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Staff Reporter

Hague: Will real estate commissions get cut in half?

May 15, 2022 by Staff Reporter

By Greg Hague
CEO/72SOLD

If you’ve sold a home in the past you know that sellers typically pay a 5%-6% real estate commission, with about half (2.5%-3%) paid to the agent who represents the buyer. This “sellers pay the buyer’s agent” commission structure goes back as far as I can remember, even before my dad (Chubby) built his Cincinnati real estate firm in the 1940s. 

Is it fair that home sellers have to “foot the bill” so buyers can have an agent help them? Is it fair that home sellers have to pay the agent whose job is to protect the buyer? This “sellers foot the bill” structure has never been seriously questioned… until recently. 

It happened with the filing of two lawsuits. Both challenge the fairness of sellers having to pay buyer agents, arguing that this effectively doubles commission rates from 2.5%-3% to 5%-6%, costing home sellers billions of dollars in exorbitant and unfair sales cost. 

One of the lawsuits was filed by Josh Sitzer and Amy Winger (the “Sitzer” lawsuit). The defendants are the National Association of Realtors, several of the largest national real estate firms, and many large multiple listing services (MLSs). Sitzer alleged that the commission sharing practice between listing agents and buyer agents, as facilitated by existing MLS rules, violates the Sherman Antitrust Act by inflating (effectively doubling) real estate commissions paid by home sellers. 

This lawsuit alleges that listing agents commonly tell sellers that if they fail to include the “expected” buyer agent commission in the total commission, the number of showings will be diminished and the sale price will likely be lower.

A couple weeks ago Judge Stephen R. Bough granted the Sitzer lawsuit class certification, saying, “The Court agrees with Plaintiffs that a class action is the superior method for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy.”

That decision sent shock waves through my industry. Hundreds of thousands of home sellers are demanding reimburse-ment for billions of dollars in commis-sions they paid to buyer agents. They are also demanding that the MLSs no longer be allowed to require an offer of compen-sation to buyer agents. It’s interesting that MLSs don’t dictate how much listing agents must offer buyer agents. The rules only require that there be some offer of compensation, even if it’s $0. 

The problem, according to Sitzer, is that there is an unwritten expectation that listing agents need to offer the “standard and expected” buyer agent commission or those agents won’t show the property… and that this is what sellers are told by listing agents to justify the 5%-6% commission. 

Another lawsuit virtually identical to Sitzer was filed by Minnesota home seller Christopher Moehrl (the “Moehrl” lawsuit). After Moehrl filed his lawsuit, prominent real estate news outlet, Inman News, posted the headline: The bombshell lawsuit that could undo the US real estate industry. 

The article said, “A home seller has filed a class action lawsuit challenging a principal tenet of how the real estate industry works in the U.S. as well as one of the main reasons behind the existence of the multiple listing services: the sharing of commissions between listing agents and buyer’s agents.”

It went on to say that this commission sharing practice is looked at as standard, expected, not practically subject to negotiation by consumers, and therefore violates the Sherman Antitrust Act “by requiring listing agents to make a ‘blanket, non-negotiable offer of buyer agent compensation’ when listing a property on the MLS, referred to as the ‘Buyer Agent Commission Rule.’”

Both the Sitzer and Moehrl lawsuits allege the same thing…that the Buyer Agent Commission Rule unfairly inflates costs for sellers because it requires them to pay a substantially higher commission than they would if buyers paid their own agents directly. 

After the Moehrl lawsuit was filed CNN ran an article with the headline: The Internet didn’t shrink 6% real estate commissions. But this lawsuit might. 

The CNN article continued, “It’s sending shivers through brokerage offices, which have a lot invested in the status quo. Without it the United States could end up looking more like Australia and the United Kingdom where buyer agents are rare.” In many countries, real estate commissions range from 2%-3%, with buyers using online home search portals to find properties and then connect directly with the sellers’ listing agent to effect the purchase.

One of the allegations in both lawsuits is that forcing sellers to pay buyer agents is equivalent to them “paying the competition” because buyer agents are working in the best interest of the buyer and not the seller.

The lawsuits don’t suggest that buyer agents are not deserving of compensation. In my view buyer agents often work harder than listing agents, especially in this “hard to find homes” market. But whether buyer agents deserve to be paid isn’t the point. The question is whether it’s fair that an existing structure reinforced by long standing tradition effectively forces sellers to pay buyer agents. 

