Is planned parenthood defunded

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Forget roses or chocolates! According to a new study , a majority of American adults ages 21 and over are planning on gifting their sweethearts with cannabis on the upcoming Valentine’s Day (or at least, incorporating it into their plans). And here's a shocker: parents are more likely to use or gift cannabis than their peers without kids. Conducted by Wired Research and commissioned by multi-state cannabis operator Verano Holdings , the survey polled 961 Americans and was conducted between January 24, 2023, and January 29, 2023. The resulting data shows that attitudes and purchasing behaviors towards cannabis are shifting in the U.S., with more interest, acceptance and personal cannabis usage leading the way. Highlights of the study’s findings include: ● 19 million American adults will skip the champagne on Valentine’s Day in favor of cannabis; ● Nearly 1 in 4 American adults believe cannabis improves … [Read more...] about Majority Of Americans Plan To Use Or Gift Cannabis On Valentine’s Day, Says New Survey

Artificial intelligence is making headlines again, with Google releasing a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT called "Bard" to early testers. The company's new conversational AI service will be released to the public “in the coming weeks” after being tested by trusted testers for feedback, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post . The technology aims to generate detailed answers when given simple prompts. Pichai also said Google plans to add AI-powered features to its search engine that synthesize information to answer complex queries like whether a guitar or the piano is easier to learn to play. Separately, Microsoft plans to hold an event today at its headquarters. The company didn’t disclose the content of the event, but speculation has centered on the company’s bets on artificial intelligence, including adding OpenAI’s ChatGPT bot into its Bing search engine. Bing currently has about a 9% share of the global search market. Last month, Microsoft said it was making a … [Read more...] about Alphabet and Microsoft Push New AI Features

KEY TAKEAWAYS The U.S. savings rate has plunged, and 401(k) accounts have declined as loans and hardship withdrawals exacerbate market losses. With interest rates rising, consumers appear less likely to borrow money in 2023. As a result, the recent decline in consumer spending may persist. Last year, the highest U.S. inflation in 40 years had an entirely unsurprising effect: shrinking the amount of cash in Americans' pockets—and portending challenges for consumer spending in 2023. From tapping their savings to dipping into their retirement accounts, Americans increasingly scrambled for money as the cost of living soared and the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, designed to lower inflation, raised borrowing costs. Nearly half of Americans said they have less savings than they did a year ago, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. As cash savings fell, so did retirement accounts: The number of 401(k) retirement participants taking out loans from their … [Read more...] about Cash-Strapped Americans Increasingly Tap Savings, Retirement Accounts

What Is a Mega Backdoor Roth 401(k) Conversion? A mega backdoor Roth 401(k) conversion is a tax-shelter strategy available to employees whose employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement plans allow them to make substantial after-tax contributions in addition to their pretax deferrals and to transfer their contributions to an employer-designated Roth 401(k). The Build Back Better Act, H.R. 5376, passed by the House of Representatives on Nov. 19, 2021, contains provisions that, if enacted, would limit the ability of high-income taxpayers to accumulate extremely high-value balances in Roth 401(k)s and would eliminate backdoor Roth conversions for high-income taxpayers after Dec. 31, 2031. As of spring 2022, the Build Back Better Act remains stalled in the Senate, and these provisions may not come to pass, at least not in their current form. But mega backdoor Roth conversions remain an important issue—and a notable route to wealth for higher-income taxpayers. Key Takeaways H.R. … [Read more...] about Mega Backdoor Roth 401(k) Conversion: Overview and FAQ

MANILA, Philippines—The Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project has remitted $13 billion to the national government since inception, the operator of the gas field said on Wednesday (Feb. 8). “The SC (service contract) 38 has generated and remitted to the Philippine government some $13 billion since its inception,” said Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. (Prime Infra) president and CEO Guillaume Lucci at the Powertrends International Business Forum held on Wednesday. The Malampaya gas field is operated through SC 38 granted to the consortium of Prime Energy Resources Development B.V. (Prime Energy)—a subsidiary of Razon-led Prime Infra—UC38LLC and state firm Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC). Lucci said the consortium remains committed to ensuring gas supply from the depleting Malampaya gas field. “We’re here to stay, we’re here to invest, we’re here to increase dramatically the gas production with the extended term of the service contract and resource … [Read more...] about Malampaya contribution to gov’t revenue: $13B

