Current Events in January 2019

Whether you have a stock portfolio or just a large credit card balance, you may be in for some good news. From all indications, the Federal Reserve is backing off from its policy of regular increases in a key interest rate.

Since December 2015 the Fed, then headed by Chairwoman Janet Yellen, has embarked on a policy of increasing the federal funds rate. Until then the rate had been near zero percent since the financial crisis as the central bank tried to stimulate an economy on life support.

After a series of hikes the rate is now between 2.25 and 2.50 percent, still very low by any historical measure. But the financial markets -- along with corporate America -- have grown accustomed to low interest rates and have not reacted well as rates have risen.

More expensive borrowing

Corporations that borrowed billions of dollars at near zero percent interest and now having to pay it back close to 3 percent. Rising rates have also affected corporate earnings, which in turn have affected stock prices.

The New York Times reports public statements from Fed officials over the last week, including from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, indicate the central bankers are ready to pause their rate hikes to assess what impact they are having on the economy.

Minutes from the December Fed meeting, released this week, show a building consensus toward a “wait and see” approach to raising rates.

Impact on consumers

The rate hikes -- four in 2018 and three the previous year -- have been especially burdensome for consumers with large credit card balances since credit card rates go up in tandem with the Fed’s federal funds rate.

That rate also influences banks’ prime lending rate and has increased the cost of auto financing, making monthly payments more expensive.

According to CreditCards.com, the average interest rate on all credit cards remains at a record high 17.41 percent, with many cards charging a much higher rate. In nearly every case, variable-rate credit cards have raised their interest rate each time the Fed has hiked.

After analyzing hundreds of thousands of job openings and salaries, LinkedIn found that some skills are more valuable than others to employers this year.

The platform based its annual ranking of the year’s most promising jobs on the following five factors: salary, career advancement, number of job openings in the US, year-over-year growth in job openings, and widespread regional availability.

This year, the most valuable soft skills are in the fields of creativity, time management, collaboration, adaptability, and persuasion, according to LinkedIn.

In terms of yearly salary, the lowest-paying job on LinkedIn’s 2019 list is a Customer Success Manager. The median base salary for this position is $88,500 per year. The 14 other positions on the list offer median salaries of $100,000 or more.

The platform said the positions on its list, “come with high salaries, a significant number of job openings and year-over-year growth, and are more likely to lead to a promotion.”

15 most promising jobs

Here are the most in-demand skills of 2019, according to LinkedIn:

1. Data Scientist. Top skills needed: Data Science, Data Mining, Data Analysis, Python, Machine Learning; Median base salary: $130,000.

2. Site Reliability Engineer. Top skills needed: Linux, Software Development, Python, Cloud Computing, SQL; Median base salary: $200,000.

3. Enterprise Account Executive. Top skills needed: Salesforce, Cloud Computing, Solution Selling, Software-as-a-Service, Sales Management; Median base salary: $182,000.

4. Product Designer. Top skills needed: Product Design, User Experience (UX), User Interface Design, Graphic Design, Adobe Photoshop; Median base salary: $121,500

5. Product Owner. Top skills needed: Business Analytics, Agile Methodologies, Business Process Improvement, Scrum; Median base salary: $101,000.

6. Customer Success Manager. Top skills needed: Customer Relationship Management, Salesforce, Software-as-a-Service, Customer Satisfaction, Cloud Computing; Median base salary: $88,500.

7. Engagement Manager. Top skills needed: Program Management, Business Analysis, Business Process Improvement, Analytics, Customer Relationship Management; Median base salary: $130,000.

8. Solutions Architect. Top skills needed: Solutions Architecture, Cloud Computing, Software Development, SQL, Software Development Lifecycle; Median base salary: $139,000.

9. Information Technology Lead. Top skills needed: Information Technology, Technical Support, Business Process Improvement, Business Analysis, Troubleshooting. Median base salary: $121,000.

10. Scrum Master. Top skills needed: Scrum, Agile Methodologies, Software Development, Business Analysis, Software Development Lifecycle; Median base salary: $103,000.

11. Cloud Architect. Top skills needed: Cloud Computing, Software Development, Amazon Web Services, Solution Architecture, Linux; Median base salary: $155,000.

