also announced cost-cutting measures — but it didn't take effect until Jan. 1.
- Lilly capped monthly insulin costs at $35 for patients with private insurance at some retail pharmacies, and people without insurance can also get it for $35 per month.
- Novo last year announced it would slash the list prices of several insulin products by 75%, effective Jan. 1, with its lowest price at $48.20. Novo also runs some programs that allow customers to pay as little as $25-$35 for insulin per month.
And just a reminder because this article doesn’t mention, the reason these Insulin prices are getting capped is because Biden forced them too.
The familiar sight of towering wind turbines with spinning blades dominating landscapes could soon be a thing of the past.
Glasgow-based startup Katrick Technologies is shaking up the renewable energy sector with a revolutionary design: bladeless honeycomb wind turbines. Unlike traditional turbines, Katrick's innovation features a compact hexagonal grid resembling a honeycomb, perched atop urban buildings or integrated into existing structures.
At the heart of Katrick's technology lies aerofoils that oscillate independently when exposed to the kinetic energy of wind. These mechanical oscillations are converted to energy, making the approach more efficient in less windy conditions and also catering to urban environments where space is limited.
I say it every time but it keeps being true: I love living in the future
I’m going to throw out a wild idea here: What if the economy is good in 2024? I know, I know, prices are still too high. Everybody hates everything so much that we’ve coined the term “vibecession.” The pandemic fallout is still reverberating. But hear me out — maybe it would be neat to head into the new year without all the doom and gloom.
There is a case for hope here. I mean, look at what happened in 2023. We came into the year with the lowest of expectations. Tons of economists, including some big names, thought a major downturn was inevitable in the United States. Many people were sure the Federal Reserve’s fight to get inflation down would mean a significant spike in unemployment; the logic was preordained. In fall 2022, Bloomberg ran a headline forecasting a 100 percent chance of a recession within a year.
It still kills me people think the Economy is doing bad right now. It really does.
American consumer confidence — still bizarrely low given how healthy the economy is — could be set for a substantial rebound in 2024.
Why it matters: Consumer confidence has historically been a good predictor of whether or not incumbent politicians will be re-elected. A rebound would therefore be good news for President Biden and Democrats more broadly.
Indeed, I definitely hope people start waking up and noticing how good the economy is doing.
The city council in Austin, Texas recently proposed something that could seem like political Kryptonite: getting rid of parking minimums.
Those are the rules that dictate how much off-street parking developers must provide — as in, a certain number of spaces for every apartment and business.
Around the country, cities are throwing out their own parking requirements – hoping to end up with less parking, more affordable housing, better transit, and walkable neighborhoods.
Good, once again we are ending our reliance on automobiles.
Last week, Spokane finalized its year-long effort to legalize more housing choices across the city. Their new code sets a statewide standard, and it should be emulated in cities large and small — from Seattle and Bothell to Yakima and Vancouver.
Recall that under the zoning package passed last year, Spokane gave itself a year to develop a new permanent development code for fourplexes and other middle housing types.
Perhaps predictably at this point, the city one-upped itself again, going further than any other city in Washington, and maybe even further than any other city in the country in legalizing new housing. When the final rules shook out, the city didn’t just legalize fourplexes across the city — it legalized plexes, townhomes, cottage housing, and small apartment buildings of all different shapes and sizes. Some provisions could also make backyard cottages, also known as detached accessory dwelling units (DADUs), easier to build.
Bit by bit we are winning the fight to get affordable housing.
The President’s Big Democracy Speech - Here it is. Please watch and let’s discuss here in the coming days. Many have already said they believe it is the best speech President Biden has ever given, and it is great to see the campaign turning on. It’s time for us to get going and win this election, together. This speech was a powerful way to start.
And our president comes out swinging. A good start to his campaign to get reelected.
Anyway that’s all the good news we have time for, see you next week.