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| Today's newsletter covers: - 🗳️ Senator Joe Manchin's efforts to launch a centrist political coalition
- 🕊️ Conservationists have made strides in preserving Maine's puffin population
- 💰 Goldman Sachs used Chinese state capital to buy seven American and British businesses in recent years
Plus: Yesterday was my thirtieth birthday. I asked Daily Brief readers to share some wisdom or advice with me as I embark on this next decade of life. I was touched by the sincerity of the messages I received and wanted to share some of them with you:
“May you meditate as regularly as possible, practice kindness, and listen with your ears, your eyes and your gut!” "I have traveled to many countries when I was young. I learnt that if you do not ask you will not receive. All they can say is no. The results got me to do many things that others had not done. “Spend some time with good people. You won't regret it.” “Treat the next decade with the same thoughtfulness and enthusiasm you have in the last and you should be fine.” “Take advantage of your idealism, and your experience to go after what you want “ Thank you so much for writing! It means a lot to me. If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Your faithful IDB writer, Daniel
p/Dan-Smith | |
| 1 | | Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and his daughter Heather Manchin are trying to raise $100M to launch a centrist political organization. A memo sent to potential donors said the project would seek to build a coalition to "mobilize the middle" of the political spectrum. More: - The coalition would aim to cut federal spending and debt, improve border security, and strengthen U.S. energy independence while improving healthcare, education, and public safety.
- Heather Manchin, who previously worked as CEO of Epipen-maker Mylan, registered a political non-profit called Americans Together last month and plans to start hiring staff soon.
- However, she said that Americans Together is unrelated to her father's political campaigns or ambitions.
- Billionaire Ken Langone, the co-founder of Home Depot said he will back Sen. Manchin's new project.
Zoom Out: - Last month, Sen. Manchin, who is 76, said he was considering leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent and that he had not yet decided whether to seek re-election or enter the presidential race.
Q: Do you think there would be popular support among Americans for a self-avowed centrist or moderate political organization like this? Join the discussion here. |     | |
| 2 | | HP stock lost over 7% on Wednesday after the company's Q2 earnings report showed that demand for PCs continues to fall. 
What the numbers say: Fiscal third-quarter sales declined 9.9% from a year ago, and consumer PC sales fell 12%. HP lowered its free cash flow target for the full year from $3.25B to $3B due to a "continued aggressive pricing environment in PCs, sluggish demand in China, and enterprise demands," CEO Enrique Lores said. Relevance: Best Buy, a major PC retailer, said that comparable store sales for computers and mobile phones dropped 6.2% last quarter. A year ago, comparable store sales declined 16.6%. Lenovo and Dell have seen their PC shipments fall by more than 20% annually in the last quarter. | | | |
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| 3 | | Military officers in the Central African nation of Gabon said they had deposed President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who was recently re-elected. The officers said that a general who had previously commanded the Republican Guard that protected the president would lead a military junta and that Bongo and his family were under house arrest. More: - Bongo was re-elected last weekend in a vote that opposition politicians claim was fraudulent.
- The officers who led the coup annulled the election results and suspended the current government.
- The Bongo family has led Gabon since 1967, and previous elections have been marred by violence.
- Gabon is the ninth Central or Western African country to have experienced a coup in the past three years, following a military coup in Niger last month.
Zoom Out: - Bongo posted a video on social media asking other countries for help.
- French influence is still strong in Gabon, a former French colony.
- France condemned the coup, and a French mining company employing ~8,000 people in Gabon suspended operations.
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| 4 | | GOOD NEWS: Half a century of conservation efforts have helped expand Maine's puffin population, which is threatened by warming ocean water. Puffins eat a type of forage fish whose numbers are declining due to warmer waters. The lack of food leads to lower breeding productivity and fewer fledged puffin chicks. More: - Maine Puffins went nearly extinct in the early 1900s due to hunting, but numbers started to increase in the 1970s, when conservationists relocated the birds to small rock islands.
- There are now as many as 3,000 birds in Maine's puffin colonies, and the population is stabilizing.
- Don Lyons of the National Audubon Society's Seabird Institute said the sand lance fish that puffins eat have been abundant this year despite rising sea temperatures.
- Lyons said the effects of climate change are complex and that, "we still have a lot to learn" about how ecosystems and animal populations adapt to warming temperatures.
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| 5 | | The Labor Department released a proposed rule that would require employers to pay overtime to workers who earn less than $1,059 per week. The weekly salary averages out to ~$55,000 per year, higher than the current threshold of $35,000 per year that was set by the Trump administration in 2020. More: - The rule would not affect workers who are paid on an hourly basis.
- Under U.S. law, employers are required to pay 1.5x the regular pay rate per hour when workers go beyond 40 hours per week.
- The proposed rule would also raise the overtime pay exemption for salaries higher than $107,432 to ~$144,000.
- Under the proposal, the threshold would automatically increase every three years to match average growth in earnings.
Zoom Out: - The Labor Department raised the threshold to $47,000 in 2016 during the Obama administration.
- A federal judge blocked the change the following year on the grounds that the ceiling was high enough to include management workers who are normally exempt from overtime pay rules.
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| 6 | | Goldman Sachs reportedly used funds from the Chinese sovereign wealth fund to acquire seven American and British businesses since 2017. Goldman had not previously disclosed that the acquisitions were made in part with capital from a $2.5B private equity "partnership fund" it established with the China Investment Corporation (CIC). More: - Former Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein launched the China-US Industrial Cooperation Partnership Fund during former President Donald Trump's 2017 visit to Beijing.
- Blankfein said the fund would help to address American concerns over a trade imbalance between the U.S. and China by directing Chinese capital into U.S. companies.
- Goldman said the CIC was an "anchor investor" in that fund and that it would be involved in helping acquired businesses to expand in China.
- One of the companies that the fund acquired in 2021 was a cybersecurity firm that works with the British government.
- The fund also acquired a cloud computing consultancy, a drug testing firm, a manufacturing firm that produces systems for AI, drones, and EV batteries, and a startup that tracks global supply chains.
Zoom Out: - The CIC, which was founded in 2007, had $1.35T in assets at the end of 2021.
- Roughly half of its global portfolio was invested in alternative assets, such as private equity funds.
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- Hurricane Idalia is en route to southeastern Georgia after leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power on Florida's Gulf Coast.
- A blue supermoon, which will be the biggest and brightest full moon of 2023, will be visible in the night sky on Wednesday and Thursday.
- Over 99% of American Airlines flight attendants voted to authorize a strike in a poll in which 94% of the union's ~26,000 members took part. The union is negotiating with the airline over wages and schedules.
- A federal judge ruled that Rudy Giuliani is liable for defaming two Georgia election workers. The former New York City mayor repeatedly made false claims, arguing that the two women manipulated ballots during the 2020 election.
*This is a sponsored post. | | | |
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 | 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 NO ACCOUNT ASSOCIATED WITH THE EDITOR | |
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