POSES CHALLENGE NEW PRICE SPIKE - static01.nyt.com
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U(D54G1D)y+[!$!&!$!= Consumer prices jumped more than expected last month, with rent, food and furniture costs surging as a limited supply of housing and a shortage of goods stemming from supply chain trou- bles combined to fuel rapid infla- tion. The Consumer Price Index climbed 5.4 percent in September from a year earlier, faster than its 5.3 percent increase through Au- gust and above economists’ fore- casts. Monthly price gains also ex- ceeded predictions, with the index rising 0.4 percent from August to September. The figures raise the stakes for both the Federal Reserve and the White House, which are facing a longer period of rapid inflation than they had expected and may soon come under pressure to act to ensure the price gains don’t be- come a permanent fixture. On Wednesday, President Bi- den said his administration was doing what it could to fix supply- chain problems that have contrib- uted to producing shortages, long delivery times and rapid price in- creases for food, televisions, auto- mobiles and other products. In remarks at the White House, Mr. Biden said that the Port of Los Angeles would begin operating around the clock to relieve grow- ing backlogs and that the adminis- tration was encouraging states to license truck drivers more quickly. Companies including Walmart, FedEx and UPS are also moving to work more off-peak hours, he said. “Today’s announcement has the potential to be a game-chang- er,” Mr. Biden said of the longer port hours, adding that for the positive impact to play out, pri- vate sector companies “need to NEW PRICE SPIKE POSES CHALLENGE TO WHITE HOUSE HIGHER THAN FORECASTS Lasting Inflation Feared as Furniture, Rent and Food Soar By JEANNA SMIALEK TACKLING SUPPLY CLOGS President Biden said the Port of Los Angeles would operate around the clock to relieve backlogs. Page A14. MARK ABRAMSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES RECESSION SEPT.: +5.4% 0 +2 +4 +6% THE NEW YORK TIMES Consumer Price Index Year-over-year change 2019 2020 2021 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Continued on Page A14 People who received a Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine may be better off with a booster shot from Moderna or Pfizer- BioNTech, according to prelimi- nary data from a federal clinical trial published on Wednesday. That finding, along with a mixed review by the Food and Drug Administration of the case made by Johnson & Johnson for an authorization of its booster, could lead to a heated debate about how and when to offer addi- tional shots to the 15 million Amer- icans who have received the sin- gle-dose vaccine. The agency’s panel of vaccine advisers will meet Thursday and Friday to vote on whether to rec- ommend that the agency allow Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to offer booster shots. Despite the questions raised by the new data on the strength of Johnson & Johnson’s boosters, some experts anticipated that the agency would clear the shots any- way, since the effectiveness of the one-shot vaccine is lower than that of the two-dose mRNA vac- cines made by Moderna and Pfi- zer-BioNTech. And the broader public may also be expecting the authorizations, given the Biden administration’s push for boosters from all brands. Once the agency authorized a booster from Pfizer-BioNTech last month, “the die was cast,” said John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine. The Pfizer and Moderna vac- cines are by far the most used in the United States, with more than 170 million people in the United States fully immunized with ei- ther one or the other vaccine. When Johnson & Johnson’s was authorized in February, public health experts were eager to de- ploy the “one-and-done” option, particularly in communities with poor access to health care. But the shot’s popularity plummeted when the F.D.A. later paused its use to investigate rare blood clot- ting cases. For those who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the timing of a booster authoriza- tion — of any brand — is still un- Data on J.