There are two big questions circulating in my industry. If sellers no longer pay buyer agents, will buyers write a check for 2%-3% of their purchase price to have representation? Or in the alternative, will buyers decide to save the money and buy directly from the listing agent? 

Most in my industry believe buyers won’t write the check to have separate buyer agent representation, and therefore buyer agents may cease to exist. That’s the way it is in many countries including Australia and the United Kingdom where sellers typically don’t pay buyer agents and the total real estate commission is 2%-3% instead of 5%-6%. 

If future home sellers pay 2%-3% instead of 5%-6%, then the total amount of commissions received by the 1.5 million Realtors in this country will be cut in half. This will cause a massive shakeout of real estate agents and real estate firms. 

The potential for massive disruption and restructuring of the real estate business, one of the largest industries in America, comes down to one simple question: 

Will buyers foot the bill?

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Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: REAL ESTATE

Carlyle Group Is in Advanced Talks to Buy US Government Contractor ManTech International 

May 15, 2022 by Staff Reporter

(Bloomberg) — Private equity firm Carlyle Group Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire ManTech International Corp., a government contractor that also does IT services, according to people familiar with the matter.

A deal could be announced as soon as this week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The transaction values ManTech at about $4 billion, the people said. 

An agreement isn’t finalized and talks could still fall apart. 

Representatives for ManTech and Carlyle couldn’t be reached for comment.

ManTech shares closed on Friday at $81.97 apiece, giving the company a market value of $3.35 billion. 

ManTech, based in Fairfax, Virginia, provides IT services including analytics and cybersecurity, primarily to US defense and intelligence agencies. 

George Pedersen, who co-founded ManTech in 1968, served as its chief executive officer until 2018 and as chairman until 2020. He retained his chairman emeritus title before retiring from the board in February. He still owns a big chunk of the company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Kevin Phillips succeeded Pedersen as CEO and Chairman.

Carlyle has been an active investor in government services companies, according to its website. It sold one of its portfolio companies in the space, Novetta, last year to Accenture Federal Services, according to a press release. 

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: BUSINESS

Science News | Study Suggests Some Strategies to Cut Methane Emissions Might Not Be Effective

May 15, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Nairobi [Kenya], May 15 (ANI): Environmental methane emissions are fuelled by the natural burps and belches from livestock ruminants like cows, buffaloes and other animals.

Methane has been found to be the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, exposure to which causes 1 million premature deaths every year. Over a 20-year period, methane gas has been predicted to be 80 times more potent at greenhouse warming than carbon dioxide.

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Researchers have now found that the adoption of 100 per cent of the most effective strategies for reducing methane emissions from cows and other ruminants can meet methane reduction targets by the year 2030 to help keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but the same strategies are insufficient to reach methane reduction goals for 2050 due to projected increased demand in livestock products.

Claudia Arndt from the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya’s Nairobi, along with her colleagues analyzed the effects of published strategies for mitigating methane emissions from ruminant livestock systems.

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The authors found that three feed management practices could reduce methane emissions per unit of meat or milk on average by 12 per cent while increasing animal productivity.

In addition, the authors found that five mitigation strategies could reduce methane emissions per unit of meat or milk as well as absolute methane emissions on average by 21 per cent.

According to the study published in PNAS, disparities among high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries mean that high-income regions may be able to meet their methane reduction goals through the adoption of effective mitigation strategies, whereas middle-income to low-income regions may not be able to do so.

Global food systems contribute up to 30 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is unlikely to be achieved if food systems continue to operate under a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario.

Among food-related GHG emissions, methane (CH4) from livestock contributes 30 per cent of the global anthropogenic CH4 emissions, 17 per cent of the global food system GHG emissions, and 5 per cent of global GHG emissions. Of the global livestock CH4 emissions, 88 per cent are contributed by enteric fermentation.

Methane or CH4 is a short-lived climate pollutant. Given its perturbation lifetime in the atmosphere of around 12.5 years, it contributes significantly to near-term global warming.

Its global warming potential is 84 or 28 for 20- or 100-year time horizons, respectively.

When evaluating the contribution of global food systems to CH4 emissions over a 20-year period instead of the commonly used 100-year time period for national GHG inventories, the contribution of CH4 to food system GHG emissions more than doubles, from 17 to 36 per cent.

Achieving nationally determined contributions and climate-neutral targets in 2050 depends on reducing methane emissions.

In the context of sectoral reduction of methane emissions, technical solutions to reduce methane from agricultural production, especially strategies to reduce methane from enteric fermentation by ruminant livestock are an important part of achieving these climate goals.

