Author: Fortune
Donald Trump said he would hit cars made in Mexico by Chinese companies with a 100% tariff, double the levy he has previously said he would put on automobiles made south of the US border. Trump addressed Chinese President Xi Jinping directly during a rally speech in Dayton, Ohio on Saturday when threatening the tariffs. “Those big monster car manufacturing plants you are building in Mexico right now and you think you are going to get that — not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the car to us, no,” Trump said. “We are going to put a 100% tariff on every…
Tesla has had a rough 2024, with its shares down 34% year to date. But the electric-vehicle space in general is having a difficult time, and, relatively speaking, Elon Musk’s carmaker is sitting pretty, believes one industry observer. CFRA automotive analyst Garrett Nelson, speaking to Fox Business this week, noted that Tesla rival Fisker recently hired restructuring advisors amid talk of a possible bankruptcy. And major automakers, he added, are turning their focus more to hybrids—which give owners greater fuel efficiency without the range anxiety—as EV sales growth slows down. “That really opens up a lane for Tesla to grow…
For two decades, no company better embodied the promise of the stock market than Apple Inc. Its transformation from niche computer maker to the most valuable corporation on the planet made its shares a cornerstone of investment portfolios worldwide. But in what seems like a blink of an eye, Apple’s sheen is starting to fade. Artificial intelligence is the story in technology now, driving the growth that the company used to count on from selling its gadgets and services to eager consumers across the globe. This has Apple in a quandary. Its revenue expansion is stagnating, and the stock is…
The 40-hour workweek has been standard in the U.S. for more than eight decades. Now some members of Congress want to give hourly workers an extra day off. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the far-left independent from Vermont, this week introduced a bill that would shorten to 32 hours the amount of time many Americans can work each week before they’re owed overtime. Given advances in automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, Sanders says U.S. companies can afford to give employees more time off without cutting their pay and benefits. Critics say a mandated shorter week would force many companies to hire additional…
It seems like a bizarre mishmash: A former Trump cabinet official is saying he wants to buy TikTok just days after leading a group that pumped $1 billion into a beaten-down bank. But it all actually fits in with the complicated career of Steven Mnuchin. The man who served as former President Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary is well connected in the world of finance, after all. From 1985 to 2002, he worked at Goldman Sachs, one of the most storied — and criticized — investment banks on Wall Street. Mnuchin also has a history in media and entertainment. Among his Hollywood credits are…
California Assemblyman Anthony Rendon likes to spend his spare time away from the Capitol in Sacramento with his 4-year-old daughter back home near Los Angeles. Last weekend, he took her ice skating and to an indoor playground, then let her get a donut after she agreed to ride her scooter on the way there. “Those are the types of things that make me happy,” he said this week in an interview outside the state Assembly chambers, where he’s served as a lawmaker for a dozen years. Now Rendon, a Democrat who was one of the longest-serving Assembly speakers in California history, is…
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now we know better. Hertz, reeling from a bankruptcy and the pandemic, announced plans to buy 100,000 Teslas in late 2021. The splashy move certainly helped Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle maker, which saw its market cap surge past $1 trillion for the first time. Hertz enjoyed a bump in its market value as well, and the car-rental giant hired NFL star Tom Brady to show off its new fleet of Teslas. “How do we democratize access to electric vehicles? That’s a very important part of our strategy,” interim CEO Mark Fields said…
As rural hospitals continue to struggle financially, a new type of hospital is slowly taking root, especially in the Southeast. Rural emergency hospitals receive more than $3 million in federal funding a year and higher Medicare reimbursements in exchange for closing all inpatient beds and providing 24/7 emergency care. While that makes it easier for a hospital to keep its doors open, experts say it doesn’t solve all of the challenges facing rural health care. People might have to travel further for treatments for illnesses that require inpatient stays, like pneumonia or COVID-19. In some of the communities where hospitals have converted to the…
Alex Pearlman shut the door on dreams of a standup comedy career almost a decade ago, pivoting from the stage to an office cubicle where he worked a customer service job. Then he started posting random jokes and commentary about pop culture and politics on TikTok. Just over 2.5 million followers later, he quit his nine-to-five and recently booked his first nationwide tour. Pearlman is among the many TikTok creators across the U.S. outraged over a bipartisan bill passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app if its China-based owner,…
As soon as women get their heads up from the waters of childcare duties, they’re often hit by another wave: eldercare. Dealing with dueling unpaid familial responsibilities, many women are forced to take more career breaks, miss work, move to part-time, or even leave the workforce altogether. That care crunch has damaging effects beyond women’s careers—in fact, it often destabilizes women’s financial security and retirement prospects, according to a new report from Wells Fargo. There’s no doubt that women feel the effects of the childcare crisis more keenly than men. They often have to take time away from the workforce…