&J. Raises Doubts About Booster Moderna or Pfizer May Be Better Extra Dose By CARL ZIMMER and NOAH WEILAND Continued on Page A13 ROZDROJOVICE, Czech Re- public — Marie Malenova, a Czech pensioner in a tidy, prosperous vil- lage in South Moravia, had not voted since 1989, the year her country held its first free elections after more than four decades of communist rule. Last Friday, however, she de- cided to cast a vote again, an event so unusual that her disbelieving family recorded her change of heart, taking photographs of her slipping her ballot into a big white box at the village hall. She said she did not much like the people she voted for, a coali- tion of previously divided center- right parties, describing them as “a smaller evil among all our many thieves.” But they at least had a simple and clear message: We can beat Andrej Babis, the Czech Republic’s populist, billion- aire prime minister. “I wanted a change,” Ms. Malenova said, “and I wanted something that could beat Babis.” For the past decade, populists like Mr. Babis have often seemed politically invincible, rising to power across Central and Eastern Europe as part of a global trend of strongman leaders disdainful of Czech Strongman’s Upset Loss Shows Populists’ Vulnerability By ANDREW HIGGINS Continued on Page A9 KATOKU, Japan — On its mountain-fringed beach, there is no hint that the Japanese village of Katoku even exists. Its handful of houses hide behind a dune cov- ered with morning glories and pandanus trees, the chitter of cica- das interrupted only by the ca- dence of waves and the call of an azure-winged jay. In July, the beach became part of a new UNESCO World Heritage Site, a preserve of verdant peaks and mangrove forests in far south- western Japan that is home to al- most a dozen endangered species. Two months later, the placid air was split by a new sound: the rumble of trucks and excavators preparing to strip away a large section of Katoku’s dune and bury inside of it a two-story-tall con- crete wall meant to curb erosion. The sea wall project demon- strates how not even the most pre- cious ecological treasures can sur- vive Japan’s construction obses- sion, which has long been its an- swer to the threat of natural disaster — and a vital source of economic stimulus and political capital, especially in rural areas. But the plan to erect the con- crete berm on the pristine beach, a vanishingly rare commodity in Ja- pan, is not just about money or votes. It has torn the village apart as residents fight deeper forces remaking rural Japan: climate change, aging populations and the hollowing-out of small towns. The project’s supporters — a majority of its 20 residents — say the village’s survival is at stake, as it has been lashed by fiercer storms in recent years. Oppo- nents — a collection of surfers, or- ganic farmers, musicians and en- vironmentalists, many from off the island — argue a sea wall would destroy the beach and its This Is One of Japan’s Last Pristine Beaches. Concrete Is Coming. By BEN DOOLEY and HISAKO UENO The village of Katoku, which faces increasingly damaging storms, is torn over a sea wall project. NORIKO HAYASHI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Continued on Page A8 As the oil and gas industry faces upheaval amid global price gyra- tions and catastrophic climate change, private equity firms — a class of investors with a hyper fo- cus on maximizing profits — have stepped into the fray. Since 2010, the private equity industry has invested at least $1.1 trillion into the energy sector — double the combined market val- ue of three of the world’s largest energy companies, Exxon, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell — according to new research. The overwhelming majority of those investments was in fossil fuels, ac- cording to data from Pitchbook, a company that tracks investment, and a new analysis by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a non- profit that pushes for more disclo- sure about private equity deals. Only about 12 percent of invest- ment in the energy sector by pri- vate equity firms went into renew- able power, like solar or wind, since 2010, though those invest- ments have grown at a faster rate, according to Pitchbook data. Private equity investors are taking advantage of an oil indus- try facing heat from environmen- tal groups, courts, and even their own shareholders to start shifting away from fossil fuels, the major force behind climate change. As a result, many oil companies have Private Equity Chases Profits In Fossil Fuels By HIROKO TABUCHI Continued on Page A18 TUSKEGEE, Ala. — By the time vaccines for the coronavirus were introduced late last year, the pan- demic had taken two of Lucenia Williams Dunn’s close friends. Still, Ms. Dunn, the former mayor of Tuskegee, contemplated for months whether to be inoculated. It was a complicated considera- tion, framed by the government’s botched response to the pan- demic, its disproportionate toll on Black communities and an infa- mous 40-year government experi- ment for which her hometown is often associated. “I thought about the vaccine most every day,” said Ms. Dunn, 78, who finally walked into