Today: October 06, 2024
Today: October 06, 2024

Latest From The Los Angeles Post

Economy

Japan sees rare strike as workers at landmark department store protest sale

Workers at a major Tokyo department store went on strike on Thursday after talks with management over the planned sale of their company broke down, marking the first major walk-out the country has seen in decades. Some 900 workers at the flagship Seibu store in the bustling district of Ikebukuro are protesting the planned sale of their company Sogo & Seibu, a unit of retail giant Seven & i, to U.S. fund Fortress Investment Group. They are seeking job and business continuity guarantees, unhappy with reported plans for discount electronics retailer Yodobashi

Japan sees rare strike as workers at landmark department store protest sale
Economy

Medicare starts a long road to cutting prices for drugs, starting with 10 costing it $50.5 billion annually – a health policy analyst explains why negotiations are promising but will take years

Americans pay far more for prescription drugs compared with people in other high-income countries. Willie B. Thomas/Digital Vision via Getty Images The Biden administration released on Aug. 29, 2023, a list of the first 10 drugs that will be up for negotiations with pharmaceutical companies over their Medicare prices. The drugs are purchased through Medicare Part D, a prescription drug coverage program for Americans ages 65 and older. The 10 medications accounted for more than US$50.5 billion in gross costs between June 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023. Provisions authorizing these negotiations were part of the Inflation Reduction Act which

Medicare starts a long road to cutting prices for drugs, starting with 10 costing it $50.5 billion annually – a health policy analyst explains why negotiations are promising but will take years
Economy

Rising caffeine levels spark calls for ban on energy drink sales to children

– Pediatricians and parents are calling for the U.S. to treat new high-caffeine energy drinks like alcohol and cigarettes and ban their sale to minors as a single serving can contain as much caffeine as six Coca-Colas. Prime Energy, which launched this year, has 200 mg of caffeine within its 350 ml can — exceeding permissible caffeine levels in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Rival products like Anheuser Busch InBev-backed Ghost energy drinks and Kim Kardashian’s “Kimade” energy drink also have 200 mg of caffeine. Competitor Monster Energy contains 150 mg of caffeine. As caffeine content

Rising caffeine levels spark calls for ban on energy drink sales to children
Economy

Workers like it when their employers talk about diversity and inclusion

Many companies have made commitments toward diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in recent years, particularly since the murder of George Floyd sparked weeks of racial justice riots in 2020. But some of those efforts, such as hiring diversity leaders and creating policies to address racial inequality, have stalled or reversed at the same time as a growing conservative backlash is threatening to further undermine such initiatives. Most recently, a June 2023 Supreme Court ruling tossing out affirmative action policies at several universities has prompted businesses and advocates to worry that similar corporate efforts to improve the diversity of their workforces

Workers like it when their employers talk about diversity and inclusion
Economy|WrittenByLAPost

Global stock market correction likely before year-end: Reuters poll

– Global stock markets are heading for a correction in coming months, though overall they should post marginal gains between now and the end of 2023, according to a majority of analysts polled by Reuters. A bad year for stocks in 2022 carried into this year as global central banks battled inflation with interest rate rises that are now largely drawing to an end. But while an unexpected surge in stock prices through May-July has coincided with news most major economies are performing better than expected, a nagging worry among analysts that stocks will underperform has

Global stock market correction likely before year-end: Reuters poll
Economy|WrittenByLAPost

Surge to 3.56%: The Path Forward for US 30-Year Mortgage Rates

U.S. long-term mortgage rates rose this week but remained at historically low levels. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the rate on the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.56% from 3.49% last week. Average rates on the benchmark loan have remained below 3.6% for four straight weeks — the first time that’s happened since the fourth quarter of 2016. A year ago, the 30-year rate stood at 4.6%. The average rate for 15-year, fixed-rate home loans rose to 3.09% from 3% last week. Mortgage rates fell sharply over the summer as a slowing global economy and tensions

