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☆ House Democrats, looking to renew plan to expand Social Security, say debt ceiling fight 'hurts seniors the most'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Social Security already faces funding risksIn order to prevent a Social Security funding shortfall, congressional Democrats and Republicans must agree on a solution. The Social Security 2100 Act that was introduced in the last Congress had broad support among House Democrats. Changes in the Social Security 2100 Actzimmytws | iStock | Getty ImagesThe Social Security 2100 Act aims to extend the program's solvency, though estimates are not yet available for how long it could prolong the program's funding. Social Security 2100 also calls for adding an additional 12.4% net investment income tax for taxpayers making more than $400,000. Max Richtman president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

☆ Sen. Bernie Sanders renews push for Medicare for All to end 'totally broken' health-care system
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

This week, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is renewing his push for a new approach — Medicare for All — that he touted as a presidential candidate. "The current health-care system in the United States is totally broken," Sanders said Tuesday at a Capitol Hill event. Medicare for All would create a single-payer program, which would allow one source to collect all health-care fees and pay all health-care costs. "It is long overdue for us to end the international embarrassment of the United States being the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all of its people," Sanders said. "Now is the time for a Medicare for All single-payer program."

On top of the GOP gubernatorial primary in Kentucky, there are other contests taking place on Tuesday that could provide some clues about 2024 — even though it’s hard to draw too many lessons from individual races. Voters are also heading to the polls in Pennsylvania, which is hosting a crowded Democratic primary for Philadelphia mayor. Two races will also provide some insight into voter attitudes in two key counties in two crucial battlegrounds. In other Pence news, he will attend Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst’s “Roast and Ride” event next month, per Fox News (former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is also attending). Jumping in: Former state Rep. Leslie Love jumped into the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan on Monday.

A group of mostly Democratic senators pressured Tesla CEO Elon Musk to end the company's use of forced arbitration clauses in employee and customer contracts, in a letter on Monday. Forced arbitration clauses in consumer contracts have similarly obscured important details about Tesla's vehicle safety and business practices from the public, the lawmakers wrote. They asked for the same details about sexual harassment complaints from Tesla workers. However, Tesla makes and sells its cars direct to consumers so its forced arbitration clauses cover more than the norm where auto sales are concerned. Tesla uses arbitration clauses as a tactic to shunt people into a forum that's pretty rigged for the corporation."

☆ $7.25 federal minimum wage is a 'national disgrace,' says Sen. Bernie Sanders, backing push for $17/hour
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks on raising the federal minimum wage outside the U.S. Capitol on May 4, 2023. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images13 states have approved a $15 minimum wageToday, 13 states have approved a $15 minimum wage, Sanders said. Sen. Bernie Sanders Independent U.S. senator from VermontDemocrats had pursued raising the federal minimum wage in recent years, though those efforts stalled. When President Joe Biden took office, he promised to address the federal minimum wage in his first 100 days, Blalock recalled. 'A weak minimum wage is bad for the overall economy'Opponents to raising the minimum wage cite the higher costs those increases would put on businesses.

☆ Using Forensic Evidence to Solve Crimes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Amanda Foreman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Historian Amanda Foreman searches the past for the origins of today’s world. Read previous columns here. In February, police in Burlington, Vt., announced they had solved the city’s oldest cold case, the 1971 murder of 24-year-old schoolteacher Rita Curran. Taking advantage of genetic genealogy using DNA databases—the latest addition to the forensic science toolbox—the police were able to prove that the killer was a neighbor in Curran’s apartment building, William DeRoos.

☆ Ben & Jerry’s Paves Way for Union at Vermont Store
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ben & Jerry’s announced Friday that it had reached an agreement with workers at its flagship store in Burlington, Vt., on a set of rules to ensure a fair union election, after the workers’ announcement last week that they were seeking to organize. The agreement is likely to pave the way for the store to become the only unionized Ben & Jerry’s location in the United States. All of the nearly 40 workers eligible to join a union at the store have indicated their support for doing so. The company indicated that the agreement could make the store a better place to work. Rebeka Mendelsohn, a shift manager who has helped lead the organizing campaign, said she hoped the agreement would encourage workers at other Ben & Jerry’s stores to consider unionizing.

☆ Ben and Jerry's is latest progressive company to be brought into the union debate as scoopers at its flagship store in Vermont move to unionize
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Employees at a Ben & Jerry's shop in Vermont are seeking to form a union. A Ben & Jerry's spokeswoman told Insider that "we recognize and support the rights of all workers to unionize and collectively bargain." Ben & Jerry's workers told the Washington Post that they decided to pursue a union after management took away the store's tip jar for the company's annual Free Cone Day. All 37 scoopers at the Burlington store have pledged support for the union, according to Scoopers United. The union effort is the latest test for Ben & Jerry's, which has cast itself as a socially conscious brand for decades.

☆ Edward Koren, 87, Whose Cartoon Creatures Poked Fun at People, Dies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Robert D. Mcfadden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Edward Koren, the New Yorker cartoonist who created a fantasy world of toothy, long-nosed, hairy creatures of indeterminate species that articulated the neuroses and banalities of middle-class America for six decades, died on Friday at his home in Brookfield, Vt. His wife, Curtis Koren, said the cause was lung cancer. In the gentle, affable kingdom of Koren, the beasts form a polite queue in the woods at a 24-hour banking A.T.M. With Charles Addams, James Thurber and Saul Steinberg, Mr. Koren was one of the most popular cartoonists in The New Yorker’s long love affair with humor. In a bed for three, a grimacing psychiatrist squeezed between battling spouses takes “couples therapy” notes.