a phar- macy this summer and rolled up her sleeve for a shot, convinced af- ter weighing with her family and doctor the possible consequences of remaining unvaccinated. “What people need to under- stand is some of the hesitancy is rooted in a horrible history, and for some, it’s truly a process of asking the right questions to get to a place of getting the vaccine.” In the first months after the vac- cine rollout, Black Americans were far less likely than white Americans to be vaccinated. In addition to the difficulty of obtain- ing shots in their communities, their hesitancy was fueled by a powerful combination of general mistrust of the government and medical institutions, and misin- formation over the safety and effi- cacy of the vaccines. But a wave of pro-vaccine cam- paigns and a surge of virus hospi- talizations and deaths this sum- mer, mostly among the unvacci- nated and caused by the highly contagious Delta variant, have narrowed the gap, experts say. So, too, have the Food and Drug Ad- ministration’s full approval of a vaccine and new employer man- dates. A steadfast resistance to vaccines in some white communi- ties may also have contributed to the lessening disparity. While gaps persist in some re- gions, by late September, accord- ing to the most recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a roughly equal share of Black, white and Hispanic adult popula- tions — 70 percent of Black adults, 71 percent of white adults and 73 percent of Hispanic adults — had received at least one vaccine dose. A Pew study in late August re- vealed similar patterns. Federal data shows a larger racial gap, but that data is missing demographic information for many vaccine re- cipients. Since May, when vaccines were widely available to a majority of adults across the country, monthly surveys by Kaiser have shown steady improvement in vaccination rates among Black Americans. How the racial gap was nar- rowed — after months of disap- pointing turnout and limited ac- cess — is a testament to decisions Many Black Americans Are Embracing Vaccines By AUDRA D. S. BURCH and AMY SCHOENFELD WALKER Setting Aside Mistrust in Tuskegee, Home of an Infamous Study Continued on Page A12 After years of all things simple being the height of fashion, there is a pleasure to be found in the eccentricities of indi- vidualistic, pre-owned items. PAGE D4 THURSDAY STYLES D1-6 The Joys of Broken-In Clothes Nathalie Stutzmann will become only the second woman in history to lead a top-tier American orchestra. PAGE C3 ARTS C1-8 A Breakthrough in Atlanta Cable cars and murals brighten the mood of a Mexico City neighborhood afflicted by poverty and crime. PAGE A6 INTERNATIONAL A4-10 Lifting Spirits and Commuters The Dodgers and the Giants have been in a dead heat all season, and it comes down to a winner-take-all Game 5. PAGE B8 SPORTS B7-10 ‘This Is What Baseball Wants’ Businesses near the border were cele- brating the news that fully vaccinated Canadians would soon be allowed into the United States again. PAGE A13 NATIONAL A11-19 Happiness at Northern Border Beijing is encouraging the mining and burning of more coal amid a worsening electricity shortage that threatens to damage China’s image as a reliable global manufacturing base. PAGE B1 BUSINESS B1-6 High Stakes in Power Crisis Larry Fink PAGE A21 OPINION A20-21 After coasting higher over the summer, markets are jittery that rising prices and growth snarls could lead to 1970s- style stagnant economic growth and high inflation. PAGE B1 The Shadow of ‘Stagflation’ In a new Hulu series, Michael Keaton stars as a doctor who sees OxyContin ravage his Appalachian town. PAGE C1 A View Inside the Opioid Crisis The government announced a plan to place offshore turbines along nearly the entire U.S. coastline. PAGE A18 Bold Plan for Wind Farms A lack of truck drivers has resulted in shortages of food and gasoline, and an effort to train more of them. PAGE A4 Britain Needs Truckers BENEFITS LEAP Social Security payments will rise 5.9 percent, the biggest jump in 40 years. PAGE B1 Late Edition VOL. CLXXI .... No. 59,211 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021 Today, partly to mostly sunny, un- seasonably warm, high 77. Tonight, partly cloudy, mild, low 64. Tomor- row, clouds and sunshine, warm, high 77. Weather map, Page A16. $3.00
Transcript of POSES CHALLENGE NEW PRICE SPIKE - static01.nyt.com
C M Y K Nxxx,2021-10-14,A,001,Bs-4C,E1
U(D54G1D)y+[!$!&!$!=
Consumer prices jumped morethan expected last month, withrent, food and furniture costssurging as a limited supply ofhousing and a shortage of goodsstemming from supply chain trou-bles combined to fuel rapid infla-tion.
