By Noah Rothstein In an attempt to get around supply chain bottlenecks caused by the pandemic, Hasbro has expanded its shipping operations and advanced its sourcing of products to ensure product availability for the holiday season. With the vaccine rollout and the easing of restrictions, people have been itching to get out and [...]
By Noah Rothstein Federal regulators are eyeing certain actions to give consumers the freedom to repair their own electronic devices. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) believes certain restrictions that force consumers into manufacturers' and sellers' repair networks, leading them to replace products before the end of their usefulness, is a potentially anti-competitive practice. [...]
By Noah Rothstein With many homeowners struggling to meet their monthly payments, the White House said that those with certain government-backed mortgages could have their monthly principal and interest payments reduced by 25% in an effort to keep people housed. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government allowed millions of Americans to defer [...]
By Noah Rothstein Inflationary fears have led social security recipients to worry about the cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to their monthly checks, and this year might see one of the most significant increases yet. According to a new estimate, the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2022 could be 6.1% due to inflation. That would [...]
By Noah Rothstein Crude oil futures rebounded on July 20 as market participants vied to take advantage of the two-month low oil hit in the previous session. Monday's selloff, spurred by demand destruction fears amid rising COVID-19 cases, pushed oil about 7% lower and hit other riskier assets. While equities avoided a new selloff on [...]
By Noah Rothstein Many technologies and products created in response to pandemic needs have now finished production and proven their efficacy. As the world slowly reopens, many of these products have proven helpful in tempering consumer anxiety and bolstering safety for businesses. At restaurants, many tables are separated by plexiglass or plastic, especially in tight [...]
By Noah Rothstein On July 15, most eligible families in the U.S. got their first monthly payments of the expanded child tax credit. The payments, a part of the American Rescue Plan, change an existing tax credit by expanding the eligibility pool and increasing the money families receive. Under the expanded credit, the IRS offers the [...]
By Noah Rothstein Deutsche Bank, which warned this week that inflation is about to explode, and Bank of America are now openly claiming that the Fed is wrong about its inflation projections. The banks said the U.S. is facing an unprecedented period of far higher, non-transitory inflation, with Deutsche Bank going so far as to [...]
By Noah Rothstein On July 14, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said it had sued Amazon to force the retailer to recall hundreds of thousands of hazardous products that the e-commerce giant distributed on its platform. By a 3-1 vote, the CPSC voted to file an administrative complaint saying the Seattle-based e-commerce giant was legally [...]
By Noah Rothstein Inflation heated up in June, driven by continued strong consumer demand and lingering supply constraints. Overall consumer prices rose 5.4% in June from the previous year, the highest 12-month rate since August 2008, the Labor Department said. There are four main trends underlying the June inflation report. First are the items where prices fell sharply at the [...]
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