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Credit card late fees capped at $8 as part of Biden administration crackdown on junk fees None - New York CNN — Federal regulators finalized a rule on Tuesday to cap most credit card late fees at $8 as part of a broader push by the Biden administration to eliminate junk fees. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates the new regulation, first proposed last summer, will save families more than $10 billion a year by cutting fees from an average of $32. The new rule applies to large credit card issuers – those with more than 1 million accounts. These companies represent more than 95% of total outstanding credit card debt, according to the CFPB. The new push to target credit card fees comes as the White House aims to show it is taking action to help families hurting from the high cost of living. The CFPB also proposed a rule in January that would curb excessive overdraft fees. It also comes as Americans continue to pile on credit card debt, which recently exceeded a record $1.1 trillion. Some borrowers, especially Millennials and those with lower incomes, have been falling behind on their credit card debt following more than two years of high inflation. More than 45 million people are charged late fees on credit cards each year, according to the CFPB. Those individuals will now save an average of $220 per year, regulators say. The new rule aims to close a 2010 loophole the CFPB says has been “exploited” by credit card companies, allowing them to jack up fees on borrowers who made late payments. “For over a decade, credit card giants have been exploiting a loophole to harvest billions of dollars in junk fees from American consumers,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “Todays’ rule ends the era of big credit card companies hiding behind the excuse of inflation when they hike fees on borrowers to boost their own bottom lines.” The financial industry slammed the CFPB, warning the new regulation will hurt consumers by causing more people to pay late, damaging their credit scores. “Today’s announcement is a prime example of how the CFPB has been politicized, and how its regulatory actions promote rhetoric over analysis and data,” Greg Baer, CEO of the Bank Policy Institute, a bank trade group, said in a statement. He added that the CFPB puts “perceived short-term political gain over long-term benefits of consumers.” Chamber of Commerce vows to fight The US Chamber of Commerce went a step further, saying it will “imminently” file a lawsuit against the CFPB to prevent the “misguided and harmful” regulation from taking effect. “Once again, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has exceeded its authority,” Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the Chamber, said in a statement. “The agency’s final credit card late fee rule punishes Americans who pay their credit card bill on time by forcing them to pay for those who don’t.” The CFPB declined to comment on the threatened lawsuit from the Chamber. However, Sam Gilford, a CFPB spokesperson, told CNN that when the rule was first proposed last year the agency received thousands of “overwhelmingly” positive comments from the public. “Today’s rule closes a longstanding loophole abused by credit card giants to turn late fees into a major revenue stream,” Gilford said. The CFPB said in its statement that the new rule will take effect 60 days after it’s published in the Federal Register. The CFPB spokesperson told CNN that the agency expects to publish the rule in the Federal Register in a few weeks. That puts the rule on track to take effect June 1. Analysts were surprised by the speedy plans from regulators to implement the brand-new rule. “This is a few months faster than we expected. We believe it is intended to expedite litigation,” Jaret Seiberg, financial services analyst at TD Cowen Washington Research Group, said in a note to clients. If Biden wins reelection, Seiberg said a court fight over the credit card rule could eventually reach the Supreme Court, where he believes the CFPB “has an edge.” Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James, said the way the CFPB designed the rule has eliminated “several strong potential legal arguments” the industry could have used to fight it. “We are overall skeptical that the industry will be successful in overturning the rule,” Mills said in a note to clients. ‘Government working for the people’ The ban on excessive credit card late fees is expected to be showcased by the White House later on Tuesday when President Joe Biden convenes his Competition Council. The White House said the council will detail steps aimed at “fighting corporate rip-offs.” Some consumer advocates are praising the new credit card regulations as a way to help vulnerable families. “It’s simply unfair to impose a steep late fee penalty that far exceeds the credit card company’s costs, especially when someone is just a few hours or a couple of days late making their payment,” Chuck Bell, advocacy program director at Consumer Reports, said in a statement. He described the new rule as “reasonable” and a way to make a “real difference.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, cheered the move from the CFPB. “These junk fees are designed to boost Wall Street profits at the expense of working people,” Warren said in a post on X. “This is government working for the people, not the big banks.”
Swing state GOP candidates struggle as Trump 'uses up all the oxygen in the room' says Matthew Dowd None - Swing state GOP candidates struggle as Trump 'uses up all the oxygen in the room' says Matthew Dowd Super Tuesday is the biggest primary day of the year, with 16 states and one U.S. territory holding presidential nominating contests today. There are 865 Republican delegates — accounting for 36% of the total delegates in the entire race — up for grabs today. Fmr. Chief Strategist for the Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign & Senior MSNBC Political Analyst Matthew Dowd joins MSNBC's Chris Jansing to discuss potential results.March 5, 2024
China raises defense budget by 7.2% as it pushes for global heft and regional tensions continue None - China is increasing its defense budget by 7.2% this year, similar to last year's rise BEIJING -- BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday announced a 7.2% increase in its defense budget, which is already the world’s second-highest behind the United States at 1.6 trillion yuan ($222 billion), roughly mirroring last year's rise. Tensions with the U.S., Taiwan, Japan and neighbors with competing claims to the crucial South China Sea are seen as furthering growth in high-tech military technologies from stealth fighters to aircraft carriers and a growing arsenal of nuclear weapons. The official budget figure announced Tuesday at the opening of the legislature's annual meeting is considered only a fraction of spending by the People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of the ruling Communist Party, once spending on research and development and foreign weapons purchases are considered. “We will provide stronger financial guarantees for efforts to modernize our national defense and the armed forces on all fronts and consolidate and enhance integrated national strategies and strategic capabilities,” Premier Li Qiang told the assembly of nearly 3,000 carefully selected participants, who show overwhelming loyalty to the Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping. China's defense budget has more than doubled since 2015, even as the country's economic growth rate has slowed considerably. However, the country's continuing ambition is to challenge the U.S. and its allies in Asia including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia over territorial claims, regional leadership and a bigger say in world affairs. Its