Surge to 3.56%: The Path Forward for US 30-Year Mortgage Rates
Economy

Find Out How To Do It: The Secrets of Profitable Insider Trading

The most in-the-know insiders earned three times as much as the typical investor in any given month. Witthaya Prasongsin/Moment via Getty Images Corporate insiders who trade stocks based on the information they gain on the job earn a lot more if they work at multinational corporations than their peers at U.S. companies with no sales abroad. That’s the main finding of our new peer-reviewed research. Insider trading happens when a director or employee trades their company’s public stock or other security based on important or “material” information about that business. Insider trading isn’t illegal as long as the person reports

Find Out How To Do It: The Secrets of Profitable Insider Trading
Economy

Waves of strikes rippling across the US seem big, but the total number of Americans walking off the job remains historically low

Striking members of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in New York City in 1958. AP Photo More than 323,000 workers – including nurses, actors, screenwriters, hotel cleaners and restaurant servers – walked off their jobs during the first eight months of 2023. Hundreds of thousands of the employees of delivery giant UPS would have gone on strike, too, had they not reached a last-minute agreement. And nearly 150,000 autoworkers may go on a strike of historic proportions in mid-September if the United Autoworkers Union and General Motors, Ford and Stellantis – the company that includes Chrysler – don’t agree

Waves of strikes rippling across the US seem big, but the total number of Americans walking off the job remains historically low
Economy

Tipping Customs and Expectations Are Changing: Here's How to Avoid Being Cheated.

Digital payment methods may automatically prompt you to leave a gratuity. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh Tipping has gotten more complicated – and awkward – in North America. The ever-growing list of situations in which you might be invited to tip includes buying a smoothie, paying an electrician, getting a beer from a flight attendant and making a political donation. Should you always tip when someone suggests it? If yes, how do you calculate the right amount? And if you don’t, are you being stingy? As marketing professors who specialize in customer interactions, we’re researching how digital payment technologies have changed

Tipping Customs and Expectations Are Changing: Here's How to Avoid Being Cheated.
Economy

New data reveal US space economy's output is shrinking – an economist explains in 3 charts

The ‘space economy’ isn’t just rockets and space suits — satellite data, radio and TV are all part of a broadly-defined space economy. NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP The space industry has changed dramatically since the Apollo program put men on the moon in the late 1960s. Today, over 50 years later, private companies are sending tourists to the edge of space and building lunar landers. NASA is bringing together 27 countries to peacefully explore the Moon and beyond, and using the James Webb Space Telescope to peer back in time. Private companies are playing a much larger role in space than

New data reveal US space economy's output is shrinking – an economist explains in 3 charts
Economy

Government support was key for thousands of US nonprofits battered by COVID-19's early costs − new research

Federal funding shored up charities when the economy was in distress. mj0007/iStock via Getty Images Plus Government funding helped keep U.S. charities afloat during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study I conducted with Stephanie Karol, a fellow economist. We found that charitable donations declined by more than an estimated 20% during that period – which preceded a sharp end-of-year upswing in giving in late 2020. But the government grants to nonprofits, which soared during those six months by over 65%, and the Paycheck Protection Program – a government-run loan program established to support employers

Government support was key for thousands of US nonprofits battered by COVID-19's early costs − new research
Economy

Elon Musk aims to turn Twitter into an 'everything app' – a social media and marketing scholar explains what that is and why it's not so easy to do

Everything apps are designed to help you do, well, just about everything you do on a phone. Busakorn Pongparnit/Moment via Getty Images Elon Musk’s recent rebranding of Twitter as X is a step toward the CEO’s goal of developing an “everything app.” Musk’s vision is for X to mark the spot for all your digital needs – to chat with your friends, order groceries, watch videos and manage your finances, all on one platform. His recent announcement might have left you wondering what an everything app is and whether you need really one. If everything apps are so great, why

Elon Musk aims to turn Twitter into an 'everything app' – a social media and marketing scholar explains what that is and why it's not so easy to do
Economy

Older 'sandwich generation' Californians spent more time with parents and less with grandkids after paid family leave law took effect

Nearly a dozen states have enacted these policies so far. Westend61 via Getty Images The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea A California law that mandates paid family leave has led to adults in their 50s, 60s and 70s spending more time taking care of their parents and less time being their grandkids’ caregivers. The law requires all employers to allow eligible workers to take up to six weeks of paid leave to care for newborns, newly adopted children or seriously ill family members. From 2006, two years after the law went into

Older 'sandwich generation' Californians spent more time with parents and less with grandkids after paid family leave law took effect
Economy

What's the difference between a startup and any other business?

