President Biden announced a new slate of judicial nominations on Wednesday, bringing his total picks for the federal bench to 32 judges since taking office this year.
The White House touted the nominations list as fulfilling the president’s promise of making the federal judiciary more diverse, noting that Ms. Sung would be the first Asian American and Pacific Islander judge from Oregon on the 9th Circuit and Mr. Bonilla would be the first Hispanic judge on the Court of Federal Claims.
Employers are paying up to address labor shortages
Source: axios
2 hours ago - Economy & Business
Employers are doing what they have to do to address persistent labor shortages: They’re offering more money.
Why it matters: The reopening of the U.S. economy is fueling demand for goods and services. But businesses have struggled to meet that demand because current pay rates aren’t attracting the qualified applicants that employers want.
By the numbers: The June jobs report on Friday showed average hourly earnings were up 0.3% month over month in June.
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What they’re saying: "Getting workers back to the job site has not come cheap," Wells Fargo senior economist Sarah House writes. "Employers have had to pony up in industries where shortages have been particularly acute."
Lower-wage industries, like leisure, hospitality and retail, which combine to employ 30 million people, reported strong gains.
Leisure, hospitality and retail accounted for 49% of the 850,000 jobs added in June.
Global chip shortage: Samsung forecasts 53% jump in quarterly profit
8 hours ago
Tech giant Samsung Electronics has said it expects its quarterly profit to rise by 53% amid a global chip shortage.
The world's biggest memory-chip and smartphone maker forecast operating profit of $11bn (£8bn) for the three months to the end of June.
It said strong demand for memory chips had offset weaker sales of devices due to the shortage of components.
A year ago, in the first few months of the pandemic, Samsung saw sales of products such as phones and TVs slump.
Since then demand for electronics components has surged as people shifted more of their lives online, while many chip makers struggled to keep up with demand.
The coronavirus pandemic transformed the way we work almost overnight, most notably in the fact that for millions of Americans, cubicles and commutes disappeared from their way of life.
Yet there’s another, just as significant, change that could be happening to work — how much we do of it — and an overseas development could point the way.
Around 85% of workers in Iceland are currently, or on the way to, working four days a week instead of five. And even though they’re spending less time at their jobs, their pay hasn’t declined, according to new research by Autonomy, a U.K.-based think tank focused on labor’s future.
What has changed is workers’ productivity and well-being. They have actually gone up.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
Revolut becomes UK’s biggest fintech firm with £24bn valuation
Thu 15 Jul 2021
The banking and payments app Revolut has become the most valuable British fintech firm on record after a fresh funding round pushed its valuation to $33bn.
The company, founded by the former Lehman Brothers trader Nik Storonsky in 2015, announced on Thursday that it had raised $800m (£579m) from new investors Tiger Global Management and the major Japanese investment group SoftBank, which now hold a near 5% stake in the business.
It means the London-headquartered company is worth $33bn (£24bn), which is six times higher than last year, when it was valued at $5.5bn.
The news comes almost a month after Revolut revealed that its losses almost doubled last year to £207m despite cashing in on the cryptocurrency boom.
The banking app originally launched as a pre-paid card focused on offering free currency exchange to customers in 2015. It has since expanded to 34 other countries and adding business accounts, investments and wage advance to its financial services. It holds an EU banking licence but is still awaiting similar approval in the UK.
Florida asks Supreme Court to block CDC's limits on cruise ship industry
Source: The Hill
Florida's attorney general on Friday asked the Supreme Court to block federal health restrictions placed on the cruise ship industry amid the pandemic.
In a 31-page brief, Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) argued that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) limits exceed the agency's authority under federal law.
"The statute grants the CDC limited powers to enact traditional quarantine measures," the brief states. "It does not permit the agency to remake the entire cruise-ship industry."
The request was filed to Justice Clarence Thomas, who handles emergency matters arising from Florida and surrounding states and who can act on the application alone or refer the matter to the rest of the justices.
Strike at Frito-Lay ends as union members ratify contract
Source: AP
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Union members at the Frito-Lay plant in Topeka have approved a new contract and will return to work Monday, ending a nearly three-week strike at the plant, union officials said.
Members of Local 218 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union approved the contract Friday. It gives all union members a 4% pay raise over two years and guarantees workers at least one day off each week, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
More than 500 of the 850 employees represented by the union went on strike on July 5, complaining of a toxic work environment, forced overtime and a lack of pay raises.
Workers said the shifts were caused by a severe staffing shortage at the plant.
Senate Banking Chair Asks Consumer Finance Protection Bureau How It Plans to Address Risks of Chime and Other Banking Apps
by Carson Kessler
July 27, 2021
(ProPublica) Citing a ProPublica report on the high numbers of complaints about involuntary Chime account closures and other problems, Sherrod Brown asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to lay out a plan for overseeing neobanks.
The chair of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee is calling for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to evaluate the risks associated with apps that provide banking services, citing ProPublica’s article on Chime, the most widely downloaded of those apps.
