22-year-old Amanda Gorman was the breakout star of inauguration day, reading her poem The Hill We Climb. 

Amazon is buying 2,500 electric trucks from this Montreal company that is about to go public. You should know its name before they're cool.

Apparently it's EV week. Mercedes has unveiled their electric truck to compete with Tesla...and Rivian and Cruise...etc. 

Canadian company Wattpad, which just sold for $600M to a South Korean firm, helped an American college student writing fan fiction online get a Netflix show.

In Da Club: Invites to the semi-exclusive hot new platform Clubhouse are apparently selling for over $250 a pop. One clever hacker made $3,000 sharing invites with everyone who wanted one.

Name Shame: After 30 years a Nova Scotia man's custom license plate bearing his name was revoked. He's spent the last four years in court trying to get it back. 

As of 12pm EST yesterday, Joe Biden is President of the United States, and the most interesting presidency of our lifetimes comes to an end.

Highlights from an unusual inauguration:

A Historic Number Two

The swearing in of Kamala Harris as VP marked a number of firsts. She is the first woman and first person of colour to be the Vice President of the United States.

Not Biden His Time

The New President’s Wednesday afternoon was likely more productive than yours. Biden signed several executive orders focused on the Coronavirus, reversing some of Trump’s immigration policies and killing the Keystone XL pipeline.

Four Year Outlook: As Biden settles into the White House he’s inheriting a mismanaged global pandemic and fractured civil society. Expect a return to politics as usual in Washington (interpret that as you will) and a growth in consumer confidence as the vaccine rollout ramps up.

The Bank of Canada’s Governor Tiff Macklem isn’t flinching in the face of rising COVID cases and economic skittishness, choosing to hold interest rates at 0.25%. We got your back T-MACK.

Why Change Interest Rates?

The BoC's interest rate informs the rates used by banks to to loan money and the interest they issue your deposits. Therefore higher interests rates encourage more savings and less borrowing, lower interest rates the opposite.

Darkest Before Dawn: T-MACK forecasted Canada’s economy getting worse before the vaccine brightens our day and bank accounts.

T-MACK’s Toolbox: Macklem is also keeping the Bank’s bond buying program steady at $4 billion a week, a tool known as quantitative easing. When the BoC buys bonds on the market, they’re injecting cash and lowering interest rates to further stimulate the economy.

Now for something completely different: What if interest rates and quantitative easing weren’t the most important economic tools the government has? What if governments could print money and spend their way to economic prosperity? That's what Modern Monetary Theory proposes.

It’s not just Little Wayne and Kodak Black who are feeling a little lighter today, a former Google engineer also received a Presidential pardon and Jack Ma has reemerged.

Jack is Back

The Chairman of Alibaba and China’s richest man, Jack Ma, has briefly re-appeared (virtually) in public for the first time since October when he criticized Chinese regulators.

The Backstory: After Ma’s comments he vanished as the Chinese government tightened the screws on his businesses.

The Appearance: Ma’s foray back into the public was short. He spoke with rural teachers as part of a charity event for about a minute from an undisclosed location.

The Reaction: The brief appearance got a strong reaction with Hong Kong listed Alibaba shares jumping 6%.

Self-Drive Myself Right Outta Here

Anthony Levandowski was a big shot Silicon Valley engineer who helped develop Google’s self-driving car technology, before starting his own autonomous vehicle company which he sold to Uber.

The Problem: Google sued Uber and Levandowski personally for theft of trade secrets. The Justice Department opened an investigation which led to him pleading guilty and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The Solution: Trump pardoned the engineer on his way out the door, thanks to lobbying from Valley big wig and Trump backer, Peter Thiel.

This is awkward. The same week that Canada’s Pfizer vaccine delivery is being skipped, the pharma giant is submitting a list of friendly suggestions to Canada’s Finance Committee as part of a pre-budget consultation.

What Pfizer is asking for:

Pfizer’s submission is among 800 others to be reviewed by the committee.

A Veiled Threat?

That's how a rep from watchdog Canadians for Tax Fairness characterizes the timing of the requests which he calls “pretty aggressive” and “disturbing.”

Pfizer’s Position: The vax maker hadn’t submitted to Canada’s budget consultations in several years until now. Pfizer say they felt their submission would be relevant this time around. The company also says that their budget concerns have not been brought up while discussing vaccine supply.

What To Do?

I’d do anything to speed up the vaccines, but the timing feels a little off, doesn't it?