Business & Politics News and Discussions

weatheriscool
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High oil prices help Saudi Aramco earn $88B in first half
Source: AP

By AYA BATRAWY

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi energy company Aramco said Sunday its profits jumped 90% in the second quarter compared to the same time last year, helping its half-year earnings reach nearly $88 billion. The increase is a boon for the kingdom and the crown prince’s spending power as people around the world pay higher gas prices at the pump while energy companies rake in top earnings.

Major oil companies had a strong quarter with Exxon Mobil booking an unprecedented $17.85 billion profit while Chevron made a record $11.62 billion. The U.K.’s Shell shattered its own profit record.

Aramco’s net profits were helped by second-quarter earnings ending in June that hit $48.4 billion — a figure higher than all of the first six months of 2021, when profits reached just $47 billion. It sets a new quarterly earnings record for Aramco since it first floated around 5% of the company on the Saudi stock market in late 2019.

Its earnings for just this past quarter are almost what Aramco’s full-year profits were in 2020, when demand for oil crashed during pandemic lockdowns. Its half-year earnings of $87.9 billion put Aramco on track to far surpass the full-year earnings of 2019, prior to the pandemic, when profits hit $88 billion.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/middle-east- ... b4c0ec5cd9
weatheriscool
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CVS, Walgreens and Walmart Must Pay $650.5 Million in Ohio Opioids Case
Source: New York Times

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered three of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains — CVS, Walgreens and Walmart — to pay $650.5 million to two Ohio counties, ruling that the companies must be held accountable for their part in fueling the opioid epidemic. The decision is a companion piece to a November jury verdict that found the companies had continued to dispense mass quantities of prescription painkillers over the years while ignoring flagrant signs that the pills were being abused.

The ruling is the first by a federal judge that assigns a firm money figure against the pharmacy chains for their roles in the opioid crisis. Here, the judge, Dan A. Polster of United States District Court in northern Ohio, who has overseen more than 3,000 cases in the opioid litigation, ruled that the pharmacies bore responsibility for one-third of the amount that the counties need to address the continuing damage wrought by the epidemic.

Drug manufacturers and drug distributors, two other groups in the pharmaceutical chain that have been sued, also bear responsibility, he said. Mark Lanier, the Texas lawyer who led the plaintiffs’ trial team, said of the pharmacy chains: “These companies are rending the fabric of society apart. They should not only show remorse, they should show they need to rectify what they’ve done. And they won’t do it. So the judge is doing it.”

Representatives for CVS and Walgreens expressed their disappointment in Judge Polster’s ruling. Fraser Engerman, a spokesman for Walgreens, described the judge’s analysis as flawed, and said the company would appeal. “We never manufactured or marketed opioids nor did we distribute them to the ‘pill mills’ and internet pharmacies that fueled this crisis,” he said. Michael DeAngelis, a CVS spokesman, also said the company would appeal, adding, “Pharmacists fill legal prescriptions written by D.E.A.-licensed doctors who prescribe legal, F.D.A.-approved substances to treat actual patients in need.” Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/heal ... reens.html
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caltrek
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I just came across an interesting graphic in LinkedIn. Unfortunately, no luck cut and pasting it too here. So, I found a Wikipedia page concerning the same topic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ ... articles

China has recently become the Number One producer of scientific publications at 744,042 in 2020. In part, this a function of their large population as their per capita production is estimated at 527 per million. Switzerland appears to have the highest per capita production at 5461 per million. Also strong in this category is Australia with 4109 scientific publications per million. The United Kingdom ranks third in total publications, but its per capita production is 2959. Healthy, but not as strong as many other countries that rank high on the list. Of course, I should be careful of my comments on that score, as the United States is down to 1875 publications per million, but still ranks second in absolute numbers due to overall population.

From the LinkedIn graphic, it is clear that the United States started out this century in a dominant position, but was overtaken with astonishing rapidity by China. I think I remember reading elsewhere complaints about the relatively inferior quality of China's efforts, so quality may also be a factor in effectiveness. Still, one would expect China's quality to improve over time.
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Patagonia’s billionaire owner gives away company to fight climate crisis
Thu 15 Sep 2022 00.52 BST

Setting a new example in environmental corporate leadership, the billionaire owner of Patagonia is giving the entire company away to fight the Earth’s climate devastation, he announced on Wednesday.

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who turned his passion for rock climbing into one of the world’s most successful sportswear brands, is giving the entire company to a uniquely structured trust and nonprofit, designed to pump all of the company’s profits into saving the planet.

“As of now, Earth is our only shareholder,” the company announced. “ALL profits, in perpetuity, will go to our mission to ‘save our home planet’.”

Chouinard, 83, worked with his wife and two children as well as teams of company lawyers to create a structure that will allow Patagonia to continue to operate as a for-profit company whose proceeds will go to benefit environmental efforts.

“If we have any hope of a thriving planet – much less a thriving business – 50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have,” said Chouinard in a statement. “This is another way we’ve found to do our part.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -chouinard
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To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
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California Has Legalized Human Composting

September 21, 2022

California has joined a growing number of states that allow residents to compost their bodies after death. A new law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday, directs California officials to develop regulations for the practice known as natural organic reduction by 2027.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-ne ... 180980809/
weatheriscool
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Two of the largest supermarkets in America are merging

Source: CNN Business

New York CNN Business -- Kroger announced Friday that it plans to buy Albertsons in a nearly $25 billion deal that could change the US retail industry and impact how millions of customers buy their groceries. The deal, which is expected to close in 2024, would combine two of the largest supermarket chains in the country and create one of its largest private employers. The two companies have a combined 710,000 workers - most of them unionized in an industry with low union rates - nearly 5,000 stores and more than $200 billion in sales.