defense budget grew by double-digit percentage figures for much of the 2000s but began to slow as the formerly booming economy started to plateau. In his address, Li put the GDP growth target at 5% this year, while acknowledging it would be difficult to achieve. China's economy is dealing with high youth unemployment and a cratering real estate market after developers who took out giant bank loans were unable to pay back their lenders or deliver units to buyers who had spent their life savings to put a roof over their heads. That hasn't dampened Beijing's global ambitions, however, with conquest over the self-governing island democracy of Taiwan, driving Indian forces from their disputed border, and asserting control over islands in the East China and South China Sea all on Beijing's list of priorities. In the latest dangerous incident, Chinese coast guard ships blocked Philippine vessels off a disputed South China Sea shoal on Tuesday, causing a minor collision, the Philippine coast guard said. Philippine security officials have accused the Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships of blocking Philippine vessels and using water cannons and a military-grade laser that temporarily blinded some Filipino crewmen in a series of high-seas hostilities last year. Those all play into China's increasingly intensive rivalry with the U.S. in the political, economic, military and technological spheres that has led to punitive tariffs and travel bans on Chinese officials, followed by retaliation by Beijing. China's support for Russia and refusal to condemn its invasion of Ukraine have also aggravated relations with Washington. The U.S. still leads the world in defense spending, with the Department of Defense's proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 totaling $842 billion, roughly a 5% increase when adjusted for inflation. While the U.S. has no official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, it remains the island's main guarantor of security and provider of advanced weaponry. The U.S. Navy announced that the guided missile destroyer USS John Finn transited the Taiwan Strait dividing the island from mainland China on Tuesday, an act China frequently protests, along with the presence of U.S. Navy ships and planes elsewhere in the South China Sea. “U.S. ships transit between the South China Sea and the East China Sea via the Taiwan Strait and have done so for many years,” the 7th Fleet said in a statement. “The transit occurred through a corridor in the Taiwan Strait that is beyond any coastal state’s territorial seas. Within this corridor all nations enjoy high-seas freedoms of navigation, overflight, and other internationally lawful uses of the sea related to these freedoms,” it said. The spokesperson for the PLA's Eastern Theater Command, army Col. Shi Yi, accused the U.S. of “publicly hyping-up” the passage of the ship and said Chinese naval and air forces tracked and monitored its progress. “Troops in the theater are always on high alert and ready to respond to all threats and provocations,” Shi said on the Defense Ministry's website. According to the World Bank, China's defense spending equaled 1.6% of its GDP in 2022, the last year for which figures were available, compared to 3.5% for the United States. While the U.S. defense budget has declined to about 12% of government spending, the proportion China spends remains obscure because of the many civilian-military collaboration projects it runs, from technology to business and real estate. China also sends ships and planes near Taiwan on a daily basis in an attempt to wear down the equipment and morale of the Taiwanese armed forces and underline its threat that Taiwan must inevitably be united with the mainland, by force if necessary. ___ Bodeen reported from Taipei, Taiwan.
Secure Act 2.0 offers options for small businesses who want to offer retirement plans None - Many small businesses don’t offer a retirement plan to employees, since it can be quite costly and complicated NEW YORK -- Many small businesses don’t offer a retirement plan to employees, since it can be quite costly and complicated. But the Secure Act 2.0 passed by Congress in late 2022 and being slowly rolled out is designed to make it easier for small businesses to offer retirement plans. That's key — because offering a retirement plan can be a way to keep and retain quality employees. The act allows small businesses to band together to pool resources to offer plans, called Multiple Employer Plans. While initially that could be a burden to set up, it would offer savings down the road since companies can save money on administrative costs. Also, there's a tax credit for small businesses starting new employee plans. The credit is up to 100% of the startup costs for adopting and maintaining a new 401(k) plan, capped at $5,000. There's also a tax credit based on employer contribution, up to $1,000 annually per employee, over the plan’s first five years. To qualify for either credit, small businesses must have no more than 100 employees who received compensation of $5,000 or more in the preceding year, and not have offered a plan covering substantially the same employees during the previous three tax years. Talk to your tax adviser to see if you might qualify for these credits. Another tax credit of $500 is available for up to three years for small businesses with 100 or fewer employees that add an eligible automatic contribution arrangement to their plan.
Bitcoin bounces to an all-time high after FTX scandal plagued crypto None - Bitcoin has hit an all-time high less than two years after the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX severely damaged faith in digital currencies and sent prices plunging NEW YORK -- NEW YORK (AP) — Bitcoin has hit an all-time high less than two years after the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX severely damaged faith in digital currencies and sent prices plunging. The world's largest cryptocurrency jumped 4% this week and briefly surpassed $68,800 Tuesday, according to CoinMarketCap. That's just above bitcoin's previous record set in November 2021. The volatile asset soon fell some, standing at just under $62,000 as of 3 p.m. ET, but the price is still up more than 175% from one year ago. Gains in recent months have been fueled by the anticipation, and eventual U.S. approval, of bitcoin exchange traded funds earlier this year, which provided access to a much broader class of investors. The price for bitcoin has surged about 60% since the approval of bitcoin ETFs in January, an easy way to invest in assets or a group of assets — like gold, junk bonds or bitcoins — without having to directly buy the assets themselves. Also driving prices is what is known as bitcoin “halving” which is anticipated in April. Halvings trim the rate at which new coins are mined and created, thus lowering the supply. Here's what you need to know. In January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the first spot bitcoin ETFs from asset managers including Blackrock, Invesco and Fidelity. These newly approved ETFs hold actual bitcoin — unlike previous bitcoin-related ETFs that were invested in contracts related to future price bets, but not on the cryptocurrency itself. While regulators have pointed to persisting risks and maintained reluctance around January’s decision, the greenlight marked a major win the crypto industry. Institutional demand for bitcoin show "no signs of slowing down,” H.C. Wainwright’s Mike Colonnese and Dylan Scales wrote Tuesday — adding that bitcoin's popularity “is likely to accelerate in the coming months as more wealth management platforms make spot (bitcoin) ETFs accessible to their clients.” Using data from crypto platform BitMEX, Colonnese and Scales estimated that the 10 bitcoin ETFs averaged $302 million in net daily inflows for the