eveningstandard--2019-12-17--Whirpool recall list: Which washing machine models are a fire risk and how can I check?

As many as 519,000 Hotpoint and Indesit washing machines will be recalled over potential fire risks, Whirlpool has said.  The company said models sold in the UK between October 2014 and February 2018 could be affected by a flaw with the locking system in the doors.  It comes just months after Whirlpool launched a major recall of 500,000 potentially dangerous tumble dryers built between 2004 and 2015.  So which Whirlpool products are being recalled, and what do you do if you think your washing machine is at risk? Here's all you need to know:  Why are the machines dangerous?  The company said as many as half a million machines could be affected by a flaw with the door-locking system that could lead to them overheating and potentially catching fire.  The issue is associated with the washing machine's heating element being activated during washing cycles above 20C.  This extra current can cause the lock system in the doors to overheat, which the company said can pose a risk of fire in some cases.  Whirlpool said the issue was identified by its safety team, adding that "no serious injuries have been reported".  What do I do if I think my washing machine is at risk?  Whirlpool has urged owners of appliances bought since 2014 to contact the company to check if their machine is affected.  The company said it was working at "full speed" to begin a January recall, but in the meantime advised consumers to unplug their washing machines and not use them.  Those who chose to continue using their machines should only use cold water cycles of 20C or lower as this significantly reduces the risk, Whirlpool said.  Under the recall, all affected customers will have the choice of either a free-of-charge like-for-like replacement washing machine, or a free-of-charge in-home repair of their existing appliance.  Which washing machines are at risk?  Up to 519,000 washing machines sold under the Hotpoint and Indesit brands in the UK between October 2014 and February 2018 could be at risk.  Consumers can check if their washing machine is affected by visiting the Whirlpool website.  This site includes an online model checker tool, as well as a full list of model numbers.  Alternatively, customers can call Whirlpool's freephone hotline 0800 316 1442 where an adviser can assist with checking their model and providing further information.  Customers will need both the model number and the serial number of the appliance to check if their machine is affected. Both codes can be found either inside the door or on a label to the rear of the appliance.


dcgazette--2019-04-29--The NRAs Board of Directors Faces Big High-Stakes Decisions

The NRA’s Board of Directors Faces Big, High-Stakes Decisions

One big question the board of directors will have to resolve Monday is who will replace North as the organization’s president.


fortune--2019-02-11--PGE Board of Directors Is Restructuring After the Deadly Camp Fire

PG&E Board of Directors Is Restructuring After the Deadly Camp Fire

PG&E is restructuring its board following the deadly wildfires that caused severe and extensive damage in California last year.  The company, which is California’s biggest utility, expects just five out of 10 of its current directors to stand for re-election at an annual shareholder meeting scheduled for May 21, the Associated Press reports.  “We fully understand that PG&E must re-earn trust and credibility with its customers, regulators, the communities it serves and all of its stakeholders,” the utility said in a statement. “We recognize the importance of adding fresh perspectives to the Board to help address the serious challenges the business faces.”  Last month, PG&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Northern California as the investigation continued into whether the company’s equipment ignited last year’s Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California history. The company listed more than $50 billion in liabilities.  PG&E is currently facing a lawsuit on behalf of 35 families impacted by the Camp Fire, which was one reason the company was filing for bankruptcy.  Along with its new board members, PG&E said it anticipates adding 11 independent directors to its board ahead of the shareholder meeting.  The company has not commented on which board members will remain.


fortune--2019-02-26--Amazon Adds Former PepsiCo Chief Indra Nooyi to Its Board of Directors

Amazon has added former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to its board of directors. The company announced the move on Monday through an SEC filing.  Nooyi served as CEO of PepsiCo for 12 years, and stepped down October 2018. From 2001 to 2006, Nooyi was the company’s chief financial officer. In addition to sitting on Amazon’s board, she will sit on its audit committee.  Amazon added Starbucks COO Rosalind Brewer to its board earlier this month. With other directors Jamie Gorelik, Judith McGrath, and Patricia Stonesifer, that brings the number of women on the Amazon board to five out of a total of 11, or 45%.  That is an unusually high percentage for the tech industry. Overall, women make up less than a fifth of board members for S&P 500 companies, according to the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.  Multiple studies have shown that having a higher percentage of women on boards has a correlation with better financial performance for businesses. There have been some efforts to bring more women onto boards in the last few years, with 38.3% of newly-named directors being female, according to Quartz. However, that still means it will take years for major corporations to achieve even representation.


mediamattersforamerica--2019-04-29--New NRA President Carolyn Meadows chairs the board of directors for the largest Confederate monument

New NRA President Carolyn Meadows chairs the board of directors for the largest Confederate monument in America

Carolyn Meadows, who is succeeding Oliver North as president of the National Rifle Association, is also the chairperson of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, an organization that maintains the largest memorial to the Confederacy in the United States.  Meadows, who sits on the NRA board of directors and was serving as the group’s second vice president, was elected president of the NRA during an April 29 meeting of NRA board members. She will succeed North, who was ousted from the NRA amid infighting that pitted a faction led by NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre against North and Ackerman McQueen, an ad firm that is deeply enmeshed with the NRA and produces the NRA’s media operation, NRATV. LaPierre, who North said engaged in financial improprieties in his role as NRA CEO, was reportedly unanimously reelected CEO by the board.  Meadows is listed by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association website as chairperson of the organization’s board of directors. According to her site bio, “She has been actively involved in the Republican Party since 1964 and served as Georgia’s National Chairwoman for 12 years,” and she is also a board member of the American Conservative Union, the group that hosts the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).  Stone Mountain, GA, features an enormous relief carving that depicts Confederate leaders Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis on horseback. A 2017 article in Smithsonian magazine notes that “the monument in question is carved 42 feet deep and 400 feet above ground into a granite mountain” and “is a testament to the enduring legacy of white supremacy.”  Stone Mountain is also closely associated with the revival of the Ku Klux Klan. KKK leader William Simmons “ushered in the modern era of the Ku Klux Klan, founding the Second KKK at the top of Stone Mountain on November 25, 1915,” in an event that included a cross burning and signaled “a new era of white nationalist terrorism,” according to Smithsonian magazine. Plans for the memorial were already being made at the time of the Klan ceremony, but the project ended up being shuttered for several decades and was only revived following right-wing anger over the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision ending school segregation. The monument was eventually completed in 1972.  Meadows is not the only prominent NRA official to support Confederate symbols. NRA board member Ted Nugent, who was reelected during the 2019 NRA annual meeting, has long been an outspoken defender of the Confederate flag. Previous NRA President Jim Porter, who served two years as president beginning in 2013, was also an apologist for the Confederacy, having once stated, “NRA was started 1871 right here in New York state. It was started by some Yankee generals who didn't like the way my Southern boys had the ability to shoot in what we call the 'War of Northern Aggression.'”  The NRA often calls itself the oldest civil rights organization in America, although that isn’t true.


newyorkpost--2019-12-26--Condé Nast shakes up board of directors

Condé Nast shakes up board of directors

Roger Lynch, the low-profile CEO of Condé Nast, has become...


politico--2019-08-07--Jim Mattis rejoining General Dynamics board of directors

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is rejoining the General Dynamics board of directors, the contractor announced Wednesday, the latest in the retired Marine general's moves to re-enter the world he left when he became the head of the Pentagon more than two years ago.  The board voted to approve Mattis, who resigned as defense secretary in December, to join the board effective immediately.  Mattis first joined the GD board in August 2013 after retiring from the Marine Corps. He was required to resign from the board, divest his stock and recuse himself from all matters involving the company for one year when he became the Pentagon’s top civilian in January 2017.  President Donald Trump required political appointees to sign a pledge promising not to lobby the agencies they worked for five years after leaving the federal government. This pledge is unlikely to affect Mattis, since board members infrequently lobby agencies directly and instead focus on oversight of the running of the company, approving dividends or compensation.  In addition to rejoining the board of General Dynamics, Mattis also returned to another of his pre-Pentagon jobs as a distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in May. He previously worked at Hoover from 2013 until he became defense secretary in 2017.  General Dynamics, the fifth largest U.S. defense contractor, sells a variety of weaponry and services to the Pentagon, including ammunition, information technology services, communications equipment and ships. Its subsidiary, Electric Boat, is one of two companies building the new Columbia-class nuclear submarine. Another marine-focused subsidiary, Bath Iron Works, is building the Navy's new guided-missile destroyer.  Some other members of the General Dynamics board previously worked in the Pentagon as well, including Rudy deLeon, a former deputy Defense secretary, and retired Adm. Cecil Haney, the former commander of U.S. Strategic Command.  Mattis, while he was still at the Pentagon, faced questions about blurring lines between the Defense Department and defense industry over a much-fought-over $10 billion cloud computing contract known as Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI.  Oracle, which lost its bid for the contract, raised issues about two meetings Mattis had with high-ranking officials from Amazon, the company considered to be the front-runner for JEDI project.  The JEDI program has also prompted questions about the so-called revolving door between the Pentagon and defense industry. Oracle alleged that there was conflict of interest in the procurement process favoring Amazon after an Amazon employee joined the Pentagon, then left to return to a job at Amazon.  Both the Government Accountability Office and U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that the Pentagon had not acted improperly, but Defense Secretary Mark Esper has paused the program while reviews it after both the president and members of Congress voiced public concerns.  It's common for former defense officials to take positions in industry after leaving the Pentagon. Just last month, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead was elected chairman of the Fincantieri Marinette Marine Corp.'s board of directors. Retired Rear Adm. Kevin Sweeney, who most recently served as Mattis' chief of staff, also joined the shipbuilder's board.  Multiple members of the Obama-era Pentagon have also found employment on corporate boards.  Former Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work joined Raytheon's board of directors just one month after leaving the Defense Department in 2017. Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the former chief of naval operations, sits on the board of BAE Systems. And former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James is on Textron's board of directors.


