Senior Women Web

Author: SeniorWomenWeb

  • Federal Trade Commission Report To Congress: Adults 60 and Older Report Losses of $1.6 Billion in 2022 to Scams; Investment Scams are Top Reported by Dollars Lost

    Federal Trade Commission Seal

    October 18, 2023:  The Federal Trade Commission has issued its latest report to Congress on protecting older adults, which highlights key trends based on fraud reports by older adults, and the FTC’s multi-pronged efforts to combat the problem through law enforcement actions, rulemaking, and outreach and education programs. In addition, the report calls on Congress to update the FTC Act in response to the Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling in the AMG Capital Management case, which severely limited the FTC’s ability to recover money that older adults and other consumers lose to scammers.  “We do all we can to protect older adults and shut down the scams targeting them,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “But we still need Congress to restore our authority to get money back from the scammers and into consumers’ pockets.”

    The report, Protecting Older Consumers, 2022-2023, A Report of the Federal Trade Commission, finds that older adults reported losing more than $1.6 billion to fraud in 2022.

    Because the vast majority of frauds are not reported, this figure represents only a fraction of the overall cost of fraud to older consumers, which the FTC estimates to be as high as $48 billion. The report also finds that in 2022, older adults reported significantly higher losses to investment scams, business impersonation scams and government impersonation scams than they did in 2021:

    • Investment scams: $404 million reported lost, up 175% from 2021.
    • Business impersonation scams: $271 million reported lost, up 78% from 2021.
    • Tech support scams: $159 million reported lost, up 117% from 2021.

    As in prior years, the analysis of fraud reports received by the FTC in 2022 showed that adults aged 60 and over were substantially less likely to report losing money to fraud than adults aged 18-59. When they did report losing money, though, they tended to report losing substantially more than younger adults. Consumers 80 and older reported losing a median of $1,750 to fraud, while those in their seventies reported a median loss of $1,000, with both numbers increasing over 2021.

    The analysis included in the report to Congress also found that adults 60 and older were more than six times as likely as adults aged 18 to 59 to report losing money to a tech support scam. Older adults were more than twice as likely to report a loss to a prize, lottery or sweepstakes scam, and 73 percent more likely to report losing money to a friend or family impersonation scam. 

    The report’s analysis shows that older adults filed the largest number of reports about online frauds — where consumers were first exposed to the fraud via social media, the web, or online ads. The largest median losses, however, were reported by older adults on fraud that started with a phone call. The impact of scams where older adults were contacted on social media also increased; the median reported loss from this type of scam jumped from $460 in 2021 to $800 in 2022.

    The report focuses on key actions the FTC has taken to protect older consumers, particularly in light of the Supreme Court’s AMG Capital decision. In 2022, the Commission issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on government and business impersonation, which is aimed at curbing a form of fraud that has resulted in tremendous losses for older consumers. A new rule would offer additional tools for the FTC to seek refunds for consumers harmed by these scams.

    ents. The report highlights a number of ongoing law enforcement partnerships in which the FTC works with other federal agencies, along with state and local authorities, to take actions to protect older consumers.

    Finally, the report details the FTC’s outreach and education efforts through such programs as the Pass it On campaiIn addition, the report notes a number of enforcement actions that had a particular impact on older consumers, including cases against Publishers Clearing House for using dark patterns to mislead consumers into thinking that making a purchase would increase their chances of winning the company’s sweepstakes drawing; a company that placed more than a billion calls to consumers, including hundreds of robocalls and calls to consumers on the National Do-Not-Call Registry; a bogus credit card relief scheme; a timeshare exit scam; a company making false health claims about COVID prevention; and current and former major distributors for the multi-level marketing company doTERRA for making baseless claims about COVID treatmgn, which focuses on providing fraud prevention resources to older adults so they can help protect their communities by sharing the information and materials with family and friends. It also details the FTC’s ongoing efforts to implement the Stop Senior Scams Act of 2022. 

    The Commission vote authorizing the report to Congress was 3-0.

    The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers. Learn more about consumer topics at consumer.ftc.gov, or report fraud, scams, and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Follow the FTC on social media, read consumer alerts and the business blog, and sign up to get the latest FTC news and alerts.

    Contact Information

    Contact for Consumers

    FTC Consumer Response Center
    877-382-4357
    https://reportfraud.ftc.gov
  • Cover of The Women of  NOW:  How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America showing a protest

    Jo Freeman Reviews: The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America

    Cover of The Women of  NOW:  How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America showing a protest

