Economy and management blamed for demise of UK retailer Wilko

By AFP
September 12, 2023

The chain's red-and-white logo has been a familiar sight for decades on shopping streets across the country, but will soon disappear following Monday's liquidation announcement - Copyright AFP/File JUSTIN TALLIS
Véronique DUPONT

The imminent demise of household goods seller Wilko highlights the challenges UK retailers currently face amid decades-high inflation and anaemic economic growth, but experts argue it also stems from bad management.

With nearly 12,500 job losses looming, Wilko’s downfall is the biggest bankruptcy in the sector since Woolworths shuttered in 2008, according to the Centre for Retail Research.

The chain’s red-and-white logo has been a familiar sight for decades on shopping streets across the country, but will soon disappear following Monday’s liquidation announcement.

Wilko was synonymous with bargains in household and garden items, from small electrical appliances and cleaning products to suitcases and gardening tools.

The chain, which filed for bankruptcy in August, prided itself on being a family business — founded 93 years ago by JK and Mary Wilkinson in Leicester, central England — before expanding nationwide.

But it ultimately found itself ensnared by Britain’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, as increasingly cash-strapped customers curbed their spending in the face of rising bills and went elsewhere.

Inflation, supply chain problems and so-called “business rates” taxes also ate into profit margins.

Its 400 stores will close over the coming weeks, but around 50 will be resurrected by B&M European Value Retail, under their brand, while a further 71 have been snapped up by Poundland, another discount retailer.

Despite the difficult sector-wide conditions, analysts and the GMB union have taken aim at Wilko’s management.

The chain traditionally had a reputation for good value, but failed to keep its prices and product range competitive with rival discounters such as budget-conscious supermarkets like Aldi or cut-price chains like Poundland, they said.

– ‘Siphoned out’ –

Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, told AFP that Wilko “hadn’t invested enough into keeping prices lower and couldn’t stop customers drifting away to cheaper competitors”.

One social media user described its offerings as “a lot of overpriced rubbish”.

Meanwhile, the GMB union mirrored the UK press in noting the millions of pounds in dividends that Wilko’s shareholders, and in particular the founders’ heirs, had awarded themselves.

“This isn’t a tragedy without cause. Wilko should have thrived in a bargain retail sector that is otherwise strong, but it was run into the ground by the business owners,” the union said in a statement Monday.

“Money was siphoned out of the business for dividends, warnings about what needed to be done to save the business were not heeded and advice around what the business (needed) to do to thrive was not listened to.”

Lisa Wilkinson, one of the founders’ heirs and one of the group’s former managers, has argued that not taking dividends would only have given the company a few months’ reprieve.

Analysts felt that Wilko had simply failed to adapt sufficiently well to changing consumer habits.

Streeter noted that rivals have successfully focused on “more popular retail park sites and had diversified product ranges more into food”.

Russ Mould, an analyst at AJ Bell, told AFP that “competition was the problem” eventually for the storied brand.

“Retail is all about providing the right product in the right format at the right price, and ultimately it looks like its rivals did that better than Wilko,” he said.

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M
UBS’s Credit Suisse takeover, ‘deal of the century’?

By AFP
September 12, 2023

UBS is being attacked for what now appears to be a sweetheart deal after being strongarmed by Swiss authorities into buying Credit Suisse, but experts warn that heartache could come if it can't successfully restructure and stem losses 

- Copyright AFP/File Fabrice COFFRINI

Nathalie OLOF-ORS

Did banking giant UBS make “the deal of the century” when it bought one of the world’s biggest banks for a pittance as it teetered on the edge of the abyss?

Switzerland’s largest bank was in March strong-armed by Swiss authorities into a $3.25-billion takeover of Credit Suisse, to keep its closest domestic rival from going under.

At the time, investors gasped at the risks UBS was taking on with the purchase.

But by August, the bank said it would not need the billions in support offered by the Swiss government and central bank to offset any surprises that might pop up in its stricken rival’s accounts.