russiainsider--2019-02-27--Boeing Names Former Waffle House Waitress Nikki Haley to Board of Directors

Boeing Names Former Waffle House Waitress, Nikki Haley to Board of Directors

We can't imagine Haley knows much about either building airplanes, or running a company in the private sector so this is payment for services rendered:  Boeing on Tuesday, February 26 named Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to its board of directors.  Haley, who left the United Nations post and President Donald Trump’s administration at the end of 2018, previously served as governor of South Carolina, a southern state where Boeing has a significant manufacturing campus.  She praised Boeing as “a cutting edge industry leader” that “also understands the importance of teamwork and building community through its network of suppliers in all 50 states and around the world,” according to a statement released by the company.  Boeing’s 12-member board currently has four women. Shareholders will vote on Haley’s nomination on April 29.  The aerospace giant is weighing the launch of a new medium-sized aircraft to accompany its current fleet, which includes the twin-aisle 787 Dreamliner that is partly built in South Carolina.  Boeing garnered about 60 percent of its 2018 revenues from commercial aircraft with almost 25 percent from defense and space and the remainder from global services.  The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley, 47, has been seen as a potential contender for national office among younger Republicans.  On Friday, Trump announced that he was nominating Kelly Craft, his envoy to Canada, to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.


sputnik--2019-09-03--Saudi Energy Minister Loses Place in Saudi Aramcos Board of Directors Ahead of IPO

Saudi Energy Minister Loses Place in Saudi Aramco's Board of Directors Ahead of IPO

"I congratulate my brother His Excellency Mr. Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund, on his appointment as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Aramco, which comes as an important step to prepare the company for the public offering, wishing him every success", Falih wrote on Twitter.  This is the second position the Saudi energy minister loses in less than a week. On Friday, the industry and mining function was separated from the Energy Ministry in a government reshuffle, creating the independent Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources in a move to diversify the state's economy.  Earlier in the day, Saudi Aramco officially announced that the Saudi government replaced Falih from his position as Chairman of Saudi Aramco, appointing Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) Yasir Al-Rumayyan to the role.  The move is aimed at separating the Saudi Energy Ministry from Saudi Aramco before the IPO to avoid conflict of interests. However, it was not clear if the minister would retain his place on the board of directors.  In order for Saudi Arabia to balance its budget, oil needs to trade at around $80 per barrel, according to various estimates. Falih has been working with OPEC+ partners, including Russia, to balance the oil market and raise the price since 2016, but have faced various challenges, including an increasing shale output in the United States, a US-China trade war, crises in Libya, Venezuela, and sanctions against Iran.  The plans for Saudi Aramco's IPO as part of the kingdom's Vision 2030 economic overhaul plan have been delayed a number of times. Last month, the oil giant unveiled a 12 percent drop in net income, to almost $47 billion, in comparison with the same period last year.


sputnik--2019-10-12--Boeing Board of Directors Splits CEO, Chairman Roles Amid Ongoing 737 Max Fixes

Following the decision, Dennis A. Muilenburg remains the company's CEO, president and director, while the board elected David L. Calhoun, presently the independent lead director, to become the non-executive chairman.  "The board has full confidence in Dennis as CEO and believes this division of labor will enable maximum focus on running the business with the board playing an active oversight role," Calhoun said in the release. "The board also plans in the near term to name a new director with deep safety experience and expertise to serve on the board and its newly established Aerospace Safety Committee."  Boeing has come under extensive criticism since a pair of fatal airliner crashes just a couple of months apart drew attention to the company's questionable business practices, including cutting safety corners and adding new software to its jets without telling pilots about the changes. Following the second Boeing 737 MAX 8 crash in March, countries around the world banned the plane from service until Boeing fixed the problems.


tass--2019-04-02--New Development Bank Board of Governors and Board of Directors Meetings Held in Cape Town

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, April 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The 4th Annual Meeting of the NDB Board of Governors (BoG) and the 18thMeeting of the NDB Board of Directors (BoD) were held in Cape Town, South Africa on 31 March and 1 April 2019 respectively. At the meetings, members of the Boards noted the achievements of the Bank, including expansion of its business, significant growth of loan portfolio as well as the ramp-up of the NDB's borrowings. The Board of Governors also provided guidance for the Bank's future work.  The 4th Annual Meeting of the NDB BoG was chaired by Mr. Tito Titus Mboweni, Governor of the NDB, and Minister of Finance of the Republic of South Africa.  Mr. Paulo Guedes, Governor of NDB, Minister of Economy of Brazil was elected as the next Chairman of the BoG, and will serve in this position until the end of the next BoG Annual Meeting. The next Annual Meeting of the Bank's BoG will be held in Brazil in 2020.  The Governors approved the Audited Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2018 and also approved the Condensed Unaudited Financial Statements for the NDB Project Preparation Fund for the year ended December 31, 2018.  The Governors appreciated that the Bank's loan portfolio had risen to approx. USD 8.1 billion in 2018. As a part of this commitment, the Bank's Board of Directors approved loans worth approx. USD 1.2 billion during their 18th Meeting on 31 March 2019. Five projects approved during the 18th BoD Meeting bring the total amount of the Bank's portfolio to over USD 9.2 billion.  The following projects were approved during the 18th BoD Meeting:    * _Zhejiang Green Urban Project - Shengzhou Urban and Rural Integrated Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Phase II)_  The Bank will provide a RMB 825 million (approx. USD 123 million) project loan to the People's Republic of China for Zhejiang Green Urban Project - Shengzhou Urban and Rural Integrated Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Phase II). The project is aimed at upgrading the urban and rural water supply and sewage facilities and enhancing the economic efficiency of water resources and the effectiveness of water management system in Shengzhou, a municipality in Zhejiang Province in China. The Shengzhou municipality has been facing challenges in water supply and sanitation services. The components of the proposed project include (i) construction of water supply plants and pipelines; (ii) construction of sewage treatment plants and pipelines; (iii) smart digital center for water management; and (iv) capacity building and project management.    * _Guangxi Chongzuo Urban Water System Ecological Restoration Project_  The Bank will provide a USD 300 million project loan to the People's Republic of China for Guangxi Chongzuo Urban Water System Ecological Restoration Project. The project is aimed at the improvement of urban water systems, restoration of the ecological balance and enhancing flood protection in Chongzuo, a city located in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The contents of the proposed project include (i) restoration of the hydraulic circulation of lakes, rivers, wetlands, and channels; (ii) ecological restoration of water adjacent area; (iii) development of water ecological environment monitoring, control and management system; and (iv) capacity building.    * _Environmental Protection Project for Medupi Thermal Power Plant_  In line with its focus on supporting clean energy in South Africa, the Bank will provide a USD 480 million project loan to Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. for Environmental Protection Project for Medupi Thermal Power Plant (TPP). The loan will be used to finance retrofitting flue-gas desulfurization equipment, to make Medupi TPP compliant with South Africa's environmental standards coming into force, thus preventing suspension of its operation. Medupi TPP is approaching the end of its construction, and with the planned capacity of 4,800 MW it will represent around 10% of the total generating capacity in South Africa. This would position Medupi TPP as a critical element of the solution to the problem with reliable electricity supplies.    * _Renewable Energy Sector Development Project_  The proceeds of the Bank's ZAR 1.150 billion (approx. USD 80 million) loan will be on-lent by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa to renewable energy sub-projects contributing to the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, improvement of RSA's energy sector mix, as well as the increase of energy efficiency of the economy. The NDB loan provides IDC with attractive long-term financing for the IDC's program in renewables, focused on supporting private investors. It is planned that as an outcome of the project's implementation not less than 500 GWh of electricity will be generated annually from renewable sources leading to savings in CO2 emissions by around 480,000 tons annually.    * _Lesotho Highlands Water Project_  The NDB will provide a project loan of ZAR 3.2 billion (approx. USD 220 million) to Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) for the implementation of Phase II of Lesotho Highlands Water Project and financing the construction of water transfer infrastructure to the benefit of South Africa. The project will augment the water supply in the Vaal River Basin, home to South Africa's most economically important province, Gauteng. Three other provinces (the North- West, Mpumalanga and Free State provinces) will also directly benefit from an increased water supply. The project will support economic growth and foster sustainable livelihoods of people by increasing the yield of the Vaal River System by almost 15% in the long run, thus reducing water usage restrictions.  The NDB was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, complementing the existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development. To fulfill its purpose, the NDB will support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments. According to the NDB's General Strategy, sustainable infrastructure development is at the core of the Bank's operational strategy for 2017-2021. In August 2018, the Bank received AA+ long-term issuer credit ratings from S&P and Fitch.


