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The Justice Department’s April 20 letter includes guidance for state and local police, prosecutors, judges and probation officers. Joanna Weiss, co-director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, told me that the DOJ's voice is critical on these issues. The earlier memo included a section that laid out the principle that courts must not use bail practices that incarcerate people solely because they can’t afford a fee. The Justice Department didn't address my specific questions about why the section on bail was nixed. Lauren Jones, legal director at the National Center for Access to Justice, told me that there's clear overlap between cash bail practices and justice system fees.

April 20 (Reuters) - Union Pacific Corp's (UNP.N) chief executive officer said on Thursday the railroad operator was considering slowing down the pace of hiring in the second half of the year amid a cloudy economic outlook, becoming the latest U.S. company to evaluate its staffing plans. CEO Lance Fritz told Reuters in an interview the outlook was turning a "little cloudier" for consumer-facing companies, which is making railroad volume difficult to predict. A possible slowdown in hiring comes at a time when railroads are struggling to move cargo on time, which has invited severe criticisms from regulators and customers. Shares of Union Pacific, which connects West Coast ports to key terminals such as Chicago, lost its gains in the day to trade flat in the afternoon session. Operating revenue for the quarter ended March 31 rose 3% to $6.06 billion, in line with analysts' estimates.

TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) - Japan, the world's fifth-biggest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter, will begin a carbon pricing scheme in stages from April to encourage companies to curb emissions and achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. The country is the latest among Asian nations to formulate plans to create a carbon pricing mechanism and emissions trading system. The scheme, based on METI proposals and approved by the cabinet this year, consists of emissions trading and a carbon levy. The carbon levy will be introduced from around 2028/29 on fossil fuel importers such as refiners, trading houses and electricity utilities. The introduction of emissions trading and carbon surcharges mark "a significant shift in Japan's climate change policy", said Tohru Shimizu, senior researcher at the Japan's Institute of Energy Economics.

☆ Junk fees cost consumers tens of billions annually, according to the White House
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Fees on concert tickets, airfares, hotels and other so-called junk fees cost Americans tens of billions of dollars every year, often obscuring the full price of purchases from consumers, top economic experts said at the White House on Tuesday. Biden also called on state legislators to address junk fees at a March 8 virtual meeting with the White House. The eradication of junk fees is also a bipartisan issue with positive benefits for the economy, Brainard will say. She says recent surveys show 75% of consumers support cutting junk fees, "with strong support across party lines." "As an economist, I know that regulating junk fees has a strong foundation in decades of scholarship.

Our experts answer readers' credit card questions and write unbiased product reviews (here's how we assess credit cards). However, some vendors make that cost explicit by tacking on a fixed fee or percentage of the transaction to credit card payments. To avoid getting scammedMany credit card scams involve cardholders being victimized after willfully handing over their card or account information. To buy cash equivalentsMany credit cards offer cash advances, which allow you to borrow cash against your credit limit. Her credit history was pristine, but she only had two credit cards with low credit limits that she nearly exhausted each month on business and personal expenses.

☆ Fly less, sit in coach, and avoid gimmicky offsets. Here's how to make your next trip more sustainable, according to experts.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Bianca Giacobone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Airlines offer options to buy offsets and fuel surcharges to ease one's travel carbon impact. Experts say carbon offsets are good, but they need to be chosen carefully. Last year, Carbon Market Watch commissioned a study that looked at the effectiveness of carbon offsets bought by major European airlines. AirFrance, for example, has increased all its ticket prices by an amount varying from 1 Euro to 24 Euro to cover for the company's increased use of sustainable aviation fuel. Other airlines, like Brussels Airlines, are asking passengers whether they want to pay more for sustainable aviation fuel.