    The Women of  NOW:  How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America 

    by Katherine Turk 
    New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 435 pages with photo insert
    Hardcover: $32.00
    Reviewed by Jo Freeman
    This book is a biography of three women and an organization. It’s an unusual way to write about either but Turk makes it work.
    The three women are Patricia Hill Burnett,  Aileen Hernandez and Mary Jean Collins,  born in 1920, 1926, and 1939, respectively.  The organization is the National Organization for Women, founded in 1966  “to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men.”
    Turk chose these women not just because of their long involvement with NOW but to illustrate its diversity. Burnett was a Republican as well as a beauty queen, a portrait artist and the wife of a rich businessman; not the kind of person one expects to be a feminist activist. Hernandez was a Black child of Jamaican immigrants who became NOW’s second president. Her primary interest was  labor issues; she worked in unions, the government and as a corporate consultant to open up more jobs for women. Collins was an Irish Catholic child of the working class. All went to college, which Turk says was a transformative experience but in different ways.
    Burnett and Hernandez were both born in Brooklyn and died a few years ago (2014, 2017). They spent most of their adult lives in Detroit and San Francisco, respectively. Born in a small town in Wisconsin, Collins is alive and kicking. She did most of her kicking in Chicago, but a lot of her living in Washington, D.C.
    I was a member of NOW during the period of the book, first in Chicago where I worked with Collins, and later in NYC. I corresponded with Hernandez, sometimes visiting her when I was in the Bay Area. While I didn’t personally know Burnett, I’m sure I met her, probably at the 1980 Republican Convention in Detroit, where NOW staged a march.
    Turk uses biography to write about different aspects of NOW’s work through the 1980s and a bit beyond. Burnett used her money to travel the world, bringing the feminist message with her and convening over two dozen “overseas outposts” for NOW.  Hernandez tried to bring more minority women into NOW, believing that they had similar concerns but not always the same priorities.  Collins ran the Sears campaign, as its headquarters was in Chicago. Sears systematically underpaid and underutilized women. Hernandez was a paid consultant to Sears in how to improve its workplace. Collins also ran the ERA campaign in Illinois, a crucial unratified state that was home to Phyllis Schlafly, founder of STOP ERA.  

  • Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: Something’s Got to Give by Governor Christopher J. Waller

    October 18, 2023Christopher Waller

    Something’s Got to Give

    Governor Christopher J. Waller

    At the Distinguished Speaker Seminar, European Economics and Financial Center, London, United Kingdom

    * (Governor’s background below)

    Thank you, Professor Scobie. Thank you to the European Economics and Financial Centre for inviting me to speak and for the honor of referring to me as a “distinguished speaker.” I have noticed that people started calling me “distinguished” only after my hair turned white. I suspect that “distinguished” is a polite way of saying you are old.

    My subject today is one I trust is of interest in this center of global finance — namely, the outlook for the U.S. economy and the implications for monetary policy.1 It has been one year and seven months since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates to rein in inflation, and there has been considerable progress. But uncertainties remain, both about the forces that will shape the economic outlook in the coming months and about whether monetary policy has reached a level that is sufficiently restrictive to support continued progress toward the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) target of 2 percent inflation. Let me share my thinking about what recent economic data can, and in some cases, cannot tell us about the outlook and the appropriate setting for monetary policy.

    The data in the past few months has been overwhelmingly positive for both of the FOMC’s goals of maximum employment and stable prices. Economic activity and the labor market have been strong, with what looks like growth well above trend and unemployment near a 50-year low. Meanwhile, there has been continued, gradual progress in lowering inflation, and moderation in wage growth. This is great news, and while I tend to be an optimist, things are looking a little too good to be true, so it makes me think that something’s gotta give. Either growth moderates, fostering conditions that support continued progress toward our 2 percent inflation objective, or growth doesn’t, possibly undermining that progress. But which is going to give—the real side of the economy or the nominal side?

    I find myself thinking about two possible scenarios for the economy in the coming months. In the first, the real side of the economy slows. This is the scenario broadly reflected in the September Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) by FOMC participants, where an easing in demand helps bring the economy into better balance with supply and allows inflation to move closer to our 2 percent objective. In this scenario, I believe we can hold the policy rate steady and let the economy evolve in the desired manner.

    But I also can’t avoid thinking about the second scenario, where demand and economic activity continue at their recent pace, possibly putting persistent upward pressure on inflation and stalling or even reversing progress toward 2 percent. In such a scenario, failing to take action in a timely way carries the considerable risk of undermining what have been fairly stable inflation expectations and possibly unwinding the work that we have done to date. Thus, more action would be needed on the policy rate to ensure that inflation moves back to target and expectations remain anchored.

    Before getting into the economic data, let me address the increase in medium- and longer-term interest rates that has occurred since July. The 10-year Treasury yield is up about 90 basis points, while shorter-term maturities increased only a quarter of this amount and primarily early in the period. There are several factors that have been mentioned to explain this movement, including stronger-than-expected incoming data on third quarter economic activity, an increased focus on U.S. deficits and the associated increase in Treasury issuance, as well as geopolitical events and a flight to safety. Whatever the causes, I will be watching how these interest rates evolve in coming months to evaluate their impact on financial conditions and economic activity.

