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Striking actors and studios fight over control of performers' digital replicas 2023-07-14 - Hollywood on strike: What the unions are asking for The 65,000 Hollywood actors now on strike in the U.S. have much in common with the 11,000 script writers who remain off the job because of a labor dispute with the motion picture studios. Among those shared grievances: concerns that studio executives want to replace them with artificial intelligence. For the many background actors whose names and faces aren't instantly recognizable, the advent of ever more powerful types of AI threatens their ability to make ends meet in what is already a highly stratified industry, according to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which is representing the actors. That has put the issue of how studios want to use AI in TV and movies at the center of the fight, along with the impact of streaming services on performers' pay. "Actors now face an existential threat to their livelihoods from the use of AI and generative technology," Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union's national executive director, said Thursday in a news conference in Los Angeles declaring the strike action. "They proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day's pay, and the company should be able to own that scan, that likeness, for the rest of eternity, on any project they want, with no consent and no compensation." "The computer can do it cheaper" Film productions have long used computer-generated imagery and other technologies to create scenes that require thousands of extras. They can also use digital scans of lead actors to insert them in scenes they weren't present in after a production wraps. Indeed, creating digital scans of movie actors is now as routine a part of the filmmaking process as doing actors' hair and makeup. "If there's a stunt that's too dangerous to put them into, I can put them into it, or maybe I can add them to a shot they're not in," Hollywood director Doug Liman, known for The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Edge of Tomorrow, among other titles, told CBS MoneyWatch. Before this kind of advanced technology became widely available and affordable, it was less costly for productions to pay background actors a nominal day rate, versus using a computer to generate an extra. But that has changed as technology has steadily advanced. "The main thing is the economics have shifted," Liman said. "It used to be so expensive to create a computer-generated character that that was automatically a limiter and a job protector. But now the computer can do it cheaper and, in some cases, better than a human can." But the rapid advance of AI, along with the emergence of technologies such as "deep fake" tools, is heightening actors' concerns that studios could soon push to realistically simulate performers. Owning actors' digital likeness could undermine both their pay and ability to control their careers and exposure, including the type of production their replicas appear in. Although Hollywood A-listers are handsomely compensated, life for most actors is financially precarious. Half of SAG-AFTRA's members make less than $26,000 a year from acting jobs and barely qualify for guild-sponsored health insurance, actor Mehdi Barakchian told CBS News this week. (Some CBS News staff are SAG-AFTRA members. But they work under a different contract than the actors and are not affected by the strike.) Among other things, SAG-AFTRA wants to institute restrictions in how the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade group representing the studios in the labor talks, can use AI to do work once exclusively reserved for human actors. An AMPTP spokesperson denied claims that producers want to use digital replicas of background actors "in perpetuity with no consent or compensation," as SAG-AFTRA claims the group has proposed. "In fact, the current AMPTP proposal only permits a company to use the digital replica of a background actor in the motion picture for which the background actor is employed. Any other use requires the background actor's consent and bargaining for the use, subject to a minimum payment," the spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch. Visual effects supervisor Mark Russell explained that some productions will create a digital scan of an actor, but only use it once in a particular scene or for a specific film. "It's one day of work and in my experience it's all been within the scene you capture them for," Russell told CBS MoneyWatch. By contrast, SAG-AFTRA members want control over how studios use their digital likeness in other projects, including productions a background actor might object to. This could become an issue if a bit actor becomes a recognizable star later in their career and a studio owns their likeness, captured from an earlier movie. "They could conceivably use it to their advantage," Russell said. "Given where the technology has been going, I think it's a legitimate concern to know where your likeness is allowed to be used. In my opinion, only the individual should have control over that." Character actor Carrie Gibson is passionate about about protecting her own and other actors' "right to do what we're meant to do," she told CBS News. "The threat right now, is that purpose could be taken away from us through AI."