However, there is little quantitative data on the potential for reduction. Based on 2010 GHG emission levels and different mitigation scenarios to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, agricultural CH4 emissions need to be decreased by 11 to 30 per cent by 2030 and by 24 to 47 per cent by 2050.

The global population is projected to increase by 23 per cent between 2010 and 2030, with most of the increase occurring in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).

Ruminants contribute about half of the animal protein produced by livestock. In LMIC, ruminants play an important role in food security. Ruminants can convert foods that are inedible to humans, such as pasture foods and cereal by-products produced on marginal lands or from subsistence agricultural production systems, into nutritionally dense human-edible foods.

Ruminants also provide other benefits, such as traction and manure for fuel and fertilizer. In addition, human population growth is generally high in LMIC, while consumption of animal source foods is often below dietary recommendations or reliant on ruminant meat and milk for livelihood and nutrition security.

Thus, from a feed-food competition perspective, ruminant production increases in LMIC should rely on human inedible feeds (i.e., forage and by-products). In contrast, in high-income countries (HIC) population growth is much lower and the consumption of animal protein is often above recommended dietary levels. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)

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Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: TECH/SCIENCE

Continued Support Called For Hong Kong Stock Market

May 15, 2022 by Staff Reporter

The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the four-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 1,470 points or 7.1 percent. The Hang Seng now rests just beneath the 19,900-point plateau and it’s expected to open higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with bargain hunting expected – especially among the oil and technology stocks. The European and U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Friday with gains across the board – especially the technology stocks, financials and properties.

For the day, the index surged 518.47 points or 2.68 percent to finish at 19,898.77 after trading between 19,608.26 and 19,925.44.

Among the actives, AAC Technologies gained 1.12 percent, while Alibaba Group strengthened 2.75 percent, Alibaba Health Info skyrocketed 10.75 percent, ANTA Sports was up 0.45 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.54 percent, China Mengniu Dairy gathered 2.22 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and CSPC Pharmaceutical both rose 1.4 percent, China Resources Land accelerated 5.46 percent, CITIC rallied 1.37 percent, CNOOC and Li Ning both increased 1.33 percent, Country Garden surged 10.41 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 2.09 percent, Hang Lung Properties added 1.13 percent, Henderson Land was up 0.48 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas perked 1.80 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 2.24 percent, JD.com jumped 3.96 percent, Lenovo gained 0.13 percent, Meituan soared 6.75 percent, New World Development climbed 2.69 percent, Techtronic Industries rallied 5.26 percent, Xiaomi Corporation spiked 6.56 percent and WuXi Biologics improved 1.57 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened Friday solidly higher and picked up steam as the day progressed, ending solidly in the green.

The Dow jumped 466.36 points or 1.47 percent to finish at 32,196.66, while the NASDAQ spiked 434.00 points or 3.82 percent to end at 11,805.00 and the S&P 500 advanced 93.81 points or 2.39 percent to close at 4,023.89. For the week, the NASDAQ plunged 2.8 percent, the S&P sank 2.4 percent and the Dow dropped 2.1 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came as traders went bargain hunting following the sharp decline shown by the markets over the past month.

While recent bargain hunting efforts have largely been thwarted by worries about the Federal Reserve aggressively raising interest rates in an effort to combat elevated inflation, traders seemed to shrug off those concerns.

In economic news, the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment deteriorated more than expected in May. Also, the Labor Department said import prices were unchanged in of April.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday, lifting the most active crude futures contracts on fears of supply shortage. West Texas International Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $4.36 or 4.1 percent at $110.49 a barrel.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis

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Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: BUSINESS, MONEY

Buffalo shooter had mental health evaluation after threatening school last June

May 15, 2022 by Staff Reporter

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white 18-year-old who shot and killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket had researched the local demographics while looking for places with a high concentration of Black residents, arriving there at least a day in advance to conduct reconnaissance, law enforcement officials said Sunday.

Authorities said the gunman shot, in total, 11 Black people and two white people Saturday in a rampage motivated by racial hatred that he broadcast live.

Buffalo mass shooter’s alleged manifesto leaves no doubt attack was white supremacist terrorism

“This individual came here with the express purpose of taking as many Black lives as he could,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said at a news conference Sunday.

The shooter, identified as Payton Gendron, had previously threatened a shooting at his high school last June, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said the then-17-year-old was brought in for a mental health evaluation afterward.

