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Read previewLegal challenges by conservative lawmakers and activists against guaranteed basic income programs are heating up nationwide. Guaranteed basic income programs differ from their idealistic cousin — a universal basic income. AdvertisementWhile localized guaranteed basic income programs are tiny compared to a nationwide universal basic income, they are the subject of no less conservative opposition. Local politicians in places like South Dakota and Arizona have moved to block basic income programs for this reason alone. AdvertisementWhile these arguments appear to support giving basic income payments to a broader group of people, it's unlikely many conservatives would actually support a universal basic income.

Persons: —, Andrew Yang, Sam Altman, Republican Sen, John Wiik, Kathryn Blankenberg, Ken Paxton, Paxton, It's Organizations: Service, Business, Republican, Judicial Watch, American Civil Rights, Texas Locations: South Dakota, Arizona, Dakota, San Francisco, Texas, Houston, Harris County

☆ Spain's BBVA announces $13 billion hostile takeover bid for Sabadell
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The headquarters of the Spanish bank BBVA are seen in Madrid, Spain. Spanish bank BBVA on Thursday presented a 12.23 billion euro ($13.11 billion) takeover bid for rival Sabadell directly to shareholders, even though Sabadell's board this week already rejected the proposal on the same terms. BBVA's decision follows Sabadell's board on Monday saying the unsolicited bid significantly undervalued the bank's potential and growth prospects. BBVA, Spain's second-biggest bank by market value after Santander, offered an exchange ratio of 1 newly issued BBVA share for every 4.83 Sabadell shares, a premium of 30% over April 29 closing prices. Spanish banks have been looking for ways to increase revenue as a boost from high interest rates begins to fade.

Persons: Carlos Torres Vila Organizations: BBVA, Sabadell, Banco, Hostile, UBI Banca, Spain's, Santander Locations: Spanish, Madrid, Spain

☆ Warren Buffett says one question posed by AI has stumped economists for a century
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Michelle Castillo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Calling AI profound, Buffet said that the technology is like a "genie" — once it gets let out of the bottle, it could have disastrous effects. It's a question, he said, that has riddled the best economists for a century. Warren Buffett is the first to admit he doesn't know much about artificial intelligence. This rebound has led to questions from corporate executives about factors that could be at play, from AI to return-to-office mandates. "Every company is looking at AI and deciding where it will help them," he said during a recent interview on CNBC's "Money Movers."

Persons: Buffett, Buffet, Warren Buffett, it's, couldn't, John Maynard Keynes, Keynes, Gary Cohn, Cohn, Dev Ittycheria, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Robert Solow, Berkshire Hathaway Organizations: Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Berkshire, IBM, National Economic, CNBC, Nvidia, McKinsey, Harvard Business Locations: Omaha, Berkshire

☆ I'm a former JP Morgan exec who now works to distribute basic income payments to those in need. Here's why I do it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Wole Coaxum is the CEO of MoCaFi, which has distributed over $52 million in basic income payments. I thought, "How can I use my time and talents, which is financial services, to bring an economic justice agenda to the social justice agenda?" Related storyMartin Luther King, Jr. talked about universal basic income and guaranteed basic income just before he passed away, and I feel that we as a company are very fortunate to be standing on the shoulders of others to bring these powerful ideas into the marketplace. Some of them are through MGI, Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. Why is a universal basic income that much different?

Persons: Morgan, —, Wole Coaxum, JP Morgan, Ferguson, Martin Luther King, Jr, they've Organizations: Service, Corporation, JP Locations: Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, MGI

☆ Why car insurance costs are skyrocketing and leading to higher inflation
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Michael Wayland | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

RobertCrum | Getty ImagesDETROIT – Skyrocketing auto insurance costs helped contribute to inflation accelerating at a faster-than-expected pace in March and are adding to the ever more expensive costs for U.S. vehicle owners. Auto insurance costs have been on the rise for some time, growing every month as part of the index since December 2021. However, auto insurance remains a small portion of the CPI, with a 2.85% weighting. watch nowThe insurance cost increases on inflation come more than two years after the Biden administration largely blamed used car prices for pushing inflation higher in January 2022. The cost of vehicle insurance — which is mandatory in almost every state — varies by provider, driver, coverage and location.