month of February. Last week alone, these spot ETFs booked record inflows of $1.7 billion — bringing total net inflows to $7.5 billion since their Jan. 11 launch. Increased demand is also aligning with bitcoin’s next halving event, which is expected at the end of April. Bitcoin halving, which occurs every four years, is when the reward for bitcoin mining is cut in half. This reduces how fast new coins are created — making supply scarcer. While analysts say that constrained supply in a time of high demand can push bitcoin’s price higher over time, others point to significant volatility that has resulted before and after halving events — and the possibility of sizable declines. “Past history may not be a reliable guide to predict how the upcoming halving of bitcoin will influence its value,” Rajeev Bamra, senior vice president of digital finance at Moody’s Investors Service, noted. “Various external factors, market sentiment shifts, and regulatory developments can influence the trajectory of Bitcoin’s price.” Bitcoin has a history of drastic swings in value — which can come suddenly and happen over the weekend or overnight in trading that continues at all hours, every day. Bitcoin rocketed from just over $5,000 at the start of the pandemic to its November 2021 peak of nearly $69,000, in a period marked by a surge in demand for technology products. Prices crashed during an aggressive series of Federal Reserve rate hikes intended to cool inflation, slow money flows and make risky investments potentially riskier. Then came the 2022 collapse of FTX, which significantly undermined confidence in crypto. At the start of last year, a single bitcoin could be had for less than $17,000. Investors, however, began returning in large numbers as inflation started to cool. And 2023’s collapse of prominent tech-focused banks actually led more investors to turn to crypto as they bailed out of positions in Silicon Valley start-ups and other risky bets. Despite the recent excitement around bitcoin, experts still maintain that crypto is a risky bet with wildly unpredictable fluctuations in value. In short, investors can lose money as quickly as they make it. “It’s essential to exercise caution and acknowledge that the road ahead for the digital finance ecosystem, particularly the crypto markets, is expected to navigate through a period marked by volatility,” Bamra noted — pointing the importance of “cautious optimism.”
Facebook, Instagram and Threads outage: 'We resolved the issue' None - Meta previously said users were "having trouble accessing our services." Meta resolved an outage suffered by Facebook, Instagram and Threads on Tuesday, concluding a service issue that had prevented some U.S. users from logging on to the sites for several hours, Meta said in a statement. "Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services," Meta Communications Director Andy Stone said in a post on X. "We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologize for any inconvenience." On Tuesday morning, the company acknowledged that some U.S. users were having difficulty accessing its platforms. "We're aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now," Stone said. More than 300,000 reports of an outage at Facebook were received on Tuesday morning by DownDetector, a site that tracks problem reports from users. DownDetector also tallied nearly 50,000 reports of an outage at Instagram. An array of commerce tools on the platforms were experiencing major disruptions, including Ads Manager and Meta Business Suite, according to Meta's website. "We are aware of an issue users are having logging into our platforms," the site said. "Our engineering teams are aware and are actively looking to resolve the issue as quickly as possible." This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Millennial Money: 5 financial mistakes to avoid when you are self-employed None - Becoming self-employed can be an exciting journey, but it’s also possible to make expensive mistakes When you become self-employed, you join millions of other business owners hoping to materialize their dreams. However, navigating the murky waters of self-employment can be challenging, especially during the early stages. While there are no guarantees in business, there are some strategies that could increase your chances of success, especially financially. Here are a few mistakes to avoid as a self-employed person. 1. NOT DELEGATING OR PRIORITIZING Self-employed people often act as their own stunt doubles in their business during the incipient stages because of budget constraints. However, trying to do it all on your own may be a mistake, says Ronne Brown, owner of Girl CEO and Herlistic in Washington, D.C. “We have to understand that we go fast by ourselves, but we go far as a team,” she says. For people who feel they can’t afford to delegate, Brown says to keep your expenses low until you can afford to do so. If you do decide to delegate, it’s key to spend your dollars in ways that help your business grow. To do this, people should consider focusing on the business operations and systems versus just aesthetics, Brown says. Doing this effectively often requires prioritization. “In the beginning, people are always focused on the look. But that’s not what truly creates the income in business,” she says. Brown suggests prioritizing bookkeepers and accountants, building automations or hiring someone to generate leads. Also, keep in mind that you can usually deduct the cost of contracted labor from your business taxes. 2. NOT SAVING FOR RETIREMENT Saving for retirement as an entrepreneur can easily fall to the bottom of your priority list. This is a common mistake self-employed people make, says Preston Cherry, a certified financial planner in Green Bay, Wisconsin. While it can be smart to reinvest income you generate into your business, it may be equally important to build an emergency fund with three to six months’ worth of expenses and invest in your retirement savings. Cherry says self-employed people have multiple retirement savings accounts to choose from, including an IRA or a solo 401(k). “Not only are you as a business owner saving for your retirement, you are also getting to deduct the contributions (for) tax planning as well,” Cherry says. Contributions made to traditional solo 401(k)s and traditional SIMPLE IRAs can provide tax advantages like lowering your taxable income and enabling your investments to grow tax-deferred. That means your tax bill is deferred until you withdraw the money in retirement. SEP IRAs are designed for self-employed people or small businesses with few or no employees and have similar characteristics. 3. SPENDING MONEY ON COURSES YOU DON’T TAKE As a new entrepreneur, you may want to amp up your knowledge to make your business more profitable. That could mean spending money on courses or training, which can sometimes cost a pretty penny. While investing in yourself can be worthwhile, you may not get a return on your investment if you don’t take the courses and apply the knowledge. “Make sure that you are fully committed and that you are dedicated to actually doing the work and sitting down and making time before you invest in any course or class,” says Brown. “You can’t have excuses. People buy stuff with an excuse in mind.” Brown also recommends doing your homework before investing in a course, especially on social media. You can do this by looking beyond good content and ensuring the person you’re buying courses from has a proven track record of delivering results. “For me, when I’m looking for a mentorship or I’m looking for people to train me, I’m looking at the personal success that they are having in the area that I am looking to grow in,” she says. 4. NOT CONSIDERING HEALTH CARE COSTS Health care may be a worry for self-employed people, especially when they don’t have employer support. A health savings account is one way to make the financial load lighter since there are many tax benefits. “There’s no tax going in. There’s no tax while in it, and there’s no tax coming out,” Cherry says. With HSAs, contributions are made pretax, interest grows tax-free and qualified withdrawals are tax-free. In 2024, single individuals can contribute up to $4,150, while families can contribute up to $8,300. You must have a high-deductible health care plan to be eligible to open an HSA as a self-employed person. Another option to make health care more affordable is taking the self-employed health insurance deduction if you qualify. 