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☆ Bernie Sanders Holds a Moderna Show Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

No good treatment goes unpunished for pharmaceutical companies these days, and Bernie Sanders will offer another example on Wednesday when he holds a political show trial of Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel . His offense? Cooperating with the government to produce life-saving Covid vaccines. The subject of the Vermont Senator’s hearing is Moderna’s plan to quadruple the price of its Covid vaccine to $110 to $130 per dose when U.S. government purchases stop. Pfizer has said it will charge a similar price after vaccines move to the commercial market, which is expected later this year.

☆ Sen. Bernie Sanders grills Moderna CEO over Covid vaccine prices during hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSen. Bernie Sanders grills Moderna CEO over Covid vaccine prices during hearingCNBC's Meg Tirrell reports on the Senate hearing on drug prices, which featured an exchange between Sen. Bernie Sanders and Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel.

☆ Watch live: Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel testifies before Senate on Covid vaccine price hike
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Moderna's CEO, Stephane Bancel, is testifying Wednesday before the Senate health committee on pricing of the company's Covid-19 vaccine. The Boston biotech company plans to charge $130 per dose once the vaccination program moves to the private market as early as this fall. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chair of the health committee, slammed Moderna in a letter to Bancel in January, calling the price hike "outrageous." Learn more and register today: http://bit.ly/3DUNbRoAfter Sanders sent the letter, Moderna said it will create an assistance program to keep the vaccine free for people who are uninsured or underinsured. People who have Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance should still receive the shot at no cost, but Sanders said the price increase "will cost taxpayers billions of dollars."

☆ Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel defends fivefold price hike of Covid vaccine during Senate grilling
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Moderna plans to raise the list price of its vaccine 400% to $130 when the shots are sold on the private market as early as this fall. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel on Wednesday defended the company's plans to hike the price of its Covid shots fivefold, deflecting pressure at a Senate hearing to abandon the increase while taking barbs over his compensation. Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., questions Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing titled Taxpayers Paid Billions For It: So Why Would Moderna Consider Quadrupling the Price of the COVID Vaccine? He told the committee that the Covid vaccine market is changing substantially as the U.S. government stops buying and distributing the shots for the entire country. The Covid vaccine remains Moderna's only product on the market at the moment.

☆ Elizabeth Warren demands Fed crackdown on large regional banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Senator Elizabeth Warren is cranking up the pressure on the Federal Reserve following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Both Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank fit into that asset threshold when they failed earlier this month. The bipartisan 2018 rollback of Dodd-Frank freed large regional banks in that range of assets from the toughest oversight. Notably, the letter was signed by Senator Angus King, the Maine independent who voted in favor of the 2018 rollback. Days after the bank failures, the Federal Reserve launched a review of the regulation and oversight of Silicon Valley Bank.

[1/3] CEO of Moderna Stephane Bancel looks up at the session "State of the Pandemic" during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 18, 2023. Moderna (MRNA.O) CEO Stephane Bancel was called to testify after the company flagged plans to raise the vaccine's price to as much as $130 per dose, drawing the ire of Democratic U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who chairs the influential Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). The government in May plans to end the COVID public health emergency, putting much of the vaccine purchasing in the hands of the private sector. Moderna in February forecast $5 billion in COVID vaccine sales this year, far less than the $18.4 billion windfall in 2022, due to decreasing demand for the shots.

☆ Moderna expects to price its COVID vaccine at about $130 in the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Patrick Wingrove | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Hannah BeierMarch 20 (Reuters) - Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) expects to price its COVID-19 vaccine at around $130 per dose in the U.S. going forward as purchases move to the private sector from the government, the company’s president Stephen Hoge said in an interview on Monday. Hoge said the government's Medicare health plan for seniors pays $70 per dose for the seasonal influenza vaccine. Sanders, chair of the Senate’s powerful Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has said Moderna should not raise the price of its vaccine because of the government funding it received. He plans to question Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel on the price increase at the hearing on Wednesday. Moderna in February forecast significantly declining 2023 COVID-19 vaccine sales, which reached $18.4 billion in 2022.

CHICAGO — Former Rep. Bobby Rush, a longtime African American leader in Illinois, plans to throw his support behind Paul Vallas in the mayor’s race, providing Vallas a potential boost among Black voters heading into next month’s election. The endorsement announcement, first shared with NBC News by Vallas’ campaign, is expected Tuesday morning. Rush plans to offer his backing at an event on the city’s South Side that will include an anti-violence march, according to a spokeswoman for the Vallas campaign. Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas speaks during a press conference at his campaign headquarters on Feb. 3, 2023 in Chicago. Al Sharpton, who’s a host on MSNBC, is set to hold a large get-out-the-vote rally at a church whose pastor has backed Johnson.

☆ Op-ed: ESG investing and 2018 change in bank laws didn't cause Silicon Valley Bank to collapse, says former Sen. Heitkamp
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Heidi Heitkamp | Former Democratic U.S. Senator North Dakota | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Within hours of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, political spin machines on both the left and right got cranking. I was one of the Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee who negotiated that legislation, which granted regulatory relief to small community and mid-sized regional banks. Under the burden of increased regulation, smaller institutions and many regional banks were struggling to stay competitive. If all the bank depositors withdrew their deposits on the same day, any bank would fail regardless of liquidity or bank capitalization.) The Fed had the authority to enhance the current level of regional bank supervision, a step the central bank is considering in the wake of the SVB failure.