That must mean that Credit Suisse’s situation was “much better than described in March”, Thomas Aeschi, a member of parliament with the populist rightwing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

UBS seemed to prove him right when it unveiled its second quarter results on August 31.

The bank posted a towering net profit of $29.2 billion for the three-month period, thanks to an exceptional gain due to the gulf between the amount paid for Credit Suisse and its book value.

– ‘Godsend’ –


“UBS has pulled off the deal of the century,” Switzerland’s Socialist Party said, maintaining the “rescue” was more of a “godsend”, allowing it to snatch up a bank at a dramatically reduced rate.

“If we had chosen another path, (like) a temporary or partial nationalisation,” said Samuel Bendahan, a Socialist MP and economics professor at the University of Lausanne, the Swiss state “would have taken on the risk, but those $29 billion would have gone to the population”.

Instead, the takeover has created “a monopolistic situation”, he told AFP, warning that while this might strengthen UBS, it puts Switzerland in an extremely risky position if the new mega-bank were to one day face a crisis.

Politicians are not the only ones taking issue with the takeover.

Gisele Vlietstra, founder of the Swiss Investor Protection Association, told public broadcaster RTS that UBS’s towering quarterly profit confirms that the “intrinsic value” of Credit Suisse was “far higher” than the purchase price.

She said she hoped that the lawsuits brought by her association and others on behalf of thousands of Credit Suisse shareholders will help determine “the correct value” that they should be compensated.

– ‘Nickel and dime’ –

“UBS paid a nickel and dime” and “got rid of its main competitor” in one fell swoop, Carlo Lombardini, a lawyer and banking law professor at Lausanne University, told AFP.

The coming restructuring will clearly carry risks, “but having paid just three billion, it can’t go wrong”, he said, slamming the option chosen by the Swiss authorities.

Like UBS, Credit Suisse was listed among 30 international banks deemed too big to fail because of their importance in the global banking architecture.

But the collapse of three US regional lenders in March left the firm looking like the next weakest link in the chain.

The Swiss government feared Credit Suisse would have quickly defaulted and triggered a global crisis, shredding Switzerland’s reputation for sound banking.

But its chosen option for dealing with the issue was certainly a boon to UBS, which will now swell to manage $5 trillion of invested assets.

– Confidence ‘evaporated’ –

UBS chief Sergio Ermotti acknowledged in a recent interview with the SonntagsZeitung weekly that the bank had been “worried” about its competitor since 2016, and had among other things looked into the possibilities of buying it, for fear a foreign lender might snap it up.

He acknowledged that Credit Suisse may have survived for a time if the central bank had injected more cash, “but it would not have been enough, since confidence had evaporated”.

Since the takeover announcement in March, UBS has seen its share price soar 31 percent.

But the bank still faces significant challenges, Vontobel analyst Andreas Venditti told AFP.

The $29 billion “is a huge one-off gain, but this is just accounting”, he said, stressing that “the losses and costs will come later”.

The analyst, who a few months ago wondered in a note whether UBS had secured “the deal of the decade or a decade of headaches”, stressed that “it’s going to be a huge task”.

He said it would only become clear “whether it was worth it” after most of the
restructuring is done three years down the line.

Parts of the business are continuing to “produce huge losses”, he said, warning “many things can still go wrong”.

Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya agreed, recalling that “UBS was forced” into the merger.

Now it is up to the bank to “transform an ‘obligation’ to its advantage”.

Verdict nears in trial of Turkish anti-femicide group

By AFP
September 13, 2023

The We Will Stop Femicide Platform speaks out against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 

- Copyright AFP Adem ALTAN

Turkey on Wednesday resumed the trail of an anti-femicide campaign group that prosecutors are trying to shut down on charges of violating administrative laws and “morality”.

Riot police cordoned off Istanbul’s main courthouse and detained two supporters of the We Will Stop Femicide Platform ahead of a likely verdict later Wednesday.

Prosecutors have asked the court to close the group for “acting against the law and morality”.

The group says it was never presented with an explanation about which laws it has allegedly violated and calls the charges politically motivated.