5. NOT HAVING A CLEAR ‘WHY’ Entrepreneurship can be a way to make extra money or materialize your dreams, but it can also become a money pit. For this reason, it’s important to have a clear “why,” Cherry says. Having a clear purpose can also help you know when to keep pushing through difficulties and when to stop. “Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It’s not supposed to be. It’s not the only way to wealth.” ________________________ This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. The content is for educational and informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Elizabeth Ayoola is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: eayoola@nerdwallet.com RELATED LINK: NerdWallet: 25 ways to make money online, offline and at home https://bit.ly/nerdwallet-how-to-make-money-online-and-offline
Lobster catch dips to lowest level since 2009 as fishers grapple with climate change, whale rules None - PORTLAND, Maine -- America's lobster fishing business dipped in catch while grappling with challenges including a changing ocean environment and new rules designed to protect rare whales. The lobster industry, based mostly in Maine, has had an unprecedented decade in terms of the volume and value of the lobsters brought to the docks. But members of the industry have also said they face existential threats from proposed rules intended to protect the North Atlantic right whale and climate change that is influencing where lobsters can be trapped. Maine fishermen's catch in 2023 fell more than 5% from the year that preceded it, and the total of 93.7 million pounds of lobsters caught was the lowest figure since 2009, according to data released Friday by the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The figure tracks with the up-and-down year lobster fishermen experienced, said Dave Cousens a fishermen based out of Criehaven island and a former president of the Maine Lobstermen's Association. The price of bait and fuel eased somewhat, but the volume of catch didn't seem to match other recent years, Cousens said. The Maine lobster haul has fallen from a high of 132.6 million pounds in 2016, though the 2023 year's figure was still much more than fishermen produced in most of the 2000s. The 2023 haul was also the second year in a row the total catch declined. Fishermen who participate in Maine's lifeblood lobster industry are on edge about what the future holds, as lobsters have inched steadily northward as waters have warmed, Cousens said. “We've gone down steadily from 132 million. We're going back downhill,” Cousens said. “There's no question climate change is affecting it.” Fishermen from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and other Northeast states also harvest lobsters with traps from the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but about 80% of the catch comes to the docks in Maine in a typical year. The price of lobsters at the docks has ebbed and flowed in recent years, but it has stayed fairly consistent to consumers. The price at the docks spiked to more than $6.70 per pound in 2021 and fell to less than $4 per pound in 2022. Last year, it was a little less than $5 per pound, and the total catch was worth more than $460 million at the docks, according to data released Friday. That is the third highest figure of the last four years. “The price Maine lobstermen received last year is a reflection of the continued strong demand for this iconic seafood,” said Maine marine resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher. The state's fishermen have been in a lengthy legal battle with the federal government over rules designed to protect the whales, which are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear. The fishermen argue the proposed rules are so strict they could put them out of business, but conservationists say they are essential to save the whales, which number less than 360 in the world. A right whale found dead off Massachusetts this winter showed signs of entanglement in Maine gear. The ways in which climate change is affecting the industry are a subject of ongoing scientific study. The southern New England lobster industry has collapsed as the ocean has warmed, and the waters off Maine logged the second-warmest year on record in 2022.
Biden announces credit card late fee cap of $8 None - Biden announces credit card late fee cap of $8 President Biden on Tuesday announced credit card late fees will be capped at $8, down from around $32. Nikki Battiste has the details.
Liz Cheney's warning to America: ‘We have eight months to save our republic’ None - Sarah Matthews, former Trump White House Deputy Press Secretary and Ben Rhodes, former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor under President Obama, join Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House with reaction to yesterday’s decisive Super Tuesday results, which led to Nikki Haley dropping out of the GOP Presidential contest setting the stage for a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump this November. March 6, 2024
Georgia Senate panel holds hearing on efforts to disqualify DA Fani Willis None - Members of the Georgia Senate held a hearing with testimony from the lawyer at the center of the attempt to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis from the election interference case involving former President Trump.March 6, 2024
Lawyers who successfully argued Musk pay package was illegal seek $5.6 billion in Tesla stock None - The lawyers who successfully argued that a massive pay package for Tesla CEO Elon Musk was illegal and should be voided are asking the presiding judge to award company stock worth $5.6 billion as legal fees DOVER, Del. -- The lawyers who successfully argued that a massive pay package for Tesla CEO Elon Musk was illegal and should be voided have asked the presiding judge to award them company stock worth $5.6 billion as legal fees. The attorneys, who represented Tesla shareholders in the case decided in January, made the request of the Delaware judge in court papers filed Friday. The amount would apparently be far and away the largest such award, if approved. Lawyers in class-action suits stemming from the collapse of Enron got a record $688 million in legal fees in 2008. “We are ‘prepared to eat our cooking,’” the Tesla plaintiff attorneys wrote in the court filing, arguing the sum is justified because they worked purely on a contingency basis for more than 5 years. If they lost they would have gotten nothing. The benefit to Tesla “was massive,” they said. The requested award represents 11% of the Tesla stock — worth some $55 billion — that Musk was seeking in the compensation package, which Judge Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick ruled illegal in January. Not only does the request take nothing from the electric car company's balance sheet, it is also tax deductible, the attorneys argued. They are also seeking $1.1 million in expenses. In her ruling, Judge McCormick accepted the shareholder lawyers' argument that Musk personally dictated the landmark 2018 pay package in sham negotiations with directors who were not independent. It would have nearly doubled Musk's stake in Tesla. He currently holds 13%.
