SCOTUS blocks student debt relief / Bolsonaro banned until 2030 / US consumer spending slows in May

Plus: New Zealand bans single-use plastic produce bags.

Inside Daily Brief For June 30, 2023

Happy Friday, dear readers! Today's newsletter covers more U.S. Supreme Court rulings, the Brazilian electoral court's decision to ban former President Jair Bolsonaro from seeking office until 2030, New Zealand's historic decision to ban single-use plastic produce bags, and more. Your faithful Daily Brief author, Daniel p/Dan-Smith

1 In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court rejected President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program, arguing that the policy overstepped the statutory authority of the presidency. The policy would have eliminated $400B in student loan debt held by tens of millions of Americans. More: The plan would have eliminated up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt per borrower. In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts argued that Congress should have authorized a program of this size. He wrote that the authority of the secretary of education to "waive or modify" student loan terms did not extend to eliminating the debt outright. Over 26 million people have already applied to have their federal student loan debt forgiven, and the Education Department already approved relief for 16 million applicants.  Zoom Out: During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden vowed to pass legislation to eliminate $10,000 in student debt per borrower. With a gridlocked Congress, Democratic efforts to pass student loan relief bills failed. As a result, Biden tried to help student loan borrowers with an executive order in August. However, the president himself questioned whether he had the legal authority to do so at the time. $1.6T in student loan debt is owed by 45 million borrowers in the U.S.

2 What the numbers say: U.S. consumer spending grew by just 0.1% on a monthly basis in May, down from 0.6% in April.  Relevance: The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index measures overall consumer spending, which makes up more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. Spending on goods fell by 0.5% on an annual basis, and spending on motor vehicle outlays and fuel fell by 23.3% and 23.4%, respectively. Economists estimate that consumer spending growth slowed to a 1% annualized rate in the second quarter of 2023 after increasing by 4.2% in the first three months of the year, the fastest quarterly growth in almost two years. The U.S. economy grew 2.0% in the first quarter, thanks in large part to strong consumer spending, which suggests that the country could avoid a recession this year.

3 Judges on Brazil's electoral court voted to bar former President Jair Bolsonaro from running for public office until 2030. The court found that Bolsonaro abused his power by undermining confidence in the Brazilian electoral system in the leadup to last year's presidential election. More: The ban will prevent Bolsonaro from running for any elected position ― he recently told the Wall Street Journal that he was considering running for the Brazilian senate in 2026. The abuse of power case focused on comments in which Bolsonaro questioned the security of the Brazilian electronic voting system. Ahead of the 2022 election, Bolsonaro hosted a meeting with 40 foreign diplomats in which he argued that Brazil's electoral system was vulnerable to hackers. Bolsonaro's lawyer said he plans to file appeals with the electoral court and the supreme court.  The far-right politician ultimately lost the presidential election to former President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva. Five of the seven judges on the electoral court were appointed by Lula during his first two terms as president between 2003 and 2010. Zoom Out: Brazil's Supreme Court recently authorized an investigation into claims that Bolsonaro incited his supporters into occupying the Brazilian Congress, Presidential Palace, and Supreme Court headquarters on January 8.  Critics have compared the right-wing revolt in Brazil to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

4 GOOD NEWS: New Zealand banned the use of plastic wrapping for fruit and vegetables in supermarkets. The decision is expected to prevent the use of 150 million plastic bags per year. More: In 2019, New Zealand banned plastic carrier bags from supermarkets, a policy that has prevented the use of more than one billion plastic bags, said Associate Environment Minister Rachel Brooking. The government will encourage people to use reusable bags for their products and impose fines on supermarkets that violate the ban, Brooking said. The new policy, which will also bar single-use plastic straws and utensils, comes into effect next month.

5 Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison for racketeering. Federal prosecutors accused Householder of orchestrating the "largest bribery scheme ever perpetrated against the state of Ohio." More: The FBI arrested Householder and four others in July 2020. The suspects were later charged with leading a $60M bribery scheme in relation to a state government intervention to save two nuclear power plants.  The purpose of the bribes was to ensure that lawmakers would pass legislation to send $150M a year in bailout money for the plants. In a sentencing memo, federal prosecutors said that Householder "acted as the quintessential mob boss, directing the criminal enterprise from the shadows."  U.S. District Judge Timothy Black said that Householder was a "bully with a lust for power" whose corruption constituted an "assault on democracy [and] the betrayal of everyone in Ohio. Zoom Out: A bipartisan group of lawmakers voted to expel Householder from the Ohio legislature in 2021, making him the first person to be expelled from the statehouse in 150 years. Householder was first elected to the chamber in 1997.

6 Europe's annual inflation rate fell to 5.5% in June, down from 6.1% in May. European Central Bank (ECB) officials this week reiterated their commitment to keeping interest rates high until inflation returns to the 2% annual target. More: The inflation numbers are for the 20 European countries that use the Euro. Core inflation, which excludes energy and food costs, rose from 5.3% in May to 5.4% in June.  Food, alcohol, and tobacco prices were up 11.7% annually in June, down from 12.5% in May. Energy costs fell 5.6% from a year ago, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine pushed fuel costs up. Zoom Out: The ECB raised interest rates to 3.5% this month, the highest level in 22 years. ECB President Christine Lagarde said earlier this week that the ECB will likely continue to raise rates.

7 QUICK HITS DockerProtect your code with help from Docket. Read our white paper to learn how to stay ahead of security threats and build a resilient tech stack. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Nasdaq and Cboe Global Markets' applications for spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), arguing that the applicants did not provide sufficient information about the investment instruments. The exchanges filed the applications on behalf of major asset managers BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. The conservative majority on the Supreme Court ruled that First Amendment rights allow a Colorado web designer to discriminate against a same-sex couple seeking their services. Poland charged a professional Russian hockey player with spying for Moscow. Poland has detained a total of 14 people who are believed to be a part of a Russian spy ring. British Environment Minister Zac Goldsmith resigned on Friday, saying that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his government were "uninterested" in environmental matters. It's never been easier for your sales organization to accelerate growth. Learn how AI, and more can help you sell in a whole new way.* *This is a sponsored post.

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Daniel Smith Writer Dr. Daniel Smith is an Inside writer with a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. Follow him on Twitter @DJS12321 or email him at Daniel@inside.com. This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia

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