Meanwhile, federal authorities were still working to confirm the authenticity of a racist 180-page manifesto that detailed the plot and identified Gendron by name as the gunman, the law enforcement official told the AP. But the shooting — the latest act of mass violence in a country unsettled by racial tensions, gun violence and a recent spate of hate crimes — left local residents shattered.

32-year-old Roberta Drury killed in Tops Markets mass shooting

A preliminary investigation found Gendron had repeatedly visited sites espousing white supremacist ideologies and race-based conspiracy theories and extensively researched the 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the man who killed dozens at a summer camp in Norway in 2011, the law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AP.

The manifesto posted online and purportedly written by Gendron, outlined a racist ideology rooted in a belief that the United States should belong only to white people. All others, the document said, were “replacers” who should be eliminated by force or terror. The attack was intended to intimidate all non-white, non-Christian people and get them to leave the country, it said.

Gendron had appeared on the radar of police last year after he threatened to carry out a shooting at Susquehanna High School around the time of graduation, the official said. New York State Police said troopers were called to the Conklin school on June 8, 2021, for a report that a 17-year-old student had made threatening statements.

The law enforcement official was not authorized to speak publicly on the investigation and did so on the condition of anonymity.

Gendron, confronted by police in the store’s vestibule, put a rifle to his neck but was convinced to drop it. He was arraigned later Saturday on a murder charge, appearing before a judge in a paper gown.

  • The Tops Market shooter arraigned in Buffalo City Court on a charge a first-degree murder. He was put into an anti-suicide gown. (WIVB Photo/Kelsey Anderson)
  • People gather outside a supermarket where several people were killed in a shooting, Saturday, May 14, 2022 in Buffalo, N.Y. Officials said the gunman entered the supermarket with a rifle and opened fire. Investigators believe the man may have been livestreaming the shooting and were looking into whether he had posted a manifesto online (Derek Gee/The Buffalo News via AP)
  • Payton Gendron talks with his attorney during his arraignment in Buffalo City Court, Saturday, May 14, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. Gendron was arraigned on first-degree murder charges and ordered detained without bail. Police officials said the 18-year-old was wearing body armor and military-style clothing when he pulled up and opened fire at people at a Tops Friendly Market. (Mark Mulville/The Buffalo News via AP)
  • (WIVB Photo/Hope Winter)
  • Police walk along the perimeter of the scene after a shooting at a supermarket on Saturday, May 14, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. Officials said the gunman entered the supermarket with a rifle and opened fire. Investigators believe the man may have been livestreaming the shooting and were looking into whether he had posted a manifesto online. (AP Photo/Joshua Bessex)
  • Flowers and candles lay outside the scene of a shooting at a supermarket, in Buffalo, N.Y., Sunday, May 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Federal agents interviewed Gendron’s parents and served multiple search warrants, the law enforcement official told the AP. Gendron’s parents were cooperating with investigators, the official said.

It wasn’t immediately clear why Gendron had traveled about 200 miles from his Conklin, New York, home to Buffalo and that particular grocery store, but investigators believe Gendron had specifically researched the demographics of the population around the Tops Friendly Market, the official said. The alleged manifesto claims to have targeted the zip code with the highest percentage of Black people nearby.

In a Sunday press conference, Gramaglia said that Gendron had been in town “at least the day before.”

“It seems that he had come here to scope out the area, to do a little reconnaissance work on the area before he carried out his just evil, sickening act,” Gramaglia said.

Latest on the Buffalo Supermarket Mass Shooting

Among the dead was security guard Aaron Salter — a retired Buffalo police officer — who fired multiple shots at Gendron, Gramaglia said Saturday. A bullet hit the gunman’s armor, but had no effect. Gendron then killed Salter, before hunting more victims.

“He cared about the community. He looked after the store,” Yvette Mack, who had shopped at Tops earlier Saturday, said of Salter. “He did a good job you know. He was very nice and respectable.”

Also killed was Ruth Whitfield, 86, the mother of retired Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told churchgoers that he saw the former fire official at the shooting scene Saturday, looking for his mother.

“My mother had just gone to see my father, as she does every day, in the nursing home and stopped at the Tops to buy just a few groceries. And nobody has heard from her,” Whitfield told the mayor then. She was confirmed as a victim later in the day, Brown said.

Police surround home of Buffalo mass shooter

Katherine Massey, who had gone to the store to pick up some groceries, also was killed, according to the Buffalo News. The names of the rest of the victims hadn’t been released.

