TikTok Banned in More Countries | Business Matters (March 13)

for today's business matters major packaged food companies are seeking targeted staff tariff exemptions that is a group representing Quaker Oats Pepsi Foggers and uh and more have sent a letter to used to the White House the consumer Brands Association is asking the president to exempt ingredients that are not available from us sources these include coffee oats cocoa spices tropical fruits and 10 mil steel they're used for Specialty Foods and household goods the group says exemptions for these ingredients will protect manufacturers while supporting the president's effort to lower consumer inflation the Federal Trade Commission is reversing courts after requesting a delay to a trial against Amazon because of budget and staff shortages in a statement sent to a Seattle judge FTC attorney Jonathan Cohen says he was wrong about the lack of resources Cohen had outlined a dire resource situation described being the effects of cost cutting measures enacted by President Trump now the attorney is saying that the FTC is fully prepared for the case and can meet whatever schedule and deadlines the court says Amazon is accused of tricking consumers to enroll in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions Amazon has denied any wrongdoing Budget Airline spirit is emerging from bankruptcy as a premier carrier Spirit has long been known for its No Frills service but the company is rerouting this comes after the Florida based Airline filed for bankruptcy protection last year that same year Spirit reported a net loss of more than $1 billion as part of its turnaround strategy the former budget carrier will shift its focus from Price conscious Flyers to more affluent Travelers its CEO Ted Christie said it's redefining low Fair travel with new high value options to attract customers Spirit plans to redesign its loyalty program and partner with other carriers us wholesale inflation slowed down in February the producer price index a wholesale inflation gauge that's been closely watched for T related impacts showed the pace of price hikes decreased the PPI was on change from January and Rose 3.2% for the 12 months ending in February that marked a Slowdown from the prior month economists were expecting wholesale level inflation to cool amid falling Energy prices which turned out to be the case actually the United States is entering its fourth year of a near continuous outbreak of the highly pathogenic Aven influenza earlier I discussed the situation where the US continues to kill millions of hens with farmer and journalist Brian Ray singer he's the author of landr Casp take a look what is the strategy uh behind the usda's continued Reliance in calling hens good morning thanks for having me it's good to be with you you know I think that right now the strategy is focused around containment and we can discuss you know whether each individual facility each individual bird needs to be euthanized or whether they're quarantining or other things could help with that so that's a worthy discussion to have the deeper issue that we have is that the reason bird flu is having such a massive impact on the price of eggs the availability eggs is because of the vulnerability of our supply chain here in America and that is going to require much deeper work from everybody to be able to address so you're saying it is entirely possible to keep egg prices down while limitting limiting uh the spread of bird flu yeah it is something that we can do if we are able to evolve our food supply chain what I mean by that is we've been wiping out Farms Family Farms in this country at the rate of 45,000 per year for the past Century and what that means is we have fewer and fewer Farms but we also have fewer and fewer small businesses and others who are involved in the purchase and the distribution and the sale of our food products and so you can have one great big Distribution Center go down and that can have a massive outsized impact on the supply of our eggs and that's what we're experiencing right now we can and should discuss and debate where and how do we need to euthanize Birds when do we not need to do that but every time we need to do it it has a bigger impact a bigger shock wave sent through our supply chain because we do have such a vulnerable supply chain that we have in this country what's a big cont bigger contributor to prices going up for eggs uh bird flu or what you're saying about the supply chain yeah it's a great question the supply chain issue is the deeper issue and I think has a bigger impact the bird flu creates these sudden shocks but we also saw during covid that it was not only uh chicken but any and all types of food products when our supply chain locked up during covid right so what we're seeing right now during bird flu is kind of like what we saw during the government response to covid when industries were getting shut down so it's very very similar to that we do need to stop the spread of bird flu but we also have to understand that there's deeper issues at play what has bird flu shown in terms of weaknesses in the supply chain in your view yeah what it has shown is that there are too few paths for food to get from the farm gate to the dinner table so what we ought to have and I think that there's a lot of work being done on this right now and I know that there's a lot of discussion with the Trump Administration about this