thedailycaller--2019-03-22--Shaq Is Joining Papa Johns Pizza As A Member Of The Board Of Directors

Shaq Is Joining Papa John’s Pizza As A Member Of The Board Of Directors

Former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal has been named as the most recent addition to the Papa John’s Pizza Board of Directors.  Shaq made the announcement Friday on his Instagram account. He posted a photo of himself in front of the Papa John’s logo captioned, “Time for a pizza party! I’m excited to join @PapaJohns as a member of the Board of Directors and as an investor in nine stores in Atlanta.”  The announcement comes as a step forward for Papa John’s Pizza after founder John Schnatter stepped down last May. Schnatter admitted to using the N-word during a conference call with executives which ultimately led to his departure.  Papa John’s has been boycotted five times by members of the black community since, which has led to a decline in sales, according to TMZ. (RELATED: Shaq Somehow Managed To Spend $70,000 At Walmart)  “Because of my background, I know that behind every large company, there are thousands of people that put their heart and soul into the business. Papa John’s is no different,” Shaq said.  As part of the business deal, Shaq will now have ownership of nine stores in Atlanta. “As a soon-to-be investor in Atlanta Papa John’s restaurants, I am looking forward to engaging our community members, and, as board member, sharing my other experiences in business, marketing and teamwork,” Shaq said.


theguardianuk--2019-12-24--Uber: co-founder Travis Kalanick to resign from board of directors

Uber’s former CEO Travis Kalanick will resign from the board of directors of the US ride-share giant by the end of the year, the company said on Tuesday, effectively severing ties with the outfit he co-founded a decade ago.  Kalanick, who helped found Uber in 2009, stepped down from the company’s helm in June 2017 under pressure from investors, after a string of setbacks.  Kalanick’s pugnacious style turned Uber into the world’s largest ride-services company that revolutionized the taxi industry and challenged transportation regulations worldwide.  “Very few entrepreneurs have built something as profound as Travis Kalanick did with Uber. I’m enormously grateful for Travis’ vision and tenacity while building Uber, and for his expertise as a board member,” Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, said in a statement.  But his brashness was also blamed for a string of scandals and complaints over his leadership, resulting in a shareholder revolt to push him out.  Kalanick said in a statement that now Uber was a public company, he wanted to focus on his current business and philanthropic pursuits. He is currently working on a food delivery startup.  Kalanick has sold off more than $2.5bn worth of shares since Uber went public in May, regulatory filings showed. Uber shares have dropped more than 30% since the loss-making company’s IPO.  Kalanick is now left with $177m, or 5.83m Uber shares, regulatory filings showed.  When Kalanick resigned in the summer of 2017, the company had been through a bruising six months during which employees accused the former CEO of fostering a toxic work culture that encouraged sexual harassment and bullying.  At the time, Uber was also the target of an investigation by the US Department of Justice over trade secret theft in connection to its self-driving unit.


theverge--2019-12-24--Travis Kalanick is leaving Uber’s board of directors

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick is resigning from the company’s board of directors. The news comes after Kalanick sold more than $2.5 billion in stock — more than 90 percent of his stake — when the lock-up on his shares expired. By exiting the board and selling his shares, he has essentially cut himself entirely off from the company he helped found.  Kalanick’s last day will be December 31, 2019, after which time he’ll focus on his “new business and philanthropic endeavors.” This is likely a reference to his new startup, CloudKitchens, which he has bragged will be “bigger than Uber,” according to reporting by The Information. He will have sold all his shares in Uber by Thursday, exiting his holding in Uber entirely, The New York Times reported. According to Financial Times, Kalanick has now sold all of his Uber stock.  “At the close of the decade, and with the company now public, it seems like the right moment for me to focus on my current business and philanthropic pursuits,” Kalanick said in a prepared statement.  Kalanick’s time at Uber has been marked by scandal. For instance, while Kalanick was chief executive officer, an Uber initiative called “Project Greyball” was aimed at deceiving authorities so Uber could operate in markets where it had been restricted or banned. A former Uber engineer, Susan Fowler, alleged that the company was a sexist nightmare — she herself had been improperly propositioned by her new boss on her very first day at the company, and that was only the beginning of the problems she went on to document in a blistering blog post. Kalanick himself was caught on video berating an Uber driver while CEO.  Fowler’s blog post led to an investigation of Uber by Eric Holder, the former attorney general. The report generated from that investigation recommended that Kalanick’s responsibilities be reassigned. Kalanick was on leave at the time, and resigned as CEO in 2017 from the company he helped create. He had been pressured into it by his board and major shareholders.  Uber went public in May with Kalanick’s replacement, Dara Khosrowshahi, with a price of $45 at its initial public offering. Shares closed at $30.33 on December 23.


usatoday--2019-08-13--Fourth NRA board of directors member resigns

WASHINGTON – A fourth member of the National Rifle Association's Board of Directors resigned Monday, as turmoil within the gun-rights group continues to become public.  Julie Golob, a professional sport shooter, wrote in a post published on her website that she will not be completing her full 3-year term and gave notice of her resignation to NRA President Carolyn Meadows, Secretary John Frazer, and the members of the board.  "This was not a decision I made lightly," she wrote. "I apologize to those members who have supported me that I will not be completing the full 3-year term. I also feel this is the best decision for me and my family. "  "I wish the director who fills my vacancy and the rest of the board nothing but success. I will absolutely continue to support the NRA’s programs and sports as a proud benefactor member and active participant in the preservation of freedom," she concluded.  More: The gun control fight has started. Could turmoil at the NRA be a game-changer?  The move comes days after three other members of the NRA board resigned, citing concerns over irresponsible spending by the gun advocacy organization's leaders. The resignations came amid increasing public concern and debate about gun violence and gun control following recent back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.  Earlier this year, Oliver North, the NRA president, was forced out after expressing concerns about the group's finances. He was also accused of attempting to help remove Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre, who is now facing pressure to resign.  A longtime lobbyist for the NRA, Chris Cox, was also ousted in June, with the organization accusing him of attempting a coup against LaPierre.  The organization's tax-exempt status is also being investigated by the New York Attorney General's Office, while the District of Columbia attorney general has another probe into the organization and its charitable foundation.  More: Kamala Harris hits back at NRA after group criticizes her gun control proposals  'He was the center of it': With Jeff Epstein dead, charging co-conspirators likely an uphill battle, experts say  David H. Chipman, senior policy adviser at the Courage to Fight Gun Violence organization, told the Washington Post that the resignation is "big." He added that his organization, which was founded by former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Gifford, is seeing membership among gun owners increase while NRA leaders “run for the exits."  He told the Post that the NRA "isn’t really representing the values of gun owners and this has opened up a space."  Like what you’re reading?: Download the USA TODAY app for more


businessinsider--2019-03-10--Elizabeth Warrens proposal to break up big tech shouldnt shake Amazon shareholders yet AMZN

Elizabeth Warren's proposal to break up big tech shouldn't shake Amazon shareholders — yet (AMZN)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat and 2020 presidential contender, announced on Friday a plan to break up big tech companies she argues have grown too big.  "Today's big tech companies have too much power  —  too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy," Warren wrote before the stock market opened. "They've bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation."  Warren's plan named Amazon, Facebook, and Alphabet's Google, and would force the rollback of some of their acquisitions, like Facebook's WhatsApp and Instagram, Amazon's Whole Foods, and Google's Waze.  Amazon shares — which in recent weeks have been engulfed in a flurry of announcements and political controversy — opened lower Friday morning, but finished little changed as the broader stock market recouped the majority of its early losses.  At the moment, Warren's plan still has a lot of unknowns — like which federal agency would see to the proposal, said Eric Sheridan, an analyst at UBS who has a "buy" investment rating on the stock.  And while regulation is the "number one topic" Sheridan discusses with investors as far as mega-cap tech headwinds go, he thinks Amazon is not under threat, at least in the near-term.  Read more: Elizabeth Warren says she wants to break up big tech companies, including Amazon, Google, and Facebook  "I would expect — and I'll try to make this as least a political statement as possible — I would expect, given the stance the Democratic party might try to take into the election of being more progressive and left-leaning, that I'm sure there will be plenty of press releases and shots taken at big tech in the next year, year and a half," Sheridan told Markets Insider on Friday. "It's a fairly easy mechanism to score political points. Whether it ever turns into something that's reality, we'll continue to factor."  He added: "I think we're a long way from that going from noise, and a political issue, to reality."  In a report Sheridan wrote in November 2017, he and his colleagues came to the conclusion around the state of large-cap Internet regulation that investors were heading into a "multi-year wave that would act as a headwind for the group."  The proposal may be subject to legal obstacles, Sheridan said, as the deals that Warren is taking aim at have already been approved by US regulators. There's not a lot of precedent for going back and revisiting prior approved mergers, and then breaking them apart, "but we'll have to monitor it," he said.  "If you look at why I think some of the companies have underperformed for certain periods of time in the last year and a half — we have a neutral rating on Facebook — we think some of these issues do factor into stock prices, and multiple compression, and things like that," Sheridan said, referring to data and privacy issues.  "There's no doubt that when GDPR was implemented, or the Cambridge Analytica scandal, that those had a headwind impact on the stocks."  Read more related coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:  Amazon took over the $176 billion market for cloud computing. Now it's using the same playbook in logistics.  Elizabeth Warren's plan to break up tech giants would force Amazon to roll back its acquisition of Whole Foods  We asked the biggest Netflix bull and bear on Wall Street the same 5 questions. Here's what they said about cash burn, competition, and what the other side is getting wrong.


