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McCaughey: White House focus on climate change, not banks

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:59:56 GMT

The failure of three banks in the last two weeks, including Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, is a saga of utter government incompetence. Call these bank collapses Biden’s Banking Busts. The Biden administration has been obsessing on woke causes while banks teeter toward insolvency.Three days before Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cautioned that climate change puts the banking industry at risk. Yellen was in la-la land, speculating that future storms and tornadoes could diminish the value of banks’ assets.Weather is a risk, but she was oblivious to the much more immediate problem facing banks — the plummeting value of the bonds they own. She was heedless to the impending downfall of SVB and possibly several other small banks that had purchased long-term bonds when interest rates were near zero.In 2022, after doing nothing to tame inflation the previous year, the Federal Reserve hiked rates repeatedly to make up for their previous inac...

Shand: Government needs a civilian cyber reserve

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:59:56 GMT

Cyber attacks are wreaking havoc on government agencies. The U.S. Marshal Service was recently hacked, the agency’s second significant data breach in recent years. And in October, two federal agencies were infiltrated by remote monitoring software.These breaches are just a few of the many cyber security failures recently reported across the government. In the first half of 2022 alone, there were reportedly 2.75 billion malware attacks, with more than 270,000 never-before-seen variants. This problem is widespread and growing more difficult to combat daily. Luckily, the House of Representatives is considering a bill to bolster America’s depleted cyber defense capabilities by marshaling a civilian reserve.In January, Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., and Rep. Tony Gonzalez, R-Texas, introduced the National Digital Reserve Corps Act. This bill would appropriate $30 million annually until 2025 for developing a Digital Reserve Corps, administered by the General Services Administration.This comes ...

Editorial: Where have all the college students gone?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:59:56 GMT

Has the nation reached a tipping point when it comes to the soaring cost of a college education? Declining enrollment numbers should be a warning to institutions of higher learning.The latest figures from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reveal that fewer high school graduates are heading to college. National campus enrollment figures for 2022 reveal a nearly 5% drop from a year earlier.The numbers highlight obvious failures.Politicians must recognize the damage that virtually unlimited financial aid has inflicted upon the system, leading to mountains of student debt and encouraging higher education officials to ramp up tuition costs while offering degrees in areas of minimal value. Meanwhile, too many school districts are turning out high school graduates who lack the skills to succeed at the next level, yet fail to offer programs that would allow kids to explore vocational educational opportunities.According to The Associated Press, the number of high school stud...

Get ready to revel in Springsteen’s glory days at TD Garden

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:59:56 GMT

Bruce Springsteen has outlived every member of his first band.On the stage at Philly’s Wells Fargo Center on Thursday, Springsteen told the story of how his sister’s boyfriend, George Theiss, recruited the New Jersey legend to join the Castiles (named after a shampoo). It was 1965. Bruce was 15. Theiss knew the kid played a decent guitar – which Bruce had been at for only six months.“It was like standing on the tracks with the white hot light of an oncoming train bearing down on you,” Springsteen said of Theiss’ death. “It brings a certain clarity of thought and purpose that you may not have previously paid attention to… It makes you realize how important living every moment of your life is. So be good to your loved ones, and be good to yourself and be good to this world we live in.”After the origin story, Springsteen eased into a tender solo acoustic version of “Last Man Standing,” his tribute to the Castiles founders and their three years spent laying siege to school dances and As...

Almost half of US job postings now include salary info

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:59:56 GMT

After new pay transparency laws in California and New York City faced rocky starts, employer compliance is up not just in two of the biggest labor markets in the U.S., but across the country.About three quarters of job listings in New York City and two thirds in California now include pay information, according to data compiled by Roger Lee, co-founder of Comprehensive.io, a pay data and analytics site. Nationally, salary ranges appear on 44% of posts on Indeed, up from 18% three years ago, data released last week by the job search site shows.While Colorado enacted the first pay disclosure law in 2021, the trend reached a tipping point after California and New York City’s laws went into effect in recent months. Around a dozen states, including New Jersey, Illinois and Kentucky, are weighing similar regulations. Some of the areas with the biggest increase in ads including pay were in those places, including Honolulu, Hawaii and parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, according to Ind...

