Latest news with #U.S.OfficeofManagementandBudget
CNBC
11-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
CNBC Daily Open: The battleground for Fed chair might have shifted to renovations from rates
Homo economicus, or the "economic man," is an idea that depicts humans as rational beings. This assumption has been used to construct models of the economy and, more broadly, society. The great flaw in that theory is the supposition of logic in humans. We know, on an everyday basis, how flimsy that notion is. We need to keep our blood cholesterol in check, but the crunch of that fried chicken is irresistible. On Thursday, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought accused Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell of shooting over the budget to renovate the central bank's headquarters by roughly $700 million. In the same breath, he also questioned why there weren't any "rooftop terrace gardens, VIP private dining rooms and elevators, water features, premium marble, and much more" constructed, as was originally planned. To be fair, if all the allegations are true — that the promised luxury features factored into the budget had been omitted while costs have busted expectations — that would constitute mismanagement At this point, however, either the budget or the fountain's got to give. The accusation, more fundamentally, raises the question of whether U.S. President Donald Trump — who has engaged in multiple tirades against Powell will use this incident to boot the Fed chair. The idea of "homo economicus" was widely criticized in the late 20th century. Through psychological experiments, economists have proven no human is fully rational. But, really, did they have to go to such lengths?Trump announces 35% tariffs on Canada. In his letter, Trump highlighted how the country "retaliated with its own Tariffs" in March after the White House imposed fentanyl-related levies on it. In response, Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said the government will defend its workers and businesses. More all-time highs for U.S. stocks. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose Thursday to notch new closing records. Asia-Pacific markets mostly traded higher Friday. Singapore's Straits Times Index hit its fifth consecutive high in as many trading days. The White House accuses Powell of mismanagement. Trump's budget chief said that Powell had misled Congress about the renovation of the central bank's headquarters. It raises the question of whether Trump would use the incident to remove Powell. Analysts doubtful about the valuation of Starbucks' China business. Analysts have expressed hesitation over the $10 billion figure attached to the coffee chain's subsidiary, saying it does not consider the stiff competition in China's market. [PRO] 'New bull case' for the market. The chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management wrote to clients that several factors in the economy are helping investors shrug off tariff-related fears. Norway's Tesla obsession defies Europe's Musk backlash Tesla recorded a 54% year-on-year jump in new car sales in Norway in June, according to data from the Norwegian Road Federation, fueled by a 115.3% yearly increase in registrations for its revamped Model Y sports utility vehicle. The Tesla Model Y appears to be especially popular in Norway because of its competitive price and the fact that it meets local demand for large luggage space, high-ground clearance, all-wheel drive and a tow hitch, said Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian EV Association.
CNBC
11-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
CNBC Daily Open: Building renovations might be another front in Trump's attacks on Powell
Homo economicus, or the "economic man," is an idea that depicts humans as rational beings. This assumption has been used to construct models of the economy and, more broadly, society. The great flaw in that theory is the supposition of logic in humans. We know, on an everyday basis, how flimsy that notion is. We need to keep our blood cholesterol in check, but the crunch of that fried chicken is irresistible. On Thursday, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought accused Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell of shooting over the budget to renovate the central bank's headquarters by roughly $700 million. In the same breath, he also questioned why there weren't any "rooftop terrace gardens, VIP private dining rooms and elevators, water features, premium marble, and much more" constructed, as was originally planned. To be fair, if all the allegations are true — that the promised luxury features factored into the budget had been omitted while costs have busted expectations — that would constitute mismanagement At this point, however, either the budget or the fountain's got to give. The accusation, more fundamentally, raises the question of whether U.S. President Donald Trump — who has engaged in multiple tirades against Powell will use this incident to boot the Fed chair. The idea of "homo economicus" was widely criticized in the late 20th century. Through psychological experiments, economists have proven no human is fully rational. But, really, did they have to go to such lengths?Trump announces 35% tariffs on Canada. In his letter to Canada, Trump highlighted how the country "retaliated with its own Tariffs" in March after the White House imposed fentanyl-related levies on it, as well as its other "Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers." More all-time highs for U.S. stocks. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose Thursday to notch new closing records. The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.54%. Mining firms were boosted by Trump's 50% tariffs on copper, due to kick in Aug 1. The White House accuses Powell of mismanagement. Trump's budget chief said that Powell had misled Congress about the renovation of the central bank's headquarters. It raises the question of whether Trump would use the incident to remove Powell. Doubtful about the valuation of Starbucks' China business. Analysts have expressed hesitation over the $10 billion figure attached to the coffee chain's subsidiary, saying it does not consider the stiff competition in China's market. [PRO] 'New bull case' for the market. The chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management wrote to clients that several factors in the economy are helping investors shrug off tariff-related fears. The price of FOMO — India's options market faces a reality check A week ago, India's markets regulator sent a strong signal by barring global trading firm Jane Street from participating in the local equities market. But as the noise settles and the legal back-and-forth begins, the real story may lie elsewhere. This case offers a window into the structure and stress points of India's options market and what happens when regulation, technology and retail enthusiasm collide.
