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Tag: Government policy

  • Government shutdown looms: Here’s how to help preserve your investment portfolio.  

    Government shutdown looms: Here’s how to help preserve your investment portfolio.  

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    “ The economic impact of a shutdown and the potential implications on your portfolio depend largely on how long the shutdown lasts. ”

    The potential for a U.S. government shutdown can raise alarm for investors and send the phone of a financial adviser like me ringing off the hook. Headlines in front of them, my clients are increasingly asking about potential portfolio implications and how they should respond.

    There is certainly a measured response, which includes not overreacting to the headlines and sticking to your long-term investment plan, and I’ll show you how to draw it.

    Government shutdown explained

    First, it’s important to understand what is happening. During a shutdown, the federal government will suspend all services that are deemed nonessential until a funding agreement is reached. This is much different than a default — which can happen when the government can’t pay its debts or satisfy its obligations. A default can have significant ramifications on U.S. creditworthiness and in turn, the global financial system. You may recall lawmakers’ discussions earlier this year regarding raising the debt ceiling — a solution to avoid defaulting. 

    A U.S. default has never happened, but shutdowns have occurred more than 20 times since 1976. Unlike a default, a shutdown does not affect the government’s ability to pay its obligations, and many critical government services, like Social Security may continue. When weighing the two, one can presume that markets may react more negatively to a default.   

    Markets may experience heightened volatility in response to the shutdown uncertainty, but markets do not react consistently to the news. In the past we have seen U.S. stocks — as measured by the S&P 500
    SPX
    — finish positively after more than half of these shutdowns. Results are similar for fixed-income securities, as we’ve seen an even split between positive and negative returns in the bond markets in shutdowns since 1976. 

    Of course, all investing is subject to risk, past performance is not a guarantee for future returns, and the performance of an index is not an exact representation of any particular investment. 

    The economic impact of a shutdown — and the potential implications on your portfolio — depend largely on how long the shutdown lasts. The longer the shutdown, the more Americans experience dampened economic activity from things like loss of furloughed federal workers’ contribution to GDP, the delay in federal spending on goods and services, and the reduction in aggregate demand (which lowers private-sector activity). 

    Read: Government shutdown: Analysts warn of ‘perhaps a long one lasting into the winter’

    A measured response 

    A government shutdown is just one of many factors, both positive and negative, that can cause fluctuation in the market, so it’s important to treat it just as you would other fluctuations.

    With so many variables, it’s impossible to precisely predict the effects the shutdown will have or determine how long it will last. This can seem scary for many, so it’s important to remember your long-term financial plan and focus on the factors you can control.  

    First, do not try to time the market. Doing so based on short-term events is never a good idea, and volatility is unpredictable. Even if the markets fall, we don’t know when they might recover. If you make an emotionally charged decision, you run the risk of missing out on potentially substantial market gains. 

    Instead, focus on the following: align your asset allocation with your risk tolerance; control your costs; adopt realistic expectations; hold a broadly diversified portfolio and stay disciplined. Doing so can help you weather any form of market uncertainty, including a shutdown.

    Stick to healthy financial habits

    In addition to not making any sudden moves in your investment portfolio, now is a suitable time to make sure you are keeping up with healthy financial habits, especially if you are a federal employee facing a furlough. This can look like readjusting your budget based on your current needs, keeping high-interest debt to a minimum, paying the minimum on all debt to keep your credit score in good standing and continuing to save.

    Remember, using your emergency fund to navigate tight times is exactly what you have saved for and tapping it in this instance is considered a healthy financial habit. Just be sure to replenish it when you have the funds to do so. As a good practice, Vanguard recommends having three- to six months of expenses saved in readily accessible investments.

    With a level, long-term approach and a personalized financial plan, you can be prepared for this potential storm and the inevitable ones to come. 

    Lauren Wybar is a senior financial adviser with Vanguard Personal Advisor. 

    More: Bill Ackman says Treasury yields are going higher in a hurry, and that investors should shun U.S. government debt

    Plus: Social Security checks will still come if there’s a shutdown. But there are other immediate threats to America’s benefits.

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  • Nvidia identified as target of French antitrust raid: WSJ

    Nvidia identified as target of French antitrust raid: WSJ

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    Nvidia Corp.’s offices in France were the subject of a dawn raid Wednesday by French antitrust regulators, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, which cited sources close to the raid.

    Nvidia
    NVDA,
    +1.46%
    is widely recognized by Wall Street as the biggest chipmaker that stands to gain from the current AI frenzy, as data centers that run the AI models need more and more hardware and software to sustain workloads. Shares of the $1.065 trillion company are up 195% year to date.

    On Wednesday, the Autorité de la Concurrence, France’s national competition regulator, said it had carried out the raid at “the premises of a company suspected of having implemented anticompetitive practices in the graphics-cards sector,” and refused to comment on “the entity or on the practices in question.”

    Nvidia declined to comment to both the Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch.

    Nvidia’s stock closed up 1.5% at $430.89 in Thursday trading following the report, while the S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    +0.59%
    gained 0.6%.

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  • Tesla sued for racial discrimination, retaliation by EEOC

    Tesla sued for racial discrimination, retaliation by EEOC

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    Tesla Inc. was sued Thursday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which alleges the EV maker violated federal law by “tolerating widespread and ongoing racial harassment of its Black employees” at its Fremont, Calif., plant, and by retaliating against those opposing the harassment.

    Black employees at the Fremont factory, Tesla’s
    TSLA,
    +2.44%
    first assembly plant and for years its only vehicle-manufacturing facility in the U.S., “have routinely endured racial abuse, pervasive stereotyping and hostility” as well as having racial slurs hurled at them, the lawsuit alleges.

    “Slurs were used casually and openly in high-traffic areas and at worker hubs,” the EEOC said. Black employees “regularly” saw graffiti with slurs, swastikas, threats and nooses throughout the facility, including on desks, in bathroom stalls and elevators, according to the suit.

    Tesla, which disbanded its media relations team during the pandemic, did not immediately return a request for comment. In August, SpaceX, another one of Tesla’s Chief Executive Elon Musk’s companies, was sued by the Justice Department over its hiring practices.

    Employees who spoke up against the racial hostility suffered retaliations that included being fired or transferred, the EEOC said.

    The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after attempts at reaching a settlement before the litigation. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as back pay for the affected workers. It also seeks changes to Tesla’s employment practices to prevent discrimination in the future, the EEOC said.

    A Black Tesla employee was awarded $137 million in 2021 by a jury that agreed he was subjected to racial harassment at the Fremont factory, but in April 2022 a judge reduced the award to $15 million.

    Shares of Tesla have doubled so far this year, compared with an advance of around 12% for the S&P 500 index
    SPX.

    The first Model S rolled out of the Fremont factory in 2012, and the plant now makes Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y vehicles, with capacity to make more than a million vehicles a year as well as energy products and battery cells.

    Tesla opened up its second U.S. vehicle-making factory in the Austin, Texas, area in the spring of 2022.

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  • Betting markets now see a Trump 2024 win as likelier than a Biden victory — and give Newsom better chances than Trump’s GOP rivals

    Betting markets now see a Trump 2024 win as likelier than a Biden victory — and give Newsom better chances than Trump’s GOP rivals

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    Donald Trump’s chances of winning the 2024 presidential election appear to be improving this week, as betting markets tracked by RealClearPolitics put them just ahead of President Joe Biden’s for the first time this year — at 32%, compared with 30%.