AAA pulls back from offering insurance in Florida, following Farmers 2023-07-14 - Fewer options for property insurance in Florida Fewer options for property insurance in Florida 02:30 AAA will not renew the auto and home insurance policies for some customers in Florida, joining a growing list of insurers exiting the Sunshine State amid a growing risk of natural disasters. "Unfortunately, Florida's insurance market has become challenging in recent years," the company said in a statement emailed to CBS MoneyWatch. "Last year's catastrophic hurricane season contributed to an unprecedented rise in reinsurance rates, making it more costly for insurance companies to operate." AAA declined to say how many customers won't have their policies renewed, saying only that the change will affect "a small percentage" of policy holders. The company is the fourth insurer over the last year say it is backing away from insuring Floridians, a sign extreme weather linked to climate change is destabilizing the insurance market. On Tuesday, Farmers Insurance said it will no longer offer coverage in the state, affecting roughly 100,000 customers. Farmers said the move will affect only company-branded policies, which make up about 30% of its policies sold in the state. Bankers Insurance and Lexington Insurance, a subsidiary of AIG, left Florida last year, saying recent natural disasters have made it too expensive to insure residents. Hurricanes Ian and Nicole devastated Florida in 2022, causing billions of dollars in damage and killing a total about about 150 people. Under Florida law, companies are required to give three months' notice to the Office of Insurance Regulation before they tell customers their policies won't be renewed. Soaring homeowner costs Already, homeowners in the state pay about three times as much for insurance coverage as the national average, and rates this year are expected to soar about 40%. Insurance companies are leaving Florida even as lawmakers in December passed legislation aimed at stabilizing the market. Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law that, among other things, creates a $1 billion reinsurance fund and puts disincentives in place to prevent frivolous lawsuits. The law takes effect in October. AAA said it's encouraged by the new measure, but noted "those improvements will take some time to fully materialize and until they do, AAA, like all other providers in the state, are forced to make tough decisions to manage risk and catastrophe exposure." Insurers are staging a similar exodus in California, where AIG, Allstate and State Farm have stopped taking on new customers, saying that wildfires are driving up the costs of underwriting policies.
Biden admin to forgive $39 billion in student loan debt for 800,000 borrowers. Here's what to know. 2023-07-14 - Options for student loan repayments Options for student loan repayments 02:19 More than 800,000 borrowers with $39 billion in federal student loans will get their debt forgiven, the Biden administration said on Friday. The Department of Education said it will begin notifying borrowers today about the automatic discharge of their debt, which will occur in the next few weeks. The debt relief comes two weeks after the Supreme Court invalidated the Biden administration's plan for broad-based student loan forgiveness, which would have helped more than 40 million borrowers each erase up to $20,000 in debt. The plan announced on Friday is related to a separate effort by the Biden administration to improve income-driven repayment plans (IDRs), which are designed to reduce student loan monthly payments by pegging a person's payment amount to their income. Who is getting loan forgiveness? The Biden administration said 804,000 people will learn that their debt has been discharged. These are people who were enrolled in IDRs and who have accumulated the equivalent of either 20 or 25 years of qualifying monthly payments, the administration said. Why are they getting loan forgiveness now? The administration said it is discharging the loans now because it wants to fix "historical failures" in how IDRs were managed. Some "qualifying payments made under IDR plans that should have moved borrowers closer to forgiveness were not accounted for," the administration said in a statement. "For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress towards forgiveness," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in the statement. What happened with income-driven repayment plans? The Higher Education Act and Education Department regulations state that a borrower is eligible for forgiveness after making either 240 or 300 monthly payment in an IDR plan or the standard repayment plan. The different number of months depends on when a borrower first took out the loans, what type of loans they had and the IDR plan in which they were enrolled. But "inaccurate payment counts" meant that some borrowers weren't progressing toward loan forgiveness, the administration noted. What types of loans are covered? Borrowers with Direct Loans, Federal Family Education Loans held by the Education Department, as well as Parent PLUS loans, are covered. How is the length of time calculated? The Education Department said it is calculating the forgiveness threshold for people who received credit toward IDR forgiveness for any of the following periods:
Federal Trade Commission's request to pause Microsoft's $69 billion takeover of Activision during appeal denied by judge 2023-07-14 - A federal judge in Northern California has denied a request from the Federal Trade Commission to pause Microsoft's $69 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard while the FTC appeals the acquisition. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled Tuesday that Microsoft's pending takeover of the video game giant can move forward, against the FTC's wishes. In court filings Wednesday, the FTC said it was appealing Corley's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. However, in an order issued Thursday, Corley denied the FTC's motion to put Microsoft's purchase of Activision, maker of the popular "Call of Duty" game series, on hold while that appeal moves forward. Microsoft and Activision had previously indicated that a deadline of July 18 had been set to complete the acquisition. The two companies first announced the deal back in January 2022. The FTC, which is responsible for enforcing antitrust laws, said in December it was suing to block the sale, saying at the time that such a deal would "enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business." In her ruling Tuesday, Corley wrote that "the FTC has not raised serious questions regarding whether the proposed merger is likely to substantially lessen competition in the console, library subscription services, or cloud gaming markets." The trial in the FTC's lawsuit, which is slated to take place in the FTC's own in-house court, is scheduled to start in August, according to The Associated Press. The FTC's request to Corley for an injunction was an effort to block the merger before that trial starts. If the deal goes through, it would be the largest acquisition of a video game company in U.S. history. — Irina Ivanova contributed to this report.