Persons: Sean Tucker, Kelley, David Sampson, Sampson, Biden, Mitchell, Power, —, it's, Price, Mark Garrett, — CNBC's Robert Ferris, Jeff Cox Organizations: Getty, DETROIT, U.S, Auto, U.S . Bureau of Labor Statistics, American, Casualty Insurance Association, CNBC, Progressive, Power's U.S . Auto Insurance, State Farm, Liberty Mutual Locations: U.S, Power's U.S, Geico, .

☆ Some people are being given thousands of dollars with no strings attached in universal basic income trials. They mostly spend the cash wisely.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Interest in universal basic income has grown due to the pandemic, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and economic pain. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. AdvertisementYet a common question and concern about UBI remains how people spend the money. Related storiesThe Guaranteed Income Pilots Dashboard , a joint project from the Stanford Basic Income Lab and the Center for Guaranteed Income Research, pulls together data from more than 30 pilot programs in the US involving nearly 8,300 participants. GiveDirectly, a nonprofit, is providing universal basic income to 20,000 people across 200-odd royal villages in Kenya over 12 years.

Persons: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, —, It's, Karl Widerquist, Fabian Wendt, Rebecca Hasdell, UpTogether, Monique Gonzalez, Stephanie Hendon, Widerqist, Matt Bruenig, Douglas MacKay, Chapel Hill, MacKay Organizations: Service, Georgetown University, Qatar, Stanford, Income, Center, Research, UNC, Chapel Locations: Virginia, Kenya, San Antonio , Texas

☆ Buy these 2 global stocks as inflation fades, HSBC says — giving one 85% upside
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As high inflation appears to be waning, a long-neglected set of stocks stands to benefit as consumers settle into a "new normal" of spending, according to HSBC. The investment bank's latest consumer survey suggests positive signs amid the economic uncertainty of the past two years. Inspired by the survey results, HSBC named two companies it sees benefiting from these emerging consumer trends: French video game giant Ubisoft and Swiss travel retailer Avolta . Ubisoft HSBC said its research pointed to resilient consumer spending on video games, which will benefit video game developer Ubisoft . The bank has a buy rating on the stock with a price target of 35 euros ($37.90), representing more than 85% upside from the current share price of around 18.84 euros.

Persons: Paul Rossington, Pankaj Agarwala, Michael Bloom Organizations: HSBC, Ubisoft, Avolta, Ubisoft HSBC, Mar, AAA, U.S Locations: Swiss, U.S

☆ Europe needs bigger banks but mergers hard without banking union -Intesa CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - European banks need to join forces if the region is to withstand competition from the United States and China but without a banking union, cross-border mergers do not make sense, the head of Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) said on Monday. "You need synergies and the area where investors are looking for synergies is cost," he said, adding it was not easy "to deliver real cross-border synergies on the cost side". "I think we'll need to wait for a banking union to see real, significant cross-border consolidation. Orcel last month said Europe was destined to "irrelevance" if it did not work to unify its capital markets and create a banking union that allowed lenders to compete with U.S. rivals and adequately finance the region's economy. Intesa has a 30% market share of deposits and mutual funds, and 20% of insurance products, the CEO said.

Persons: Carlo Messina, Andrea Orcel, Messina, Intesa, Andrea Enria, Valentina Za, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: MILAN, CNBC, U.S, Central Bank's, Thomson Locations: United States, China, Europe, Orcel, Messina, Italy

☆ Universal basic income is working — even in red states
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Michael Venutolo-Mantovani | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

He encourages skeptical taxpayers to look at universal basic income from the same "selfish point of view." Among those who received a basic income in Stockton, California, the unemployment rate dropped by nearly 50%. With more data at hand than theoretical projection, the evidence is overwhelming: Universal basic income is working nearly universally. Promising as these pilot programs are, the chances of a truly universal basic income in America remain remote. As for Tydricka Lewis, basic income afforded her the latitude to start her own nonprofit.

