Not all of it, but fattening bottom lines has played a role. It’s basic economics that when supply and demand are out of balance, prices will rise or fall until they’re in balance again. They teach that in college-level Economics 101 classes. The pandemic created supply bottlenecks and s[...]
Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
May 5th, 2024 - 11:34 am § in Business, Environment
The wind didn’t knock out your power
When it’s windy and the lights go out, you may assume a tree limb fell on a powerline somewhere in your neighborhood. Not necessarily. The electric utility may have deliberately cut power. It’s a tactic to prevent fires in the dry windy conditions that are becoming increasingly prevalent[...]
Florida governor forces residents to eat meat
GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed legislation banning the sale of lab-grown meat in Florida. Lab-grown meat is “produced in steel tanks using cells from a living animal,” and is different from plant-based proteins, Huffington Post says (read article here). Sounds like cloning to me. DeSan[...]
Employers steal more $$$ than criminals
I was surprised to read that in the U.S., workers “have an estimated $50bn-plus stolen from them every year, … surpassing all robberies, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts combined,” the Guardian said on Thursday, June 15, 2023 (read story here). I knew wage theft was a problem, a[...]
The commercial real estate crisis
The commercial real estate sector is in trouble for two big reasons: High vacancy rates, and falling property values. Nationally, about 18% of America’s office space lacks tenants. There may have been some overbuilding, but this is primarily due to the switch to working from home. The pandemic[...]
Panicky Buffett dumps shares in Taiwan chipmaker
Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s holding company, has sold all its recently-acquired shares in Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), which makes nearly all the world’s most advanced computer chips. He was explicit about why: He’s worried about the location of TSMC’s factories in T[...]
What’s wrong with work requirements?
As part of their debt ceiling demands, Republicans are demanding expanded work requirements for food stamps and Medicaid. On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, GOP House Speaker McCarthy seemed to enlarge that to all safety net programs (read story here). It looks reasonable on its face. But as with many things[...]
March 15th, 2023 - 10:06 pm § in Business
Is Elon Musk costing Tesla sales?
Could be. Vox, citing surveys, says here a year ago Tesla was the first choice of 17% of potential EV buyers, ahead of all other carmakers. But that has dropped to 9% and Tesla now trails Toyota and BMW in buyer preferences. Overall, Tesla’s U.S. market share for EVs has fallen from 78% to 58%[...]
What is a “woke” bank?
There are big banks, regional banks, community banks, niche banks, and … “woke” banks??? This week, a broke bank is a “woke” bank, which roughly translated means a ripe opportunity to blame its failure on everything Republicans don’t like — diversity, equity[...]
Insurrection senator gave free pass to crooked insurance company
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who raised a clenched-fist salute in solidarity with violent rioters trying to overthrow the 2020 election (photo, left), ignored “a Christian-backed medical insurance company” that was stealing from his constituents when he was Missouri attorney general (read st[...]