Gas prices remain high across the country despite slower demand and weaker inflation, an issue that could become critical for President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 election, analysts have told Newsweek. When Biden took office in January 2021, gas prices were an average of $2.4 per gallon across the country, according to historical data […]
Category: Business
Remote work is getting harder to come by
Back in 2020, when schools were still virtual and city dwellers were living their lives in masks, Jamie Dimon emerged as one of the earliest critics of remote work. “There’s a huge value to working together in terms of collaboration and creativity and training the younger people,” the CEO of JPMorgan Chase told MSNBC in […]
Downtown San Francisco is a “Retail Hellhole”
Retail giant Nordstrom’s flagship store in a San Francisco mall permanently closed this week, marking the latest store to fall as the city grapples with a glaring exodus of brick-and-mortar shops. The cause of the closure, according to a mall spokeswoman, included “unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees, coupled with the fact that these […]
Burger King being sued over size of Whopper
Burger King must face a lawsuit that alleges it makes its Whopper burger appear larger on its menus than it is in reality, a US judge has ruled. The lawsuit accuses the fast food giant of misleading customers by showing the burger with a meatier patty and ingredients that “overflow over the bun”. “The plaintiffs’ […]
Mexican Cartels behind much of US retail theft
Retailers nationwide sustained nearly $100 billion worth of losses in 2021, the highest year on record, according to the National Retail Federation report published in September 2022. The growing number of cartel-run theft rings around the country drove that figure up from $70 billion in 2019. “Organized retail crime is leading to more brazen and […]
Why is there no alternative to the Panama canal?
The Panama Canal is essential to global trade, but a recent drought has left large numbers of ships waiting to pass along it, raising questions about whether an alternative route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is needed. It is a traffic jam on a colossal scale. More than 200 ships, according to some estimates, […]
Interest Rates poised to go up says Fed Chief
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Friday inflation is still too high, and he warned that restoring price stability will likely require an extended period of elevated interest rates. Speaking to a gathering of economists and central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Powell said it’s encouraging that inflation has cooled — from 9.1% last […]
What is skiplagging? Why do Airlines hate it?
A new lawsuit brought by American Airlines against a controversial ticketing website is bringing renewed attention to “skiplagging,” or “hidden city ticketing” — a technique used by some passengers to get lower fares. It works like this: Say a passenger wants to travel from New York to Charlotte, N.C., but the nonstop route is pricey. […]
High-Rise Offices Are Now Ghost Towns
Once upon a time, the office was a second home for many. Assigned desks were decorated with personal items; favourite mugs ran through the dishwasher at the end of each day; wheelie chairs were adjusted to exacting specifications. Since the pandemic, that office routine has faded. Now that hybrid working is the norm for many […]
Want to buy a new car under $20k? Good Luck!
Just five years ago, a price-conscious auto shopper in the United States could choose from among a dozen new small cars selling for under $20,000. Now, there’s just one: The Mitsubishi Mirage. And even the Mirage appears headed for the scrap yard. At a time when Americans increasingly want pricey SUVs and trucks rather than […]
As pandemic cash dwindles; day of reckoning is near
US consumers are approaching a reckoning as the excess cash they built up during the pandemic dwindles. How they respond will help determine whether the world’s largest economy can dodge a recession. Over the past two years, consumers have drawn down the more than $2 trillion in extra savings they accumulated during the pandemic in […]
Organized shoplifting now a billion $$ industry
In a May earnings report, Brian Cornell, CEO of Target, said that a loss of inventory is expected to reduce the company’s profits by more than $500 million compared to the previous year. While he said there were “many potential sources,” theft and organized retail crime were becoming “increasingly important drivers.” The corporate disclosure was […]