News Digest

  From A.I. to inflation, 11 business charts that explain 2023 - The New York Times (nytimes.com)   It has been a confusing year for the economy and markets. At the start of 2023, economists largely predicted a global recession, and Wall Street was bearish on stocks, with many analysts expecting the S&P 500 to finish the year just a touch higher than where it started. Fast-forward 12 months: No recession (yet) and the S&P 500 is tantalizingly close to a record high.     Here are 11 charts that help explain how we got here.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/20/business/economy/pay-later-credit-debt.html     “Buy now, pay later” loans are helping to fuel a record-setting holiday shopping season. Economists worry they could also be masking and exacerbating cracks in Americans’ financial well-being.     The loans, which allow consumers to pay for purchases in installments, often interest-free, have soared in popularity because of high prices and interest rates. Retailers have used them to attract customers and to get people to spend more.     But such loans may be encouraging younger and lower-income Americans to take on too much debt, according to consumer groups and some lawmakers. And because such loans aren’t routinely reported to credit bureaus or captured in public data, they could also represent a hidden source of risk to the financial system.  

Biden touts minority small business wins as Latino approval sags The Department of the Treasury estimates that Biden’s investments in community lenders will lead to a $50 billion increase in lending to Latino communities and a $80 billion rise for Black communities. A White House official noted before Wednesday’s event that Black small business ownership is growing faster than it has in 30 years and the creation rate of Latino small businesses is at a decade high.  

Biden-Harris Administration Announces $530 Million for Building Energy Efficiency and Resilience to Cut Consumer Costs  T oday , as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, a key pillar of  Bidenomics , the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces up to $530 million in technical assistance competitive grants available for the adoption and implementation of the latest model energy codes, zero energy codes, building performance standards, and innovative codes that achieve equivalent energy savings to the latest model and zero energy codes. The Latest and Zero Building Energy Codes program is being administered through the DOE’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP), and is funded by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate investment in history--which contains $1 billion to modernize America’s building stock through state and local action on building codes and save Americans money on their energy bills, while making buildings m...

  Delivering on the Promise of AI to Improve Health Outcomes | The White House   As President Biden has said, artificial intelligence (AI) holds tremendous promise and potential peril. In few domains is this truer than healthcare. The President has made clear, including by signing a landmark Executive Order on October 30, that the entire Biden-Harris Administration is committed to placing the highest urgency on governing the development and use of AI safely and responsibly to drive improved health outcomes for Americans while safeguarding their security and privacy.     The Administration is pulling every lever it has to advance responsible AI in health-related fields. We cannot achieve the bold vision the President has laid out for the country with U.S. government action, alone.     That’s why we are excited that in response to the Administration’s leadership, leading healthcare providers and payers have today announced voluntary commitments on the safe, s...

Readout of White   House Roundtable on Innovation in Maternal   Health During the conversation, convened by the Office of the Vice President, Biden-Harris Administration officials emphasized the importance of investing in women’s health and addressing the maternal mortality crisis that disproportionately impacts women of color and women who live in rural areas. The roundtable participants highlighted the contributions of the private sector, including increasing access to doula and midwifery services as well as culturally competent care. Participants also discussed the importance of public-private partnerships in advancing equity and improving access to high-quality health care and social supports, and preventing maternal morbidity and mortality.  

Biden-Harris Administration Investing in Hundreds of American Communities to Improve Safety and Prevent Roadway Deaths | US Department of Transportation   Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced $813 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for 385 Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants. The SS4A program grants go directly to regional, local, and Tribal communities for implementation, planning, and demonstration projects driven at the local level to improve safety and help prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways. The funding helps communities address roadway safety through a comprehensive approach that uses all types of interventions, which aligns with DOT’s National Roadway Safety Strategy. These funds will help tackle the preventable crisis of deaths on the nation’s roads through safer people, roads, and vehicles, appropriate vehicle speeds, and improved post-crash care. This first-of-its-kind program was created by th...