☆ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the SVB collapse is 'very different' from the 2008 crisis and that the financial system is 'significantly stronger than it was 15 years ago'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In prepared remarks, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the SVB situation is very different from 2008. "Our financial system is also significantly stronger than it was 15 years ago," she said. Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research who predicted the 2008 housing bubble crash, told Insider that "this is not a 2008, 2009 story at all." "To this day I always argue with people, the problem was the housing bubble. "But the real problem was that the housing market was driving the economy — a housing bubble, and it collapsed, and there was no easy replacement for that.

Trump has said he would stay in the race if he is indicted. Trump, meanwhile, is making a forward-looking pitch to voters, NBC News’ Allan Smith and Jonathan Allen report. And the Washington Post reports Friday that prosecutors investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot have obtained a report commissioned by Trump’s campaign that undercut his falsehoods about the election. Santos mulls re-election: New York GOP Rep. George Santos told the Associated Press he is a “maybe” on running for re-election. Sparks fly in the Windy city: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., endorsed Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson in Chicago’s mayoral race on Thursday.

☆ After SVB's collapse, Biden calls on Congress to hold bank executives accountable for failures: 'No one is above the law'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, President Joe Biden wants harsher penalties for executives at failed banks. On Friday, Biden released a statement calling on Congress to "impose tougher penalties for senior bank executives whose mismanagement contributed to their institutions failing." The banking industry has fallen under intense scrutiny over the past week after federal regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and crypto-friendly Signature Bank. Lawmakers — and now the president — want bank executives to be held accountable for actions that jeopardize taxpayer dollars. Warren, along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, have also stressed the importance of holding bank executives accountable for failures.

☆ New bill in Congress would give U.S. teachers a $60,000 minimum wage—these 5 states currently pay teachers best
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Kamaron Mcnair | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced the Pay Teachers Act last week, aiming to set a national minimum salary for public school teachers at $60,000 using federal funds. It's unclear if either bill has a chance at passing through Congress and how quickly that could happen. Currently, the average salary for teachers in 37 states and the District of Columbia sits below $60,000, according to WalletHub research. Teacher salaries vary widely depending on where you live. Teaching in New York, the highest-paying state, could mean earning roughly $33,000 more than teaching in Hawaii, the state with the lowest average teacher salary.

☆ Facing political pressure, Sanofi follows Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk in slashing insulin prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Sanofi already offers a $35 monthly cap on insulin for uninsured diabetes patients. The company is the last major insulin manufacturer to try to head off government efforts to cap monthly costs by announcing its own steep price cuts for the lifesaving hormone. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk made similar sweeping cuts earlier this month after years of political pressure and public outrage over the high costs of diabetes care. President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act capped monthly insulin costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $35, but it did not provide protection to diabetes patients who are covered by private insurance. Approximately 8.4 million diabetes patients rely on insulin, the American Diabetes Association said.

A reversal of low rates to stem rampant inflation has forced a risk rethink and exposed the vulnerability of firms such as Credit Suisse. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse still needs to push ahead with a radical restructuring it undertook in October to restore profitability. [1/2] The Credit Suisse logo adorns one of their buildings at their campus in Research Triangle Park in Morrisville, North Carolina, U.S., March 15, 2023. "Credit Suisse has been in our watch-list for a while," one senior executive told Reuters. The radical move by the Swiss central bank is aimed at banishing such doubts.

March 15 (Reuters) - Swiss regulators pledged a liquidity lifeline to Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) in an unprecedented move by a central bank after the flagship Swiss lender's shares tumbled as much as 30% on Wednesday. They said the bank could access liquidity from the central bank if needed. Credit Suisse said it welcomed the statement of support from the Swiss National Bank and FINMA. Hoping to quell concerns, FINMA and the Swiss central bank said there were no indications of a direct risk of contagion for Swiss institutions from U.S. banking market turmoil. The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen in front of an office building in Zurich, Switzerland October 26, 2022.

☆ Top US Senate Democrat Schumer wants legislative response to banking ills
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Moira Warburton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"We need strong legislation and hopefully we can put something together that's bipartisan," Schumer told reporters following a closed policy lunch with his fellow Democrats. Calls for increased oversight of the U.S. banking industry grew as fallout from Friday's collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) widened. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, however, downplayed the likelihood of Congress passing a "significant" banking bill anytime soon. Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House of Representatives and Democrats do not control enough votes in the Senate to advance legislation without Republican cooperation. Reporting by Moira Warburton and Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Mark Porter and Nick ZieminskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

March 15 (Reuters) - Swiss regulators said Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) can access liquidity from the central bank if needed, racing to assuage fears around the lender after it led a rout in European bank shares on Wednesday. The U.S. Treasury is monitoring the situation around Credit Suisse and is in touch with global counterparts about it, a Treasury spokesperson said. They slid again as a crisis of confidence gripped Credit Suisse on Wednesday after its largest investor said it could not provide Credit Suisse with more financial assistance because of regulatory constraints. The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen in front of an office building in Zurich, Switzerland October 26, 2022. Ralph Hamers, CEO of Credit Suisse rival UBS (UBSG.S) said market turmoil has steered more money its way.