12. Product Marketing Manager. Top skills needed: Product Marketing, Product Management, Digital Marketing, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Product Development; Median base salary: $134,000.

13. Solutions Consultant. Top skills needed: Cloud Computing, Enterprise Software, Customer Relationship Management, Software-as-a-Service, Business Analysis; Median base salary: $110,000.

14. Product Manager. Top skills needed: Product Management, Product Development, Cross-Functional Team Leadership, Engineering, Product Marketing; Median base salary: $121,000.

15. Machine Learning Engineer. Top Skills: Machine Learning, Python, Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science; Median Base Salary: $182,000.

After having sickened more than 60 consumers in 16 states, federal health officials now believe the romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak is behind us.

In an updated Food Safety Alert, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that, as of January 9, 2019, the outbreak “appears to be over.”

The outbreak, which was first announced just days before Thanksgiving, was ultimately traced to some growing regions of Northern and Central California.

All told, 62 people became sick as a result of the outbreak. Of that number, 25 were hospitalized for their symptoms. No deaths were reported as a result of the outbreak, and no one has become ill since December.

Contaminated romaine no longer available

Any potentially contaminated romaine lettuce should no longer be available on the market, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said. The agency said it will continue to investigate potential sources and contributing factors that led to the outbreak in order to aid its prevention efforts.

Last month, the CDC identified the outbreak strain of E. coli (O157:H7) in sediment collected within an agricultural water reservoir on the Adam Bros. farm in Santa Barbara County, Calif. In light of the results of the investigation, the farm recalled their red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, and cauliflower.

While Adam Bros. was one likely source of the contamination, the CDC continued to stress that "no common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand of romaine lettuce” was identified as the source of the outbreak.

Food safety inspections have largely been put on hold due to the government shutdown, but the FDA says active investigations are continuing.

Autonomous vehicles hit a speed bump in 2018, but research continues on making them safer and more plentiful on American streets. Many of the latest developments are on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Hyundai MOBIS is demonstrating a lighting communication system for autonomous vehicles to inform other drivers and nearby pedestrians when a vehicle is in self-driving mode. It uses LED, digital boards, headlamp projection, and sound to communicate with nearby pedestrians and vehicles during various driving scenarios.

Its development follows last year’s fatal accident in Tempe, Ariz., when a self-driving Uber struck and killed a pedestrian who was walking her bicycle across a highway. The company says self-driving cars using the communication lighting system can detect a pedestrian from more than 450 feet away.

Upon detection, headlamps begin projecting a bright red warning symbol indicating that it is unsafe to move across the self-driving vehicle. When the vehicle reaches a complete stop, headlamps project a crosswalk symbol onto the ground to indicate to nearby pedestrians that it is safe to proceed.

Crowdsourcing maps

Mobileye, a division on Intel, is displaying its latest developments designed to make autonomous cars safer. They include Road Experience Management, a technology to crowdsource the maps required for safe autonomous vehicle travel.

The company also continues to refine its Responsibility-Sensitive Safety system, which guides an autonomous vehicle’s decision-making.

Meanwhile, autonomous vehicles are still being put to work. Udelv, a California-based autonomous vehicle firm, announced at CES that it is teaming with Walmart to provide the retailer with self-driving vans to make deliveries.

Self-driving delivery van

Coinciding with the announcement, Udelv unveiled a new delivery vehicle, the “Newton.” The vehicle will be deployed in a pilot project at a Walmart store in Surprise, Ariz.

The vehicle will be able to carry orders for more than 30 Walmart customers and is described as a Level 4 autonomous vehicle, meaning it can operate without a human behind the wheel.

In a blog post, Tom Ward, senior vice president, Digital Operations, Walmart U.S., said the Udelv vans will be customized to deliver fresh groceries.

January can be a good time to buy a car, and with the average transaction price of a new car still going up, more consumers are looking at late-model used cars.

The year-end Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index (MUVVI) shows used vehicle values gained more than forecast in 2018. In what Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke called a “roller-coaster year” for used-vehicle values, the MUVVI rose more than 4 percent from year-earlier levels.

At the same time, dealers sold more used cars last year, giving dealers more wiggle room to negotiate. For consumers interested in a certified pre-owned (CPO) vehicle, AutoTrader has identified January’s best values.