Renting a home may be more financially prudent than buying one, experts say 2023-07-14 - For some, renting a home may be more fiscally prudent than buying one Renting may be more fiscally prudent than buying Renting may be more fiscally prudent than buying San Jose, California — Matthew Richmond makes a good living running a successful pest control company in Northern California's Silicon Valley. "I'm living the American dream," the 32-year-old told CBS News. Richmond can afford to pursue his passion for adventure. If he wants to buy a motorcycle or dirt bike, "I can go write the check and buy it," he said. However, what he has not purchased is a home, even though he says he could afford one. "Somehow, we've been led to believe that you have to own a home in order to be living the American dream," said Ramit Sethi, host of the Netflix series "How to Get Rich." "And that's just not true. For a lot of people, renting can actually be a better financial decision." A study released last month from Realtor.com found that U.S. median rental prices dropped in May for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A May study from Redfin also found buying a home is cheaper than renting in only four U.S. cities: Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Houston. Another study released in May by the real estate company Clever Real Estate determined the top 10 U.S. cities where it may be better to rent than buy, taking into consideration current home prices. First on the list was San Jose, followed by San Francisco, Seattle, Denver and Los Angeles. "We have this idea that if I could rent a place for $2,000 a month, and if I could buy a place for $2,000 a month, I should buy, because I can build equity," Sethi said. Sethi said that potential homebuyers need to consider the total cost of a home, including mortgage rates, property insurance and property taxes. "I call them phantom costs, because they're mostly invisible to us until they appear," Sethi said. "I actually add 50% per month to the price of owning. That includes maintenance, including a $20,000 roof repair, eleven years from now, that I don't even know I have to save for yet." An analysis released earlier this year by the apartment listing service RentCafe, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, found that the number of high-income renters making $150,000 or more jumped 82% between 2015 and 2020, while the number of millionaire renter households tripled during that period. Sethi told CBS News he could also purchase a home now, but still prefers to rents as well. "And so I love to talk about why I don't," Sethi said. "I have run the numbers carefully living in cities like San Francisco, New York and L.A., and it makes no financial sense for me to buy there." If Richmond bought a home in Silicon Valley, his housing expenses would likely double. He said that he is "totally happy" renting at the moment. "It does not bug me at all," Richmond said. "A rich life really is about saying yes to the things you want to spend money on," Sethi said. "And it could be a house, but for many people, it's not."
WHO declares aspartame "possibly carcinogenic." Here's what to know about the artificial sweetener. 2023-07-14 - The World Health Organization has declared aspartame, a common artificial sweetener used in thousands of products, to be "possibly carcinogenic to humans" — while also noting that "safety is not a major concern" in the quantities people would normally consume. WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, categorized the sweetener in Group 2B on the basis of "limited evidence for cancer in humans," specifically for hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer, according to a news release. "Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally. Every year, 1 in 6 people die from cancer. Science is continuously expanding to assess the possible initiating or facilitating factors of cancer, in the hope of reducing these numbers and the human toll," Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the department of nutrition and food safety at WHO, said in a statement Thursday. "The assessments of aspartame have indicated that, while safety is not a major concern at the doses which are commonly used, potential effects have been described that need to be investigated by more and better studies." Reuters first reported last month that the decision was expected. In addition to IARC's categorization, the U.N.'s Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, or JEFCA, also provided a review on what this means for people's risk, maintaining its existing guidance on acceptable daily intake amounts. "Our results do not indicate that occasional consumption should pose a risk to most consumers," Branca added in a press briefing. "We're not advising companies to withdraw products nor are we advising consumers to stop consuming altogether. We're just advising a bit of moderation." Robert Rankin, president of the Calorie Control Council, an international association representing the low- and reduced-calorie food and beverage industry, said in a statement to CBS News that JEFCA's review reaffirms the overwhelming body of evidence that aspartame is safe. "To assert otherwise is misleading, inaccurate, and fear mongering to the nearly 540 million people globally living with diabetes and millions of others managing their body weight who rely on and/or chose products that contain low- and no-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame," Rankin said. He added the IARC is not a regulatory agency or food safety authority. "IARC looks for substances that could potentially cause cancer without considering actual dietary intake, and has found many things, such as drinking hot water and working at night, to be probably carcinogenic. It is not only wrong, but potentially damaging to certain populations to position IARC's report alongside true scientific and regulatory agencies like JECFA, the Food and Drug Administration, and the European Food Safety Authority." What is aspartame? Aspartame is an artificial sweetener 200 times as potent as regular granulated sugar that is used in thousands of products on grocery store shelves, from sodas and