💀 RIP US spending bill

America's most powerful politician | Here come the lockdowns | [TOGETHER WITH]( Hi {NAME}, here's what you need to know for December 21st in 3:09 minutes. ☕️ Finimized over an extra-hot hot chocolate at [Clement & Pekoe]( in Dublin, Ireland (🌥 6°C/43°F) Today's big stories - The US government’s $2 trillion spending plan fell through - Our analyst explains how to know how well your portfolio really performed in 2021 – [Read Now]( - Restrictions are spreading across Europe again as Omicron cases surge Kill Your Darlings [Kill Your Darlings] What’s Going On Here? The US government’s plans for a nearly $2 trillion spending package were [pronounced dead]( over the weekend. What Does This Mean? The US government’s spending plan – which invests in education, childcare, green infrastructure, and more – has been in limbo for a while, and disagreements throughout the year have already brought its price tag down from $6 trillion to $1.8 trillion. But just as it looked like it might finally get the green light, a key member of government said over the weekend that he definitely wouldn’t vote in favor of the package – a death blow given the majority party’s razor-thin margins. There are a couple of reasons why: he’s concerned about its impact on the country’s debt – which, at $29 trillion, is almost 50% bigger than its economy – and he’s worried that it’ll drive inflation even higher than the 39-year high it hit [last month](. Why Should I Care? The bigger picture: This wasn’t part of the plan. The congressman isn’t wrong that the plan might impact inflation, but it might also be just what the economy needs. See, the US Federal Reserve announced last week that it’d be winding down its bond-buying program sooner than expected, at which point it will think about raising interest rates. Both measures would themselves help limit inflation by raising the cost of borrowing and discouraging spending, but they’d also risk hampering economic growth for the same reasons. And while that was arguably manageable when a near-$2 trillion plan would provide its own boost to economic growth, the plan’s collapse – just when Covid cases are surging again – could tip the scales in the wrong direction. Zooming out: Politicians are not economists. Goldman Sachs certainly thinks so: the investment bank [slashed]( its US economic growth forecasts – which previously assumed more government spending was on the way – over the weekend. It’s now expecting the country’s economy to grow 2% and 3% in the first and second quarters of next year, down from 3% and 3.5% respectively. You might also like: [Four ways the post-Omicron recovery might shake out.]( Copy to share story: [( 🙋 [Ask a question](mailto:questions@finimize.com?body=Ask us a question: Where are you writing from? Let us know and we'll mention it when we reply.&noapp=true&subject=Kill Your Darlings&utm_campaign=daily-global-21-12-2021&utm_source=email) Analyst Take How Well Did Your Portfolio Really Do In 2021? [How Well Did Your Portfolio Really Do In 2021?]( [Photo of Stéphane Renevier] Stéphane Renevier, Analyst It’s almost Christmas, and you’re probably ready to down tools until the new year. But before you start knocking back your body weight in eggnog, you might want to take this downtime to see [how your portfolio’s held up]( this year. And I’m not just talking about a glance at your returns: I’m talking about casting a really critical eye over [your investments](. The best investors, after all, are constantly taking stock of what they got right, where they went wrong, and [how to hit the ground running in the new year](. So that’s today’s Insight: [how to tell how well your portfolio really did in 2021](. [Read or listen to the Insight here]( SPONSORED BY CROWDSTREET Live the Below Deck lifestyle Your investments are a means to a very lucrative end. And whether that end is sending your kids to college or docking a boat on the Amalfi coast, [Crowdstreet’s]( real estate investments might just be the means to get there. Take your pick: [Miami’s tourism scene](, [Boston’s biotech hub](,  the [Bay Area’s tech facilities](. They’re all at the heart of booming industries right now, and you can invest in them all. [Crowdstreet]( has already closed 540 deals, earning investors over [$275 million](. No wonder Investopedia named it 2021’s best overall real estate crowdfunding site. Look forward to that new boat smell: [get started with Crowdstreet](. [Invest In Real Estate]( No Escape [No Escape] What’s Going On Here? Pull on your Ugg boots and settle in, folks: several European countries [reimposed]( Covid restrictions over the weekend. What Does This Mean? Covid cases were always going to rise in the indoorsy winter months, but the far more infectious Omicron variant has blown all those expectations out the water. The Netherlands has been quick to respond, announcing over the weekend that it was closing all schools and non-essential shops until at least the middle of January. France and Germany – whose central bank just [warned]( the country’s economy might shrink this quarter – have likewise put travel restrictions in place to slow the spread, while the UK hasn’t ruled out imposing another lockdown. And even if governments don’t make good on those warnings, shoppers are still likely to stay home to avoid taking any unnecessary risks ahead of the holiday season. Why Should I Care? The bigger picture: Whisper its name. The cold weather isn’t just sending Covid transmission sky-rocketing, but demand for natural gas too: Europe’s gas price [rose]( by 9% on Monday alone, on top of the 600% jump this year. Throw in Omicron-driven restrictions, and Europe is now staring straight down a double-barreled shotgun of rising prices and slowing economic growth – a phenomenon better known as “stagflation”. Zooming out: It’s going from bad to worse. Europe’s initial public offerings (IPOs) market isn’t exactly on terra firma either: data out on Monday [showed]( that five of the year’s 10 biggest losers in the Stoxx 600 – an index tracking Europe’s major companies – only joined the index in the last 15 months ([tweet this](). That’s particularly tough to swallow because Europe just had its busiest year for IPOs since 2007. In other words, companies that might’ve been eyeing up a listing might now second-guess themselves, which could end up dragging on the region’s IPO market in 2022. You might also like: [Bill Ackman is betting big on inflation. Here’s how you can too.]( Copy to share story: [( 🙋 [Ask a question](mailto:questions@finimize.com?body=Ask us a question: Where are you writing from? Let us know and we'll mention it when we reply.&noapp=true&subject=No Escape&utm_campaign=daily-global-21-12-2021&utm_source=email) 💬 Quote of the day “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.” – Dhirubhai Ambani (an Indian business tycoon) [Tweet this]( CRYPTO PULSE, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FABRIIK What is crypto-to-crypto trading? [Crypto-to-crypto trading]( is exactly what it sounds like: you’re able to exchange one crypto for another. There are a few benefits to that. For one thing, it gives you the flexibility to [transfer]( investments quickly in response to emerging market trends. For another, crypto-to-crypto trading helps you [take advantage of market movements]( in both directions – that is, both spikes and downtrends – to turn a profit. And finally, you can make a transaction from – duh – crypto to crypto, which means you won’t have to pay pricey conversion fees on a fiat currency middle-man. And there’s no better platform to use than [Fabriik Weave]( – the oh-so-simple crypto-to-crypto exchange where you can [trade $1000]( worth of crypto a day in just three steps. There’s no lengthy registration process either: [get started with Fabriik in minutes](. [Trade With Fabriik Weave]( When you support our sponsors, you support us. Thanks for that. 🎯 On Our Radar - We need a break from capitalism. Nothing’s normal, so why are we [pretending](? - Find your next finance job. Just search over [340,000]( finance and accounting jobs at some of the [highest-paying]( companies in the United States.* - Your flight has been delayed. Not because of Covid [this time](. - Hello, mon petit chou fleur. How brains switch effortlessly [between languages](. - A very Netflix Christmas. The streamer’s worst-best Christmas movies, [ranked](. When you support our sponsors, you support us. Thanks for that. ❤️ Share with a friend Your Referrals: 0 Thanks for reading {NAME}. 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