Wednesday, April 10, 2024

A car of many colors

Also: A win for minimum-wagers ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌  ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ 

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The Daily Money

ALL THE MONEY NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Wed Apr 10 2024

 

Daniel de Visé Personal Finance Reporter

Good morning! It's Daniel de Visé with your Daily Money.

Don't like the color of your Toyota? Soon, you may be able to change it.

The automaker is following in the footsteps of Tesla and BMW and hoping to allow its customers to easily alter the color of their cars.

When the patent is available to the public, drivers can request the treatment either when they buy a new car or if they already have a car that they want to give a different look, the company said.

Wages rising faster for low-paid workers, at last

Wage inequality is a major theme of the modern era, at least for a certain breed of economist. Over the past 40-plus years, wages have risen much faster for high-salaried workers than for those earning the minimum.

Over the pandemic years of 2019 to 2023, however, everything changed. Hourly pay rose by 12.1% during that period for low-wage Americans, from $12.06 to $13.52, a new report says. In the same span, hourly wages grew by 0.9% for the highest earners, from $57.30 to $57.84.

📰 More stories you shouldn't miss 📰

The latest student-loan forgiveness plan, explained
Inflation accelerated in March
Jamie Dimon shareholder letter argues for tough China stance
Trump off billionaire index after stock plummets
Best CD rates for April

📰 A great read 📰

Finally, here's a popular story from earlier this year that you may have missed. Read it! Share it!

The House voted overwhelmingly last month to approve a measure that would ban TikTok from operating in the United States or force a sale, posing the most serious threat yet to the popular short-form video platform. The measure now sits in the Senate.

At issue is TikTok's Chinese ownership. U.S. officials say parent company ByteDance could hand over the personal information of the 170 million Americans who use the popular short-video app to Beijing. The bill's opponents have raised free speech concerns.

About The Daily Money

Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer news from USA TODAY. We break down financial news and provide the TLDR version: how decisions by the Federal Reserve, government and companies impact you.

Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA Today.

Front grill of a Toyota with logo.

Ditching vinyl wraps and painting jobs, the motor company plans to use the technology that can change colors when in heat or exposed to light.

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California fast food workers just got a big raise
 

Wage inequality? Pay is actually rising faster for lowest-paid workers

Wages rose much faster for America's lowest-paid workers than for their better-paid colleagues between 2019 and 2023, a striking reversal.

The hopes that inflation might soon moderate were dashed when the consumer price index for April rose 8.3% compared to last year. The producer price index for   April confirmed   this further. It rose 11% compared to the same month last year. The PPI measures input costs, or wholesale prices, from the point of view of producers.    The prices of a very few items in the CPI have actually fallen over the past several months. At the top   of this list - the price of food service at schools is plunging (down 43% in April compared with last year), as did the price of food service at businesses (down 30%). In each case, the fact that so many Americans work or attend school from home is likely the cause.    The American consumer is caught in a vice. To a large extent, inflation has been caused by upward pressure on oil prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The war also affects wheat supplies. COVID-19 infections, which have raced through China's two largest cities and shuttered factories, have exacerbated global supply chain problems. (   These are the metros where families pay the least for food   .)    The Federal   Reserve has been called upon, for decades, to help steer the economy between inflation and recession. The Fed does so by setting interest rates and buying bonds. Recently, it has been credited with helping drag the U.S. out of The Great Recession and the COVID-19-driven economic downturn. To accomplish these things, the Fed has kept interest rates near historic lows. This, in turn, has helped consumers with major purchases like homes.     The need for Fed action has changed course, almost overnight, however. Rampant inflation has forced the Fed to raise rates, and it may further raise rates by as much as half a percentage four or five times this year. There is even talk about the   possibility of a 0.75 point bump. And if rates are raised too aggressively, the economy could fall into a recession. (   This is the city with the cheapest groceries in every state   .)    To determine the consumer activity that is plunging in price, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on the consumer price index for all urban consumers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
 

Inflation picked up again in March. Here's what it means for you.