The We Will Stop Femicide Platform has been campaigning against the murder and abuse of women in the mostly Muslim but officially secular nation since 2010.

It turned into a lightning rod for criticism from Islamic conservatives for speaking out against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision in 2021 to pull Turkey out of a European convention aimed at combating violence against women.

More conservative members of Erdogan’s ruling party accused the group of damaging traditional family values by speaking out in defence of LGBTQ rights.

Erdogan branded the LGBTQ community “perverse” and railed repeatedly against their supporters during his May re-election campaign.

The We Will Stop Femicide Platform said 403 women were murdered in Turkey last year and 423 in 2021.

Its prosecution has alarmed human rights groups that have long accused Erdogan of backsliding on democratic norms.

Turkey this year reaffirmed its commitment to resume long-stalled negotiation to join the European Union.

But the bloc’s enlargement commissioner said on a visit to Ankara this month that Brussels needed to see tangible progress on Turkey’s commitment to “democracy and the rule of law”.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Malaysia PM says Goldman Sachs must renegotiate 1MDB settlement


By AFP
September 13, 2023

Malaysia's prime minister vowed to chase a new settlement from Goldman Sachs for its role in the 1MDB scandal - Copyright AFP Adem ALTAN

Malaysia’s prime minister vowed Wednesday to chase a new settlement from US investment bank Goldman Sachs for its role in the billion-dollar corruption scandal at the 1MDB state fund.

Anwar Ibrahim said he would push to renegotiate a deal his predecessor agreed with the bank three years ago, warning it not to take advantage of the Southeast Asian nation.

Under that 2020 settlement, Goldman Sachs paid Malaysia $2.5 billion for its role in the financial scandal, while Kuala Lumpur agreed to end all criminal proceedings against the bank.

“I would convey clearly to Goldman Sachs that we have to put an end to this,” Anwar told a business conference in Singapore.

“We are a small nation, but you can’t take us for a ride.”

Anwar called the settlement unfair and vowed to “take a tougher line”, but stopped short of saying his government would file a lawsuit against the bank.

Last month, Anwar told CNBC in an interview that he was not discounting the possibility of filing lawsuits against the bank.

Goldman has always denied any wrongdoing in the case.

The 1MDB scandal led to investigations around the world, including in the United States, Switzerland and Singapore, into the use of their financial systems to launder money.

Cash plundered from state coffers bankrolled a global spending spree, and was used to buy everything from artwork, to real estate and a superyacht.

Goldman’s role came under scrutiny over bond issues totalling $6.5 billion it helped arrange for 1MDB, with Malaysia claiming large amounts were misappropriated.

“You can’t consider us as some banana republic that you can squander and then leave us alone,” Anwar said.

“I will not stop because it’s not my money. I owe it to my people.”

Anwar said he will be in New York for the United Nations General Assembly next week but would not be meeting bank representatives.

In March, a US judge sentenced former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng to 10 years in prison following his conviction in the scandal.

Another former Goldman banker Tim Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating US anti-bribery and money laundering laws, agreeing to pay $43.7 million in restitution.

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was ousted in 2018 and jailed for 12 years on corruption charges linked to the case.

Gabon’s squandered oil wealth under 55 years of Bongo rule

By AFP
September 13, 2023

A third of the population of oil-rich Gabon lives below the poverty line, says the World Bank 

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File MARIO TAMA

The toppling of Ali Bongo Ondimba brought the curtain down on 55 years of rule by a family accused of extracting fabulous wealth from Gabon’s major oil reserves.

Moments after being declared the winner in disputed elections, Bongo was abruptly ousted on August 30.

Many saw it as an act of liberation rather than a military coup.

Gabon, one of Africa’s richest countries in terms of per-capita GDP, boasts abundant oil and other natural resources.

A small fraction of the 2.3 million population live opulently while a third survives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

Once known as “central Africa’s little emirate”, experts, military leaders, the former opposition and even some within the ex-ruling party agree that more than half a century of Bongo rule marked a huge loss for Gabon.