    Let’s now dig into the recent economic data, starting with those on economic activity that help us get a handle on the strength of demand. Real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at about a 2 percent annual rate in the latter part of 2022 and the first half of 2023. Recent data suggest that this pace stepped up in the third quarter. The latest consensus estimate from the Blue Chip survey of business forecasters was that third-quarter real GDP grew 3.5 percent, and the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model is coming in even higher. We’ll get a first look at the third quarter GDP number next week, but it seems clear that economic activity was substantially higher for July through September than earlier in the year.

    The question is whether that acceleration of real activity will be sustained. Sometimes an uptick in activity is followed by some payback, or slowdown. For example, if firms pull construction forward because of good weather, then current structures investment will be high now but lower in the next period. Thus, we want to be careful and not pay too much attention to the specific month activity took place but instead average growth over a couple of quarters to get a clearer picture of the underlying strength of the economy.

    To see this point more clearly, recall that at the start of this year, personal consumption expenditures increased dramatically in the first quarter but subsequently grew less rapidly in Q2 of 2023. A similar dynamic may be playing out now. On the other hand, if the third quarter data represents the beginning of persistently stronger demand, then we can expect that strength to show up in the fourth-quarter data, including by putting upward pressure on prices, which could have ramifications for upcoming decisions on monetary policy.

    In thinking about these two possibilities, let me tell you how I view two key components of GDP growth this year.

  • U.S. Families’ Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances

    FEDS Notes

    https://www.federalreserve.gov/conferences/chair-powell-teacher-town-hall-2023.htm

    Last week Chair Powell answered questions from educators in Washington, D.C. and nationwide via webcast.

    October 18, 2023

    Disclaimer: FEDS Notes are articles in which Board staff offer their own views and present analysis on a range of topics in economics and finance. These articles are shorter and less technically oriented than FEDS Working Papers and IFDP papers 

    Jesse Bricker, Sarena Goodman, Kevin Moore, Sarah Reber, Alice Henriques Volz, and Richard Windle with assistance from YeJin Ahn1

    Between 2019 and 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruptions to the U.S. labor market and broader economic activity, leading to unprecedented levels of fiscal support. Nonetheless, over this period, net changes in major economic indicators were consistent with a robust economy, and according to the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), U.S. families experienced broad-based improvements in their finances, particularly with respect to net worth (Aladangady et al., 2023).2

    The SCF is a detailed triennial survey of U.S. family finances that, on its own, is not particularly well-suited to capture between-survey dynamics at the unprecedented scale of the pandemic. In anticipation of a need to better understand these dynamics, the 2022 SCF added questions to capture families’ pandemic experiences (“COVID-19 questions”).3 These questions included a longer lookback period than is typical for the SCF — asking families to consider their experiences since “the onset of the pandemic in early 2020” — and probed families’ health and employment status, relief on required payments, experiences of financial hardship, receipt of early stimulus benefits, and child-related responsibilities.

    This FEDS Note summarizes high-level findings from the COVID-19 questions, showcasing differences in families’ experiences of the first years of the pandemic across income and education groups and connecting these differences to income and net worth measured in the SCF. In particular, lower-income families and families with lower levels of educational attainment were more likely to experience a reduction in work, which could reflect their lower incidence of telework and higher incidence of a severe COVID-19 infection. These differential employment experiences appear to map well to between-survey income growth across the income distribution, especially after accounting for unemployment benefits, which were temporarily expanded over this period. In contrast, growth in net worth exhibited an inverse-U shape over the income distribution and, for most groups, exceeded income growth, largely reflecting asset price appreciation. On net, mean net worth among families that experienced pandemic-related setbacks was reduced relative to other families, particularly at the bottom of the income distribution, but still generally at levels that could cushion against future shocks.

    I. Families’ Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic

    In the earliest stages of the pandemic, the economy came to a grinding halt, upending the U.S. labor market. For example, early lockdowns led many businesses to close or scale back operations, and the unemployment rate spiked. Still, demand for certain types of workers, such as those in essential industries, increased. On the supply side, heightened health concerns or new household demands may have weighed on families’ ability to (or interest in) work.4 Altogether, the pandemic had potential to positively or negatively affect a family’s overall employment situation. The first set of COVID-19 questions asked the survey respondent to describe their employment status and, if applicable, that of their spouse or partner during the pandemic, using any number of 10 possible responses for each individual. Table 1 condenses these responses into mutually exclusive categories to characterize a family’s overall experience — a reduction in work, an increase in work, or no change in work —and reveals that the majority of families reported no change in their work status.5 Unsurprisingly, the next-most frequent experience — reported by one-third of families — is a reduction in work, with the remaining less than 10 percent of families reporting an increase in work. As with other indicators explored in this FEDS Note, the incidence of these employment experiences exhibits a gradient in economic well-being, measured by the family’s income in a typical year (that is, their “usual income”), as well as the educational attainment of the SCF reference person.6 Specifically, lower-income and less-educated families were more likely to have experienced a reduction in work, while higher-income and more-educated families were more likely to have experienced both no change in work status and an increase in work.