    That’s illustrated in the below chart, which also shows Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California with an 8% chance of getting elected president, even though he has ruled out a White House run repeatedly. Newsom’s chances are ahead of those for Trump’s rivals for the Republican nomination, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

    To be sure, betting markets got last year’s midterm elections wrong and can be poor predictors for several reasons. The clientele for political gambling tends to be right-leaning and male, and betting markets can get caught up in narratives as well as skewed by unreliable polls, one expert in political gambling and prediction markets told MarketWatch last year.

    Trump’s chances of winning the 2024 presidential election have hit a new high for the year, as Biden seems to fade a bit, DeSantis has seen a big drop, and some bettors like Michelle Obama.


    RealClearPolitics

    Trump’s improved chances come as he skipped a GOP primary debate for a second time, instead giving a speech Wednesday night directed at Michigan auto workers in which he suggested that none of the debaters deserved to become his vice president.

    The former president has 56.6% support in national primary polls, according to a RealClearPolitics moving average of surveys. He has been indicted this year in two separate election-interference cases, a hush-money case and a classified-documents case, but many Republican voters have rallied around him.

    DeSantis is a distant second in those polls with 14.4% support, followed by Haley at 5.8%, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 5.1% and former Trump VP Mike Pence at 4.2%. In aggregate, the non-Trump GOP candidates get 35.9% support in RCP’s average of national polls, compared with Trump’s 56.6%. In RCP’s average of surveys for Iowa, which holds the first major contest in the GOP primary, they get 46.4% support vs. his 49.2%.

    Now read: DeSantis says at debate that Trump’s spending ‘set the stage for the inflation that we have now’

    See also: Gas tax a target at Republican debate. Here’s what you’re paying now.

    Plus: Instagram, other social media should be banned for anyone 16 and under, Ramaswamy says at GOP debate

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  • Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders urge FTC’s Khan to finalize controversial merger rules

    Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders urge FTC’s Khan to finalize controversial merger rules

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    A group of Democrats in the House and Senate are imploring the country’s top antitrust enforcement cop to implement sweeping new changes to its merger-review protocol, according to a new letter viewed exclusively by MarketWatch.

    The Federal Trade Commission, along with the Justice Department’s antitrust division, recently proposed changes to forms that companies proposing deals of a certain size must submit to the government, which critics say would suppress the market for mergers and acquisitions.

    The new form will require companies to provide much more information to antitrust enforcers before they seek to consummate a deal. Most controversially, that would include narrative information about the strategic rationale for a transaction as well as studies, surveys, analyses and reports which were prepared by the company as it considered the deal.

    “The new proposed [form] and associated instructions will facilitate efficient premerger review and ensure effective enforcement of antitrust laws,” wrote the lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who votes with Democrats.

    The letter, dated Sept. 27, was also signed by Democrats including Sen.  Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, and Reps. Becca Balint of Vermont, Henry Johnson of Georgia, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Lori Trahan of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, Katie Porter of California and Greg Casar of Texas. No Republicans signed the letter.

    The lawmakers lament the state of the U.S. economy today, arguing that the updated premerger process is necessary to combat growing concentration of industry and the digital transformation of the economy.

    “Unchecked consolidation hurts consumers, small businesses, workers, and the economy,” the letter reads. “Consolidation leads to higher prices, less innovation, and reduced quality for consumers. It prevents small businesses from entering markets or competing fairly: for example it is twice as expensive for small businesses to borrow money compared to dominant ones, and there are fewer startups in states where a few companies dominate markets.”

    The lawmakers note that since the current premerger notification process was instituted nearly 45 years ago, the required forms have not been updated, and only require companies to provide basic information that don’t “give regulators clarity as to whether a deal may substantially lessen competition.”

    The FTC and DOJ proposed the changes in July, and then extended the period for accepting public comments on the proposal to Sept. 27, and it’s possible the final rule is amended before the agencies adopt it. There is no set timeline for when the FTC will vote to adopt any changes.

    Some antitrust experts are skeptical that the proposed changes will hold up in court, if they are implemented as proposed.

    “The proposed changes are likely to face a rocky path ahead,” wrote Justin Hurwitz of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition, in a recent analysis.

    “They appear to violate legislative intent that [the premerger process] not unduly delay transactions or require the production of materials the firms did not already create as par of evaluating the transaction.”

    Hurwitz added that “the premerger notification process serves an important function, but it is a tax on on all mergers,” and predicted that the proposed changes will likely not “survive judicial review.”

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  • Instagram, other social media should be banned for anyone 16 and under, Ramaswamy says at GOP debate

    Instagram, other social media should be banned for anyone 16 and under, Ramaswamy says at GOP debate

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    Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy took aim at social-media companies during the second GOP presidential debate, saying Wednesday night that he would aim to ban anyone age 16 or under from using those companies’ platforms.

    “If you’re 16 years old or under, you should not be using an addictive social-media product — period,” said Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who ranks fourth in GOP primary polls, according a RealClearPolitics average.

    He said this move would help with improving mental health and stopping the fentanyl epidemic. Earlier, Ramaswamy had talked about a mom and dad in Iowa whose son died after the teen bought Percocet laced with fentanyl through Snapchat.

    That type of ban would hit companies such as Meta Platforms
    META,
    -0.41%    ,
    the parent of Instagram and Facebook; Snap
    SNAP,
    +1.80%    ,
    the parent of Snapchat; X, formerly known as Twitter; and ByteDance, the Chinese parent of TikTok.

    Ramaswamy has started using TikTok in his White House campaign, and another GOP presidential candidate, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, attacked him over that at another point in the debate.

    “TikTok is one of the most dangerous social-media apps we could have,” she said. “Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber.”

    Now read: Could Congress actually ban TikTok in the U.S.? Analysts see ‘procedural and practical hurdles’

    And see: GOP presidential debate: DeSantis says Trump’s spending ‘set the stage for the inflation that we have now’

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  • North Korean leader urges greater nuclear weapons production in response to a ‘new Cold War’

    North Korean leader urges greater nuclear weapons production in response to a ‘new Cold War’

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    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an exponential increase in production of nuclear weapons and for his country to play a larger role in a coalition of nations confronting the United States in a “new Cold War,” state media said Thursday.

    The Korean Central News Agency said Kim made the comments during a two-day session of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament which amended the constitution to include his policy of expanding the country’s nuclear weapons program.

    The Supreme People’s Assembly’s session on Tuesday and Wednesday came after Kim traveled to Russia’s Far East this month to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and visit military and technology sites.

    The trip sparked Western concerns about a possible arms alliance in which North Korea would supply Putin with badly needed munitions to fuel his war on Ukraine in exchange for economic aid and advanced Russian technologies to enhance North Korea’s nuclear and missile systems.

    As North Korea slowly ends its pandemic lockdown, Kim has been actively boosting his partnerships with Moscow and Beijing as he attempts to break out of diplomatic isolation and join a united front against Washington. He has described the world as entering a “new Cold War” and that North Korea should advance its nuclear capabilities in response.