– Run like ‘a private property’ –

In the affluent Libreville neighbourhood of Sabliere, many of the luxury villas belong to the extensive Bongo clan.

The distant suburbs, however, have no running water, little electricity and insanitary open sewers.

Ali Bongo, 64, who was seeking a third term in the election, took over when his father Omar died in 2009 after nearly 42 years in power.

“The big weakness of this regime was its bad distribution of wealth,” Axel Auge, a sociologist specialising in central Africa, said.

Wealth was in the hands of just one fifth of the population — the ruling elite, he said, adding there had been vast “mismanagement”.

“Ali Bongo’s mistake was to play down the economic and social frustrations of the population.”

Thierry Vircoulon, from the French Institute of International Relations, described a kind of “family autocracy” with Gabon “managed like the private property of a family”.


– Defunct schools, hospitals –


Travel from one town to another is virtually impossible due to the poor state of the roads.

There is only one private airline which operates several flights at prohibitive prices.

The sole train line is often out of bounds for passengers, monopolised and regularly damaged by constant heavily loaded trains carrying manganese.

Gabon is either the second or third biggest manganese producer depending on the mineral’s concentration.

Used in steelmaking and batteries, the manganese is mined almost exclusively by a local subsidiary of France’s Eramet group.

Public hospitals lack equipment and medicine and the school system is in ruins — the new military rulers say the two issues are among their priorities.

Gabon has failed to develop a real production or manufacturing sector.

It lives off imports, including fruit and vegetables, despite plentiful rainfall and fertile land.

Independence from France in 1960 was followed by an oil boom but today, “the country is struggling to translate large natural wealth into sustainable and inclusive growth”, the World Bank says.

Gabon has one of Africa’s highest unemployment rates, with one fifth of the active population out of work, rising to a third for under-25s, the United Nations said in 2020.

Under Omar Bongo, a close ally of France, Gabon was a pillar of “Francafrique” — a policy whereby Paris furthered its interests through cronyism.

– ‘Ivory tower’ –

French investigators in 2016 zeroed in on properties owned by Omar Bongo’s family in France.

They suspected several of his relatives knowingly benefitted from a fraudulently acquired real-estate empire worth at least 85 million euros ($87 million).

Ten of Omar Bongo’s 54 children have been charged with allegedly concealing the misappropriation of public funds, a Paris-based legal source told AFP.

As a sitting head of state, Ali Bongo had immunity.

The empire includes property in Paris and the Mediterranean resort of Nice, alongside a fleet of luxury cars.

An investigating judge last year determined that much of the money came from “undue commissions” paid by French energy giant Elf, now a part of TotalEnergies.

Omar Bongo’s children also have properties in Britain and the United States, bequeathed or acquired after his death.

Nostalgia for life under the elder Bongo remains strong among a small number of Gabonese who hark back to when at least some oil revenues trickled down.

But that has since dried up.

His son enjoyed no such boon as oil revenue fell from 2014, experts and coup leaders say, noting Bongo was surrounded by “traitors” and “profiteers” while locked in an “ivory tower”.

burs/emd/kjm/bp

South African township resists police over illegal power cables


By AFP
September 13, 2023

Cape Town police try to prise an illegally connected electricity cable from residents of an informal settlement 

- Copyright AFP Ivan PISARENKO

Julie BOURDIN

A woman in a black and white dress struggled, pulling fiercely on a long electrical cable as she tried to stop the police in anti-riot gear from carrying it away.

Used to illegally connect homes in a poor informal settlement south of Cape Town, it was one of many cables seized by South African police during a raid on Wednesday.

To the woman and other locals unable to pay utility bills it represented a lifeline.

But authorities in a country facing a severe energy emergency regarded it as a burden on public coffers and the overstretched energy grid.

“At the end of the day, what to do? Do you just lay up and die or you try like any human being, animal, to fight for survival?” said Fernando Williams, 58, who lives at Oasis Farm, the informal settlement.

“This time survival is connecting to the grid unlawfully.”