drink mixes to low-cal condiments and desserts. Aspartame entered the market as a low-calorie sweetener in 1981 and has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in food products, with the agency concluding the additive is "safe for the general population." "Aspartame is one of the most studied food additives in the human food supply," the FDA says. "To determine the safety of aspartame, the FDA has reviewed more than 100 studies designed to identify possible toxic effects, including studies that assess effects on the reproductive and nervous systems, carcinogenicity, and metabolism." What is a carcinogen? The National Institute of Health's National Cancer Institute defines a carcinogen as "any substance that causes cancer." Carcinogens can occur naturally in the environment or may be generated by humans, the NIH explains, and typically work by interacting with a cell's DNA to produce mutations. The IARC's designation of "possibly carcinogenic to humans" means the group believes there is "some evidence that it can cause cancer in humans but at present it is far from conclusive." More than 320 other items, ranging from gasoline exhaust to aloe vera to working in the textile industry, share that classification. To put things in perspective, another 220 substances have been identified as definitive or probable carcinogens for humans, based on stronger evidence of a connection to cancer. "Exposure to a carcinogen does not necessarily mean you will get cancer. A number of factors influence whether a person exposed to a carcinogen will ultimately develop cancer," the NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute's website notes. How much aspartame is safe to consume? The FDA established an acceptable daily intake (ADI) level, or amount of a substance considered safe to consume each day over the course of a person's lifetime, for each of the six sweeteners approved as food additives. For aspartame, the ADI is 50 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day per the FDA's ruling, and 40 milligrams per the U.N.'s guidance. "The average 150 lb. person would need to consume about 14 12-oz cans of diet beverages or about 74 packets of aspartame-containing tabletop sweetener every day over the course of their life to raise any safety concern," Rankin said in his statement. "Obviously, that level of consumption is not realistic, recommended, nor is it aligned with the intended use of these ingredients." For the general public, there's "no immediate need" to worry about WHO's findings or classifications, Dr. Ernest Hawk, vice president and head of the division of cancer prevention and population sciences at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, told CBS News. "Their strongest signal is to scientists suggesting that more high-quality research is needed," he added. "Only after much more research is done will we be able to determine if aspartame or other similar agents are associated with convincing cancer risks." Elizabeth Napolitano contributed to this report.
Disney World's crowds are thinning. Growing competition — and cost — may be to blame. 2023-07-14 - Disney World's crowds are getting smaller, signaling that the high entry costs to the theme park as well as competition from other destinations may be taking a toll on attendance, Wall Street Journal reporter Jacob Passy told CBS News. "We specifically looked at July 4, which over history has always been a fairly peak day for the parks," Passy said, noting that he looked at data from a company called Touring Plans, which tracks wait times at top amusement parks. "The wait times were significantly lower this year than in previous years." Touring Plans' data showed that July 4 was the third-slowest day in the past year at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park in Florida. Meanwhile, wait times at Disney's Magic Kingdom in the state were an average of 27 minutes on July 4, down from 47 minutes in 2019, according to the Wall Street Journal. The entertainment giant may be battling a few issues, including parents' increasing wariness of spending more than $100 per day for a ticket to Disney World. Intense competition from rival destinations, especially as pandemic restrictions have eased across the globe, may also be playing a role, Passy noted. "Florida was one of the first parts of the country to benefit from one of those post-COVID booms," he said. "They started getting people much earlier than other destinations, and now they are having to compete with cruise lines and with folks who want to travel to Europe." In May, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro said at an investor conference that the company expected "to see some moderation in the demand at Walt Disney World." But he pointed to lower attendance following Disney World's 50th anniversary celebration, which ended in April 2023. Disney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Tourist tax revenue is down this year across several Florida counties, suggesting that the issue isn't specific to Disney World, but could point point competition more broadly for tourism dollars from other locations. And wait times at Disney World rides have inched back up, according to one theme park expert, Robert Niles, who tweeted about wait times of more than 80 minutes for popular rides like Space Mountain. Feud with DeSantis At the same time, Disney World is embroiled in a fight with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has orchestrated a takeover of Disney World's theme park district after the company opposed a state law that critics have dubbed "Don't Say Gay." That law restricts teachers from discussing gender identity and topics surrounding sexuality in the classroom. In late April, Disney sued DeSantis, alleging the governor waged a "targeted campaign of government retaliation" because of its opposition to the law. But it's difficult to quantify whether the culture war battles between Disney and DeSantis are scaring away visitors, Passy noted. "I would say that there are probably some folks that are turned off for various reasons, but I would hesitate to suggest that is the main driver of any trends we are seeing at Disney World right now," he said.
