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Monday 13 May 2024

Walmart backpedals on healthcare

06:16

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Also: A strike at the Apple Store? ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌  ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ 

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The Daily Money

ALL THE MONEY NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Mon May 13 2024

 

Daniel de Visé Personal Finance Reporter

Good morning! It's Daniel de Visé with your Daily Money.

For rural and lower-income Americans, staying healthy will become more time-consuming, with longer drives and wait times for doctors, following Walmart's decision last month to exit the primary care business, Medora Lee reports.

Walmart announced on April 30 that it would close all 51 Walmart Health centers in five states and shut down its virtual health care service because it was "not a sustainable business model."

The move marked a sudden shift for the giant retailer, which had said the previous month that it planned to expand its virtual 24/7 health care – which includes video, chat and calls – and its brick-and-mortar health centers.

For more on who's most affected by the cuts and what they will do, read the story.

Apple Store workers vote to authorize strike

The U.S. could see its first Apple Store strike after employees in a Baltimore suburb voted in favor of authorizing a work stoppage over the weekend, Bailey Schulz reports.

The vote was held by employees of an Apple retail store in Towson, Maryland, the first U.S. Apple retail store to unionize in June of 2022. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM CORE), which represents about 100 Apple employees at the store, has not yet announced a date for the potential strike. 

Why are Apple workers ready to strike?

📰 More stories you shouldn't miss 📰

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401(k) or IRA?
Tricks to maximize Social Security benefits.

📰 A great read 📰

Finally, here's a popular story from earlier this year that you may have missed. Read it! Share it!

After easing substantially in 2023, U.S. inflation has remained stubbornly elevated this year, creeping more slowly toward the Federal Reserve's 2% goal.  

But some states are already there, while others will still be struggling to reach the benchmark even after the nation effectively has declared its mission accomplished, Paul Davidson reports.

Florida is saddled with the nation's highest inflation, at about 4%, while Pennsylvania has the lowest, at about 1.8%, according to an analysis of index data by Moody's Analytics.

Where does your state rank?

About The Daily Money

Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer news from USA TODAY. We break down financial news and provide the TLDR version: how decisions by the Federal Reserve, government and companies impact you.

Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA Today.

A Walmart Health clinic is photographed last year in Jacksonville, which had five locations. Walmart announced Tuesday that all 51 Walmart Health Centers in five states will soon be closing

For rural and lower-income patients, staying healthy will become more time-consuming after Walmart's exit from the primary care business, experts say.

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The Apple logo is pictured atop a store at a shopping mall in La Jolla, California.
 

Apple Store workers in Maryland vote to authorize strike

The union that represents about 100 workers at the retail Apple store in Maryland has not yet announced a date for the potential strike.

Inflation, as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index Summary, jumped 9.1% in June compared to June of 2021. The number was higher than in any month since November 2008, with the price of fuel oil soaring. The news was staggeringly bad for an American economy that is likely on its way into recession because people's purchasing power has been sharply eroded. (Inflation is an even greater hardship for people   who are already struggling financially. This is    the city where the most people rely on food stamps in every state   .)   The debate among policy makers and economists about how to best tame inflation quickly has not yielded a solution. The Federal Reserve continues to raise rates, one of the few weapons it has in its central bank arsenal.     Some economists believe the Fed has been too slow. If it had begun raising rates earlier, as far back as last year, inflation may not have surged as much. Others think that if the Fed raised rates in 2021, it would have undermined economic expansion and pushed unemployment higher. Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics,   commented about the inflation to new outlets, saying: "This report will make for very uncomfortable reading at the Fed."    Among the most pessimistic experts who have formulated a suggested path out of rising inflation is Larry Summers, former U.S. treasury secretary and former president of Harvard. He is also considered among the most gifted economists of his generation. Summers recently told an audience at the London School of Economics: "We need five years of unemployment above 5% to contain inflation -- in other words, we need two years of 7.5% unemployment or five years of 6% unemployment or one year of 10% unemployment." Unemployment has not been over 7% since   some of the worst days of the Great Recession.     Inflation's effects have been uneven. While the year-over-year figure for all goods and services measured by the BLS in June was 9.1%, some items were up more than 20%. To determine the household items that are soaring in price, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the BLS' Consumer Price Index Summary June report. Prices are compared to June 2021.    Gasoline prices lead the way with at least a 52% increase, depending on the type. Fuel oil prices nearly doubled. Some staple items on the American dinner table also rose. Butter prices rose 21%, and egg prices were 33% higher. Each of the 40 items on this list has jumped in price by 14% or more, with   items ranging from baby food to milk and cookies to car body work. (Also see, this is    the price of bacon and eggs the year you were born   .)    The new CPI report makes one thing very clear. Inflation is so high across so many goods and services that Americans buy that there is no reason to believe the pace of the increase will come down soon.
 