dailyheraldchicago--2019-06-21--Mitsubishi Motors shareholders approve ouster of Ghosn

TOKYO -- Mitsubishi Motors Corp. shareholders approved on Friday the ouster of Carlos Ghosn, who was pivotal in the Japanese automaker's three-way partnership with Nissan and Renault until he was arrested on financial misconduct charges last year.  The vote took place at a two-hour general meeting of shareholders at a Tokyo hotel, with approval shown in clapping from some 500 shareholders present, although some votes were submitted in advance. Nissan Motor Co. owns 34% of Mitsubishi Motors.  Osamu Masuko, who was reappointed chairman, promised to strengthen governance and transparency and monitor wrongdoing. More outsiders will check executive appointments and compensation, he said.  Nissan shareholders held an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in April to oust Ghosn as chairman.  It is holding a general shareholders' meeting next week to approve governance measures. French automaker Renault SA owns 43% of Nissan. They also approved the appointment of French alliance partner Renault SA's Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard to replace Ghosn. Renault owns 43% of Nissan.  Nissan, based in the port city of Yokohama, is holding a general shareholders' meeting next week to approve other measures, including setting up committees to strengthen governance.  Nissan said late Thursday two Renault executives will be on the committees. Renault had earlier said it will abstain in that vote, and the greater representation promised on the committees may gain Renault's approval.  Some analysts suggest a deepening rift between Renault and Nissan after a planned merger between Renault and Fiat Chrysler fell through earlier this month. Nissan expressed reservations about immediately joining the merger.  Masuko told shareholders the auto industry faced challenges because of the costs of advancements such as emissions standards and self-driving technology.  He said the Tokyo-based automaker will pursue focus over expansion, repeatedly highlighting the company motto "small but beautiful." He also stressed the importance of auto alliances.  "We want to be a profitable company even if smaller in scale," he told shareholders.  One Mitsubishi Motors shareholder expressed anger over the Ghosn scandal. But most of the questions asked were peaceful and those asking wanted to know about new models and market strategy.  Ghosn, who led Nissan for two decades, saving it from near-bankruptcy, had served as chairman at Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, and was long a revered figure in the industry.  He has been charged with falsifying financial reports in underreporting retirement compensation and with breach of trust in having Nissan shoulder investment losses and in diverting Nissan money for personal gain.  Ghosn says he is innocent. He has resigned from Renault.


drudgereport--2019-02-13--CBS Shareholders Point to 200M in Suspicious Insider Stock Sales Prior to Moonves Expose

CBS Shareholders Point to $200M in 'Suspicious' Insider Stock Sales Prior to Moonves Expose...

On July 27, The New Yorker published an exposé that would rock CBS and eventually lead to the departure of its chief Leslie Moonves, accused by several women of unwanted sexual advances. That journalist Ronan Farrow was working on this blockbuster story was an open secret. Not everyone knew, though, and on Monday, suing CBS shareholders pointed to more than $200 million in insider stock sales as alleged evidence of a fraud.  The shareholders leading the suit are Gene Samit and John Lantz. They first brought putative class actions not long after the story in The New Yorker, alleging that CBS failed to disclose information in proxy statements that would have a material effect on its business.  Now, in an amended consolidated complaint, the plaintiffs are going a step further in an attempt to show CBS executives had knowledge of wrongness.  "The timing and amount of the Class Period CBS stock sales by these executives were unusual and suspicious, and further demonstrate defendants Moonves, [then COO Joseph] Ianniello and [chief accounting officer Larry] Liding’s motive to commit fraud."  The amended complaint includes a chart of the movement of CBS' stock dating all the way back to the time that Roger Ailes resigned from Fox News following allegations of sexual harassment from Gretchen Carlson and others. The story in the suit that is told is that while CBS was telling everyone that it was committed to zero-tolerance sexual misconduct and as Moonves was being hailed as a steward of stability, CBS' culture was rotten, and that executives had affirmative duties to do something.  CBS' share price rose significantly in the months following Ailes' departure, and while other factors might have been responsible for this, the company's stock price was relatively stable when allegations against Harvey Weinstein set off the #metoo movement. At the time, as noted in the chart, Moonves called #metoo "a watershed movement, adding "it's important that a company's culture not allow this."  "[B]efore the disclosures about the Company’s sexual harassment and hostile work environment problems were revealed to the market, defendant Moonves and other CBS executives...collectively sold over 3.4 million shares of CBS stock during the Class Period, totaling over $200 million in proceeds, to the unsuspecting investing public, thereby profiting from their failure to disclose the truth to the market."  As in the earlier iteration of this lawsuit, the suing stockholders including the Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern California point to ethical commitments CBS made to its employees and shareholders. Now, boosted by the subsequent investigation by CBS board into Moonves as well as reporting by journalists, the complaint adds notes about the "actively concealed" LAPD criminal sexual assault probe as well as what board members heard about Moonves' conduct before the publication of The New Yorker story.  After recounting the sexual harassment allegations against Moonves plus Charlie Rose and producers working on 60 Minutes, the shareholders provide a table of insider stock sales in 2017 and the first six months of 2018. They count nearly $29 million in stock sales from Ianniello, $2.3 million from Liding, $155 million from Moonves and more than $15 million from former CBS communications officer Gil Schwartz.  "Taken collectively, these insider sales support an inference of scienter because they were timed to capitalize on CBS’s inflated stock price before defendant Moonves’s misconduct and the pervasive sexual harassment that permeated the Company was revealed to the market," continues the suit.  The plaintiffs raise various legal theories about CBS' alleged need to disclose the truth about the sexual misconduct of its top executive, from 10-K warnings about the potential impact from the loss of any key personnel to Item 303 of SEC Regulation S-K, said to require disclosure of "known trends and uncertainties."  The complaint even includes the suggestion that CBS should have revealed what Farrow was working on.  "By late 2017, Defendants were aware that Farrow was investigating and writing an article on CBS, defendant Moonves and the Company’s culture of sexual harassment," states the complaint. "Defendants knew that the publication of this article could have a negative impact on the Company and its continuing operations yet they failed to disclose it in their SEC filings."  The lawsuit, now being led by the firm of Robbins Geller, demands compensatory damages.  "CBS has in place clear policies and procedures relating to CBS stock sales by senior executives of the company. Executives who possess material information about CBS that has not been made public may not use that information in selling CBS stock. The vast majority of sales mentioned in this complaint were made as part of pre-planned selling arrangements designed to comply with applicable securities laws. The remaining sales were subject to CBS’ customary pre-clearance policies and procedures and were properly disclosed. While it would not be appropriate to comment on ongoing litigation, we believe that our policies and procedures are fully in compliance with law.”


eveningstandard--2019-01-28--Flybe urged by major shareholder to ditch airlineaposs chairman

Flybe urged by major shareholder to ditch airline's chairman

Flybe on Monday threw its support behind its under-fire chairman, despite attempts by the airline’s largest shareholder to oust him following concerns about a cut-price sale of the business.  The troubled airline confirmed that investor Hosking Partners, which owns nearly 19% of Flybe, has urged it to remove Simon Laffin as chairman.  Flybe said it received correspondence from Hosking Partners on Friday, which also called for industry veteran Eric Kohn to be made a director to investigate the sales process around Flybe.  Flybe said it has “full confidence” in Laffin and believes that “any independent scrutiny of its conduct will support the board’s decision-making”.  The airline, led by chief executive Christine Ourmières-Widener and buffeted by currency headwinds and softer customer demand, has been slammed for a £2.2 million rescue package agreed this month. It is being taken over by a consortium of Stobart Group, Virgin Atlantic and Cyrus Capital Partners.  The deal valued Flybe at 1p per share — a 94% discount to a day before the sale announcement. The firm was valued at £215 million when it floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2010.  Shares rose 0.8p, or more than 23%, to 4.2p today.


eveningstandard--2019-01-29--Shaftesbury hit with fresh attack from Hong Kong billionaire shareholder

