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Big Tech may face some of the most significant impact of a proposed 15% minimum corporate tax rate that finance ministers for the G7 nations meeting in London supported Saturday.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters that companies that fall under the G7 deal "will include large, profitable firms," such as Amazon and Facebook.
"And those firms, I believe, will qualify by almost any definition," she added. READ MORE
Artificial intelligence is gradually catching up to ours. A.I. algorithms can now consistently beat us at chess, poker and multiplayer video games, generate images of human faces indistinguishable from real ones, write news articles (not this one!) and even love stories, and drive cars better than most teenagers do.
But A.I. isn’t perfect, yet, if Woebot is any indicator. Woebot, as Karen Brown wrote this week in Science Times, is an A.I.-powered smartphone app that aims to provide low-cost counseling, using dialogue to guide users through the basic techniques of cognitive-behavioral therapy. But many psychologists doubt whether an A.I. algorithm can ever express the kind of empathy required to make interpersonal therapy work. READ MORE
Art Laffer, a former economic adviser to Ronald Reagan, told "Mornings with Maria" on Thursday that he is "not optimistic about the Biden long-term jobs situation."
"I don’t have really a lot of hope for the jobs market long-term in the U.S.," he added.
Laffer made the comments on Thursday, the day it was revealed weekly jobless claims fell to a pandemic low and private-payroll job growth surged past expectations. READ MORE
Those of us who are a little older will remember that, within two years of the 2001 recession, there was much hand-wringing about the coming labor shortage, which was apparently obvious—except to those actually looking at the labor market. It never came.
More recently after the Great Recession, another set of hand-wringing was going on about a labor shortage, despite the fact that millions were still laid off. We stopped hearing that one even as hiring increased and the economy improved. There was no shortage. READ MORE
Businesses say they can’t find enough workers to hire. The pace of Americans moving off the unemployment rolls is slowing. And a top Federal Reserve official is warning that job trends in May might look “odd.”
All of that suggests that the next monthly U.S. employment report, which will be released Friday morning, may not show the robust growth that President Joe Biden needs to help pass his sweeping agenda. READ MORE
Businesses are facing rising costs particularly on goods used to make their products, while they are offering higher wages and other incentives to get employees back to work, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.
Economic growth increased at a “moderate pace” from early April to late May, the central bank said in its periodic “Beige Book” survey of activity across its 12 districts. READ MORE
Finally, the time is at hand when many employers may safely resume on-site work for most or all employees. But knowing now how effectively many employees can work remotely, organizations are rethinking workforce management strategies and allowing employees much greater flexibility to work from home part of each week, all the time or simply as business obligations allow. Being intentional about setting shared expectations can help your employees make more informed choices about whether to take advantage of flexible work options and avoid unpleasant surprises at evaluation time. READ MORE
A hybrid workforce is typically described as having both in-house and remote talent. The assumption is that productivity and communication tools are the foundation of this new world of work, but connecting distributed teams and building collaborative thought requires a much deeper effort and understanding.
Remote teams aren’t the only catalyst for this level of evaluation. Instead, we can actually work quite distantly even when returning to the office. READ MORE
A key part of insurance company Lemonade's pitch to investors and customers is its ability to disrupt the normally staid insurance industry with artificial intelligence. It touts friendly chatbots like AI Maya and AI Jim, which help customers sign up for policies for things like homeowners' or pet health insurance, and file claims through Lemonade's app. And it has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from public and private market investors, in large part by positioning itself as an AI-powered tool.
Yet less than a year after its public market debut, the company, now valued at $5 billion, finds itself in the middle of a PR controversy related to the technology that underpins its services. READ MORE
A worker shortage plaguing businesses has continued to worsen in recent months, posing a new threat to the economy's tepid recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report published Tuesday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber found the U.S. had a record 8.1 million vacant job openings in March, the last month for which data is available – an increase of 600,000 from February. But there are only half as many available workers for each open job – roughly 1.4 available workers per opening – as there has been on average over the past 20 years. READ MORE
More companies will accept cryptocurrency as payment, especially Bitcoin and Stablecoin, Voyager Digital CEO Steve Ehrlich told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria" Tuesday.