☆ House Republicans target the CFPB as the agency takes aim at 'junk fees'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers discussed ways to reform, or altogether defund, the nation's foremost consumer protection agency on Thursday, as the regulator takes aim at illegal "junk fees" levied on consumers. GOP lawmakers in the hearing criticized the Biden administration's push to eradicate "junk fees," largely regulated by the CFPB. On Wednesday, the agency released a list of illegal junk fees encompassing deposit accounts; auto and mortgage loan servicing; and payday and title lending. Subcommittee member Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., said Chopra has used junk fees as an excuse to expand his authority. The CFPB's working definition of junk fees is "any fee they don't like," argued Devin Watkins, an attorney at the conservative-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute.

☆ Gas surcharges have ended. But not everyone is happy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Amazon, Uber and Lyft recently ended extra fuel surcharges as gas prices dropped late last year. These companies added gas surcharges in response to skyrocketing energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Gas prices swung wildly in 2022: At one point the national average for a gallon of gas was above $5 for the first time ever, according to AAA. Fuel surcharges went directly to ride-share drivers and were meant to help them soften the blow of high gas prices. It’s unlikely that gas prices will spike this year.

Joseph HostetlerThe Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card comes with 40,000 miles after spending $1,000 on purchases within three months from account opening. There are many fun things you can do with the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card bonus — from free flights to free hotel stays and more. There are two reasons Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card is the best offer we've ever seen on a no-annual-fee credit card. With the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card bonus, you could transfer 36,000 Capital One miles to British Airways for two round-trip tickets and have a Caribbean getaway with your travel buddy. What you need to know about the Capital One VentureOne bonusThe 40,000-mile bonus that comes with the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card is worth $400 in travel at the very least.

☆ Americans are completely addicted to free shipping. It just makes us spend more.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Free shipping is never really free, and retailers devise clever ways to cover the cost. According to new data from shipping technology firm Shippo, 62% of Americans refuse to buy something online without free shipping. "Having some type of free shipping option is now a permanent expectation." Does free shipping make you spend more? And since they know free shipping is such a prerequisite for shoppers, they also know that they can change our behavior with minimum purchase requirements.

Get 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on amextravel.com, and 1X points for each dollar you spend on eligible purchases. Limited benefits beyond earning Hilton points Highlights Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Details Rewards Earn 12x Hilton Honors Points at Hilton per dollar for purchases made directly with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio. Keep in mind that transferable credit card points — like Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Capital One miles — are generally more valuable than hotel points or airline miles. That's worth around $500 in stays, according to Insider's valuation of Hilton points.

☆ What Biden’s Crackdown on ‘Junk Fees’ Could Mean for Travelers, Concertgoers and Credit Cards
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Allison Pohle | Joe Pinsker | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden said his administration is expanding its crackdown on what he calls “junk fees,” the ambiguous surcharges tacked onto concert tickets, cable bills, banking services, hotel bookings and other purchases. “We’re going to ban surprise resort fees that hotels charge on your bill,” Mr. Biden said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. “Those fees can cost you up to $90 a night at hotels that aren’t even resorts.”

☆ More than half of all 'Avatar: The Way of Water' tickets have been for 3D showings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

For comparison, all other movies released in 2022 — not including "The Way of Water" — saw less than 14% of ticket sales from premium showings, averaging $15.76 a ticket. Bolstering box office numbers for the film is the push from Disney and Cameron for 3D showings. Since its release, the "Avatar" sequel has seen more than 56% of its tickets sold for 3D showings. The original 2009 "Avatar," which is the top grossing film of all time, also did well with 3D and premium tickets. To be sure, "The Way of Water" has not reached its historic box office just because of surcharges for 3D and premium format screenings.

[1/3] A biker rides his Harley-Davidson during a parade at the "Hamburg Harley Days" in Hamburg, Germany, June 24, 2018. Shares in the U.S. company rose 8.3%. Harley-Davidson said it expects revenue from its motorcycle business to grow in 2023. Global motorcycle shipments rose to 34,000 from 28,900 a year ago. The company's net profit rose to $39.7 million, or $0.28 cents per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, outpacing forecasts of 6 cents per share.

