Business & Politics News and Discussions

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Exclusive-China to hold high-level meeting in response to US tariffs, say sources

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstor ... r-AA1CzPoZ

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US Treasury in talks with federal agencies to ease bank oversight, Bloomberg News says

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is hosting private meetings with federal and other bank agencies as a part of his expanded effort to streamline oversight and coordinate plans to ease regulation, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.

The Treasury Department will take the lead on creating recommendations on the policy agenda, the report added, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) declined to comment on the report, while the U.S. Treasury did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Bessent said last week his department will play a greater role in banking regulation to better balance costs and benefits and ensure that lenders can finance growth in the U.S. economy.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-treas ... 44812.html

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US FDA suspends food safety quality checks after staff cuts

Source: Reuters

The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for its food testing laboratories as a result of staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.

The proficiency testing program of the FDA's Food Emergency Response Network is designed to ensure consistency and accuracy across the agency's network of about 170 labs that test food for pathogens and contaminants to prevent food-borne illness.

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"Unfortunately, significant reductions in force, including a key quality assurance officer, an analytical chemist, and two microbiologists at FDA's Human Food Program Moffett Center have an immediate and significant impact on the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) Proficiency Testing (PT) Program," says the email sent on Tuesday from FERN's National Program Office and seen by Reuters.

The program will be suspended at least through September 30 and means the agency will be unable to do planned quality control work around lab testing for the parasite Cyclospora in spinach or the pesticide glyphosate in barley, among other tests, the email says.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-fda ... 025-04-17/

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Nearly 90% of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cut as Trump's government downsizing continues

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is drastically shrinking the workforce and mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, eviscerating an agency created after the Great Recession with the goal of protecting Americans from fraud, abuse and deceptive practices.

The plan, which is being challenged by an employee union, is the latest step in an extraordinary reshaping of the federal government. Conservatives and businesses have often chafed at the agency’s oversight and investigations, and Elon Musk made it a top target of his Department of Government Efficiency.

Roughly 1,500 employees are slated to be cut, leaving around 200 people, according to an administration official who wasn’t authorized to disclose the figure publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Fox Business first reported the number of layoffs.

Employees started receiving layoff notices on Thursday. Their access to agency systems, including email, ends on Friday evening.

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump ... 2893cd1a35

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60,000 Americans to lose rental assistance and risk eviction unless Congress acts

Source: ABC News/AP

April 21, 2025, 12:11 AM

Moments after Daniris Espinal walked into her new apartment in Brooklyn, she prayed. In ensuing nights, she would awaken and touch the walls for reassurance — finding in them a relief that turned to tears over her morning coffee. Those walls were possible through a federal program that pays rent for some 60,000 families and individuals fleeing homelessness or domestic violence. Espinal was fleeing both.

But the program, Emergency Housing Vouchers, is running out of money — and quickly. Funding is expected to be used up by the end of next year, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and obtained by The Associated Press. That would leave tens of thousands across the country scrambling to pay their rent.

It would be among the largest one-time losses of rental assistance in the U.S., analysts say, and the ensuing evictions could churn these people — after several years of rebuilding their lives — back onto the street or back into abusive relationships. "To have it stop would completely upend all the progress that they’ve made,” said Sonya Acosta, policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which researches housing assistance. “And then you multiply that by 59,000 households,” she said.

The program, launched in 2021 by then-President Joe Biden as part of the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act, was allocated $5 billion to help pull people out of homelessness, domestic violence and human trafficking.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireSto ... -121001575

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Four States Have Asked USDA to Let Them Ban Soda, Candy From Food Assistance Program

Source: US News and World Report/Reuters

April 24, 2025, at 4:41 p.m.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four Republican states have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to let them ban soda, energy drinks and other food items from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, according to an agency spokesperson.

President Donald Trump's administration has said it will hastily approve such waivers submitted by states as part of its agenda to "Make America Healthy Again," a slogan popularized by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and his supporters. More than 41 million Americans receive benefits from the SNAP program, the nation's largest food assistance program.

Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas and Indiana have submitted waivers to the agency, a spokesperson said on Thursday. The agency did not make copies of the waivers available. Arkansas wants to exclude soda, fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50% natural juice, "unhealthy drinks" and candy, according to a copy of the waiver on the website of Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Indiana hopes to exclude candy and soda, according to an April 15 press release from Governor Mike Braun. Nebraska would exclude soda and energy drinks, according to an April 7 letter sent to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins by Governor Jim Pillen. Reuters could not immediately verify the content of Iowa's waiver. Iowa lawmakers have been considering a bill that would limit SNAP purchases to whole foods like eggs, milk and vegetables.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/ar ... ce-program

[firestar464]

China exempts some goods from US tariffs to limit trade war pain

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstor ... r-AA1DBylf

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Lays, Tostitos to stop using artificial dyes this year to meet RFK Jr.'s phase-out

Source: USA Today

April 28, 2025, 10:44 p.m. ET

Popular snack brands like Lays and Tostitos will stop using artificial colors by the end of the year, a move to accommodate Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new phase-out of petroleum-based synthetic dyes.

At an April 24 earnings call, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said the transition is already underway and that more of the company's brands will follow suit, with more than 60 percent of its business already lacking artificial color as of this month.

Laguarta also said PepsiCo with (sic) lead an anticipated consumer demand for more natural ingredients as it has with sodium and sugar reduction, and better fats. "We obviously stand by the science and our products are very safe and there's nothing to worry about this," Laguarta told investors. "Ideally, we can do this in a very pragmatic, orchestrated way as an industry and not create unnecessary panic or chaos. But, we'll lead that transition."

In the next couple of years, PepsiCo's entire portfolio, which includes Doritos and Cheetos, will have migrated into natural colors or the company will at least provide the consumers with natural color options, he added. "And obviously every consumer will have the opportunity to choose what they prefer," he said. "That's the journey we're undergoing."

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/fo ... 335883007/

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Steelmaker Cleveland Cliffs to idle 3 steel plants in Pennsylvania and Illinois

Source: ABC News/AP

May 2, 2025, 6:37 PM

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs will indefinitely idle three steel plants this summer, saying Friday that it is being buffeted by sluggish demand and pricing for some products, including high carbon steel sheets.

The company said the idling of two Pennsylvania plants, one in Steelton and one in Conshohocken, and one in Riverdale, Illinois, is due to “insufficient demand and pricing” and nothing to do with President Donald Trump's tariffs.

“These temporary, indefinite idles are a necessary response to insufficient demand and pricing for the products the affected facilities produce, including rail, specialty plate, and high-carbon sheet; all of which fall outside of Cliffs’ core business focus,” the company said.

The idlings will be indefinite, and start around June 30, at the end of a 60-day notice period required by federal law. About 950 workers will be out of work during the shutdowns, Cleveland Cliffs said.It said its flat-rolled steel production levels will not be affected.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ste ... -121415395

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Trump Administration Considers Pulling CBS Broadcasting License

The Trump administration is once again escalating its attack on the free press, this time by threatening to revoke the broadcast license of CBS—an unprecedented move in modern American politics that marks a direct assault on the First Amendment.

Trump-appointed FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has announced he is considering pulling CBS’s license, citing penalties outlined in the Communications Act. This isn’t a theoretical statement or idle musing; it is a concrete signal that Trump allies in government are willing to weaponize federal regulatory powers to silence news organizations that criticize the president.

This move is not just anti-press—it is anti-democratic. The threat to CBS is not about regulatory compliance, community standards, or technical violations. It is a retaliation against reporting that Donald Trump doesn’t like. It’s an authoritarian tactic straight out of the strongman playbook: punish dissent, intimidate journalists, and consolidate control over the public narrative.

Donald Trump has a long, well-documented history of hostility toward the media. He has repeatedly labeled news outlets “the enemy of the people,” called for the revocation of licenses, and encouraged supporters to distrust and vilify journalists. Now, with this latest maneuver, his administration is moving beyond rhetoric and into action.

https://meidasnews.com/news/trump-admin ... ng-license

[caltrek]

Participants in this forum tend to be very secular in nature. We therefore have little in the way of religious news and discussion. Still, the selection of a new pope has significant political implications of an international nature. Hence this post.