The retail industry has consolidated in recent years, and merging would give the companies greater scale to fend off competition from Amazon (AMZN), Walmart (WMT) and other retail giants. The merger "accelerates our position as a more compelling alternative to larger and non-union competitors," Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said in a statement Friday. The move also comes as companies battle higher costs and food inflation reaches its highest level in decades. Prices at grocery stores continued to soar last month. The food at home index, a proxy for grocery store prices, increased 0.7% in September from the month prior and 13% over the last year.

"The combined company could be more productive and profitable than either of them individually," Joseph Feldman, a retail analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, said in a note to clients Friday. Expanding into new geographies, growing new businesses, and combining technology and supply chains could fuel growth, he said. Kroger (KR) will buy Albertsons for $34.10 a share -- a roughly 30% premium above the grocery chain's average share price over the course of the past month. Shares of Kroger (KR) slid 2% in pre-market trading, while Albertsons soared more than 11%.

The companies said they will spin off nearly 400 stores to form the new rival in an effort to gain antitrust clearance. But analysts say it will be a significant hurdle to pass antitrust muster. "A deal of this size that has a direct impact on consumers would face significant scrutiny from regulators and take a long time period to be approved," Feldman said. Consumer watchdogs, unions, and Democrats have already come out strongly against the deal.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/business ... index.html
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Microsoft to cut nearly 1,000 jobs: reports

By Mike Murphy
Microsoft Corp. is laying off nearly 1,000 workers across multiple divisions, according to news reports Monday. ... Axios and Business Insider reported the cuts late Monday. Sources told the news organizations that the number of layoffs was under 1,000, and span various regions and departments — including Xbox and Edge. Microsoft MSFT, +3.92% has about 221,000 employees worldwide, according to its website.

In an email to MarketWatch, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the accuracy of the reports, adding: “Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly. We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.”

Microsoft is apparently the latest major tech company to cut staff amid fears of a looming recession. Snapchat parent Snap SNAP, +6.01% recently announced plans to slash 20% of its staff; Intel Corp. INTC, +1.97% is reportedly set to lay off thousands of workers by the end of the month; and companies including Apple Inc. AAPL, +2.91%, Oracle Corp. ORCL, +4.21% and Beyond Meat Inc. BYND, +0.64% have also cut jobs, while Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. META, +5.74% reportedly announced a hiring freeze last month.

A recent report by KPMG found 51% of CEOs polled said they are considering workplace reductions in the next six months.

{snip}
Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/micro ... 1666062022
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caltrek
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Neoliberalism Is a Failure During Peacetime—and Wartime Too
by Joseph Stiglitz
October 18, 2022

Extract:
(Common Dreams) Wars inevitably cause shortages and generate windfall gains for some at the expense of others. Historically, war profiteers have typically been executed. But today, they include many energy producers and traders who, rather than being marched to the gallows, should be subjected to a windfall profits tax. The European Union has proposed such a measure, but it would come too late, and it is too weak and too narrow for the challenge at hand. Similarly, while several members of Congress have put forward bills to tax Big Oil’s superprofits, the Biden administration has so far failed to move on the issue.

That is understandable, given that US President Joe Biden has been busy enlisting support for signal achievements like the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act. Moreover, in seeking the private sector’s cooperation in limiting price increases, he has been at pains not to appear “anti-business.” But taxing windfall profits and using the proceeds to finance the necessary war spending and support for those hurt by high prices is not anti-business; it is responsible wartime governance, which is necessary to maintain popular support for the war effort. Such temporary taxes hurt neither investment nor employment, and there is nothing unjust about taxing exceptional gains that companies did nothing to deserve. (Besides, more generally, taxes on corporate profits are not distortionary, because costs, including capital, are deductible).

Even more comprehensive measures are needed in Europe, where today’s electricity market was not designed to deal with wartime conditions. Instead, it follows the principle of marginal-cost pricing. That means the electricity price reflects the highest-cost source of production needed to meet current demand. As gas prices have soared, marginal costs have risen far above average costs. The cost of renewable energy has, for instance, changed little.

As such, many sellers of low-cost electricity are making a killing, as are the traders who bought energy at the lower pre-war prices. While these market players reap billions of euros in profits, consumers’ electricity bills are soaring. Electricity prices in energy-rich Norway, with its enormous gas and oil reserves and hydro capacity, have increased nearly tenfold.
Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/views/202 ... rtime-too
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weatheriscool
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Insurance company Kemper lays off 339 workers, including 39 Alabama employees, citing inflation
Source: Advance Local

Insurance company Kemper Corporation confirmed Thursday it has laid off 339 employees, including 39 in Alabama, citing “the longer-term economic impacts of the pandemic—primarily significant prolonged inflation.”

“Like most insurance carriers, particularly those who write personal lines, the longer-term economic impacts of the pandemic—primarily significant prolonged inflation—have required us to make changes to our businesses which have led to a lower volume of policies in-force,” Chicago-based Kemper said in a statement to AL.com. “That reduced volume means we have to respond accordingly, including making some tough but necessary decisions to adjust our employee count.”

“Nationwide, we laid off just over 3 percent, or 339 employees, including 39 employees in Alabama,” the statement went on to say.
Read more: https://www.al.com/business/2022/10/ins ... ation.html
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