    Table 1: Families’ Pandemic Experiences, by Family Characteristics
    Make Full Screen

      All Percentile of usual income Education of SCF reference person
    Less than 20 20-39.9 40-59.9 60-79.9 80-89.9 90-100 No high school diploma High school diploma Some college College degree
    Percent of families in group
    Employment Experience  
    Work reduction 29% 30% 35% 30% 26% 24% 19% 35% 34% 30% 23%
    Work increase 6% 6% 5% 6% 9% 7% 7% 3% 5% 6% 8%
    No change 65% 64% 60% 64% 65% 69% 74% 61% 61% 64% 69%
    Telework  
    New Telework 19% 2% 9% 16% 30% 34% 42% 2% 7% 15% 33%
    Any Telework 29% 3% 13% 23% 46% 53% 68% 5% 12% 22% 51%
    Health Experience  
    Hospitalization 4% 5% 5% 4% 3% 5% 2% 8% 4% 5% 2%
    Persistent symptoms 17% 19% 20% 19% 16% 14% 11% 24% 20% 19% 14%
    Stimulus  
    Unemployment benefits 16% 11% 20% 20% 17% 16% 9% 10% 20% 18% 14%
    Direct stimulus payment 78% 80% 89% 85% 85% 75% 30% 82% 87% 82% 70%
    Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan 4% 2% 2% 1% 4% 7% 13% 3% 2% 2% 6%
    2019–22 percent growth for group
    Real mean income 15% 8% 5% 5% 9% 14% 22% -8% 0% -6% 18%
    Real mean income (excl. unemployment benefits) 14% 7% 3% 4% 8% 13% 22% -9% -1% -7% 18%
    Real mean net worth 23% -2% 39% 51% 30% 28% 18% 10% 17% 24% 14%

    Note: COVID-19 question categories defined over the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) respondent (and their spouse or partner, if applicable). Employment experience classifications use the first response to the employment status question from each person. “No change” in employment refers to either no change or the small percentage of families (less than 2 percent of families in each grouping we consider) that reported both a reduction and increase across spouses or partners. Hospitalization and persistent symptoms are not mutually exclusive categories. Telework leverages the full menu of possible responses to employment status (as opposed to just the first response). Income is measured for the calendar year before the survey.

    Source: Here and in subsequent figures, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Division of Research and Statistics, Microeconomic Surveys (2023). “Survey of Consumer Finances,” https://doi.org/10.17016/datasets.001.

    Some employers responded to the pandemic lockdowns by shifting workers to telework, enabling continuity of operations while minimizing the spread of COVID-19.7 Correspondingly, teleworking families generally faced reduced risks of infection and job loss, insulating them from potential reductions in work stemming from these factors.8 Two of the possible responses to the COVID-19 employment questions pertained specifically to telework: respondents could select that they (or their spouse or partner) moved to a new telework schedule or that they continued to telework. Nearly one-third of families reported telework, with two-thirds of these families reporting a new telework schedule.9 Income gradients for telework are quite strong, with 3 percent of the bottom quintile of the usual income distribution teleworking, compared with 68 percent of the top decile. Over 50 percent of families with a college degree teleworked versus 5 percent of families without a high school degree. Notably, while these telework gradients appear to have already existed before the pandemic, they were amplified considerably after its onset, as the incidence of families that reported a new telework schedule also rises with both income and education.10

    Underlying the chaos in the labor market was the new serious health risk posed by the emergence of COVID-19, whereby a severe infection, among a number of other concerns, could have directly affected a family’s employment status. To identify whether a family experienced a severe health infection, the COVID-19 questions probed whether the respondent or their spouse or partner was hospitalized due to COVID-19, which speaks to an acute (potentially shorter-term) shock, or experienced persistent symptoms from a COVID-19 infection, which speaks to a longer-term shock.11 Across all families, 4 percent reported a hospitalization while over 17 percent reported persistent symptoms. The strong gradient in economic well-being is again present, with lower-income and less-educated families more likely to experience each type of health shock. For example, 2 percent of families in the top decile of the usual income distribution were hospitalized and 11 percent had persistent symptoms, while 5 percent of families in the bottom quintile were hospitalized and 19 percent had persistent symptoms. The differences are even more stark by educational attainment, with 2 percent of families that had a college degree having been hospitalized (versus 8 percent of families without a high school degree) and 14 percent of such college-educated families experiencing persistent symptoms (versus 24 percent of families without a high school degree).

    The incidence of a severe COVID-19 infection moves in the opposite direction of the incidence of telework, as one might expect. More generally, it parallels the incidence of negative employment changes, suggestive of a causal link between a severe COVID-19 infection and labor supply (Goda and Soltas, 2023). In its core survey, the SCF asks respondents to rate their health status and, if applicable, that of their spouse or partner.12 Within all usual income and education groups, these health ratings are lower for families that experienced a severe COVID-19 infection (not shown), indicative of a prolonged effect on a family’s activities, including work.13 Indeed, families that reported a fair or poor health status that appeared to be connected to a severe COVID-19 infection were more likely to indicate a negative change in their employment status over the pandemic than other families that reported a fair or poor health status (also not shown).

