‘We said: Inshallah’: US sanctions fail to prevent Iran from selling record amount of crude to energy-hungry China
China has never halted imports of Iranian crude completely, despite the US sanctions, with most shipments reportedly being indirect, officially identified as oil from the other Gulf states.The Islamic republic has shipped some 17.8 million tons of crude to Chinese ports over the past 14 months, with volumes hitting historic highs in January and February, according to Refinitiv Oil Research, the energy-focused unit of the global provider of financial market data and infrastructure Refinitiv, as quoted by Reuters. Also on rt.com Iran to join LNG race in Asia with huge North Pars development Nearly 75 percent of those volumes were moved through Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, while the remaining 25 percent entered Chinese … [READ MORE...]
Inside the Lincoln Project’s Secrets, Side Deals and Scandals
Mr. Trump’s outburst gave the Lincoln Project a flood of attention it could have only hoped for. Fund-raising surged. In June, the billionaire investor Stephen Mandel donated $1 million, while Joshua Bekenstein, a co-chairman of Bain Capital, and David Geffen each donated $100,000; Mr. Geffen has since given $500,000 in total. (David Dishman, the executive director of the David Geffen Foundation, said that Mr. Geffen’s donations were “specific to their work around the 2020 election cycle.”)It was the start of a wave of contributions, not all from financial powerhouses like Mr. Geffen. The Lincoln Project raised more than $30 million from people who gave less than $200.A hiring spree began, and the organization spread its wings, creating a communications shop, a political division, podcasts … [READ MORE...]
David Mintz, Whose Tofutti Made Bean Curd Cool, Dies at 89
After graduating from a Lubavitcher Yeshiva high school in Crown Heights, he attended Brooklyn College, briefly sold mink stoles, and ran a bungalow colony in the Catskills, where he opened a deli.It was after he opened his Manhattan restaurant, he said in one of many versions of the story, that “a Jewish hippie” tipped him to the potential of tofu. “The Book of Tofu” (1979), by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi, became his new bible.Mr. Mintz’s first marriage ended in divorce (“Bean curd wasn’t exciting to her,” he told The Baltimore Jewish Times in 1984). In 1984 he married Rachel Avalagon, who died this year. He is survived by their son, Ethan.Mr. Mintz often sought guidance from Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the venerable leader of the Lubavitcher Hasidic movement, to whom he had … [READ MORE...]
Latest News
Child Tax Credit, Proposed in Stimulus, Advances an Effort Years in the Making
Welfare critics warn the country is retreating from success. Child poverty reached a new low before the pandemic, and opponents say a child allowance could reverse that trend by reducing incentives to work. About 10 million children are poor by a government definition that varies with family size and local cost of living. (A typical family of four with income below about $28,000 is considered poor.)“Why are Republicans asleep at the switch?” wrote Mickey Kaus, whose antiwelfare writings … [Read More...]
To Juice the Economy, Biden Bets on the Poor
But unlike Mr. Biden, Mr. Trump pursued a top-down approach to reinvigorating economic and wage growth. He cut taxes for corporations and other businesses, alongside cuts in individual tax rates up and down the income spectrum. His advisers predicted that the moves would significantly accelerate business investment and generate a sustained economic boom that would in turn drive up incomes for low earners and the middle class, even though the direct benefits of the bill were disproportionately … [Read More...]
Biden Presses Economic Aid Plan, Rejecting Inflation Fears
As investors look for a pickup in growth and slightly faster price increases, watchers of the Federal Reserve have begun to expect that it might begin to slow its big bond purchases, which it has been using to bolster growth, and raise interest rates sooner than had been anticipated.The central bank has promised to leave interest rates near zero until the economy has achieved full employment and inflation is above 2 percent and expected to stay there for some time. If markets expect the economy … [Read More...]
February 2021 Jobs Report: U.S. Economy Added 379,000 Jobs
She mentioned her frustration to someone she met at work. “He called his friend, who called his stepdaughter, who called her boyfriend, who called his son, who works for the unemployment office,” she said, and he was finally able to clear up the mistake.Ultimately, Ms. Pontia hopes to get her old position back. But “to get a job even close to what I was able to have before seems absolutely impossible until things are safer,” she said.Fifteen hundred miles to the southwest, in San Antonio, Jordan … [Read More...]
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- Investors Are Focused on Treasurys. Here’s What the Fed Could Do.
Small Business
David Mintz, Whose Tofutti Made Bean Curd Cool, Dies at 89
After graduating from a Lubavitcher Yeshiva high school in Crown Heights, he attended Brooklyn College, briefly sold mink stoles, and ran a bungalow colony in the Catskills, where he opened a deli.It was after he opened his Manhattan restaurant, he said in one of many versions of the story, that “a Jewish hippie” tipped him to the potential of tofu. “The Book of Tofu” (1979), by William Shurtleff … [Read More...]
Loretta Whitfield, Whose Black Doll Was ‘Ahead of Its Time,’ Dies at 79
Loretta Mae Thomas was born on Feb. 17, 1941, in Wellington, Kan. Her family moved to Washington after her father, Jesse, got a job as a clerk at the Pentagon. Her mother, Verna Mae (Hayden) Thomas, also worked for the federal government.Loretta entered Eastern High School in 1954, the same year the Supreme Court struck down school segregation in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. Dolls played an … [Read More...]
Your Money
Lessons From a Year of Pandemic Spending
“He was suffering,” she said. “But he wasn’t ready to die.”Ms. Smith visited him every other day, sometimes bringing steak sandwiches, pizza and other favorite foods. And she often ate dinners and snacks provided by the nursing home — which didn’t cost her anything. She now prepares all her meals at home, spending roughly $60 per week on groceries, including the fish cakes she practically lives … [Read More...]
Don’t Pay Tax Penalties on Money You Took From Retirement Accounts
If you’re using tax preparation software, the document should print out with the word “rollover” entered next to the zero, Mr. Slott said. Someone completing a paper form would need to write in the word “rollover.” That will treat the withdrawal as a nontaxable event. (Usually, R.M.D.s aren’t eligible for rollovers, but the I.R.S. made an exception for 2020.)Some clients who returned their R.M.D.s … [Read More...]