Business Update – 9 August 2023
Welcome to our Weekly Digest – stay in the know with some recent news updates relevant to business and the economy.
Why did the US credit rating just get dinged?
On August 1, the Fitch Ratings agency downgraded the United States’ long-term credit rating from AAA to AA+ for only the second time in the nation’s history, in what’s generally seen as a signal of concern about the US’s creditworthiness.
Where will AI have the biggest impact? Healthcare.
AI has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, from improving diagnosis accuracy to reducing costs. Here’s why AI will have a bigger impact in healthcare than in any other industry and why AI talent should be incredibly excited by that opportunity.
The AI rules that US policymakers are considering, explained
The White House announced a suite of artificial intelligence policies in May. More recently, they brokered a number of voluntary safety commitments from leading AI companies in July. That included commitments to both internal and third-party testing of AI products to ensure they’re secure against cyberattack and guard against misuse by bad actors.
Millions of older workers are nearing retirement with nothing saved
A growing number of Americans face the prospect of retiring without a penny in savings. Only 1 in 10 low-income workers between the ages of 51 and 64 had any funds put away for retirement in 2019, compared with 1 in 5 in 2007 prior to the Great Recession, according to a recent analysis by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Worldcoin’s iris-scan ID proposition is best considered with eyes wide open
Worldcoin’s campaign to literally capture eyeballs on the internet is coming up against security concerns as critics question whether the benefits of the iris-scanning system of identity verification are worth the privacy risk.
Federal Reserve Board releases results of survey of senior financial officers at banks
The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday released results of a survey of senior financial officers at banks about their strategies and practices for managing reserve balances. The Senior Financial Officer Survey is used by the Board to obtain information about banks’ reserve balance management strategies and practices, their deposit pricing strategies, their expectations for potential changes in both the size and composition of their balance sheets, and their views regarding Federal Reserve facilities.
CFPB sues USASF Servicing for illegally disabling vehicles and for improper double-billing practices
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a lawsuit in federal court against auto-loan servicer USASF Servicing (USASF) for a host of illegal practices that harmed individuals with auto loans. These practices include wrongfully disabling borrowers’ vehicles, improperly repossessing vehicles, double-billing borrowers for insurance premiums, and failing to return millions of dollars in refunds to consumers.
USPS rate hike announcement may come this week
Speculation that the USPS will announce the third postal rate hike of 2023 this week in the form of its temporary holiday surcharge that it first instituted during the pandemic.
US economy adds 187,000 July jobs – sign labor market is cooling
US employers added 187,000 jobs in July, less than expected and a sign that the labor market is cooling after a series of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve have driven rates to their highest level in 22 years.
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