West End landlord Shaftesbury’s largest shareholder, Hong Kong billionaire Samuel Tak Lee, reignited his feud with the property firm on Tuesday in an audacious bid to curb the board’s power.  In a letter published by the Chinatown and Carnaby Street property owner, 26% shareholder Lee slammed directors for being “reluctant” to engage with him, and expressed concerns about delays at a new development.  The tycoon, who owns the sprawling neighbouring Langham Estate north of Oxford Street, claimed his stake had been diluted by a recent Shaftesbury share placing and called for investors to vote against resolutions at next week’s annual meeting. He plans to oppose votes allowing the board to issue shares or carry out a share placing without consultation.  Brian Bickell, chief executive of Shaftesbury, hit back at Lee, saying he has not met the board despite numerous invitations. He told the Standard: “A constructive dialogue [face to face] would be much more productive for both parties rather than endless legal letters.”  The letter comes a year after Lee waged another war, saying he would vote against rules surrounding the ability by Shaftesbury directors to allocate shares.  The dispute partly stems from Shaftesbury embarking on a £265 million fundraising to boost its portfolio in December 2017. The placing was priced at 952p, a 5% discount on the previous day’s closing price.  Lee said: “As a result of the placing, Shaftesbury’s pre-existing shareholders collectively suffered a significant and immediate loss in value of their shareholdings by virtue of the direct equity raising costs, the dilutive effect of the issue and Shaftesbury’s resulting less efficient capital structure.” He added: “I believe the placing was motivated by a desire to dilute my interest.”  Any future fundraising could ultimately dilute Lee’s ownership. He has previously been linked to a takeover of the firm.  Part of the fundraising in 2017 was used to buy 90-104 Berwick Street, a site being developed by property tycoon Peter Beckwith’s PMB Holdings. The development will include shops and a hotel.  Lee claimed Shaftesbury has not kept shareholders fully informed about the project, and added that he has authorised an investigation into the scheme.  Shaftesbury said: “The highest standards of corporate governance and behaviour are embedded in the company’s culture and the day-to-day running of its business.”


eveningstandard--2019-02-06--Interserve seals a rescue deal but rebel shareholder demands shake-up

Stricken outsourcer Interserve agreed a rescue deal with lenders on Wednesday as its top shareholder reacted with anger by seeking to oust the board.  A consortium of bondholders and lenders will take control of the support services group, a key government contractor employing 75,000 people, after its crippling debt pile was replaced with new shares.  That will cut the debt burden from around £650 million to £275 million, saving it from possible collapse.  Chief executive Debbie White said: “The board believes that this agreement will secure a strong future for Interserve... its successful implementation is critical to the Interserve group’s future and all of its stakeholders.”  Shareholder Coltrane, which will see the value of its stake effectively wiped out, attempted to derail the plan.  The New York firm, which owns 15%, launched a shareholder vote off to kick out Interserve’s eight-person board and install two new faces. No vote is proposed against White, whom Coltrane wishes to retain.  Following today’s agreement, Interserve will be controlled by banks such as BNP, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland and lenders like Davidson Kempner and Emerald Investment, led by millionaire financier Alan McIntosh.  Hopes rest on the company starting to revive now the debt burden has been lifted.  The battle to stop Interserve toppling over like Carillion has been rumbling for the past 12 months after poor trading, primarily from a misfiring waste-to-energy initiative, left it saddled with high debts.  The deal, which has won support from pension schemes trustees, keeps construction supplier RMD Kwikform, considered the jewel in the crown of the business, inside the company.  Around £350 million of debts will be attached to the division but this will be ringfenced from the balance sheet. That leaves Interserve with around £60 million of net cash, which the group hopes will allow it to win more contracts.  In December, Interserve revealed plans to spin the RMDK unit off to lenders, which reportedly prompted concern from the Cabinet Office.  The sale of RMDK, which has margins far higher than Interserve’s other units, may have jeopardised the future of the business. Interserve has revenues of around £3.2 billion.  The Cabinet Office said: “We welcome the announcement that Interserve has made...and recognise it is a key milestone for the company in delivering the long-term recovery plan that it set out in 2018.”  The shares rose 14%, or 1.73p, to 14.9p. Five years ago they were worth more than 700p.


eveningstandard--2019-03-19--Jim Armitage Stabbersapos hurting shareholders get good news at last

Jim Armitage: Stabbers' hurting shareholders get good news at last

Good news has been in short supply for shareholders in Standard Life Aberdeen since the merger that created it.  What with massive redemptions from clients hacked off with poor investment returns and a staggering loss of value on the stock market, the wheel of fortune surely had to turn eventually.  On Tuesday, it finally did.  Arbitrators have decided Lloyds was wrong to pull its £100 billion fund management contract with Aberdeen Asset Management after the merger.  Lloyds had claimed that Aberdeen’s new love, Standard Life, was a direct competitor to its own insurance division, thereby triggering a break clause.  The trouble with Lloyds’ argument, the tribunal ruled, was that there was no competitive threat after Staberdeen flogged its insurance book to Phoenix.  Stabbers now finds itself in the rare position of holding all the cards. It can demand either that Lloyds honours the contract and lets it run to its original term of 2022, or coughs up the £330 million in fees it would have paid over that period.  Such a vast sum makes even António Horta-Osório’s pension look small.  Standard’s Keith Skeoch could be forgiven for glorying in this big-game triumph, a safari-booted foot on the prone body of his vanquished quarry.  Instead, he was ’umbler than Uriah Heep.  Conciliatory words abounded as he invited his foe to negotiate.  Clever. Lloyds is Britain’s biggest high street bank and will be a potential client for decades yet.  Skeoch will play the long game and keep relations sweet. Extract lower reparations now in return for more business later. That shows good judgment from which investors should take comfort.  Perhaps SLA’s 9% divi yield is missing something.


eveningstandard--2019-04-04--Jim Armitage Shareholdersapos pain isnapost sure to lead to customersapos gain

Jim Armitage: Shareholders' pain isn't sure to lead to customers' gain

Saga says that this is a good day for customers, a bad day for shareholders.  For the former — older folks buying insurance — it’s about time they caught a break. They’ve been putting up for years with insurers punishing loyalty by offering cheaper rates to newcomers. Saga reckons it’s now going to end the practice by offering “fairer”, three-year fixed deals.  But will this newfound saintliness gull customers into joining? I’m not so sure.  They’ve been conditioned not to trust financial companies and, if the oldsters of my acquaintance are anything to go by, are better than the rest of us at shopping around for the best deals. With time on their hands, Which? magazine readers among them even relish the challenge.  They’ll be suspicious of Saga tying them down for three years, especially when it admits they’ll pay more in year one.  As for shareholders, too right, it’s a bad day. But they’re used to those. Since Saga’s private equity owners persuaded them to buy the debt-laden company off them five years ago, they’ve watched the shares plunge 62%.  Today they’re told their dividend is to be slashed and the insurance side of the business is worth, erm, £310 million less than the company previously said.  But while that is painful for shareholders, it’s possibly more honest than the new insurance products. Since the float, Saga’s dividend payout has been rising every year while operating cashflow has been falling.  That never felt like straight dealing.  Saga’s financial structure looks more trustworthy than it has been for years. Whether its customers will think the same of its products remains to be seen.


eveningstandard--2019-04-09--Michael Harrison Small shareholders get hurt when big guns want a deal

Michael Harrison: Small shareholders get hurt when big guns want a deal

When Neil Woodford buys shares in a company, he invariably invests big. There is a very good reason for this. With a large shareholding comes power. And with power comes control.  So it is with the ill-tempered bid for the doorstep lender Provident Financial from its much smaller rival NSF, where Woodford Investment Management and two other big investors have emerged as kingmakers.  Between them, Woodford, Invesco (where Woodford first made his name as a top stockpicker) and Marathon own 50% of Provident and 65% of NSF. Wearing their hats as Provident shareholders, these three investors have already accepted the all-share offer from NSF, even though the bidder is not offering any premium for control. This matters less for Woodford and co because some of what they lose on the swings as Provident shareholders they gain on the roundabouts as NSF shareholders.  For Woodford, there is another agenda at play. By his own admission, his equity income fund has had a grisly couple of years. The value of the fund has halved because of poor stock performance and investor withdrawals. This has put Woodford under pressure to sell more of his shareholdings to meet those redemptions or stem the level of redemptions.  He recently told the FT that unless he succeeds he could be out of business in two-and-a-half years.  If the Provident-NSF deal goes through, it will help stave off that day because part of the rationale is to asset-strip the combined group by selling off Provident’s car loans business and returning the proceeds to shareholders. That would constitute good news for Woodford. But it would be small consolation for the remaining minority investors in Provident.  They are being denied the kicker they would have enjoyed had this hostile offer been made in cash and at the usual premium to the target’s current share price.  Instead, they are being asked to take NSF paper and put their trust in NSF’s ability to make a better fist of running Provident. Some of these minority investors, such as Standard Life, Legal & General and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, are big and ugly enough to look after themselves.  But spare a thought for the 2700 or so small retail investors who have stuck with Provident through thick and (mostly) thin as its shares have sunk to a 22-year low. Being offered a decent cash exit would have been some compensation for all the years of pain.  Of course, these shareholders could have sold out long ago and moved on. Many do, which is why investors such as Woodford and Invesco often find themselves in the pivotal position they occupy less by design and more by default, possessing large holdings in companies that have become uninvestable.  Nor can conviction investors such as Woodford be accused of only ever acting in their own interest. They are often a force for good, taking large strategic stakes in companies and galvanising them into action. Investors are forever being urged to act less like short-term opportunists interested only in making a quick buck and more like supportive proprietors of companies committed to their long-term success. Woodford and Invesco fit this bill.  The electricity generator Drax would never have embarked on its transformation from biggest carbon emitter in Europe to one of the world’s largest renewable power companies had Woodford not used his large shareholding to support its conversion to biomass and then help bankroll the huge investment required.  But the tussle between Provident and NSF is a timely reminder that markets do not operate on altruism alone, which is why minority shareholders can easily find themselves short-changed and squeezed out. They enjoy very little protection in company law and have very limited room for manoeuvre when one or two large shareholders embark on a particular course of action.  It is also eerily reminiscent of an earlier takeover in which Woodford and Invesco were major shareholders in bidder and target company. That was the contested all-share bid in July 2017 by IP for its fellow commercialiser of intellectual property, Touchstone.  Woodford and Invesco’s combined 52% shareholding in Touchstone was pledged to IP on day one. Touchstone’s remaining minority shareholders eventually succumbed and agreed to accept IP shares too. Today those shares are worth 40% less.


