President Joe Biden came into office one year ago with a pledge to return a sense of normality to America and counter the “exhausting outrage” that had riven the nation in recent years, particularly under his predecessor, Donald Trump.
“Without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury,” Mr Biden said in his inauguration speech. “This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.”
Twelve months after his lofty proclamation, Mr Biden has only partially fulfilled his promise to set the US on a new course.
The country is as divided as ever and Mr Biden faces multiple crises, a stalled domestic agenda and looming midterm elections that look certain to wipe out his slim congressional majority.
His term started out well enough, with many Americans breathing a collective sigh of relief at Mr Trump's departure.
The new president mandated mask-wearing in federal buildings including airports and promised to steer America through the pandemic, saying: “We will get through this together.”
He moved to restore relations with America’s most important allies after four fraught years under Mr Trump. His approach to governing has been framed as calm and measured, a marked contrast to the policy-by-tweet antics of his predecessor.
And on March 11, Mr Biden signed a historic, $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill called the American Rescue Plan, aimed at hastening the US recovery from the pandemic.
“My first take of the Biden administration is, it's not the Trump administration,” said Brian Smith, a professor of political science at St Edward’s University in Austin, Texas.
“For a lot of people, that's enough to give him a passing grade.”
He projected competence and empathy as he moved quickly to vaccinate millions of Americans.
But amid misinformation, Republican pushback against vaccine mandates and flubbed messaging from US health officials, the number of fully vaccinated Americans is stalled at about 62 per cent — much lower than Mr Biden's desired 70 per cent and lower than most other G20 countries.
His carefully cultivated image of compassion and confidence was shattered as he oversaw America's withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years, and the realities of modern America have quickly caught up with Mr Biden.
Held hostage by his own party
Mr Biden on Wednesday blamed Republicans for moving as a bloc to scupper his agenda.
"I did not anticipate that there would be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn't get anything done," he said at a press conference on the eve of his first anniversary of taking office.
But Republican opposition is a given. More importantly, Mr Biden has faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles from within his own party.
After the veteran politician, who spent 36 years in the Senate, helped pass the American Rescue Plan, his legislative luck ran out. Despite months of negotiations, Mr Biden has been unable to push his Build Back Better Bill through the Senate.
The president made major compromises on the bill which would set America’s course on climate change and social issues for years to come.
The original bill would have cost $3.5 trillion but was scaled back to $1.75tn to appease Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
But Mr Manchin, who has become a powerful figure in Washington, has said he still cannot support the bill.
Mr Biden has also been thwarted by Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.
“It’s tough,” said James Thurber, professor of political science at American University. “Two members of his party made it almost impossible to get anything done.”
The Democrats hold a narrow majority in Congress and the Senate is split evenly between the two parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding what is supposed to be the deciding swing vote.
But without support from Mr Manchin and Ms Sinema, Mr Biden's legislative agenda appears to be hopelessly adrift.
He conceded on Wednesday he will likely have break up the Build Back Better Bill if any of it is to come to fruition.
Even his attempt to pass voting reform in the Senate to counter Republican attempts to make it harder for some people to vote appears doomed for the moment.
With the midterm elections in November, Democrats may only hold their thin advantage for a few more months. Historically, the party out of power makes gains and Mr Biden's legislative failures are predicted to tamp down Democratic voter enthusiasm.
“It's going to be tough in an election year for Biden to get anything through Congress with this relentless Republican opposition and conservative Democrats like Sinema and Manchin standing in his way,” said Allan Licthman, a professor of history at American University.
Mr Lichtman has correctly predicted every presidential election since 1984, including Mr Biden’s win over Mr Trump.
He said the Biden administration needs to start “delivering much better messaging” if it wants to avoid disappointment at the ballot boxes in 2022.
Sagging approval ratings
Up until the summer, Mr Biden’s approval ratings hovered comfortably above 50 per cent. But since the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and subsequent Taliban takeover, coupled with the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant and soaring inflation, his approval numbers have sunk to the low 40s.
If inflation keeps rising, analysts believe it could spell further trouble for Mr Biden and the Democrats.
“I think that's going to be a big issue in the fall, when we look at the kind of inflation,” Mr Smith told The National.
He likened it to what happened to Jimmy Carter in 1980. Mr Carter’s mishandling of rising consumer prices helped lead to his defeat after only one term in the Oval Office.
With three years still to go, it's too soon to write Mr Biden’s political epitaph. But as things stands today, it's not looking good for him and the Democrats.
“The problem is that we continue to have now over 850,000 people dead from [Covid-19], we'll probably have a million by next summer,” Mr Thurber told The National.
“Inflation is hurting a whole lot of people in America, middle class and down. So. that's a killer for any president.”
SHAITTAN
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Bahrain%20GP
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The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
THE%20SPECS
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Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Mane 51', Salah 53'
Chelsea 0
Man of the Match: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Aston martin DBX specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Top speed: 291kph
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: Q2, 2020
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
Poland Statement
All people fleeing from Ukraine before the armed conflict are allowed to enter Poland. Our country shelters every person whose life is in danger - regardless of their nationality.
The dominant group of refugees in Poland are citizens of Ukraine, but among the people checked by the Border Guard are also citizens of the USA, Nigeria, India, Georgia and other countries.
All persons admitted to Poland are verified by the Border Guard. In relation to those who are in doubt, e.g. do not have documents, Border Guard officers apply appropriate checking procedures.
No person who has received refuge in Poland will be sent back to a country torn by war.
Profile of Foodics
Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani
Based: Riyadh
Sector: Software
Employees: 150
Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing
Funders: Raed Advanced Investment Co, Al-Riyadh Al Walid Investment Co, 500 Falcons, SWM Investment, AlShoaibah SPV, Faith Capital, Technology Investments Co, Savour Holding, Future Resources, Derayah Custody Co.
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
PSA DUBAI WORLD SERIES FINALS LINE-UP
Men’s:
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
Ali Farag (EGY)
Simon Rosner (GER)
Tarek Momen (EGY)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Nick Matthew (ENG)
Women's:
Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Raneem El Welily (EGY)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Laura Massaro (ENG)
Joelle King (NZE)
Camille Serme (FRA)
Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