☆ Truckers Expect an Inventory-Driven Rebound Later This Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Trucking companies are pinning hopes for a rebound in freight demand on the second half of this year, saying their retailer customers expect to resume restocking after winding down inventories over recent months. Carrier executives say they are hearing from their shipping customers that they expect to return to a more normal ordering cycle this year and start moving bigger volumes closer to the fall shopping season following volatile retail spending and distribution in 2022 that left them overstocked. Inbound volumes at U.S. ports are also down, suggesting fewer goods from overseas are flowing into domestic freight networks. “Trucking is definitely down right now,” said Tom Nightingale, CEO of AFS Logistics, a Shreveport, La.-based logistics operator. She said on a Jan. 18 earnings conference call that the company “has good signals” from shipping customers that they plan to pick up their ordering in the second quarter.

You can get many thousands of dollars in value from Aeroplan points even if you never step foot on an Air Canada plane. Earn Aeroplan points with credit cards and points transfersThe Aeroplan® Credit Card is the only US credit card that earns Aeroplan points directly. So if you transferred 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, you'd end up with 20,000 Aeroplan points, plus a 5,000-point bonus for a total of 25,000 Aeroplan points. Earn Aeroplan points flying Air CanadaThe next easiest way to rack up Aeroplan points is by actually flying Air Canada, but the earning formula is going to change later this year. As far as we know, it will look like this:Basic fares: Earn 2x points per (Canadian) dollarStandard fares: Earn 3x points per (Canadian) dollarFlex/Comfort fares: Earn 3x points per (Canadian) dollarLatitude fares: Earn 3x points per (Canadian) dollarPremium economy fares: Earn 3x points per (Canadian) dollarBusiness fares: Earn 3x points per (Canadian) dollarEssentially, everything but basic economy fares will earn 3x per dollar.

Review: Is the Chase Aeroplan card the best credit card for you? It's not often an airline credit card makes waves with a strong welcome bonus and completely unique benefits, but the Aeroplan® Credit Card has managed to do just that. As the first Air Canada-branded credit card offered by Chase (and the only Aeroplan card on the US market) the Aeroplan® Credit Card is packed with perks — and it's worth considering, even if you're not a regular Air Canada flyer. However, points transferred to your Aeroplan account from the Aeroplan® Credit Card won't expire as long as your card account is open. Read our review Read Our Review A looong arrow, pointing rightAeroplan credit card fees and costsThe Aeroplan® Credit Card charges a $95 annual fee, but you won't pay foreign transaction fees, which makes it a good card to use when you're traveling internationally.

If everyone in the world expertly utilized credit card rewards to travel for free, there wouldn't be such amazing travel opportunities out there. Identify your travel goalsBefore you begin collecting credit card rewards, you should first identify your travel goals. Amex Membership Rewards points Capital One miles Chase Ultimate Rewards points Choice Privileges points Citi ThankYou points Hilton Honors points Hyatt points IHG Rewards points Marriott Bonvoy points Wyndham Rewards pointsYou travel with a large family Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Recommended credit card strategies for beginnersThe best practice for anyone new to credit card rewards is to invest in flexible points. You'll need: An annual fee-incurring Hilton credit card One of the greatest deals in credit card rewards is the free night certificate that comes with select American Express Hilton credit cards.

☆ J.B. Hunt Expects Freight-Demand Volatility to Ease This Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Paul Page | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Trucking and logistics giant J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. expects freight demand to regain traction in the coming months as the pandemic-driven upheaval in supply chains fades and companies return to more conventional ordering cycles. “We have had good signals from our customers about Q2 starting up back to a more normalized or having a more normal environment,” J.B. Hunt President Shelley Simpson said in an earnings conference call Wednesday. “Demand for intermodal capacity was seasonally weaker than normal, as peak season activity leading up to the holidays was absent this year,” Darren Field, president of intermodal at J.B. Hunt, said in the earnings call. He said volumes weakened sequentially during the fourth quarter, with volumes up 4% in October before falling 3% in November and 5% in December. The steepest revenue decline came in J.B. Hunt’s Integrated Capacity Solutions unit, which matches freight loads to trucks.