eveningstandard--2019-04-16--Jim Armitage Galliford Try shocks shareholders with profits estimate

Jim Armitage: Galliford Try shocks shareholders with profits estimate

We all know you have to take builders’ estimates with a pinch of salt. But for Galliford Try to slash its profit forecasts by more than a quarter just three months after telling shareholders all was dandy seems pretty poor even by this industry’s standards.  That said, these are not normal times for construction firms. The collapse of Carillion has totally shaken this critical UK industry.  Partly in immediate financial terms; Galliford was among those who lost millions shouldering Carillion’s share of the liabilities on major joint venture projects when it went bust.  But more significantly, in the matter of trust. The City no longer believes any but the most prudent of firms in the sector. High debts — once overlooked by fund managers — are no longer tolerated. Over-optimistic valuations of projects are punished.  Builders are belatedly taking off their rose-tinted safety goggles.  Having seen Kier’s new boss launch a review of the company yesterday, Galliford Try today got real about its profits, and signalled a major retrenchment from its road and bridge building arm. Expect more realistic — ie lower — valuations of its current projects to come next.  For current shareholders this all hurts horribly. But there are reasons to be cheerful. What should emerge is a construction sector in better health, and even a little more honest.  What do Debenhams, House of Fraser, AA and Saga all have in common? They all tumbled into financial crisis a few years after being sold on the stock market by private equity investors.  When performing at their best, private equity owners restructure troubled businesses away from the glare of the public markets.  At their worst, they grab conservatively financed plcs on the cheap, strip out the cash while starving them of investment, then float them again, laden with unsustainable debts.  In recent years, valuations of firms on the UK and European stock markets have been widely seen as too high to do such tricks. Brexit has also dented appetites. UK private equity deals nearly halved to €24 billion last year.  But firms who advise on such buyouts think that might be changing. Private equity houses with a wall of unspent money to put to work are getting itchy feet, and are looking for hidden gems.  One deal Svengali tells me enquiries have been picking up rapidly of late, particularly for mid-size target companies. He expects a chunky rise in activity within the next year — largely in Europe, but in the UK too.  If he’s right, that will be good news for current shareholders, perhaps. A more dubious prospect for the country as a whole, though.


eveningstandard--2019-05-31--Mark Zuckerberg to remain Facebook chairman after failed bid by shareholders to oust him

Mark Zuckerberg will remain as chairman of Facebook after an attempt to strip him of the position put forward by a group of shareholders was rejected.  Investors in the social network are growing increasingly agitated with Mr Zuckerberg holding both chairman and chief executive roles amid "a seemingly endless stream of controversies and data breaches", one shareholder said during an annual general meeting.  However, Mr Zuckerberg was unlikely to be rattled by questions over his leadership, given that he holds the majority of the voting power.  Investment firms such as Trillium and NorthStar have long called for the 35-year-old to stand down from his chairman post and focus on being chief executive, urging him to take the example of other tech firms such as Google owner Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft, which have independent board chairs.  Outside the meeting, protesters convened to voice their concerns about Mr Zuckerberg's power, while the Fight for the Future advocacy group projected a 'Fire Mark Zuckerberg' display.  Abigail Shaw of NorthStar Asset Management said during the meeting: "We estimate that last year over 80 per cent of independent shareholders voted yes on this proposal therefore telling Mr Zuckerberg and the board that they are unhappy with the current arrangement.  "Shareholders continue to have no resource against the board or management when scandals pull down shareholder value.  "It is no secret that our company has struggled in the past two years due to a seemingly endless stream of controversies and data breaches.  "These include critiques of the company's likely role in proliferating fake news that affected the 2016 US election, stories that, quote, laid bare Facebook's lax policies around the use and sharing of user information, and risked losing users' trust in the platform and multiple allegations that the company's communications app WhatsApp and even the Facebook platform itself facilitated the spread of hate in places such as Myanmar and India.  "These examples illustrate the risk to a company when a board is formed by the CEO to meet his needs and is primarily composed of insiders or other affiliated people, rather than truly independent directors who would provide proper management in the oversight, to protect shareholders and investments."  Preliminary results indicated that a total of seven activist motions were rejected, including a majority voting system and proposals to ensure ideological diversity on the board.  "At a time when there is little public trust in Facebook, it is navigating a regulatory landscape that is changing quickly," said Jonas Kron of Trillium Asset Management.  "It is at a time like this that we need two different people in these two distinctly different leadership positions."  In closing remarks, Mr Zuckerberg did not address calls for him to reduce his power directly, instead repeating his goals to make Facebook more transparent, and speaking about its future plans to make the social network more privacy-focused.  "We're fighting to do the right things every day," he said.


breitbart--2019-12-23--White House: Trump’s Economic Boom Benefiting Working Class Most

Americans without colleges degrees and with martial backgrounds are seeing the “biggest gains” within the econcomy under President Donald Trump’s administration, said White House Deputy Director of Communications Adam Kennedy in an interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday with host Matt Boyle.  Boyle invited Kennedy’s remarks on the House of Representatives’ passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) and the broader economy.  Kennedy replied, “The president, since day one … has been working hard to make sure that American families — the American people — are at the center of this administration, and what we are trying to achieve, and we’ve seen that in the economy. … We’ve seen that in our new trade agreement, the USMCA, with South Korea, and with many others. This is a president who has put the economy and the American people first and foremost in every single one of our policy initiatives.”  Kennedy added, “One of the things this economy has really been spectacular at is making sure that people who used to be left behind in previous economies — people without college degrees, people who come from more martial backgrounds — have seen some of the biggest gains.”  Blue-collar workers, added Kennedy, had yielded the largest economic benefits across Trump’s presidential tenure.  “So in manufacturing, the non-supervisory positions — the people who are actually on the floor doing the work — have received the highest wage gains,” stated Kennedy. “What USMCA does, one of the most important things it does, is put in place tougher labor standards for manufacturing so we’re going to have [fewer] factories and manufacturers moving to Mexico, moving out of this country. Instead, because of these provisions, there’s a strong incentive for them to stay here.”  Kennedy remarked, “So one of the big things we’ve seen is manufacturing is kind of roaring back in this country, after so many people that it was never going to come back, at all, that we had to resign ourselves to losing all of our factories. USMCA is really going to solidify that growth and accelerate it.”  Republicans are unified in opposing Democrats’ impeachment push against the president, estimated Kennedy.  Boyle asked, “If there is a [Senate impeachment trial], and there’s an eventual Senate vote, do you expect that there may be a bipartisan opposition in the Senate … and do you expect Republicans will stick together other there? I don’t think we’ve seen any Republicans really breaking with the president in the Senate. We’ve seen all the Republicans unified in the House, and Democrats, like Joe Manchin, [he] says he is very uneasy with what’s going on. … Do you think there’s a possibility that there’s a bipartisan vote against convicting the president and a partisan vote [like] what we saw in the House in favor of it?”  “Absolutely, I think that’s actually the more likely outcome than the other way around,” responded Kennedy.  Kennedy concluded, “We’ve seen the Republicans be incredibly unified on this, and we’ve seen the Democrats just completely divided, completely coming apart, almost, at the very idea.”  Breitbart News Sunday broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific).


breitbart--2019-12-27--Working Class Secures Largest Wage Hikes Thanks to Tight Labor Market

The bottom 25 percent of American wage earners secured the largest wage hikes year-to-year compared to all others for November, newly released data reveals, thanks to President Trump’s tightening of the United States labor market.  Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta shows that for the lowest wage earners, Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” economy has delivered the quickest rate of wage hikes in more than a decade.  In November, the bottom 25 percent of wage earners saw their wages rise 4.5 percent compared to November 2018. These bottom-tier workers, those earning less than all other Americans, have secured a labor market that now resembles the labor market of top-tier workers — a result of less low-skilled foreign competition against Americans through increased interior immigration enforcement.  “A strong labor market makes the bargaining power of lower-paid workers more like the labor market higher-wage workers experience during good times and bad,” Indeed.com economist Nick Bunker told the Wall Street Journal.  Overall wage growth year-to-year stands at about 3.6 percent. When broken down by industry, Americans in construction, mining, finance, hospitality, and manufacturing are all enjoying some of the highest wage growth in the country.  Americans in finance, for instance, secured 4.1 percent wage growth year-to-year, while those in the construction and mining industry — where Americans are most likely to compete against lower-wage illegal aliens — have secured four percent wage growth. Manufacturing workers, as well, have gotten a four percent wage hike year-to-year.  For the first year in decades, the U.S. economy has tipped toward American workers rather than employers in terms of the labor market. Today, due to less foreign competition, workers have more chances to seek out the highest-paying job. For decades, it was employers who would bid on workers.  President of the Mooyah Burgers restaurant chain, Tony Darden, told the Wall Street Journal that the tightening of the labor market has forced wages up for his employees:  Experts, though, have warned that huge surges in illegal immigration — and increased legal immigration levels — can quickly diminish wage gains for America’s working and middle class.  Despite calls for more foreign workers from corporate interests and the big business lobby, there remain about 11.5 million Americans who are either unemployed, underemployed, or out of the labor market – all of whom want good-paying full-time jobs.  John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.


