The US military is struggling to hire people, too

Plus: Dark Brandon wins. [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a doppelgänger of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - The military is [short on recruits](. - High gas prices [took care of themselves](. - [Republicans will enjoy green spending]( the most. - [Crypto’s bear market]( is far from over. Uncle Sam Wants You The key feature of America’s pandemic recession/recovery/possible second recession has been a shortage of workers to do the hard jobs that keep the economy running smoothly. Nurses, cooks, tradespeople, factory workers — all have been trading up to better-paying jobs or cartoon-ape riches and leaving employers begging. The US military is one such employer. Bloomberg LP founder Mike Bloomberg writes [the Pentagon is far short of the 150,000 new hires]( it needs and is struggling to find incentives to lure people away from the private sector. It could lower recruiting standards, but one look at how Russia’s army has fared in Ukraine will tell you how that usually works out. America may no longer be fighting two wars in the Middle East. But it is staring at the even-more-alarming prospect of having to fight a war in Europe and another in Asia, with Vladimir Putin menacing NATO and China menacing Taiwan. Its military can’t afford to be short-staffed. Read the [whole thing](. Dark energy. Source: Rob Flaherty The Dark Brandon Ages When President Joe Biden’s presidency was at its absolute nadir, way back in July, a “Dark Brandon” meme took root among leftists on the internet, portraying the president as a malevolent entity like [Dale Cooper](’s doppelgänger on “Twin Peaks.” But as Slate [explains]( (content warning for pharmaceutical-grade levels of being online), Biden’s fans in the center-left — and the [White House]( itself — have responded to his recent slate of shocking wins by co-opting Dark Brandon to portray the president as a god-level political mastermind. At first glance, you might think the [steady decline]( in gasoline prices over the past two months — which has likely fueled a matching [plunge]( in consumer inflation expectations — is more Dark Brandon magic. Biden has been releasing crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and fist-bumping Saudi royals, after all. But Julian Lee points out the primary cause of falling gas prices is more elemental: [High prices destroyed demand, which lowered prices](, just like they used to tell us back in Econ 101. In fact, one of Biden’s less-magical responses to high gas prices was to call for a [gas-tax holiday](. Fortunately that spell crashed and burned, because as Julian points out, encouraging people to use more gasoline only worsens the underlying problem of expensive gasoline (see, again, Econ 101). Still, Biden’s impulse was shared widely among politicians around the world and will likely reappear whenever gas prices rise again. We now have some proof to show them that markets can sometimes work dark magic of their own. If only by being patient and staying out of the way, Dark Brandon does deserve substantial credit for landing Build Back Better II: Inflation Reduction Act Boogaloo, part of which will funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to clean-energy projects. It did not get a single Republican vote in the Senate. But Liam Denning and Jeff Davies, in a Twitter Spaces conversation with Bobby Ghosh, point out the bulk of that sweet, [sweet green money will be spent in Republican districts](.  Now that Dark Brandon has gone mainstream and therefore cringe, the left will need other ways to express its displeasure with Biden over the fact that the IRA finances a natural-gas [pipeline]( in Co-President Joe Manchin’s home state. But Matt Yglesias argues [natural gas forms a necessary and relatively clean bridge]( to the full glory of the green-energy transition. The IRA also, as Liam Denning points out, imposes a [backhanded windfall profit tax on oil companies](. That’s the thing about dark stuff, whether it be matter, energy or Brandons: It’s hard to see, but it can have a big impact. Bonus Energy Reading: Germany will soon have to admit its [weird zealotry about nuclear power]( is unsustainable. — Andreas Kluth Telltale Charts Crypto prices [yawned at BlackRock’s partnership with Coinbase](, a sure sign the bear market is still roaring, writes Jared Dillian. I suppose it would be too crass at this juncture to say “[Have fun staying poor](.” This [should be a big moment for gold](. But money managers for some reason aren’t buying it, writes David Fickling. Further Reading The undying influence of Donald Trump makes it [hard for the GOP to recruit good candidates](. — Jonathan Bernstein An [Amnesty International report accusing Ukraine]( of endangering civilians is a propaganda tool for Putin. — Clara Ferreira Marques Europe is finally [cracking down on superyachts]( and foreign money laundering. — Lionel Laurent Ukraine’s disruption has taught us [three important lessons about food security](. — Amanda Little [Masayoshi Son’s late-blooming contrition]( might help SoftBank recover from his missteps. — Gearoid Reidy Pfizer uses part of its [Covid windfall to branch into treating rare diseases](. — Lisa Jarvis A new study shows [advertising for antidepressants is misleading](. — Faye Flam ICYMI China is trying to establish a “[new normal” for Taiwan](. [Cox bought Axios]( for $525 million. (Martin Peers has [thoughts](.) Great job, everybody: [We brought polio back](. San Francisco’s [tech boom is fading](. Kickers Mad food scientists concoct a barbecue-sandwich affront to nature by [adding peanut butter cups](. Area thieves take [thousands of dollars’ worth of brisket](.  How to [spot a deepfake in a video call](. RIP, [Olivia Newton-John](. Notes: Please send brisket and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@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