This week, we have some news coming out of the Senate confirmation hearings for Treasury secretary nominee Janet Yellen. Then, will the Tokyo Olympics happen in 2021, given the ongoing pandemic?

First, President Biden’s treasury secretary nominee Janet Yellen urged Congress to focus on pandemic relief in her confirmation hearing on Tuesday. While senators in the hearing warned her against raising taxes, she insisted lawmakers should “act big” to shorten the recession as quickly as possible. Yellen, who will likely receive a confirmation by the time of this email, faced opposition to much of the Biden administration’s economic agenda.

Yellen made several comments on global issues. She characterized China as America’s “most important strategic competitor.” She assured the Senate that the Biden administration will use various tools to address its “abusive, illegal, and unfair practices.” She called Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang “tremendous human rights abuses.”

She also said that cryptocurrency needs more regulation and said the Biden administration would “oppose any currency manipulation aimed at trade advantage.”

In other global news, it seems the Tokyo Olympics are unlikely to happen in 2021. Tokyo is in a state of emergency after a surge of COVID-19 cases. The event is scheduled to take place six months from now, and organizers will probably wait until much closer to the event to make a final decision, should the vaccine rollout accelerate dramatically. A recent survey shows that 80% of Japanese citizens want a cancellation or postponement in light of the ongoing pandemic.

Just in case there’s no Olympics and you still want to get into the spirit, the Olympic committee website has galleries by game and sport going back to 1996. You can also check out this highlight reel from the 2016 Rio Games.

As always, we hope you are finding ways to enjoy the sunshine and stay healthy. We’re always here if you need us.

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