After an early-morning 12-mile march back to the gray stone academic complex with 1,200 new cadets she led through the rigors of basic training at "Beast Barracks," the 20-year-old international history major from Fairfax, Virginia, assumed duties as first captain of the 4,400-member Corps of Cadets. That's the highest position in the cadet chain of command at West Point. "It's humbling, but also exciting as I step into this new opportunity to lead the corps to greatness with my teammates with me," a beaming Askew, still in camouflage fatigues from her march, told reporters. As first captain, Askew is responsible for the overall performance of the Corps of Cadets. Her duties also include implementing a class agenda and acting as a liaison between the cadets and the administration. "Simone truly exemplifies our values of Duty, Honor, Country," said Brig. Gen. Steven W. Gilland, commandant of cadets. "I can't believe this has happened in my lifetime," said Pat Locke, one of two African-American women in the first class of women to graduate from West Point in 1980. "When I entered the Academy in 1976, the men did not want us there. Now 40 years later, everybody recognizes the talent and skills women bring to the game." Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, was West Point's first African-American first captain in 1979. The first female in that role, in 1989, was Col. Kristin Baker, now commander of the Joint Intelligence Operations Center Europe, Analytic Center. Women make up about 20 percent of cadets, who are usually commissioned as second lieutenants in the Army upon graduation. The academy created a diversity office in 2014 with the goal of recruiting more women and African-Americans and increasing diversity among department heads and other leaders. Pam Askew, of Fairfax, says her daughter is a natural born leader with incredible drive. "That leadership is something I've seen throughout her life — wanting to be first, wanting to be the best, wanting to win, in sports, in academics, in every aspect of her life," Askew said. "And to serve others, as well." Askew's appointment comes a year after a photo of 16 graduating black female cadets raising their fists drew criticism from online commentators who accused them of supporting the Black Lives Mattermovement. Supporters said they were making a gesture of solidarity and accomplishment as graduation drew near. West Point investigated and determined they hadn't violated any Army rules. "What that photo said to me was how few black women are graduating," Locke said. "We average less than 20 African-American women graduating each year out of a class of 1,000. And yet, out of that 20 we got a first captain. Isn't that amazing?" Locke, a West Point volunteer who has been a mentor to Askew and other cadets, said she'll hold her up as a role model for girls when she holds workshops on leadership and academics at schools in inner cities around the country. Asked for her advice to young people aspiring to excel, Askew said: "Allow yourself to be a vessel. Throughout my cadet career I've just really focused on being poured into, seeking advice, seeking development, leadership mentors wherever I could. Just truly be a vessel and be poured into." ——-- This story has been corrected to show that cadets are usually commissioned as second lieutenants, not first lieutenants. Sponsored Stories |
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The American workplace is grueling, stressful and surprisingly hostile.
So concludes an in-depth study of 3,066 U.S. workers by Rand Corp., Harvard Medical School and UCLA. Among the findings: • Nearly one in five workers — a share the study calls “disturbingly high” — say they face a hostile or threatening environment at work, which can include sexual harassment and bullying. Workers who have to face customers endure a disproportionate share of abuse. • Nearly 55% say they face “unpleasant and potentially hazardous” conditions. • Telecommuting is rare: 78% say they are required to be present in their workplace during working hours. • Only 38% say their jobs offer good prospects for advancement. And the older they get, the less optimistic they become. • About half say they work on their own time to meet the demands of their job. Work “is a pretty taxing place for many people,” Maestas said. “I was surprised by how pressured and hectic the workplace is.” In many cases, less-educated workers endure tougher working conditions. For example, fewer than half of men without college degrees can take a break whenever they want, compared with more than 76% of men with college degrees. Likewise, nearly 68% of men without degrees spend at least a fourth of their time moving heavy loads. Maestas wonders whether toxic working conditions are keeping Americans out of the labor force. The percentage of Americans who are working or looking for work — 62.9% in July — has not returned to pre-recession levels and is well below its 2000 peak of 67.3%. The unemployment rate is at a 16-year low, and many employers complain they can't fill jobs. “There's a message for employers here,” Maestas says. “Working conditions really do matter.” Not everything about American workplaces is grim. Workers enjoy considerable autonomy: More than 80% say they get to solve problems and try out their own ideas. Moreover, 58% say their bosses are supportive, and 56% say they have good friends at work. The first-time survey of Americans ages 25 to 71 was conducted in 2015. It is similar to a long-running European survey, and researchers plan to conduct another survey next year and eventually to draw comparisons between U.S. and European working conditions. 