    As a potential buffer against the economic and health disruptions brought about by the pandemic, the federal government provided multiple rounds of stimulus, the earliest of which included direct payments, a temporarily expanded and more generous unemployment insurance (UI) program, and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which allowed business owners to apply for funds to maintain their workforce.14 The COVID-19 questions probed whether families received money from each of these three programs. Around 16 percent of families reported receipt of unemployment benefits, with modestly higher incidence in the middle of the distribution than in the tails.15 Unsurprisingly, about 80 percent of families reported receiving stimulus payments, with incidence relatively stable across the income distribution but dropping off precipitously toward the top. In contrast to the distribution of the other two programs, PPP loans were more concentrated at the top, reflecting patterns in business ownership (Aladangady et al., 2023).

  • US Government Reaches Settlement in Class Action Family Separation Case Seeking Injunctive Relief; “The practice of separating families at the southwest border was shameful.”

    Monday, October 16, 2023, For Immediate Release, Office of Public Affairs

    Vanita Gupta

    On Oct. 16, the United States reached a settlement in Ms. L., et al. v. ICE, et al., a class action litigation filed in 2018 seeking injunctive relief relating to the separation of parents and children at the southwest border. The proposed settlement agreement is subject to final approval by the district court after notice to the class and an opportunity to object.

    “The practice of separating families at the southwest border was shameful,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This agreement will facilitate the reunification of separated families and provide them with critical services to aid in their recovery. I am grateful to Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta and the Department’s Civil Division for their work on this matter.” 

    Right, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta

    Under the proposed settlement, new standards will be established to limit family separations in the future. The settlement provides for continued family reunifications, immigration relief, and certain support services for separated families, including behavioral health services, targeted legal support related to immigration claims, limited housing assistance, and certain medical coverage. The settlement does not involve the payment of monetary damages. Those who believe they are class members may submit claims of class membership to the Family Reunification Task Force through the Together.gov website.

    “The separation of families at our southern border was a betrayal of our nation’s values,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “By providing services to these families and implementing polices to prevent future separations, today’s agreement addresses the impacts of those separations and helps ensure that nothing like this happens again.”

    On Feb. 26, 2018, a plaintiff identified as “Ms. L” filed a complaint in the Southern District of California alleging she had been unlawfully separated from her child. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) later filed an amended complaint to add class action claims contending that the separation of putative class member parents from their children violated procedural and substantive due process, as well as the asylum statute. On June 26, 2018, the district court certified a class of separated parents and issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting future separations except in certain specified circumstances. The court also required the reunification of families previously separated.

    Since that time, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have worked with plaintiffs to identify class members and their children, developed plans for reunification, and reunified class members with their children. On Jan. 26, 2021, the Justice Department rescinded the Department’s 2018 zero-tolerance policy for offenses under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a). In Feb. 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order establishing the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families, comprised of representatives from various federal agencies, including the Justice Department, DHS, and HHS. The parties have worked extensively to reunify families in accordance with the Executive Order and subsequent orders from the district court. The task force has searched through thousands of government records to identify separated families and has thus far reunited more than 750 children with their families and has identified 85 additional children who are currently in the process of being reunited with their families. The task force has also identified more than 290 U.S. citizen children who were separated from their parents during the relevant time frame, is working to confirm that they have been reunified with their families, and will offer them services to support their reunification.

    Director William C. Peachey, Assistant Director William C. Silvis, Senior Litigation Counsel Sarah B. Fabian, and Trial Attorney Fizza Batool, all of the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation, are handling the case.

     

     

    Updated October 16, 2023

  • Federal Reserve: Financial Stability in Uncertain Times, A Speech by Governor Michelle W. Bowman

    October 11, 2023

    Financial Stability in Uncertain Times

    Governor Michelle W. BowmanGov. Michelle W. Bowman

    At the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee and Policy Center for the New South Marrakech Economic Festival, Marrakech, Morocco

    It’s a pleasure to join you today to discuss the role of central banks and financial regulators in effectively promoting a stable and resilient global financial system.1 Before I begin my remarks, let me first take a moment to express my deepest sympathies to those who have been impacted by last month’s earthquake. I especially wish to recognize the Moroccan authorities for their efforts to host this important gathering under such challenging circumstances. We are grateful for your determination and inspired by your resilience and hospitality.

    Today, I will discuss some of the financial system vulnerabilities and risks that I see as most salient. These risks and vulnerabilities are top of my mind but are by no means exhaustive of those monitored by the Federal Reserve.2 I will then offer some thoughts on how the Federal Reserve, and other financial regulators and central banks, may be able to address and mitigate these financial system vulnerabilities and risks so that monetary policymakers are able to continue to pursue their monetary policy mandates.