☆ J.B. Hunt Profit Slides on Slowing Freight Demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Paul Page | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

Fourth-quarter profit at trucking and logistics giant J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. fell 17% and revenue growth fell short of expectations as slowing shipping demand cut into freight volumes. Newsletter Sign-up The Logistics Report Top news and in-depth analysis on the world of logistics, from supply chain to transport and technology. PREVIEW“Demand for intermodal capacity was seasonally weak in the fourth quarter, while rail velocity and performance made further progress,” the company said. The steepest revenue decline came in J.B. Hunt’s Integrated Capacity Solutions unit, which matches freight loads to trucks. Revenue at the freight brokerage operation fell 33% from the previous year’s fourth quarter on sharply lower volumes and the business reported a $2.9 million operating loss.

☆ Most big Japanese firms heed prime minister's call to raise wages this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Rocky Swift | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

That push was boosted last week when Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing Co (9983.T) said it would raise wages by as much as 40%. Another 29% said they would carry out regular pay increases only, while 38% were undecided. "Prime Minister Kishida has been saying raise wages, raise wages, but the decision to hike pay isn't done on the words of a prime minister or president," said Masayuki Kubota, chief strategist at Rakuten Securities. Smaller firms generally cannot increase pay, business owners, economists and officials say, because they often struggle to pass on higher costs out of fear of losing customers. The Reuters Corporate Survey, conducted for Reuters by Nikkei Research between Dec. 23 and Jan. 13, canvassed 495 big non-financial Japanese firms on condition of anonymity, allowing them to speak more freely.

What are credit card and bank rewards points worth? One great feature of the program is that all points are equal, so any account that earns Membership Rewards points has access to transfer partners. If you're a Bank of America Preferred Rewards customer, you'll earn 25% to 75% more points, depending on how much you have on deposit, but your rewards points are still worth 1 cent apiece. You can transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou to JetBlue, but the ratio varies depending on the rewards program. However, those miles expire after 36 months regardless of your account activity, so only transfer miles when you have immediate plans to redeem them.

☆ When Social Security beneficiaries can expect first checks of 2023 to include 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Other beneficiaries are scheduled to receive their Social Security benefits on the third of every month if they also receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits or if they received Social Security before 1997. Yet there's one thing the record high Social Security COLA still can't beat: persistently high consumer prices prompted by inflation. Because of that, your purchases will probably consume any increase you see in Social Security benefits, noted Joe Elsasser, founder and president of Covisum, a Social Security claiming software company. Medicare premium costs are downThe good news for Social Security beneficiaries is that Medicare Part B premiums are down this year. watch nowAs those monthly premium payments are typically deducted directly from Social Security checks, beneficiaries stand to see more of the COLA.

David Slotnick/Business InsiderAmerican Express Membership Rewards points are among the most valuable card rewards you can earn. You'll usually get the most value from Amex points by transferring them to airline and hotel partners. In fact, the Amex Membership Rewards program debuted way back in 1991 with just seven US airline partners. More Information Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. What to know about transferring Amex points to partnersAmerican Express Membership Rewards points are among the most valuable and versatile travel rewards out there.

☆ Some Medicare costs are heading higher in 2023, while others are going down. Here's what you need to know
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Sarah O'Brien | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Part B premium and deductible will be lowerThe standard Part B premium will be lower in 2023 — $164.90, down from $170.10 in 2022. While most beneficiaries pay the standard premium, higher-income enrollees pay more due to income-related surcharges (see table below). However, "they are calculated based on income two years prior," said Elizabeth Gavino, founder of Lewin & Gavino and an independent broker and general agent for Medicare plans. And, some of those options either have no monthly charge or will pay your Part B premium. The maximum out-of-pocket limit for Advantage Plans will be $8,300 in 2023 for in-network services.

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