STEVE EHRLICH: I think there's going to be more, you know, more companies accepting crypto. I think one of the other things are Stablecoins there, and I think there will be more companies accepting Stablecoins as the first step then they will start accepting Bitcoin.…
That's a growing population. Us at Voyager, we're already seeing that as… our business caters to small and mid-sized businesses as well as retail consumers. READ MORE
Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes has more than 100 questions for potential jurors in her coming fraud trial, including whether they have ever called a radio show, posted opinions on social media or taken any medication that could affect their ability to serve.
Ms. Holmes’s lawyers have proposed the queries for potential jurors in a 45-page form submitted this week to the federal judge overseeing her trial, scheduled to begin in late August. Her lawyers say the unusually long jury questionnaire is necessary to root out juror bias because of the extensive publicity around the downfall of Ms. Holmes’s blood-testing company. READ MORE
When the final Phase 3 data came out last November showing the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were more than 90% effective, Dr. Anthony Fauci had no words. He texted smiley face emojis to a journalist seeking his reaction.
This astonishing efficacy has held up in real-world studies in the US, Israel and elsewhere. The mRNA technology -- developed for its speed and flexibility as opposed to expectations it would provide strong protection against an infectious disease -- has pleased and astonished even those who already advocated for it. READ MORE
More than half of American adults are now fully vaccinated, and with that millions of people are leaving the confines of their homes to once again dine out, meet new people, celebrate weddings and take road trips after more than a year of social distancing.
For tech startups, many of which have been beneficiaries of lockdown life, the impacts of the economic reopening aren’t entirely straightforward. Some companies, including dating apps, expect a boom as vaccinated singles kick their romantic pursuits back into gear. Ditto for wedding planning platforms helping couples plot out COVID-postponed nuptials. READ MORE
The giant US tech firms known as the “Silicon Six” have been accused of inflating their stated tax payments by almost $100bn (£70bn) over the past decade.
As Chancellor Rishi Sunak called on world leaders to back a new tech tax ahead of next week’s G7 summit in the UK, a report by the campaign group Fair Tax Foundation singled out Amazon, Facebook, Google’s owner, Alphabet, Netflix, Apple and Microsoft. READ MORE
Pour one out for Internet Explorer, the long-enduring internet browser that's been the butt of countless jokes about its speed, reliability and, probably most notable of all, security, which will retire next year after more than 25 years of service.
Microsoft said it will pull the plug on the browser's life support in June 2022, giving its last remaining half a dozen or so users a solid year to transition to Chrome or Firefox — let's be honest here — though other respectable browsers are available. There will be some exceptions to the end-of-life plan, such as industrial machines that need the browser to operate. READ MORE
Shortages in the semiconductor industry, which have already slammed automakers and consumer electronics companies, are getting even worse, complicating the global economy’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Chip lead times, the gap between ordering a chip and taking delivery, increased to 17 weeks in April, indicating users are getting more desperate to secure supply, according to research by Susquehanna Financial Group. That is the longest wait since the firm began tracking the data in 2017, in what it describes as the “danger zone.” READ MORE
Startup founders rely heavily on the skills of their initial hires. However, given the competitive nature of recruiting in many industries, attracting the best talent can be a challenge. Larger, more well-established companies usually offer better compensation in terms of both pay and perks.
It’s a tall order to make the opportunities working for a startup provides more alluring to highly skilled professionals than other, potentially more lucrative positions. To help, 14 leaders from Forbes Coaches Council look at ways to attract better talent to your startup and keep them on your payroll. READ MORE
Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) has been one of the biggest surprises of the pandemic era for investors. Its share price has more than tripled from the low point it hit last March as sales have surged thanks to the success of the company's digital channel, which is now driving about half of its sales.
The stock reached a high of $1,579.52 last month -- only five companies in the S&P 500 have higher share prices. That's also more than triple the share price of the next-highest restaurant chain, Domino's. READ MORE