Biden should go after the stoner vote

Who wouldn't want to be the Willy Wonka of Weed? [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, the spilled remains of what used to be a snack-sized baggie of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Biden’s campaign should [pivot to pot](. - Don’t blame pollution on [volcanic snot](. - [Working mothers]( need to balance a lot. - [Inflation data]( provides food for thought. A Dope Idea What if Joe Biden got really into weed? No, not the kind of weed he’s harvesting below — although it’s a very sweet gesture — but weed weed, the kind the DEA has [dozens of euphemisms]( for. Photos by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images The president’s weaknesses, as Francis Wilkinson [points out]( (free read), are his age and “his failure to connect with many young voters.” That was also the case in 2020, Francis notes, except now Biden is the incumbent, “and polls consistently show him struggling.” In head-to-head polls, Trump is often beating Biden in swing states. Given those suboptimal odds, Jonathan Bernstein [says]( (also a free read), the president is in need of a pivot, and marijuana could be it. Biden is “stuck straddling the middle when his party and public opinion have already decided the issue,” he writes. In his own party, support for legalization is at 87%, while public support for it lands just below that: Most Americans don’t blink an eye when they see someone ripping a doobie in the middle of the park, so why not come out in support of legalizing it? Endorsing the recreational use of pot would be extremely uncontroversial, but it would bring big upsides: Biden could make his stoner voters happy and leave Republicans scrambling to respond. “There’s even a ready-made playbook for rolling out the new position,” Jonathan explains. In 2012, Biden helped then-President Barack Obama craft his message on marriage equality. Americans’ views on same-sex unions had [evolved]( over years, similar to what’s happened with marijuana. “No single policy position will decide an election, but on the margins taking the popular side of a 70/30 issue that splits the other party is certainly a net plus with voters,” he writes. I’m not expecting Biden and Xi to split a spliff when they meet in San Francisco today — although it might help them achieve that [much-needed bonding moment]( Andreas Kluth says they require. But betting on bud could be the president’s golden ticket to a second term in the White House. And who wouldn’t want to cement their place in history as being the Willy Wonka of Weed? Bonus Biden Reading: At today’s summit, specific deliverables aren’t the point. The US and China need to [re-establish]( a minimum of trust. — Bloomberg’s editorial board The Floor Is Lava The Fargradalsfjall volcano spews molten lava on in 2021. The amount of magma underground today far exceeds what was observed here, suggesting there could be a much larger discharge this time around. Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images Europe In Merriam-Webster, a [volcano]( is described as “something of explosively violent potential.” The same goes for misinformation. People’s constant desire to spew toxic garbage from their mouths certainly has explosive implications. Take the [simmering volcano]( in Grindavik, Iceland. Hundreds of recent earthquakes have forced the nearby [fishing village]( to evacuate. Scientists are saying it could erupt any day now. And when it does, idiots on the internet are claiming that it will dump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all humans put together. It’s a complete lie, and I’m having trouble understanding the rationale behind it. Like, what’s the endgame here? Ban the volcanoes? Cancel them like Bill Cosby? These things have been baked into the earth’s crust for [billions of years](. They’re gonna belch whether we like it or not. Plus, they’re not actually that bad for the environment compared to Homo sapiens. “Volcanoes do inject carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gases into the atmosphere, but humans’ addiction to fossil fuels is more than [100 times]( as polluting,” Mark Gongloff [writes](. Even so, once that volcano rumor exploded online, there was no way to put the lava of lies back into the mountain. It’s out there, and now we can only repair the damage. With charts like this, I hope: Consider the most famous volcano in recent history: The 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens in Washington State spewed [10 million tons]( of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. “Companies and people produce as much carbon every two and a half hours just going about their daily business of moving Taylor Swift from concert to concert, manufacturing Squishmallows, vacationing in Iceland and what-not,” Mark writes. In that light, maybe it’s not a bad thing that the Blue Lagoon — Iceland’s version of Disneyland —is closed]( through Nov. 30 because of the Grindavik volcano. Based on my back-of-the-napkin math, about 84,000 [tourists]( will be missing out on the opportunity to float in the hot stew of human bodies. Maybe they’ll end up [vacationing]( closer to home! That sounds like [a big win]( for the environment. The Bag Yesterday I went to work without a purse. I