It’s time to work from home again, to fight Putin

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a nickel market of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here.Today’s Agenda Work from home, for democracy. [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a nickel market of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [Work from home](, for democracy. - Europe is [feeling its oats](. - Housing has a [stagflation problem](. - Don’t [fear the nickel market](. Home-Front Sacrifices Almost exactly two years ago, primary production of this newsletter decamped from New York City to the New Jersey suburbs and then … just … never left. But it has been tiptoeing back now that Covid’s omicron wave is fading. Around the world, in fact, companies are urging people to come back to the office, though some [appeals]( are more appealing than others: Welcome back to the office! Your dog is sad now! Wait, where are you going? For many Americans, going to the office means a long commute in a gas-burning automobile, which is especially cruel now that gasoline costs one (1) human soul per gallon. This is because the world is buying less oil from Vladimir Putin, to punish him for the war crimes he has unleashed on the people of Ukraine. President Joe Biden today [banned]( fossil-fuel imports from Russia, and the U.K. banned its oil. Europe, which needs Russian gas a lot more, has resisted such moves. But their mere threat has prices spiking there anyway, putting more cash in Putin’s coffers. Julian Lee suggests Europe either [surrender to its gas addiction or go cold turkey](. Dithering leaves it in the worst of both worlds.  There are ways Europeans could curb energy demand, Javier Blas writes, and [they must get cracking on them]( ASAP, whether they ban Russian fuels or not. These include such obvious steps as turning down thermostats and taking the train. The International Energy Agency even wrote a whole [handbook]( for scrimping on oil many years ago. It’s worth a read; with the world apparently dividing into new cold-war camps, the [low energy prices globalization brought us]( are likely gone, Liam Denning writes. Here in the States, we’re much less vulnerable to fuel prices than we used to be, though that doesn’t stop local news crews from swarming every gas station in town whenever prices wobble. Still, it wouldn’t hurt us to use less gasoline. And what’s one quick, easy way to use less gasoline? Just let [people keep working from home](, Brooke Sutherland points out. It will save us money, curb carbon emissions, sting Vladimir Putin, help Ukraine and defend democracy. Also, your dog will be happy again. Bonus Fossil-Fuel Warfare Reading: Forget oligarchs; the [truly prime sanctions target is Rosneft](bbg://news/stories/R8F28JDWX2Q0). — Tim O’Brien A Brave New Europe One of the most shocking unintended consequences of Putin’s aggression has been the rapid spine growth it triggered in Europe. No, it’s not banning Russian fuels yet, but pretty much every other previously unthinkable response is on the table. Germany shut down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and ramped up defense spending. Poland is [sending jets]( to Ukraine, part of a European wave of weapons. Eurovision [kicked]( out Russia. All of this will come at a dear cost, of course. But Europe can use its Covid playbook and [team up to throw money at this problem](, writes Lionel Laurent. It could be another “Hamiltonian” moment for the continent, a chance to form a closer fiscal and political union.  The new crisis also means the ECB must [delay removing monetary support]( from the economy a little longer, Marcus Ashworth writes. But looser fiscal pursestrings will be [healthier for the continent and its companies](, writes Kevin Muir. After 22 years of misery, investors in European stocks might finally catch a break. Housing’s Stagflation Problem Housing has a weird relationship with inflation in this country. “Owners’ equivalent rent” — basically, what homeowners guesstimate they could get if they rented out their house — is a huge component of CPI, but it’s only [loosely]( affected by home prices. That means soaring home values don’t show up in CPI, though their effects ripple through the economy all the same. Even as mortgage rates rise, the [housing market’s current hyperinflation]( seems likely to get worse, simply because there are too many millennials out there looking for houses and not enough houses to buy, Conor Sen writes. Conor calls this “housing stagflation” — high prices and low production — the net effect of which will be even higher prices. This is great news for current homeowners, who can tap equity for fresh spending, even if rates on HELOCs are rising. But you know what that means: even more inflation in the broader economy. Fun. Telltale Charts Russia’s invasion has broken the nickel market, with a short squeeze [driving]( prices up 250% and causing the LME to halt trading for several days. Before you go fretting about how this ruins your dreams of a new all-nickel kitchen, David Fickling offers [five good reasons not to freak out](. For one thing, a big nickel supply glut is on the way. When’s a good time to buy stocks? What a silly question. When share prices are going up, investors should ride the wave. When prices are going down, they should buy the dip. Jonathan Levin has charted [just how optimistic Wall Street analysts]( are, and (spoiler alert) they make [Kimmy Schmidt]( look depressed. Further Reading Ukraine’s success raising money via crypto points to [a future of crypto war bonds](. — Trung Phan China seems willing to [embrace the dissonance of supporting Russia](. — Matthew Brooker But [China also needs stability](, so it won’t risk hurting trade with the U.S. and Europe. — Shuli Ren Russia is [way too risky for Western banks]( to do business there again. — Marc Rubinstein Global relief efforts should focus on [boosting food supplies and helping refugees]( find work. — Tyler Cowen Too many ambassadorial posts are being [filled by “acting” ambassadors](, and this is mostly Biden’s fault. — Jonathan Bernstein [Better air quality in workplaces and schools]( will fight more diseases than just Covid. — Lisa Jarvis ICYMI RIP to the [Golden Arches Theory]( of Conflict Prevention: [McDonald’s is closing in Russia]( (among [other companies](). [China advanced Russian conspiracy theories]( about the U.S. and Ukraine. The first [Jan. 6 trial ended in conviction](. Kickers [People who don’t tweet]( are the new silent majority. Half of Americans have [lost IQ points to lead exposure](. [White noise]( helps people learn. [Venting anger]( makes you feel worse. — with assistance from Michael Newman Notes:  Please send tweets and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. 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