A Broadcast Meteorologist's Top Tips for Preparing for the Next Natural Disaster
The spate of natural catastrophes in the first half of 2025 alone caused approximately $131 billion in overall economic losses, according to a July 29 report from the insurance company Munich Re.
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UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
Federal Reserve governor Kugler resigns, creating vacancy for Trump
Adriana Kugler announced she will be leaving as Federal Reserve governor on Aug. 8. Photo by Federal Reserve Aug. 2 (UPI) -- One of the seven members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Adriana Kugler, announced she is stepping down next week, creating an opening for President Donald Trump to fill. Her term was set to expire in January but Kugler said Friday she will depart in seven days. President Joe Biden appointed Kugler, a 55-year-old labor economist, in September 2023. Governors' terms are for 14 years, and Kugler filled an opening. "The Federal Reserve does important work to help foster a healthy economy and it has been a privilege to work towards that goal on behalf of all Americans for nearly two years," Kugler said in her resignation letter to Trump. "I am proud to have tackled this role with integrity, a strong commitment to serving the public, and with a data-driven approach strongly based on my expertise in labor markets and inflation." Kugler said she plans to return to teaching public policy at Georgetown University in the fall. She was a vice provost for faculty at Georgetown and earned her Ph.D. in economics at the University of California at Berkeley. "I am especially honored to have served during a critical time in achieving our dual mandate of bringing down prices and keeping a strong and resilient labor market," she wrote in the letter. Kugler did not vote on Wednesday when the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at a range of 4.25% to 4.5% for a fifth consecutive meeting. Two of the 11 committee members who did vote dissented, backing Trump's desire to lower rates. The 12-member committee includes the seven governors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and four remaining 11 Reserve Bank presidents who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis. "We just found out that I have an open spot on the Federal Reserve Board. I'm very happy about that," Trump said late Friday before boarding Marine One. He later posted on Truth Social that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell "should resign, just like Adriana Kugler, a Biden Appointee, resigned. She knew he was doing the wrong thing on Interest Rates. He should resign, also!" The replacement may ultimately replace Powell, whose term ends in May, though he can remain as a governor until 2028. The president appoints each of the board members and designates one to serve as chair for four years. Trump appointed Powell during his first presidency in 2018. Biden appointed him to another term as chairman. "Trump's influence on interest rates will now be felt earlier and more strongly," Derek Tang, an economist at LHMeyer, an economic consulting firm, told The Washington Post. Contenders to lead the Fed are National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and Fed governor Christopher Waller, each with distinct strengths, The Washington Post reported. Trump has said he wants Scott Bessent to remain as Treasury secretary. Trump has sought to replace Powell, calling him on Truth Social "a stubborn MORON" and "too late" on lowering interest rates. But he can only be fired "for cause," such as malfeasance, neglect of duty or inefficiency, rather than disagreeing with policies. Experts say his removal could disrupt the financial markets.
Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Rolex, Lululemon and why the luxury market might collapse
Luxury brands would seem to be one of the first things people would sacrifice in times of economic uncertainty. That hasn't happened, at least widely, because the top earners in the United States have generally done better over the past few years than struggling Americans. Yes, some high-earners are worried about losing their jobs, but many are enjoying the prospects of long-term tax breaks and other benefits. Listen to every episode of TheStreet Smarts podcast. In some cases, though, it does seem like the entire luxury market is balanced pretty precariously. That could lead to it toppling over, and dragging down a lot of brands that aren't exactly essentials. You want a Burberry scarf or Lululemon Yoga pants, you don't them. There are lots of cheape products that do the same thing, but that leads to the issue of dupes - knockoffs of famous names designed to be a pretty direct copy. That's something TheStreet's Cody Kline writes about often She joined her cousin Daniel Kline and Alisha do Santos on TheStreet Smarts podcast to discuss the issue. Transcript: Daniel Kline: I am Dan Kline. You are listening to the second-ever edition of Street Smarts, the podcast from the street. We're gonna talk about a couple of things today. And we're gonna stick in sort of the purchasing space at first. Cody, a lot of your articles are about luxury brands that maybe I've heard of, but I certainly don't own. And as we sort of all agreed last week that this is a difficult economy where even people who are doing well are a little bit cautious. What are you seeing? Like, are you seeing these brands where people are pulling back? Or, you know, I was just in Alaska and one of the people I was with was looking at a watch that cost more than