    The recent macroeconomic experience has presented both monetary policy and financial stability challenges for central banks. In many economies during the pandemic, supply chain disruptions coupled with strong demand as economies emerged from pandemic restrictions acted as catalysts pushing inflation up to very high levels. Aggregate demand was also supported by accommodative monetary and fiscal policies, which served to bolster the balance sheets of households, businesses, and local governments; increased excess savings; and contributed to very tight labor markets.

    Many central banks facing these dynamics have tightened monetary policy in an effort to bring demand and supply into better balance and to bring inflation back down to their targets. In the United States, over the past year and a half, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has increased the federal funds target range by 5-1/4 percent and has been reducing the Federal Reserve’s securities holdings, which had increased substantially during the pandemic period. We have seen some progress on lowering inflation over that time. However, inflation remains well above the FOMC’s 2 percent target. Domestic spending has continued at a strong pace, and the labor market remains tight. This suggests that the policy rate may need to rise further and stay restrictive for some time to return inflation to the FOMC’s goal.

    As they have confronted price stability challenges, central banks have also faced new financial stability risks, with some related to the sizable moves in interest rates in an environment with persistent, elevated inflation. The recent experience has also highlighted how geopolitical tensions can pose financial stability risks, for example, through greater financial market volatility or, more indirectly, through their possible effects on economic activity and inflation.

    Financial System Vulnerabilities and Risks
    Like many other central banks, the Federal Reserve continually monitors for a wide range of emerging risks and vulnerabilities in the financial system. It is critical to acknowledge that we need to be responsive to changing conditions in our assessment of and response to financial stability risks. As a case in point, in recent years, it seemed that many underappreciated interest rate risk and yet, it was poor management of this risk that created significant disruptions in the financial system this spring. With that in mind, I will discuss in more detail the financial stability risks and vulnerabilities on which I am currently most focused.

  • National Institutes of Health: Scientists Unveil Detailed Cell Maps of the Human Brain and the Nonhuman Primate Brain

    Dr. John Ngai

    Incredibly detailed cell maps help pave the way for new generation of treatments.

    (Right) Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health

    A group of international scientists have mapped the genetic, cellular, and structural makeup of the human brain and the nonhuman primate brain. This understanding of brain structure, achieved by funding through the National Institutes of Health’s Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative, or The BRAIN Initiative®, allows for a deeper knowledge of the cellular basis of brain function and dysfunction, helping pave the way for a new generation of precision therapeutics for people with mental disorders and other disorders of the brain. The findings appear in a compendium of 24 papers across Science, Science Advances, and Science Translational Medicine.

    “Mapping the brain’s cellular landscape is a critical step toward understanding how this vital organ works in health and disease,” said Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health. “These new detailed cell atlases of the human brain and the nonhuman primate brain offer a foundation for designing new therapies that can target the specific brain cells and circuits involved in brain disorders.” 

    The 24 papers in this latest BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN) collection detail the exceptionally complex diversity of cells in the human brain and the nonhuman primate brain. The studies identify similarities and differences in how cells are organized and how genes are regulated in the human brain and the nonhuman primate brain. For example:

    • Three papers in the collection present the first atlas of cells in the adult human brain, mapping the transcriptional and epigenomic landscape of the brain. The transcriptome is the complete set of gene readouts in a cell, which contains instructions for making proteins and other cellular products. The epigenome refers to chemical modifications to a cell’s DNA and chromosomes that alter the way the cell’s genetic information is expressed.
    • In another paper, a comparison of the cellular and molecular properties of the human brain and several nonhuman primate brains (chimpanzee, gorilla, macaque, and marmoset brains) revealed clear similarities in the types, proportions, and spatial organization of cells in the cerebral cortex of humans and nonhuman primates. Examination of the genetic expression of cortical cells across species suggests that relatively small changes in gene expression in the human lineage led to changes in neuronal wiring and synaptic function that likely allowed for greater brain plasticity in humans, supporting the human brain’s ability to adapt, learn, and change.
    • A study exploring how cells vary in different brain regions in marmosets found a link between the properties of cells in the adult brain and the properties of those cells during development. The link suggests that developmental programming is embedded in cells when they are formed and maintained into adulthood and that some observable cellular properties in an adult may have their origins very early in life. This finding could lead to new insights into brain development and function across the lifespan.
    • An exploration of the anatomy and physiology of neurons in the outermost layer of the neocortex—part of the brain involved in higher-order functions such as cognition, motor commands, and language—revealed differences in the human brain and the mouse brain that suggest this region may be an evolutionary hotspot, with changes in humans reflecting the higher demands of regulating humans’ more complex brain circuits.

    The core aim of the BICCN, a groundbreaking effort to understand the brain’s cellular makeup, is to develop a comprehensive inventory of the cells in the brain—where they are, how they develop, how they work together, and how they regulate their activity — to better understand how brain disorders develop, progress, and are best treated.

    “This suite of studies represents a landmark achievement in illuminating the complexity of the human brain at the cellular level,” said John Ngai, Ph.D., director of the NIH BRAIN Initiative. “The scientific collaborations forged through BICCN are propelling the field forward at an exponential pace; the progress—and possibilities—have been simply breathtaking.”

