President Biden Renews Fight on ‘Surprise Fees’ as Inflation Stays High

admin June 15, 2023

0 6 minutes read

Move to “Abolition of Surprise Fees”

With inflation still a dominant political issue, President Biden is stepping up his fight against so-called junk fees.

On Thursday, he will host a panel discussion at the White House with executives from several companies, including Airbnb and Live Nation, whose failed ticket sales for Taylor Swift last year sparked consumer outrage.

The two companies are expected to announce a new initiative to “eliminate the surprise fee.” the white house saidThis includes efforts to ensure price transparency and other methods of fully disclosing upfront costs to consumers. The administration hopes the changes will be adopted by businesses across a wide range of industries, including live events and travel.

Biden has made banning junk fees a priority. In his State of the Union address in February, he denounced the additional costs, saying, “I can see how unfair it feels to companies to overcharge and be excused for it.”

He has called on several federal regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation, to increase their oversight of opaque fees charged by banks and airlines. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission is calling for wider use of “click to cancel” options to make it easier for consumers to end their subscriptions.

It’s a popular question. most americans Support limit As for bank charges, economists are increasingly accepting the idea of “.Greedy FlationIn , corporate price gouging drives up inflation.

Still, fees have strong defenders. Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday criticized CFPB Chief Rohit Chopra for the regulator’s crackdown on bank and credit card fees. “to indiscriminately labeling fees as cheating It’s a blatant attempt to pander to Americans,” said Andy Barr of Kentucky.

A lobbyist told Dealbook that companies would prefer a government order to limit or even eliminate such fees because greater transparency would lead to a healthier consumer market.

“Fans want to know the full price of their purchase without cheating or giving them surprises,” SeatGeek CEO Jack Gretzinger told Dealbook. But he added, “There is still work to be done.”

Some progressives argue that focusing on junk fees misses the big picture. While they are against hidden fees, they say the glitches and pricing issues behind Taylor Swift’s tour debacle still remain because Live Nation dominates live events. claim.

The DOJ continues to investigate Live Nation’s market position.US Economic Freedom Project Gives DealBook First Spotlight with new data It says it controls the top 100 event venues in the US and 100 arenas around the world. The group said it hopes the data will “accelerate efforts to break this monopoly.” Live Nation did not respond to a request for comment.

what is going on here

Prosecutors drop several charges against Sam Bankman-Fried. In a court filing, government lawyers said they would drop five legal claims filed against the FTX founder after he was extradited from the Bahamas in December. The action was seen as a victory for Bankman-Fried, but prosecutors have asked the presiding judge to schedule a retrial on those charges.

Music publisher sues Twitter for copyright infringement. A group of 17 publishers has accused the company of violating copyright laws by allowing users to post music on its platform without permission. Negotiations between the two countries broke down months ago. Publishers are now asking for as much as $250 million.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has applied to run for president. The Florida Republican, who made a name for himself by embracing the tech and cryptocurrency communities, is the latest to face Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. Suárez faces an uphill battle given President Trump’s overwhelming poll numbers and new allegations about his relationship with developers.

Cava’s IPO exceeded expectations. Fast-casual restaurant chain raises $318 million Valuation at $2.45 billion. The offering, the sixth largest in the United States this year, was watched on Wall Street as a possible thaw in the largely frozen IPO market.

The Fed’s hawkish pause

The S&P 500’s five-day winning streak is in jeopardy on Thursday.

Stock futures have edged lower and bond yields have risen as investors begin to realize that the Fed still has a lot to do to keep inflation under control.

The central bank finally kept rates on hold on Wednesday. After raising rates at 10 consecutive meetings.But the breather contained a more hawkish message than many market participants expected: Fed officials expected two more increase this year.

The cause is persistent inflation. Over the past 15 months, the Fed has hiked rates at the fastest pace in decades. But core inflation is still well above the central bank’s 2% target, and the Fed’s latest forecasts will keep prices high for the rest of the year.

“The process of lowering inflation will be gradual. It will take some time,” Fed Chairman Jay Powell said Wednesday. He added that the Fed intends to “extend” rate hikes, suggesting that tightening is far from over, but has entered a more gradual stage.