Is the New Pope MAGA or Woke? Depends On Who You Ask.
by Julianne McShane
May 8, 2025

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) The Conclave has spoken, and President Donald Trump will not be the next pope. Instead, that designation will go to Robert Francis Prevost, who will be known as Pope Leo XIV, the Vatican announced on Thursday.

Leo, who is 69 years old and was born in Chicago, will be the first American pope following the April 21 death of Pope Francis—and everyone wants to claim it as a win for their side of the political aisle. To some on the right, Leo’s selection is a boon for Trump’s “America-first” administration. To other Republicans, he is not pro-Trump enough, based on a series of seemingly critical posts on his X account. The left, on the other hand, is eating those up.

Trump called Leo’s selection “a Great Honor for our Country” in a Truth Social post congratulating him. Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk claimed that voting records show Leo is a strong Republican who has consistently voted conservatively. Some of his prior comments appear to make him indistinguishable from the MAGA crowd: The New York Times previously reported that in 2012, Leo spoke out against what he called “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.” And as a bishop in Peru, he railed against what he called “the promotion of gender ideology” in schools, which he alleged “seeks to create genders that don’t exist.”

But Trump opponents quickly pointed to Leo’s X account as evidence that the new pope may be a member of the resistance. Leo’s most recent repost shared comments from Evelio Menjivar, an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, who criticized the Trump administration’s seemingly illegal deportations to El Salvador.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... you-ask/

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[firestar464]

Participants in this forum tend to be very secular in nature. We therefore have little in the way of religious news and discussion. Still, the selection of a new pope has significant political implications of an international nature. Hence this post.


Is the New Pope MAGA or Woke? Depends On Who You Ask.
by Julianne McShane
May 8, 2025

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) The Conclave has spoken, and President Donald Trump will not be the next pope. Instead, that designation will go to Robert Francis Prevost, who will be known as Pope Leo XIV, the Vatican announced on Thursday.

Leo, who is 69 years old and was born in Chicago, will be the first American pope following the April 21 death of Pope Francis—and everyone wants to claim it as a win for their side of the political aisle. To some on the right, Leo’s selection is a boon for Trump’s “America-first” administration. To other Republicans, he is not pro-Trump enough, based on a series of seemingly critical posts on his X account. The left, on the other hand, is eating those up.

Trump called Leo’s selection “a Great Honor for our Country” in a Truth Social post congratulating him. Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk claimed that voting records show Leo is a strong Republican who has consistently voted conservatively. Some of his prior comments appear to make him indistinguishable from the MAGA crowd: The New York Times previously reported that in 2012, Leo spoke out against what he called “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.” And as a bishop in Peru, he railed against what he called “the promotion of gender ideology” in schools, which he alleged “seeks to create genders that don’t exist.”

But Trump opponents quickly pointed to Leo’s X account as evidence that the new pope may be a member of the resistance. Leo’s most recent repost shared comments from Evelio Menjivar, an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, who criticized the Trump administration’s seemingly illegal deportations to El Salvador.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... you-ask/

I'll just say "complicit in the sexual abuse problem"

[zzz]

Participants in this forum tend to be very secular in nature. We therefore have little in the way of religious news and discussion. Still, the selection of a new pope has significant political implications of an international nature. Hence this post.


Is the New Pope MAGA or Woke? Depends On Who You Ask.
by Julianne McShane
May 8, 2025

Introduction:

Some of his prior comments appear to make him indistinguishable from the MAGA crowd: The New York Times previously reported that in 2012, Leo spoke out against what he called “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.” And as a bishop in Peru, he railed against what he called “the promotion of gender ideology” in schools, which he alleged “seeks to create genders that don’t exist.”

