Tuesday, February 3rd Edition
Cory Ohlendorf  
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
How's your attention span? Still strong?

Today’s Big Story

Trump vs. the Dollar

 

The president’s chaotic governing style is hurting the value of the U.S. dollar

 

The dollar isn’t doing great. Like most of us, all this chaos is taking its toll. Fortune reports that President Donald Trump welcomed the dollar’s recent decline, but a former Federal Reserve president said the astronomical size of U.S. debt requires more stability for the currency.

The U.S. dollar index has plunged 10% over the last year and 1.2% this month alone. That’s after Trump shocked global markets last spring with his “Liberation Day” tariffs, while concerns about ballooning debt, central bank independence, and a schism with European allies have weighed on the greenback more recently. To the uninitiated, this might not sound like a big move, but the market for dollars is highly liquid—millions of transactions are taking place at any given time—and sudden price jumps are rare.

The calculus is not easy, says Bloomberg, since a slumping dollar is hardly straight poison for the U.S. stock market—exporters will more readily find buyers, multi-national companies will benefit from stronger overseas revenues. But it has drawbacks. American assets become less attractive, slowing the flow of funds into U.S. companies and driving money to international markets. American manufacturers have to pay more for input materials produced abroad, potentially importing inflation for end products sold at home.

And now the dollar is under pressure on multiple fronts. After a long period of U.S. financial market outperformance, many foreign investors are rebalancing their portfolios to reduce excessive exposure to the United States under the leadership of Donald Trump and to capitalize on improving prospects elsewhere. Washington’s failure to address its mounting public debt, including crisis-level annual budget deficits at a time of low unemployment, isn’t helping.

But perhaps the key to the dollar’s drop is the ripple effect of the president’s erratic policymaking, including abrupt stops and starts with tariffs and military action against a lengthening list of countries. After more than a year of nonstop upheaval emanating from the White House, many foreign investment managers are exhausted.

 

Immigration Officers to Wear Body Cameras

 

All Homeland Security officers in Minneapolis will be issued body cameras, Noem says

All Homeland Security officers on the ground in Minneapolis will be issued body cameras, Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday. “Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis,” Noem said in the latest fallout after the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents. “As funding is available, the body camera program will be expanded nationwide. We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country.”

It’s the latest apparent effort by the Trump administration to ratchet down tensions after the shootings triggered protests and widespread criticism. The shootings, and the narrative coming from some in the administration, sparked demands for accountability, including among some Republicans.

President Donald Trump said at a news conference Monday that he believes body cameras “generally tend to be good for law enforcement because people can’t lie about what’s happening.” However, the Washington Post points out that his administration proposed large cuts to ICE’s body-camera program for this fiscal year, and the White House called attempts to add a requirement to a budget bill that ICE agents wear body cameras one of “many unserious poison pill demands” from Democrats.

 
Meanwhile:
 
Measles has hit an ICE family detention center in Texas.

Our Collective Attention-Span Crisis

 

The average attention span has shrunk to roughly 40 seconds

We like to keep things brief in this newsletter. And that’s a good thing, apparently. Because our ability to pay attention is dwindling. In fact, according to research published in National Geographic, the average attention span has now shrunk to roughly 40 seconds. Because the brain cannot process everything it encounters, it operates more like a spotlight—illuminating one stream of information while leaving the rest in the background. “We only have one flashlight,” says one doctor.

This is why it’s so hard to sit down and watch an entire movie without picking up our phones. Professors are now finding that they can’t even get film students—film students—to sit through movies. What’s more, after watching movies distractedly—if they watch them at all—students unsurprisingly can’t answer basic questions about what they saw.

A recent analysis of people’s attention while working on a computer found that they now switch between tabs or apps every 47 seconds, down from once every two and a half minutes in 2004. “I can imagine that if your body and your psychology are not trained for the duration of a feature-length film, it will just feel excruciatingly long,” one researcher told The Atlantic. Hang in there!

 
FYI:
 
Matt Damon says that today's films are ‘dumbed down’ for audiences at home distracted by phones.

The Long Read

 

Why men and their daughters crave closeness but struggle to connect

Shopping

What We’re Buying

 

Boots

 

From refined loafers to rugged winter boots and cushy runners, there's never been a better time to refresh your footwear rotation. We've tracked down six pairs worth snagging right now—from Nike's classic Air Max sneakers and Ralph's suede boots that are built to last a lifetime, to some durable Chelsea boots ready for weekend wear. No matter what you choose, each one delivers timeless style at a can't-miss price.

 
Our Pick:
 
Aspra suede lace-up boot, $598 / $419.99 by Ralph Lauren

Morning Motto

Prioritize your needs.

 

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@houseofnegroni

 

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