    KCNA’s reports on Kim’s comments came a day after North Korea c onfirmed the release of U.S. Army Pvt. Travis King, who is now being flown back to America, two months after he sprinted across the heavily fortified border into the North.

    King’s relatively swift expulsion defied speculation that North Korea might drag out his detention to squeeze concessions from the United States, and possibly reflected the North’s disinterest in diplomacy with Washington.

    KCNA said members of the assembly gave unanimous approval to a new clause in the constitution to “ensure the country’s right to existence and development, deter war and protect regional and global peace by rapidly developing nuclear weapons to a higher level.”

    North Korea’s “nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout with anything,” Kim said in a speech at the assembly. He stressed the need to “push ahead with the work for exponentially boosting the production of nuclear weapons and diversifying the nuclear strike means,” KCNA said.

    Kim pointed to what he described as a growing threat posed by a hostile United States and its expanding military cooperation with South Korea and Japan, accusing them of creating the “Asian version of NATO, the root cause of war and aggression.”

    “This is just the worst actual threat, not threatening rhetoric or an imaginary entity,” he said.

    Kim urged his diplomats to “further promote solidarity with the nations standing against the U.S. and the West’s strategy for hegemony.”

    Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest level in years as North Korea has test-fired more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022 and the U.S. has expanded its military exercises with its Asian allies, in tit-for-tat responses.

    Last year, the assembly passed a new nuclear doctrine into law which authorizes pre-emptive nuclear strikes if North Korea’s leadership is perceived as under threat.

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  • Here’s how the Republican presidential candidates say they’ll whip inflation

    Here’s how the Republican presidential candidates say they’ll whip inflation

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    Inflation remains a top concern among Americans, so what do the Republicans seeking President Joe Biden’s job say they’ll do about it?

    MarketWatch asked the 2024 GOP White House hopefuls to give at least three ways that they would address the elevated prices that have blown up many household budgets.

    Most campaigns provided responses, while some didn’t but have offered proposals in other venues. See what they’re all planning below.

    The economy is the No. 1 issue for Republican voters, according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, which found 36% citing the economy generally and an additional 10% citing inflation.

    MarketWatch contacted the eight contenders who took part in their primary’s first debate, along with former President Donald Trump, who skipped the debate, and two relatively well-known contenders who failed to qualify for the first debate, Larry Elder and former Congressman Will Hurd. They are listed below in order of their ranking in the latest polls, based on a RealClearPolitics moving average.

    Inflation was low when Trump became president, with prices rising less than 2% a year. That was even considered a problem before the COVID-19 pandemic, with inflation often characterized as stubbornly or persistently low. Inflation began to spike in 2021, shortly after Biden took office, due to a global shortage of goods and a huge rebound in consumer demand following the pandemic’s early stages. Economists say massive stimulus by both the Trump and Biden administrations as well as low interest rates fostered by the Federal Reserve helped to push inflation to a 40-year high.

    Biden has stressed that inflation, as measured by the consumer-price index, has “fallen by around two-thirds,” and he and his team have talked up their efforts to lower costs for prescription drugs and insulin, to crack down on junk fees for a range of services, and to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gasoline prices. Biden’s re-election campaign didn’t respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment.

    Donald Trump

    “I would get inflation down,” Trump said in a recent interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” while saying that “we did a great job with inflation.” His campaign pointed MarketWatch to a number of policy proposals in which Trump himself is quoted.

    Former President Donald Trump walks over to speak with reporters before departing from Atlanta’s airport last month.


    AP

    • The former president says he’ll rein in what he calls Biden’s “wasteful spending,” which Trump says is key to stopping inflation. Trump is proposing to use what’s known as impoundment authority to reduce federal spending. That term refers to the ability of a president to withhold congressionally appropriated funds from their intended use, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

    • Trump also calls for boosting energy output. “When I’m back in the White House, I will immediately unleash energy production, slash regulations, like I did just three years ago, and repeal Biden’s tax hikes to get inflation down as fast as possible, and it will go quickly, so that interest rates can get back under control,” Trump says on his campaign website. “I would get inflation down, because drill we must,” he told “Meet the Press.”

    • A Trump spokesman did not respond when asked for specifics about which Biden-approved tax increases Trump would repeal. The former president and his advisers, meanwhile, have reportedly discussed deeper cuts to both individual and corporate rates that would build on the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

    Ron DeSantis

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, says a spokesman, “will reduce inflation by, among other measures, tackling government spending, unleashing domestic energy and removing burdensome Biden administration regulations.”

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks in July during a press conference in West Columbia, S.C.


    AP Photo/Sean Rayford

    • In his economic plan, DeSantis leans heavily into energy policy for addressing inflation. “DeSantis will unleash our domestic energy sector, modernize and protect our grid and advance American energy independence. This will not only increase our economic and national security while reducing inflation, [but] it will also help fuel a manufacturing renaissance that will create jobs, revitalize our communities and improve our standard of living,” says his plan.

    • He told “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell” that, as president, he would “stop spending so much money. We need a president that’s going to be a force for spending restraint, because that’s one of the root causes, with Congress spending so much.” He criticized both Democrats and Republicans for government spending.

    Vivek Ramaswamy

    Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks in April at an event in Iowa.


    AP

    “This isn’t complicated,” entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy said in a recent post on X. “Fight inflation, unleash growth by taking the handcuffs [off] the U.S. energy sector & dismantling the regulatory state.” His campaign didn’t respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment, but his campaign website offers the following proposals:

    • “Drill, frack & burn coal : abandon the climate cult & unshackle nuclear energy.”

    • “Launch deregulatory ‘Reagan 2.0’ revolution: cut > 75% headcount amongst U.S. regulators.”

    • Ramaswamy is also calling for dramatically changing the Federal Reserve, by ending the central bank’s dual mandate of keeping inflation low and maintaining full employment. “Limit the U.S. Fed’s scope: stabilize the dollar
      DXY
      & nothing more,” his campaign site says.

    Nikki Haley

    A spokesman for Nikki Haley’s campaign pointed to a Fox Business interview on Wednesday in which she called for ending the federal gas tax and cutting spending, as well as to her speech Friday in New Hampshire on her economic plan.

    Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor.


    Getty Images

    • “We want to eliminate the federal gas tax completely,” Haley told Fox Business. “We have to get more money in our taxpayers’ pockets.” That tax helps pay for highways, but she said the system isn’t working, echoing a point that some policy analysts have previously made. Biden pushed for temporarily suspending the federal gas tax in 2022, but Congress didn’t provide sufficient support for his proposal. In her economic speech, Haley also promised to cut income taxes for working families and make permanent the tax cuts that small businesses scored in 2017’s GOP tax overhaul.

    • The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said members of Congress are “spending like drunken sailors,” as she promised to reduce the federal government’s outlays. “I will veto any spending bill that doesn’t take us back to pre-COVID levels,” she told Fox Business, referring to budgets that date to before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.

    • Haley in her speech Friday pledged to support the U.S. energy industry, as she suggested that Washington has been “stifling it.” She said: “We’ll drill so much oil and gas, families will save big on their utility bills.”

    Mike Pence

    A spokesman for Pence’s campaign pointed to the former vice president’s plan for “ending inflation,” which calls for actions such as reducing the federal government’s spending and changing the Federal Reserve’s job description.