Between 2012 and 2021, funding to U.S. tech startups jumped to $344 billion. gorodenkoff/iStock via Getty Images Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. What’s the difference between a startup and a business, and is one better than the other? – Aditya, age 16, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India All startups are businesses, but not every business is a startup. Nearly 100,000 new businesses were formed each week in the United States in 2022. But what sets a startup apart? As a professor of

What's the difference between a startup and any other business?
Economy

US autoworkers may wage a historic strike against Detroit’s 3 biggest automakers – with wages at EV battery plants a key roadblock to agreement

UAW President Shawn Fain speaks with General Motors workers on July 12, 2023, in Detroit. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images The United Auto Workers union, which represents nearly 150,000 employees of companies that manufacture U.S.-made vehicles, kicked off in mid-July 2023 the labor negotiations it undergoes every four years with the three main unionized automakers. It’s not clear that the UAW will agree upon a new contract with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis – the automaker that manufactures Chrysler and 13 other vehicle brands – by their impending deadline. The contracts expire at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14. The union’s leaders skipped the

US autoworkers may wage a historic strike against Detroit’s 3 biggest automakers – with wages at EV battery plants a key roadblock to agreement
Economy

Many global corporations will soon have to police up and down their supply chains as EU human rights 'due diligence' law nears enactment

Forced and child labor has been reported in mines in the Congo, which produces over 70% of the world’s cobalt. Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images The European Union will soon require thousands of large companies to actively look for and reduce human rights abuses and environmental damage in their supply chains. And although it’s an EU law, it will also cover foreign businesses – including American ones – that have operations in the region. The European Parliament approved a draft of the new rules in June 2023, and now EU member states and the European Commission will negotiate to finalize

Many global corporations will soon have to police up and down their supply chains as EU human rights 'due diligence' law nears enactment
Economy

Hypocrisy penalty: Investors especially hate companies that say they're good then behave badly – unless the money is good

Investors don’t like it when companies do one thing and then say another. Adam Gault/Photodisc via Getty Images The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Stock investors punish companies caught doing something unethical a lot more when when these businesses also have a record of portraying themselves as virtuous. This hypocrisy penalty is the main finding of a study we recently published in the Journal of Management. Companies often espouse their supposed virtue – known as “virtue signaling” – usually with the aim of getting benefits, such as higher sales, positive investor sentiment

Hypocrisy penalty: Investors especially hate companies that say they're good then behave badly – unless the money is good
Economy

Progressives' embrace of Disney in battle with DeSantis over LGBTQ rights comes with risks

Is Disney really a ‘woke’ corporation? AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack The battle between The Walt Disney Co. and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over LGBTQ rights and whether those rights should be acknowledged – let alone taught – in schools has spurred an unlikely alliance between progressives and one of the world’s biggest entertainment companies. Progressive groups such as The Human Rights Campaign have welcomed Disney to their cause, while progressive columnists at The Daily Beast and MSNBC have cheered Disney’s recent lawsuit against DeSantis. The suit, filed in April 2023, alleges that DeSantis violated the company’s free speech rights by

Progressives' embrace of Disney in battle with DeSantis over LGBTQ rights comes with risks
Economy

Why Dunkin' and Lego rebrands succeeded – but X missed the mark

So far, Twitter’s rebrand = X + why? Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images Twitter has swapped the fluffy bird that used to symbolize the social media platform for a spindly black X. Ditching the company’s well-known logo and changing its name to a letter often associated with danger, death and the unknown is only the latest user-aggravating step CEO Elon Musk has taken since he bought Twitter in October 2022 for US$44 billion. But it’s the most visually jarring one. The reaction has mainly been a mix of ambivalence, ridicule and scorn. For the most part, longtime Twitter users