just stuffed everything I needed — keys, AirPods, wallet, Chapstick — into the pockets of my denim jacket. I do this fairly often because I … can? Nobody is stopping me from being a heathen! And I really don’t need that much stuff to go to and from the office. But I understand that the ability to go bagless is a privilege. And the moms who read this newsletter know why. You see, every mom owns The Bag. You know the one: It has compartments, which are the key to survival. It holds not one, but two types of snacks — possibly pretzels and a canister of those organic baby puffs that look like stars. There’s a mini hand sanitizer and a travel-size pack of wipes. There are tissues for the inevitable runny noses. There’s a cloth book for spontaneous story time. There’s an emergency change of clothes (for both adult and child). There’s gotta be a diaper or two. Is that a container of floss I see? Oh, and let’s not forget the ointment the pediatrician prescribed — that’s been in there since January. There’s most certainly a toy — well, parts of a toy that broke in transit. Then there’s the massive water bottle and the lipstick that hasn’t been worn since the birth of your first child and the spilled remains of what used to be a snack-sized baggie of Cheerios. When reading Beth Kowitt’s [column today](, I couldn’t help but think about The Bag. Last Monday, Beth returned to work from maternity leave after having her second child. “Getting back into the groove of doing my job has been the easy part,” she writes. “Figuring out how to get everyone in the family to where they need to be with at least some semblance of all the stuff they require is, to put it politely, utter chaos. I’ve already worked a whole day by the time I arrive at the office to start my actual paid job.” Beth is not alone in her experience. Day in and day out, women in this world are carrying The Bag and their careers. Remote work — and all the flexibility it brought — alleviated some of this burden. But now, working from home is increasingly looking like the new “[mommy track](.” Just listen to what the boss is saying, Beth writes: Blackstone’s CEO says remote workers “[didn’t work as hard](” during the pandemic. Jamie Dimon doesn’t know “[how you can be a leader](” and work from home. And Elon Musk says WFH is “[morally wrong](.” “To this group of White male CEOs, the ideal worker still seems to be one who can come into the office five days a week and is on call 24/7. Most of the time, that’s someone who looks a lot like them,” she writes. None of these people understand what it’s like to carry The Bag! That fact — not WFH — is what’s morally wrong. Telltale Charts I can’t pass up an opportunity to brag about the Northeast, so here’s[a map]( from John Authers about how we’re crushing inflation compared to the rest of the country. Part of that has to do with wealth: “Inflation is higher in poorer states, and lower in wealthier ones,” he explains. But hopefully those states will catch up soon enough: “The latest numbers were very encouraging for anyone who wanted to see inflation fall,” he writes, noting “the various sophisticated statistical measures that have grown prominent in the last three years all point in the same direction — downward.” It’s no secret that the US is addicted to debt. We’re $33.7 trillion deep at this point, and it’s getting harder to harder to ignore. Then again, maybe we’re looking at this all wrong, the way some people fail to appreciate Jackson Pollock or Georgia O’Keeffe. “While everyone is focused on the spending side of the equation, perhaps the way out of this debt quagmire is on the economic side. In that sense, the years immediately following World War II offer some valuable lessons,” Karl Smith [writes](. Further Reading How much do America's top 1% [actually make](? Not what you might think. — Tyler Cowen Israel is [playing the role]( that Hamas assigned to it. — Marc Champion Foxconn’s iPhone boom is waning. It needs to [shoot for the stars]( instead. — Tim Culpan That press release about [WeWork’s rescue]( wasn’t real. — Matt Levine America’s [era of bad vibes]( could end up hurting the entire world. — Adrian Wooldridge Glencore is making a big, planet-wrecking [bet on coal](. — Javier Blas SVB’s collapse encouraged regulators to be radical, but [not like this](. — Paul J. Davies ICYMI More Americans are getting their [news on TikTok](. New York’s[heat pump experiment]( is worrying renters. Medical studies are way [too White](. Formula 1’s [Las Vegas race]( is off to a rocky start. New York is [suing]( Pepsi for pollution. Kickers Swifties discovered Travis Kelce’s [old tweets]( … [haha](. Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski trial is now [a musical](. (h/t Beth Kowitt) How David Zaslav [blew up]( Hollywood. (h/t Mike Nizza) A $7,000 cheeseboard? The math is [not mathing](. This is the most iconic way to make [a sandwich](: #shmackin​​​​ Notes: Please send [the Fettucini with the Chicken Alfredo]( and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads](, [TikTok](, [Twitter](, [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us 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](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. 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