    Former Vice President Mike Pence served as governor of Indiana and as a congressman before becoming Donald Trump’s running mate in 2016.


    AP

    • A Pence administration would “end runaway deficits by freezing non-defense spending, eliminating unnecessary government programs, repealing over $3 trillion in new spending under Biden, and reforming mandatory programs that drive our debt,” the plan says. Earlier this year, he urged “commonsense and compassionate” reforms for programs such as Social Security and Medicaid.

    • Pence wants to end the Fed’s dual mandate, which calls for the U.S. central bank to focus on full employment and stable prices. “Trying to serve two, often contradictory goals has led to wild fluctuation in rates,” his plan says, adding that it’s better to “leave employment policy to the president and Congress.”

    • The former vice president’s plan said he aims to bring supply chains and production “back home,” and that would happen by “removing regulatory burdens, enacting pro-growth tax policies, and ensuring access to abundant American energy.” In other words: “We will fight inflation by making America the best place to do business again.”

    • Similar to his 2024 GOP rivals, Pence blasts Biden’s energy policies, though some of the Democratic incumbent’s stances, such as his approval of the Willow drilling project in Alaska, have also been criticized by environmental groups. Pence’s plan says: “It is time to reverse Biden’s attack on American energy by restarting oil and gas leasing on federal lands, opening the Arctic and offshore regions for exploration
      XOP,
      approving safe transportation of oil and gas, mining rare earth minerals, and rejecting climate change hysteria that is causing U.S. energy
      XLE
      production to fall.”

    Chris Christie

    Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a New Hampshire audience in April.


    AP Photo/Charles Krupa

    Chris Christie’s White House campaign didn’t respond to MarketWatch’s requests for comment, but the former New Jersey governor has emphasized that reducing government spending will help tame inflation.

    “The out-of-control government spending has created this inflation,” Christie said in June during a CNN town hall. “I mean, even Larry Summers, who I don’t agree with much on, former Democratic Treasury secretary, warned Joe Biden, ‘Don’t do this spending. It’s going to cause the inflation.’ So, first, we need to bring spending down, and we’ve talked about that before.”

    Related: Larry Summers has a new inflation warning

    Tim Scott

    U.S. Sen. Tim Scott pointed to reducing the federal government’s spending and repealing one of Biden’s signature legislative packages, when asked about how he would address inflation.

    Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, speaks last month during the presidential debate in Milwaukee.


    Getty Images

    • Scott, from South Carolina, said in a statement that he would aim to “snap non-defense discretionary spending back to the pre-COVID 2019 baseline.” He described that as stopping Democrats from “turning the temporary pandemic into permanent socialism.”

    • Scott said he would rescind the Inflation Reduction Act, which is Democrats’ big economic package aimed at addressing climate change, capping drug costs and raising hundreds of billions of dollars through taxes on corporations. “The Inflation Reduction Act actually increased inflation and the only thing it reduced was money in our pockets,” he said in his statement. “Cutting that off and restoring tax cuts and eliminating the tax increases would go a long way to having the kind of stimulative impact in our economy and controlling spending.”

    • Scott called for stronger economic growth. “We have to also grow our economy somewhere near 5% consistently,” he said, adding that could create 10 million jobs. The U.S. economy grew by nearly 6% in 2021 after contracting in 2020 as COVID hit, then it expanded by about 2% in 2022.

    Related: Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott says he wants to put the focus on tax cuts

    Asa Hutchinson

    Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson blames “excessive federal spending” for leading to inflation when giving speeches, and outlines a plan for “fiscal responsibility” on his campaign site.

    Asa Hutchinson, governor of Arkansas from 2015 until this year, speaks at an Iowa event in April.


    Scott Olson/Getty Images

    • “Restore discipline by reducing federal government size, cutting spending, balancing the budget, and lowering the deficit to tame inflation,” it states.

    • When Hutchinson was governor, he signed a $500 million tax-cut package, saying “it could not come at a better time with the continued challenge of high food and gas prices.” That was in August 2022. On his campaign website, he repeats a call to cut taxes and “reduce regulations to boost the private sector and enhance wages for American workers.”

    Hutchinson’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from MarketWatch.  

    Doug Burgum

    North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a GOP presidential hopeful, speaks at the Iowa State Fair in August.


    Brandon Bell/Getty Images

    North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s website says that as president he would “get inflation under control, cut taxes, lower gas prices
    RB00,
    +0.31%    ,
    reduce the cost of living and help people realize their fullest potential.” It doesn’t provide specifics.

    A spokesman for Burgum’s White House campaign didn’t respond to MarketWatch’s requests for comment. A spokesman reportedly told the New York Times that the campaign will roll out its vision and plans on its own timeline.

    Larry Elder

    Larry Elder, a conservative radio host and a gubernatorial candidate in California in the failed 2021 recall of Democratic incumbent Gavin Newsom, said he views energy and tax policy and a constitutional amendment as ways to whip inflation.

    Larry Elder is a conservative radio host and former gubernatorial candidate in California.


    AP

    • “Reverse the war on oil
      CL00,
      +0.93%
      and gas
      NG00,
      -2.65%
      ; permit drilling in Anwar [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]; authorize the Keystone Pipeline; reverse the Biden restrictions on drilling on federal lands; and encourage nuclear energy
      NLR,
      ” Elder said in a statement.

    • “Encourage an amendment to the Constitution to set spending to a fixed percent of the GDP,” he also said.

    • Elder said the reduction in spending forced by that constitutional amendment would “coincide with a steep reduction in personal and corporate income taxes,” offering further help to Americans with stretched budgets.

    Will Hurd

    2024 Republican presidential hopeful Will Hurd, a former Texas congressman, speaks in Iowa in July.


    AFP via Getty Images

    Former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd of Texas announced his candidacy in June but so far hasn’t made it to the debate stage. In his campaign-launch video, he labeled inflation “still out of control.”

    • In a post on X in June, Hurd called for reining in spending. “You cannot be putting government funds into, at a time where you’re seeing the rising inflation,” he said.

    • And he said tax hikes are a nonstarter when inflation is high. “The worst time to talk about increasing taxes is when everybody’s hurting from inflation.”

    • Hurd also said the deficit should be addressed, to “start bending the curve back on the debt.”

    Hurd’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from MarketWatch.

    Now read: Republican presidential debate: Candidates could win with a clear economic message about the ‘crisis among working people’

    And see: As Biden joins UAW picket line, poll shows Democrats’ edge over GOP on ‘caring about people like me’ has vanished

    Jeffry Bartash contributed.

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  • Intel’s Big Chip-Making Push in Germany Hits Bottleneck

    Intel’s Big Chip-Making Push in Germany Hits Bottleneck

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    Intel’s Big Chip-Making Push in Germany Hits Bottleneck

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  • US education chief considers new ways to discourage college admissions preference for kids of alumni

    US education chief considers new ways to discourage college admissions preference for kids of alumni

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    WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s education chief said he’s open to using “whatever levers” are available — including federal money — to discourage colleges from giving admissions preference to the children of alumni and donors.

    In an interview with The Associated Press, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said legacy admissions must be revisited for the sake of diversity on campuses following the recent Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action. In a step beyond his previous comments, Cardona said he would consider taking stronger action to deter the practice.