8/13/2017 Former Lead Jordan Sneaker Designer Raises $7 Million for His New Business, Super HeroicRead Now Mayden recently dove head first into his new venture, Super Heroic, a play focused brand born out of disruptive innovation by Sequoia Blodgett Super Heroic, a company that creates children’s play and sports clothing as well as other products, and was launched by a former designer for Brand Jordan shoes, just raised $7 million in funding. Jason Mayden is a co-founder of Super Heroic. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, his dream was to work for Nike designing shoes for Michael Jordan. Surviving in a neighborhood inundated with violence is an understatement, but Mayden far surpassed that. He became the first African American to get a design internship with Nike and went on to design shoes for Eminem, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Jordan himself, not to mention creating the redesign for the “Monarch,” the highest-grossing shoe in Nike’s history. He eventually held the title as Senior Design Global Director for Brand Jordan. Mayden recently dove into his new venture, Super Heroic, a play focused brand born out of disruptive innovation. So far, the brand includes apparel focused around how children play, an app designed to keep kids moving, and several other products created to foster children’s imaginations. Mayden recently sat down with Tom Bilyeu, host of Impact Theory, to discuss the journey to his success. Tom Bilyeu: Dude, your story is an insane tale of what happens when you are willing to work yourself nearly to death. How did you get the mentality? Man, that’s crazy! Jason Mayden: There are several things that I fundamentally believe that are true in terms of difficulty and what it gives you. For me, being born on the South Side of Chicago in a blue-collared environment, you don’t make excuses for yourself. There is no such thing as anyone starting life behind the start line. I look at myself as being equal to everyone I’m in a room with and the separation between where I want to go and where I am is my work ethic. Tom Bilyeu: Were there other things that Jordan taught you specifically about becoming the greatest or just getting ahead? Jason Mayden: The people you surround yourself with. Everybody that you put in your inner circle should have one thing that they do better than you. That way you’re always a student. The greatest leaders on the planet are also the greatest curators. They don’t create a lot but, they curate thoughts and they put it together and they put their perspective on it. I try to do the same thing. I’m like man, this person’s amazing at this, this person’s amazing at that, how can I learn from them and then put my spin on it. Tom Bilyeu: When people ask me how do you get ahead, how do you be successful, it’s like you have to open yourself up to actually being changed, like when you read a book, stop and really think, how can I use this, how do I put it to work. Is that something that’s just always come naturally to you or was that an insight someone gave you? Jason Mayden: You know, I think it came naturally because as a kid, you know I joke about being a middle child, I joke about being quiet but, when you’re quiet and you’re smaller than everyone and you’re an introvert, you can hear more than everyone else because you don’t talk that often, so you pull in information and you can get better at it. Just by being quiet and still and being invisible, that became my super power. I was able to see everything and learn and I got better and added the skill set so when it was my time to have something to say, I felt more confident. You have to acknowledge that change is a part of life. You grow up, you leave home, you change addresses, you change jobs, change is a constant theme in our existence. The sooner you become comfortable with that concept, you’re free. So many gems dropped here. Peep the entire interview below, and come see Mayden live at Black Enterprise’s TechConneXt Summit in October. By Susan Stocks – AUG 02, 2017
You may have heard that we recently determined that JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (Chase) violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in connection with its furnishing of consumer deposit account information to specialty consumer reporting companies. Specialty consumer reporting companies collect information and provide reports about how consumers use their deposit accounts. These companies are also known as checking account screening companies. You can find out more about the settlement in our press release. When you go to apply for a new checking or savings account, the bank or credit union will usually request a checking account report from a checking account screening company. These companies collect and report negative information to banks and credit unions, such as a checking account closed as a result of unpaid overdraft amounts or unpaid fees. If the checking account screening company does not