But Trump opponents quickly pointed to Leo’s X account as evidence that the new pope may be a member of the resistance. Leo’s most recent repost shared comments from Evelio Menjivar, an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, who criticized the Trump administration’s seemingly illegal deportations to El Salvador.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... you-ask/

And if he's just both conservative and pro-immigrant at the same time? It's not an 1=1 issue.

I'll just say "complicit in the sexual abuse problem"

At the end that's the thing that will matter the most to everyone imo.

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DOGE tool built to track GOP's wild 40% Social Security fraud claim finds next to nothing

Source: Raw Story

May 15, 2025 6:28PM ET

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is facing a new round of questioning after a failed fraud crackdown created even more chaos at the Social Security Administration — and found little to no fraud.

Already reeling from office closures, staff shortages and service cuts, the struggling agency is now reportedly being slowed down even further by an anti-fraud tool that barely caught any fraud while dramatically slowing down the system.

As senior correspondent Eric Katz reported Thursday for Government Executive: “DOGE said 40% of phone calls into Social Security centers were fraud, so it built a tool to track it. Turns out the 40% was actually 0.0018% and the tool slowed down processing significantly.”

According to internal documents obtained by journalist Natalie Alms surrounding the new anti-fraud checks on phone claims, “only 2 claims out of over 110,000 were found to likely be fraudulent,” she wrote on X.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/doge-social-se ... 672025972/

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Charter to buy Cox for $21.9 billion in mega cable deal

Source: Reuters

By Reuters
May 16, 20257:04 AM CDT Updated 2 hours ago

May 16 (Reuters) - Charter Communications (CHTR.O) said on Friday it would buy privately held rival Cox Communications for $21.9 billion, uniting two of the largest U.S. cable and broadband operators as they battle streaming giants and mobile carriers for customers.

American media companies are considering options for their once lucrative cable TV businesses that are now in decline as millions of consumers pivot to streamers such as Netflix.

The merger - one of the biggest deals of the year globally - will help Charter better bundle broadband and mobile services, as it tries to keep customers from switching to wireless providers such as T-Mobile that have their own internet plans.

Charter's strategy of combining internet, TV and mobile services into a single, customizable package helped it beat quarterly revenue estimates last month. Analysts say the strategy's appeal is obvious, but it needs scale as cable firms rely on leasing network access from major carriers to offer mobile plans.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 025-05-16/

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Rite Aid selling pharmacy operations to CVS, Walgreens and others

Source: Scripps News

Posted 11:23 AM, May 16, 2025

Rite Aid, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, is selling the pharmacy operations at more than 1,000 of its stores to major chains including CVS, Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger and Giant Eagle.

The company said its stores will remain open during the transition, and customers can continue to fill prescriptions and get immunizations without interruption. Pharmacy services will gradually shift to the new operators, while some locations — particularly in Washington, Oregon and Idaho — will be fully taken over and operated by CVS Pharmacy.

“A key priority for Rite Aid is to ensure that as many of our loyal customers as possible continue to receive the pharmacy services and care they require without interruption,” said Rite Aid CEO Matt Schroeder. “These agreements ensure our pharmacy customers will experience a smooth transition while preserving jobs for some of our valued team members.”

The sales are subject to approval by a U.S. bankruptcy court. The deals must also clear regulatory reviews and meet other standard closing conditions.

Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/business/co ... and-others

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2 of the world's largest credit card companies just merged

Source: Business Insider

May 18, 2025, 4:38 PM ET

Capital One Financial Corporation has completed its acquisition of Discover Financial Services.

Richard D. Fairbank, Capital One's founder and CEO, said the deal "brings together two innovative, mission-driven companies" in a press release on Sunday.

"Through the efforts of thousands of associates across Capital One and Discover, we are well-positioned to continue our quest to change banking for good for millions of customers," he said. The companies first announced the acquisition, an all-stock transaction valued at $35.5 billion, in February.

At that time, Fairbank said the acquisition was a "singular opportunity to bring together two very successful companies with complementary capabilities and franchises, and to build a payments network that can compete with the largest payments networks and payments companies."

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/capital ... ies-2025-5