China says economy got a strong start in 2024 None - Top Chinese financial officials have outlined details of the ruling Communist Party's plans for the year, saying a 5% target for economic growth is within reach after a strong start to the year BEIJING -- China has plenty of room to maneuver to attain its annual target for robust economic growth of about 5% after a strong start for the year, top economic officials said Wednesday, though they acknowledged it's a challenge. China’s exports rose about 10% in the first two months of the year from a year earlier, while medium- and long-term loans from banks jumped more than 30%, said China’s top planning official, Zheng Shanjie, who heads the National Development and Reform Commission. Zheng said the priority will be on “supporting scientific and technological innovation, integrated development of urban and rural regions, food security and energy security, among other areas.” “The potential construction demand in these areas is huge and the investment cycle is long. It’s hard to fully meet needs using existing funding channels and there’s an urgent need to increase support,” he said at a news conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress, China's ceremonial legislature. Premier Li Qiang announced the “around 5%” growth target for the year Tuesday at the opening of the congress, which runs for about a week and mostly just endorses policies set by top leaders of the ruling Communist Party. China's economy, the world's second largest, grew at a 5.2% pace in 2023, but that was from a relatively low pace since it expanded only 3% the year before, one of the lowest rates since the 1970s. Growth of around 5% would be cause for rejoicing in the U.S. and other major economies, but it's moderate for a developing economy with a huge population like China's. Pan Gongsheng, the head of China's central bank, and the other senior economic planners speaking on the sidelines of the congress said Beijing has more policy tools it can turn to, such as reducing the reserve ratio requirement, or the amount of funds banks must keep in reserves. They emphasized Beijing’s determination to put 1 trillion yuan (about $140 billion) in special, ultra long-term bonds to productive use to upgrade industries and advance technologies in key areas such as clean energy. The market for modernizing factory equipment amounts to about 5 trillion yuan (nearly $700 billion), Zheng said. That compares with the $649 billion the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden says private companies have committed to investing in such areas as clean energy, electric vehicles and semiconductors and electronics. Despite robust growth in China's exports in the first two months of the year, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said global demand may remain muted given the recent trend toward protectionist measures. Trade in goods and services rose a mere 0.2% in 2023, according to the World Trade Organization, and will increase this year but not to levels seen before the pandemic. China's own exports fell last year, adding to drags on the economy from weak consumer demand and a downturn in the property market, a major contributor to demand for construction, appliances and many other industries. China plans to do more to promote exports of higher-value products and to support smaller and mid-sized companies in tapping world markets, he said. “We are confident about consolidating the fundamentals of foreign trade and foreign investment,” Wang said. To help spur more consumer spending, an increasingly important driver for growth as China becomes wealthier, the government plans to use tax policies and other incentives to encourage families to scrap their older vehicles, replace aging appliances and redecorate their apartments, the officials said. In other comments, the chairman of China's Securities Regulatory Commission, Wu Qing, acknowledged intervening in the financial markets at times when authorities deemed it necessary. China's stock markets languished from late last year, though they have recovered somewhat in recent weeks following a crackdown on price manipulation and insider trading among other confidence-boosting measures. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is still 20% below where it stood a year ago, while the Shanghai Composite index has lost 8.5% at a time when many other world markets are breaching record highs. “Normally there should be no intervention in the markets, but at times when they sharply deviate from fundamentals, show irrational and severe volatility, an extreme lack of liquidity, market panics or a severe lack of confidence, we should act decisively to correct market failures,” Wu said. ___ Research assistants Yu Bing and Chen Wanqing contributed to this report.
College athletes will need school approval for NIL deals under bill passed by Utah Legislature None - College athletes in Utah who are looking to profit off their name, likeness and image will have to seek written approval from their school for any business deal exceeding $600 SALT LAKE CITY -- College athletes in Utah who are looking to profit off their name, image and likeness will have to seek written approval from their schools for any business deal exceeding $600 under a bill that received final legislative approval on Friday. The policy giving Utah universities more control over student-athletes' marketing partnerships, known as NIL deals, passed by a 21-7 vote in the state Senate on the final day of the 2024 legislative session after the House approved it last month with little opposition. It now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, who said on Friday that he supports the bill. Under the measure, universities will be required to provide written acknowledgment on whether an NIL deal conflicts with the school’s policies or the standards outlined in the bill. Starting May 1, student-athletes will be prohibited from promoting alcohol, marijuana, controlled substances or tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and vapes. Gambling and sports-betting are off-limits too, as are “sexually oriented” businesses that pay employees for full or partial nudity. Athletes cannot promote any firearm that they cannot legally possess. Before this year, Utah stayed on the sidelines while more 30 states passed legislation regulating NIL deals in light of a 2021 decision by the National Collegiate Athletics Association to lift its ban on student-athletes cashing in on their celebrity. Several of those states have since clashed in court with the NCAA over who has the authority to regulate those deals. Rep. Jordan Teuscher, a South Jordan Republican and the bill's primary sponsor, said it's time for Utah lawmakers to jump into legislating what he called “the wild, wild West” of student-athlete endorsements. While the policy brings Utah in line with an NCAA requirement that athletes inform their schools of large NIL deals, it goes a step beyond by requiring schools to sign off on those agreements. Opponents have argued that because NIL deals are between the student and a third party, neither the university nor the state should have a say in them. The high value of some local NIL deals came into view in December 2023 when University of Utah basketball players and gymnasts began pulling up to class in flashy new Jeeps and RAM trucks that sell for over $40,000. The students had been offered leased vehicles through an NIL deal with a company called the Crimson Collective. Henrie Walton, an administrator at Utah Tech University who addressed the Legislature on behalf of the state’s universities, said the institutions are “comfortable” with the bill. Teuscher's Senate co-sponsor, Republican Sen. Chris Wilson of Logan, said Friday before the vote that a provision making NIL deals no longer a matter of public record would protect Utah schools' ability to compete in recruiting. As a business owner who has negotiated many NIL contracts, Wilson said entities may be less inclined to enter into such contracts if they are public. The governor agreed, telling reporters Friday night that he hates what NIL deals have done to college sports but sees a need to help Utah schools stay competitive in that changing landscape. “Since NIL is kind of the law of college sports now, we have to be able to participate in that," Cox said. "Our colleges and universities ... have to be able to play in that same sandbox, and we’re at a big competitive disadvantage if other states aren’t required to release the terms of those contracts.” But critics of the bill say the public records exemption would undercut transparency and regulatory efforts. The legislation would undo a ruling by the State Records Committee that said NIL contracts become public records once they’re shared with a university. “If government is going to get in the business of regulating these private agreements, the public has an interest in making sure that they’re performing that regulatory function,” said Jeff Hunt of the Utah Media Coalition, a consortium of news outlets. Another opponent, Sen. Kathleen Riebe, a Cottonwood Heights Democrat who voted against the measure on Friday, has expressed reluctance to restrict student-athletes' ability to benefit from their achievements after state universities have profited off them for years. Earlier Friday, NCAA President Charlie Baker said the organization's board told its enforcement staff to halt all investigations into booster-backed collectives or other third parties making NIL deals with Division I athletes. The move comes a week after the NCAA lost another legal battle in which a federal judge in Tennessee temporarily barred it from enforcing a rule prohibiting third parties from paying recruits to attend a particular school. New NCAA policies approved in January encourage athletes to report all NIL deals so the organization can build its own database, which it says will improve transparency while helping students make informed decisions. The NCAA, which represents some 1,100 schools and more than 500,000 athletes, also wants to compile a registry of agents and companies that work with student-athletes to better protect them from predatory business practices.
