Questions remain over fate of empty office buildings - December 10, 2021

U.S. consumer prices jumped 6.8% in November when compared with last year as the cost of food, energy and other items reached the highest annual inflation rate since 1982. Analysts predict that supply shortages will likely to continue into next year, pushing inflation even higher. Economist group touts Build Back Better as inflation offset - Axios The Fed’s inflation challenge: Getting the policy and the messaging right - The Washington Post @JoeNBC: “This is not a question of demand at pre-covid levels and supply taking a while to reach back up to that pre-covid capacity.” Rather, he said, the economy is experiencing “sustained higher demand. This is not really a bottleneck story anymore.” General Electric, Union Pacific and other large employers have suspended their vaccination requirements after a federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Biden administration’s plan to mandate vaccines for federal contractors. Amtrak told lawmakers on Thursday that if the remaining 5% of its unvaccinated employees do not get shots by the mandate’s Jan. 4 deadline, it will need to cut services and implement slowdowns beginning this winter. Trump-appointed judges question role of vaccines in fight against Covid as they block mandates - CNN 66% of employees want better office cleaning practices - CNBC 'The days you were considered fully vaccinated with two shots are going to be a thing of the past' - Barron’s New indicators are emerging that while the omicron variant is poised to overtake delta in the U.S., the public is growing more accustomed to living with some risk of infection. Public transit ridership in the Northeast has rebounded strongly, and air travel spiked just before Thanksgiving. Omicron’s short-lived effect on the markets had some market analysts calling it “omi-whatever.” Opinion | We’ve Living Through the ‘Boring Apocalypse’ - The New York Times Endless pandemic? Asia’s Omicron retreat shows COVID is political - Al Jazeera @umairh: "Americans are acting, by and large, like Covid’s over. It isn’t. If anyth