Persons: Tydricka Lewis, she'd, Lewis, North Carolina's, Jack Dorsey, Durham, Dorsey, Mark, Anthony Middleton, Middleton's, it's, Thomas Paine, Huey Long, George McGovern, Andrew Yang, Anna Jefferson, Nick Otto, Jefferson, Middleton, StepUp, UBI, we've, Michael Venutolo, Condé Organizations: North Carolina Central University , Durham, Abt Associates, University of Pennsylvania, Durham's, Excel, KFC, Generation Movement, Durham Bulls, The New York Times, National Geographic, Wired Locations: Durham, North, America, Black, New York City, Denver, Stockton , California, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Columbia, South Carolina, Birmingham , Alabama, Gainesville , Florida, Florida, Gainesville, AFP, Durham County, Washington, Chapel Hill , North Carolina

☆ Universal basic income improved lives in rural Canada when they tried it in the '70s. Here's why the program got scrapped.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-15 | by ( Katie Hawkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A rural Canadian town gave its residents a type of universal basic income for three years. The study can still teach us lessons about the benefits of universal basic income, an expert says. AdvertisementAdvertisementFor four years in the late 1970s, Canada's Manitoba province ran a program called the Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment, or MINCOME. It was a guaranteed annual income program, which typically channels funds to people based on their income. Families with no income from other sources received payments that put them at 60% of the annual income, considered the cut-off for being low-income.

Persons: —, MINCOME, Evelyn Forget, she's, Forget, UBI Organizations: Service, Toronto Star, CTV News, CTV Locations: Manitoba, Dauphin , Manitoba, Canadian, Dauphin, MINCOME, Canada, Unemployment

☆ Denver experimented with giving people $1,000 a month. It reduced homelessness and increased full-time employment, a study found.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Direct cash assistance reduced homelessness and increased employment in Denver, a study found. "Many participants reported that they have used the money to pay off debt, repair their car, secure housing, and enroll in a course," he said. Six months in, most who received money from the project were better off — significantly so, according to researchers at the University of Denver's Center for Housing and Homelessness Research. And the study also relied on participants self-reporting their situations in exchange for payments of up to $30. Smaller cities, such as Santa Fe, have also experimented with cash payments, as have rural areas, including upstate New York.

Persons: —, Mark Donovan, Donovan, Zhao Organizations: Denver, Service, Income, Wooden, Pew Charitable Trust, University of Denver's Center for Housing, Homelessness Research, University of British, Guardian Locations: Denver, Tesla, Sacramento, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Santa Fe, New York, Philadelphia, United States, Vancouver, Canada, University of British Columbia

☆ Microsoft submits new Activision Blizzard takeover deal to British regulator after initial block
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Dado Ruvic | ReutersMicrosoft on Tuesday submitted a new deal for the takeover of Activision Blizzard, offering a spate of concessions after U.K. regulators rejected its initial proposal. Under the restructured deal, Microsoft will not acquire cloud rights for existing Activision PC and console games, or for new games released by Activision during the next 15 years, the CMA said. Regulators previously argued that Microsoft could also take key Activision games, like Call of Duty, and make them exclusive to Xbox and other Microsoft platforms. To cross that line, Microsoft offered concessions, such as offering royalty-free licenses to cloud gaming platforms to stream Activision games, if a consumer has purchased them. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission was fighting a legal battle with Microsoft in an effort to get the Activision takeover scrapped.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Brad Smith Organizations: Activision, Reuters Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Markets Authority, Microsoft, CMA, Redmond, Activision PC, Ubisoft Entertainment, Ubisoft, Netflix, European Union, Federal Trade Commission Locations: U.S, Europe

