Latest news with #Econ101
Al Manar
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Manar
Trump Deploys 2,000 National Guard Troops to Los Angeles Amid Ongoing Immigration Protests
US President Donald Trump ordered on Sunday the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, as federal agents faced off with hundreds of demonstrators for a second consecutive day of protests following a wave of immigration raids. The White House announced that Trump signed a presidential memorandum authorizing the deployment to 'address the chaos that has been allowed to fester.' In a post on Truth Social, Trump warned that if California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass 'fail to do their jobs,' the federal government would intervene directly to restore order. WE'RE TAKING OUR COUNTRY BACK! President Trump has officially taken control of the California National Guard and will be deploying THOUSANDS of troops to the streets of Los Angeles tonight, per Gov. Newsom LET'S GO! — ᶜᵒᵐᵐᵉⁿᵗᵃʳʸ Barron Trump🇺🇸 (@BarronTNews_) June 8, 2025 Pentagon on Standby War Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the Pentagon is prepared to mobilize active-duty forces 'if violence continues.' He added that US Marines stationed at nearby Camp Pendleton are on high alert. Governor Newsom denounced Trump's order as a 'deliberate provocation,' insisting the move was not driven by any law enforcement shortfall but rather a political show of force. He called Hegseth's threat to deploy Marines against US citizens 'deranged behavior.' Let's do a simple Econ 101 lesson for @realDonaldTrump. — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 7, 2025 Democratic Senator Adam Schiff also criticized the decision, calling the unilateral deployment without the governor's consent 'unprecedented' and a calculated effort to inflame tensions and escalate the situation. Mayor Bass confirmed late Sunday that no National Guard units had yet arrived in the city. Federal Agents Brace for More Unrest A senior federal law enforcement official in Southern California said National Guard troops are expected to reach Los Angeles within 24 hours to help suppress demonstrators protesting the administration's hardline immigration policies. On Saturday, clashes erupted between security personnel and protesters in Paramount, southeast of downtown, where demonstrators waved Mexican flags and wore respiratory masks. Later that evening, around 60 protesters rallied in downtown Los Angeles, chanting slogans demanding the resignation of immigration enforcement officers and an end to the raids. Immigration Crackdown Sparks Uproar The protests come in response to a series of raids launched Friday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which led to the arrest of at least 44 individuals on immigration-related charges. The demonstrations have intensified political tensions in Los Angeles — a Democrat-led city where census data shows a significant portion of residents are foreign-born and of Latin American descent — pitting local officials against a Republican White House that has made aggressive immigration enforcement central to Trump's second-term agenda. Reuters, citing US officials, reported that the Trump administration has not yet invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the president to deploy active-duty military forces domestically to quell civil unrest. The Los Angeles Police Department said several protesters were arrested on Saturday night after refusing to disperse, though no further details were provided. The White House has set a daily arrest target of at least 3,000 undocumented immigrants, part of Trump's broader pledge to carry out mass deportations and seal the US-Mexico border.
Winnipeg Free Press
23-05-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
When workers are only a tool for business
Opinion For those of us concerned about the Canada Post labour dispute, May 15 was an important day. It was the day we received the recommendations of the industrial inquiry headed by commissioner William Kaplan. The inquiry was intended to provide an impartial analysis that might smooth over seemingly irreconcilable differences between the postal union and corporation. Even though I have written in these pages about labour disputes before, I have been reluctant to address this one in particular. That is because I am an active member of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. I am a touch uneasy about using this platform to argue a stance which might benefit me directly, and on matters in which I have an obvious bias. I am also not an official spokesperson of the union, and do not want to be perceived as speaking for them. So even though the Kaplan Inquiry deserves a thorough dissection and critical analysis, I am not going to provide that here. I do not feel it is my place to address specific grievances between my union and employer. However, there is one particular statement in the commissioner's report that caught my eye which I think it would be appropriate to discuss. Because it is not something unique to this inquiry or labour dispute. It is a philosophical underpinning of our entire society which I think needs to be pushed into the spotlight. '…Canada Post does not exist to provide CUPW members with employment. It exists for one reason: to deliver letter mail and parcels to the people of Canada.' This is one of the declarations made in the Kaplan Inquiry, and it astonishes me that the commissioner would so bluntly say the quiet part out loud like this. After all, it is one of the great myths of capitalism that the employer/employee relationship is a matter of two free and equal parties entering into a mutually beneficial partnership. The two parties strike a cost/benefit analysis between them and if either party doesn't approve of the conditions of the partnership, they are free to end it and move on with their lives. It's the kind of Econ 101 drivel that capitalist apologists love to trot out, but doesn't hold up to the slightest scrutiny when one considers social realities or power dynamics relative to the employer/employee relationship. Especially when the employer happens to be a large corporation and the employee is living paycheque to paycheque with a scant social safety net to rely upon. As with most Econ 101 truisms that many libertarians wallow in, it is the kind of oversimplification one needs to unlearn to proceed to more advanced economic analysis. The truth of that matter is that the corporate and political spheres have long understood the truth which Kaplan lays out. That labour is not viewed as an equal party in the relationship with their employer at all. That the primary function of the business is the