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☆ Why a strong U.S. dollar is bad for 'the rest of the world'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Tom Chitty | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The U.S. dollar is the world's dominant currency and plays a key role in global trade. While that may seem like good news to Americans, it's bad news for much of the world. The rest of the world despises how dominant the dollar is, yet they go to the U.S. dollar, because there really isn't much of an alternative," said Eswar Prasad, an economist at the Brookings Institution and professor and Cornell University. Besides being the go-to currency for international financial transactions, commodities such as oil are also bought and sold in U.S. dollars. Watch the video above to learn about how a strong dollar contributed to an economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka.

☆ Here are the people who will lose out most if student loan forgiveness falls through
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Annie Nova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

People of colorThe student debt crisis is cited as a main factor for the wide racial wealth gap in the U.S. today. Black college graduates owe an average $7,400 more than their white peers, a Brookings Institution report found. And that inequity only gets worse with time: Black college students owe more than $52,000 four years after graduation, compared with around $28,000 for the average white college graduate. WomenWomen were widely recognized as the biggest winner of Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, since they owe two-thirds of the country's outstanding student debt. "Women will be the most affected if loan forgiveness fails," Kantrowitz said.

What credit scores don't captureLenders have always needed a way to determine a borrower's creditworthiness, and credit scores were a faster, easier way to do so. "If you look at credit scores from the perspective of other social actors, like policymakers or consumer advocates, why someone does or does not repay might start to have more bearing on how you make sense of credit scores," says Kiviat. The credit scoring system can also reflect and even worsen existing racial and wealth inequality. However, the credit scoring and reporting systems can function imperfectly, leaving many of the most marginalized without credit scores or with poor credit scores. Furthermore, policymakers have been considering how to make it easier for people to access their credit scores and resolve mistakes on their credit reports.

☆ Black homeowners pushed out of one Baltimore block show how Wall Street banks failed to lend money they had promised, a Bloomberg investigation shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Banks promised to invest in Black communities after they were hit by the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The block stands as a glaring reminder of the broken promises made by some of Wall Street's biggest banks to support America's Black homeowners, a recent Bloomberg investigation shows. As of October 2021, according to the US Census Bureau, 45% of Black Americans owned homes, which is nearly 30 points below the rate of white Americans: 74.6%. On Walbrook Avenue, the absence of large lenders has left many locals without a lifeline. After the 2008-2009 financial crisis, several financial institutions made pledges to invest billions of dollars to support Black homeownership.

☆ There may be a window for negotiations between Ukraine, Russia in mid-2023, says Brookings' O’Hanlon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThere may be a window for negotiations between Ukraine, Russia in mid-2023, says Brookings' O’HanlonMichael O’Hanlon, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, joins CNBC's 'Squawk Box' to react to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address to Congress and to discuss the state of the country's war with Russia.

☆ The Fed must bring down goods spending to control inflation, says Brookings' Wendy Edelberg
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe Fed must bring down goods spending to control inflation, says Brookings' Wendy EdelbergWendy Edelberg, a Brookings Institutions economic studies senior fellow, and Kevin Hassett, former Council of Economic Advisers chairman under President Donald Trump, join CNBC's 'Squawk Box' to discuss how the Federal Reserve should tame inflation.

WASHINGTON/PARIS, Dec 19 (Reuters) - For nearly two years the United States has tried and failed to negotiate a revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal yet Washington and its European allies refuse to close the door to diplomacy. Under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action under which Tehran reined in its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions. A U.S. intelligence estimate disclosed in late 2007 assessed with high confidence that Iran was working to develop nuclear weapons until the fall of 2003, when it halted the weapons work. "We will continue with the pressure while keeping the door open for a return to diplomacy," U.S. special envoy for Iran Robert Malley told reporters in Paris last month, adding that if Iran crossed "a new threshold in its nuclear program, obviously the response will be different." Even if the 2015 nuclear deal cannot be resurrected, the senior Biden administration official said other diplomatic solutions might be possible.

☆ What could GOP control of the House mean for U.S.-China tensions?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Megan Lebowitz | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

McCarthy also says he plans to create a House select committee on China, the first since the late 1990s. House Republicans will also investigate the origins of the coronavirus and “the CCP’s role in the spread,” the blog post said, although it is unclear whether that investigation would be part of the select committee. Tensions were further inflamed in August by Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, the first by a sitting U.S. House speaker since 1997. The most volatile issue in U.S.-China relations is the status of Taiwan, which Beijing has not ruled out seizing by force. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei, Taiwan on Aug. 3, 2022.

☆ A college instructor explains her struggles with long COVID at work and why it's important to overcome the stigma of being sick
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Renee Semarge has had long COVID symptoms for a year now, and it's making work much harder. Much of long COVID is a mystery to healthcare professionals — why it happens, how to treat it — but data shows that it has affected millions of Americans. Many other workers, however, may be hesitant to reveal that they have long COVID. Long COVID treatments "have eaten our savings"Semarge's candor about her condition at work is a departure from what her father always taught her. Long COVID treatments, she said, "have eaten our savings.