have negative information about you in its files, then typically you will not have a checking account report. If you had problems with your checking account in the past you may be denied when you apply for a new account. If this happens to you, here are some key tips you should keep in mind to get access to the financial products and services you need. Tip one: Know what’s in your checking account reportThe big three consumer reporting companies—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—typically do not include information about your checking account or check-writing history in traditional credit reports. However, there are checking account screening companies that collect and report on negative information related to accounts you’ve had in the past. These companies include Chex Systems and Early Warning Services. You may have been denied a bank account because a checking account screening company has negative information in its files about your checking history. You may have negative information in your file if, for example, you have had a checking account before and you:
You can get free copies of your checking account reports every 12 months from many of these companies. We’ve put together a list of some of these checking account screening companies , along with some information about how you can obtain copies of your reports. You also have the right to request a free report if you have received an "adverse action" notice. For example, let’s say a bank turns you down for a checking account based on a checking account report. This is an example of an "adverse action." The bank must provide you with an "adverse action" notice that includes the name and contact information of the checking account screening company from which the bank got the report. You can contact the reporting company and request a free copy of the report. To dispute inaccurate information on your checking account report, you should file a dispute with the checking account screening company that compiled the report and with the bank or credit union that provided the information to the screening company. We’ve prepared sample letters that can be used to dispute any inaccurate information.
Tip two: Find out if the bank or credit union has steps you can take to open an account, or offers lower-risk accounts Each bank or credit union has its own policies about the way the information in your checking account report impacts your ability to open an account. Some banks and credit unions require you to pay any old, unpaid charges and fees before you are allowed to open a new account. Many banks and credit unions offer checking accounts and prepaid cards that are designed to reduce risks for both you and financial institutions by preventing overdraft and overdraft fees. We have a guide that can help you select a lower-risk account . Tip three: If you have a problem, you can submit a complaintIf you’re having an issue with credit reporting or scores, checking accounts, prepaid cards, or other financial products or services, you can submit a complaint to the CFPB. We’ll forward your complaint to the company and work to get you a response, generally within 15 days. Diverse northern urban centers like New York City have long been considered the hub of opportunity for people of all races. But New York-based writer Reniqua Allen (@rnz1) is noticing a new trend among black millennials: They're moving south.
Allen joins Here & Now's Robin Young to talk about why they're moving, and about public perceptions of racism in the South. "I heard stories of people moving to the South, I knew many of my friends and colleagues were thinking about moving to the South, and I knew that some of it seemed to be economic but some of it seemed to also be cultural, that something was drawing people to the South. When I started thinking about this book that I'm writing about black millennials and the American dream and just what the future meant, I looked at this research about where black millennials were moving to, I was shocked to see this research that they were moving to the South, but I was even more shocked to find that white millennials and Asian millennials were moving to distinctly different places." On how millennial black culture is influencing the shift "It's kind of crazy, but I guess not so crazy when you look at young black culture. Like for me, after I saw those statistics and was kind of shocked, I thought about what was happening in popular culture, I thought about my favorite new shows in television. And those shows were 'Atlanta' — which is based obviously in Atlanta, by Donald Glover — I thought about 'Insecure,' which was based in LA, and then I thought about 'Girls,' which Lena Dunham writes and stars in, I thought about 'Broad City,' which is incredibly funny and I love it. But these were all shows about white millennials looking for their American dream, they were centered in New York City, kinda the traditional space for creatives and writers, but the shows about black millennials were centered outside of New York City, which was something that I think is reflected in those statistics about black millennials. Person after person I spoke with said that New York was not the center of black young life anymore, which is kinda shocking to me. I grew up here, I love New York City, I grew up with