Peace, music and memories: As the 1960s fade, historians scramble to capture Woodstock's voices None - BETHEL, N.Y. -- Woodstock didn't even happen in Woodstock. The fabled music festival, seen as one of the seminal cultural events of the 1960s, took place 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) away in Bethel, New York, an even smaller village than Woodstock. It's a fitting misnomer for an event that has become as much legend as reality — and has less to do with location than the memories it evokes about a society's state of mind at the close of a jumbled decade. An estimated 450,000 people converged on a swath of land owned by dairy farmer Max Yasgur to attend an “Aquarian Exposition” promising “three days of peace, love and music" from Aug. 15 to 17, 1969. Most were teenagers or young adults — people now approaching the twilight of their lives in an era where only a small portion of the population has living memories of the 1960s. That ticking clock is why the Museum at Bethel Woods, located on the site of the festival, is immersed in a five-year project to sift facts from the legends and collect firsthand Woodstock memories before they fade away. It's a quest that has taken museum curators on a cross-country pilgrimage to record and preserve the recollections of those who were there. “You need to capture the history from the mouths of the people who had the direct experience," says music journalist Rona Elliot, 77, who has been working as one of the museum's “community connectors.” Elliot has her own stories about the festival; she was there, working with organizers like Michael Lang, who entrusted her with his archives before his death in 2022. Woodstock, says Elliot, is "like a jigsaw puzzle — a panoply of everything that happened in the '60s.” Woodstock attendees have done hundreds of interviews through the decades, particularly on major festival anniversaries. But the Bethel Woods museum is plunging deeper with a project that began in 2020, relying on techniques similar to those of the late historian Studs Terkel, who produced hundreds of oral histories about what it was like to live through the Great Depression and World War II. “There is a difference between someone being interviewed for a paper or a documentary and having an oral history catalogued and preserved in a museum,” says Neal Hitch, senior curator and director of the Museum At Bethel Woods. “We had to go to people where they are. If you just call someone on the phone, they aren't quite sure what to say when we ask you to tell us about these personal, private memories from a festival when they may have been 18 or 19.” To find and meet people willing to tell their Woodstock tales, the museum received grants totaling more than $235,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services — enough money to pay for curators and community connectors such as Elliot to travel the country and record the stories. The odyssey began in Santa Fe, New Mexico — home to the Hog Farm that provided hippie volunteers such as Hugh “Wavy Gravy” Romney and Lisa Law to help feed the Woodstock crowd. Museum curators have traveled to Florida, hopped on a “Flower Power” cruise ship and visited Columbus, Ohio, before making a California swing earlier this year that included a San Francisco community center located near the former homes of festival performers Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. Richard Schoellhorn, now 77, made the trip from his Sebastopol, California, home to San Francisco to discuss his experience at Woodstock. He was initially hired to be a security guard at the ticketing booth when the festival was supposed to occur in Wallkill, New York, before a community backlash prompted a late switch to the Bethel site. Schoellhorn still reported for work in Bethel, only to promptly discover his services weren't going to be needed because the festival became so overwhelmed that organizers stopped selling tickets. “I was walking around at Woodstock and Hugh Romney comes up to me and says, ‘Are you working?’" Schoellhorn recalled to The Associated Press before sitting down to have his oral history recorded. ”And I go, ‘No, I just got fired!' He goes, ’Well, would you like to volunteer?'” Schoellhorn wound up working in a tent set up to assist people having bad experiences on hallucinogenic drugs they had taken. He wound up getting stoned himself while reveling in the first concert he'd ever attended. “It felt like everyone was in the same freaking boat,” Schoellhorn said. “There wasn’t like one section where people were rich. Nobody was special there, right from the get-go.” Before attending Woodstock, Schoellhorn said he was a loner intent on pursuing a career in marketing. After Woodstock, he became so extroverted that he wound up living in a Colorado commune for several years before spending 35 years as a dialysis technician. Another Woodstock attendee, Akinyele Sadiq, also came to see the curators in San Francisco to excavate his memories of watching the festival from 25 feet (7.6 meters) away from the stage. Although the festival wasn't supposed to begin until a Friday, Sadiq departed on a Bethel-bound bus on a Wednesday. When the bus broke down, he hitched a ride that delivered him to the festival site by noon Thursday, allowing him to claim a spot so near the stage that he is visible in photos taken during the performances. By the time he left Bethel a few days later, in a hearse that a fellow festival-goer had converted into a van, Sadiq had changed. “Before Woodstock, I didn't have real direction. I basically didn't have a lot of friends, but I knew I was looking for peace and justice and wanted to be with creative people who were looking to make the world a better place,” Sadiq, now 72, told the AP before having his oral history recorded. “Before Woodstock, if you were living in a little town, you thought there might be a dozen people out there you might be able to get along with. But then you realized there was at least a half a million of us. It just gave me hope.” Hitch says curators have heard many life-changing experiences while collecting more than 500 oral histories so far and are convinced they will amass even more during the next year. Community connectors hit Florida last month and are heading to Boston in March and New York City in early April. That will be followed by return trips to New Mexico and Southern California. The museum intends to focus on finding and interviewing festival attendees scattered across New York state, where Hitch estimates roughly half the Woodstock crowd still lives. The museum will spend 2025 combing through the oral histories before turning to special projects such as reuniting friends who attended the festival together but now live in different parts of the country. Elliot is convinced — “both karmically and cosmically” — that the oral history project is something she was meant to do. “I want this to be a teaching tool," she says. “I don't want historians telling the story of a spiritual event that just appeared to be a musical event."