service it provides, and the workers are merely an expense. An externality to be reluctantly dealt with. But when meaningful employment for labourers is reduced to a secondary concern, what we are left with is a form of neofeudalism, where the serfs toil only at the pleasure and need of their lords. History has shown us what happens when we reduce the labouring class to their function of service. When we fail to treat them as equal partners. When we refuse to acknowledge the social utility of providing meaningful and appropriately compensated employment. It is not a tenable philosophy to operate a society under, and it has an ugly end. The employee/employer relationship is supposed to be an equilibrium of cost and benefit. Not only to the parties involved, but to society itself. Because there is no service industry without a robustly employed consumer base to purchase such things. The assertion that the function of service itself supersedes the value of providing employment speaks of a deep bias towards the corporate class. It precludes the possibility of viewing labour as an equal party in disputes between employees and employers. This is an attitude which needs to be discarded if we expect the labouring class to feel like a duly considered part of this society. And how can we expect to reconcile such disputes in an environment which elevates one party above the other? Alex Passey is a Winnipeg author.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BP's chief U.S. economist worries China is winning the global energy war. Here's why
The U.S. may produce triple the amount of crude oil, but China is leading the global energy race because of its dominance in building up supply chains for renewable energy and electric vehicles, the chief U.S. economist for BP said. Even as crude oil, natural gas, and coal still lead global energy, clean energy and EVs continue to rise—despite near-term economic headwinds—and that upward trajectory is unlikely to change regardless of politics and tax credits, said Michael Cohen, BP chief US economist and head of oil and refining, speaking May 13 as a keynote at the Enverus Evolve oil and gas conference in Houston. 'The winners over the short term are those that have built up clean technology supply chains. Front and center is China,' Cohen said, noting that China is selling half of the 'new energy' personal vehicles sold worldwide, led by BYD Auto and others. Cohen projects that renewable energy's share of the global energy marketplace will rise from about 15% now to 30% by 2050. Global oil demand likely will peak for good in about 10 years. And U.S. oil production may have plateaued for good near its current highs. The U.S. and others risk failing 'Econ 101' if they believe the renewable energy industry is dying just because of current supply chain and interest rate speed bumps, as well as political headwinds from the Trump administration for renewables, he said. That doesn't mean the U.S. is in a weak place, but it depends on China's supply chains for solar, wind, and, especially, for battery parts for energy storage and EVs. Despite ebbs and flows, the costs for renewables and batteries should continue to fall, Cohen said, along with U.S. decarbonization efforts. Amy Myers Jaffe, director of the Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab at New York University, went a step further than Cohen. China is building EVs that can charge in five minutes, Jaffe said, and, pretty soon, self-driving cars will charge themselves while you run errands. The U.S. shouldn't be worried about China trying to funnel cars into the U.S. through Mexico. The U.S. should be worried about trying to sell a gasoline-fueled Chevrolet Suburban that cost 'six figures' (Chevy lists the 2025 Suburban price range from starting at $62,500 to fully loaded at well more than $100,000). 'The question is where will American car companies be able to sell a gasoline truck?' Jaffe asked. 'How is that going to compete in the international marketplace with a $20,000 EV that can charge in five minutes. You need to ask yourselves that question.' Climate change isn't slowing down and changing societal behaviors and purchasing patterns are hard to predict, they said. 'The question is when does that inflection point happen? No one really knows,' Cohen said. 'It doesn't matter,' Jaffe countered, citing the timing and Trump's political actions against renewables. 'The Chinese are coming out with vehicles that are less expensive that are going to eventually be able to charge in five minutes.' China also is winning in the seas, Jaffe said. 'China is now the largest shipbuilder in the world,' she said, and it's focused on utilizing low-carbon marine fuels, which other countries haven't prioritized. 'And they're updating their major ports, like in Shanghai and other ports, to include low-carbon alternatives.' While gas production is bullish in the U.S. amid construction booms for data centers and liquefied natural gas export plants, Jaffe also warned that data centers may not rely on natural gas power as much as anticipated. 'You can't really build a new, natural gas thermal plant in the United States in a year,' Jaffe said, citing concerns on the timing of building new power infrastructure. 'But you could throw some batteries on the grid.' This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stagflationary Data Puts Pressure on Bitcoin, Stocks
What one hour ago was looking like another positive day in markets has turned decidedly negative as the latest economic data fueled growing stagflation fears. First up was ADP jobs numbers for April. Coming two days ahead of the government's own employment data for April, the ADP report showed just 62,000 private sector jobs created this month, well shy of estimates for 108,000 and March's 147,000. It was the weakest print since July 2024. Next was the government's first estimate of first quarter GDP growth, which came in at negative 0.3% against estimates for positive 0.2%. While the quarter ended in March, economic actors — fully aware of coming tariffs — front-loaded imports early in the year. Going back to Econ 101, rising imports (absent a corresponding gain in exports) are a drag on GDP growth. Indeed, the export-import imbalance cut GDP growth by nearly 5% in the first quarter. Also at work was the Trump administration's DOGE efforts, with government spending a drag on GDP for the first time since 2022. Turning to inflation, the Core PCE price index embedded within the GDP report rose 3.5% versus estimates for a gain of just 3.1%. It's all adding up to a big drop in U.S. stocks, with the Nasdaq lower 2% and S&P 500 by 1.5%. That's hitting bitcoin (BTC), which has slipped about 1% alongside to $94,300.