my car. And like, he didn't seem that reticent to buy it. Like, you know, I'm a pretty cautious guy. Like, you know, I was looking at like the swatch section and he was looking at like used Rolexes. So are people getting more cautious or is it different for the, you know, the so-called 1%? Cody Kline: No, I feel like if you asked me this last quarter, I think you would've had a little bit of a different answer because the numbers have shown that yes, it seems like there's a little bit of drops, drop in sales, drop in profits for these companies. But actually this week, a whole bunch of slew of earnings are about to be released. So I'm excited to see how it goes. But so far I do have two that I was actually kind of surprised on. You know, for example, in the U.S., Burberry was up 4%. But it was down in China. That's kind of weird to me, honestly. I was not expecting it. Daniel Kline: And the thing- Explain Burberry to me. Because I only know Burberry because there's a pro wrestler who wears a scarf that's Burberry. But is Burberry's entire thing just that pattern? Like, is that the whole thing? Cody Kline: No, no, no. They have a ton of other styles. It's not only the pattern, but that's just their iconic pattern. That's how it kind of started. So like, and they'll do different colors, but that brown, I'm assuming you're talking about the brown. That's like the iconic pattern. But no, they have like, I have a jacket that's black, for example. It's not the check. So it started out with scarves. Related: Costco quietly drops favorite member perk So that was one thing which I found interesting. And they're kind of going through a really big transformation right now to try to be modern, but also heritage, which is very hard to do, like modern heritage. That kind of sounds like an oxymoron. But I think they can do it. I'm a big Burberry fan. I have a jacket. I have a scarf that I've had probably for a decade. And they're in great shape. So I'm pro Burberry coming back and being modern and heritage, whatever that means. Daniel Kline: But that leads into the big topic. Cause we've talked a lot about dupes. I did not know what a dupe was until like two months ago. Cause a dupe is sort of like a legal copycat. Like it's making something that's very reminiscent of a name brand that doesn't cross the line. So it's a, it's Mackie Moose. Like it's, you know, it's a, but it's not going to like, you know, the sketchy market in NASA and buying a Molex watch. Like it's, it's legal. So like, like a sort of a dupe would be like Target has a yoga brand that's reminiscent of Lululemon, but it costs a lot less. So I've never understood. I've done a lot of yoga, but I've never worn yoga pants. They don't look good on me. So tell me a little bit about why you're buying Lululemon and do you buy, you know, a knockoff that's a decent quality that's again, not legally a knockoff just sort of a tribute to. Cody Kline: So I'm going to get real passionate about this because I have just completed a real life test over I don't know how many years. I would say literally about 10 years ago I bought three pairs of black Lululemon Align leggings. I love them. I still wear them to this day. They are barely showing wear and tear and they, I can put them on and they're nice and they fit me well. They hug me right. And they're great. A couple of years ago, I my friend told me about this dupe on Amazon and there's a few now there's a few brands but I was like, all right, I'm going to try this dupe. So I bought these leggings. And this was at the time when the Align leggings didn't come with pockets. They do now they have pockets but this brand had leggings with pockets. And I was like, oh, I'm going to try these. So at first I tried them on. They put, I was like, wow, like these are awesome. Like I'm never buying Lululemon again. Like I, you know, so I would say not even after a year they completely lost their shape. They do not. I'm literally pulling up my leggings. If I wear those you should not have to ever pull up leggings. Like even when you lose weight there's never a time where leggings should be falling down. And that's exactly what happened with these dupes. So I end up personally to me you're going to end up spending more money. It's like, if you just get dupes it's like the guy with the boots. I know there's like an analogy where, you know a guy buys a really expensive pair of boots and he has them for 10 years or someone buys a cheap pair of boots and he has to buy a pair every year and ends up spending more anyways. This is totally true with dupes. Daniel Kline: Yeah, I'm going to jump in here because while I am not a fashion plate by any means I am wearing an Under Armour shirt. And this same version of a shirt if I buy like the JCPenney like air wicking shirt it looks pilly and bad in like six months. And it's not like I'm doing anything. I'm hosting shows and typing most of my day. And then the other thing I would argue for is spending money on bathing suits. If you're a man, it's women spend money on bathing suits because they have to because there's sizes, there's choice. There's a lot. As a man, you're just wearing shorts, but if you buy the shorts at Target versus buying like Fair Harbor or a nice brand, the amount of uncomfortable chafing is gigantic. So spending, not to mention the elastic lasts longer. You know, so spending that $64 versus that $18 is really a good buy. There is one exception and Alicia as a parent I'll let you weigh in on this as well. Anything I know I'm going to lose I buy the cheapest version possible. More Retail: Supermarket inflation: Beef