High inflation persists even as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates. Geopolitical uncertainty is also a factor, with not only Russia- Ukraine, but several other areas showing signs of rising tensions. Added to that pressure were the disruptions in energy and agricultural markets stemming from the invasion of Ukraine, a fire in a major South Korean…
The latest from Washington, D.C., impacting the insurance and financial services industries.
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FRIDLEY, Minn.— In remarks at a Twin Cities metro factory Monday, April 3, President Joe Biden said he's determined to reestablish the U.S. as a leading manufacturer and touted his economic agenda's positive effects on job growth and the domestic clean energy industry. Since taking office, Biden has signed multiple bills investing trillions into the American…
According to AAA, the current national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.51, up from $3.44 a week ago and $3.39 one month ago. "Then Joe Biden came along and made OPEC great again. Just last week, the House of Representatives passed a bill to put America back on the road to energy independence and it's clear OPEC was paying attention.
Susan M. Collins is about to mark her first year as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Collins recently joined Marketplace Morning Report host David Brancaccio to talk fighting inflation, avoiding future bank runs, and new infrastructure to help people more easily transfer money instantly to their accounts. David Brancaccio: Some of the…
BY ALLISON SCHRAGER The market has spoken: It's expecting that the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation is just about over. Fed Chairman Jay Powell has hinted that rate increases are nearly at an end. But inflation was still at 6% last count, and Powell insists the Fed is still committed to reaching its 2% target.
Ron DeSantis’ record supporting cuts to Social Security and Medicare. The group behind the ad, MAGA Inc., has plowed more than $1 million into the ad which began airing on Friday, a sign the Florida feud is beginning to gain steam even before Mr. DeSantis has formally entered the 2024 presidential race. Adam Putnam, Florida’ s former Republican Commissioner of…
History remembers Paul Volcker as the slayer of inflation, and Ben Bernanke as the crisis firefighter. On the face of it, Powell's Federal Reserve this week pushed ahead with what's been its policy for the past year- raising interest rates to bring down inflation- and so did other major central banks. The Fed only hiked by half as much as it was expected to before the…
WASHINGTON— During the pandemic, health care costs— usually a main driver of U.S. inflation— remained surprisingly stable, rising just about 2% annually even as prices for many goods and services soared more than three or four times that rate. "I’ m very worried we’ re looking at a big jump in premiums and out-of-pocket costs," said Glenn Melnick, an expert in health…
ACA ruling hits preventive care, but ‘isn’t a fatal blow,’ analyst says
A U.S. District Court judge’s ruling that strikes down free HIV drugs and some cancer screenings under the Affordable Care Act isn’t a fatal blow to the health care act, although it does have implications.
Anger at both individual regulators and a lack of sufficient banking regulation boiled over from the Senate to the House on Wednesday, as officials from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Treasury Department and Federal Reserve took heat from the Financial Services Committee in the wake of recent bank failures. The government responded to the…
The top banking regulator at the Federal Reserve told Congress on Tuesday that Silicon Valley Bank failed due to mismanagement, while lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee blamed federal regulators for being caught unprepared by the nation’ s second-largest bank collapse. Tim Scott, the top Republican on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs…
President Biden marked Obamacare's 13th anniversary on Thursday by highlighting coverage gains and re-engaging with GOP lawmakers who' ve taken cuts to Social Security and Medicare off the table but are eyeing ways to scale back the 2010 health law or place new limits on Medicaid coverage for the poor. In a speech from the White House, Mr. Biden characterized…
The labor market continues to defy Federal Reserve attempts to cool hiring, with U.S. applications for unemployment benefits down again last week and remaining at historically low levels. Jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending March 18 fell by 1,000 to 191,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve…
Elizabeth Warren stepped up her criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell following the Fed's most recent interest rate hike Wednesday, saying that he is a "dangerous man" to serve in his role. Warren told CNN's Jake Tapper in an interview that Powell is doing a "terrible job" in his position and is risking sending the economy into a recession with the…
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter-point on March 22, 2023, bowing to market expectations that it would temper its aggressive program of rate hikes amid a still-brewing banking crisis. But the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10 forced the central bank to take a step back. This muted rate hike signals that the Fed is being cautious in…
As he mulls a 2024 presidential bid, former Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday called for "common sense and compassionate solutions" to reform entitlement programs and the nation's debt burden, suggesting changes to Social Security and Medicare programs hurtling toward insolvency, particularly for younger generations, without naming specific…
Since a debt crisis cannot be avoided without curbing mandatory spending, some Republicans are still willing to acknowledge the third rail. These fiscally sober, and actually conservative, Republicans aren't likely to win the nomination, and they're making Trump giddy. Biden taunted congressional Republicans at his State of the Union, saying it was their "…
Biden's budget proposes increasing discretionary funding for the Department of Health and Human Services by $14.8 billion over 2023, raising taxes on people making more than $400,000 a year to keep Medicaid solvent, making ObamaCare tax premiums permanent and enacting a $35 cap on monthly insulin costs across the commercial market.
The rapid downfalls of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have zapped confidence in critical parts of the banking sector and triggered concerns about what is next to rupture. The Federal Reserve should temporarily pause interest rate hikes on Wednesday to give the financial system time to adjust to the new reality. First Republic Bank needed a $30…
Elizabeth Warren tore into Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell on Sunday, accusing the presidential appointee of wanting to put millions of people out of work to combat inflation by continuing to raise interest rates. Yes, he is responsible for dealing with inflation, but he is also responsible for employment, "the Massachusetts Democrat said on NBC's" Meet the…