U.S. Virgin Islands Seeks $190 Million From JPMorgan in Epstein Lawsuit 2023-07-14 - The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands said in a court filing on Friday that it is seeking at least $190 million in damages from JPMorgan Chase for the bank’s failure to detect and report the sex trafficking operation run by the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in the U.S. territory. Lawyers for the Virgin Islands disclosed the sum in a legal filing in response to a request from the federal judge in Manhattan overseeing the lawsuit it filed against JPMorgan last year, which claimed that the bank turned a blind eye to Mr. Epstein’s activities. In the filing, the Virgin Islands’ attorney general’s office said it also wants the nation’s largest bank to put in new policies to prevent it from providing financial services to human traffickers. “We are pursuing this enforcement action because JPMorgan Chase’s institutional failure enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking,” said U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Ariel Smith in a statement.
Despite Aspartame Warning, Beverage Companies Likely to Stick With It 2023-07-14 - About eight years ago, in response to customer concerns about possible health risks associated with the artificial sweetener aspartame, PepsiCo decided to remove the ingredient from its popular diet soda. Sales flopped. A year later, aspartame was back in Diet Pepsi. Today, the top three ingredients listed in the tiny print on the backs of cans and bottles of Diet Pepsi — and on its competitor Diet Coke — are water, caramel color and aspartame. A trip through the grocery store reveals the ingredient on the labels of not only diet sodas but also diet teas, sugar-free gums, sugar-free energy drinks and diet lemonade drink mix. By some estimates, thousands of products contain aspartame. The use of aspartame, which is often known by the brand name Equal, in food and beverage products has long been scrutinized. The latest iteration came on Thursday, when an agency of the World Health Organization declared that aspartame could possibly cause cancer and encouraged people who consume a significant number of beverages with aspartame to switch to water or other unsweetened drinks.
Actors Picket From Coast to Coast as Strike Gets Underway 2023-07-14 - “We are being systematically squeezed out of our livelihoods and it’s not going to happen anymore.” “Hey, hey. Ho, ho! Corporate greed has got to go.” “What is decided in this strike and this negotiation is going to impact everybody. And if we don’t take control of this situation from these greedy megalomaniacs, we are all going to be in threat of losing our livelihoods.” “Because we’ve gone over to streaming, all the formulas that used to make sense no longer do. And so now you’re having actors and stunt performers and background artists and singers and dancers, all of whom are having to have second and third jobs. Basically, our careers have been turned into gig work.” “A lot of us rely on residual income and for the studios to be hesitant to give us our fair share of residual income, it’s really disappointing and it’s disheartening.” “But anyone getting into this business nowadays, there’s absolutely no way for them to make a living. They’re just, they just couldn’t afford to. Not with the paltry residuals that we get in streaming. We’ve lost so much power over the years as artists and as business people. For me, that’s one of the biggest issues I believe that we’re facing is that these producers aren’t looking at us as entrepreneurs and business people.” “You know, I worry for 160,000 souls that they are fighting for a living wage and safety on the set and continued participation in the exorbitant profits that these platforms and these studios are now making. And we haven’t ever really adjusted for what it costs to live.” “SAG-AFTRA strong. SAG-AFTRA strong. SAG-AFTRA strong. SAG-AFTRA strong.”
Strike Prevents Actors From Promoting Films at Premieres or Festivals 2023-07-14 - It has already been a difficult year for movie theaters, with the North American box office down roughly 20 percent from last year. And that was when actors could promote their films. With SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, on strike as of Friday, its 160,000 members are officially barred not only from acting in projects involving the major Hollywood studios but also from engaging in any publicity efforts for films and TV shows that have already been completed. That means no appearances, either online or in person, including at the Comic-Con International next week in San Diego, many of the fall film festivals, and any movie premieres or television promotional events. SAG-AFTRA officials convened conference calls with Hollywood’s top agencies and publicists this week to explain the strike rules for both the production and the promotion of coming projects. And on Thursday, after announcing the strike, the union released its rules for its membership. “It’s going to be expensive, because the only other way to compensate for the lack of publicity is to buy more noise,” Terry Press, a top Hollywood marketer, said. “When you don’t have any form of publicity, which is free to a certain extent, you have to try to make up that noise.
