Prices rose more than expected in January, according to newly released federal inflation data.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday released its Consumer Price Index, a key marker of inflation, which reported that prices rose 0.3% last month.
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American companies are reversing the multiyear trend of hiring more employees in roles related to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues in an effort to increase profitability and address investor pushback, according to The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. companies shed 3,071 employees with positions related to ESG in December while only adding 2,897, continuing the trend that has been seen in half of the months in the last year of a net loss of ESG positions, according to the WSJ. The shift is in response to investors pulling their funds from companies heavily involved in ESG practices and placing their money in firms where they can get higher returns.
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Investors flush with cash are looking to buy up commercial real estate properties that developers are putting on the market at deep discounts as companies struggle to pay debts, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Many investment firms are looking to buy up discounted real estate after stacking up cash during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Ares Management, which is buying up 3 million square feet of office space with offers to buy up assets related to $500 million in high-priority property debt, according to the WSJ. Commercial real estate is facing around $2.81 trillion in loans that are set to expire through 2028 at a time when the industry is struggling with low demand and huge debt costs from high interest rates.
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The potential sale of one of America’s largest domestic steel producers, U.S. Steel, has raised eyebrows among lawmakers in key battleground states and even garnered the attention of the White House.
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New Jersey, California, New York, Texas and Illinois face a hundred billion plus deficit when it comes to paying for the benefits other than pensions promised to state retirees.
The State of New Jersey’s unfunded liability for post-retirement benefits other than pensions in state health care plans reached $174.9 billion in 2022. That was the highest in the country, according to a report by the American Legislative Exchange Council. The report stated the nationwide costs of state-sponsored post-retirement benefits reached $1.14 trillion in 2022.
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President Joe Biden was mocked by conservatives on Sunday for a video he released ahead of the Super Bowl which derided “shrinkflation,” when manufacturers lower the size or quantity of items included for a given price without informing the consumer as a result of inflation, with pundits uniformly reminding the embattled president that his inflationary policies preceded the shrinkflation.
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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the ongoing surge in immigration, both legal and illegal, will put “downward pressure” on inflation-adjusted wages through 2034, according to a recently released report.
The downward effect on real wages will continue until 2027, at which point it will “partially reverse,” with immigration still expected to cause average real wages to be lower in 2034 than they otherwise would be, according to CBO. CBO did predict some positive impacts of immigration, as well, such as increased GDP growth and an expanded labor force.
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Mexico supplied the United States with a higher volume of goods than China in 2023, according to annual data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) published on Wednesday.
The U.S. imported about $427.2 billion worth of goods from China, whereas imports from Mexico reached around $475.6 billion, according to the data. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China persist as America continues to impose sanctions and tariffs while the two countries engage in a race to develop artificial intelligence technology.
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American billionaires bankrolled an activist campaign targeting liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals that influenced the White House’s decision to pause new and pending approvals for the projects, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The philanthropic organizations of the Rockefeller family and Democratic megadonor Michael Bloomberg cumulatively provided millions of dollars to activists who pressured Biden administration officials to crack down on LNG export hubs over the past several years, according to the WSJ. The activists ultimately got their way on Jan. 26, when the White House announced that the administration would pause new project approvals as the Department of Energy (DOE) widens the scope of its reviews to include climate impacts of LNG export terminals alongside considerations like national security and economic benefits.
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U.S. companies are conducting full-scale audits and shifting “focus” after multiple reports revealed child immigrants were working in increasingly dangerous conditions, according to The New York Times.
In 2023, the Department of Labor opened an investigation into companies like Lucky Charms and Cheetos after reports of immigrant children working in dangerous conditions while thousands of children have crossed over into the U.S. in the last several years. Many other companies, including McDonald’s, Whole Foods, Costco and more, have announced that they are conducting full audits to prevent migrant children from working in dangerous conditions, according to the NYT.
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