    “I would be interested in pulling whatever levers I can pull as secretary of Education to ensure that, especially if we’re giving out financial aid and loans, that we’re doing it for institutions that are providing value,” Cardona said Wednesday. He made the remark when asked about using federal money as a carrot or rod on legacy admissions.

    Legacy admissions, long seen as a perk for the white and wealthy at selective colleges, have come under renewed fire since the ruling in June that colleges can no longer consider the race of applicants. By banning affirmative action but allowing legacy preferences, critics say the court left admissions even more lopsided against students of color.

    Cardona didn’t elaborate on his options, but the federal government oversees vast sums of money that go to colleges in the form of student financial aid and research grants. The Education Department can also issue fines for civil rights violations, including racial discrimination.

    The agency recently opened an investigation at Harvard University after a federal complaint alleged that legacy admissions amount to racial discrimination.

    A handful of small colleges have disavowed legacy admissions in the wake of the affirmative action decision, but there’s been no sign of change in the upper echelons of America’s universities.

    Some colleges and alumni defend the practice, saying it builds community and encourages fundraising. And as campuses become more diverse, they argue, the benefit increasingly extends to students of color and their families.

    Cardona, who attended a technical high school and earned his bachelor’s degree from Central Connecticut State University, has added his voice to the advocates, civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers denouncing the practice.

    “Your last name could get you into a school, or the fact that you can write a check could get you into a school,” he said. But using affirmative action to promote diversity — “that tool was taken away.”

    Still, he shied away from supporting a ban of the type proposed by some Democrats in Congress and in several states. Cardona sees it as a matter of local control, with universities having the final decision.

    “There is no edict coming from the secretary of Education,” he said.

    Without action, Cardona warned that the nation could face the same setbacks seen in California after it ended affirmative action in 1996. The state’s most selective colleges saw steep decreases in Black and Latino enrollment, and the numbers never fully rebounded.

    “If we go the route that California went when they abolished affirmative action, what chance do we have competing against China?” Cardona said. “This is more than just ensuring diverse learning environments. This is about our strength as a country.”

    Advocates have also pushed the Education Department to start collecting data showing the number and demographics of legacy students.

    “I was hopeful we’d be seeing more colleges volunteering to drop it,” said James Murphy, a deputy director at Education Reform Now, a nonprofit think tank. “I think I think they’ve got to keep the pressure on and shine a light on it.”

    On other issues:

    — Cardona said during the interview that students should be taught about the impact of slavery, including effects that linger today. When slavery ended, it didn’t end the belief in some that African Americans were inferior, and the country is still seeing the effects of unfair housing and lending policies adopted in more recent decades, he said.

    “What we don’t want to do is hide the truth and act as if it didn’t happen, or that when it ended, everything was fine. I definitely don’t want to teach that there were some benefits to that for those who were enslaved,” he said.

    His remarks were a veiled reference to new education standards in Florida, endorsed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, that require instruction that enslaved people developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit.”

    Conservatives in many states have pushed for restrictions around how schools address topics related to race and slavery.

    — He said “schools should be open, period,” even if there is a new COVID-19 surge. “I worry about government overreach, sending down edicts that will lead to school closures because either folks are afraid to go in or are infected and can’t go,” he said.

    He said the sense of community was lost when schools closed early in the pandemic, and that in-person instruction “should not be sacrificed for ideology.”

    — Cardona declined to speculate on what the administration’s new student loan forgiveness proposal might look like or whether a final regulation could be in place before the 2024 presidential election. “We are going to work as quickly as possible,” he said. “We know there are students that are waiting, borrowers that are waiting. So many folks are struggling right now to get back up.”

    ___

    The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Microsoft’s Revised Activision Deal Addresses Competition Concerns, Says UK Regulator

    Microsoft’s Revised Activision Deal Addresses Competition Concerns, Says UK Regulator

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    By Elena Vardon

    Microsoft’s proposals to modify its $75 billion Activision acquisition address the concerns with the U.K. antitrust authority, the regulator said in a provisional decision Friday.
    

    The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said that the new deal submitted by Microsoft should lessen any harm to competition in cloud gaming.
    

    

    The CMA said that the restructured transaction–through which Activision would sell its cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft–opens the door to the deal being cleared.
    

    The regulator is consulting on remedies put forward by Microsoft to address residual concerns it has before making a final decision, it said.
    

    The CMA opened a consultation on these remedies which will last until Oct. 6, it added.
    

    Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com
    

    

    

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    China, at UN, presents itself as a member of the Global South as alternative to a Western model
    
			
    China, at UN, presents itself as a member of the Global South as alternative to a Western model
    
			
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    UNITED NATIONS — China told assembled world leaders Thursday that it considers itself part of the Global South, saying it identifies with the goals and challenges of less-developed nations and offering them an alternative to what it has long called “Western hegemony.” The message came from a second-tier official after the country’s powerful president, Xi Jinping, skipped the annual U.N. meeting again. 
    

    Xi sent Vice President Han Zheng to deliver a policy statement at the General Assembly’s leaders’ meeting that covered the government’s usual positions with familiar language but appeared to focus on building coalitions around its approach to development and international relations.
    

    “As the largest developing country, China is a natural member of the Global South. It breathes the same breath with other developing countries and shares the same future with them,” Han said. He also said China supports those nations’ development path “in keeping with their national conditions.”
    

    The loosely defined term “Global South,” which has come up frequently at the United Nations this year, identifies nations around the world that are less developed and less rich than what have typically been called “first-world nations.” They’re not necessarily in the Southern Hemisphere; many, in fact, are not. 
    

    Leaders of a number of larger developing nations, including Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and India’s Narendra Modi, have of late pitched themselves as leaders around whom the Global South could coalesce. Just Tuesday, Lula told leaders at the U.N. meeting that “Brazil is back” in a speech widely received as Global South-focused maneuvering. And Modi in January hosted a “Voice of the Global South” virtual summit. 
    

    China, too, has loosely cast itself in a similar role for more than a decade — and more so since Xi launched the “Belt and Road Initiative” to drive Chinese development, infrastructure and influence in other nations, particularly developing ones. The sprawling project has been widely touted but has encountered bumps along the way.
    

    “China,” Han promised, “will remain a member of the big family of developing countries.”
    

    That statement is in keeping with Beijing’s attempts to balance — often adeptly — the benefits of continuing to be a developing nation with the advantages of being a major global economic and diplomatic power and counterbalance to the West. 
    

    For decades, since the start of the “reform and opening up” launched by Deng Xiaoping after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, China has positioned its approach to both domestic and international affairs as an alternative to “Western hegemony.” That counternarrative is a frequent cornerstone of its international identity. Han’s “Global South” statements Thursday match that longtime sensibility.
    

    And China benefits from association with the Global South, which allows it to style statements as if it speaks for many nations — nations that may not be strong enough to object if such a powerful government mischaracterizes them.
    

    Whether China and its $18 trillion GDP should actually be considered part of the Global South is a frequently debated matter. In January, at Modi’s summit, 125 countries were included but China wasn’t one of them. That may have had more to do with China’s often-tense relations with India than with its attitude toward the concept in general.
    