Dear Abby: Reader should beware of romance scammers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:59:56 GMT

Dear Abby: This is in response to “Living a Soap Opera” (Jan. 3), the unhappy woman who is married to an alcoholic. She is flattered by the three younger men she’s conversing with online. My experience is that when men say they are in a place where you can’t meet them, such as stationed far away in the army or on a ship, and they immediately fall in love with you, it’s most likely a scam.I’m not saying this to hurt her feelings or deflate her ego, but for the purpose of safety. If they start asking for money, BEWARE! Vulnerable people easily get scammed in this way. Sadly, I know this from experience, so I just wanted to give a heads-up. — Thankful I Caught OnDear Thankful: Many readers saw red flags in “Living’s” letter, with some pointing out that the “in the military” scenario is a common one. “Living” should do as much research as she can on “catfishing” and these kinds of scams, and ...

Former Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou will visit China

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:59:56 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will visit China next week, in what a spokesman called a bid to ease tensions between the self-ruled island and the mainland. Ma presided over a period of warm ties with Beijing, but left office under a cloud after a trade deal with the mainland failed to win approval amid the island’s largest protests since the 1990s.Ma’s proposed visit comes as China’s People Liberation Army sends fighter jets towards Taiwan on a near daily basis, and as official communications between the two governments have broken off. China’s ruling government claims Taiwan is part of its national territory, but Taiwan’s current ruling government says it’s already a sovereign state that is not part of China.Ma, who’s a member of the opposition Nationalist Party (Kuomingtang), will lead a delegation of academics and students as well as his former presidential staffers from March 27 to April 7, his office said Sunday.T...

Asian stocks sink after Credit Suisse takeover

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:59:56 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets fell Monday after Swiss authorities arranged the takeover of troubled Credit Suisse amid fears of a global banking crisis ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting to decide on more possible interest rate hikes.Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney declined. Shanghai edged up. Oil prices retreated.Swiss authorities on Sunday announced UBS would acquire its smaller rival as regulators try to ease fears about banks following the collapse of two U.S. lenders. Central banks announced coordinated efforts to stabilize lenders including a facility to borrow U.S. dollars if necessary.Investors worry banks are cracking under the strain of unexpectedly fast, large rate hikes over the past year to cool economic activity and inflation. That caused prices of bonds and other assets on their books to fall, fueling unease about the industry’s financial health.“Investors are waiting to see where the dust settles on the banking saga before making any bold moves,” Stephen Innes of SP...

Trump’s call for protests get muted reaction from supporters

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:59:56 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.The ambivalence raises questions about whether Trump, though a leading Republican contender in the 2024 presidential race who retains a devoted following, still has the power to mobilize far-right supporters the way he did more than two years ago before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. It also suggests that the hundreds of arrests that followed the Capitol riot, not to mention the convictions and long prison sentences, may have dampened the desire for repeat mass unrest.Still, law enforcement in New York is continuing to closely monitor online chatter warning of protests and violence if Trump is arrested, with threats varying in specificity and credibility, four officials told The Associa...

Trump ally to appear before NYC grand jury eyeing charges

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:59:56 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer allied with Donald Trump is expected to testify Monday before a New York grand jury, giving the former president an indirect opportunity to make a case that he shouldn’t face criminal charges over hush money paid during his 2016 campaign.Robert Costello was asked to appear by the Manhattan district attorney’s office after he said he had information raising questions about the credibility of Michael Cohen, a key witness in the investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss secret legal proceedings.His testimony will come two days after Trump said he expected to face criminal charges and urged supporters to protest his possible arrest. In a series of social media posts through the weekend, Trump criticized the New York investigation, directing particularly hostile rhetoric toward Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. It was unclear whether Costello’s testimony has any potential to change ...