The Economist Latin America March 13, 2021

China launched a “passport” scheme through which its citizens can register their vaccination and testing status. It is not yet mandatory. A year after quarantine measures were imposed on the whole country, Italy passed the milestone of 100,000 deaths from covid-19. In Brazil a report warned that the country’s intensive care is close to being overwhelmed. Infections hit a new daily record. America’s Centres for Disease Control said that it is now safe for fully vaccinated people to meet indoors in small groups without social distancing or masks. However, it still urges distancing and mask-wearing in public. Pupils in England returned to school after a two-month lockdown. Despite concerns over testing and mask-wearing during classes there was little disruption. → For our latest coverage of the virus please visit economist.com/ coronavirus or download the Economist…

Politics America’s House of Representatives gave the final approval to Joe Biden’s $1.9trn stimulus bill. The legislation will send direct payments of up to $1,400 to each American, extend a $300 per week top-up to unemployment benefit until September, and expand provisions for poorer households, among many other things. The OECD thinks the stimulus will turbocharge the American economy and add a percentage point to global growth. Jury selection began in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a policeman accused of murdering George Floyd by kneeling on his neck. Finding an impartial jury could prove hard. Potential jurors are being asked whether they saw the video of the incident, which went viral. A Brazilian supreme-court judge annulled two corruption convictions against a former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Although Lula,…

Politics America’s House of Representatives gave the final approval to Joe Biden’s $1.9trn stimulus bill. The legislation will send direct payments of up to $1,400 to each American, extend a $300 per week top-up to unemployment benefit until September, and expand provisions for poorer households, among many other things. The OECD thinks the stimulus will turbocharge the American economy and add a percentage point to global growth. Jury selection began in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a policeman accused of murdering George Floyd by kneeling on his neck. Finding an impartial jury could prove hard. Potential jurors are being asked whether they saw the video of the incident, which went viral. A Brazilian supreme-court judge annulled two corruption convictions against a former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Although Lula, of the left-wing…

WHEN THE pandemic struck it was natural to fear that the world economy would stay in the doldrums for years. America is defying such pessimism. Having outrun gloomy growth forecasts from last summer, it is adding fiscal rocket fuel to an already fiery economic-policy mix. President Joe Biden’s $1.9trn stimulus bill, which he was poised to sign into law after The Economist went to press, takes to nearly $3trn (14% of pre-crisis GDP ) the amount of pandemic-related spending passed since December, and to about $6trn the total paid out since the start of the crisis. On current plans the Federal Reserve and Treasury will also pour some $2.5trn into the banking system this year, and interest rates will stay near zero. For a decade after the global financial crisis of…

China launched a “passport” scheme through which its citizens can register their vaccination and testing status. It is not yet mandatory. A year after quarantine measures were imposed on the whole country, Italy passed the milestone of 100,000 deaths from covid-19. In Brazil a report warned that the country’s intensive care is close to being overwhelmed. Infections hit a new daily record. America’s Centres for Disease Control said that it is now safe for fully vaccinated people to meet indoors in small groups without social distancing or masks. However, it still urges distancing and mask-wearing in public. Pupils in England returned to school after a two-month lockdown. Despite concerns over testing and mask-wearing during classes there was little disruption. → For our latest coverage of the virus please visit economist.com/…

FOR PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN to sign a $1.9trn stimulus bill this week was an economic gamble—on inflation, the Federal Reserve and the capital markets (see previous Leader). But politically, it was a dead cert. The Democrats, though in control of Congress and the White House, can pass only rare budgetary bills, under a procedure known as reconciliation. Any other legislation could be blocked by a filibuster, which requires a bill to muster a supermajority of 60 Senate votes (see Briefing). Because covid-19 is unpredictable, the stimulus had to be big enough to deal with new variants. Because the administration might not get another chance, the plan smuggled in pet priorities. Because, under the rules, it was not subject to scrutiny in Senate committees, Republicans made no contribution. It is a…