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☆ It's not just the US: Corporate profits are keeping inflation high in Europe too
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As inflation stays high around the world, some are increasingly blaming high corporate profits. An IMF working paper found that corporate profits account for nearly 45% of European inflation. Inflation is not solely caused by soaring profits, but the working paper finds that profits rising well above pre-pandemic trends have made their mark on European inflation. And Europe might be worse off than the US when it comes to so-called "greedflation," as inflation in the states cools off and profits play increasingly less of a role in keeping costs high. The IMF analysis finds that profits are ultimately playing a larger role in European inflation than in the US and Canada.

Persons: —, hasn't, Niels, Jakob Hansen, Frederik Toscani, Jing Zhou, Noah Sheidlower, Chris Becker Organizations: Service, International Monetary Fund Locations: IMF, Europe, Canada

CNN —Two adults have been charged after a 7-year-old brought a gun to a Grand Rapids, Michigan, elementary school, authorities said Tuesday. In January, a teacher at an elementary school in Newport News, Virginia, was shot by a 6-year-old student who brought a gun to school in his backpack, police said. “To see an 8-year-old walk into school with a loaded gun shortly thereafter was astounding to me.”The loaded gun was found inside a third grader’s backpack at Stocking Elementary School, CNN affiliate WXMI reported. The gun discoveries on school grounds prompted the school district to announce a ban on bringing backpacks to school. Another Michigan school district, Flint Community Schools, also banned backpacks as of May 1, citing safety concerns.

☆ Why Prices, Inflation Are Still Soaring: Corporate Price Gouging
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

While many of the problems that helped trigger the upward spiral have abated, prices are still high and getting higher. The idea that companies are taking advantage of disruptions to push price increases on consumers has many names — greedflation, excuseflation, price gouging, corporate profiteering — but the gist is the same. Supply-chain issues and other disruptions made sense as drivers of higher prices, Chris Becker, a senior economist and the associate director of policy and research at the Groundwork Collaborative, told me. "Working people are suffering thanks to corporate greed, so we need to enact tougher rules to ensure corporations pay a price when they price gouge." Working people are suffering thanks to corporate greed, so we need to enact tougher rules to ensure corporations pay a price when they price gouge.

Jell-O GirlEarly Jell-O advertising depicted women as inept, needing the help of a simple recipe like Jell-O. Jell-O released flavors such as seasoned tomato, celery, mixed vegetable and Italian salad, and Jell-O salads were a colorful way to use leftovers in side dishes. In 1955, the company introduced the slogan “A Jell-O salad makes the meal.”“The Jell-O salad really hits the American sensibility and palate perfectly. Constance Bannister Corp/Getty ImagesBut as more Americans traveled and global cuisines entered the mainstream, the simplicity of Jell-O salads became a downside. “Upscale becomes the new mainstream and Jell-O salads moves into a niche,” Shapiro said.

The former Michigan police officer who fatally shot Patrick Lyoya during a traffic stop in Grand Rapids in April will stand trial for the killing, a judge ruled Monday. Judge Nicholas Ayoub said enough evidence was presented in a preliminary hearing to require a jury to decide whether Christopher Schurr was justified in shooting Lyoya. These are questions of fact that the jury must decide based on the totality of the circumstances as presented by the evidence at trial,” Ayoub said in court order. The officer ended up restraining Lyoya with his knee to his back and ultimately shot him as he was facedown on the ground. Patrick Lyoya, 26, was shot and killed on April 4, after what police said was a traffic stop.

☆ Michigan election worker charged with tampering with voting equipment
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Nathan Layne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Sept 28 (Reuters) - An election worker in a western Michigan town has been charged with two felonies after allegedly inserting a flash drive into a computer containing confidential voter registration data during an election in August, local officials said on Wednesday. At the Aug. 2 primary, an election worker was seen inserting a USB drive into the computer used to administer the election at a precinct in Gaines Township in Kent County, according to a statement by county clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons. Chris Becker, the county's prosecuting attorney, said he had charged the election worker, James Donald Holkeboer, with falsifying election records and using a computer to commit a crime. The election worker was seen by a witness at a precinct in Gaines Township inserting a USB drive into the Electronic Poll Book, the computer used to administer the election. A spokesperson for Michigan's Secretary of State said the breached equipment in Gaines Township has been decommissioned and will not be used in the November general election.

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