Chicago Tribune
07-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Waukegan chief of staff brings federal experience to City Hall; ‘I was kind of like the Swiss army knife'
Joshua May started working when he was young, took an interest in politics as a field organizer in former State Sen. Melinda Bush's, D-Grayslake, 2016 campaign and worked for several state and federal officials the next four years, including U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park. Making his home in Waukegan in 2019 while holding his political jobs, May eventually became chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield. In early 2021, an opportunity took him from Waukegan to Washington, D.C., where he joined President Joe Biden's administration. Starting in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, May became deputy chief of staff in the department for over a year until his job ended on Jan. 20, 2025, as Biden left office at the end of his term. He then chose to return to Waukegan, where he will ply his skills for Mayor Sam Cunningham. May started his job as Cunningham's chief of staff last week at City Hall in Waukegan excited to be back in the hometown of his adulthood and ready to use experience acquired at the highest level of government to help the mayor fulfill his vision for the city he started leading again on May 5. Rejecting the idea of becoming a lobbyist in Washington, May said he wanted to go somewhere and do something where he could use the experience he gained in the White House to have a positive impact on people's lives. 'Waukegan's got a place in my heart,' May said. 'The city has a lot of good potential with the lakefront, the harbor and a downtown becoming relevant again. It's a melting pot for Lake County and Illinois.' Initially his responsibilities in the Biden administration were personnel-related. He learned to understand human resources skills, and said he developed a knack for working with people which he intends to transfer to the Waukegan mayor's office. His responsibilities were multifaceted. 'I was kind of like the Swiss army knife,' May said. 'I learned process and people management. When you know the process, you can understand and distill complex issues. That's how you build (effectiveness) in City Hall with more than 500 employees, to help them be most effective for the taxpayers. They have to understand we're all in this together.' Understanding May's ties to the area, knowing he worked for Schneider and learning what he did in Washington, Cunningham said he reached out to him about the chief of staff job. May offered his help to the incoming mayor. 'He brings to the city experience at multiple levels of government,' Cunningham said. 'I will need assistance like that in the mission I'm undertaking to rebuild Waukegan. He understands we are a melting pot. From his time in the White House, he understands serving people.' Schneider said in an email he watched May grow from a staff assistant in his Lincolnshire congressional office to his campaign's political director, and then 'serving the most senior levels of our government in the Biden administration.' It 'is a testament to his unwavering dedication to public service and deep understanding of how government can improve lives,' Schneider said. 'I know he'll bring both heart and strategic vision to the role. I look forward to partnering with them, both as they work to build a brighter future for Waukegan.' Growing up in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood as a youngster, May said his family moved to the Deerfield area when it was time to start middle school. He graduated from Adlai E. Stevenson High School in 2009. Spending two years at the College of Lake County between 2011 and 2013, May went to work full-time. After helping Bush get elected in 2016, he became a staff assistant for Schneider, eventually becoming the political director for the congressman's 2018 reelection campaign.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Judge blocks Trump administration federal agency layoffs
May 23 (UPI) -- A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday issued an injunction, blocking President Donald Trump from laying off thousands of federal employees working at more than 20 government agencies. The order issued by U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of California Susan Illston also bars the Department of Government Efficiency and U.S. Office of Management and Budget from making further reductions to the federal workforce. "Presidents may set policy priorities for the executive branch, and agency heads may implement them. This much is undisputed. But Congress creates federal agencies, funds them, and gives them duties that-by statute-they must carry out," Illston wrote in her 51-page ruling. "Agencies may not conduct large-scale reorganizations and reductions in force in blatant disregard of Congress's mandates, and a President may not initiate large-scale executive branch reorganization without partnering with Congress." The Justice Department said in court Friday it plans to appeal the judge's decision. Trump in February issued an executive order declaring his intention to reduce the size and scope of the federal government. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget then began large-scale layoffs of thousands of federal employees later that month. A separate executive order in March targets a further seven agencies. The lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Government Employees seeks to block the Trump administration from carrying out those layoffs and seeks to have fired employees re-hired. Several other local governments, unions and other groups have filed similar lawsuits, calling the layoffs unlawful. The Justice Department said in court Friday it plans to appeal the judge's decision. "The defendants in this case are President Trump, numerous federal agencies, and the heads of those agencies. Defendants insist that the new administration does not need Congress's support to lay off and restructure large swathes of the federal workforce, essentially telling the Court, 'Nothing to see here.' In their view, federal agencies are not reorganizing. Rather, they have simply initiated reductions in force according to established regulations and 'consistent with applicable law.' The Court and the bystanding public should just move along," the judge wrote Friday. "Yet the role of a district court is to examine the evidence, and at this stage of the case the evidence discredits the executive's position and persuades the Court that plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their suit." Friday's ruling comes a day after a federal judge in Massachusetts issued a separate injunction prohibiting the Trump administration from further layoffs at the Department of Education. U.S. District Judge Myong Joun's ruling also forces the federal government to rehire Education Department employees previously let go under Trump's executive orders. "Indeed, the Court holds the President likely must request Congressional cooperation to order the changes he seeks, and thus issues a preliminary injunction to pause large-scale reductions in force and reorganizations in the meantime." Illston wrote Friday.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Reed champions Head Start for leveling playing field for kids. Trump is threatening to end program.
A child in the Head Start program at the Cranston Child Development Center plays on an oversized xylophone on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) For 60 years, Head Start, a program designed to support the nation's youngest and most economically challenged children, 'has given children and parents a real opportunity,' U.S. Sen. Jack Reed said outside the Cranston Child Development Center Wednesday. But now a recently leaked document from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) suggests Head Start, which falls under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), could see its funding cut entirely as part of an agency reorganization. The prospect of eliminating Head Start funding surfaced in a leaked, 64-page budget document first shared by Inside Medicine, a Substack-hosted publication, and later verified by the Washington Post and other major news outlets. The document comprises President Donald Trump's suggestions for the HHS budget in the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. 'Our job in government is to create opportunities, not to deny it,' Reed told the crowd gathered. 'We know that investing in early education for children, especially comprehensive, high quality Head Start, pays for itself many times.' Since its inception, the program started under President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of larger anti-poverty initiatives has served newborns through 5-year-olds, subsidizing child care, preschool and other early learning supports for families with incomes up to the poverty line. The Early Head Start program also offers services to pregnant women. Enrollment data from 2023 showed 1,610 Rhode Island kids in Head Start, and 675 kids in Early Head Start. 'The whole premise of Head Start is to have children going into kindergarten equally with children that have parents who can afford to pay for child care or send them to private schools,' said Stacy Del Vicario, vice president of child development at the Comprehensive Community Action Program (CCAP), the parent organization of the Cranston center, in an interview after the press event. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. According to the leaked document, Trump's proposed HHS budget 'does not fund Head Start. This elimination is consistent with the Administration's goal of returning education to the States and increasing parental choice. The Federal government should not be in the business of mandating curriculum, locations, and performance standards for any form of education.' 'Losing this program would make it so that we'd have hundreds of thousands of children that will not have access to early child care, which means that then you have parents that aren't able to work,' Del Vicario said. 