    Xi was one of four leaders of permanent U.N. Security Council members who did not show at the United Nations this week. France’s Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Rishi Sunak and Russia’s Vladimir Putin also skipped it; U.S. President Joe Biden, leader of the host nation, was the only permanent Security Council member to deliver a speech.
    

    Han Zheng’s presence at the United Nations came at a time when China’s diplomatic operation appears to be in a bit of disarray. 
    

    Many expected Foreign Minister Wang Yi to come to the General Assembly and possibly pave the way for a Xi-Biden meeting. Wang attended and delivered the speech last year. In the months since, a newly appointed foreign minister came and went with some mystery, and Wang took the role on again. 
    

    Han, in his speech, covered China’s usual topics in such meetings. Among them: 
    

    — He reiterated that Taiwan, the island off China’s coast that has its own independent government, is historically a part of China and always will be — a frequent message to the United States and the world. The island and the mainland split in 1949 after a civil war. 
    

    — He said China supported human rights “suited to our national conditions in response to the needs of our people.” Beijing’s repressive policies toward ethnic Uyghurs in the western region of Xinjiang and its policies toward dissent, including in the special administrative region of Hong Kong, come under frequent Western scrutiny.
    

    — He said, as China has many times before, that a cease-fire and peace talks are the only path to ending war in Ukraine. China has tread a delicate line in the 18 months since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 
    

    ___
    

    Ted Anthony, the director of new storytelling and newsroom innovation at The Associated Press, has been writing about China for three decades and was based in Beijing from 2001 to 2004. Find him at http://twitter.com/anthonyted
    

    

    

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    Medical debt should be fully removed from credit reports, Biden administration says
    
			
    Medical debt should be fully removed from credit reports, Biden administration says
    
			
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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking steps toward removing all medical debt information from Americans’ credit reports, a move meant to help the millions of Americans whose credit scores drop after bills for expenses like unexpected hospital visits go unpaid.
    

    While the information surrounding most unpaid medical debts has already been removed from credit reports by the three major reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — the CFPB on Thursday announced plans for a rule- making process that would…
      
    

    

    

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    This former Fed insider has 3 big takeaways from Powell’s press conference
    
			
    This former Fed insider has 3 big takeaways from Powell’s press conference
    
			
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    This former Fed insider has 3 big takeaways from Powell’s press conference
    

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    Fed’s revised dot plot for interest rates makes wall of maturing debt a bigger worry
    
			
    Fed’s revised dot plot for interest rates makes wall of maturing debt a bigger worry
    
			
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    The Federal Reserve on Wednesday surprised markets with a fortification of its higher-for-longer stance on interest rates, penciling in only half as many rate cuts next year as had been expected.
    

    Fed officials kept the central bank’s policy rate at a 22-year high, but redrew their so-called “dot plot,” a chart of the potential path of short-term rates over time, in a less favorable way for borrowers.
    

    The…
      
    

    

    

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    Text of the policy statement the Federal Reserve released Wednesday
    
			
    Text of the policy statement the Federal Reserve released Wednesday
    
			
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    ByThe Associated Press
    

    

    September 20, 2023, 3:21 PM
    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    WASHINGTON — Below is the statement the Fed released Wednesday after its policy meeting ended:
    

    Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace. Job gains have slowed in recent months but remain strong, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Inflation remains elevated.
    

    The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient. Tighter credit conditions for households and businesses are likely to weigh on economic activity, hiring, and inflation. The extent of these effects remains uncertain. The Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks.
    

    The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. In support of these goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5-1/4 to 5-1/2 percent. The Committee will continue to assess additional information and its implications for monetary policy. 
    

    In determining the extent of additional policy firming that may be appropriate to return inflation to 2 percent over time, the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments. In addition, the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities, as described in its previously announced plans. The Committee is strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.
    

    In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook. The Committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee’s goals. 
    

    The Committee’s assessments will take into account a wide range of information, including readings on labor market conditions, inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and financial and international developments.
    

    Voting for the monetary policy action were Jerome H. Powell, Chair; John C. Williams, Vice Chair; Michael S. Barr; Michelle W. Bowman; Lisa D. Cook; Austan D. Goolsbee; Patrick Harker; Philip N. Jefferson; Neel Kashkari; Adriana D. Kugler; Lorie K. Logan; and Christopher J. Waller.
    

    

    

    


    

    

    

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    Charged for unwanted ‘Fortnite’ V-Bucks? You might be eligible for a refund. 
    
			
    Charged for unwanted ‘Fortnite’ V-Bucks? You might be eligible for a refund. 
    
			
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    Charged for unwanted ‘Fortnite’ V-Bucks? You might be eligible for a refund.
    

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    Five American captives have flown out of Iran, U.S. officials say
    
			
    Five American captives have flown out of Iran, U.S. officials say
    
			
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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Five prisoners sought by the U.S. in a swap with Iran flew out of Tehran on Monday, officials said.
    

    Flight-tracking data analyzed by the AP showed a Qatar Airways flight take off at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, which has been used for exchanges in the past. Iranian state media soon after said the flight had left Tehran.
    

    

    Two people, including a senior Biden administration official, said that the prisoners had left Tehran. They both spoke on condition of anonymity because the exchange was ongoing.
    

    Context: Iran and U.S. set to exchange prisoners as $6 billion in once-frozen Iranian assets reaches Qatar
    

    Also see: Iran identifies prisoners it wants freed by U.S. even as President Raisi voices view of unfrozen funds at odds with Washington’s
    

    In addition to the five freed Americans, two U.S. family members flew out, according to the Biden administration official. of Tehran.
    

    

              
    

    

    
        “ The cash represents money South Korea owed Iran — but had not yet paid — for oil shipments. U.S. House Democrat Jason Crow said Monday that the Biden administration’s recent negotiations led to a situation in which those funds have more, rather than fewer, strings attached. ”
      
    

    

    

    Earlier, officials said that the exchange would take place after nearly $6 billion in once-frozen Iranian assets reached Qatar, a key element of the planned swap.
    

    Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat, observed early Monday on MSNBC that the funds were available to Iran, and that South Korea could unilaterally have transferred them to Tehran, under terms of an arrangement struck by the Trump administration. The Biden administration’s recent negotiations led to a situation, he said, in which those funds have more, rather than fewer, strings attached.
    

    The U.S. Treasury holds the power to reject any requested fund transfers to Iran, U.S. officials have said, even as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi claimed last week in an NBC interview that he was free under the deal’s terms to define the term humanitarian as he chose. 
    

    Observers, seeking to reconcile those positions, noted that Raisi likely had a domestic audience in mind and was expressing a view that he knew did not comport with reality.
    

    Despite the exchange, tensions are almost certain to remain high between the U.S. and Iran, which are locked in various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear program.
    

    Iran says the program is peaceful, but it now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.
    

    Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani was the first to acknowledge the swap would take place Monday. He said the cash sought for the exchange that had been held by South Korea was now in Qatar.
    

    Kanaani made his comments during a news conference aired on state television, but the feed cut immediately after his remarks.
    

    “Fortunately Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea were released and God willing today the assets will start to be fully controlled by the government and the nation,” Kanaani said.
    

    “On the subject of the prisoner swap, it will happen today and five prisoners, citizens of the Islamic Republic, will be released from the prisons in the U.S.,” he added. “Five imprisoned citizens who were in Iran will be given to the U.S. side.”
    

