Walmart Says We’re Gonna Be Okay

Plus: Inflation and taxes. [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a special day of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [Walmart]( has a pulse. - Inflation is creeping in on some [tax breaks](. - [Gen Z needs college]( more than ever. - Let’s prove [Vladimir Putin wrong](. The Beige Book Walked So Walmart Could Run Finance people increasingly love to hype the big economic data release days: There’s CPI Day, there’s Jobs Day, there’s FOMC Day. If an economic number is getting released by some government agency, there’s probably a “day” for it. Even “[Fed meetings are now like a Super Bowl party](,” Kyla Scanlon told Conor Sen last week. It’s true, although I do wonder if anybody is really pounding buffalo wings and ranch dip while Jerome Powell drones about “fostering price stability” for 1.5 hours. Anyway, in honor of humanity’s obsession with “days,” I would like to propose a new one that is arguably far more integral to our society than any monetary policy meeting or data update: Walmart Day. Walmart earnings give us just as many, if not more, insights into the US economy as, say, the Fed’s Beige Book. Today, [the information we received from the retailer was very, very promising](, writes Andrea Felsted. Sales growth in the second quarter was stronger than expected, and the company said its earnings hit this year won’t be as bad as it warned just last month. The company has also made some progress whittling down its mountain of inventory, though not yet enough to end its discounts just yet. Maybe it even managed to [sell those dickies we talked about]( last month. “Given that Walmart’s customer base looks a lot like the US population, this marks more good news for the broader economy on top of last week’s data showing a slowdown in inflation,” Andrea writes. Read the [whole thing](. Bonus Optimistic Economic Reading: The S&P 500 has rebounded nicely lately, and investors thinking of jumping back in [have history on their side](. — Aaron Brown Nothing Is Certain Except Death Inflation and Taxes Despite the aforementioned signs of economic promise, inflation isn’t about to go “poof!” overnight, which is why we’re still stuck with this guy, month after month: Evergreen meme But here’s the thing: If it were, say, the 1970s, we couldn’t have this hide-the-pain-harold-thumbs-up-inflation.jpg meme. And no, that’s not just because memes did not exist then. It’s because the economic vibes were wayyyyy worse, thanks in part to a phenomenon called “bracket creep,” where income cutoffs for different tax rates weren’t regularly adjusted for inflation. Millions of taxpayers in the ‘70s and ‘80s ended up paying higher rates while their actual incomes stayed dead flat, Alexis Leondis explains. Ronald Reagan fixed that particular issue in 1985, but [plenty of tax breaks still aren’t adjusted for inflation](. Take the Child Tax Credit, which is a flat amount of $2,000. By 2032, it will be worth just $1,430, based on inflation projections. That’s nearly $600 flying out the window, hurting America’s most vulnerable families. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have companies making $1 billion a year. These companies, Nir Kaissar argues, [can actually afford to pay a 15% minimum corporate tax]( in the midst of record inflation without imploding the US economy in the process. The haters will surely say, “Oh no, a minimum tax is basically a tax on all of us because big corporations will raise prices and squeeze wages.” But Nir writes there’s no historical data backing up such claims. Even if the Apples, Microsofts and Teslas of the world were to tinker with their prices a teensy amount to offset the higher taxes, it likely wouldn’t impact the stuff consumers need most, such as food and personal items. Gen Z Needs to Network In 2041, maybe Nathan Fielder will do an episode of “[The Rehearsal](” where 30-year-old Gen Zers can’t say a single word in public to anyone because they have never done it before. It’s getting harder for the youngs to communicate with people IRL, what with Zoom school, Zoom work, [the rise of the metaverse](, etc. Gen Zers who entered the workforce post-Covid may never know the joys of malfunctioning copy machines or asking the reception desk for the bathroom key. Slack notifications and texts from their boss at 10 PM are pale imitations. The WFH revolution is disrupting the way we work, sure, but it’s also [disrupting the way we socialize with colleagues and mentors](, writes Conor Sen. Many young people are already struggling to find meaning in the workplace, as evidenced by the new TikTok phenomenon called “[quiet quitting](,” where workers do the [bare minimum]( to get by without getting axed. To stay engaged with work and make up for lost connections, Conor argues, young people should try to make contacts earlier in life. This could make college attendance, with its opportunities for networking, friendship and romance, more valuable than ever. And bigger colleges might mean more bigger networks. I’m biased, but: Go, Hoosiers! Telltale Charts Vladimir Putin wants Western unity to crumble like a British biscuit at teatime, and he may yet get his way. In a poll of 10 European countries, 42% of respondents said their governments pay too much attention to Ukraine relative to domestic troubles. With winter fast approaching and food and fuel prices soaring, there’s a risk of that percentage rising. That’s why Bloomberg’s editorial board argues [the next stage of the Ukraine war]( should be fought on the battlefield of public opinion. I guess it’s still crop-top season: Severe drought is causing [US-grown cotton prices]( to absolutely pop off right now, Clara Ferreira Marques writes in the latest edition of [Elements](: Further Reading Adam Neumann’s [cult of “We” is now the cult of Web3](. — Lionel Laurent Here’s what happens when [Warren Buffett shows up with $10 billion]( at just the right time. — Liam Denning Indigenous people are still Australia’s poorest group. [Will the nation’s newly elected leader change that?]( — Rebecca Jones Singapore’s real estate market is in the midst of [a 2008-level crisis](. —Andy Mukherjee Italy’s ring-wing parties have a weird (and unfortunate) [obsession with the past](. — Maria Tadeo [America’s most outstanding restaurant]( says a lot about America. — Bobby Ghosh Call me a skeptic, but I don’t think AI will be great at [predicting Hollywood’s next big blockbuster](. — Trung Phan ICYMI [Over-the-counter hearing aids]( are a win that might have [unintended consequences](. Hurricane season is [running ahead of schedule](. A new era of supersonic travel is here, and you won’t believe [how short the flight is from NYC to London](. Kickers [Whoever told the GOP about “BDE”]( … I wish they hadn’t. Please don’t buy [Maine lobster tails on Facebook](. Area groom [nearly misses his own wedding](. Notes:  Please send non-fraudulent lobster and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. 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