    The census of brain cell types in the human brain and the nonhuman primate brain presented in this paper collection serves as a key step toward developing the brain treatments of the future. The findings also set the stage for the BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network, a transformative project that, together with two other large-scale projects—the BRAIN Initiative Connectivity Across Scales and the Armamentarium for Precision Brain Cell Access—aim to revolutionize neuroscience research by illuminating foundational principles governing the circuit basis of behavior and informing new approaches to treating human brain disorders.

    Grants: Projects funded through the NIH BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network

    About the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): The mission of the NIMH is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure. For more information, visit the NIMH website.

    The NIH BRAIN Initiative is managed by 10 Institutes and Centers whose missions and current research portfolios complement the goals of The BRAIN Initiative®: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Eye Institute, National Institute on Aging, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

    About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

    NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

    References

    Maroso, M. (2023). A quest into the human brain. Science. http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl0913

  • Department of Labor Awards $5M to Train, Expand Pathways for Women for Registered Apprenticeships, Nontraditional Occupations

    acting secretary dept of labor Julie Su

    Largest awards of WANTO grants target underrepresentation of women in high-wage industries

    The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of $5 million to organizations in seven states to increase the numbers of women in Registered Apprenticeship programs and help connect them with good-paying careers in nontraditional occupations where the Biden-Harris administration’s historic infrastructure, manufacturing and clean energy investments are creating sharp job increases. 

    The announcement of the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations grants was made at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington. Department leaders joined AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler to showcase the work of the labor organization’s Working for America Institute in Birmingham, Alabama. The institute received a $713,892 grant to support its pre-apprenticeship program’s effort to recruit women of color in the region.

    “To fulfill the promise of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and to rebuild the nation’s economy from the middle out and the bottom up, we can’t afford to leave any talent untapped,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “Today, we announced grants that will support organizations that are training women for good-paying jobs — including union jobs — while ensuring an equitable workforce development system that helps to provide a talent pipeline for employers in critical sectors.”  

    This is the department’s largest award of WANTO grants, a 47 percent increase from 2022. 

    “Women make up nearly half of the nation’s workforce but remain vastly underrepresented in industries like construction, which needs more skilled workers needed to fill these high-paying jobs,” said Women’s Bureau Director Wendy Chun-Hoon. “The Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations program prepares women for promising careers and provides the technical assistance to employers and unions to recruit and retain more women effectively.” 

    The WANTO program seeks to increase employment of women in apprenticeships and nontraditional occupations by supporting community-based organizations that develop pre-apprenticeship programs to help women succeed in industries where they are typically underrepresented. These industries include construction, advanced manufacturing, energy, technology and transportation. A portion of the grants awarded can be used to provide participants with support services such as child care, transportation, tuition and work-related gear. 

    Administered by the department’s Women’s Bureau and Employment and Training Administration, the 2023 WANTO grants will fund training programs in Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington state. The WANTO grant recipients are as follows:

    Recipient

     

     

    City

     

     

    State

     

     

    Award

     

     

    AFL-CIO Working for America Institute

     

     

    Birmingham

     

     

    AL

     

     

    $713,892

     

     

    Moore Community House

     

     

    Biloxi

     

     

    MS

     

     

    $714,518

     

     

    Hope Renovations

     

     

    Chapel Hill

     

     

    NC

     

     

    $713,518

     

     

    Vincentian Ohio Action Network

     

     

    Columbus

     

     

    OH

     

     

    $714,518

     

     

    Rhode Island Women in the Trades

     

     

    Providence

     

     

    RI

     

     

    $714,518

     

     

    SER-Jobs for Progress of the Texas Gulf Coast Inc.

     

     

    Houston

     

     

    TX

     

     

    $714,518

     

     

    Ada Developers Academy

     

     

    Seattle

     

     

    WA

     

     

    $714,518

     

     
    Agency

     

    Women’s Bureau 
    September 28, 2023
    Release Number

     

    23-2083-NAT

  • Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: Turtles Sunbathing

     

    turtles

    We were out for the afternoon on a hot, late summer day, walking through the woods at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia.  We came upon the lake where flowers were blooming and greens were flourishing.

    I assumed that there would be fish swimming around as there were signs saying No Fishing, but I didn’t see any.  Was it too hot for them to peek out of the cool water?

    There were some logs among the plants in the water.  And there, on top of the wood, were turtles! They seemed to be enjoying the lazy, sunny day.  Just hangin’ out and bathing in the afternoon sun.

    I remember having a turtle pet when I was nine years old.  It lifted its head when I walked near its cage, expecting food, I suppose,  but I was always glad to take it from its tank and share part of my day with it. 

    I hope that these turtles are able to find food.  And I thank them for being visible on such a hot summer day.