    He said two of the Iranian prisoners will stay in the U.S.
    

    Mohammad Reza Farzin, Iran’s Central Bank chief, later came on state television to acknowledge the receipt of over 5.5 billion euros — $5.9 billion — in accounts in Qatar. Months ago, Iran had anticipated getting as much as $7 billion.
    

    The planned exchange comes ahead of the convening of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this week in New York, where Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi will speak.
    

    A Qatar Airways plane landed Monday morning at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, according to flight-tracking data analyzed by the AP. Qatar Airways uses Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport for its commercial flights, but previous prisoner releases have taken place at Mehrabad.
    

    The announcement by Kanaani comes weeks after Iran said that five Iranian-Americans had been transferred from prison to house arrest as part of a confidence-building move. Meanwhile, Seoul allowed the frozen assets, held in South Korean won, to be converted into euros.
    

    The planned swap has unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf, with the possibility of U.S. troops boarding and guarding commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass.
    

    The deal has also already opened U.S. President Joe Biden to fresh criticism from Republicans and others who say that the administration is helping boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to American troops and Mideast allies. That could have implications in his reelection campaign as well.
    

    On the U.S. side, Washington has said the planned swap includes Siamak Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges; Emad Sharghi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years; and Morad Tahbaz, a British-American conservationist of Iranian descent who was arrested in 2018 and also received a 10-year sentence. All of their charges have been widely criticized by their families, activists and the U.S. government.
    

    U.S. official have so far declined to identify the fourth and fifth prisoner.
    

    The five prisoners Iran has said it seeks are mostly held over allegedly trying to export banned material to Iran, such as dual use electronics that can be used by a military.
    

    The cash represents money South Korea owed Iran — but had not yet paid — for oil purchased before the U.S. imposed sanctions on such transactions in 2019.
    

    The U.S. maintains that, once in Qatar, the money will be held in restricted accounts and will only be able to be used for humanitarian goods, such as medicine and food. Those transactions are currently allowed under American sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic over its advancing nuclear program.
    

    Iranian government officials have largely concurred with that explanation, though some hard-liners have insisted, without providing evidence, that there would be no restrictions on how Tehran spends the money.
    

    Iran and the U.S. have a history of prisoner swaps dating back to the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis following the Islamic Revolution. Their most recent major exchange happened in 2016, when Iran came to a deal with world powers to restrict its nuclear program in return for an easing of sanctions.
    

    Four American captives, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, flew home from Iran at the time, and several Iranians in the U.S. won their freedom. That same day, then-President Barack Obama’s administration airlifted $400 million in cash to Tehran.
    

    The West accuses Iran of using foreign prisoners — including those with dual nationality — as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects.
    

    Negotiations over a major prisoner swap faltered after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the nuclear deal in 2018. From the following year on, a series of attacks and ship seizures attributed to Iran have raised tensions.
    

    Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear program now enriches closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. While the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has warned that Iran now has enough enriched uranium to produce “several” bombs, months more would likely be needed to build a weapon and potentially miniaturize it to put it on a missile — if Iran decided to pursue one.
    

    Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. intelligence community has kept its assessment that Iran is not pursuing an atomic bomb.
    

    Iran has taken steps in recent months to settle some issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency. But the advances in its program have led to fears of a wider regional conflagration as Israel, itself a nuclear power, has said it would not allow Tehran to develop the bomb. Israel bombed both Iraq and Syria to stop their nuclear programs, giving the threat more weight. It also is suspected in carrying out a series of killings targeting Iran’s nuclear scientists.
    

    Iran also supplies Russia with the bomb-carrying drones Moscow uses to target sites in Ukraine in its war on Kyiv, which remains another major dispute between Tehran and Washington.
    

    MarketWatch contributed.
    

    

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    UAW strike sets the stage for the 4-day work week — and a win could take it mainstream
    
			
    UAW strike sets the stage for the 4-day work week — and a win could take it mainstream
    
			
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    Striking United Auto Workers want better wages, improved job security, retiree pay increases, and a 32-hour work week that could turbocharge broader acceptance of shorter work weeks.
    

    Right now, nearly 13,000 UAW workers have walked off the job at Ford Motor Co.
    
        F,
    
        -0.08%    ,
    
       General Motors Co.
    
        GM,
    
        +0.86%
    
       and Jeep and Chrysler parent Stellantis
    
        STLA,
    
        +2.18%    ,
    
       still considered the influential Big Three for car makers.
    

    

    If the union gets a win from on its 32-hour work week demand, that could be a big deal for momentum behind the broader four-day work week movement, experts say.
    

    Four days of work is “still in the early-adoption phase,” said Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, director at Four Day Week Global, where he advises companies considering how to implement a curtailed traditional work week.
    

    A UAW win on the 32-hour demand “would help move the four-day week from being something you do if you have a bold leader and you want to stand out in your industry, to a mainstream aspiration for every worker and business owner,” said Soojung-Kim Pang.
    

    “A lot more people can look at the four-day week and say if they are doing this in an auto factory, I absolutely can do it here in my small plant, or in my business,” he added.
    

    Even if the 32-hour work week doesn’t make it to the final deal, it’s a “game changer” that the demand is there at all, he said. The demand could plant the idea in labor talks far beyond the UAW-company standoff.
    

    A UAW win on the 32-hour week would cause a “massive reverberation,” said Cathy Creighton, of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
    

    The demand’s presence is a sign of the COVID-19 pandemic’s lasting effects, said Creighton. While five days of in-person office attendance seems like a thing of the past, “we’ve had fundamental changes in how workers and employers view work life and work-life balance.”
    

    Many factory workers may not be able to pull off remote work but they can press for a shortened week on the physically demanding work, she noted. Historically, the UAW was one of the first unions to deliver health benefits, vacation and pensions for its members, she noted.
    

    “I think the labor movement has been playing it safe for a long time, and now they are not,” Creighton said. The UAW’s 32-hour work week demand is a prime example, she said. “The five-day work week is so ingrained in our psyche that to think of something different is like an earthquake.”
    

    Some research indicates people are ready for a shake-up. Nearly six in 10 people who work five days say they would prefer four 10-hour days, according to an August poll in an ongoing look at worker attitudes run by academic researchers.
    

    “We all know that living in a plant seven days a week, 12 hours a day, isn’t a living at all. We need real work-life balance. Auto workers deserve a life,” UAW president Shawn Fain told members in a video update days before the targeted strike.
    

    Roughly 12,700 UAW members so far have walked off the job at a Ford Motor plant in Michigan, a GM plant in Missouri and an Ohio plant for Stellantis NV, the maker of brands like Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram Trucks.
    

    Of course, there’s no guarantee how far the demand gets. The companies have counter proposals for the array of union asks, as a chart shows from researchers at Evercore ISI.  They don’t yet have counters on the 32-hour work week. 
    

    Switching to a 32-hour week with a 40-hour pay rate would be a sharp labor cost on top of the wage increases the UAW is already seeking, a Stellantis spokeswoman said. It would require hiring at least 25% more workers to stick with current manufacturing schedules, she said.
    

    “We are extremely disappointed by the UAW leadership’s refusal to engage in a responsible manner to reach a fair agreement in the best interest of our employees, their families and our customers,” the company said in a statement.
    