– Battered by blackouts –

South Africa has been battered by record blackouts that have hampered economic activity and angered the population, as problems at beleaguered power utility Eskom have mounted.

Operations to cut off illegal connections, which authorities blame for worsening the problem, are fairly common in the country.

“We cannot tolerate it because it’s illegal, it’s literally stealing from government, it’s stealing from our paying, law-abiding customers,” said Beverley Van Reenen, member of the municipal energy committee, who was at the scene.

The practice cost the city more than four million rand ($210,000) in the last financial quarter, she said, adding it was also dangerous.

“When it rains you can see the smoke coming from the ground,” said a resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, as officers unearthed kilometres of multicoloured cables hidden underground and zigzagging through fields, bushes and shrubs.

– Power for oxygen –

But Marina, a local woman who gave only her first name, said some elderly people needed the electricity to power oxygen tanks. “Do you think it’s fair as human beings to be treated like that?”

The raid came as blackouts intensified nationwide in recent days after a winter lull.

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa on Sunday blamed the coincidence of planned power plant repairs with unplanned breakdowns.

But outages are expected to ease significantly in the coming months, as works to bring a giant coal power station back online continue, he told a press conference.

Four of six units at the Kusile plant are to become operational between October and the end of the year, Ramokgopa said, adding this would provide South Africa with a “critical path” out of the crisis.

Solving the electricity crisis is a crucial issue ahead of general elections next year, when the ruling African National Congress, in power since the advent of democracy in 1994, risks seeing its vote drop below 50 percent for the first time.

Kusile, the world’s fourth largest coal-fired generator, has produced relatively little energy since it was commissioned in 2007, suffering from design and construction problems, breakdowns and allegations of graft.

Only last week police arrested nine people at the plant for theft and fraud over allegations they charged the station for coal that was never delivered.

Rice price spike offers preview of climate food disruption

By AFP
September 12, 2023

India accounts for 40 percent of global rice exports 

— © AFP/File Narinder NANU

Sara HUSSEIN

A 15-year high in rice prices, prompted by top exporter India’s restrictions on overseas sales, should be a wake-up call on how climate change can disrupt food supplies, experts say.

Rice prices jumped 9.8 percent in August, bucking decreases in other staples, the Food and Agriculture Organization said last week.

That followed the July decision by India, which accounts for 40 percent of global rice exports, to ban the overseas sale of non-basmati rice.

The government cited soaring domestic prices for the staple, caused by geopolitics, the El Nino weather pattern and “extreme climatic conditions.”

This year is expected to be the hottest in human history, and the impacts of the seasonal El Nino weather pattern could make conditions even harsher.

Despite severe flooding in parts of northern India, this August was the country’s hottest and driest on record.

Chart showing FAO rice price index to August 2023

The monsoon season that brings up to 80 percent of the country’s annual rain has been far below normal levels.

India’s July restrictions followed a decision last September to ban exports of another variety of rice that is a staple in parts of Africa.

Up to eight percent of global rice exports for 2023/24 could now be taken out of the market, according to analysis by BMI, Fitch Group’s research arm.

– Drought fears –

For now, the crisis offers an opportunity for India’s rivals, including number two and three exporters, Thailand and Vietnam.

Both have increased exports this year, with Nguyen Nhu Cuong, an official with Vietnam’s agriculture and rural development ministry, touting a “bumper crop” and plans to increase planting.

But the dry conditions that tend to accompany El Nino mean smooth sailing ahead is unlikely, warned Elyssa Kaur Ludher, from the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s Climate Change in Southeast Asia programme.

“My question is whether they can continue to do this once El Nino comes into force towards the end of this year, when water becomes more scarce,” she told AFP.

“I think the end of this year and especially the beginning of next year will be very, very tough,” she added.

A naturally occurring weather phenomenon, El Nino typically lasts nine to 12 months and is expected to strengthen late this year.

Even before India’s latest restrictions, its effects were boosting rice export prices, according to BMI.