“We pray for their families. But after we pray — after we get up off of our knees — we’ve got to demand change. We’ve got to demand justice,” state Attorney General Letitia James said an emotional church service in Buffalo on Sunday morning. “This was domestic terrorism, plain and simple.”

The Buffalo attack came just a month after a shooting on a Brooklyn subway wounded 10 and just over a year after 10 were killed in a shooting at a Colorado supermarket.

Associated Press reporter Robert Bumsted contributed reporting from Buffalo, New York. Balsamo reported from Washington.


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Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: POLITICS

Active COVID-19 cases dip to 17,692, Health News, ET HealthWorld

May 15, 2022 by Staff Reporter

With 2,487 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,31,21,599 while the active cases dipped to 17,692, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The death toll climbed to 5,24,214 with 13 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 0.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.74 per cent, the ministry said.

A decrease of 404 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.61 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 0.62 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,25,79,693, while the case fatality rate was 1.22 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 191.32 crore.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year.

The 13 new fatalities include eight from Kerala, four from Delhi and one from Maharashtra.

A total of 5,24,214 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,47,854 from Maharashtra, 69,363 from Kerala, 40,105 from Karnataka, 38,025 from Tamil Nadu, 26,192 from Delhi, 23,513 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,203 from West Bengal.

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

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Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: HEALTH

‘Failure of an American ideology’: why Covid has an outsized impact on the US | US healthcare

May 15, 2022 by Staff Reporter

David Rosner continually talks to colleagues who are distraught about the American response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“When you are in a school of public health and a public health environment, people really feel when they are failing,” said Rosner, who studies public health and social history at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

That defeated feeling is compounded by the fact that 1 million people in the US have died from Covid-19 – the highest Covid death rate among large wealthy countries.

According to public health experts, the virus’s outsized impact on the US can be attributed in part to underinvestment in long-term care, in primary care and in public health departments. As a result, some people were more vulnerable to Covid and had little connection to – or trust in – the healthcare providers who urged them to socially distance, to wear masks and to get vaccinated.

It was a disconnect, they say, that was only exacerbated by misinformation – particularly by Republican leaders’ undermining of scientists’ recommendations.

“This is more than just a failure of a health system,” said Rosner. “It’s a failure of an American ideology.”

A history of poor healthcare quality and access

The problems in US society and healthcare that lead to the high death toll predate the pandemic.

In 2018, the country spent an average of $10,637 on healthcare per person, almost twice as much as other large and wealthy countries, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. And yet, compared with those countries, the US had a significantly lower life expectancy and the worst healthcare quality and access.

Almost $4,000 of that additional spending comes from higher payments to hospitals for inpatient and outpatient hospital care. Meanwhile, over the last decade, US spending for state public and local health departments decreased by 16% and 18% respectively.

“We have really valued the hospital care to the exclusion of public health and community healthcare in this country,” said Sheila Davis, CEO of the non-profit Partners in Health, which tries to bring healthcare to the world’s poorest places.

She argues that reimbursement patterns in the US focus on care delivered at hospitals, “which is the most expensive place to deliver care, with the most expensive providers”, she said.

As an alternative, she points to a comprehensive model, “which has excellent hospital care but also has a strong public health department, as well as community care”, such as federally qualified health centers in underserved communities.

The one health area where the US spends significantly less than other countries is on long-term care, including nursing homes. In 2018, the country spent $516 a person on long-term care, less than half of what comparable countries spent, according to KFF data.

The pandemic exposed these disparities. About three-quarters of Americans who died from Covid were 65 or older – including more than 150,000 nursing home residents, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

A majority – more than two-thirds – of nursing homes in the US are for-profit institutions. They often don’t pay their workers much, are understaffed and have high turnover rates: the mean US wage for nursing assistants and orderlies in 2020 was $14.82 an hour, and the mean turnover rate for nurse staff in 2017 and 2018 was 128%, according to a study.

A man talks with his mother through a window at a nursing home in Windsor, Connecticut, in May 2020. Photograph: Chris Ehrmann/AP

That understaffing saw some nursing homes fail to follow best practice for infection control, said Dr Celine Gounder, an epidemiologist at New York University and editor-at-large for Kaiser Health News.

“If you have workers who are paid poorly and have very difficult working conditions, they are not going to trust the employer as much,” Gounder said. “So in a crisis when you have lack of trust, that’s going to create barriers to everyone working in synchronicity to address problems.”