Futures markets show that investors believe the next rate hike will come at the Fed’s meeting in July. and The first rate cut is not expected until the first half of next year.

Good news: Fed officials now expect the economy to grow about 0.2% per quarter this year. While this may not look like a winning lap number, it “is a far cry from the near-recession forecast the FOMC released in March,” Berenberg economists Mickey Levy and Mahmoud said. Abu Ghazzara wrote in an investor note on Wednesday. Federal Reserve Interest Rate Setting Committee.

Europe is next. The European Central Bank is widely expected to raise rates by 0.25 percentage points on Thursday as the euro zone grapples with inflation well above US levels. The ECB is also expected to signal at least one more rate hike after Thursday’s decision.

China, on the other hand, is bucking this trend. On Thursday morning, the People’s Bank of China Second rate cut of the week, to reduce the borrowing rate for one-year loans of the type commonly issued by banks. The move came on the heels of new Chinese data showing a further slowdown in economic activity.

Wilmer Hale Hires New Managing Partner

Anjan Thani, a WilmerHale attorney and former Wall Street prosecutor, will become the company’s next managing partner in January, The Times’ Benjamin Weiser wrote.

Saani, 46, returns to Wilmar as a partner in 2015 After ten years at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, he led the Office of Securities and Commodity Fraud and previously served as co-director of the Division of Counterterrorism and International Narcotics.

Mr. Saani cooperated in the prosecution of Viktor Bout. A former Soviet military officer, he was convicted in 2011 of charges including conspiracy to murder an American. (Bout was traded in December for American basketball star Britney Griner, who had been detained in Russia for nearly 10 months.) He is also an accomplice to disgraced Ponzi investor Bernie Madoff. He also oversaw the investigation into

He added Caroline Ellison at a private practice. A former crypto executive and colleague of FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, he joined last year as a client. She has pleaded guilty to her guilt and is supporting a federal investigation into Bankman-Fried.

Mr. Wilmer is known as a profitable channel inside and outside government. Robert Mueller is back (now retired) after serving as special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Its partners include Jamie Gorlick, who served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, and Preet Bharara, the U.S. Southern District Attorney under President Barack Obama. His former partners include Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mallorcas in the Biden administration and Chief Counsel to New York City Mayor Eric Adams Brendan McGuire.

Saani emigrated from India with her family When he was eight years old, he graduated from Emory University and Yale Law School. He will be Wilmar’s first solo leader. The company has had co-managing partners since the merger that created Wilmer Hale in 2004.

The company didn’t disclose how much it paid, but its partners were paid an average of $2.8 million in 2022, according to The American Lawyer.

Saani told Dealbook about the move. “It means a lot and I’m really looking forward to it.”

UK’s storied hedge fund ready to close

Prominent UK hedge fund Oday Asset Management said Thursday: on the verge of closingAfter founder Crispin O’Day was accused of multiple sexual assaults and harassment.

O’Day said talks were underway to move funds and personnel to other companies. (Such a move would require due diligence and regulatory approval.) The hedge fund said regulators were aware of and supported the effort.

The company disappeared after an investigation by the Financial Times. We spoke to at least 13 women. Suspect Crispin Oddy The company said it had not taken sufficient steps to curb his conduct, an allegation of sexual misconduct spanning more than 25 years.

It marked the latest in a string of charges against Crispin O’Day, who has become one of London’s most prominent hedge fund managers and a prominent supporter of both the ruling Conservative Party and Brexit. (He was acquitted of some assault charges in 2021.)

The company itself has had a precarious tenure, partly due to its willingness to take big bets. The company, which has managed $13.3 billion in assets over the years, reported $4.9 billion in assets earlier this year.

Over the past few days, Odey’s presence has become less and less, Despite efforts by the company’s other partners, the counterparties are severing ties with the hedge fund. Push out Crispin O’Day. Ultimately, the firm concluded that it is clear that “the investment management activities of some of the partnerships have been impacted by recent events,” under very understatement.