And in Thailand, national rainfall levels are currently 18 percent lower than expected for the time of year, the Office of National Water Resources said this month.

Late rains could still make up the difference, but the agency said it is “concerned about a drought caused by El Nino.”

– ‘New normal’ –

The consequence is one of price rather than supply, said Charles Hart, agricultural commodities analyst at Fitch Solutions.

“This is not a running out of rice moment,” he stressed, noting India’s restrictions have not been followed by other exporters.

Instead, the situation is likely to force the drawdown of stocks rebuilt after pandemic-era depletions, and prompt importers to seek new deals and impose local limits.

For now, India’s restrictions are proving a boon for farmers in Thailand and Vietnam. 

— © AFP

Top importer the Philippines this month signed a deal with Vietnam to help stabilise supply, days after announcing a national price cap.

For some though, unaffordable prices amount to the same as a lack of supply: less food.

“It’s not just a food availability issue, but it’s also a social stability issue, it’s a political issue,” said Ludher.

The current disruptions should be a wake-up call for policy-makers, she added, with more attention needed to the plight of farmers across various sectors.

Climate change can affect productivity, with lower crop yields as temperatures rise, but also increases the likelihood of extreme events like the 2022 Pakistan floods.

“Global grain export markets are relatively concentrated, so that kind of extreme weather risk accumulates in a few markets,” Hart added.

In India, policymakers need to develop better early-warning systems and new planting patterns, said Avantika Goswami, a climate change researcher at the Centre for Science and Environment.

“Erratic weather patterns are the new normal,” she told AFP.

“Now, it’s a case of early adaptation. In the long-term, global emissions have to come down.”

burs-sah/ssy

THIRD WORLD U$A

US household incomes fall for third straight year: Census Bureau

By AFP
September 12, 2023

US real median incomes fell for the third year in a row last year 

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File SPENCER PLATT

US inflation-adjusted incomes fell for a third straight year in 2022, but overall income inequality decreased, according to new Census Bureau data.

In a positive development, the poverty rate for the Black population declined to 17.1 percent — its lowest level on record — although it remained the highest among the racial groups counted by the Census Bureau.

The data published Tuesday by the Census Bureau paints a mixed picture of the US economy, with the overall decline in incomes falling more sharply for some people than for others, due largely to the impact of inflation.

Real, or inflation-adjusted, median household incomes in the United States fell by 2.3 percent in 2022 from a year earlier, with nominal gains canceled out by record-high inflation.

It was the third straight year in which real median household incomes declined, underscoring the importance of tackling inflation.

In response to rising inflation, the US Federal Reserve embarked on an aggressive campaign of interest rate hikes last year, lifting its key lending rate up to its highest level for 22 years.

The Fed’s policy has brought inflation down sharply this year, although it remains above its long-term target of two percent.

– Child poverty rate doubles –

The Census Bureau found that income inequality fell by 1.2 percent between 2021 and 2022, driven by a fall in real income at the middle and top of the income distribution.

However, inequality actually rises sharply once taxes are factored into the figures.

“The steeper relative declines in post-tax income at the bottom and middle of the income distribution are attributable to the expiration of a number of tax policies,” Cencus Bureau official Liana Fox told reporters.

These tax policies included the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, she said.

The distinction between pre- and post-tax incomes also had a marked impact on child poverty rates, which declined according to the official figure, but more-than-doubled once tax policies were taken into account.

“This change reflects the expiration of refundable tax credits and the pandemic-era stimulus benefits,” Fox said.

President Joe Biden released a statement blaming Republican lawmakers for refusing to extend the enhanced Child Tax Credit put in place during the pandemic.

“The rise reported today in child poverty is no accident—it is the result of a deliberate policy choice congressional Republicans made to block help for families with children while advancing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest and largest corporations,” he said.

“No child should grow up in poverty, and I will continue to fight to restore the expanded Child Tax Credit to give tens of millions of families the tax relief and breathing room they deserve,” he added.