cnn--2019-07-26--Tim Ryan What my cousin Donnie taught me about Americas working class

Tim Ryan: What my cousin Donnie taught me about America's working class

A few years ago, I received a call from my cousin Donnie, a proud Ohioan, Vietnam veteran and seasoned steelworker. Throughout his life, Donnie bounced between jobs in steel mills across our state, earning a living wage. Donnie told me on the phone that it was his last day at Delphi Automotive, a General Motors supplier, and that his job and the entire company were getting outsourced to cut costs. Donnie spent his last few hours on the job unbolting his machine from the floor, boxing it up and shipping it to China.  Unfortunately, Donnie's story is one that hits home to a lot of folks who grew up, like I did, in the Rust Belt. It's been almost 40 years since the economic decline hit the Midwest and Northeast. One after another, factories closed their doors due to inflation, import of foreign steel and cheap foreign labor costs.  As I grew up, I saw the steel industry slowly crumble, and it forever shaped both my ideology and my relationships with the diverse working-class community in Youngstown, Ohio. The struggle of the Ohioan working class still inspires me to do my job in Congress -- and also led me to become a Democratic Presidential candidate.  I believe America needs to reinvest in our manufacturing industry. After all, the manufacturing industry has seen an upswing in the last two years, with multiple indicators suggesting we could see pre-recession output levels return before the end of the year. The industrial sector continues to grow rapidly as technology companies make advancements, but the volatility of the labor market persists  We must invest in our new industries and laborers to ensure longevity and stability. And we need to put our country in a position to succeed. That is why I am introducing a National Industrial Policy to protect the future of manufacturing in America -- and cut the workers in on the deal.  On day one, I will appoint a Chief Manufacturing Officer who will report directly to me to develop and drive a national manufacturing strategy, set goals for production, increase advanced manufacturing and troubleshoot manufacturing-related issues. My administration will organize every needed federal agency and research institution to work closely with businesses and investors in order to dominate the industries of the future. We need to double union membership nationwide. Throughout our country's history, unions have helped pave the way for safer working conditions, higher wages and essential benefits. Establishing strong unions with robust membership -- for all industrial sectors -- is critical to building an economy that works for everyone. I would enact legislation that certifies a union as the collective bargaining representative if a majority of employees have signed authorization cards, allow independent contractors to organize and collectively bargain, ban states from enacting right to work policies, make it illegal to replace striking workers and allow public sector employees to bargain. Why Tim Ryan says Dems should appear on Fox News Why Tim Ryan says Dems should appear on Fox News Women and minorities have received very little aid in breaking down the cultural and economic barriers that hinder their access to careers in the industrial sector. We must provide apprenticeships and training opportunities to engage them. According to the Department of Labor, among those who complete apprenticeships programs -- only 7.3% were women and 10.7% were African-American. My plan will create a task force at the Department of Labor that prioritizes both growing apprenticeships opportunities for women and minorities, and increases the diversity of existing programs. I also want to help workers who have been left behind, like my cousin Donnie, by creating a job assistance program similar to our country's Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. The TAA program assists eligible workers whose working wages are reduced as a result of increased imports by providing new career training, employment and case management services, and allowances for time spent job searching and costs of relocation. My plan would provide training stipends for these workers, create wage insurance for older workers to protect their livelihoods and raise the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour to ensure that our laborers can afford to live comfortably. My administration will also rebuild our forgotten cities by investing in infrastructure, green technology and modern transportation technology while creating a National Infrastructure Development Bank. Finally, we need to decentralize economic opportunity by creating the Distressed Community Investment Agency within the US Department of Commerce. This agency would have the mission of promoting, establishing and strengthening venture capital in distressed communities through grants, contracts and other agreements with public and private entities. As American industry continues to create and develop new technologies and careers that grow our economy and communities, we must acknowledge the disproportionate geographic centralization of job growth created by companies. Currently four states, New York, California, Massachusetts and Texas, receive 80% of venture capital dollars, but there are innovators and entrepreneurs throughout the country who are being overlooked because they don't have the same access to that capital. Sign up for our new newsletter. Join us on Twitter and Facebook The Democratic Party has historically been the party for working people, and we continue to carry their interests at heart. In 1980, many working people in Rust Belt cities felt abandoned by the Democratic Party and voted for Ronald Reagan. In 2016, we found ourselves lost and desperate for change -- and made the same mistake again in electing Donald Trump. It's time for Democrats to take a stand and play offense when it comes to the rights and well-being of working-class Americans. We must show the working class that Democrats care about their ability to achieve the American dream and that we understand they comprise the backbone of our history, and ultimately our future, in the United States. If elected President, I will ensure our workers get the recognition they deserve and the best resources our country has to offer them.


drudgereport--2019-09-25--Decline of White Working Class Spells Trouble for Trump

Decline of White Working Class Spells Trouble for Trump?

(Bloomberg) -- The number of white working-class Americans dropped below 40% of the population for the first time last year, reflecting demographic shifts that could pose a challenge for President Donald Trump’s election in 2020.  White Americans without a four-year college represented 71% of the population in 1975. Their decline as a share of the population is expected to continue and they will no longer be the largest demographic group by 2034, according to a blog post Tuesday from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.  There’s no single cause for the decline. More Americans are seeking a college education, and leading causes of death — including the opioid epidemic, alcoholism and suicide — are hitting working-class whites hardest. And birth rates for whites are slowing compared with nonwhites.  “Whatever the cause, the decline of this group will undoubtedly continue to have lasting economic and social consequences for the U.S.,” researchers Bill Emmons, Ana Kent and Lowell Ricketts wrote in the blog post, which focused on the demographic trends and didn’t mention the political implications.  Among those consequences: the shrinking of one of Trump’s most reliable voting blocs. White voters without a college degree supported Trump by 66% to Hillary Clinton’s 29%, according to 2016 exit polls. Among men in that group, the margin was even higher, 71% to 23%.  That’s the largest support from white working-class voters for any presidential candidate since 1980, according to the Pew Research Center.  Trump also won college-educated whites, but by a smaller margin of 48% to 45%, while Clinton won large majorities of black, Latino and Asian voters.  While the ranks of working-class whites has dropped 2% nationally since 2016, they remain a slight majority in the Midwest, the report notes.  That’s a key 2020 battleground where the Trump campaign is focusing its turnout efforts in swing states like Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. The Midwest has also been hit hard by the manufacturing slowdown, exacerbated by the U.S.-China trade war Trump has steadily escalated.  The steepest declines in the white working-class population have been in the Northeast and Western U.S., the report showed. In the West, the non-white working class now outnumbers the white working class.  To contact the reporters on this story: Katia Dmitrieva in Washington at edmitrieva1@bloomberg.net;Gregory Korte in Washington at gkorte@bloomberg.net  To contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Lanman at slanman@bloomberg.net, ;Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley  For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com


fortruss--2019-04-17--Why does the Left sneer at the Traditional Working Class Labour alienates this Integral Element at