☆ Norfolk Southern reaches new paid sick leave deal as it contends with derailment fallout
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Noah Sheidlower | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Norfolk Southern said Wednesday it agreed to provide up to seven paid sick days per years for members of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Blacksmiths. The deal provides Norfolk Southern's mechanical railroaders with four paid sick days per year, in addition to three existing days of paid time off that can now be used as sick days. The IBBB is now the ninth of Norfolk Southern's 12 unions that have negotiated paid sick days, benefitting about 6,000 workers. The move comes after months of fighting between unions and railraods – including Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and BNSF – over paid sick leave. The legislation, however, did not include paid sick leave.

☆ Elizabeth Warren scoffs at the idea that banks like SVB can be trusted to do their own stress testing: 'I taught school for many, many years. And I did not let my students do their own testing'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

She's criticized Trump-era rollbacks on banking oversight for making the SVB failure possible. "Those are much smaller than the bigger banks," CNBC host Sara Eisen said to Warren, referring to banks like SVB. "We've had a number of those CEOs on the shows in the last few days" such as Charles Schwab, she said, who "do their own stress testing." The whole point of stress testing is for someone on the outside of the bank to say, 'what could go wrong here?' What happened to SVB, Warren wrote, is "the direct result of leaders in Washington weakening the financial rules."

☆ Regulators need to report SVB executives' potential 'outrageous and indefensible' behavior to Congress to avoid mistakes made after the 2008 financial crisis, 2 top Democrats say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal are calling on the SEC and DOJ to look into the collapse. "The nation's bank regulators cannot make the same mistake twice," they continued. Warren and Blumenthal wrote in their letter that "SVB officials showed a pattern of risky and questionable decision making" that may have contributed to the bank's collapse. They also noted the lack of stress tests that would have helped regulators determine whether the bank could respond to rising interest rates. But Warren has been persistent in her message, already introducing legislation alongside Rep. Katie Porter to roll back the 2018 changes.

☆ Novo Nordisk to slash U.S. insulin prices by up to 75%, following move by Eli Lilly
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Novo Nordisk Inc. NovoLog brand insulin pens are arranged for a photograph in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on Friday, April 5, 2019. Novo Nordisk, one of the world's biggest insulin makers, will cut the list price of its NovoLog insulin by 75% and the prices for Levemir and Novolin by 65%, the company said in a press release. NovoLog's list price will fall to $139.71 from $558.83 for a pack of five injection pens. The company also said it plans to reduce the list price of its unbranded insulin products to match the lowered price of each respective branded insulin. Novo Nordisk, Lilly and Sanofi control over 90% of the global insulin market.

☆ Elizabeth Warren and Katie Porter are taking the first step in repealing the Trump-era banking law they blamed for Silicon Valley Bank's collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

NBC first reported on Tuesday that Sen. Warren and Rep. Porter are introducing a bill to repeal a 2018 banking law. Warren and other Democrats blamed the rollback for Silicon Valley Bank's collapse. Warren and Porter blamed the Trump-era rollbacks for SVB's abrupt shutdown on Friday, saying that if stricter regulations had been in place, the bank's collapse could have been prevented. Sen. Bernie Sanders also said on Monday that SVB's failure was a "direct result" of the 2018 legislation. "Americans deserve to know their money is safe when they deposit it in the bank," Porter said in a statement.

☆ Kroger's new payroll system resulted in workers receiving less pay than owed or no paycheck at all according to 4 lawsuits filed agains the grocery chain
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kroger employees say they were underpaid, or not paid at all, according to class-action lawsuits. A new payroll system known as "MyTime" or "MyInfo" is to blame, HR Dive reported. At least four class-action lawsuits claim that the system, implemented last year, resulted in workers receiving less pay than they were owed or no paycheck at all, industry publications HR Dive and Grocery Dive reported. "For example, Kroger employees have been forced to work second jobs, or take on high-interest and risky payday loans in order to meet daily expenses," according to the complaint. Kroger is one of the major retailers that have promoted their efforts to pay workers more in recent weeks.

☆ Joe Manchin says he looks at his 2018 vote on easing bank regulations 'differently now' after Silicon Valley Bank's collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In 2018, Sen. Joe Manchin was one of 13 Democrats to vote for easing some banking regulations. The rollback of those regulations meant that Silicon Valley Bank was subject to less scrutiny. That vote has come under renewed scrutiny after the abrupt shuttering of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and subsequent bailout of its depositors. Manchin did tell Raju that it was not a mistake to vote through that 2018 legislation, or at least it wasn't at the time. Other Democratic lawmakers who also voted for the 2018 legislation are similarly standing by their decisions.

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