there's more work to be done around making sure that our family farms can Thrive so that when people are buying eggs they're not only getting them through the normal channels you might normally get them through but they're also able to buy them from local farmers local farmers markets specialty food stores um grocery stores having local eggs that they carry because many groceries are happy to do that if they know people will buy them and so the reality is that we should have eggs coming from many places local Regional National and have consumers have options instead we really have what's coming across the national supply chain that has all these vulnerabilities whether it's supply chain or uh the bird flu situation I think what most families really want to see is egg prices coming down uh do you see that happening soon or not you know I do think that there are policy adjustments that are being discussed and some they're being made that can perhaps help in the near term um I think that we're going to continue to see pressure the same pressure that created the higher price of eggs continue however it's been you know it's been a long time coming you know to your point bird flu has been going on for a couple years now there's been a lot of birds that have already been euthanized prior to the current policies being put in place so I think we can ease the level that it's increasing but I think we should be ready for increases to continue because this was a long time in the making bird flu has been rather intense already and we do have these deeper supply chain issues so I think we can slow that increase but we shouldn't be surprised if the price of eggs remains elevated and remains a problem for Working Families in America Brian thank you very much for coming on today thank you meanwhile gas prices are down slightly since January amid fears of a possible recession according to Triple A the national average price for a gallon of regular gas stands at $38 prices at the pump have been dropping consistently since July and oil prices have dropped 11% since January while even a small Dro in gas prices is good news it comes amid concerns about a possible recession the actual start of a recession would likely send gasoline prices down quickly and sharply a Tit for Tat continues to unfold over tariffs president Trump vowed today to impose a 200% levy on all alcohol imported from European Union Nations his thread comes in response to the eu's proposed tariff on American whiskey which is set for April 1st the EU is also evaluating potential duties on other us Spirits including Jin Trump wrote on truth so today that if the Tariff is not removed immediately the US will shortly place the 200% tariffs on all wines Champagnes and alcoholic products coming out of France and other you EU countries Trump said the move would be great for the wine and champagne businesses in the US now we don't know where the 2036 Olympic Games will be yet but we do know where we can watch them the international Olympic Committee and Comcast owned NBC Universal have signed a media extension the iloc announced that NBC will pay $3 billion to keep media rights in the US the extension includes the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City Utah in 2034 and the Olympic Summer Games in 2036 a host city is still being decided on the deal also includes joint projects like digital advertising NBC is the single biggest source for revenue for the ioc the next Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028 Volkswagen is in the hot seat the United Auto Workers Union has filed unfair Labor practice charges against the german-based automaker this comes as VW is cutting jobs at its Tennessee Factory where workers are negotiating their first ever Union contract UAW said it has notifi the Trump administration of what it called unacceptable anti-union anti-American conduct a VW spokesperson said it's cutting production in Tennessee out of caution for dipped demand for EVS the company said it is offering a voluntary attrition program including a severance package retirement options and benefits recession concerns are on the rise in a note sent to clients Friday JP Morgan Chase said there's about a 40% chance the US economy will enter a recession before the end of the year that's a 10% hike from what economists there had forecast in January former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers says there's a 50/50 chance of an economic downturn sometime in 2025 golden Sachs is a little more optimistic officials there say the nation only has a 20% chance of a recession Albania has started to turn off Tick Tock users in the country are experiencing difficulties accessing the popul short video app after a one-year government ban took effect today this was prompted by concerns that social media is fueling youth violence some users said they were unable to access the platform via web browsers after midday Albania's National Authority for cyber security has ordered all internet providers in the country to written sub submit uh confirmation that Tik Tok will be turned off by today Albania's move follows bans or partial bans in at least 20 other countries in addition to worries about improper videos there are security concerns linked to Tik Tok owner bike dance and his ties to the Chinese regime Albania decided to ban Tik Tok last December a month after a 14-year-old boy was killed by a classmate following