Dow closes above 38,000 for 1st time, setting record high None - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 38,000 for the first time on Monday, setting a record high and capping a steady rise that stretches back to last week. The S &P 500 also reached a record high, closing at about 4,850. The tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up to 15,360 by the end of trading on Monday. The major stock indexes kicked off the year with sluggish performance but began to turn upward in the middle of last week. The recent surge follows a stellar showing for markets in 2023, driven in large part by optimism about the prospects for a "soft landing," in which inflation comes down to normal levels while the economy avoids a recession. Investor enthusiasm about AI also helped drive returns. The market rally in recent days could owe in part to expectations among some investors of interest rate cuts at the Federal Reserve as soon as March. Interest rate cuts would lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, potentially triggering a burst of economic activity through greater household spending and company investment. But the Fed risks a rebound of inflation if it cuts interest rates too quickly, since stronger consumer demand could lead to an acceleration of price increases. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said early last week the central bank expects to cut rates this year, but that it won't be "rushed" to make the decision soon. Those remarks helped send treasury yields soaring and major stock indexes tumbling. Since then, however, the stock market has climbed. The market rally coincided with a consumer survey released by the University of Michigan on Friday showing that confidence soared 13% in January, reaching its highest level since July 2021.
Fed's Powell: Rate cuts likely this year, but more evidence is needed that inflation is tamed None - Chair Jerome Powell reinforced his belief that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate this year but said it first wants to see more evidence that inflation is falling sustainably back to the Fed’s 2% target Fed's Powell: Rate cuts likely this year, but more evidence is needed that inflation is tamed WASHINGTON -- Chair Jerome Powell reinforced his belief Wednesday that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate this year but said it first wants to see more evidence that inflation is falling sustainably back to the Fed’s 2% target. Powell's comments to a House committee largely echoed those he made at a news conference Jan. 31. Since then, however, government reports have shown that inflation picked up from December to January, and hiring accelerated. Those signs suggested that the economy remains hot and that the process of further slowing inflation will likely be uneven from month to month. But Powell did not express concern about the inflation data. Instead, he noted that according to the Fed's preferred gauge, inflation “has eased notably over the past year” even though it remains above the central bank's target. On the first of his two days of semi-annual testimony to Congress, Powell also suggested that the Fed faces two risks: Cutting rates too soon — which could “result in a reversal of progress” in reducing inflation — or cutting them “too late or too little,” which could weaken the economy and hiring. The effort to balance those two risks marks a shift from early last year, when the Fed was still rapidly raising its benchmark rate to combat high inflation. The financial markets are consumed with divining the timing of the Fed’s first cut to its benchmark rate, which stands at a 23-year high of about 5.4%. A rate reduction would likely lead, over time, to lower rates for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and many business loans. Most analysts and investors expect a first rate cut in June, though May remains possible. Fed officials, after meeting in December, projected that they would cut rates three times this year. In his remarks Wednesday, Powell offered no hints on the potential timing of rate cuts. Wall Street traders put the likelihood of a rate cut in June at 69%, according to futures prices, up slightly from about 64% a week ago. The Fed chair’s testimony to the House Financial Services Committee coincides with intensified efforts by the Biden administration to stem public frustration with inflation, which erupted three years ago and has left average prices well above where they were before. President Joe Biden’s bid for re-election will pivot in no small part on voter perceptions of his handling of inflation and the overall economy. The administration is trying to crack down on what it calls unjustified price hikes by many large companies. Biden recently attacked “shrinkflation,” whereby a company shrinks the contents of a product rather than raise its price. The president has also sought to limit so-called “junk fees,” which in effect raise the prices that consumers pay. At Wednesday's hearing, some Democrats on the committee called for the Fed to start reducing its benchmark rate soon to help lower mortgage rates and make homes more affordable. “We need the Fed to start cutting, because like the rent, interest rates are too damn high,” said Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. On a separate topic, Powell replied to a question by saying the Fed will likely alter a central bank proposal that would toughen bank regulation by requiring the 32 largest banks to hold additional capital — assets similar to cash — against potential lending losses. The biggest banks have criticized the proposal, released last summer, arguing that it would force the banks to reduce lending and would slow the economy as a result. “I do expect there will be broad and material changes to the proposal,” Powell said. “I’m confident that the final product will be one that does have broad support both at the Fed and in the broader world,” he added, acknowledging that some Fed officials opposed the proposal when it was first released. Just before the hearing, Republicans on the committee denounced the proposed rule and urged the Fed to withdraw it. Powell said the central bank would consider pulling it and re-issuing an amended version. “Given the impact that the flawed proposal would have on the banking industry and the American economy, your agencies must provide greater clarity on what your plans are moving forward,” said the letter, signed by Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the chairman of the committee, and its 28 other Republican members. Overall inflation has steadily cooled, having measured at just 2.4% in January compared with a year earlier, according to the Fed’s preferred gauge, down from a peak of 7.1% in 2022. Yet recent economic data have complicated the picture and clouded the outlook for rate cuts. Under questioning at the hearing about what more evidence the Fed needed to feel confident that inflation is coming under control, Powell said the policymakers want to see further data similar to what was reported in the second half of last year. Over the past six months, prices have risen at a 2.5% annual rate, not far above the Fed's target. “We don't want to have a situation where where it turns out that the six months of good inflation data we had last year didn’t turn out to be an accurate signal of where underlying inflation is,” he said. The Fed chair added that with the economy healthy and unemployment low, “we think we can and should be careful” in deciding when to cut the central bank's benchmark rate. Powell also underscored that the Fed's policymakers believe they are done raising rates, which are likely high enough to restrain the economy and inflation. He stressed that the Fed's rapid rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 haven't led to higher unemployment. And under questioning, he added that he foresees little chance of a recession, which a year ago was widely predicted by most economists. “There's no reason to think the U.S. economy is in some kind of short-term risk of falling into recession,” Powell said.
