1. COVID Risk Increasing News of Covid success in the United States and UK is masking much bigger problems. News reports estimate that 30,000 people are dying a day in India. Covid is still spreading out across the developing world and Asia (Tokyo and Melbourne on lockdown). 2. Variant Risk Increasing The risk of a super variant that current vaccines are ineffective against emerging from these hotspots is a realistic possibility and will drive down risk taking in markets. As 200 countries come together for the Olympics in Japan, a super variant could emerge from the Games, as a chief doctor has warned, begging the government to postpone the games. 3. Republicans As the Democrats have such a narrow margin of control in the Congress, the Republicans are highly incentivized to harm the economy and be generally disruptive so as to weaken support for President Biden’s policies and push voters to support the Republicans in the mid-term elections and take control of the House and the Senate. For example, just two days ago former National Security Advisor General Flynn talked up a coup, the Governor of Texas just signed a law that will limit abortions after six weeks, and Republican states across the US are limiting voting access. #macroesg @gregbeier #susarb www.macroesg.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/macro-esg/message