In a letter sent today, Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, wrote to the CFPB’s acting director, Dave Uejio, stating that “Chime’s abrupt, involuntary closures of its customers’ accounts” call for further “insight into the risks posed by nonbanks to consumers as well as the measures the Bureau is taking to address the risks by nonbank fintech companies and their affiliated banks.”
The letter asserted that “Chime’s account closures may increase the number of people in this country who do not have access to the financial services” they need. Being shut out of a banking app, the letter noted, “can cause lasting damage” to a person’s financial condition.
Earlier this month, ProPublica reported that Chime, which provides checking and savings accounts via an app — but isn’t actually a bank — has racked up an unusually large number of consumer complaints about locked accounts, inaccessible funds and slow resolution time. At the time of that article’s publication, Chime customers had filed 920 complaints with the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since April 15, 2020. Customers had also filed 4,439 complaints against Chime at the Better Business Bureau, compared to 3,281 for Wells Fargo, a bank with six times as many customers
Walmart now offering free college tuition and books to its 1.5 million U.S. employees
Source: Washington Post
Walmart will begin offering free college tuition and books to its 1.5 million U.S. employees, the latest effort by the country’s largest private employer to attract and retain workers in a tight labor market.
The retail giant said Tuesday that it will invest nearly $1 billion over the next five years in career training and development programs for workers who want to pursue majors in high-demand fields, such as business administration, supply chain and cybersecurity. The company had previously required its Walmart and Sam’s Club workforce to pay $1 a day to participate in the program....
Walmart’s Live Better U education program, which will be free beginning Aug. 16, was created three years ago to help employees advance within the company. Workers can choose from 10 academic partners, including the University of Arizona, the University of Denver, Purdue University Global and Southern New Hampshire University. More than 52,000 employees have participated and 8,000 have graduated since 2018.
“Our education offerings tie directly to our growth areas at Walmart, and what better way to fill the pipeline of future talent than with our own associates,” Stomski said.
Infrastructure Deal Puts Cryptocurrencies in Washington's Cross Hairs
Source: MSN/NY Times
WASHINGTON — In a hunt for funds to help pay for the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure package, lawmakers have turned to the cryptocurrency industry as a potential source of tax revenue and are proposing tougher scrutiny of digital transactions.
A provision of the package would require cryptocurrency brokers and investors to provide more disclosure about their transactions to the Internal Revenue Service. The aim is to bring more transparency to an opaque sector, which critics argue is a haven for money laundering and tax evasion. But the provision also underscores the realization in Washington that the $2 trillion industry is here to stay and offers a new opportunity to generate federal tax revenue.
By strengthening tax enforcement on such digital assets, the federal government could raise $28 billion over a decade, according to an estimate by the Joint Committee on Taxation, which analyzed the plan. While that would be just a small fraction of the $550 billion that lawmakers have proposed in new federal spending on infrastructure, it is among the few fresh sources of revenue included in the plan.
The potential for more federal scrutiny of crypto transactions is rattling nerves in the nascent financial technology industry, which has so far escaped the kind of rigorous oversight applied to traditional financial services.
The hopes for recovery from the pandemic fell flat with the resurgence of the new Delta variant. As the new Covid-19 cases rise across the globe, market investors and economists fear sloppy economic growth.
First identified in India, Delta is now dominant in the U.K. and several other countries, including Germany, Italy, and France. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the variant is detected in 96 countries. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified it as a variant ‘of concern’ and said delta accounts for 20% of all covid cases in the U.S.
There has been uncertainty and doubts over the economic recuperation ever since the delta made its way.
A week ago, IHS Markit survey of American businesses reported that the new variant played a part in weighing on June factory output, particularly “in various emerging Asian economies.”
Chris Williamson, the chief business economist at IHS Markit, says, “The Delta variant poses a major risk to the outlook. Not only have rising case numbers led to a slide in business optimism to the lowest since February, but further Covid waves around the world could also lead to further global supply-chain delays.”
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
Amazon union election results should be scrapped over improprieties, NLRB officer recommends
Source: Washington Post
SEATTLE — Amazon improperly pressured Alabama warehouse workers to vote against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and should hold a new union election, according to recommendations from National Labor Relations Board hearing officer. The NLRB hasn’t released the decision, but the union put out a statement saying the recommendation went in its favor. The NLRB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The recommendation stems from the fiercely contested election at a warehouse that ended in April with a resounding defeat for the union. Workers rejected unionization by more than 2-to-1, a loss for both the RWDSU and labor groups broadly. During the nearly two-month mail-in balloting, the union drew support from leaders at the AFL-CIO as well as progressive politicians nationally including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting-rights advocate Stacey Abrams.
The recommendation will now move to the NLRB’s regional director in Atlanta, which oversaw the election, to issue a ruling. That decision could take several weeks, according to the agency. “Throughout the NLRB hearing, we heard compelling evidence how Amazon tried to illegally interfere with and intimidate workers as they sought to exercise their right to form a union,” union president Stuart Appelbaum said in a statement. “We support the hearing officer’s recommendation that the NLRB set aside the election results and direct a new election.”
