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President Donald Trump has said that he has nominated E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to head the agency that compiles and publishes the nation's employment and inflation figures. Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE, Trump said on social media late Monday. Antoni, if approved by the Senate, would replace Erika McEntarfer, who was appointed commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics by former President Joe Biden. Trump fired McEntarfer Aug. 1 after the July jobs report showed hiring slowed sharply this spring, with job gains in May and June revised much lower than initially estimated. Trump accused McEntarfer, without evidence, of rigging the jobs data for political reasons. The announcement comes one day before the BLS is scheduled to release the latest inflation data, for July. It is forecast to show that consumer prices rose for the third straight month as tariffs are pushing up t
Imposing reciprocal duties violates global trade rules but one has to follow a "wait and wait" approach to US President-elect Donald Trump's remarks on imposing reciprocal tariffs, a senior official said on Wednesday. US President-elect Donald Trump has said that India charges a lot of tariffs, reiterating his intention to impose reciprocal tariffs in retaliation for what New Delhi will impose on the import of certain American products. Trump made these remarks on Tuesday and also said that India and Brazil were among countries that impose high tariffs on certain US products. "It will be very difficult to decipher from one or two sentences which Mr Trump makes but if I understood from what he was saying. His main intent is that reciprocity will matter in future. So if you are putting a tax on Harley-Davidson (bikes) we will also put a tax on your motorbike exports. So from that point of view, this will be in clear violation of the WTO (World Trade Organization) norms but there are .
For Mike Johnson it was effectively a Day 1 priority. It's well past time, the newly elected House speaker said in October, to establish a bipartisan commission to tackle the federal government's growing USD 34.6 trillion in debt. "The consequences if we don't act now are unbearable, he said, echoing warnings from his predecessor and other House Republicans. More than six months later, the proposal appears all but dead, extinguished by vocal opposition from both the right and the left. The collapse underscores an unyielding dynamic in Washington, with lawmakers in both parties loath to consider the unpopular tradeoffs that would be necessary to stem the nation's swelling tide of red ink particularly in an election year. Facing the reality that any fiscal commission would almost certainly suggest that Americans pay more or get less from their government, lawmakers have time and again done what they do so well: punt the problem to the next Congress. And they seem poised to do so ..
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says he's hopeful the Federal Reserve can bring down inflation without causing a recession but wouldn't rule out more troubling possibilities, such as stagflation. In an interview with The Associated Press at a Chase branch opening in The Bronx, Dimon said he remained cautious about the US economy and said inflation may be stickier for longer and that stagflation is on the list of possible things that could happen to the US economy. You should be worried about (the possibility of stagflation), Dimon said. Dimon did emphasise that he's still hopeful for the US economy to experience a soft landing, where growth slows but the economy avoids a recession even if inflation remains a little high, but he's not certain that is the most likely outcome. I'm just a little more dubious than others that a (soft landing) is a given, he said. The Fed rapidly raised interest rates in 2022 and 2023 after inflation reached the highest level in four decades. Fed officia
The House accomplished something unusual Wednesday in passing with broad, bipartisan support a roughly USD 79 billion tax cut package that would enhance the child tax credit for millions of lower-income families and boost three tax breaks for businesses, a combination that gives lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle coveted policy wins. Prospects for the measure becoming law are uncertain with the Senate still having to take it up, but for a House that has struggled to get bills of consequence over the finish line, the tax legislation could represent a rare breakthrough. The bill passed by a vote of 357-70. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., threw his support behind the bill on Wednesday morning. He spent part of the previous day meeting with GOP lawmakers who were concerned about particular features of the bill, namely the expanded child tax credit. Some were also unhappy that it failed to address the $10,000 cap on the total amount of property taxes or state or local taxes that
The nation's economy was supposed to have sunk into recession by now, dragged down by the highest interest rates in two decades and a resulting slump in borrowing and spending. Instead, the US economy has kept chugging along. Even more encouraging, inflation, which touched a four-decade high in 2022, has edged steadily lower without the painful layoffs that most economists had thought would be necessary to slow the acceleration of prices. On Thursday, the Commerce Department is expected to report that the nation's gross domestic product the economy's total output of goods and services rose at an annual rate of around 2 per cent from October through December. That would mark a deceleration from a vigorous 4.9 per cent growth rate in the July-September quarter. But it would still showcase the surprising durability of the world's largest economy, marking the sixth straight quarter in which GDP has expanded at a solid annual pace of 2 per cent or more. Helping fuel that growth has bee
President Joe Biden says he feels good about the debt ceiling and budget deal negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as the White House and congressional leaders work to ensure its passage this week in time to lift the nation's borrowing limit and prevent a disastrous U.S. default. Biden spent part of the Memorial Day holiday working the phones, calling lawmakers in both parties, as the president does his part to deliver the votes. A number of hard right conservatives are criticizing the deal as falling short of the deep spending cuts they wanted, while liberals decry policy changes such as new work requirements for older Americans in the food aid program. A key test will come Tuesday afternoon when the House Rules Committee is scheduled to consider the package and vote on sending it to the full House for a vote expected Wednesday. I feel very good about it," Biden told reporters Monday as he left Washington for his home in Delaware. I've spoken to a number of the members, he
In the hours after some of Silicon Valley Bank's biggest customers started pulling out their money, a WhatsApp group of startup founders who are immigrants of colour ballooned to more than 1,000 members. Questions flowed as the bank's financial status worsened. Some desperately sought advice: Could they open an account at a larger bank without a Social Security Number? Others questioned whether they had to physically be at a bank to open an account, because they're visiting parents overseas. One clear theme emerged: a deep concern about the broader impact on startups led by people of colour. While Wall Street struggles to contain the banking crisis after the swift demise of SVB the nation's 16th largest bank and the biggest to fail since the 2008 financial meltdown industry experts predict it could become even harder for people of colour to secure funding or a financial home supporting their startups. SVB had opened its doors to such entrepreneurs, offering opportunities to form