Why Dunkin' and Lego rebrands succeeded – but X missed the mark
Economy

Rate hikes may have slowed inflation in the US – but they have also heightened the risk of financial crises for lower-income nations

Sri Lanka is among the countries facing the risk of debt distress. Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP via Getty Images The campaign to fight U.S. inflation by upping interest rates has been going on for a year and a half – and its impacts are being felt around the world. On July 26, 2023, the Federal Reserve announced another quarter-point hike. That means U.S. rates have now gone up 5.25 percentage points over the past 18 months. While inflation is now coming down in the U.S., the aggressive monetary policy may also be having significant longer-term impact on countries across the world,

Rate hikes may have slowed inflation in the US – but they have also heightened the risk of financial crises for lower-income nations
Economy

Donors give more when asked to help people get back on their feet instead of meeting immediate needs – new research

As the saying goes, it’s better to teach someone to fish than to give them a fish. Dimensions/E+ via Getty Images The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Charities that provide social services such as medical care or after-school programs should consider emphasizing how their efforts can help their clients become more self-sufficient, my research findings suggest. With my colleagues Stacie Waites, Adam Farmer and Roman Welden, I explored whether people respond differently to fundraising pitches for charities that promise to help people in need become more self-sufficient than those that don’t. One

Donors give more when asked to help people get back on their feet instead of meeting immediate needs – new research
Economy

Nonprofits may engage in advocacy and limited lobbying, but few do so – new research

Is anybody ready to speak up? Tzido/iStock via Getty Images Plus The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Fewer than a third of charities in the U.S. (31%) engaged in advocacy in the last five years. This represents a dramatic decline in the past two decades, we found, even though the law allows these groups to speak up regarding the issues that affect the people they serve. The results of the Public Engagement Nonprofit Survey, a new nationally representative study we conducted on behalf of Independent Sector – a coalition of nonprofits, foundations

Nonprofits may engage in advocacy and limited lobbying, but few do so – new research
Economy

UPS and Teamsters agree on new contract, averting costly strike that could have delayed deliveries for consumers and retailers

Teamsters employed by UPS practiced holding rallies ahead of the strike that wasn’t. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes The International Brotherhood of Teamsters union and UPS have agreed on a new five-year contract that boosts wages and guarantees more air conditioning in drivers’ trucks. The tentative deal, struck on July 25, 2023, came one week before an Aug. 1 deadline that the Teamsters had set for threatened strike – which would have been the first by UPS workers since 1997. The Conversation asked Jason Miller, a supply chain scholar at Michigan State University, to explain what happened and to sum up the

UPS and Teamsters agree on new contract, averting costly strike that could have delayed deliveries for consumers and retailers
Economy

Blame capitalism? Why hundreds of decades-old yet vital drugs are nearly impossible to find

There is presently no end in sight to the drug supply shortage. FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images Past public ire over high drug prices has recently taken a back seat to a more insidious problem – no drugs at any price. Patients and their providers increasingly face limited or nonexistent supplies of drugs, many of which treat essential conditions such as cancer, heart disease and bacterial infections. The American Society of Health System Pharmacists now lists over 300 active shortages, primarily of decades-old generic drugs no longer protected by patents. While this is not a new problem, the number of

Blame capitalism? Why hundreds of decades-old yet vital drugs are nearly impossible to find
Economy

UPS impasse with union could deliver a costly strike, disrupting brick-and-mortar businesses as well as e-commerce

Placards are part and parcel of a protest. AP Photo/Brittainy Newman Talks between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and UPS over a new contract fell apart on July 5, 2023. The union and the shipping and logistics company are blaming each other for the collapse, which occurred a few weeks after 97% of UPS’s Teamsters voted to strike if the Teamsters and UPS don’t reach an agreement by midnight on July 31. Without a deal in place, more than 300,000 Teamsters will stop working on Aug. 1. It would mark the delivery service’s first strike since 1997. The Conversation asked

UPS impasse with union could deliver a costly strike, disrupting brick-and-mortar businesses as well as e-commerce

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