☆ Prosecutors in Georgia are fast approaching a decision on whether to charge Trump. Here's how it would go down.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Over the past year, she empaneled a grand jury and fought court battles to ensure testimony from Gov. Two other high-profile witnesses who fought grand jury subpoenas, Mark Meadows and Newt Gingrich, have their cases before appeals courts. A regular grand jury, which sits for two months, would probably move swiftly, Carlson said, since it would have all the evidence painstakingly compiled by the special grand jury. "The reason it'll go very fast is the regular grand jury will have a transcript from the testimony of a laundry list of witnesses that have already testified to the special grand jury," Carlson said. The case in Georgia, Carlson pointed out, is especially potent because of how uniquely strong the evidence is and how reliable the witnesses would be.

☆ CEOs who resist America's growing union wave are making a 'huge mistake' in the war for talent
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

America's unionization wave doesn't show signs of dissipating, and CEOs would be better suited adjusting their leadership style to meet it, especially as the war for talent continues. "Taking it very personally, and making it very personal, has been a huge mistake that employers have made," Bronfenbrenner told Insider. It's a measure that workers want things that employers can't give them and only a union can give them." "When more workers have unions, wages rise for union and non-union workers," Janelle Jones, the chief economist at the Department of Labor, wrote on the department's website. "But there are other measures — if you have a union, you'll have lower turnover, workers will be more productive.

☆ The world's biggest chipmaker is making a multi-billion dollar investment in the US even though it'll cost way more to make chips there. Here's why it decided to do it anyway.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Taiwan-based TSMC, the world's biggest chipmaker, announced a $40 billion investment in Arizona last week. That's despite TSMC's founder previously calling US chip production an "expensive exercise in futility." In the event China — which claims the island as its own — invades the island and chip production screeches to a halt, there could be trillions of dollars in economic losses. First, the cost of chip production in the US might not ultimately be "50% more expensive." The factories will be partially subsidized by the US government through the CHIPS and Science Act, a package passed in August that provided $52 billion to boost US semiconductor chip production.

☆ Ukraine-Russia war sees U.S. mull Patriot missile defense battery for Kyiv. It's not enough.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Pavel K. Baev | Pavel K. Baev Is A Research Professor At The Peace Research Institute Oslo | Prio | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

The feeble Russian response to Ukraine’s recent drone attacks suggests the West has room to maneuver. The drone attacks also point to how the West can do more to turn the tide of war in Ukraine’s favor. But the Patriot deployment would take months even in the best circumstances, and the war gives no respite. And the feeble Russian response to Ukraine’s recent drone attacks suggests the West has room to maneuver. A U.S. Army Patriot Missile System operates at a joint exercise with NATO allied and partner forces, in Zadar, Croatia, on May 17, 2021.

☆ The Fed's slower interest rate hike this month is good news for Americans looking to buy a car, house, or use their credit card in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.5 percentage points on Wednesday. The Fed appears to be slowing down its aggressive efforts to fight inflation. While inflation levels are still undoubtedly high, the Fed appeared to respond to the positive direction the economy is heading by slowing its aggressive interest rate hikes. During a speech last month, Warren said "there is a big difference between landing a plane and crashing it." Biden and other administration officials have maintained confidence that things will be looking a lot better for consumers by the end of 2023.

☆ The Fed has to portray itself as tough on inflation even as it pushes through a smaller rate hike
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"The Fed has been saying for some time that it wants to slow the pace of tightening. The fed funds target rate range is currently 3.75% to 4%. "But then the press conference would cause a bit of a whipsaw if he sounds hawkish," she said. "I think the most interesting thing will be the press conference," said Rick Rieder, BlackRock chief investment officer of global fixed income. "I think we've heard two different types of sentiment from the chair between the latest press conference and Brookings."

☆ Things won't be so expensive next year, Janet Yellen says — and Americans will be able to 'feel good about their finances and their personal economic situation'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Janet Yellen told 60 Minutes she's hopeful prices will substantially decrease next year. She said that while there's risk of a recession, it's not needed to bring inflation down. On Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen appeared on CBS' 60 Minutes to chat about where she sees the economy headed, including the outlook on inflation and the labor market. Yellen said that while there is a risk of a recession, she's hopeful that Americans will not feel a strain on their wallets for much longer. "I am very hopeful that the labor market will remain quite healthy so that people can feel good about their finances and their personal economic situation."