Annual inflation rose again in March to 3.5% as rent kept drifting higher. Core prices, which exclude food and energy, stayed high

President Joe Biden speaks Monday, April 8, 2024 at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin.
 

Explainer for borrowers as Biden announces final student relief plan

This is what borrowers need to know as President Joe Biden goes around the U.S. touting his final student loan forgiveness plan.

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 06: Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, testifies during a Senate Banking Committee hearing at the Hart Senate Office Building on December 06, 2023 in Washington, DC. The committee heard testimony from the largest financial institutions during an oversight hearing on Wall Street firms. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
 

Jamie Dimon shareholder letter argues for 'tough' stance against China

JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon issued his annual letter to shareholders Monday. It covered China, AI, fossil fuels, and inflation.

This photo illustration shows an image of former President Donald Trump reflected in a phone screen that is displaying the Truth Social app.
 

Trump no longer on Bloomberg Billionaires Index after Trump Media dip

Donald Trump is no longer on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world's 500 richest people, after Trump Media's stock dipped.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner are under production in December 2022 at the Boeing manufacturing facility in North Charleston, South Carolina. Former employee John Barnett had spoken out about safety concerns with the company's aircraft production before he was found dead of an apparent suicide over the weekend.
 

New whistleblower complaint prompts FAA investigation into Boeing 787s

A new complaint about Boeing alleges the planemaker isn't upholding quality on its 787 production line.

People view the eclipse on the campus of Southern Illinois University on April 08 in Carbondale, Illinois.
 

Which towns and cities had the most eclipse chasers on Monday

Millions of Americans traveled around the country to see Monday's eclipse. Maps and charts show towns that drew the most visitors.

Inflation, as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index Summary, jumped 9.1% in June compared to June of 2021. The number was higher than in any month since November 2008, with the price of fuel oil soaring. The news was staggeringly bad for an American economy that is likely on its way into recession because people's purchasing power has been sharply eroded. (Inflation is an even greater hardship for people   who are already struggling financially. This is    the city where the most people rely on food stamps in every state   .)   The debate among policy makers and economists about how to best tame inflation quickly has not yielded a solution. The Federal Reserve continues to raise rates, one of the few weapons it has in its central bank arsenal.     Some economists believe the Fed has been too slow. If it had begun raising rates earlier, as far back as last year, inflation may not have surged as much. Others think that if the Fed raised rates in 2021, it would have undermined economic expansion and pushed unemployment higher. Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics,   commented about the inflation to new outlets, saying: "This report will make for very uncomfortable reading at the Fed."    Among the most pessimistic experts who have formulated a suggested path out of rising inflation is Larry Summers, former U.S. treasury secretary and former president of Harvard. He is also considered among the most gifted economists of his generation. Summers recently told an audience at the London School of Economics: "We need five years of unemployment above 5% to contain inflation -- in other words, we need two years of 7.5% unemployment or five years of 6% unemployment or one year of 10% unemployment." Unemployment has not been over 7% since   some of the worst days of the Great Recession.     Inflation's effects have been uneven. While the year-over-year figure for all goods and services measured by the BLS in June was 9.1%, some items were up more than 20%. To determine the household items that are soaring in price, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the BLS' Consumer Price Index Summary June report. Prices are compared to June 2021.    Gasoline prices lead the way with at least a 52% increase, depending on the type. Fuel oil prices nearly doubled. Some staple items on the American dinner table also rose. Butter prices rose 21%, and egg prices were 33% higher. Each of the 40 items on this list has jumped in price by 14% or more, with   items ranging from baby food to milk and cookies to car body work. (Also see, this is    the price of bacon and eggs the year you were born   .)    The new CPI report makes one thing very clear. Inflation is so high across so many goods and services that Americans buy that there is no reason to believe the pace of the increase will come down soon.
 

Where is inflation still high? See the list of states

U.S. inflation has eased notably but some states are well above the average while others are below. See the states with highest and lowest price gains

two male and female doctors chat in an office at the hospital to a female administrator . She is asking questions and taking notes .
 

What does salaried, nonexempt really mean?

Despite being paid a salary, as a salaried, nonexempt employee, your employer is still obligated to track and record your work hours.

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