Where is inflation still high? See the list of states

U.S. inflation has eased notably but some states are well above the average while others are below. See the states with highest and lowest price gains

The American housing market has been on fire. Home values in some markets increased by over 30% year over year. As of February, America's hottest market was Phoenix.    One reason home prices have risen over the past two years is that tens of thousands of people have decided to migrate from America's large coastal cities to ones inland. San Francisco and New York have home prices that are two or three times the   national median price   for existing homes  , which has risen to a record of over $375,000. (   These are the 20 most expensive suburbs for home buyers   .)    And while new home building has accelerated, supply chain issues have made building materials more expensive, and shortages have delayed completion of many homes that are under construction or in the planning stages.    Another reason for rising prices is the new mobility of many Americans. The COVID-19 pandemic caused companies to shutter offices for safety reasons. Millions of people have worked from home, and some businesses will not make them come back to traditional offices.    One impetus for home buying last year was the near historic low mortgage   rates -- below 3%. The Federal Reserve's rate increases mean that those mortgage rates are no longer available, and this may dent demand in 2022. Already, existing home sales dipped in March, the National Association of Realtors reported. (   This is the mortgage rate in America every year since 1972   .)    The gold standard of home price research is the   S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices  , which are issued monthly. The figures for February showed that home prices across the country rose 19.8% from the same month last year. Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, commented, "The National Composite's 19.8% year-over-year change for February was the third-highest   reading in 35 years of history."    The research also looks at price changes in 20 of America's largest metro areas. These increases were uneven in February. To find America's hottest housing market, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed housing prices changes in metro areas from    S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller   's recent release.    The market with the highest increase was Phoenix, where prices in February climbed 32.9% year over year. It is the 33rd consecutive month in which Phoenix records the highest increase in housing prices. It was followed closely by Tampa, Florida, where prices rose 32.6%, and Miami, which had a 29.7% increase in housing prices year over year.    At the far end of the   spectrum, home prices in Washington rose only 11.9% annually.
 

Where are millennials settling down? See map

Cities in Texas and Tennessee have some of the highest rates of homeownership among Millennials, data shows.

A person at a laptop.
 

3 lesser-known reasons to choose a 401(k) for your retirement savings

You could save for retirement in an IRA. But here's why you may want to go with a 401(k) plan instead.

Two Social Security cards on top of a pile of cash.
 

Claimed Social Security early? How to maximize retirement benefits

Even if you claim early, these rules could help boost the amount of your monthly check.

Morgan Hartman rides the Whirling Wonder ferris wheel with her family on its opening day in 2016.
 

This is what it looks like when a theme park is made for all abilities

Morgan's Wonderland is an ultra-accessible theme park, but it's not just for people with disabilities.

Suleyka Basil, here with her twins, is a Uniqlo store manager in New York. She thought she'd have to quit when she was pregnant because she didn't think she could afford infant care. But the Fast Retailing brand gives management-track employees a monthly $1,000 stipend for child care for up to three years.
 

Companies should do more to help mothers with child care

Many parents say they'd be more likely to accept a job from an employer offering a monthly child care stipend or on-site day care for a fee.

Airplanes are crowded and it's not worth complaining about. So stop.
 

Quit complaining. Air travel is actually great. | Cruising Altitude

People love to complain about flying, but it's actually amazing and fun.

Whether you're driving across the country on your annual family road trip or taking a weekend to enjoy the open road, there are plenty of ways to save on the cost of fuel.
 

Best, worst times to drive for your Memorial Day weekend 2024 travel

This Memorial Day weekend is going to be a busy one, according to AAA. Here's everything you need to know to avoid crowds and traffic.

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