What is ‘price gouging’ and why is VP Harris proposing to ban it?
Vice President Kamala Harris has proposed a ban on “price gouging” by food suppliers and grocery stores, as part of a broader agenda aimed at lowering the cost of housing, medicine, and food. The proposal, introduced Friday, is an attempt to tackle a clear vulnerability of Harris’ head-on: Under the Biden-Harris administration, grocery prices have shot up 21%, part of an inflation surge that has raised overall costs about 19% and soured many Americans on the economy, even as unemployment fell to historic lows. Wages have also risen sharply since the pandemic, and have outpaced prices for more than a year. Still, surveys find Americans continue to struggle with higher costs.
Looking to buy a home? You may now need to factor in the cost of your agent’s commission
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thinking of buying a home with the help of a real estate agent? You can no longer take it for granted that a seller will cover the cost of your agent’s commission. Home sellers have traditionally offered a blanket commission to a buyer’s agent when they listed their home on the market. But that will no longer be allowed as of this weekend, when various changes to U.S. real estate industry practices are set to take effect. A homebuyer may still try to negotiate such an offer from the seller. But if they decline, that would leave the homebuyer on the hook for paying for their agent’s services.
US consumer sentiment rises slightly on Democratic optimism over Harris’ presidential prospects
WASHINGTON (AP) — A surge in optimism by Democrats over the prospects of Vice President Kamala Harris lifted U.S. consumer sentiment slightly this month. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index edged up to 67.8 after coming in at 66.4 in July. Americans’ expectations for the future rose, while their assessment of current economic conditions sank slightly. Democrats’ sentiment rose, and Republicans’ fell. The survey found that 41% of consumers considered Harris the better candidate for the economy, versus the 38% who chose Republican nominee Donald Trump. Before President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and gave way to Harris, Trump held an advantage on the issue.
San Francisco goes after websites that make AI deepfake nudes of women and girls
Nearly a year after AI-generated nude images of high school girls upended a community in southern Spain, a juvenile court this summer sentenced 15 of their classmates to a year of probation. But the artificial intelligence tool used to create the harmful deepfakes is still easily accessible on the internet, promising to “undress any photo” uploaded to the website within seconds. Now a new effort to shut down the app and others like it is being pursued in California, where San Francisco this week filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit that experts said could set a precedent but will also face many hurdles.
Harris offers proposals to cut food and housing costs, trying to blunt Trump’s economic attacks
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has announced a sweeping set of economic proposals meant to cut taxes and lower the cost of groceries, housing and other essentials for many Americans. She’s aiming to address the financial concerns that are at the top of the minds of voters and that Republican Donald Trump is attempting to blame on her. During a speech Friday in the battleground state of North Carolina, Harris said that “building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.” She endorsed a proposal for a federal ban on price gouging by food producers and grocers, and proposed $25,000 in down payment assistance for certain first-time homebuyers.
Stock market today: Wall Street closes its best week of the year with some more gains
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks drifted higher as Wall Street coasted to the close of its best week since November. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% Friday, extending its winning streak to a seventh day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2%. Treasury yields eased a bit following a couple mixed reports on the U.S. economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.88%. The market’s focus will shift next week to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech at a setting that’s been home to big policy announcements in the past.
Harris has offered a string of new economic proposals. Here’s a closer look at what’s in them
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is out with a string of new proposals on food prices, taxes, housing and medical costs that she says will empower the middle class. The plans constitute the first major policy proposals Harris has released in the nearly four weeks since President Joe Biden bowed out of the race and endorsed the vice president. Among other proposals, Harris wants to increase homebuilding and affordable housing stock around the country, provide more tax incentives for first-time homebuyers, impose limits on profits from food production in order to cut grocery store prices and cancel accumulated medical debt for millions of Americans.
FACT FOCUS: A look at Harris’ economic agenda
Vice President Kamala Harris has unveiled her economic agenda in a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Democratic presidential nominee laid out plans including a proposal for a federal ban on what she called price gouging on groceries, as well as $25,000 in down payment help for certain first-time homebuyers and tax incentives for builders of starter homes. She also spoke at length about lowering drug costs.
New California laws aim to reduce smash-and-grab robberies, car thefts and shoplifting
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bipartisan package of 10 bills to crack down on retail theft. The package includes some of the most consequential laws to tackle professional crime rings in years. The new laws Newsom signed Friday make it easier to go after repeat shoplifters, auto thieves and stolen goods resellers. Lawmakers hope the package will convince voters to reject a ballot measure that would make shoplifting a felony again for repeat offenders, among other things. Democrats say the measure would disproportionately impact low-income people and those with substance use issues. The ballot measure is supported by district attorneys, businesses and some local elected officials.
Bibles, cryptocurrency, Truth Social and gold bars: A look at Trump’s reported sources of income
Former President Donald Trump owns more than $1 million worth of cryptocurrency and up to $250,000 in gold bars along with the portfolio of golf courses and real estate properties that have made him a billionaire. That’s according to financial disclosures he filed that were released Thursday night as part of Trump’s Republican presidential bid. The more than 200 pages of paperwork give a limited picture of his money and investments. In accordance with federal law, most assets’ values are listed in a range. The document does not detail the former president’s business losses, making it impossible to determine how much of a profit any of his myriad holdings provides.
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