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ANNOUNCES $88.3 MILLION LOAN FOR LOUISIANA TO BUILD CRITICAL CONNECTOR PROJECT T he U.S. Department of Transportation today announced that its Build America Bureau has provided a $88.3 million loan to the Louisiana State Bond Commission for the benefit of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) to build the LA 415 Connector, a new link between LA 1 and LA 415 at Interstate 10 (I-10) in the City of Port Allen in Baton Rouge Parish. By providing Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing (RRIF) loans and other financing, the Bureau helps communities expedite infrastructure projects and reduce project costs.    

  FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Accelerate America’s Clean Transportation Future | The White House   As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to build a clean transportation future, today the Administration is announcing new public and private commitments to boost access to electric vehicles (EVs), save taxpayer dollars, and tackle the climate crisis. This includes leading by example on climate with the release of new Federal employee travel guidelines that direct the use of sustainable transportation for official and local travel, both domestically and internationally.   These new commitments will save taxpayers money by increasing the use of EVs and taking other cost-effective actions on clean transportation associated with business travel for the Federal workforce. In addition, the State of California, companies, and nonprofits are announcing new commitments through the Biden-Harris Administration’s EV Acceleration Challenge to exp...

  Readout of Latest White House Meeting with RSV Immunization Manufacturers | The White House   S enior Biden-Harris Administration officials convened a meeting with manufacturers of RSV immunizations for infants, including Sanofi and AstraZeneca, to receive an update on supply, and to underscore the need for manufacturers to continue efforts to meet current and projected demand through the commercial market. This meeting follows several in-person and virtual meetings, including last month when manufacturers announced the availability of hundreds of thousands of additional doses at the urging of the administration, including 230,000 additional doses, which providers and states will begin to be able to order starting next week. Parents of infants under eight months can speak with their health care provider about how to obtain an RSV immunization to protect their infant. Additionally, expectant mothers can talk to their doctors about the maternal RSV vaccine.  

  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/business/energy-environment/oil-companies-are-fine-with-call-to-move-away-from-fossil-fuels.html   Oil industry executives on Wednesday  said they more or less backed the agreement coming out of the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, despite its language calling for “transitioning away from fossil fuels.”     “We support the outcome of COP28,” said a spokesman for Shell, Europe’s largest energy company.  

Record Rent Burdens Batter Low-Income Life - The New York Times (nytimes.com)   More tenants than ever spend half or more of their income for shelter, leaving less for everything else, taking an emotional toll and leaving some without a place to call their own.  

  7 Deaths Linked to Small Magnets Found in Toys, U.S. Warns - The New York Times (nytimes.com)   A federal safety agency warned this week that small, powerful magnets have been linked to seven deaths after they were ingested, announcing one company’s voluntary recall of a toy set that contained such magnets and issuing warnings about six other companies with similar toys.     The agency, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said on Thursday that it was aware of seven deaths, including two outside of the United States, and about 2,400 emergency-room visits between 2017 and 2021 linked to ingesting the small, high-powered magnets.     The danger is that they could easily attach with magnets or other metal objects, making them an even greater hazard if swallowed along with another object. Even swallowed alone, the small magnetic balls pose a risk of perforation to or blockage of the intestines, blood poisoning or death, the commission said.  

  Math Scores Dropped Globally, but the U.S. Still Trails Other Countries - The New York Times (nytimes.com)   The math performance of U.S. teenagers has sharply declined since 2018, with scores lower than 20 years ago, and with American students continuing to trail global competitors, according to the results of a key international exam released on Tuesday.     In the first comparable global results since the coronavirus pandemic, 15-year-olds in the United States scored below students in similar industrialized democracies like the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany, and well behind students in the highest-performing countries such as Singapore, South Korea and Estonia — continuing an underperformance in math that predated the pandemic.     The bleak math results were offset by a stronger performance in reading and science, where the United States scored above average internationally.     About 66 percent of U.S. students performed at least at...

  FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Lower Health Care and Prescription Drug Costs by Promoting Competition | The White House   Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new actions to promote competition in health care and support lowering prescription drug costs for American families, including the release of a proposed framework for agencies on the exercise of march-in rights on taxpayer-funded drugs and other inventions, which specifies that price can be a factor in considering whether a drug is accessible to the public. The Administration believes taxpayer-funded medications should be reasonably available and affordable. These actions build on the steps the Administration has already taken to lower health care costs, including capping the cost of insulin at $35 per product per month for seniors, finally allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, requiring drug companies to pay rebates to Medicare if they raise p...

FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver World-Class High-Speed Rail and Launch New Passenger Rail Corridors Across the Country | The White House   Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing  $8.2 billion  in new funding for 10 major passenger rail projects across the country, including  the first world-class high-speed rail projects in our country’s history.  Key selected projects include: building a new high-speed rail system between  California and Nevada,  which will serve more than 11 million passengers annually; creating a high-speed rail line through  California’s Central Valley  to ultimately link Los Angeles and San Francisco, supporting travel with speeds up to 220 mph; delivering significant upgrades to frequently-traveled rail corridors in  Virginia, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia;  and upgrading and expanding capacity at  Chicago Union Station in Illinois , one of the nation...

  Readout of the White House State Convening on Medical Debt | The White House   Today, the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, National Economic Council, and Domestic Policy Council convened over 80 federal and state officials to discuss the importance of reducing medical debt as part of the President’s  Bidenomics  agenda to lower costs for American families.  One in three adults  – nearly 100 million Americans – struggle with unpaid medical bills. Medical debt keeps  everyday Americans from securing loans, seeking medical services,  and affording the essentials they need to get by. President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that access to health care should be a right, and that no one should need to go into debt to get the health care that they need.  

  JOINT FACT SHEET: Launching the U.S.-ROK Next Generation Critical and Emerging Technologies Dialogue | The White House   National Security Advisors Sullivan and Cho underscored their intent to anchor the initiative in strategic technologies that will be of greatest consequence to bolstering economic prosperity; enhancing resilience against supply chain disruptions; and securing competitive advantages for our two nations and like-minded partners.  At the outset, the Next Generation CET Dialogue will drive cooperation across six main strategic technology areas, including semiconductor supply chains and technology; biotechnology; batteries and clean energy technology; quantum science and technology; digital connectivity; and artificial intelligence.  The National Security Advisors also highlighted the crucial importance of aligning and adapting our technology protection toolkits, including the recently announced Disruptive Technology Protection Network and investment ...

Statement from President Joe   Biden on CHIPS and Science Act Preliminary Agreement Today marks a key milestone for our implementation of this historic law, as the Department of Commerce announced its first preliminary agreement with BAE Systems, Inc. for a CHIPS incentive award of approximately $35 million. When finalized, this award will modernize an aging facility to quadruple its production capacity for chips that are essential to our national security, including for use in F-35 fighter jets, that are produced in Nashua, New Hampshire by American workers. It will advance our national security goals, and it will spur local investment and job creation.     Today’s announcement is the first step of many to come. Over the coming year, the Department of Commerce will award billions more to make more semiconductors in America, invest in research and development capabilities to keep America at the forefront of new technologies, strengthen our national security, and create go...

  Full Charge: The Economics of Building a National EV Charging Network | The White House   The U.S. consumer market for EVs is rapidly  growing . In the third quarter of 2023, EV and hybrid sales amounted to  18 percent  of U.S. light duty vehicle sales; over the year, Americans bought  one million  fully electric vehicles, a new record. President Biden is supporting this growing demand by setting ambitious goals for accelerating the EV transition through his Investing in America agenda. Through the Inflation Reduction Act, he has worked with Congress to lower the price of new and used EVs by thousands of dollars and to incentivize American EV and battery manufacturing, attracting more than  $152  billion  of investment into the sector since taking office. Market research indicates that overall consumer satisfaction with electric vehicles is very high. In fact, 80 percent of EV owners are likely to buy an EV again based on ease of charg...