Boston Globe
14-04-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Trump gets roughed up by a bigger bully: the bond market
Last week, President Trump got an Econ 101 lesson on the power of investors who buy and sell US Treasuries, the $36 trillion market that is the backbone of the global financial system. Advertisement A stinging revolt in the form of heavy selling forced Trump Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Treasuries 'Global investors are simply shying away from US assets,' Neil Sun, a portfolio manager at RBC Global Asset Management in Stamford, Conn., wrote in a note Friday. Why it matters: Investors have put the administration on notice: De-escalate the trade war, or we'll take our money elsewhere. 'Nobody can figure out what the rules will be five days from now, much less five years from now,' US Senator Elizabeth Warren Advertisement What happens next could shape not only the odds of a recession, but the dollar's role at the center of global finance — a status the US has held since World War II. At stake are the perks of having a dominant currency High demand for dollars lets the government borrow cheaply, even with big deficits — a privilege that trickles down to everyday consumers. America can import more than it exports without triggering a spike in interest rates. And it can wield sanctions as foreign policy weapons. What's happening: The new week kicked off with investors struggling to unpack the latest tariff twist. Trump said Sunday that high-tech products like smartphones, computers, and semiconductors would be exempt from high That raised hopes that essential electronics like iPhones, laptops, and Nvidia's blockbuster AI computer chips, would be spared the most onerous import taxes. But Trump didn't back off his combative rhetoric. 'NOBODY is getting 'off the hook,'' he wrote on Truth Social. Stock prices rose as tech companies recouped some of their recent losses. Treasury prices inched higher. The dollar fell for a fifth day. The big picture: Despite the modest rally, Treasury investors — the biggest include central banks, US commercial banks, mutual funds, pension plans, and insurance companies — see more danger ahead. Advertisement 'I don't think we're seeing dysfunction — in the sense of liquidity completely drying up in the markets — but a pattern suggestive of a loss of confidence in US economic policy,' former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on CNBC Monday. The pattern 'is really very worrisome,' she said. Business and consumer confidence is eroding. A further pullback could trigger a downward spiral: less spending and investment, falling stock prices, more layoffs, higher interest rates, slower growth. Thirty-seven percent of economists put the odds of a downturn at 50 percent or higher, according to the National Association for Business Economics — up from fewer than 10 percent before the trade war. Non-U.S. investors hold $8.5 trillion in Treasuries. China, which holds the world's largest stash of foreign currency reserves, has already retaliated with tariffs and Would President Xi Jinping dump Treasuries to turn up the heat on Trump? 'They have that in their back pocket,' said Boston College economist Brian Bethune. But a mass sell-off would crater prices — including those of any US debt China still holds — so it's unlikely. Final thought: The powerful bond market isn't buying Trump's claims that tariffs will revive US factories and jobs. The president admits rebalancing global trade won't be painless but argues Americans will be richer in the long run. Investors are focused on the pain. Some speculate that Trump is willing to inflict economic pain to gain more leverage over the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. The president denies it, yet Advertisement A showdown with Fed chair Jerome Powell — who has said officials will wait to assess the trade war impact on inflation and jobs — If he wins, Powell might be next. But undermining the Fed's independence would be a Pyrrhic victory. Investors don't trust a central bank beholden to politicians — and they would trample each other racing for the exits. Bond investors would be the first to bolt. Larry Edelman can be reached at