Tupac, and Biggie and Nas, and to see that this new culture that was based out of the South was emerging, and has been for years, I had to take a step back and think about why I'd been so attracted to the north and why I was so hesitant to the South, and where I think that the best life that I can live, where is that located? And I'm not really sure anymore." "For years, I'd heard that the South is cheaper — that's not a surprise at all. But this real connection to the South, this connection to this land, this real sense of home, it was also about the South being a 'black mecca.'" Reniqua AllenOn what she observed in a recent trip south "I think the hardest thing for me about the South, I think of the South, I see Confederate flags, I think of the Civil War, it's really hard for me to kind of get past that. I feel like I see more racism there, but when I really sat down to think of it, honestly I felt more racism in the north." On talking with her great aunt about cultural ties the South "For years, I'd heard that the South is cheaper — that's not a surprise at all. But this real connection to the South, this connection to this land, this real sense of home, it was also about the South being a 'black mecca.' It's interesting because for me, [my great aunt] said, yes, New York City has tons of black people, but it felt like a black community [in the South] in ways that it didn't in New York City. I think we don't have that connection in the north. I went to Manning, South Carolina, where my family is from, and met up with this wonderful woman... she was young, she was bright, she was professional, and I kept sitting there saying, 'Could this be me?' I just felt this sense of connection, this shared history, this visibility that I think it's harder for me to feel in some ways up here." On if she'll move, and where "I think I'm trying to figure out what this idea of a promised land looks like, and what that means to me." Although Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel is credited with inventing Jack Daniel’s in the 19th century, the company revealed last year that Daniel learned the trade of whiskey making from a slave named Nathan “Uncle Nearest” Green. (Green’s nickname is often incorrectly misspelled as “Nearis.”) Daniel then went on to open the Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey distillery in 1875, where Green worked as the master distiller until at least 1881.
New York Times best-selling author Fawn Weaver says she discovered the story of Green from an article published by The New York Times that moved her to dig more into his history. That’s when she learned that Green was not the only African American involved in the process of distilling Jack Daniel’s whiskey. In fact, generations of Green’s descendants worked together with the Daniel family to make the iconic whiskey decades later. Some of Green’s offspring still work in the whiskey industry today. Now, Weaver will dedicate a book, memorial park, street naming, and museum to pay tribute to Green’s legacy. She also plans to set up a college scholarship fund for his descendants. “When Fawn contacted us, we were excited to hear that someone was bringing to light all of this information about our family,” said Mitchell Green, a relative of Green, in a statement. “Until now, only our family and a small community were aware of the impact our ancestor had on the Tennessee whiskey industry.” According to a press release, Weaver and her husband have purchased the farm where the original Jack Daniel’s Distillery was located and have set up The Nearest Green Foundation to ensure that Green’s story “will never again be forgotten.” “Already in the works are artifacts being placed on permanent loan to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.; plans for a museum in Lynchburg dedicated to the history of Tennessee whiskey; the renaming of a street to Nearest Green Way; the Nearest Green Memorial Park in Lynchburg; a book scheduled for completion this year; an improvement project at Highview Cemetery in Lynchburg, where Green is believed to have been buried; and a scholarship fund to benefit his direct descendants. The scholarship’s first recipients are Matthew McGilberry and Marcus Butler, both attending college this fall,” reads the press release. “To correct the record, Weaver has written a new foreword and preface for Jack Daniel’s official biography, “Jack Daniel’s Legacy,” which will be republished this month in honor of the 50th anniversary of its original release.” To top it off, Weaver will release a handcrafted, ultra-premium Tennessee whiskey called Uncle Nearest 1856 later this month. “When I met with the descendants of George Green, the son most known for helping his father, Nearest, and Jack Daniel in the whiskey business, I asked them what they thought was the best way to honor Nearest, said Fawn. “Their response was, ‘No one owes us anything. We know that. But putting his name on a bottle, letting people know what he did, would be great.'” Congress Wants to Get Rid of Consumer Financial Protection BureauNew bills could threaten return of financial crisis, leaving families of color vulnerable to financial abuse