☆ We tried out Sam Altman's eyeball-scanning Worldcoin orbs. It all felt too low-key to be truly dystopian.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sam Altman's Worldcoin verifies that people are humans using eyeball-scanning orbs. We headed to a shared working space in London to check out the dystopian-sounding tech. If you want to be part of Sam Altman's new crypto project, you'll have to let a shiny silver sphere scan your eyeballs. InsiderWorldcoin was scanning people's eyes out of a shared working space, which gave the dystopian-sounding enterprise a surprisingly low-key feel. We headed to a shared working space in London to check out the dystopian-sounding tech.

Persons: Sam Altman's Worldcoin, Sam Altman's, Altman, Christian Meloni, He's Organizations: Universal Locations: London

July 24 (Reuters) - Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, launched on Monday. Blockchains can store the World IDs in a way that preserves privacy and can't be controlled or shut down by any single entity, co-founder Alex Blania told Reuters. The project says World IDs will be necessary in the age of generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, which produce remarkably humanlike language. Altman told Reuters Worldcoin also can help address how the economy will be reshaped by generative AI. Since only real people can have World IDs, it could be used to reduce fraud when deploying UBI.

Persons: Sam Altman, Alex Blania, Altman, Reuters Worldcoin, ”, UBI, Anna Tong, Juby Babu, Elizabeth Howcroft, Kenneth Li, Navaratnam, Philippa Fletcher Organizations: Humanity, Reuters, Thomson Locations: San Francisco, Berlin

☆ Worldcoin: OpenAI's Sam Altman launches crypto project
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, launched on Monday. Blockchains can store the World IDs in a way that preserves privacy and can’t be controlled or shut down by any single entity, co-founder Alex Blania told Reuters. The project says World IDs will be necessary in the age of generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, which produce remarkably humanlike language. Altman told Reuters Worldcoin also can help address how the economy will be reshaped by generative AI. Since only real people can have World IDs, it could be used to reduce fraud when deploying UBI.

Persons: Sam Altman, Alex Blania, Altman, Reuters Worldcoin, ”, ” Altman, UBI Organizations: Humanity, Reuters Locations: San Francisco, Berlin

☆ Universal basic income of nearly $2,000 a month to be trialed in England for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Sophie Kiderlin | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Plans for a universal basic income trial have just been published in the U.K. by think tank Autonomy. But it could soon be a reality for some in the U.K., where plans for a universal basic income trial have just been published. Thirty people in the U.K. could soon receive £1,600 ($1,983) each month if the trial by independent think tank Autonomy secures funding. The basic income payments are estimated to cost £1.15 million through the duration of the two-year project. Local citizens would be able to put themselves forward to take part in the trial and participant selection would be random.

Organizations: Autonomy Locations: East Finchley, London, Jarrow

☆ DeepMind founder says governments need to compensate 'serious number of losers' who will be left jobless due to AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A co-founder of DeepMind, the AI company bought by Google in 2014, warned about AI-related job losses. Mustafa Suleyman said at a San Francisco conference that there will be "a serious number of losers." A co-founder of the AI company DeepMind has warned that governments will need to figure out a plan to compensate people who will lose their jobs to the new technology, the Financial Times reported. DeepMind was bought by Google in 2014, and has helped it develop large language models similar to ChatGPT called LaMDA and PaLM. Suleyman left DeepMind last January, before setting up his own chatbot business called Inflection AI.

