An awful lot of Covid relief money went missing

Plus: Learning to love GMO. [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an American Girl Doll meme takeover of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - A lot of [Covid relief money]( went missing. - Who needs Cheerios when you have [Crispr](? - SPACs might as well stand for “[Sad, Predictable Ackman Catnip](.” - [Home prices]( might be retreating. Sipping That PPP Tea Bloomberg Opinion Today will henceforth be an American Girl Doll stan newsletter, whether you like it or not. Source: American Girl Doll; Illustration: Jessica Karl In April 2020, when the US government sent Covid relief checks to millions of Americans, the words “unprecedented times” got thrown around a lot. More than two years later, with 8% inflation, ever-changing Covid variants, food shortages and more, the times remain far from precedented. The times are so freakishly awful, in fact, that they have recently triggered a nostalgic [American Girl Doll meme trend](. It may be with us for a while. What will probably not be returning any time soon are stimulus checks, the latest round of which Karl Smith argues [caused all the inflation]( without providing any stimulus. Economists may debate that, but no one can deny the initial round of Covid checks back in 2020 disappeared into the pockets of an alarming number of fraudsters, as Bloomberg’s editorial board notes. By one (possibly low) count, [more than $163 billion out of $873 billion in Covid relief money]( was improperly spent. That’s a nostalgia trip we can’t afford. Plants Are People, Too Source: American Girl Doll; Illustration: Jessica Karl Source: American Girl Doll; Illustration: Jessica Karl Not long ago, people reacted to gene-editing technology with horror, posting on Facebook about [the nightmare of designer babies]( or the dangers of [head-sized avocados](. But as the benefits of Crispr and GMO become clearer, [resistance to such technology is softening](. Crispr scientists at Verve Therapeutics, for example, have figured out how to swap single letters in strands of DNA, letting them repair tiny errors in genetic code. One such letter contains instructions for building a protein that drives up levels of LDL, or “bad” cholesterol. If Verve’s fix works, it could be “[a one-time shot to address the No. 1 killer in the US: heart disease](,” writes Lisa Jarvis. Sadly, our heart-attack-free future world will likely be ravaged by the effects of climate change, including food insecurity. But Amanda Little writes these future people could survive on bread made entirely out of “HB4,” [the first-ever wheat designed for drought tolerance](. The FDA recently gave the GMO crop the green light for human consumption. It sounds more appetizing than a head-sized avocado. The Quibi of Wall Street Has Entered the Chat Source: American Girl Doll; Illustration: Jessica Karl Source: American Girl Doll; Illustration: Jessica Karl Bill Ackman was an early skeptic of special-purpose acquisition companies, which makes [the failure of his SPAC particularly ironic](,  notes Chris Bryant. Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, the biggest “blank-check” company ever, tried to do SPACs the right way, only to learn there may be no right way to pull off this investment vehicle at the moment. Ackman is giving investors a chance to get into a modified version of this vehicle, called a SPARC, but it may be a tough sell. With IPOs and SPACs out of vogue in Silicon Valley, startups are staying private for longer, a bummer for tech workers twiddling their thumbs, waiting for their shares to vest. In another ironic twist, a successful SPAC may solve this problem: Former JPMorgan Chase banker Blythe Masters recently used her blank-check company to take over Forge, a platform for [unicorn founders and employees to cash in shares]( long before their company goes public, Chris Bryant writes. Are there downsides? You bet! Telltale Charts Something to celebrate: Home values fell in June in seven of the 100 biggest housing markets, according to Zillow. Jonathan Levin isn’t about to throw a house party just yet, but there are [promising signs we could be headed for a cooler market](. [Investment bankers are hanging onto their jobs by a thread]( as investment banking fees languish, writes Paul J. Davies. Further Reading What are the odds of [Biden stepping aside in 2024](? — Jonathan Bernstein Is it cake? [Or is it a merger](?  — Matt Levine Wait, how come [Japan has such low inflation]( while everyone else’s is through the roof? — Richard Cookson [Boris Johnson’s perplexing rise]( was rooted in toxic nostalgia. — Pankaj Mishra [Shinzo Abe’s legacy]( has nothing to do with “Abenomics.” — James Stavridis [The Uber scandal isn’t a good look for Emmanuel Macron](, but his stance on Big Tech has evolved significantly since then. — Maria Tadeo ICYMI ‘Twas [the night before CPI](. Amazon Prime Day has nothing on [these sales](. Everybody loves WeChat — [including the Chinese government](. Country roads, take me home to the place I belong: [my childhood bedroom](. Kickers France is [running out of mustard](. (h/t Scott Duke Kominers) Jill Biden makes a [bad taco analogy](. It’s not too late for you to witness [Manhattanhenge](. AI predicts [future Covid variants](. Notes:  Please send stodgy lemon tarts and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022