Three Big Banks Rake In Better-Than-Expected Profits 2023-07-14 - Why It Matters Given its size, JPMorgan in particular is a proxy for the banking industry. Jamie Dimon, the bank’s chief executive, has deep political connections, and his prognostications on the economy are scrutinized in some circles as closely as a central banker’s musings. On Friday, Mr. Dimon told analysts that he expected the U.S. economy to experience “a soft landing, mild recession or a hard recession,” though he didn’t put a time frame on the prediction. “Obviously, we shall hope for the best,” he said. In its latest report, the bank listed a litany of risks, including that consumers are burning through their cash buffers and that inflation remains high. Last quarter, JPMorgan lost $900 million on investments in U.S. Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities, which have dropped in value as rates have risen — but that was barely a dent in its results. Wells Fargo, one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, is watched by analysts for signs of economic stress. The U.S. economy “continues to perform better than many had expected,” said Charles W. Scharf, the bank’s chief executive. The bank said Friday that soured loans in its commercial business had increased, but that its consumer business had held fairly steady, with a slight rise in credit-card defaults offset by a drop in losses on auto loans. Commercial real estate, especially loans on office space, is a pain point, and the bank set aside nearly $1 billion more for losses. Unlike the other banks, Citigroup reported a fall in second-quarter profit, although the decline was not as severe as analysts had predicted. “The long-awaited rebound in investment banking has yet to materialize, making for a disappointing quarter,” Citi’s chief executive, Jane Fraser, said in a statement. Background The three major banks that reported earnings Friday have been all over the news this year, thanks to their prominent role attempting to be a stabilizing force during the spring banking crisis that felled three smaller lenders. JPMorgan bought one of those failed banks, First Republic. In an indication of how troubled that institution had become, JPMorgan said Friday that it was setting aside $1.2 billion to deal with losses in First Republic’s lending portfolio. Analysts still expect the acquisition to prove worthy in the end, thanks to First Republic’s base of wealthy clients and coastal branches, which Friday’s results show are already buoying JPMorgan’s asset and wealth management arms. The U.S. government debt-limit standoff in April and May was also reflected in the banks’ results, with Citi citing anxiety during the negotiations as pushing investment-banking clients to the “sidelines” during the second quarter. What’s Next In the next week or so, a slew of other banks will report quarterly earnings. Among the most closely watched will be Wednesday’s results from Goldman Sachs, which has hinted publicly of a disappointing stretch, and regional banks like Western Alliance and Comerica, which will be looking to prove they have bounced back from their recent troubles.
Education Dept. Cancels $39 Billion in Student Debt for 800,000 Borrowers 2023-07-14 - More than 800,000 borrowers will have $39 billion in federal student loan debt eliminated under a government effort to remedy years of mistakes by the loan servicers that collect payments on the government’s behalf. Millions more people will have their loans adjusted as part of the program. That process will continue into next year. The relief will go to those who have federal loans owned directly by the Education Department and who enrolled in income-driven repayment plans or would have qualified for loan forgiveness if they had done so. Those plans cap the payments that borrowers owe to a percentage of their income. Under those plans, borrowers must make payments for a term that is typically 20 or 25 years. At the end of that period, any remaining balance is forgiven. More than eight million people use income-driven repayment plans, but for decades, many of the companies that bill borrowers made extensive mistakes in tracking payments and in guiding borrowers through the payment process. Those errors put millions of borrowers further behind by years in their quest to pay off their loans.
Autoworkers Open Contract Talks in a Fighting Mood 2023-07-14 - The three Detroit automakers and the United Auto Workers union have begun negotiating a new labor contract in what could become the most contentious talks between the two sides in perhaps half a century. The discussions, which formally started on Thursday, come as General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis have posted a long streak of strong profits in North America, and after the U.A.W. elected a president who has vowed to win back many of the wage and benefit concessions the union has ceded over the last two decades. Shawn Fain, an outsider candidate, prevailed in an upset election victory over the incumbent U.A.W. president this year largely by promising to take a more militant approach to contract negotiations than his recent predecessors. Since then, he has expressed a readiness to shut down factories to achieve the goals of the union, which represents 150,000 hourly workers employed by the three Detroit companies. “If the Big Three don’t give us our fair share, then they are choosing to strike themselves,” Mr. Fain, 54, said Wednesday as he greeted workers ending their shift at a G.M. electric vehicle plant in Detroit. “We are not afraid to take action. Our union is united. We can’t be afraid to stand up and fight.”