India’s budget for healthcare saw a marginal increase of 13 percent in Budget 2023-24 from Rs 79,145 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 89,155 crore in 2023-24. Over the last five years of the Modi government, the sector has seen a 27 percent rise in allocations from Rs 62,659 crore in FY20 to Rs 89,155 crore in 2023-24. However, schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission as well as the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana have seen lesser amounts being allocated to them in this budget. The allocation for one of the flagship schemes of the government — Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, a pan-India health scheme for strengthening healthcare infrastructure — fell to Rs 645.8 crore from the previous budget estimate of Rs 978 crore. The utilisation of the fund has been even lower, with the revised FY23 estimate standing at Rs 281.6 crore. The Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, announced with the objectives of correcting … [Read more...] about Budget 2023: Marginal hike in healthcare allocation, key schemes see cuts

Hassane Kamara of Watford FC looks dejected following their side's defeat in the Premier League match between Manchester City and Watford at Etihad Stadium on April 23, 2022 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) Hassane Kamara is a high-octane defender at Watford FC in England. He was the club’s player of the year last season despite only joining in January 2022. He’s also emblematic of the financial engineering available to football clubs through the increasingly popular multi-club ownership model. Watford was relegated from the Premier League last summer and Kamara was sold to Udinese of Italy for a profit of about £12 million ($14.4 million). That looked like a great trade — but even better was that Udinese, which is owned by the same Italian family that owns Watford, immediately loaned the player back. No rules were broken and Watford Chairman Scott Duxbury was upfront about the motives, telling the club’s website that the deal aimed to balance … [Read more...] about It’s not just Manchester City. Financial football is becoming more prevalent

BP Plc posted its second-highest quarterly profit on record and announced a further $2.5 billion of share buybacks, capping a stellar period for Big Oil after Russias invasion of Ukraine pushed up energy prices. (Source: Bloomberg) When Bernard Looney took over as chief executive officer of BP Plc in 2020, he promised to quickly decarbonize the British oil major, cutting oil and gas production by 40 percent by 2030 and channeling billions of dollars into wind and solar projects. It was a stronger version of the “Beyond Petroleum” slogan BP once used. On Tuesday, Looney altered course. The company put out some fine words about its commitment to green energy and several billion dollars in investment to back it. But in tandem, it promised shareholders it would invest heavily into oil and gas projects. Instead of a 40 percent output cut, oil and gas production would fall by 25 percent by the end of the decade. Don’t say it out loud — because Looney took pains to emphasise that … [Read more...] about Don’t say it out loud, but BP is back into petroleum

As it happens with most new advancements of technology, a discussion and a debate is emerging on what AI can or can’t do. (Representative image) On February 6, Sundar Pichai, CEO of tech behemoth Google and Alphabet announced ‘Bard’ , their experimental AI service. Google’s response comes nearly three months after a hitherto lesser-known company, OpenAI , announced ‘ ChatGPT ’ to the world. The last three months has seen a flurry of activity as an excited world embraced the tool, making it compose prose and poetry and figuring out how far it could go. Tech pundits even began to write articles that ChatGPT would be a great addition, but the company had to figure out how to make money. Even before the ink could dry on those articles, Microsoft announced Microsoft Teams Premium that featured services by OpenAI’s GPT-3.5, hoping to make their online meeting and collaboration tool much more intelligent. Three Key Impacts As it happens with most new advancements of … [Read more...] about Are we ready for AI that knocks out jobs, fuels disinformation, and is difficult to regulate?

The budget attempts to simultaneously expand the tax base by reducing several benefits available to HNIs. All eyes were on Budget 2023, awaiting steps that would quell the high net-worth individual (HNI) exodus that has been plaguing the country over the past few years. While the Budget has introduced some beneficial measures to attract global HNIs, there are also a few snags which may send a mixed signal to them. On the positive front, HNIs are expected to have more in-hand money following the changes proposed in the Budget. The Budget proposes to cap the highest surcharge rate for such individual taxpayers who opt for the new tax regime to 25 percent from 37 percent at present. Consequently, the effective tax rate would now be reduced from 42.74 percent to 39 percent, ensuring a net savings of almost 4 percent on incomes of Rs 50 million (Rs 5 crore) or more. This proposal will provide relief to individuals with income above  Rs 50 million who are taxed under the new personal … [Read more...] about Budget 2023: Some relief and some pain for high net-worth individuals