Almost half of the aides and personal care workers, who often make little money, are Black or Hispanic. Nursing homes whose staff come from “less white” neighborhoods saw larger Covid-19 outbreaks, probably because those neighborhoods are also generally denser and have residents who rely more on public transportation, according to a report from a Harvard University economist.

Nursing home residents “were the most vulnerable population – so if Covid made it into the building, bad outcomes were likely to follow shortly thereafter”, said Brian McGarry, a University of Rochester professor who studies long-term care.

In general, life just appeared to be more difficult for seniors in the US than those in similar countries – even before the pandemic. For example, US seniors tend to be more likely to worry about having enough money for meals or medical needs, and to not fill a prescription or skip doses because of the cost, according to a 2017 Health Affairs study.

In the US, 36% of older adults reported having three or more chronic conditions, such as chronic lung diseases and heart conditions, which placed people at greater risk of becoming severely ill from Covid. In New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland, the figures were 17% or under. The US also had the highest rate – 55% – of people taking four or more prescriptions regularly.

Gounder’s grandparents lived in Normandy, France, and never had to worry about medical bills or whether they could see a doctor, she said. “There might be a wait to get an appointment, but they could always get the medical care they needed,” she said.

Americans are also less likely to have a primary care provider, which contributed to the high death toll here. In the Netherlands, 71% of adults have had a regular doctor or place of care for five years or more; in the US, the number is 43%, according to a study from the Commonwealth Fund, a non-profit focused on improving the health system.

“It’s especially a factor when it comes to the vaccination campaign,” said Dr David Blumenthal, president of the Commonwealth Fund. “We know from survey data that people like to get vaccinated in their primary care physician’s office, but too few Americans have primary care physicians.”

That shortage is due in part, Blumenthal said, to tuition fees and to the wage gap between primary care doctor and specialists – again, both figures where the US tops the charts.

“Compensation is an important factor: it’s not just how much people are paid but how hard they have to work to get that level of income,” said Blumenthal, who was a primary care physician himself. Without a primary care provider, he said, many sick people end up visiting emergency rooms – or not seeking care at all.

“In the pandemic, when you are going to an emergency room, you are surrounding yourself with tens or hundreds of other people, many of whom will not have been infected until you show up, so it’s not an epidemiologically helpful way to manage sick people,” Blumenthal said.

The approach to the pandemic became enmeshed in people’s party affiliation and in their views towards governmentDr David Blumenthal

Meanwhile, the US counties that were hit hardest after vaccines became available were those in which a majority voted for Donald Trump in 2020, according to a National Public Radio study.

Since vaccines became widely available in May 2021, people in counties where more than 60% of voters supported Trump were 2.73 times as likely to die from Covid than those in counties where that same percentage supported Joe Biden.

The US also trailed other large wealthy countries in its vaccination rate – and a contributor to that was the low vaccination rates among Republicans. As of November 2021, 91% of Democrats had received at least one dose of the vaccine, while only 53% of Republicans had, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

“You can’t separate our failure in the pandemic from conflicts over ideology and politics,” said Blumenthal. “The approach to the pandemic became enmeshed in people’s party affiliation and in their views towards government.”

People protest against the Covid vaccine in Tallahassee, Florida, in November 2021. Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

That’s in large part due to Republicans such as Trump, said Rosner. After the then-president contracted Covid in October 2020 and became much sicker than he publicly acknowledged, Trump wrote on Twitter: “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” During a presidential debate, Trump also said of Biden: “I don’t wear masks like him. Every time you see him, he’s got a mask.”

Contrast that with another conservative politician, Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, Rosner said. After also being hospitalized with Covid, Johnson thanked his nurses and said the National Health Service had saved his life “no question” and that “things could have gone either way”.

“It’s not like [Johnson] is some angel, but he acknowledged something deeper in British culture that in some sense trusted medicine, trusted public health, trusted the health system, in a way that Trump didn’t even feel was necessary,” said Rosner.

Preparing for the next emergency

Despite their dismay over the number of preventable Covid deaths, public health experts say they are encouraged by federal government efforts to make sure the US is better prepared for the next emergency, which they say is inevitable.

For example, the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (Cares) Act included $300m for community health worker services to try to improve, among other things, health and mental health care access.

“We were very pleased with the inclusion of community health workers in a lot of the Biden administration funding during the emergency,” said Davis. “Now the goal – and the hope – is that that will [become] a permanent part of our health structure.”

