Below is our world-renowned Demographer Neil Howe's latest weekly podcast. Neil discusses newsworthy market events that will prove the most timely, topical and consequential in the week ahead.

He talks through the news looming largest on his radar screen to keep your investing laser focused and confident. This free webcast compliments his in-depth research product Demography Unplugged.

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NEW PODCAST: Infrastructure, Mortality Rates, and Lula's Return? (3/17) - demoimage

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In this latest issue of my weekly podcast, we discuss Biden's infrastructure package. The plan will cost nearly $4T over ten years. The money will be divided as follows: $1.4T for straight infrastructure, $600B for clean energy, $400B for manufacturing, $300B for innovation/R&D, and $800B for the caregiver economy. To pass this bill, Senate Democrats will need to use reconciliation. If it does pass, it will be a major win for Biden. Infrastructure has broad bipartisan appeal among the general public.

Lula is eyeing a return to Brazilian politics. In a surprise ruling, a Supreme Court judge has annulled the "lava-jato" convictions against former Brazilian president Lula da Silva. If the verdict stands, Lula could once again run for president. As Brazil's iconic if aging left-wing populist, he could be a strong candidate against Bolsonaro.

Italy’s political parties are in disarray. Since PM Mario Draghi came to power with a large coalition government, Italy’s political parties have struggled to define their future. As the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party scramble, Lega is looking to fill the gap.

US mortality rate skyrockets. Covid-19 triggered a 15% estimated spike in the mortality rate for 2020, according to the CDC. This jump would mark the largest single-year increase since 1918.

Japan dodges C19 deaths. Last year, the number of deaths in Japan declined for the first time in more than a decade. The decrease appears to have been driven by a large decline in other respiratory illnesses like influenza and stands in stark contrast to the steeply rising mortality experienced by other countries during the pandemic. 

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ABOUT NEIL HOWE

Neil Howe is a renowned authority on generations and social change in America. An acclaimed bestselling author and speaker, he is the nation's leading thinker on today's generations—who they are, what motivates them, and how they will shape America's future.

A historian, economist, and demographer, Howe is also a recognized authority on global aging, long-term fiscal policy, and migration. He is a senior associate to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., where he helps direct the CSIS Global Aging Initiative.

Howe has written over a dozen books on generations, demographic change, and fiscal policy, many of them with William Strauss. Howe and Strauss' first book, Generations is a history of America told as a sequence of generational biographies. Vice President Al Gore called it "the most stimulating book on American history that I have ever read" and sent a copy to every member of Congress. Newt Gingrich called it "an intellectual tour de force." Of their book, The Fourth Turning, The Boston Globe wrote, "If Howe and Strauss are right, they will take their place among the great American prophets."

Howe and Strauss originally coined the term "Millennial Generation" in 1991, and wrote the pioneering book on this generation, Millennials Rising. His work has been featured frequently in the media, including USA Today, CNN, the New York Times, and CBS' 60 Minutes.

Previously, with Peter G. Peterson, Howe co-authored On Borrowed Time, a pioneering call for budgetary reform and The Graying of the Great Powers with Richard Jackson.

Howe received his B.A. at U.C. Berkeley and later earned graduate degrees in economics and history from Yale University.