Why does the Left sneer at the Traditional Working Class? Labour alienates this Integral Element at its Peril  By Paul Embery – It was a straightforward political point. “Labour comes out in favour of keeping free movement – an utter betrayal of traditional working-class people, the majority of whom oppose it and voted to end it in the referendum. The party will pay a heavy, but deserved, price for this at the ballot box.” This was my tweet after Labour had declared its support for the Common Market 2.0 proposal earlier this week.  Cue hordes of offendotrons, utterly certain that my use of the term “traditional” was really a euphemism for “white”.  Others from the woke Left quickly joined the fray.  My critics were, of course, unwittingly betraying their own deep prejudice. Did they really believe that the term ‘traditional working class’ by definition excluded all those without white skin – such as, say, the thousands of Commonwealth immigrants who arrived here over half a century ago and found work in manual industries or our public services? Apparently they did.  It’s true that the term is not especially tightly defined. Nonetheless, so extensively has it been used over the years in political discourse and throughout the media – including by Left-wingers such as the Guardian’s Owen Jones – as well as wider society, it is fair to argue that it is broadly understood to refer to that social group which is older; often politically tribal; either currently or at least once employed in blue-collar labour; and usually located in the post-industrial areas of Britain, though prevalent in rural and coastal communities too.  This group is rooted, patriotic, communitarian in outlook, often holding small ‘c’ conservative views on social and cultural issues. As with all social classes in the UK, it is mainly white, but certainly not exclusively so.  The results of a BBC class survey in 2013 showed that 9% of this group came from an ethnic minority background, only slightly lower than the total percentage of the UK’s ethnic minority population at the time.  It is certainly true that these struggles were shunned by some sections of the working-class at the time. In the case of the Bristol bus boycott, the Transport and General Workers’ Union was shamefully complicit in discriminating against black drivers – but that doesn’t make those engaged in the struggle any less a part of the traditional working class, nor does it mean that we should join the efforts to exclude them from it.  I dare my opponents to speak to my own in-laws, who landed in Britain on a plane from Calcutta back in the 1960s. My late father-in-law, a deckhand in the Indian Merchant Navy as a young man, spent the rest of his working life in the UK as a sheet metal worker and raised his family in a council home in pre-gentrification Hackney. Tell any of them that they do not meet the criteria for membership of Britain’s traditional working-class, and you’d get short shrift.  When some on the Left argue that the term ‘traditional working-class’ is obscure or divisive or racist and should therefore be ditched, what they are really demonstrating, unintentionally, is their own hidden contempt for this group. They would rather it didn’t exist at all in the form it does.  They think its members are ‘nativist’ and reactionary and – God forbid – voted to leave the European Union. Because, you see, the group-thinkers and virtue-signallers and woke liberals and quasi-Marxists and echo-chamber-dwellers who comprise so much of the modern Left believe themselves to be Inherently Better People than those of us from the more traditional Left. We are Gillian Duffy and White Van Man of Rochester – ripe for votes, but not fit to be seen in public with.  It is this patronising mindset that compels them to assume that ethnic minority voters cannot possibly be in favour of Brexit or opposed to free movement. Yet research shows that around a third of ethnic minority voters supported Leave, and that many of these, particularly the older generation, were hostile to free movement, not least because they considered it unfair that prospective migrants from outside the EU – in many cases, people like themselves – faced bigger hurdles in coming to the UK than did those from inside it.  Sure, the working class is forever altering, and it is fair to argue that the traditional working class isn’t necessarily representative of the working-class generally. Indeed, a consequence of our rapidly-changing economy and society over recent years – and the subject of an insightful book by Claire Ainsley – has been the emergence of a new working class.  This group is younger, heavily represented in the service sector, often in precarious employment and on a low income, less politically tribal and more culturally diverse. It is unquestionably an integral part of today’s working class and should command the attention of those of us in the labour movement.  But, in electoral terms, Labour already has much of this vote in the bag. It is also true to say that this new working class is not as marginalised or ostracised politically, socially or culturally to the same degree as is the traditional working class, and it is thus the latter whom Labour should be moving heaven and Earth to reconnect with.  Labour has haemorrhaged support among the traditional working class in recent years. In the 2017 general election, there was a swing to the Tories in some of its post-industrial heartlands of the north and Midlands, and the party lost working-class strongholds such as Stoke-on-Trent South, Mansfield and Walsall North. Post-election polling even saw the Tories take a lead among the working-class C2DEs. Sixty-one per cent of Labour constituencies voted Leave, as did 35 of the 45 seats in England and Wales which Labour must take if it is to win an election.  At a time when the traditional working class has never felt so disillusioned with Labour, the party’s support for policies such as free movement, which did so much to alienate this group in the first place, will do nothing to win them back. Whatever their skin colour.


frontpagemagazine--2019-07-21--quotExploiter of the Working Classquot Bernie Sanders Attacks Workers for Asking for a Raise

"Exploiter of the Working Class" Bernie Sanders Attacks Workers for Asking for a Raise

1% Socialist Bernie Sanders, who has three homes and used to serve white wine on a private jet that was flown to campaign events, is outraged that his staff not only demanded $15 an hour in pay, but [also went to the media](https://www.mediaite.com/news/bernie-sanders-gripes-about-his-workers- complaining-to-media-but-agrees-to-pay-15-bucks-an-hour/) to complain about his plutocratic ways.  > Sanders came under criticism this week for failing to pay his own campaign workers the $15 an hour minimum wage for which he has advocated after workers spoke out to complain about what they called “poverty” wages being paid to some field staff.  >  > According to The Washington Post, average hourly pay for the campaign workers in question is “less than $13” based on a 60-hour workweek at a salary of $36,000 a year, which is only a “poverty” wage for a family of seven.  But, like all socialists, Bernie firmly believes that $15 an hour is the minimum wage that... other people should pay their workers.  > In an interview with the Des Moines Register Friday, Sanders groused about the way some his workers went about airing their grievances:  >  > “It does bother me that people are going outside of the process and going to the media,” he said. “That is really not acceptable. It is really not what labor negotiations are about, and it’s improper.”  Last time I checked, labor negotiations currently involve protests, acts of violence, inflatable rats, and yes, going to the media.  I'm sorry that Bernie thinks that's awesome when it happens to other people, but that his socialist working people's campaign should be immune from the reality of the conflict between labor and capital. But that's something Bernie has in common with his Soviet comrades.  They didn't like worker protests either. Sadly, Bernie isn't the Premier of the United States and can't put down the protests with machine guns.  Yet.


hitandrun--2019-08-14--Bernie Sanders Is Right That the Working Class Is Shrinking Hes Wrong To Suggest Thats a Bad Th

Bernie Sanders Is Right That the 'Working Class' Is Shrinking. He's Wrong To Suggest That's a Bad Thing.

In a tweet this morning, Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who is running for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, shows that his grasp of economics is about as strong as his grasp of "breaking news." He writes,  exactly do you figure Bernie is talking about? Working class is sometimes used to denote blue-collar workers, especially factory workers. If we're going that route, it's undeniable that factory jobs have indeed massively declined, but not just over the past 40 years. In fact, industrial jobs as a percentage of the total workforce peaked not in 1979 but in 1943  Over the past couple of decades—at least since the 1990s, especially as President Bill Clinton was putting finishing touches on the North American Free Trade Agreement that critics wrongly feared would crater the U.S economy—we've spent a lot of time fretting over the end of factory jobs. In 2016, one of Donald Trump's main speaking points was that he was going to keep the factory jobs that remained and then bring back old ones that he mistakenly thought had gone overseas (between 2000 and 2010, according to one representative study, about 85 percent of factory job losses were due to automation, not free trade and off-shoring of jobs). The nostalgia with which factory jobs are treated is one sign that they've been gone for a very long time. Just as with Native Americans, we don't really embrace and romanticize objects of fear and ire until they are truly dispatched. Very few people loved factory jobs when they were a big part of the American economy—instead, you got movies like Modern Times, which portrayed working on an assembly line as torture and degradation. Same with farm work, which was something everyone wanted to escape when everyone had to do it.  Rose divvied Americans into five income groups; the poor at $0 to 29,999; the lower middle class, from $30,000 to $49,999; the middle class, from $50,000 to $99,999; the upper middle class, from $100,000 to $349,999; and the rich, $350,000 and up. He then examined how each group had fared between 1979 and 2014. The percentage of American families with incomes over $356,000 grew from 0.1 percent in 1979 to 1.8 percent in 2014. Meanwhile during that period the percent of Americans in the middle-middle class, the lower middle class and the poor fell from 38.8 to 32 percent, 23.9 to 17.1 percent and 23.4 to 19.8 percent respectively.  But maybe Bernie is talking about the "middle class" when he breaks the decades-old news that the rich are getting richer. Here, too, he seems off. As Reason's Ronald Bailey has pointed out , between 1979 and 2014, the income distribution in America has gotten markedly better, with more people clustered in its upper reaches. Citing work done by Stephen Rose, an economist at the liberal Urban Institute, Bailey writes:  And as you can see in the chart above, folks in the "upper middle class" jumped from about 30 percent in 1979 to 52 percent in 2014. Yes, the rich do get richer, but when you start looking at individuals rather than statistical averages, an even-more heartening picture emerges for those of us who care about income mobility (I certainly do). Here's economist and Econtalk podcast host Russ Roberts sussing out the important data:  One study finds that when you compare the income of parents working in the early 1960s to their children's income from the early 2000s, "84% earned more than their parents, corrected for inflation. But 93% of the children in the poorest households, the bottom 20% surpassed their parents. Only 70% of those raised in the top quintile exceeded their parent's income." A different study also found that kids in lower-income groups were far more likely to outstrip their parents' income than those born to wealthy parents: "70% of children born in 1980 into the bottom decile exceed their parents' income in 2014. For those born in the top 10%, only 33% exceed their parents' income."  looks at people who were 35–40 in 1987 and then looks at how they were doing 20 years later, when they are 55–60. The median income of the people in the top 20% in 1987 ended up 5% lower twenty years later. The people in the middle 20% ended up with median income that was 27% higher. And if you started in the bottom 20%, your income doubled. If you were in the top 1% in 1987, 20 years later, median income was 29% lower.  Like Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders is a populist whose rhetoric is intended to rile up people who feel like they are being taken to the cleaners by various elites (Trump zeroes in on cultural elites and institutions such as the academy and news media, Sanders focuses on economic elites). Each paints massively misleading pictures of contemporary life in America in an attempt to woo voters his way.  None of this is to say that things are perfect as is, or even tolerable. But on the one hand, you have someone like Donald Trump, whose positive contributions to economic growth—tax reform and deregulation, say—are offset by really stupid policies on trade, immigration, and deficit-spending. On the other hand, you have someone like Bernie Sanders, who may not be a classic socialist that wants the state to own the means of production but does want to grow the size, scope, and spending of government with regard to every aspect of the government. These are not good options and they should not be the only options available to American voters in 2020, or any other year for that matter.