A retired Marine in New Bern, North Carolina, is planning to use her recent lottery winnings to help people living in the area. Christi Davis said she wants to share some of her $500,000 prize money with her neighbors, the News & Observer reported Monday. “It’s been a hard year for everyone,” she said. “We want to pay it forward to some people and some organizations around town.” Many North Carolinians have experienced financial strain since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, so Davis was overwhelmed when she won the recent Powerball game. “Her good luck started last Saturday night about 8 p.m. when she realized she did not have a ticket for that night’s Powerball drawing. She took out her smartphone and used her NC Lottery Official Mobile App to get a $3 Power Play ticket,” the NC Education Lottery said Saturday. Davis’s Quick Pick ticket matched four white balls and the Powerball and won her $50,000. However, because she also bought a Power Play ticket, the … [Read more...] about Retired Marine Plans to Share Lottery Prize with Community: ‘We Want to Pay It Forward’
Does buying multiple lottery tickets increase your odds
New or used? Either way, price hikes squeeze U.S. auto buyers.
FENTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The viral pandemic has triggered a cascade of price hikes throughout America’s auto industry — a surge that has made both new and used vehicles unaffordable for many. Prices of new vehicles far outpaced overall consumer inflation over the past year. In response, many buyers who were priced out of that market turned to used vehicles. Yet their demand proved so potent that used-vehicle prices soared even more than new ones did. The price of an average new vehicle jumped 6% between January of last year, before the coronavirus erupted in the United States, and December to a record $40,578, according to data from Edmunds.com. Yet that increase was nothing next to what happened in the used market. The average price of a used vehicle surged nearly 14% — roughly 10 times the rate of inflation — to over $23,000. It was among the fastest such increases in decades, said Ivan Drury, a senior manager of insights for Edmunds.com. The main reason for the exploding … [Read more...] about New or used? Either way, price hikes squeeze U.S. auto buyers.
The IMF should not support the Biden stimulus
In cheerleading President Biden’s massive budget stimulus proposal , the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is doing a disservice not only to the United States but also to the rest of its 190 member countries. That’s because the Biden stimulus is likely to result in a disruptive emerging market capital flow reversal and a considerable worsening in international payment imbalances. In contrast to naysayers such as former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers , the IMF is giving its full backing to Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion budget stimulus package. Kristalina Georgieva , the IMF’s managing director, is urging the U.S. to use its fiscal space to go big. Meanwhile, Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s chief economist, is assuring us that it is highly unlikely that the Biden stimulus will cause U.S. inflation to rise beyond the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent inflation target. It does not seem to faze the IMF that, coming on top of December’s $900 billion budget stimulus, the $1.9 trillion … [Read more...] about The IMF should not support the Biden stimulus
Agreement between Denver and Aurora allows departments to investigate their own police killings
Aurora police followed departmental protocol after Elijah McClain died in their custody in August 2019. The chief promised transparency and called in the team of Denver and Aurora detectives normally used to investigate police shootings. The detectives conducted an investigation and turned it over to the district attorney. “There were more than just the Aurora Police Department’s eyes on this investigation,” Aurora police Chief Vanessa Wilson said last week. Yet the initial criminal investigation led by Aurora police detectives into how police officers treated McClain was deeply flawed and “stretched the record to exonerate the officers,” an external review of the case found . The report’s findings, released last week, have prompted questions about whether the system used by Colorado law enforcement to investigate police shootings and other killings by officers effectively prevents bias and corruption. Unlike many other agencies on the Front Range, Denver and Aurora police … [Read more...] about Agreement between Denver and Aurora allows departments to investigate their own police killings
Democrats Reportedly Abandon ‘Plan B’ Minimum Wage Plan That Would’ve Punished Corporations, Rewarded Small Businesses
Democrats have quietly abandoned a plan that would’ve punished corporations that don’t raise their minimum wage to $15 while rewarding small businesses that raise wages, The Washington Post reported. Democrats dropped trying to include the proposal in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package after failing to overcome several “practical and political challenges,” two people familiar with internal discussions told The Washington Post . Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled Thursday that a provision to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour couldn’t be included in the bill. “The American people elected Democrats to get things done, and they aren’t going to accept ‘process’ as an excuse for failing to deliver on an overwhelmingly popular policy,” Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said Friday. Wyden, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said the plan would consist of a 5% tax penalty on total payroll if a corporation does not raise its minimum wage … [Read more...] about Democrats Reportedly Abandon ‘Plan B’ Minimum Wage Plan That Would’ve Punished Corporations, Rewarded Small Businesses