Ten days after the votes were counted, the RWDSU filed objections to the agency, alleging that Amazon’s tactics “constitute conduct which prevented a free and uncoerced exercise of choice by the employees.” It argued those actions “constitute grounds to set the election aside.” That filing led to a nearly three-week hearing in May at the agency’s Atlanta regional office, which oversaw the election. Several workers appeared via video on the union’s behalf, testifying that Amazon’s tactics created an atmosphere of election surveillance. The union argued that perception tainted the election.
House Dem campaign chief warns the majority at risk without message reboot
Source: Politico
During a closed-door lunch last week with some of his most vulnerable incumbents, House Democrats’ campaign chief delivered a blunt warning: If the midterms were held now, they would lose the majority.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) followed that bleak forecast, which was confirmed by multiple people familiar with the conversation, with new polling that showed Democrats falling behind Republicans by a half-dozen points on a generic ballot in battleground districts. Maloney advised the party to course-correct ahead of 2022 by doing more to promote President Joe Biden’s agenda, which remains popular with swing voters.
“We are not afraid of this data ... We’re not trying to hide this,” Tim Persico, executive director of the Maloney-chaired Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in an interview.
“If [Democrats] use it, we’re going to hold the House. That’s what this data tells us, but we gotta get in action,” he added.
The Dems can't reboot their message because they're the boring corporate party that just happens to have liberal social ideas. If they swing towards Bernie's end, their donors will get upset. What the Dems need is a Teddy Roosevelt-like strongman.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
Budget office: Infrastructure bill adds $256B to deficits
Source: AP
By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearing decision time, senators are wrapping up work on the bipartisan infrastructure plan and talks were underway late Thursday to expedite consideration and voting on the nearly $1 trillion proposal.
The package appeared on track for eventual Senate passage, a rare accord between Republicans and Democrats joining on a shared priority that also is essential to President Joe Biden’s agenda. But the schedule was not set as senators were working into the evening, and voting could still push into the weekend.
A much anticipated analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office concluded that the legislation would increase deficits by about $256 billion over the next decade. Senators wanted that information before voting.
As senators proposed more changes to the package, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said those amendments would need to be considered, and then “we’ll be able to begin to wind things down.”
(Vox) Starting next week, General Motors is again halting the assembly lines of several pickup truck plants because the company doesn’t have enough computer chips. The plants had been back up and running for just a week following a shutdown in July, which was also caused by the chip shortage.
These production halts may not stop anytime soon. “I do think we’ll continue to see impact this year, and it will have a tail into next year,” warned CEO Mary Barra on Wednesday. And Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger similarly predicted last month that things won’t get back to normal for at least a year or two.
Now, the impact of the supply crunch is spreading to consumer tech. Apple CEO Tim Cook warned last week that a limited supply of semiconductors would hurt sales of iPhones. Microsoft is struggling to make enough Xbox consoles and Surface laptops. Elon Musk told a court last month that the chip shortage meant Tesla would only be able to manufacture about half as many Powerwall home batteries as it thinks it can sell. One San Francisco sex toy company even stockpiled microcontrollers to fend off future supply chain problems.
It’s clear that the global chip shortage shows no sign of abating anytime soon. In fact, it seems to be getting worse. While the White House is racing to expand chip manufacturing in the US to avoid future shortages, it could be years before that government investment actually pays off for consumers. So for now, the chip industry will continue to be hampered by the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, as products ship with missing features and higher prices — often after long delays.
Biden administration plans tougher action to rein in meat prices
Source: Reuters
By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration plans to take a tougher stance toward meatpacking companies it says are causing sticker shock at grocery stores.
Four companies control much of the U.S. meat processing market, and top aides to President Joe Biden blamed those companies for rising food prices in a blog on Wednesday.
As part of a set of initiatives, the administration will funnel $1.4 billion in COVID-19 pandemic stimulus money to small meat producers and workers, administration aides said in the blog post. They also promised action to "crack down on illegal price fixing," White House aides said in the blog post.
Four companies slaughtered about 85% of U.S. grain-fattened cattle that are made into steaks, beef roasts and other cuts of meat for consumers in 2018, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Feds fine Wells Fargo $250 million for 'unsafe or unsound' home lending practices
Source: AP
Wells Fargo has been fined $250 million by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for “unsafe or unsound practices” related to the bank’s home lending business, according to the bank and the agency Thursday.
The OCC, Wells Fargo’s top federal banking regulator, imposed the penalty on the bank for misconduct “related to material deficiencies regarding the bank’s loss mitigation activities” and violations of a 2018 consent order issued by the agency, according to OCC documents.
The 2018 order required the bank to take a variety of actions to account for deficiencies in its risk management program, including creating a new risk management plan and forming an independent committee to evaluate its progress. The order addressed misconduct related to mortgage and auto loans, among other violations.
“Building an appropriate risk and control infrastructure has been and remains Wells Fargo’s top priority,” Charlie Scharf, Wells Fargo’s CEO, said in a statement. “The OCC’s actions today point to work we must continue to do to address significant, longstanding deficiencies.”