The Consumer Price Indexclimbed 5.4 percent in Septemberfrom a year earlier, faster than its5.3 percent increase through Au-gust and above economists’ fore-casts. Monthly price gains also ex-ceeded predictions, with the indexrising 0.4 percent from August toSeptember.
The figures raise the stakes forboth the Federal Reserve and theWhite House, which are facing alonger period of rapid inflationthan they had expected and maysoon come under pressure to actto ensure the price gains don’t be-come a permanent fixture.
On Wednesday, President Bi-den said his administration wasdoing what it could to fix supply-
chain problems that have contrib-uted to producing shortages, longdelivery times and rapid price in-creases for food, televisions, auto-mobiles and other products.
In remarks at the White House,Mr. Biden said that the Port of LosAngeles would begin operatingaround the clock to relieve grow-ing backlogs and that the adminis-tration was encouraging states tolicense truck drivers morequickly. Companies includingWalmart, FedEx and UPS are alsomoving to work more off-peakhours, he said.
“Today’s announcement hasthe potential to be a game-chang-er,” Mr. Biden said of the longerport hours, adding that for thepositive impact to play out, pri-vate sector companies “need to
NEW PRICE SPIKEPOSES CHALLENGE
TO WHITE HOUSE
HIGHER THAN FORECASTS
Lasting Inflation Fearedas Furniture, Rent
and Food Soar
By JEANNA SMIALEK
TACKLING SUPPLY CLOGS President Biden said the Port of Los Angeles would operate around the clock to relieve backlogs. Page A14.MARK ABRAMSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
RECESSION
SEPT.: +5.4%
0
+2
+4
+6%
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Consumer Price IndexYear-over-year change
2019 2020 2021
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Continued on Page A14
People who received a Johnson& Johnson coronavirus vaccinemay be better off with a boostershot from Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech, according to prelimi-nary data from a federal clinicaltrial published on Wednesday.
That finding, along with amixed review by the Food andDrug Administration of the casemade by Johnson & Johnson foran authorization of its booster,could lead to a heated debateabout how and when to offer addi-tional shots to the 15 million Amer-icans who have received the sin-gle-dose vaccine.
The agency’s panel of vaccineadvisers will meet Thursday andFriday to vote on whether to rec-ommend that the agency allowModerna and Johnson & Johnsonto offer booster shots.
Despite the questions raised bythe new data on the strength ofJohnson & Johnson’s boosters,some experts anticipated that theagency would clear the shots any-way, since the effectiveness of theone-shot vaccine is lower thanthat of the two-dose mRNA vac-cines made by Moderna and Pfi-zer-BioNTech. And the broaderpublic may also be expecting theauthorizations, given the Bidenadministration’s push for boostersfrom all brands.
Once the agency authorized abooster from Pfizer-BioNTechlast month, “the die was cast,” saidJohn Moore, a virologist at WeillCornell Medicine.
The Pfizer and Moderna vac-cines are by far the most used inthe United States, with more than170 million people in the UnitedStates fully immunized with ei-ther one or the other vaccine.
When Johnson & Johnson’s wasauthorized in February, publichealth experts were eager to de-ploy the “one-and-done” option,particularly in communities withpoor access to health care. But theshot’s popularity plummetedwhen the F.D.A. later paused itsuse to investigate rare blood clot-ting cases.
For those who have receivedthe Johnson & Johnson vaccine,the timing of a booster authoriza-tion — of any brand — is still un-
Data on J.&J.Raises DoubtsAbout Booster
Moderna or Pfizer MayBe Better Extra Dose
By CARL ZIMMER and NOAH WEILAND
Continued on Page A13
ROZDROJOVICE, Czech Re-public — Marie Malenova, a Czechpensioner in a tidy, prosperous vil-lage in South Moravia, had notvoted since 1989, the year hercountry held its first free electionsafter more than four decades ofcommunist rule.
Last Friday, however, she de-cided to cast a vote again, an eventso unusual that her disbelievingfamily recorded her change ofheart, taking photographs of herslipping her ballot into a big whitebox at the village hall.