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Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: POLITICS

Statement by President Biden on Mass Shooting in Buffalo, New York

May 15, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Tonight, we grieve for the families of ten people whose lives were senselessly taken and everyone who is suffering the physical and emotional wounds of this horrific shooting. We are grateful for the bravery of members of law enforcement and other first responders who took immediate action to try to protect and save lives. The First Lady and I are praying for the victims and their families, and hearts all across this country are with the people of Buffalo.

We still need to learn more about the motivation for today’s shooting as law enforcement does its work, but we don’t need anything else to state a clear moral truth: A racially motivated hate crime is abhorrent to the very fabric of this nation. Any act of domestic terrorism, including an act perpetrated in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology, is antithetical to everything we stand for in America. Hate must have no safe harbor. We must do everything in our power to end hate-fueled domestic terrorism.

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Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: BUSINESS

HCL News: HCL Tech to double headcount in nearshore locations in 3-5 yrs: CEO

May 15, 2022 by Staff Reporter

IT services company plans to double its headcount in nearshore locations over the next 3-5 years, CEO C Vijayakumar said and asserted that the Russia-Ukraine war has not impacted demand from Europe. HCL Tech employs about 10,000 people in all its nearshore locations, globally.

“We expect that number to double over the next 3-5 years,” Vijayakumar told PTI.

The company operates from 20 nearshore locations including Mexico, Toronto, Vancouver, Costa Rica and Romania. HCL Tech’s top honcho said the company will continue to expand in these locations.

The company does not have any presence in Russia or Ukraine. Its Eastern European centres are in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria and “all of them are continuing to operate at similar capacity levels”.

“Whatever ongoing ramp-up plans in these locations, they are on track and these locations are also growing for us,” he said.

Demand from Europe remains “quite robust”, he said, adding that the company has not seen Russia-Ukraine conflict impacting demand.

On the blueprint for expansion and new centres for FY23, Vijayakumar said some of the HCL’s existing locations may expand.

“It’s not completely new locations, some of our existing locations may expand, like Vietnam, Romania, Costa Rica, Mexico and a few centres within the US… these are the locations where we will expand,” he said.

had recently reported over three fold jump in its consolidated net profit for fourth quarter ended March 2022 at Rs 3593 crore.

It had struck an optimistic note about “buoyant” market environment and “strong momentum across verticals and service lines” for 12-14 per cent revenue growth for FY23.

HCLT’s revenue from operations for the just ended March quarter came in at Rs 22,597 crore, 15 per cent higher than a year ago. For the fiscal ended March 31, 2022, the net income stood at Rs 13,499 crore, as against Rs 11,145 crore in the previous fiscal.

The revenue from operations for the entire fiscal up to March 31, 2022 was Rs 85,651 crore, up from Rs 75,379 crore in FY21.

Telecom, financial services, life sciences and healthcare will be key growth drivers for the company in the incremental revenue that will come this fiscal. The company is looking to hire 35,000-40,000 freshers this year, apart from lateral hiring, which will depend on demand, attrition and other factors, Vijayakumar said.

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Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: TECH/SCIENCE

When (Why) Bad News IS Good News

May 15, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Consumer Price Index Year over Year Percentage

Universal Value Advisors

It was another volatile week in the financial markets. While there were up days, like Friday (May 13), the trend continues to be down. The table shows the weekly movements in the major indexes and the downdrafts from their nearby peaks. Note that the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 are deep in “Bear Market” territory (down more than 20% from their peaks) and that both the S&P 500 and the DJIA are in “Correction” (down more than 10%).

Weekly Index Movements

Universal Value Advisors

Blame it On the Fed! We are now likely to see major up days in the markets when the economic news is ugly. On Friday, the ugly data was the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index (see chart below), now sitting near the lows of the 2008 Great Recession. One would think that markets should fall when the data is ugly. But today, bad economic news implies that the recession is closing in, and that means the Fed will not be able to execute its publicly announced interest rate plans (i.e., its “Forward Guidance”).

Because of the Fed’s poor track record in guiding the economy to a “soft landing” once it starts a rate-hiking cycle (three soft landings in 14 tightening cycles, i.e., 11 recessions), the worse the incoming data, the more likely it will be that the Fed modifies the level of its “terminal” interest rate.

Consumer Sentiment

Universal Value Advisors

Along these lines, on Thursday, Powell was finally “confirmed” by the Senate as Fed Chair. And what do you know – he began to play it straight with the American public, saying that he thought that the process of crushing inflation would “include some pain”! This is the first indication of what we think will be his changing view of the economy as the year progresses.