Target posts hefty fourth quarter profit but sales suggest Americans remain cautious None - Target, looking for ways to reverse a sales malaise, is getting into Amazon territory: the paid membership game NEW YORK -- Target, looking for ways to reverse a sales malaise, is getting into Amazon territory: the paid membership game. The Minneapolis discounter said Tuesday the new paid program, called Target Circle 360, will offer unlimited free same-day delivery in as little as an hour for orders over $35 and free two-day shipping. It will launch with a special offer for new members for $49 per year from April 7 through May 18. After that, it will cost $99 per year. But Target Circle credit card holders can sign up for the lower price anytime. The discounter said its current Target Circle program has more than 100 million members who shop and spend more than five times more than non-members. The launch of a new paid program was one of several moves announced at Target's annual investors’ meeting that aim to rejuvenate sales and traffic. The discounter also said it will refresh its stores and expand its highly successful store-owned brands. And over the next decade, the chain will build more than 300 new stores. The meeting came as the latest financial results show Target’s shoppers remain cautious about spending on discretionary items as they're squeezed by inflation and high borrowing and credit card costs. The company reported its first annual decline in sales — 1.7% — in seven years. Target delivered a 58% increase in fourth-quarter profits and handily beat Wall Street expectations as the retailer cut costs and maintained a lean inventory during the critical holiday season. Revenue rose slightly in the latest quarter from a year ago and also topped projections. But comparable sales — those from stores or digital channels operating at least 12 months — slipped 4.4%. The declines, however, slowed compared with the previous two quarters. Target offered a cautious outlook on sales and profits, indicating sales won't rebound quickly. Still, shares rose by 12%, or $18.09, to close at $168.58. “This is a unique moment to clarify our roadmap for growth,” Target’s CEO Brian Cornell told investors at the meeting in Manhattan. “We are going to be razor-focused on taking market share.” Target is more vulnerable than Walmart and other big box discounters. More than half of its annual sales come from discretionary items like toys, fashion and electronic gadgets, things that many Americans have pulled back on buying. Even luxury shoppers have remained discerning. Upscale department store Nordstrom announced fourth-quarter sales results Tuesday that were above analysts' expectations, but it said its sales could decline in the current year. But Target has also stumbled because of its own mistakes. For several quarters, it had to right its inventory levels after being burdened with heavily stocked warehouses in the summer of 2022. The inventory glut forced it to discount heavily to clear out those goods. Target has been trying to strike the right balance between offering value while also infusing its stores with trendy goods. Last month, the retailer launched a new collection called Dealworthy which features nearly 400 everyday basics like socks and small gadgets starting at less than $1, with most items under $10. At the same time, Target's deal, struck last year, with designer Kendra Scott to offer exclusive collections of earrings, necklaces has resonated with shoppers. So has its new kitchenware brand under the discounter's own label Figmint. As for its loyalty programs, Target said it saw a need to make its free Target Circle program easier to use. So members will see deals applied automatically at checkout so they don't have to search for or add individual offers. Target also renamed its Target RedCard credit card program to Target Circle to make it easier for credit card holders to access Target Circle benefits like an extra 5% discount instantly on top of the Target Circle deals. It's also allowing credit cardholders to get an extra 30 days to return an item on top of the regular 90-day window. In comparison, an Amazon Prime membership, launched in 2005, now costs $15 a month or $139 annually and includes free streaming of its Amazon Video, among other perks. Meanwhile, with Walmart paid membership program called Walmart Plus, launched in 2020, members get free shipping for $12.95 per month or $98 per year. Target told investors it was considering a number of perks to add to the paid program, but it was going to listen to what shoppers want. When asked how Target could compete with Amazon's Prime Membership juggernaut, Cornell told The Associated Press that “it's not like we’re starting from scratch.” He noted the company is tapping into the “power of Target brand and the Target Circle brand.” Target reported net income of $1.38 billion, or $2.98 per share, for the three-month period ended Feb. 3. That compared with $876 million, or $1.89 per share, for the year-ago period. The bottom-line results for the latest quarter well surpassed estimates of $2.42 per share, according to FactSet. Revenue rose 1.7% to $31.92 billion, above projections of $31.83 billion. Traffic for both stores and online combined fell 1.7% during the latest quarter, but that was an improvement from the 4.1% drop in the third quarter. For the current quarter, Target expects a comparable sales decline of 3% to 5%, in line with analysts' estimates for a 3.6% drop. It forecast adjusted earning per share to be in the range or $1.70 to $2.10. Analysts expect $2.08 per share. For the full year, Target anticipates comparable sales unchanged to up 2%. Adjusted earnings per share should range from $8.60 to $9.60, Target said. Analysts are expecting $9.15 per share, according to FactSet.
State of the Union will be 'biggest stage' Biden will have until the election None - State of the Union will be 'biggest stage' Biden will have until the election President Biden’s State of the Union address comes at a critical time for the country – and his reelection campaign. Symone Sanders-Townsend, Mark McKinnon, and Erika Andiola break down the stakes.March 7, 2024
Joe: Far-right invented Christian nationalism, and it gets more extreme every week None - Joe: Far-right invented Christian nationalism, and it gets more extreme every week Senate Republicans in February blocked legislation that would protect nationwide access to in vitro fertilization. Joe Scarborough discusses how how the far-right invented Christian nationalism and why it won't stop at IVF.March 7, 2024