☆ Inside the Online Market for Overseas Abortion Pills
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Allison Mccann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

A selection of abortion pill kits available online from overseas sellers. A chart of the estimated number of abortion pills provided outside the U.S. health care system from July through December 2022. For most patients, the cost of the service remains the most important factor in deciding where to get pills online. A chart showing the minimum, average and maximum cost of abortion pills from overseas providers: Aid Access, Las Libres and for-profit online sellers. A chart showing the minimum, average and maximum delivery speeds of abortion pills from overseas providers: Aid Access, Las Libres and for-profit online sellers.

☆ Senators ask 27 CEOs to make sure their companies comply with child labor laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Laura Strickler | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The company entered into an agreement with the agency pledging compliance with child labor laws and consented to third-party oversight. This is the second Senate inquiry citing NBC News reporting on child labor. JBS has zero tolerance for child labor, discrimination or unsafe working conditions for anyone working in our facilities. In a local newspaper editorial, Hearthside CEO Darlene Nicosia wrote the revelation of child labor was "a shock and major disappointment to us." Hearthside is in the midst of a 60-day independent review of child labor practices by an outside law firm, according to a spokesperson.

☆ 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.

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.

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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ Wall Street — not taxpayers — will pay for the SVB and Signature deposit relief plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Plans announced Sunday to fully reimburse deposits made in the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank and the shuttered Signature Bank will rely on Wall Street and large financial institutions — not taxpayers — to foot the bill, Treasury officials said. The DIF currently has over $100 billion in it, a sum the Treasury official said was "more than fully sufficient" to cover SVB and Signature depositors. To that end, federal officials strongly pushed back on the idea that the plans for SVB and Signature constituted a "bailout." Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., insisted that "If there is a bailout of Silicon Valley Bank, it must be 100 percent financed by Wall Street and large financial institutions." On Sunday afternoon, Treasury approved of plans that would unwind both SVB and Signature Bank, based in New York, "in a manner that fully protects all depositors."

☆ GOP presidential contenders cast blame for Silicon Valley Bank collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Employees stand outside of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters on March 10, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. Former President Donald Trump and other 2024 Republican presidential hopefuls spoke out over the weekend on the failure of Silicon Valley Bank , offering early hints of their varied approaches to the markets. Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, was shuttered by financial regulators last week, marking the largest failure of a banking institution since the 2008 financial crisis. Nikki Haley on Saturday night declared, "taxpayers should absolutely not bail our Silicon Valley Bank." "Now depositors at healthy banks are forced to subsidize Silicon Valley Bank's mismanagement.

☆ Biden budget calls for 'protecting and strengthening' Social Security
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Days after introducing a new plan to shore up Medicare, President Joe Biden called for "protecting and strengthening" Social Security with the introduction of his fiscal 2024 budget on Thursday. With the budget, the president reaffirmed his intentions to reject any proposed cuts to Social Security or Medicare. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have also led a plan that would make income over $250,000 subject to Social Security taxes. At the same time, the budget also indicates that the administration "looks forward to working with Congress to responsibly strengthen Social Security by ensuring high-income individuals pay their fair share." Biden has proposed raising Medicare taxes to 5%, from 3.8%, for both earned and unearned income over $400,000.

☆ Retail investors are bailing on the stock market, leaving bearish pros to decide its fate
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( John Melloy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Retail investors are buying fewer stocks as the market stagnates under the weight of higher interest rates and stubborn inflation — a loss of a key group to keep positive momentum going. Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn told CNBC earlier this month that investors should be bearish on stocks because of rising inflation. Along with the macroeconomic woes, Vanda thinks the dented enthusiasm from the retail audience is in part because interest in Tesla shares is waning. Tesla hosted an investors day to start the month that largely disappointed investors because of a lack of details about its future plans, including a possible cheaper vehicle. TSLA 1M mountain Tesla shares, 1 month Tesla shares are off 12% this month.

☆ Moderna CEO Defends Pricing Plans for Covid-19 Shot
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jared S. Hopkins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Moderna Inc. Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel pushed back against criticism of the company’s pricing plans for its Covid-19 vaccine at Monday’s Wall Street Journal Health Forum. U.S. politicians including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and Peter Welch (D., Vt.) have questioned the company’s strategy around commercial pricing, which could be unveiled in the coming months. Moderna received funding from the U.S. government related to development of its Covid-19 vaccine.

☆ Moderna CEO Defends Pricing Plans for Covid Shot
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jared S. Hopkins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, said public funding sped the vaccine’s development. Moderna Inc. Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel pushed back against criticism of the company’s pricing plans for its Covid-19 vaccine at Monday’s Wall Street Journal Health Forum. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and Peter Welch (D., Vt.) have questioned the company’s strategy around commercial pricing, which could be unveiled in the coming months. Moderna received funding from the U.S. government related to development of its Covid-19 vaccine.

☆ As Social Security reform talks heat up, changes to the retirement age, payroll tax may be on the table
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

A recent Congressional Budget Office report projected Social Security's combined funds may run out in 2033, two years sooner than the Social Security actuaries estimated last year. Raising retirement age may be a 20% benefit cutThe Social Security full retirement age is gradually changing to 67, based on changes enacted in 1983. Lawmakers are considering raising the full retirement age again to age 70. Current beneficiaries and near retirees would likely be spared from any retirement age changes. Warren and Sanders are calling for reapplying the Social Security payroll tax to income over $250,000, while also taxing certain business and investment income at 12.4%.

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