She said she did not much likethe people she voted for, a coali-tion of previously divided center-
right parties, describing them as“a smaller evil among all ourmany thieves.” But they at leasthad a simple and clear message:We can beat Andrej Babis, theCzech Republic’s populist, billion-aire prime minister.
“I wanted a change,” Ms.Malenova said, “and I wantedsomething that could beat Babis.”
For the past decade, populistslike Mr. Babis have often seemedpolitically invincible, rising topower across Central and EasternEurope as part of a global trend ofstrongman leaders disdainful of
Czech Strongman’s Upset Loss Shows Populists’ Vulnerability
By ANDREW HIGGINS
Continued on Page A9
KATOKU, Japan — On itsmountain-fringed beach, there isno hint that the Japanese villageof Katoku even exists. Its handfulof houses hide behind a dune cov-ered with morning glories andpandanus trees, the chitter of cica-das interrupted only by the ca-dence of waves and the call of anazure-winged jay.
In July, the beach became partof a new UNESCO World HeritageSite, a preserve of verdant peaksand mangrove forests in far south-western Japan that is home to al-most a dozen endangered species.
Two months later, the placid airwas split by a new sound: therumble of trucks and excavatorspreparing to strip away a largesection of Katoku’s dune and buryinside of it a two-story-tall con-crete wall meant to curb erosion.
The sea wall project demon-strates how not even the most pre-cious ecological treasures can sur-vive Japan’s construction obses-sion, which has long been its an-swer to the threat of naturaldisaster — and a vital source ofeconomic stimulus and politicalcapital, especially in rural areas.
But the plan to erect the con-crete berm on the pristine beach, a
vanishingly rare commodity in Ja-pan, is not just about money orvotes. It has torn the village apartas residents fight deeper forcesremaking rural Japan: climatechange, aging populations and the
hollowing-out of small towns.The project’s supporters — a
majority of its 20 residents — saythe village’s survival is at stake, asit has been lashed by fiercerstorms in recent years. Oppo-
nents — a collection of surfers, or-ganic farmers, musicians and en-vironmentalists, many from offthe island — argue a sea wallwould destroy the beach and its
This Is One of Japan’s Last Pristine Beaches. Concrete Is Coming.By BEN DOOLEY
and HISAKO UENO
The village of Katoku, which faces increasingly damaging storms, is torn over a sea wall project.NORIKO HAYASHI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page A8
As the oil and gas industry facesupheaval amid global price gyra-tions and catastrophic climatechange, private equity firms — aclass of investors with a hyper fo-cus on maximizing profits — havestepped into the fray.
Since 2010, the private equityindustry has invested at least $1.1trillion into the energy sector —double the combined market val-ue of three of the world’s largestenergy companies, Exxon,Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell —according to new research. Theoverwhelming majority of thoseinvestments was in fossil fuels, ac-cording to data from Pitchbook, acompany that tracks investment,and a new analysis by the PrivateEquity Stakeholder Project, a non-profit that pushes for more disclo-sure about private equity deals.
Only about 12 percent of invest-ment in the energy sector by pri-vate equity firms went into renew-able power, like solar or wind,since 2010, though those invest-ments have grown at a faster rate,according to Pitchbook data.
Private equity investors aretaking advantage of an oil indus-try facing heat from environmen-tal groups, courts, and even theirown shareholders to start shiftingaway from fossil fuels, the majorforce behind climate change. As aresult, many oil companies have
Private EquityChases ProfitsIn Fossil Fuels
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Continued on Page A18
TUSKEGEE, Ala. — By the timevaccines for the coronavirus wereintroduced late last year, the pan-demic had taken two of LuceniaWilliams Dunn’s close friends.Still, Ms. Dunn, the former mayorof Tuskegee, contemplated formonths whether to be inoculated.
It was a complicated considera-tion, framed by the government’sbotched response to the pan-demic, its disproportionate toll onBlack communities and an infa-mous 40-year government experi-ment for which her hometown isoften associated.
“I thought about the vaccinemost every day,” said Ms. Dunn,78, who finally walked into a phar-macy this summer and rolled upher sleeve for a shot, convinced af-ter weighing with her family anddoctor the possible consequencesof remaining unvaccinated.