by Carolyn M. Brown Posted: February 22, 2017 It could soon be open season for lenders to prey on people of color, now that twelve Republican senators are backing legislation to dismantle parts of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a signature law from former President Barack Obama and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The group of Republican Senators is led by U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA), who introduced The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Accountability Act of 2017, which would place the CFPB under congressional oversight, instead of allowing the CFPB to receive independent funding as intended when Congress approved its creation in 2010. Looking to the gut the agency is Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Representative John Ratcliffe (R-TX), who have introduced legislation this week to completely eliminate the CFPB—an agency that has provided 29 million people that were harmed by financial companies with monetary relief totaling more than $12 billion. Minorities Vulnerable to Financial Abuse Both proposals would leave families vulnerable to financial abuse and risk bringing back a financial crisis, says the Center for Responsible Lending’s Policy Counsel Yana Miles. “Passing either of these bills will revert us back to an era of reckless lending behaviors that led us to the Great Recession,” she said, in a statement. “The pernicious bill to undermine CFPB’s budget will embolden payday lenders and bad actors on Wall Street to continue influencing lawmakers to halt the Bureau’s funding, leaving consumers vulnerable to predatory abuse.” Black borrowers in segregated cities have been preyed upon with subprime mortgages. Communities of color have been targets of predatory lenders offering a range of high-cost products. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has been around just five years, was established to handle consumer complaints about banks, payday lenders, mortgage and student loan services, debt collectors, and other financial companies. Related Story: Small Black Businesses Easy Prey for Predatory Lenders CFPB Is Like a Beat Cop By eliminating the CFPB, “Workers and families would suffer more from payday loan debt-traps, secret schemes like those committed by Wells Fargo, ensnarling arbitration clauses, deceptive for-profit colleges that drive students into bankruptcy, harassment from omnipresent debt collectors, home foreclosures, and other assaults by financial predators,” added Miles. “The CFPB has been an effective cop on the consumer finance beat, looking after the interest of working families, especially those in low-income communities and communities of color.” An example cited by the Los Angeles Times about the CFPB is how the agency ordered MasterCard and media mogul Russell Simmons’ prepaid card company, UniRush, to repay $10 million to thousands of customers who were unable to access funds because of a service disruption last year. The two companies also were fined an additional $3 million. However, Simmons, who co-founded the card in 2013, is not suffering. BLACK ENTERPRISE reported Greet Dot, a provider of prepaid debit cards, announced its acquisition of UniRush L.L.C. for $147 million, plus it will pay a minimum $4 million annual earn-out payment for five years. Simmons continues to represent and advocate the card. 7/29/2017 Work from home people earn more, quit less, and are happier than their office-bound counterpartsRead NowWorking from home gets a bad rap. Google the phrase and examine the results—you’ll see scams or low-level jobs, followed by links calling out “legitimate” virtual jobs. But Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Nicholas Bloom says requiring employees to be in the office is an outdated work tradition, set up during the Industrial Revolution. Such inflexibility ignores today’s sophisticated communications methods and long commutes, and actually hurts firms and employees. “Working from home is a future-looking technology,” Bloom told an audience during TEDxStanford, which took place in April. “I think it has enormous potential.” To test his claim, Bloom studied China’s largest travel agency, Ctrip. Headquartered in Shanghai, the company has 20,000 employees and a market capitalization of about $20 billion. The company’s leaders—conscious of how expensive real estate is in Shanghai—were interested in the impact of working from home. Could they continue to grow while avoiding exorbitant office space costs? They solicited worker volunteers for a study in which half worked from home for nine months, coming into the office one day a week, and half worked only from the office. Bloom tracked these two groups for about two years. The results? “We found massive, massive improvement in performance—a 13% improvement in performance from people working at home,” Bloom says. Two reasons led to that uptick: First, people working from home actually work their full shift. In the office, people might be delayed by traffic, take a long lunch with a colleague, or leave work early to let a repair person in. They are less likely to be on the clock for the full workday. Second, Bloom says, people at home are able to concentrate better. “The office is actually an amazingly noisy environment. There’s a cake in the break room; Bob’s leaving, come join. The World Cup sweepstakes is going. Whatever it is, the office is super-distracting.” Also, his study found that resignations