2021
March
10
Wednesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

March 10, 2021
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Never start a story with the words “Federal Reserve,” an editor once told me. Sage advice. But please stick around because there’s something extraordinary afoot. 

You’ll recall that the U.S. Federal Reserve has two mandates: Stabilize prices (i.e., manage inflation) and maximize employment. But Trump-appointed Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is breaking with his predecessors by redefining what “full employment” really means. He’s established new, inclusive benchmarks for success.

The “Powell Dashboard,” as Bloomberg’s Matthew Boesler calls it, tracks progress among the most vulnerable sections of the workforce. Specifically, the Fed is watching Black unemployment, wage growth for low-wage workers, and labor force participation for those without college degrees. These are often the last indicators to rebound after an economic downturn. For example, the broad U.S. unemployment rate has fallen to 6.2%, but Mr. Powell is focused on the Black unemployment rate, stalled at 9.9%, as of Friday. “We have a lot of ground left to cover,” he told The Wall Street Journal last week. 

Some economists argue that with a $1.9 trillion stimulus package (passed by the House today) about to surge through the U.S. economy, the Fed should focus on the inflation threat. But Mr. Powell isn’t budging. The Fed chair insists that for the first time “full” U.S. employment includes women and people of color. That’s a new and noteworthy standard of economic equality.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets/AP
Syrian Civil Defense workers known as the White Helmets extinguish burning oil tanker trucks after a suspected missile strike near the border with Turkey, in western Aleppo province, Syria, March 6, 2021. Opposition groups and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights blamed Russia for the attack.

If a leader stubbornly survives a 10-year war at the expense of his country and his people, you can’t really call it triumph, for anyone. 

Profile

As the investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol assault continues, we look at why Merrick Garland may be uniquely qualified as U.S. attorney general to respond with fairness.

Courtesy of Marilena Umuhoza Delli/Big Hassle Media
The latest project from Ian Brennan and Marilena Umuhoza Delli, "I've Forgotten Now Who I Used To Be," is a compilation of songs sung by women in Ghana who live in camps for those accused of witchcraft. Many of the women have been exiled after being blamed for a natural calamity, a mishap, or an illness.

One way to encourage compassion is to listen. With the music they facilitate, one couple hopes to amplify marginalized voices – in this case, women accused of witchcraft in Ghana.

Essay

Marco Ugarte/AP/File
Central American migrants carrying a homemade U.S. flag walk in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, on Jan. 23, 2020, part of a group of hundreds that was trying to reach the United States.

The response to undocumented migrants can be a moral tug of war between compassion and rule of law. But our essayist shares why compassion rules when someone is at his doorstep.


The Monitor's View

AP
Protesters in Manila hold slogans against a new law in China that authorizes its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels and destroy other countries' structures on islands it claims.

When it was first set up 14 years ago, the loose alliance of nations known as the Quad – Australia, India, Japan, and the United States – clearly had the purpose of constraining China’s aggressive behavior in Asia. It was widely seen as a potential “Asian NATO.” The four democratic states even held joint naval exercises last November.

Now on Friday, their top leaders will be holding the first Quad summit (virtually). And this club of nations is wondering if it should be better known by what its members have in common – their shared values, such as rule of law – than what they oppose. Merely defining China as a foe might give that country more power than it deserves.

For his part, President Joe Biden is portraying the Quad as a showcase for what democracies can deliver in the region, from delivering COVID-19 vaccines to taking action on climate change to boosting economic growth. Without mentioning China, the U.S. State Department said the Quad still has an interest in maritime security. But its shared interests go well beyond that. The Quad will move “towards the more positive vision that we all seek,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.

A key test for the Quad’s identity could come after the summit. In a visit to Seoul next week, U.S. security officials may ask South Korea to become associated with the group. That puts the Asian country in a tight spot. South Korea’s largest trading partner is China. It has already felt Beijing’s wrath after deploying a U.S. anti-missile defense system on its soil to deter North Korean attacks.

Seoul prefers the Quad be seen as a group of like-minded democracies that does not treat China as an enemy. It wants the Quad to be transparent and inclusive, standing up for rule-based international norms.

Values-based partnerships among nations do have a longer shelf life. The United Nations, for example, has survived 75 years because its charter is based on principles common to humanity. Britain has lately proposed a club of 10 democratic countries (“D-10”). The world still needs to balance power and interests between nations. But sometimes the best glue for peace is something more enduring. India says the Quad stands for freedom, openness, and prosperity. It’s hard to be an enemy of that.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

If for whatever reason you’ve been out of the workforce and are seeking work, or starting a new job, the God that is Love is with you and guiding you.


A message of love

Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images
People watch a three-dimensional projection of the 170-foot-high Salsal Buddha at the site where the Buddhas of Bamiyan stood in Afghanistan, on March 9, 2021. They were the tallest statues of Buddha in the world before the Taliban destroyed them in March 2001.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us. Come back tomorrow: We’ll have a special Daily edition focused on how humanity has responded and adapted to a year of pandemic.

More issues

2021
March
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