Child poverty in the US jumped and income declined in 2022 as coronavirus pandemic benefits ended


Jaqueline Benitez, who depends on California’s SNAP benefits to help pay for food, shops for groceries at a supermarket in Bellflower, Calif., on Feb. 13, 2023.
(AP Photo/Allison Dinner, file)

BY MIKE SCHNEIDER
September 12, 2023

Child poverty in the United States more than doubled and median household income declined last year when coronavirus pandemic-era government benefits expired and inflation kept rising, according to figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

At the same time, the official poverty rate for Black Americans dropped to its lowest level on record, and income inequality declined for the first time since 2007, when looking at pre-tax income, due to income declines in the middle and top income brackets.

However, income inequality increased when using after-tax income, another result of the end of pandemic-era tax credits, according to Census Bureau reports on income, poverty and health insurance.

The reports reflected the sometimes-conflicting factors last year buffeting U.S. households. Workers faced a robust jobs market, with the number of full-time employees increasing year over year, the share of women working full time year-round reaching an all-time high and an increase in income for households run by someone with no high school diploma. But they also faced rising inflation and the end of pandemic-era stimulus benefits.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in 2020, the federal government expanded the child tax credit and sent payments to people who had suffered from the pandemic, lowering poverty measures in 2021. The expansion of the child tax credit expired at the end of 2021, and other pandemic-related benefits have expired within the past year.

As a result, the supplemental poverty measure rate for children jumped 7.2 percentage points to 12.4% in 2022, according to the Census Bureau.

“This represents a return to child poverty levels prior to the pandemic,” Liana Fox, an assistant division chief at the Census Bureau, said during a news conference. “We did see the child tax credit had a substantial decrease in child poverty.”

In a statement, President Joe Biden blamed congressional Republicans for failing to extend the enhanced child tax credit and vowed to restore it.

“The rise reported today in child poverty is no accident,” said Biden, a Democrat.

Opponents objected to extending the credit out of concern that the money would discourage people from working and that any additional federal spending would fuel inflation, which climbed to a 40-year high.

Before the pandemic, the Rev. Mary Downey would received from 400 to 600 calls a month from people seeking assistance from the center that she operates for homeless people and those living in poverty in Osceola County, Florida. She is now receiving 1,800 calls a month.

The expiration of the child tax credit expansion has been “devastating” to the people she serves in metro Orlando, and addressing poverty should be a bipartisan issue, she said.

“There is no surprise here. The bigger question is, ‘What we are going to do?’” said Downey, CEO of Hope Partnership. “Hungry babies deserve to be fed and have roofs over their heads.”

The median household income in 2022 was $74,580, a decline of 2.3% from 2021, and about 4.7% lower than in 2019 before the pandemic’s start. Asian Americans had the highest median household income, at almost $109,000, while Black Americans had the lowest, at about $53,000. Regionally, it was highest in the West, at almost $83,000, followed by the Northeast at more than $80,000, the Midwest at more than $73,000 and the South at more than $68,000.

The official poverty rate in 2022 was 11.5%, not statistically different from 2021, and for Black Americans it was 17.1%, the lowest on record. The supplemental poverty measure was 12.4%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points from 2021.

The U.S. Census Bureau releases two poverty measures. The official poverty measure is based on cash resources. The supplemental poverty measure includes both cash and noncash benefits and subtracts necessary expenses such as taxes and medical expenses.

The rate of people lacking health insurance dropped almost half a percentage point to 7.9%, driven by workers’ getting health insurance and growth in the rate of people receiving Medicare due to an increase in the number of people aged 65 or older in the U.S. It declined for people in all age groups except those who were age 18 or younger, though that gain for children wasn’t statistically significant, according to the Census Bureau.

The uninsured rate of children who were foreign born was more than 20%, and it was almost 25% for children who weren’t citizens.

Anti-poverty experts worry the poverty rate will only get worse without a long-term, systemic solution, as the pullback from the pandemic-era benefits has coincided with housing cost increases, jumps in homelessness and a rising cost of living.