at the company dropped by 50% when employees were allowed to work from home. “Not only do the employees benefit (by working from home), but the managers benefit because they can spend less of their time painfully advertising, recruiting, training, and promoting.” Bloom says the experiment led Ctrip to roll out a work-from-home option to all its employees. The company reported that it made about $2,000 more profit per person at home, Bloom says. Bloom hopes this example helps kill the negative stereotypes of working from home. “For employees, they’re much more productive and happier. For managers, you don’t have to spend so much time recruiting and training people. For firms, you make far more profit. For society, there’s a huge saving of reducing congestion, driving times, and ultimately, pollution. “There’s not much to lose, and there’s a lot to gain,” he says. This post originally appeared at Insights by Stanford Business. Learn how to write for Quartz Ideas. We welcome your comments at Twenty-five-year-old Marchelle Tigner has been a victim, and she refuses to be a victim ever again. “I’m a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence, and I feel like what else is there that I could do other than this to impact all these people’s lives and help them and make sure no other woman becomes a victim like I was?” Tigner, a firearms instructor from Georgia, told The Root. “It’s happening too frequently where women are easy prey, and I want us to not be easy prey anymore.” The Army veteran and owner of Trigger Happy Firearm Instruction is very candid about her experiences and her determination to arm herself and pass on her knowledge to others like her. And she is part of what appears to be a national trend: black women arming themselves, determined to not go down—not without a fight. More and more black women are taking self-defense seriously—intent on protecting themselves, their property and their loved ones—and as a result, many are turning to firearms as a means to that end. In a paper titled “Concealed Carry Permit Holders Across the United States: 2016,” John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center noted that although whites still hold the majority of permits, the number of black permit holders grew more than twice as quickly as that of whites. “Concealed carry has increased most rapidly among black females,” Lott found. “From 2000 to 2015, the rate of growth was 3.81 times faster than among white females.” Courtesy of Marchelle TignerThe National African American Gun Association, one of many black gun groups that have grown exponentially over the past few years, is mostly made up of women—60 percent of its membership, to be precise. “I thought when I initially started the organization that there’d be a lot more black men joining to revisit some of the social obstacles and challenges that we have in terms of firearms, but it’s been black woman that have been driving a lot of our growth, and that’s across the board,” Philip Smith, president of NAAGA, said. “Every day, every week, every month, more and more black woman consistently, from a percentage standpoint, join our organization versus black men, and I really think it’s because of some of the issues that black women have to face specifically based on their position in American society,” he added. Crime in respective communities across the nation is definitely one key factor. “I think a lot of women are realizing that ‘Wow, I can’t even go to the gas station without somebody trying to assault me or rob me,’” Nezida Davis, a legal counsel to NAAGA, said. Marchelle Tigner (center) and some students (Courtesy of Marchelle Tigner)“I think there’s this rising fear among women because a lot of women are out there, they work, they go to the grocery store, they take their children out and they’re by themselves many times, and they need to find a way to protect themselves,” she said. Heightened racism and the rise of white nationalism in this political climate certainly haven’t helped, either. “During this American history class there ... was a video [shown] of back in slavery time when the KKK ... would come into homes and kick the doors in and drag out the men, and the women just kind of cower in a corner and cry. ... And that spoke to me on so many different levels,” said Laura Manning, a Georgia State University student who’s taken gun courses with Tigner in the past. Black Guns Matter: My Day at the NRA Convention in the Age of Trump“You know that’s just a Klan rally without the hoods, right?” Read more“I have three young adult sons,” said Manning, “and the only thing I could think of was, ‘Oh, my God, are we getting ready to go back to those times?’ And there’s no way in the world that I could see my sons being pulled out of my house.” In addition to the current political climate leading more African Americans to take up arms, black gun ownership in general is largely up, according to a 2014 Pew survey that shows 19 percent of black adults saying that they owned a gun, in comparison with the 15 percent from 2013. Another 2014 survey shows that the mentality of black adults around guns is also evolving, with a whopping 54 percent saying that they believed owning a gun makes people safer, when, just two years earlier, only 29 percent believed that to be true. Atlanta-Based Group Training African Americans to Properly Use Guns Sees Rise in MembershipA group offering itself as an alternative to the National Rifle Association and focusing on… Read moreHowever, Tigner stresses that guns are a responsibility she takes seriously and that she imposes a heavy dose of respect for the weapon upon her students, letting them know that this is not a game. “I know if I get into an argument with someone, I do have a deadly weapon on me and I could take their life. That makes me even more cautious when I get into a situation like that; it makes me want to de-escalate the situation even more because I know this argument is not worth somebody’s life,” Tigner said. “I’m only going to defend myself, and I’m only teaching you how to defend yourself if there’s a threat of deadly force,” she said. “If someone is physically harming you or about to physically harm you, then that’s the only time you’d need to use a firearm. So respect the weapon. I know what it can do. I know what it’s capable of. I’m not going to carry it around and use it based off of emotions.” “This is not going to be the go to. This is going to be the last resort. My life is in danger,” Manning said. “You have to know that you know what you’re doing because this is too serious to just carelessly play around with it.” WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S consumer confidence jumped to a near 16-year high in July amid optimism over the labor market while house prices maintained their upward trend in May, which could boost consumer spending after recent sluggishness.
The reports on Tuesday underscored the economy's strong fundamentals, expected to keep the Federal Reserve on course to raise interest rates for a third time this year. "This brightens the outlook for the economy as we enter the second half of the year," said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG in New York. "We expect Fed officials will continue with their gradual pace of rate hikes secure in the knowledge that a confident consumer means that more spending is on the way." The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index surged to 121.1 this month, the second highest reading since 2000, from 117.3 in June. The rise in confidence came despite the healthcare impasse in Washington. The index hit a 16-year high of 124.9 in March. The survey's so-called labor market differential, derived from data about respondents who think jobs are hard to get and those who think jobs are plentiful, was the strongest since 2001. This measure closely correlates to the unemployment rate in the Labor Department's employment report and is consistent with continued reduction in labor market slack. "That matches up well over time with actual labor market conditions and is a component of the Fed's labor market conditions index," said Ted Wieseman, an economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. "The latest gain indicates the unemployment rate is still falling to new lows." The labor market is near full employment, with the jobless rate at 4.4 percent. But the tightening labor market has struggled to generate strong wage growth, a frustration for both households and policymakers. Less Upbeat on Income The Conference Board survey showed consumers were less upbeat about their income prospects this month. The percentage of consumers expecting an improvement in their income fell slightly to 20.0 percent from 20.9 percent in June. FILE PHOTO: A production line employee works at the AMES Companies shovel manufacturing factory in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, U.S. on June 29, 2017. The share of those expecting a decrease rose to 10.0 percent from 9.3 percent last month. Tepid wage growth has hurt retail sales, which fell in June for a second straight month. With consumers tightening their purse strings, inflation growth has slowed significantly, leading economists to dial back their expectations for an interest rate hike to December. Fed officials were scheduled to start a two-day policy meeting later on Tuesday. The U.S. central bank is not expected to raise interest rates at the end of that meeting on Wednesday. Despite the upbeat data, the dollar fell to a 13-month low against a basket of currencies as investors awaited the statement that will accompany the Fed's interest rate decision. The S&P 500 .SPX hit a record high, also buoyed by a sets of strong earnings from Caterpillar (CAT.N) and McDonald's (MCD.N). Retail sales could get a lift from rising house prices, which are boosting household wealth. A second report on Tuesday showed the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas rose 5.7 percent in May on a year-over-year basis after increasing 5.8 percent in April. An acute shortage of homes on the market and strong demand are pushing up house prices. In another report the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said its house price index jumped a seasonally adjusted 6.9 percent in May from a year ago. That followed a 6.8 percent gain in April. The FHFA's index is calculated by using purchase prices of houses financed with mortgages sold to or guaranteed by mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. "It is very much a sellers' market, so growth is unlikely to slow," said Matthew Pointon, property economist at Capital Economics in New York. |