prices soar as egg prices fallLevi's shares plan to beat tariffs, keep holiday prices downAmazon's quiet pricing twist on tariffs stuns shoppers Like when it comes to like travel bags and things like that it's either like something I got from a cruise line for free. Sunglasses, I always have one good pair that I keep for like on-air stuff. The rest are just like sunglasses that came in a box of cereal or that a cruise line handed me because I know I'm going to lose them. Alisha, with young kids, do you buy them name brands or are you buying, you know, question jeans instead of Guess jeans? I don't think they make Question Jeans anymore. There used to be jeans that were like knockoffs of Guess. I don't even know if Guess is a big brand. I don't think that was the name, but it was fairly. Cody Kline: That's funny though. It should have been the name. Alisha Dos Santos: I don't buy my kids name brand stuff barely at all. Only actually Costco is actually where we get a lot of things because they do actually offer better brands than you can get on Amazon that maybe are going to hold up well but they're offered at an affordable price. So we do a lot of Costco shopping. We also thrift with the kids clothes. I kind of teach my daughter that she doesn't have to have the name brand. She doesn't have to have the brand new that she can find more unique items maybe at the thrift store. Daniel Kline: My son loves the thrift store because he'll find those big-name brands. I can't get past the idea. Maybe a jacket or something. I don't want something touching my skin that someone else owned like that. Cody, do you thrift at all? Cody Kline: So it's actually, I actually just started kind of recently because I really like these jeans that they're a bit more expensive. And for me, I'm short. I have to get things shortened and blah, blah, blah. I have been buying a few things on Poshmark and it's been actually been great. So it's a way to get name brands for way less. But like Alicia, I will say if I had a kid, they're gonna grow. Like there's no point in buying it for life. There's a whole Reddit, by the way, a whole Reddit thread on buying things for life. Great rabbit hole to go down, but don't do it right now. But yeah, if I had kids, I'm not gonna be buying them stuff that they're gonna grow out in. Like, unless I know I'm planning to have like six kids, I'll buy it for the first one and then the six kids will have that for the, but other than that, I agree, go to Costco. I mean, this is for adults that are, they're grown, not changing. Daniel Kline: I buy myself Costco too. Dos Santos: I will have, go ahead, go ahead, Dan. Daniel Kline: Well, I'll speak to the virtues of Costco. I don't live near Costco, but I'm a huge fan of them. But then, you wander around Costco and you end up leaving with like, oh, I bought a suit. Well, when do I ever wear a suit? Oh, hey, I bought a Teddy bear. Like the ability at Costco to buy something because it's a good value, but it actually has no presence in your life is really tricky. Related: Nearly 50-year-old sneaker brand closes over 100 retail stores The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
The Hill
3 hours ago
- The Hill
Electricity cost concerns grow amid push for more AI data centers
As tech companies race to power data centers to support artificial intelligence services, some Americans are reporting spikes in their electricity bills. The Trump administration recently released an ' AI Action Plan,' which vowed to expedite permitting for the construction of energy-intensive data centers. During the unveiling of the plan, President Trump acknowledged the growing need for power to run these centers, which are being built across the country by companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft. New reporting by the Washington Post suggests consumers are seeing a spike in their energy bills because of these data centers. According to the report, customers in the areas serviced by PJM Interconnection have seen their electricity bills increase. In Ohio, prices are up between 10 percent and 15 percent, while in New Jersey, prices have increased 20 percent. Experts have told NewsNation that a 5-gigawatt data center could use more energy a year than many states — but they insist Big Tech growth isn't solely to blame for the recent price increases. 'Data centers are affecting electricity, but they are affecting electricity planning at this point. They are not necessarily affecting electricity bills,' said Tricia Pridemore, president of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARC). 'These large AI data centers that you keep hearing about on the news, they are in the planning and construction phase at this point.' Supply and demand are believed to be behind cost increases in the PJM territory, which has a reorganized market. They have a capacity auction in which power industries bid to supply enough electricity in the future. Right now, there is a greater demand because more supply will be needed for these data centers. At PJM's recent auction, prices went up a record 22 percent, according to Reuters. 'Within reorganized markets such as PJM, MISO, SPP, they go out and use independent power producers to generate electricity,' Pridemore said. 'Based upon the electricity that is available, those market prices drive the cost of the electricity to anyone in the system, whether it's a residential customer or a commercial or a business customer.' The NARC president added that data centers can reduce their power usage and cost by using renewable energy, and some are already tapping into solar energy.
