HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-07-19 Handout at Meeting36
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The news at a glance
,U„ u�,,, " Forecasts: Warnings of a global slowdown
AF housing affordability fell
29 percent between March
2022 and the year earlier, the
sharpest decline on record,
according to the National
Association of Realtors. With
mortgage rates soaring and
home prices staying ele-
vated, the monthly principal
and interest payment on an
average -priced home, by a
buyer who puts 20 percent
down, has gone up bq
roughly $600-44 percent —
since the start of the year.
Axios
to The average sales price
of manufactured homes
has risen nearly 50 percent
during the pandemic,
from $82,900 to $123,200,
compared with a 22 percent
increase for average new
homes. About 20 million
Americans live in mobile
homes, which make up about
6 percent of U.S. residences.
The Washington Post
a In addition to $385 mil-
lion in career earnings in
the NBA, LeBron
James' business
interests have
made him a bil-
lionaire; he is the
second basketball
` player (along with
Michael Jordan)
to reach the milestone.
Forbes
is The median launch price
of a new drug in the U.S.
soared from $2,115 in 2008 to
$180,007 in 2021, with aver-
age prices rising 20 percent
per year. Over 47 percent
of new drugs introduced in
2020 and 2021 cost more
than $150,000 per year, com-
pared with just 9 percent of
drugs introduced from 2008
to 2013.
Fortune
h Some 83 percent of
respondents said the state
of the economy was "poor"
or "not so good" in a poll
from The Wall Street Journal
and NORC at the Univer-
sity of Chicago. That's the
highest dissatisfaction level
since NORC, a nonpartisan
research organization, began
asking the question in 1972.
The Wall Street Journal
THE WEEK June 17, 2022
The world economy is in dan-
ger, said William Horobin in
.Bloomberg. That was the message
this week from two international
organizations, the Washington -
based World Bank and the Paris -
based Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development
There's no question the world
is in a precarious position, said
Steve Goldstein in MarketWatch,
but there are diverging views
on how bad things will be. The
OECD doubled its inflation
projection from December to
R_S nPrrPnt in If)')? 14,:
(OECD), both of which said the The Ukraine war has snarled trade. it offered some reasons for cau-
world will pay a "hefty price for
the war in Ukraine." The World Bank warned of
stagflation reminiscent of the 1970s and cut its
projection for growth to 2.9 percent; at the start
of the year, it had predicted growth of 4.1 per-
cent. The OECD, a policy group with 38 member
countries, also cut its forecast and cautioned
about "long-lasting damage to supply chains"
after the abrupt cutoff of Russia's economy.
tious optimism that the current
situation is not like that of the 1970s. "Advanced
economies are far less energy intensive —in the
U.S., that reduces the impact of an oil shock
by half." Falling union membership has made
advanced economies less susceptible to a wage -
price spiral, which can pressure higher inflation.
And "higher savings accumulated during the pan-
demic" should keep consumer demand strong.
Twitter: Musk renews threats to abandon deal
The chicken deals
Elon Musk reiterated his threat to walk away from his planned Twitter
aren't flying away
purchase over Twitter's fake accounts, said Kurt Wagner and Maxwell
One item in the grocery
Adler in Bloomberg. Musk filed a letter to regulators this week asserting
can still feels like a
that the company is committing "a material breach" of its obligations
discount, said Rachel
under the $44 billion takeover deal "by not meeting his demands for
Treisman in NPR.org:
more information" about boss, and he reserves the right "to terminate
rotisserie chicken. ss
inflation causes costs
the agreement. But legal experts say the filing wasn't necessary"
� g � Y g " ry" and
was likely done to put public pressure on TwitteL Behind the scenes,
to rise on food across
"both sides have been meeting regularly and sharing information."
the board, including
poultry, wholesalers
Tariffs: U.S. opens door to more solar panel imports
p p
and
Sam's
The Biden administration declared a two-year freeze on tariffs for solar
Cl bar
Sam's Club are keeping
I their rotisserie chicken
panels imported from four Southeast Asian countries, said Jeff Mason
prices low--$5 or less."
in Reuters. The move this week comes after state governors, lawmak-
Grocery stores Publix
ers, and environmentalists expressed concern about a Commerce
and Giant Eagle have
Department investigation that has "effectively halted the flow of solar
also held their cooked
panels" to the U.S. The agency has been looking into whether solar
poultry prices stable.
panels primarily made in China were being routed through Cambodia,
I The reason, accord -
Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam to circumvent e�smr,pi� roja;5�
ing to food -marketing
„ ... .. d
Amazon: Consumer chief leaves after over -building
experts, is "loss -leader
pricing," a strategy of
Amazon's consumer CEO, Dave Clark, resigned last week after the
I "selling some prod -
company admitted it built too much warehouse space during the pan-
ucts below cost to get
demic, said Dana Mattioli in The Wall Street Journal. Clark, who over-
1 shoppers in the door."
saw Amazon's logistics operation, "led an unprecedented hiring spree
i Rotisserie chickens
and build -out of its sprawling delivery network" last year Declining
area popular choice.
If shoppers are "filling
demand led to Amazon's first quarterly loss in seven years in April, and
the company is now trying to renegotiate leases and "seeking to sub-
their carts with other
lease at least 10 million square feet of warehouse space."
;; goods that have gone
up in price," they might
"
rade: Ports wait on dock+arkelr- & otiations
feel better knowing
"they've
"The immediate future of the global supply chain rests on a bargaining
saved money
on at least one highly
table in San Francisco," said Sam Dean in the Los Angeles Times. The
%' visible item." That is, if
union representing all West Coast dockworkers met this week with the
you can find it. Stores
bosses of maritime shipping firms before the current contract expires
tend to stash their
July 1. A backlog of ships waiting to unload at the ports has added
rotisserie selections in
urgency to the negotiations, which historically have been fraught. "West
the back so that cus-
Coast dockworkers are the highest -paid logistical workers in the US.,"
tomers have to "pass
with average full-time salaries of $195,000. But union leaders contend
lots of other products
that shipping companies are increasing automation at workers' expense.
along the way.",