    In a statement, GM said it was “disappointed by the UAW leadership’s actions, despite the unprecedented economic package GM put on the table, including historic wage increases and manufacturing commitments.”
    

    Ford did not respond to a request for comment.
    

    “It’s a big game of chess that Shawn Fain is playing. We’ll see how it turns out,” Creighton said.
    

    “Even if they don’t get the four-day week this time, there are going to be other moves in this game in the future,” from the UAW and beyond, Soojung-Kim Pang said.
    

    “Even if you have to give on the four-day week now, that doesn’t mean you give on the four-day week as an ideal or a goal.”
    

    

    

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    Military officers begin to speak out on the harm done by Sen. Tuberville’s holds on promotions
    
			
    Military officers begin to speak out on the harm done by Sen. Tuberville’s holds on promotions
    
			
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    WASHINGTON — In the months since a single senator froze military promotions over the Pentagon’s abortion policy, the uniformed officers affected have been largely silent, wary of stepping into a political fray. But as the ramifications of Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s freeze have grown, more of them are speaking out.
    

    This week, some of the military’s most senior leaders took the issue head on and voiced their concerns. They said the damage the holds will do to the military will be felt for years, as young talented officers decide they’ve had enough and choose to get out. 
    

    “We’re on the fringe of losing a generation of champions,” Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly, the head Air Combat Command, told reporters this week at a defense conference in Maryland. Kelly said he’s talking to his junior officers, many with families, and they are “people who will take a bullet for the nation, the Constitution.” But when it comes to dragging their family through this, “there’s a red line.” 
    

    One of the unusual things about Tuberville’s holds is he’s punishing uniformed personnel who had nothing to do with creating the administration policy he’s against.
    

    Uniformed military leaders typically avoid commenting on political decisions, not only because they don’t want to antagonize lawmakers who can block their future military promotions, but also because they don’t want to be seen as challenging civilian control of the military, a core tenet of U.S. government. 
    

    But now even the Pentagon’s soon-to-be highest military leader is speaking out. Navy Adm. Christopher Grady, who currently serves as the military’s No. 2 officer as Joint Chiefs vice chairman, will simultaneously have to fill in as chairman starting Oct. 1 with the retirement of Gen. Mark Milley if his replacement, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, can’t get confirmed in the next two weeks. Brown is also subject to Tuberville’s hold. 
    

    “We need C.Q. Brown to be confirmed as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” Grady said Wednesday at the Air and Space Forces Association conference. 
    

    For younger officers who are stuck in limbo by the holds, “the fact that folks can’t plan for their moves or get their kids in school” is what is hurting them, Grady said. “There is a cumulative cost to this and we need to be very attuned to that.” 
    

    In the last few years, there’s been a slew of political orders that have had a direct impact on the military. There was former President Donald Trump’s order that transgender personnel could not serve, and then the restoration of that service under the Biden administration, the mandate for COVID-19 vaccines and now the response to new state laws restricting access to abortion.
    

    “Some of the orders that are given by civilians to the military, that the military then has to carry out, can make the military seem political,” said Mark Harkins, a senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. “If whatever the civilian control has asked them to do, if that order, that rule that they’re following is against what you believe, then you’re going to say they’re political.”
    

    Tuberville announced the holds late last year after the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs that abortion limits should be left to the states, and the Biden administration’s civilian Pentagon head, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, responded by instituting a policy that Tuberville says violates federal law. 
    

    Under the policy, service members, who often do not get a say in where they are assigned, are reimbursed for travel costs incurred for seeking an abortion or other reproductive care if they are serving in a state that has outlawed those services. 
    

    Tuberville says the policy violates a federal law that says Defense Department funds may not be used for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or where the life of the mother is threatened.
    

    So in March, Tuberville exercised a privilege that allows any single senator to place a hold on a nomination, except he put a blanket hold on all military general officer nominations and said he would not lift it until the policy is rescinded. 
    

    Putting the hold on service members rather than on civilian nominees has a larger impact because civilian posts often go unfilled for months and a career civilian fills in, said Larry Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. 
    

    It’s not the first time general officer promotions have been frozen by a single senator. In July 2020, Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois put a blanket hold on military promotions in response to reports that Trump was interfering with the promotion of Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who was a witness in the former president’s impeachment inquiry. Duckworth dropped the hold two weeks later after learning Vindman had been selected for promotion. Vindman, however, retired, citing a “campaign of bullying, intimidation and retaliation” after multiple delays to his promotion convinced him there was not a viable future for him in the military. 
    

    Six months into Tuberville’s hold, 315 military officers are now affected, and the impact cuts deeper in some services. In the small and still growing U.S. Space Force, at least eight general officers’ nominations are on hold — but that’s one third of all of its 25 senior officers. In the Marine Corps, at least 18 general officers among the Corps cadre of 88 can’t move to their new commands, or are being stretched too thin by having to cover the duties of their current job while also being responsible for the vacancy they cannot officially fill.
    

    “It’s disruptive,” said Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of Space Force operations. “The people that we want in the jobs, that we know they’re going to be value-added in, we’re not in a position to put them there.”
    

    However the head of Army forces in the Pacific, Gen. Charles Flynn, told reporters this week the holds were not affecting his operations. “I don’t see any practical challenges that it’s creating in the region,” Flynn said, according to a transcript provided by the Army. 
    

    Kori Schake, the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said while military officers are concerned about the holds and their use as a “political cudgel,” it is inappropriate for them to speak out. 
    

    “It’s not just the president who provides civilian control of the military; constitutionally, Congress also serves that function. We wouldn’t want our military criticizing the president’s partisan political acts, so we shouldn’t want them doing it about Congress, either,” Schake said. 
    

    On Thursday, Tuberville watched as another officer, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who would become the first female chief of naval operations, testified about the impact of the holds during her confirmation hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee.
    

    Franchetti said if the holds are lifted, it will take three to four months to get the three-star general officers in place, but it will take years to recover from the impact the promotion delays are having on lower-level officers. 
    

    That’s because as each officer is promoted, it creates an opportunity for a more junior officer to rise. The military is capped at the numbers of personnel it can have at each rank, so keeping a colonel from being promoted to a general means there are younger lieutenant colonels who can’t get promoted to colonel. That affects pay, retirement, lifestyle and future assignments — and in some fields where the private sector will pay more, it becomes harder to convince those highly trained young leaders to stay. 
    

    And at one point when asked why she hadn’t been briefed on a specific submarine funding study, Franchetti noted the job strains the holds are creating, since she is doing the job both of vice chief of naval operations and acting chief of the service.
    

    “I think it’s just my own bandwidth capacity right now,” she said.
    

    Tuberville made no mention of the vote delays, instead saying he looked forward to Franchetti’s service as chief. And he told her to keep the military out of politics and “leave it to us politicians.”
    

    Kelly, a career fighter pilot whose retirement has deferred because of the holds, had sharp words about their impact. 
    

    “The situation is not instilling confidence in our allies, and it is instilling confidence in our adversaries,” Kelly said. In the nation’s capital, “that popping sound you hear is not stray gunfire. It’s champagne corks in the Chinese Embassy bouncing off the walls.”
    

    ___
    

    Lita C. Baldor contributed from Washington. 
    

    

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