“What people need to under-stand is some of the hesitancy isrooted in a horrible history, andfor some, it’s truly a process ofasking the right questions to get to
a place of getting the vaccine.”In the first months after the vac-
cine rollout, Black Americanswere far less likely than whiteAmericans to be vaccinated. Inaddition to the difficulty of obtain-ing shots in their communities,their hesitancy was fueled by apowerful combination of generalmistrust of the government andmedical institutions, and misin-formation over the safety and effi-cacy of the vaccines.
But a wave of pro-vaccine cam-paigns and a surge of virus hospi-talizations and deaths this sum-mer, mostly among the unvacci-nated and caused by the highlycontagious Delta variant, havenarrowed the gap, experts say. So,too, have the Food and Drug Ad-ministration’s full approval of avaccine and new employer man-
dates. A steadfast resistance tovaccines in some white communi-ties may also have contributed tothe lessening disparity.
While gaps persist in some re-gions, by late September, accord-ing to the most recent survey bythe Kaiser Family Foundation, aroughly equal share of Black,white and Hispanic adult popula-tions — 70 percent of Black adults,71 percent of white adults and 73percent of Hispanic adults — hadreceived at least one vaccine dose.A Pew study in late August re-vealed similar patterns. Federaldata shows a larger racial gap, butthat data is missing demographicinformation for many vaccine re-cipients.
Since May, when vaccines werewidely available to a majority ofadults across the country,monthly surveys by Kaiser haveshown steady improvement invaccination rates among BlackAmericans.
How the racial gap was nar-rowed — after months of disap-pointing turnout and limited ac-cess — is a testament to decisions
Many Black Americans Are Embracing VaccinesBy AUDRA D. S. BURCH
and AMY SCHOENFELD WALKERSetting Aside Mistrust
in Tuskegee, Home ofan Infamous Study
Continued on Page A12
After years of all things simple beingthe height of fashion, there is a pleasureto be found in the eccentricities of indi-vidualistic, pre-owned items. PAGE D4
THURSDAY STYLES D1-6
The Joys of Broken-In ClothesNathalie Stutzmann will become onlythe second woman in history to lead atop-tier American orchestra. PAGE C3
ARTS C1-8
A Breakthrough in AtlantaCable cars and murals brighten themood of a Mexico City neighborhoodafflicted by poverty and crime. PAGE A6
INTERNATIONAL A4-10
Lifting Spirits and Commuters
The Dodgers and the Giants have been ina dead heat all season, and it comes downto a winner-take-all Game 5. PAGE B8
SPORTS B7-10
‘This Is What Baseball Wants’
Businesses near the border were cele-brating the news that fully vaccinatedCanadians would soon be allowed intothe United States again. PAGE A13
NATIONAL A11-19
Happiness at Northern BorderBeijing is encouraging the mining andburning of more coal amid a worseningelectricity shortage that threatens todamage China’s image as a reliableglobal manufacturing base. PAGE B1
BUSINESS B1-6
High Stakes in Power Crisis
Larry Fink PAGE A21
OPINION A20-21
After coasting higher over the summer,markets are jittery that rising pricesand growth snarls could lead to 1970s-style stagnant economic growth andhigh inflation. PAGE B1
The Shadow of ‘Stagflation’
In a new Hulu series, Michael Keatonstars as a doctor who sees OxyContinravage his Appalachian town. PAGE C1
A View Inside the Opioid Crisis
The government announced a plan toplace offshore turbines along nearly theentire U.S. coastline. PAGE A18
Bold Plan for Wind Farms
A lack of truck drivers has resulted inshortages of food and gasoline, and aneffort to train more of them. PAGE A4
Britain Needs Truckers
BENEFITS LEAP Social Securitypayments will rise 5.9 percent, thebiggest jump in 40 years. PAGE B1
Late Edition
VOL. CLXXI . . . . No. 59,211 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021
Today, partly to mostly sunny, un-seasonably warm, high 77. Tonight,partly cloudy, mild, low 64. Tomor-row, clouds and sunshine, warm,high 77. Weather map, Page A16.
$3.00