CPI MoM %

Universal Value Advisors

The “Inflation” Fixation

It is constantly in the headlines, on news broadcasts, and generally the go-to topic of the media – inflation! The media is fixated on it, especially the Y/Y change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The data came out on Wednesday (May 11), and we saw what we expected, that April’s inflation on a Y/Y basis had declined from its 8.5% level in March. But because it only fell to 8.3% when Wall Street expected 8.1%, the “inflation narrative” was reinforced and lives on.

There wasn’t any mention that we could find of the rapid fall in the monthly change in the CPI (see chart above “CPI MOM %”). Note that the M/M inflation rate fell from a 1.2 pct. point change in March to a 0.3 pct. point change in April. Note, too, that we haven’t seen that small of a monthly change since last August, and before that, December 2020. Here is a “thought experiment.” What would the Y/Y change in the CPI be in December 2022 if the change in the CPI were to stay steady at 0.3 pct. points per month? The chart at the top of this blog shows that number (the highest dotted line; 5.5%)) and what the rate of inflation would be at 0.2 pct. points per month (4.7%) and 0.1 pct. points (3.9%). If we do some surgery and strip out food, airline and new car prices, April’s CPI was flat; and if rents are excluded, it was down -0.1%. While this is little comfort to household budgets, we are seeing the first positive signs that inflation is beginning to wane.

It is a similar story for the Producer Price Index (PPI), an index of the cost of business inputs. While up 0.5% in April, like the CPI, we haven’t seen prices rise this slowly since last September, and before that, December 2020.

So, despite the media rants and the ongoing “inflation” narrative, both CPI and PPI were “tame” relative to those of the recent past and they were in keeping with the view that we expressed in past blogs that the inflation numbers would be falling as the year progressed. Referring to the chart at the top of this blog, at a minimum, we expect the upper of the three dashed lines on the chart (December Y/Y inflation at 5.5%) but wouldn’t be at all surprised if we saw the lower one (December Y/Y inflation at 3.9%).

US Labor Costs, 2019-2021

Black Rock

Incoming Data

The incoming data continue to bolster our view of a weakening economy. In past blogs we’ve noted that real (inflation adjusted) weekly take home pay is negative on a Y/Y basis (-4%). The chart above, from Blackrock, shows that U.S. labor costs have been falling. So, it isn’t any wonder that corporate profits reached another all-time high.

Corporate Profits

Universal Value Advisors

Some commentators have expressed the view that businesses have been price “gouging,” i.e., raising prices faster than costs. After all, if “inflation” is on everyone’s mind, then price increases are “expected.” We don’t think many of those prices will stick once consumers cut back. The “narrative” on Wall Street is that consumers won’t cut back because Uncle Sam sent free money for the last couple of years and that money is available to buoy consumption.

Percent Change of Total Consumer Credit

Universal Value Advisors

Well, it was – but no longer! The savings rate has now plunged below its pre-pandemic level to 6.6% so all that “free money” looks to have been spent. And then, in March and April, consumption was bolstered by record breaking increases in consumer credit (read: credit card debt) (see chart above). That can’t continue as credit limits are approached.

In addition, an oft used source of consumer funding, especially for big ticket items, has been home refinance. This was especially true as home prices rose while the Fed held down interest rates. But, with the rise in rates, that source, too has disappeared (see chart). There doesn’t appear to be many other places where consumers can easily access credit. Thus, we believe a significant slowdown in consumption will soon show up in the data.

MBA US Refinances % Total Applications

Universal Value Advisors

Final Thoughts

Last week, we talked about how markets misinterpreted the employment report, completely ignoring the Household Survey (-353K), relying instead on a Payroll Survey (+428K) that added +160K for small businesses (Birth-Death model) when all the surveys say that small businesses are cutting back and the largest payroll purveyor in America, ADP, counted -120K fewer employees in their small business sector.

This week, the “narrative” emphasized “inflation,” despite both CPI and PPI March looks to have been the peak and that, going forward, just a repeat of April for the remainder of the year will significantly reduce that malady.

The real driving force in the financial markets is the Fed. Markets rise and fall based on what they think the Fed might do next. That’s why “bad” news on the economy is “good” news for markets, because “bad” economic news means the Fed won’t fulfill its “Forward Guidance” tightening program.

(Joshua Barone contributed to this blog.)

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Originally Appeared Here

Filed Under: BUSINESS, MONEY

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