☆ US military atomic cleanup crews were sent out in the wake of American nuclear testing, and many paid a heavy price, veterans say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Over a period of more than a decade, the US military conducted dozens of nuclear tests in the Pacific. Years later, soldiers were sent to the Marshall Islands to try and clean up the fallout from the testing. Nuclear tests like Castle Bravo produced a substantial amount of nuclear fallout that negatively affected the people of the Marshall Islands, according to the Brookings Institution think tank. Impact of radiation contaminationNuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands had "devastating effects" on the country's environment that "remain unresolved," according to a 2019 report by the Republic of the Marshall Islands' National Nuclear Commission. However, he, like thousands of others, are excluded from the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which only covers veterans present for atmospheric nuclear tests.

☆ Long Covid is distorting the labor market — and that's bad for the U.S. economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

She eventually learned that the balance issues and ear pain resulted from a damaged vestibular nerve, a known effect of long Covid. She found that 2 million to 4 million full-time workers are out of the labor force due to long Covid. For one, many of the hundreds of potential long Covid symptoms are invisible to others, even if disabling for the afflicted. Why the long Covid labor gap mattersJerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, mentioned Sheiner and Salwati's long Covid research in a recent speech about inflation and the labor market. That burden will continue to rise if long Covid patients don't start recovering at greater rates, she said.

☆ Ivy Zelman, who famously predicted the 2008 housing crash, says that home prices could drop 20% from their current values if the economy doesn't improve
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Fed's fight against inflation has led to high mortgage interest rates, cooling housing demands. As demand falls, Ivy Zelman, a real-estate anaylist, said national home prices could fall by 20%. As long as mortgage rates remain elevated, Zelman said housing demand will continue to shrink — ultimately resulting in even steeper price cuts from sellers. This latest slide in rates is just 0.59% below the two-decade high that the rate hit just three weeks earlier. But as Zelman herself suggested, if the Fed continues with further rate hikes and mortgage rates remain elevated in 2023, this will become the likely culprit to a protracted housing slump.

☆ Fed Chair Powell is having a communication problem with the market
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

No matter what Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell tells market participants these days, it seems they only hear the good stuff. Two recent examples: First in July, when Powell hinted that smaller interest rate hikes could be on the way. Chair Powell is really trying to message the fact that the fed funds rate has to be restrictive to tamp down inflation. A month and a half later, Powell delivered an uncharacteristically terse speech at the Fed's annual Jackson Hole, Wyoming summit. One more chance So Powell heads into next week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting with another opportunity to set the market straight.

☆ In the U.S., you can legally 'be fired for any reason or no reason at all'—here's why
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Gili Malinsky | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Here's how at-will employment works, why it's the de-facto system in America, and how other countries handle their workforce. 'You can be fired for any reason or no reason at all'Loosely defined, at-will employment "means that you can be fired for any reason or no reason at all," says Najah Farley, senior staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project. 'Your boss can't be flirting with you and then fire you'There are several exceptions under which employees can't be fired. Union membership: Many workers who are part of a union are also an exception to the at-will employment system. At-will employment is uncommon around the worldMost countries in the world do not have an at-will employment system.

Mortgage rates have ticked up slightly after starting the week at the lowest point they've been in several months. If this is the case, mortgage rates may trend down further in the new year. However, if the Fed determines that it needs to continue raising rates for longer than expected, mortgage rates could remain elevated throughout 2023. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect. This means your entire monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, shouldn't exceed 28% of your pre-tax monthly income.

☆ The 'Powell pump' pushing the recent rally in the S&P 500 is over, and stocks may have further to fall as Fed moves and a looming recession keep investors away
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The "Powell pump has been erased," and the S&P 500 has lost gains made over the week after Fed Chair Jerome Powell spoke, a City Index analyst said. It "remains to be seen ... whether the bulls will step in once again at these levels," wrote analyst Fawad Razaqzada. "So, the Powell pump has been erased," Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index, wrote in a Tuesday note about the index's technical levels. Stock market bears so far this week have "successfully defended" the key 4,077 resistance level, he said. The fed funds rate is at a range of 3.75% to 4% after six rate increases in 2022.

☆ Premarket stocks: Jay Powell's dream of the 90s is dead
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The robust jobs market is good news for American workers, but concerning for the Federal Reserve and equity bulls alike. “To be clear, strong wage growth is a good thing,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said at the Brookings Institution on Wednesday. “But for wage growth to be sustainable, it needs to be consistent with 2% inflation.” The year-over-year wage growth rate increased to 5.1% in November, more than double that goal. Getting back to a sustainable level of wage growth and tamping inflation will require reducing demand for labor. The dream is over: For the past year, Powell has advanced the optimistic idea that wage growth could be lowered without slowing the economy into recession.

☆ Friendshoring makes sense if done in the right way
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Hugo Dixon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

These examples explain the enthusiasm for “friendshoring”, an idea U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is pushing. First, it could provoke an all-out trade war – causing the kinds of disruptions that friendshoring is intended to prevent. Things would be different if China was the West’s implacable enemy in the way that Putin’s Russia is. Using friendshoring in a defensive rather than aggressive way means focusing on strategic products. While it makes sense to cut its dependency on China, that doesn’t mean going all the way to zero.

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