Category: Economy

Release from Gasoline Reserve Raises Doubts Biden will Replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Just the News

The Biden Administration announced Tuesday that it would release 42 million gallons of gasoline from the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve. The release, the Department of Energy explained, is “strategically timed and structured to maximize its impact on gas prices.” This will, according to the DOE, help lower prices at the pump during the summer months when prices tend to go up along with demand.

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Illegal Immigration Under Biden Has Contributed to Housing Shortage, Experts Say

South Carolina Sun Staff
Illegal Immigrants

The surge of illegal immigration under President Joe Biden has exacerbated an already costly housing market for average Americans by worsening a shelter shortage, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The U.S. currently has an estimated shortage of 4 million to 7 million homes as developers struggle to keep up with demand amid harsh financial conditions and burdensome regulatory processes, according to Pew Charitable Trusts. Average Americans looking for a home are being squeezed by rising housing costs due to inflation and elevated mortgage rates, but the recent influx of illegal immigrants is putting even more stress on the system by aggravating the current shortage of supply in the housing market at a rate that developers can’t keep up with, according to experts who spoke to the DCNF.

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Luxury Electric Vehicle Maker Becomes Latest in Industry to Announce Huge Layoffs

South Carolina Sun Staff
Lucid Motors

Electric vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Motors announced that the company would be laying off staff in a bid to lower expenses amid a slowdown in the market.

The layoffs will affect 6% of its workforce, equating to around 400 employees, and will trim from all employee levels, including leadership and mid-level management, according to a filing submitted Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Lucid is one of several EV makers to announce layoffs in recent months as consumers decline to adopt the product at the rate expected.

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Former GOP Republican Presidential Candidate Buys Activist Stake in Left-Wing Outlet

South Carolina Sun Staff
Vivek Ramaswamy

Former Republican presidential candidate and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy purchased an activist stake in BuzzFeed, according to a May Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Ramaswamy purchased a 7.7% stake consisting of 2.7 million shares between March 14 and May 21 at costs ranging from $1.47 to $2.51 per share, according to the filing. The businessman asserted in the filing that he feels the company’s shares are “undervalued and represent an attractive investment opportunity.”

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Small Business Owners Lament Inflation

The Center Square
Overwhelmed businessman

As inflation continues to rise this year, small businesses are feeling the pain.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses released a survey of small business owners Tuesday that found the nation’s job creators cite inflation as their top concern more than any other issue.

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Americans are Getting Poorer While Prices Keep Going Up

South Carolina Sun Staff
Shopping

Americans’ real weekly earnings dropped sharply in April and still remain well below their level when President Joe Biden first took office, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Real average weekly earnings fell to $1,191.93 in April, declining by 0.4% in the month and 4.8% compared to the start of Biden’s term in January 2021, according to data calculated by the Daily Caller News Foundation from the BLS. Prices have risen over 19% since Biden first took office and 3.4% in the last year, degrading the value of Americans’ wages.

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Commentary: Solutions for America’s Unhealthy Economy

South Carolina Sun Staff
Worker That Is Stressed

LinkedIn is the worst social media site in existence.

Engaging with literal pornbots on Twitter is less soul-sucking than reading the tone-deaf striver banalities and motivational tripe that festoon the place: “Here are five things I learned about peer-to-peer marketing after proposing to my girlfriend,” etc. 

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Report: Equity Rich Mortgaged Homes See Third Straight Quarterly Decline

The Center Square
Home

The number of mortgaged homes that are equity rich have declined for three consecutive quarters, and the portion of mortgaged homes considered “seriously underwater” increased, according to a new report by ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property and real estate data.

ATTOM’s first-quarter 2024 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report found that 45.8% of mortgaged residential properties in the United States “were considered equity-rich in the first quarter, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loan balances secured by those properties was no more than half of their estimated market values.”

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Washington State County Approves Unincorporated Minimum Wage Hike, Ties National High

The Center Square
Cashier working

The King County Council has approved an ordinance that will increase the minimum wage in unincorporated parts of King County.

The legislation increases minimum wage to a high of $20.29, which ties the cities of Tukwila and Renton for the highest minimum wage in the nation.

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Walmart Cuts Hundreds of Jobs, Requires Remote Workers to Come to the Office

Just the News

Walmart has announced layoffs impacting several hundred jobs at its campus offices and is requiring remote employees to come to the office. 

The retail giant said in a staff memo Tuesday most of the remote workers and personnel in its Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto offices will relocate to its primary offices in Bentonville, Arkansas; Hoboken, New Jersey; and the San Francisco Bay Area.

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