'Because how are you affording child care?' It's possible that Trump's budget proposal might not inform the congressional budget at all — it serves more as an executive branch wishlist, rather than a concrete spending plan. But since Trump took office, Rhode Island's congressional delegates have hosted a flurry of press conferences designed to preempt and publicize the potential and ongoing threats to certain spending programs. On Wednesday, it was Reed alone who came to Cranston to speak in defense of the program which received around $12 billion in fiscal year 2024. Surrounded by Head Start providers and a few parents, Reed emphasized the program as a means of preparing kids for kindergarten and elementary school regardless of their background. The program, the senator said, makes 'school readiness…a family affair.' Losing this program would make it so that we'd have hundreds of thousands of children that will not have access to early child care, which means that then you have parents that aren't able to work. Because how are you affording child care? – Stacy Del Vicario, vice president of child development at the Comprehensive Community Action Program 'Now is the time to raise our voices and push back against these proposals that will undermine one of the most effective programs we have for children,' Reed said. 'The Trump administration says they want to empower parents and send education to local communities. But Head Start is already a local program.' Storm Brooks is a mother of two boys who attended Head Start and Early Head Start at the Cranston center. 'I wanted to start off the speech by mentioning how unexpected life is,' Brooks told the crowd, then recounted how her finances turned upside down when the pandemic hit in 2020. Head Start allowed her young boys in 'a trusted facility that not only meets my financial needs, but also gives me the surety that my children are safe, protected and cared for by trained professionals,' Brooks said. She added her kids have shown improvements in cognition, school and sociability since they entered the program. Reed zoomed out a bit further to consider Head Start as a way to build up young minds for future accomplishments. 'If you don't have that stimulation as a child, you won't develop your full potential, and you won't be able to give as much as you could to this country,' he said. Brooks offered a more specific example: a mother of two girls she often sees bringing her kids to the Cranston center. 'I see her Uber and Lyft her way here every morning and every afternoon, transferring her car seats to and fro from the building, making sure that her children get here safely,' Brooks said, adding that she wonders what this mother would do without Head Start. 'How much more difficult would it be for her to save up to have that vehicle for her children?' Brooks said. 'Because of Head Start, that mother is out working today to be able to do just that.' While the Head Start funding cuts may be hypothetical at the moment, the closure of regional Head Start offices is not. On April 3, Head Start providers nationwide received an email from the HHS' Administration for Children and Families that five regional offices — Boston, New York, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco — would be closed and consolidated starting on April 1. 'We were very caught off guard. Probably not as much as they were, because they literally walked to work and then it wasn't available,' Del Vicario said of the people working in the shuttered Head Start offices. Proponents of Head Start say the program has long been underfunded at both the state and federal level, leaving a limited number of eligibility slots for families. Del Vicario has worked in Rhode Island Head Start for 16 years, but said she has never seen cuts of the same magnitude as the ones in the OMB proposal. Rhode Island's delegation has 'always been so forward thinking with early childhood,' she said, but added that many states are not so lucky. 'There are a lot of states and people out there, unfortunately, that don't realize that early childhood is not just babysitting or not just putting a kid in a rocking chair,' Del Vicario said. But she also acknowledged that people who aren't raising young children might be unaware of the inner workings of the program, which she described as being tailored to 'community needs,' offering a comprehensive spectrum of child care from between four and six hours of classroom time plus access to social workers, mental health supports, nutritionists, nurses and more. CCAP's Head Start grants run on a five-year cycle, Del Vicario said, with the most recent starting in November 2024. So far the organization's funding has not been imperiled. But the closure of the regional office is troubling, she said, because it's become harder to access information. Federal contacts for technical assistance and training have remained intact, Del Vicario said, and they've been helpful in communicating what they know about the program's status. Other questions remain unanswered. 'Who do we report into? Who do we turn our grants into? Who do we ask questions?' Del Vicario wondered. 'Because we really haven't been given any names yet. They've given us this generic email kind of thing.' The lack of higher-up oversight has introduced concerns about grant compliance, Del Vicario said, as providers are still being monitored. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
