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Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin TOPLINE As jobless claims surged last week to 22 million nationwide, nearly half of all states have reported double-digit percent losses to the cash reserves they use to pay unemployment claims, according to a new analysis by the Wall Street Journal , raising the possibility that states may need a federal bailout in order to help keep the unemployed afloat. KEY FACTS Nearly 50% of states including California, New York and Massachusetts have drained almost half of their total trust fund reserve in funding unemployment payments for those out-of-work due to the coronaviru pandemic, per WSJ . With unemployment rising week over week, states could run out of money and need loans from the federal government, say economists . While the federal stimulus package pays for an additional $600 per week for those who are out of work due to the crisis,, states still pay the pre-coronavirus unemployment rate to … [Read more...] about Report: States Are Rapidly Draining Their Unemployment Funds

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Billionaire Mark Cuban says President Trump is wrong to the think the economy can open up as early as May 1. And when it does open, it will take years to return to post-pandemic norms. “I wish he was right, but he’s not,” Cuban said in an interview on Sunday with Chris Wallace of FOX News Sunday. “People aren’t going to just venture outside. They're not going to go to large gatherings. They're not going to feel confident right off the bat. There’s going to be a lot of trepidation. And that concern is going to lead to people holding back on spending money,” he says. Some people are appalled by the rising stock market as unemployment explodes — over 16 million people have filed for unemployment in just 15 business days due to mandated government shutdowns of business. Retail, restaurants, travel, sports and entertainment have been particularly hard hit. “It speaks of a vast transfer of wealth orchestrated by the … [Read more...] about Mark Cuban Says Economy Will Never Be The Same Post-Pandemic

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline: As the coronavirus pandemic craters the world’s markets and disrupts the daily lives of millions, Norwegian Air said Thursday it would suspend around 4,000 flights and temporarily lay off up to 50% of its workers as businesses contend with sharp declines in revenue. 40% of Norwegian’s long haul fleet and 25% of its short haul fleet will be grounded until May, according to a press release. 50 employees from the South by Southwest music festival were let go after the 2020 event was canceled. Other layoffs include 145 drivers from the Port of Los Angeles as ships from China stopped arriving, the Washington Post reported . Travel agencies in Los Angeles as well as Atlanta, Georgia, have also laid off workers, as airlines suspend flights (and contend with President Trump’s new Europe travel ban), while a Seattle, Washington hotel chain shuttered an entire department, the Post reported. Christie … [Read more...] about Norwegian Air Axes Up To 50% Of Employees As Coronavirus Layoffs Begin

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The government of Pakistan has blocked access to Wikipedia from within the country over so-called “sacrilegious content,” according to the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that oversees the website and its community-edited content. Pakistan asked Wikipedia to either block or remove “sacrilegious” and “blasphemous” content from the online encyclopedia, though it’s not yet clear what content the government found objectionable. “As of Friday, February 3, our internal traffic reports indicate that Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects are no longer accessible to users in Pakistan,” the Wikimedia Foundation said in a statement published online late Friday . The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on its website on Wednesday that it had “downgraded” Wikipedia, meaning the online encyclopedia was running incredibly slow for anyone trying to access it in Pakistan. The PTA said the downgrading would remain in … [Read more...] about Pakistan Blocks Wikipedia Over ‘Sacrilegious Content’

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Today we look at Hunter Biden’s controversial art career and examine the Trump Organization’s recent job postings. This is the web edition of the free Checks & Imbalances newsletter, usually sent to inboxes on Fridays. You can subscribe here . Please support this work, if you can, by subscribing to Forbes . Hunter Biden’s Art Price Tag Is ‘Pretty Much Unheard Of’ Reporter Carlie Porterfield joins “Forbes Newsroom” to discuss the Hunter Biden art saga . Tip Me Any tips or suggestions? Email me at [email protected] or call/SMS/Signal 202.804.2744. Follow me on Mastodon at @[email protected] . Thanks! Senate Democrat Michael Bennet Asks Apple And Google To Ban TikTok From App Stores “Colorado Senator Michael Bennet (D) has called on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores , citing concerns that the app could share private American user data with … [Read more...] about Checks & Imbalances: Hunter Biden’s Art Price Tag Is ‘Pretty Much Unheard Of’