Shouldn’t Manchin treat Biden’s nominees as well as Trump’s? 2023-07-14 - Just a few months into Donald Trump’s presidency, the Republican made some highly controversial choices as he filled his cabinet. Among his problematic selections was Alexander Acosta, who was tapped to lead the Department of Labor despite some rather serious questions — which were widely known at the time — about a deal he struck with Jeffrey Epstein. Two years later, Acosta resigned under a cloud of scandal, raising questions about what the senators who confirmed him in the first place were thinking. Among those who put Acosta in the White House cabinet, in addition to Senate Republicans, was conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who sided with the then-GOP majority. All of this came to mind yesterday, reading this report in Roll Call: Sen. Joe Manchin III said Thursday he would oppose Julie Su’s nomination to be Labor secretary, weakening her chances of confirmation. Amid opposition from Republicans and without the Manchin’s vote, Su must shore up the support of the remaining 50 Democrats and independents who caucus with them, including Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., who have not said how they will vote. Manchin issued a statement complaining about Su’s “progressive background.” Keep in mind, Manchin voted two years ago to confirm Su as deputy secretary of Labor, and by all accounts, she performed well in the job. What’s more, the accomplished attorney has also served as the acting secretary of Labor for the last four months, without incident. But the West Virginian — who was comfortable looking past Acosta’s background during the Trump era — isn’t convinced that Su has the experience necessary to, as he put it, “collaboratively lead both labor and industry to forge compromises.” To the extent that such details matter, Su also spent two years serving as California’s Labor secretary, and as The Los Angeles Times report in April, “Typically, an official embraced by organized labor would face chillier relationships with employers. But business leaders in California said Su was accessible and receptive.” The same report added, “[A] number of employer groups, particularly those based in California, have been active supporters” of Su, despite her progressive efforts on behalf of workers. Or put another way, it’s almost as if Manchin had to overlook reality altogether before concluding that he’d oppose her nomination, despite having backed Trump’s far more controversial choice for the same position six years ago. Look, I’m mindful of the circumstances. Manchin’s term is nearly up, and he’s running in an increasingly red state. It’s to his benefit to be seen in conflict with the Biden White House. But that doesn’t make any of this right. Indeed, this week’s example isn’t even the first. When Trump nominated Kevin Hassett to lead the White House Council of Economic Advisers, he had a rather problematic background. Manchin voted for him anyway. But when Biden tapped Jared Bernstein for the same position, Manchin balked, despite Bernstein’s superior qualifications. The conservative Democrat’s opposition to Biden’s nominees would be easier to take if he hadn’t supported worse Trump nominees for the same positions. As for Su, her nomination is clearly in trouble, despite her preparation for the job, the fact that she’s already doing the job well, and the ostensible Senate Democratic majority. But as NBC News reported this week, Su “could just keep running the department anyway. Federal law places no limits on how long Su can serve as acting labor secretary without being confirmed."
The Biden economy is strong. Why don’t voters agree? 2023-07-14 - The latest inflation report is out — and it’s better than expected. Prices rose just 3% in June, compared to the same time last year. This is the lowest increase we have seen since March of 2021. Another key metric shows that wages are continuing to rise faster than inflation. We have a lot of data showing that our economy is doing really well. But Americans are just not feeling it. A recent AP poll found that only 3 in 10 adults think the economy is good. Some Republicans will never say the Biden economy is doing well — even in the face of loads of evidence to the contrary. So what is going on here? What is at the root of this contradiction between the numbers and the way people feel? I think there are three main issues at play. First, the relationship between the economy and politics has been flipped on its head in a way. Historically, when the economy is good, the party in power benefits. But lately, even cold, hard economic facts have become politically polarized. Some Republicans will never say the Biden economy is doing well — even in the face of loads of evidence to the contrary. This bears out in the polling: 47% of Democrats would describe the economy as good, compared to just 13% of Republicans. When people look through this partisan prism, it affects their ability to assess the facts. Now of course, the economy also has had a very rocky trajectory over the last two and a half years. This has created an interesting situation where the sectors that have been having the worst go of it are the ones closest to the megaphones. Media and tech companies have been hit hard by a slowdown in ad sales and high interest rates, laying off tens of thousands of workers over the past several months. These are the industries that bring us the news about the economy. On the other hand, the people who are the least influential in the national conversation about the economy are the same people who have seen the greatest relative economic gains. A recent analysis found that the lowest-wage workers — those in the bottom 10% — saw their real wage growth soar over the past few years, much more than higher wage earners. But my final and most important point is that real wages, that is how much money people make when adjusted for inflation, just have not fully recovered since the pandemic. Covid brought about a strange economic experience for Americans, with the government giving out unprecedented amounts of stimulus money. Even though things were brutal and loads of people were out of work, a lot of American household balance sheets looked better than they had ever been. And when the crisis eased, that demand was released, and prices went up. All of a sudden, people went from feeling flush to feeling like, “Oh, I can’t afford this.” That was very real and really brutal for millions of people, and has continued to be. That brings us back to this central issue of how to bring up real wages. This is crucial both on the merits and because it can change Americans’ perceptions about the economy. To do that, you have to keep the economy growing, wages increasing, and inflation cooling — all at the same time. It is a very difficult thing to pull off. So far, the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve, helped out by some good luck, have come together to do that in a way that is looking to be effective. Of course, things could change. There could be another war. Oil prices could spike. Inflation could start moving in the wrong direction again. But as of now, it appears that Biden’s America is on the right path to pull off one of the greatest macroeconomic policy magic tricks of all time. This op-ed is an adaptation of a segment of "All In with Chris Hayes" on July 12.