☆ Sam Altman is building his utopia, whether you want it or not
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

Altman told Insider, "We debate our approach frequently and carefully." "I don't think anyone can lose your dad young and wish he didn't have more time with him," Altman told Insider. Altman told Insider that his thinking had evolved since those posts. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ He's played chess with Peter Thiel, sparred with Elon Musk and once, supposedly, stopped a plane crash: Inside Sam Altman's world, where truth is stranger than fiction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

But, "you do at some point need to start having contact with reality," he told Insider. The plan was still only a rough sketch, Blania told Insider, but that didn't seem to matter to his host. "He always wanted to understand everything at a very deep level," Thrun told Insider in an email. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ Italian investor in UniCredit, Banco BPM sees 'strategic value' in deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Italy's No.2 bank UniCredit was preparing an offer for number three Banco BPM in 2022, before the Ukraine conflict forced CEO Andrea Orcel to focus on its Russia exposure. Orcel had looked to move on Banco BPM soon after becoming UniCredit CEO two years ago, but instead entered talks with the government over a possible Monte dei Paschi (BMPS.MI) acquisition that eventually fell through. Fondazione CRT holds 1.9% of UniCredit and 1.8% of Banco BPM. Twenty years later that gap is still there so the strategic value of the deal remains". Born from the merger of BPM with Verona-based Banco Popolare, Banco BPM controls 12% of Lombardy's banking market, twice UniCredit's market share.

☆ An undocumented worker was able to pay rent because he got $2,000 as part of a UBI-like program that will now be permanent for Coloradans who lose their jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Leo Alvarez received $2,000 from a pandemic-era fund for undocumented workers who lost wages in 2020. The fund has led to a permanent unemployment assistance program for undocumented workers in Denver. The pandemic exacerbated inequalities for undocumented workers that advocates want states to address. In New York for instance, advocates want the state to make its fund for undocumented workers permanent. "This is not something that's a luxury," Jessica Maxwell of the Workers Center of Central New York told Spectrum News last month.

☆ Warburg Pincus moves closer to buying a stake in Chinese fund Zhong Ou
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) disclosed in its 2021 annual report that its board had approved the sale of a 23.3% stake in Zhong Ou to Warbug Pincus. The planned 23.3% stake sale to Warburg Pincus was confirmed on Monday by a source familiar with the transaction. The CSRC did not say how big a stake Warburg Pincus will buy in Zhong Ou, which has more than 350 billion yuan ($51.3 billion) of assets under management (AUM). In the regulatory feedback, the CSRC asked Warburg Pincus to explain how it would support Zhong Ou's development. The regulator also requested further proof from Warburg Pincus that it's a leading global player with good international reputation and performance.

☆ Best Car Insurance Companies for Young Drivers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +14 min

By Kat TretinaWhether you’re a parent adding a child to your car insurance or a recent college grad purchasing your own policy for the first time, you may experience sticker shock when you see how expensive car insurance premiums can be. Geico also has useful options for young drivers who have made serious mistakes in the past. For young drivers looking for personalized help choosing the right policy, the lack of local agents can be a significant downside. Best Car Insurance with TelematicsState FarmWhy We Chose It: Usage-based insurance, also known as pay-as-you-drive, uses smartphones or telematic-technology to track driver behavior and is increasingly popular. How We Picked the Top CompaniesTo identify the top car insurance companies for young drivers, we researched the 22 insurers ranked in the 2022 J.D.

By acquiring MPS, UniCredit could have bridged in part the gap with domestic champion Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), which overtook it as Italy's top lender in 2020 by buying smaller peer UBI. Such a deal would have further widened the distance between the top two banks and Banco BPM (BAMI.MI), which ranks third with roughly one-fifth of their assets. Sources with knowledge of the matter have told Reuters Banco BPM together with UniCredit remain potential buyers for MPS. On Thursday, Banco BPM CEO Giuseppe Castagna was quoted as saying MPS was "too big a mouthful" for his bank to swallow. Bankers say an MPS deal could help Banco BPM loosen the grip of Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA), the French bank which this year became the single biggest investor in Banco BPM.

On the contrary, he’s fired Twitter employees who publicly disagreed with him about engineering issues at the company. Musk originally claimed he bought Twitter because he wanted to encourage more free speech on the platform. But no one should be surprised that “free speech” for Musk really means free speech for the powerful. But that doesn’t make him an avatar of free speech. But like other bosses, he’s got a genius for manufacturing unfreedom.

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