    Turtles are such interesting creatures. They’ve been around for an extremely long time and have lots of varieties. Here are some amazing photos:

    https://www.dogov/blog/13-turtle-ly-awesome-photos-world-turtle-day

     
    By Ferida Wolff
     

    From Wikipedia: In modern Western culture

    Folklore
    “Br’er Fox Tackles Br’er Tarrypin”, from Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings: The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation

    In Aesop‘s fable “The Tortoise and the Hare“, a tortoise defeats an overconfident hare in a race.

    Literature

    Children’s books

    The Mock Turtle from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

    There is a character called the Mock Turtle in Lewis Carroll‘s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In the illustration by John Tenniel, the Mock Turtle is depicted as a turtle with the head, hooves, and tail of a calf; referencing the real ingredients of mock turtle soup.[48]

    In children’s literature such as Dr. Seuss‘s Yertle the Turtle, the turtle is often depicted as a humorous character having a mixture of animal and human characteristics. 

  • Secretary Antony J. Blinken At the Launch of the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative (and playing the guitar)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ4JPih06kM 

     

    REMARKS

    ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE

    BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ROOM

    WASHINGTON, D.C.

    SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

     
    #antonyblinken#globalmusicdiplomacy#music
    Watch | Antony Blinken launches Global Music Diplomacy in style.
     
     

    SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you.  I’m really at a loss for words because I can tell you, that song never sounded like that before.  (Laughter.)  And never will again.  Dave, thank you for really the highlight of a lifetime.

    And everyone here, good evening.  Welcome to the State Department.  First let me say how grateful I am to my friend and colleague of so many years, Lee Satterfield, our assistant secretary of state.  (Applause.)  Lee and the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs were the masterminds of this evening, and every single day are out there working to strengthen the bonds between Americans and people around the world. To our philanthropic and private sector partners – YouTube, Chevron, Boeing, the Wasserman Foundation, United Airlines – thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you for making so many of our cultural diplomacy programs possible.  We could not do what we’re doing without you.  And to my friend and colleague, Chairman Mike McCaul, thank you for your support, your advocacy for international exchange.  It makes a huge difference, and I’m proud to be your partner in this endeavor as well.  (Applause.)

    Now, we have a few dignitaries come through this building, but it is a special treat to have so many members of music royalty here tonight.  Dave Grohl.  (Applause.)  Herbie Hancock.  (Applause.)  Rakim.  (Applause.)  Denyce Graves.  (Applause.)  And my dear friend Aimee Mann.  (Applause.)  We are also joined by so many other outstanding artists who are shaping the music industry today.  GAYLE is in the house.  (Applause.)  Armani White is in the house.  (Applause.)  Jamie Barton is in the house.  (Applause.)  Myles Frost.  (Applause.)  And Mickey Guyton is in the house tonight, too.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you all.

    Now, I have to admit – and Dave might have given you just a little hint of this – I had some ambitions to try to make it in the music business once upon a time.  (Laughter.)  And indeed, some of my once and – who knows – maybe future bandmates are here tonight – Dave McKenna, Link Bloomfield.  But it turns out – it turns out I was missing just one crucial skill: talent.  (Laughter.)  Even so, music has stayed a connecting thread through my entire life, ever since I heard my parents play “A Hard Day’s Night” for the very first time, and it’s been love at first sight ever since.

    You all know – we all know – music is a way for all of us to show who we are, where we come from, what we love, and also to learn the same about other people.  That’s true of people.  It’s also true of countries.  In the United States, our nation’s history shows up in the very instruments that we have – the drum set, invented in the early 1900s in large part by African Americans, who fused together instruments that generations of immigrants had brought to this country: tom-toms from China, cymbals from Türkiye, bass drums from Europe.

    And our nation’s past echoes in how our people play, like in jazz and the blues, for example, genres created mainly by black musicians who blended musical elements from the Americas, from Europe, from Africa, including traditions that enslaved people brought to the United States.  Every beat of every song has a genealogy that is greater than any one artist.  And every musical tradition continues to evolve as genres are expanded and interpreted by creators in every corner of the globe.

    But here’s the thing:  You don’t have to know any history to connect the feelings behind the music because music at its core is about a bond rooted in our shared humanity.  The great pianist Dave Brubeck believed that music could actually connect to the rhythm of our heartbeats, a pattern, as he put it, that is the same anyplace in the world.  In my own life, and now in my own travels in this job, I’ve seen how music can transcend the borders of geography and the barriers of language.  Music gives us a space to express ourselves, to hear one another, to build a sense of community and understanding that helps us work together.

    So for generations, U.S. diplomacy has worked to harness the power of music to actually build bridges, to foster collaboration between Americans and people around the world.  Going back to the 1940s, the United States has helped American musicians travel around the world.  That started with classical musicians, singers, and iconic jazz artists like Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong.  The tradition was carried on by pioneers like our very first and long-overdue hip-hop ambassador, Toni Blackman.  These initiatives continue today with musicians like DJ 2-Tone, whose music kicked off our program tonight.  Together, they reflect every genre of American music – folk, indie, pop, rap, classical, rock and roll – you name it.