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Shoppers, it may be time to find a new pharmacy. Walgreens is closing up to a quarter of its 8,600 stores within the United States. Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth recently explained to the Wall Street Journal on June 27 that the closures would focus on locations that aren't profitable, too close to each other or stores struggling with theft. .... According to CNN, 75% of the company's U.S. stores account for 100% of its operating income. The company will examine the remaining 25% of its 8,600 stores for closure. That equates to roughly 2,150 stores closing shop across the country...

The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2024, according to new Commerce Department data released Thursday. Economists had expected gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 1.9 percent in the three-month period between April and June, closer to the 1.4 percent growth posted in the first quarter of the year. The strong report comes as the Federal Reserve is set to meet next week to consider changing interest rates, which it has held steady since last July. The central bank has kept rates at a two-decade high, as inflation has remained...

During an interview on Tuesday for Wednesday’s BET News interview special “Black America Votes: The Biden Interview,” President Joe Biden said that his economic policies haven’t resonated with people “because the Republican Party and the MAGA Republicans have been opposed to it, and they’ve been beating up on it.” And because “it’s just taking time for people to see it. And the other thing is, there’s not been a very good job done about saying, this new billion-dollar bridge going over there is brought to you by Joe Biden.” But some of his policy agenda has “resonated for those who...

It might not reach the epic level of the 1975 “Thrilla in Manila” heavyweight boxing contest between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, but the rematch is now official: Joe Biden, the president, against former president Donald Trump in November. And with that, the stark contrast between two opposing economic philosophies: the government-as-agent approach of Biden that has prevailed for the past three years and the populist, laissez faire, deregulatory ethos that comprised the Trump economic agenda from 2017 until COVID-19 intervened. Biden’s successes and failures are well known by now: the strong performance of the labor market, the better-than-expected economic...

Bankruptcy courts are working overtime this year, with corporate America seeing the highest monthly bankruptcy count since 2020. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the US recorded 75 new bankruptcies filed by mid-size and large corporations in June. Given ongoing economic pressures, this trend could continue.So far, in 2024, there have been 346 bankruptcy filings, including 17 cases with liabilities exceeding ~$1B — outstripping any comparable figure from the last 13 years.The consumer discretionary sector accounted for 55 of these filings — while the healthcare and industrial sectors each had 40.‘Til debt do us part: S&P Global blames high interest...

The media’s umpteenth month of mishandling CPI data to protect the Biden White House comes as no surprise. Contrary to the corporate media cabal’s desperate attempt to paint the Consumer Price Index report for June 2024 as a sign that inflation “cooled” and will continue “cooling” and “slowing” the closer the nation gets to November’s presidential election, Americans are still paying higher prices on basic day-to-day goods and services than they did in the last four years. When the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest inflation index showing a 0.1 percent decrease in prices from May 2024 to...

The U.S. government’s immigration policy raises inflation pressures in some parts of the economy, but also reduces it in other parts of the economy, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell told Sen. JD. Vance (R-OH). “Overall, in terms of aggregate inflation, I wouldn’t say it’s a driver [of inflation] one way or the other,” Powell told Vance on July 9. Powell’s admission discredits media-magnified claims by many business interests — including Goldman Sachs — that more migration would help reduce the inflation that has crippled President Joe Biden’s administration. That unfounded claim has been touted by many establishment media outlets, such...

All brouhaha about Biden’s decline has distracted the public from critically examining his administration’s more significant failures Since Joe Biden’s now infamous debate performance, the Democratic Party has been having palpitations about his candidacy. But all brouhaha about Biden’s decline has distracted the public from critically examining his administration’s more significant failures.Democrats now talk as if the only problem with Biden is his ability to convince the public that he’s fit to serve. But a fish rots from the head and, thanks to his inept leadership, Biden’s government has weakened America’s security, its economic stability and its international standing. These...

Each quarter, my company Sift produces an index report to better understand the latest online fraud trends, including how businesses and consumers are affected, emerging fraud tactics, and how fraud impacts consumer behavior when making purchases online. For the past two quarters, we’ve seen a surprising generational divide emerge: Gen Z— born between 1997 and 2012—expresses more willingness than any other generation to commit digital fraud. In Q4 2023, 42% of Gen Zers admitted a willingness to engage in first-party fraud, where they dispute a purchase with their payment provider despite the purchase being legitimate. This was significantly higher than...

Detroit – The first 2024 presidential debate put to rest the false media narrative that Joe Biden is sharp as a tack. But it continued to feed another whopper.“Another persistent challenge is the climate crisis,” claimed CNN moderator Dana Bash. “2023 was the hottest year in recorded history, and communities across the country are confronting the devastating effects of extreme heat, intensifying wildfires, stronger hurricanes, and rising sea levels. Former President Trump will you take any action as President to slow the climate crisis?”The climate crisis rhetoric is having profound consequences on America’s industrial heartland as regulatory agencies from Washington...