“We know better, and we should do better. To see the increase in poverty, particularly for children, is very worrisome,” said Kim Janey, a former mayor of Boston who now heads an anti-poverty nonprofit. “If we want to be a country where the American dream is within reach, then we have to invest in our children and try to eradicate poverty in our nation.”
___

France orders Apple iPhone 12 sales halted over radiation


By AFP
September 12, 2023

The French agency that regulates radio frequencies said the iPhone 12 emits more electromagnetic waves than permitted -

 Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File SPENCER PLATT

French regulators on Tuesday ordered Apple to halt sales of the iPhone 12 for emitting too much electromagnetic radiation, and to fix existing handsets.

The French agency that regulates radio frequencies, the ANFR, said testing found that the model emits more electromagnetic waves susceptible to be absorbed by the body than permitted.

The ANFR said it “ordered Apple to remove the iPhone 12 from the French market from September 12 due to the model exceeding the limit” for electromagnetic absorption by the body.

It said accredited labs had found absorption of electromagnetic energy by the body at 5.74 watts per kilogram during tests simulating when the phone was being held in the hand or kept in a pocket.

The European standard is a specific absorption rate of 4.0 watts per kilogram in such tests.

“Concerning phones already sold, Apple must in the briefest of delays take corrective measures to bring the affected phones into compliance,” said the ANFR in a statement on its website.

“Otherwise, Apple will have to recall them.”

ANFR noted that tests that measure the electromagnetic radiation absorbed at a distance of five centimetres was in compliance with the limit of 2.0 watts per kilogram.

ANFR said its agents would verify beginning Wednesday that that iPhone 12 models were no longer being offered for sale in France.

When contacted by AFP Apple did not have an immediate comment.

Regulators in a number of countries have limits on the amount of electromagnetic radiation mobile phones may emit to prevent adverse health effects.

The World Health Organization states on its website that following a large number of studies that “no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use”.

UN rights chief slams Musk ‘trolling campaign’ against anti-defamation group


By AFP
September 13, 2023




Musk who bought Twitter last year and rebranded it as X, has come under fire for liking posts with the hashtag "BanTheADL" - 

The UN rights chief decried Wednesday an online “trolling campaign” against a leading anti-defamation group, urging online platforms like X, formerly Twitter, to do more to battle hate speech.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk demanded that social media platforms “do far more to stop the circulation of hate speech and disinformation”.

“Those that do not take action need to be held to account,” he said, insisting “there is no excuse for purveying the voice of hatred”.

Speaking at an event on anti-Semitism on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk deplored in particular “the current trolling campaign of one online platform against the anti-Defamation League, after it called for action to limit its volume of hate speech”.

Turk did not mention names, but appeared to be referring to a barrage of abuse recently launched by X owner Elon Musk’s against the US-based Jewish organisation.

Musk has accused the ADL of making unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism that have scared away advertisers and hurt his company’s revenue, and has threatened to sue for billions of dollars.

Musk, who bought Twitter last year and rebranded it as X, has come under fire for liking posts on the platform with the hashtag “BanTheADL”.

The hateful campaign started after the ADL participated in a civil rights march marking the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, according to the group.

The ADL has for years accused the social media site of amplifying anti-Semitic hate speech, and has charged that problematic and racist speech has risen sharply on X after Musk completed his $44 billion takeover in October.

The organisation recently met with X top executives to discuss the problem.

Turk decried Wednesday that “new technologies and online media mean that racist caricatures and conspiracy theories can circulate now at a much greater speed and without regard to distance, making them a grave threat to our social fabric.

“Social media platforms have played a terrible role in metastasising of hatred from limited backwaters into multi-current mainstream trends,” he said.

Turk insisted that social media companies needed to “increase transparency about their hate speech policy”.

“And they must much more effectively put these policies into practice, including by ensuring that people can report hate speech easily and that those reports will swiftly lead to appropriate action,” he said.

The UN rights chief also urged all digital platforms “to vastly improve their efforts to combat hate speech in languages other than English, and pivot even greater attention to areas where early warning … shows that there is a rise in hate”.