arguments on social media according to officials at Dollar General many lowincome households in the US are having a harder time staying afloat and some are living without basic necessities Dollar General is considered a bellweather on shopping habits during an earnings call on Thursday Dollar General CEO said inflation is causing many low and middle inome consumers to buy less the company also said the Trump administration's tariffs on Imports could lead to increased prices comedian Hannibal bureas showed off his newly renovated music venue which used to be a well-known New York City performance space take a look the one and [Music] only comedian Hannibal burus took the stage to welcome the crowd at the opening of his new venue called Isola in Brooklyn earlier this month this is the show room here he has taken over the performance space once known as the Knitting Factory renamed and remodeled it it's a process with tuning the system for the room for right now it's bumping but it's not even I don't even think it's 50% we just got finished that like I put up at 754 and he reflected on his shift from standup comedian to music venue manager I wasn't driven by standup anymore and then had to pay bills so I was like all right well this plus this equals this so time to go do some shows burus made waves when he was recorded performing a standup routine about the long-running sexual assault allegations against comedian Bill Cosby in 2014 burus told Reuters he wasn't interested in what is sometimes called cancel culture no I don't think I think that's all exaggerated and yeah my thing didn't stem from cancellation it just stem from having something take on a life and overshadow what I'm what I'm trying to do once his primary source of income and creative fulfillment burus says he now views standup as a means to fund his new Venture might still do stand up in certain spots you know uh but I'll focus on uh you know I I'll I'll get more into the music and putting out stuff now cuz I have a spot where I can say oh we about to do the release party here or we can show the music video or it's just a easier place to activate a final blow at the end of the catwalk for Donatella Versace after nearly three decades as Chief creative off creative officers she is taking on a new role verace has confirmed that the 69-year-old will be transitioning to the newly created Chief brand ambassador position she took over the label from the founder uh her late brother Giani who was murdered in 1997 in a statement she said it has been her greatest honor to carry on his legacy Versace has named jio Vali as the new Chief created officer Vali most recently worked at Prada owned m P has been edging closer to buying versan from its parent company Capri Holdings Lisa Vander pump is taking over a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip the entrepreneur and realy TV star reality TV star announced Wednesday she is partnering with Caesar's entertainment to overhaul The Cromwell that's a boutique hotel located in the center of the Strip by early next year it will be turned into the Vander pump Hotel the property will remain open while the common areas and guest rooms are renovated with the Bravo star signature style this is Vanderpump's first foray into hotels it expands her presence on the Strip which includes several popular restaurants and lounges at other Caesar's properties Vander pump and her husband Kent Todd have Decades of experience in the restaurant business a new Looney Tunes movie is coming out with a talented voice actor who plays multiple iconic characters in in the new animated Adventure here's more nothing can stop me now I hope that shatterproof glass can withstand the abuse mother only a duck and two pigs can save the world from an alien invasion in The Day the Earth blew up a Looney Tunes movie situation is under control there's no way we should screw this up Eric Bowa does double duty in the film what you see I'm glad you asked this question Rick it's a a question that I've been dying to talk Hey listen Daffy stop hogging the the the interview I was a part of this movie too hi you know it's it's a little you know when they're when they're literally resting on your shoulders here it's kind of easy to kind of refer to each of the characters but you know I I can't continue uh this interview uh without crediting and signing of course the great Mel blank who was the original voice behind not just these voices but I like to call them these personalities way it's a character that has been around since the 1940s but with the DEA hand of the Warner Brothers animation team we have brought her into the 21st century so her character is more full um for lack of a better word more human um more emotional and uh a heck of a lot smarter you have to act fast and there's only one person that can do the age in the job Daffy Duck Daffy oh no not the Wall Street ended sharply lower today and the S&P 500 confirmed it is in fact in a correction after cool inflation data was overshadowed by fears that tariffs could reignite inflation and tip the economy into recession a broad selloff sent all three major US indexes uh tumbling with losses in Tech and Tech related me mega cap shares dragging the NASDAQ down most S&P 500 closed more than 10% below as February 19th record closing High confirming that the Bell weather index has been in a correction since then and that's it on business matters for today