I frequently receive comments about the strength of the United States economy and the unfairness of perceiving things as less than stellar. Is it really the “strongest economy ever”? It’s evident that it’s far from being the “strongest economy ever.”The United States unemployment rate has risen to 4.1%, the highest in three years, which is also significantly higher than the level seen in 2019. In June, a 70,000 increase in government jobs boosted payroll employment by 206,000. One-third of job creation is public sector jobs paid with more debt. Both the employment-to-population ratio and the labour force participation ratio are...

Lawyers for Cardinal George Pell are working to keep the 77-year-old Australian prelate out of jail pending an appeal of his convictions of sexually abusing minors. The highest ranking churchman to be charged with sexual offenses, Pell was convicted in December 2018, but details of his trial were under a publication ban until Tuesday. It has now been revealed that Pell was convicted of one charge of sexually penetrating a child under 16 and four counts of committing an indecent act on a child under 16, the BBC reported. Judge Peter Kidd lifted the ban after prosecutors dropped a second...

California voters will decide on 10 ballot measures in November, addressing a wide range of issues including the minimum wage, rent control, public safety, taxes, education, and health care.Each of the initiatives - including three state constitutional amendments and two multibillion-dollar bonds - will need approval from at least 50 percent of voters to pass.State Constitutional AmendmentsProp. 3: Marriage Equality (ACA 5)The California Constitution currently states that only marriage between a man and a woman is recognized in the state, but federal law prevents the enforcement of this provision.A yes vote on this ballot measure means removing this state constitutional...

In a March 2023 interview, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised his country economic growth reminiscent of the post-war economic miracle. “Because of big investments in climate protection, Germany will achieve growth rates for some time which we last saw in the 1950s and 1960s,” said Scholz. Germany achieved annual growth rates of around 8 percent during the 1950s and early 1960s. Chancellor Scholz reiterated his certainty in the accuracy of his March 2023 forecast during a parliamentary session on July 3, 2024. However, the reality is exactly the opposite! Germany is once again the sick man of Europe. According to...

Bidenomics is Working!! 😳 ["We are proud of Bidenomics!" - Kamala Harris]

The uptick in the June unemployment rate along with significant downward revisions in the job additions for April and May are the latest signs that the economy may be slowing down under high Federal Reserve interest rates. The Friday numbers from the Labor Department showed the unemployment rate increasing to 4.1 percent in June from 4 percent in April, the third month in a row of 0.1-percentage point increases. Jobs added to the economy in May were revised down to 218,000 from 272,000 and in April to 108,000 from 165,000. While the economy added a healthy 206,000 jobs in the...

Presented by author/journalist: Roy Beck - Numbers USA http://www.NumbersUSA.org ...Global humanitarian reasons for current U.S. immigration are tested in this updated version of Roy Beck's colorful presentation of data from the World Bank and U.S. Census Bureau. The 1996 version has been one of the most viewed policy presentations on the internet. From 2000 to 2009, the United States granted on average 1,003,741 green cards per year, according to DHS. Statistics. From 2000 to 2013, the U.S. granted an average of 1,008,404 green cards per year. Using the World Bank’s measure of poverty, in 2010 the Population Reference Bureau estimated...

If the laureates understood the difference between academic theory and policy practice, they would not have issued their silly letter.In late June, 16 Nobel economists led by former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz issued a letter warning that a second Trump term would have “a negative impact on America’s economic standing in the world and a destabilizing effect on the U.S. domestic economy.” Among the gripes: Trump’s “fiscally irresponsible” budget plans and the “vagaries of his actions and policies” in relations with other countries.If the past is anything to go by, this is probably the most powerful endorsement of...

It's hard. What is? US hard economic data! With 'hard' data collapsing in the last month, 'soft' survey data from ISM and S&P Global this morning was 'mixed' as usual: S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI rose from 51.3 in May to 51.6 for the final June print (down very modestly from the 51.7 flash print). ISM US Manufacturing PMI dropped from 48.7 to 48.5 in June (well below the 49.1 expected) Source: Bloomberg Need more confusion... S&P Global noted that higher supplier charges were signaled in June. Alongside rising labor costs, this resulted in a further marked increase in input...

Politics typically comes with plenty of spin. Even something seemingly unyielding or absolute like a number can get squished and twisted like putty. As such, flashy economic data points extolled by candidates always come with plenty of asterisks, caveats and “yes, buts.” In this election cycle, those qualifiers have multiplied in part due to quirks in the numbers themselves: A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and a once-in-a-generation inflation event sent shockwaves through the economy, distorting data and presidential economic records in the process. “Interpreting economic data is like interpreting a Monet painting in the best of times,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at...