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin I have been having silly arguments with Fair Tax enthusiasts. The Fair Tax Act of 2023 would be a tremendous simplification of federal taxation. It does not, however, reduce 70,000 pages to 131 and it does not entirely eliminate the Internal Revenue Code. Also it does not abolish the IRS. It renames parts of it and has $10 billion or so, currently spent by the IRS to be spent by numerous state revenue agencies instead. Over my forty year career I have not found state employees to be easier to deal with than federal employees, so I don't see what we would be gaining there. And while much simpler than the current system, there is still some complexity. That is what I would like to tell you about, because some of that complexity is worrisome. All section references are to the Internal Revenue Code of 2023 as specified by the Fair Tax Act of 2023. The Variable Rate Discussions of the sales tax proposed in the … [Read more...] about Fair Tax Act Of 2023 Has Rate That Varies

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin If you need to replace your gas furnace or air conditioning, you now have a new opportunity to save big on your utility bills. If you can replace your old heating-cooling units with a heat pump, you can qualify for up to $8,000 on the spot in a federal credit. Although the credit is indexed to your income, it’s a major deal on something that will heat and cool your home in one unit. “These heating and cooling systems, once considered useful only in warmer climates, have in the past few years become far more sophisticated,” writes Robert Gebelhoff in The Washington Post . “They are now the best chance we have to phase out fossil fuels as a means of heating and could set the stage for a climate policy revolution.” “For every unit of electricity a heat pump uses,” Gebelhoff notes, “it can generate 2.5 to 5.5 units of heat, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. In other words, heat pumps have an … [Read more...] about How A Heat Pump Can Deflate Your Utility Bills Big Time

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) approved a new calendar for the 2024 presidential primaries Saturday that bumps Iowa and New Hampshire from being the first in the nation, CBS News reported. The calendar gives South Carolina the first presidential primary election on Feb. 3, 2024, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on Feb. 6, according to CBS News. Georgia and Michigan, swing states carried by President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, also will move up the calendar, while Iowa is completely out of the early primary window. (RELATED: Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen Snubs White House Over Primary Schedule Change) Iowa and New Hampshire both have laws that require that they hold the first presidential nomination processes of their kind on the books, which could lead to the DNC stripping them of delegates if they defy the primary calendar, CBS reported Friday. Iowa’s and New Hampshire’s members of the DNC voted against the new primary calendar. … [Read more...] about DNC Approves New Primary Calendar That Bumps Iowa, New Hampshire

By ZEKE MILLER, MICHAEL BALSAMO, COLLEEN LONG, AAMER MADHANI and LOLITA C. BALDOR (Associated Press) WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Saturday downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast on orders from President Joe Biden after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America, becoming the latest flashpoint in tensions between Washington and Beijing. Biden said he wanted the balloon downed on Wednesday, but was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water. Military officials determined that the bringing it down over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground. The balloon was spotted Saturday morning over the Carolinas as it approached the Atlantic coast. At about 2:40 p.m. EST, an F-22 fighter jet fired a missile at the balloon, puncturing it while it was about 6 nautical miles off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Pentagon officials said. Officials said … [Read more...] about US downs Chinese balloon, a flashpoint in US-China tensions

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin What Happened In 2022 Even before a months-long winter engulfed the digital-assets market, 2022 was shaping up as the year that Washington began to get serious about regulating the cryptocurrency business. That resolve was bolstered throughout the year by a series of calamities that included a massive stablecoin failure of terraUSD and the associated luna, with contagion effects that impacted BlockFi, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital exchange that called into question the ability of crypto exchanges to be digital asset custodians that would protect investors’ assets. Essentially, the crypto industry managed to recreate the same risks of the traditional banking system, in which the institutions that were responsible for holding customer’s assets were simultaneously lending funds, leading to leverage, liquidity and capital conflicts. Before the year could end, the third-largest exchange, FTX – previously seen as a … [Read more...] about 2022 Year In Review: Crypto Policy Experiences Massive Turbulence In Congress Amid TerraUSD And FTX Failures