Americans plan to keep cutting back on spending through the holidays, new survey says
Thevastmajority of adults(92%)havereducedtheir spendingoverthepast sixmonths.
Consumers remain cautious in their spending and they’re being more discerning about where and when to part with hard-earned cash. Inflation has comedown,butremainsstubbornlyhigh.
The most common categories for spending cuts over the past six months were clothingandapparel (63%), restaurants and bars (62%), and entertainment outside the house (56%), a pattern that held steady from our June survey. The next biggest categories for cuts were groceries (54%), recreational travel and vacations (53%) and electronics(50%.)
Looking ahead to the all-important holiday shopping season, a warning for retailers: More than three quarters of all U.S. adults surveyed (76%) plan tocutbackonspendingfornon-essentialitemsand 62% expect to cut back on essential items “sometimes” or “more often” over the next six months,thesurveyfound.
Souce:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/18/americans-plan-to-cut-spending-throughholidays-survey-says.html
Gas is rapidly approaching $6 in California
Pain at the pump is returning across the United States,especiallyonthe West Coast.
InCalifornia,gaspricesarerapidlyapproaching$6 a gallon. According to AAA, the state average has spiked by 31 cents in the past week alone, to $5.79 gallon.
But it’s not just California drivers experiencing sticker shock. Drivers in 11 states on average now face gas at $4 a gallon, including $5 or higher in WashingtonandNevada.
Nationally, gas prices remain well below the record of $5.02 set last June. Still, US gas prices climbed this week to $3.88 a gallon, the highest levelofthe entireyear,accordingtoAAA.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell warned in August that the organization's disaster fund could dry up within weeks and delay the federal response to naturaldisasters.PresidentBidenaskedCongress last month for $12 billion to replenish the disaster fund, but Criswell said on "Face the Nation" that $12billion inextrafunds maynotbeenough.
Homeowners Face Rising Insurance Rates as Climate Change Makes Wildfires, Storms
More Common A growing number of Americans are finding it difficult to afford insurance on their homes, a problem only expected to worsen because insurers and lawmakers have underestimated the impact of climatechange,anew reportsays.
A report from First Street Foundation released Wednesday says states such as California, Florida and Louisiana, which are prone to wildfires and damaging storms and flooding, are likely to see the mostdramaticincreases inpremiums.
FirstStreetestimates,factoringclimatemodelsinto the financial risk of properties in its report, that roughly39millionproperties—roughlyaquarterof all homes in the country — are being underpriced fortheclimaterisktoinsurethoseproperties.
The U.S. homeowner’s insurance industry has had three straight years of underwriting losses, according to credit rating agency AM Best. Losses forthefirsthalfof2023totaled$24.5billion,whichis roughlywhatwaslostin allof2022.
This summer, reinsurance companies raised their property catastrophe reinsurance premiums in the U.S.byanaverageof 20%to50%.
Souce:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-york/articles/2023-0920/homeowners-face-rising-insurance-rates-as-climate-change-makes-wildfiresstorms-more-common
Layoffs, work stoppages mount in UAW strike against Big Three
TheUnited AutoWorkers(UAW) strike enteredits seventhdayonThursdayinwhatistheunion’sfirst strike simultaneously targeting each of Detroit’s BigThreeautomakers—Ford,GeneralMotorsand Stellantis.About12,700workersatatriooffacilities operated by the Big Three went on strike last Friday intheinitialwave ofwalkouts.
The strike has triggered layoffs and work stoppages at those facilities in the automakers’ supplychains,andUAWPresidentShawnFainhas warned that further strikes will be announced if negotiations do not yield sufficient progress by Friday.
UAW leaders are running what the union calls a "standupstrike,"inwhichspecificlocalsareasked togoonstrikeattheirfacilities.Theunionhassaid thatstrategywillgive itflexibilityin escalatingthe strike incrementally up to a potential nationwide strike if negotiations do not deliver sufficient progressinitsview,andwillmakeitharderforthe autocompaniestopredictitsnextmove.
Florida Agriculture Losses Between $78M and $371M From Hurricane Idalia, Preliminary Estimate Says
FloridaagriculturelossesfromHurricaneIdaliaareestimatedatbetween$78millionand$371million,with producersalsosuffering widespreaddamagetosuchinfrastructureasirrigationrigsandfences,according toapreliminaryreportThursday fromtheUniversityofFlorida.
The Category 3 hurricane came ashore Aug. 30 along Florida's Big Bend region with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph (205 kph), sweeping across rural areas that include crops such as peanuts and cotton aswellascattle,poultryandaquacultureoperations.
Predicted losses for livestock are pegged at between $30.1 million and $123.4 million, according to the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences report. Estimates for field and row crop losses are between $30.7 million and $93.6 million, with greenhouse and nursery products accounting for between$4.7millionand$68.8million.
Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson announced an assistance program targeted at repair or replacement of existing irrigation systems. The program offers a reimbursement rate of 75% up to a maximumof $150,000 perproducer orentity except those covered fully byinsurance, according to a news release.
Souce:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/florida/articles/2023-09-21/florida-agriculture-losses-between-78m-and-371m-from-hurricane-idaliapreliminary-estimate-says