Brett Kavanaugh assures us the justices are getting along and aren't partisan 2023-07-14 - Surely there's just one question on everyone's mind after the Supreme Court ended its term by striking down loan relief, approving discrimination and gutting affirmative action: Are the justices getting along? Don’t worry, Justice Brett Kavanaugh assured the crowd at a judicial conference Thursday: They are. “We don’t caucus in separate rooms. We don’t meet separately. We’re not sitting on different sides of the aisle at oral argument, so to speak, on the bench,” the Donald Trump appointee reportedly said at the gathering of judges and lawyers in Minnesota. “We work as a group of nine — as I’ve said before, as a team of nine," Kavanaugh continued, noting that the justices eat lunch together after every oral argument and conference. The court, he said, is an "institution of law" rather than one of “partisanship” or “politics.” It’s the latest naïve (at best) offering from one of our country’s most powerful people. It joins Chief Justice John Roberts' admission that his most difficult decision ever was putting a fence around the court and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's claim the court "is an ideologically unpredictable body that takes cases as they come and produces diverse outcomes." Kavanaugh seemed to echo McConnell's misleading thesis. Politico reported on the justice's remarks: "In an unusual move, he pointed to several recent rulings that, he implied, show that the court is not under the sway of the Republican Party." The Trump appointee reportedly cited Allen v. Milligan, where he was in the 5-4 majority declining to further gut the Voting Rights Act, and Moore v. Harper, where he was in the 6-3 majority that didn't fully embrace the extreme "independent state legislature" elections theory. Yet, those divided cases hardly show the absence of politics or partisanship on the court. Rather, they remind us those divisions sometimes require an extra layer of analysis, which requires a fuller rendering of the facts than purveyors of neutrality want to provide. Take the Milligan case. Sure, it was surprising the court sided with voting rights. But putting aside what that says about the court, focusing only on that end 5-4 result ignores the previous shadow docket ruling in the case that went 5-4 the other way, with Kavanaugh in the majority, letting an illegal voting map be used in the 2022 midterms to the GOP's benefit. And even in the end, Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence to Roberts' majority opinion suggesting he might not be with the majority in the future. Likewise, Moore v. Harper certainly could have been worse. But even that one "laid landmines for future elections," as Jessica Levinson wrote for MSNBC Daily last month. There, too, Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence to Roberts' opinion suggesting he might not be with the Democratic appointees in future appeals that benefit Republicans. And both voting rulings featured Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch in dissent, bolstering their positions to the right of Kavanaugh. Indeed, that Kavanaugh was in the majority more than any justice this term, coupled with his perky portrayal of the court as evenhanded, suggests his instincts could be called political more than anything else.
‘Lies’ become ‘threats’: Michigan Dem talks to Special Counsel for Trump probe 2023-07-14 - ‘Lies’ become ‘threats’: Michigan Dem talks to Special Counsel for Trump probe Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson joins MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss being questioned by Jack Smith's investigators and how “lies surrounding elections transform themselves into threats” against election officials.July 14, 2023
House passes defense bill with GOP amendments on abortion and transgender surgery 2023-07-14 - House passes defense bill with GOP amendments on abortion and transgender surgery The House of Representatives has voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act after Republican lawmakers added amendments on abortion and transgender surgeries. NBC News' Ali Vitali reports from Capitol Hill.July 14, 2023
Biden campaign announces it raised $72 million in second quarter 2023-07-14 - 'This is the battle that he wants': Trump to use courtroom as his campaign trail in 2024 09:23