The value lies in warranty coverage and special financing. The price is up to the individual consumer to negotiate, but with an abundance of cars on the lot, the advantage may have tipped in the buyer’s favor this month..

Audi

Audi is a popular nameplate, and its CPO cars carry special value in January. The company has added a year to existing warranty coverage with no limits on mileage, a good deal if you use the car in business and expect to put a lot of miles on it.

The financing package is pretty good as well. This month, it’s offering a 1.99 percent interest rate, which is low for a used car. The only downside is the term -- just 24 months. That’s likely to result in a pretty high monthly payment.

Ford

Ford is doubling down on warranty coverage. This month, it’s extending the powertrain warranty to seven years or 100,000 miles from the original sale date. It’s also adding another year of comprehensive coverage to the original factory warranty.

During January, qualified buyers may finance their Ford CPO for 60 months at 4.99 percent.

Lexus

According to the editors at AutoTrader, Lexus has one of the best CPO programs in the industry. This month, it’s extending warranty coverage up to six years with no mileage limit.

Qualified buyers can get 1.9 percent interest for up to 60 months on NX and RX models, along with 1.9 percent for up to 48 months on ES models -- “all good bargains for desirable vehicles with long warranty coverage,” the editors say.

Subaru

The strength of Subaru’s CPO value this month lies in its financing package, one of the best in the business. Qualified buyers can finance for 36 months at 1.9 percent.

The warranty deal doesn’t add anything to the already generous factory powertrain coverage of seven years or 100,000 miles.

Volvo

Volvo matches the seven years or 100,000 miles warranty from the date of the original sale. Since most CPOs average about three years in age, that still leaves another four years of driving peace of mind.

This month, Volvo’s financing package is exceptional. Qualified buyers who drive off in an S90 Inscription can pay no interest for up to 24 months, while drivers can get a certified pre-owned V60 Cross Country with the same interest-free financing for up to 36 months

Earlier this week, the American Cancer Society released its cancer statistics for 2019, revealing that the overall number of deaths due to cancer have dropped 27 percent in the last 25 years.

The researchers estimate that the steady decline over the past two and a half decades has resulted in over 2.6 million fewer cancer-related deaths.

The study reports that the cancer death rate peaked in 1991, when approximately 215 people per 100,000 died due to cancer. However, since that year, that number has decreased by 1.5 percent each year, bringing the death rate to its new low.

Highs and lows

Breast, prostate, colorectal, and lung cancer are the four most commonly diagnosed cancers, and the researchers attribute fewer deaths from these four types of cancers to an overall lower cancer death rate.

Between 1989 and 2016, breast cancer-related deaths were down 40 percent, while prostate cancer deaths dropped by over 50 percent from 1993 through 2016. Colorectal cancer also saw an over 50 percent decrease in deaths among both men and women from 1970 to 2016.

The researchers credit these decreases to better early detection techniques, as well as more improved treatment options for patients. While lung cancer accounts for 25 percent of all cancer-related deaths, the numbers have also gone down since the early 1990s, which experts say is partly due to a decrease in tobacco use nationwide.

Not only did women’s lung cancer deaths decrease by over 20 percent and men’s by nearly 50 percent during the time period, but new cases of lung cancer have also been going down -- particularly in recent years.

Despite these positive results, the study also revealed that race and socioeconomic factors impact patients’ likelihood of dying due to a cancer diagnosis. For example, African Americans were 14 percent more likely to die because of cancer than whites.

Additionally, the most preventable cancers, such as cervical, lung, and liver cancer, killed disproportionately more people in poverty-stricken areas than more affluent ones.

“These [poor] counties are low-hanging fruit for locally focused cancer control efforts, including increased access to basic health and interventions for smoking cessation, healthy living, and cancer screening programs,” the researchers wrote. “A broader application of existing cancer control knowledge with an emphasis on disadvantaged groups would undoubtedly accelerate progress against cancer.”

To read the full report from the American Cancer Society, click here.

Reducing risk

Many studies have been conducted in recent years to help consumers reduce their risk of developing cancer. A recent study found that eating organic foods could lower the risk of developing cancer -- particularly for women in later life.

Participants in the study who ate diets that were primarily organic -- and avoided produce that was sprayed by pesticides -- were found to be 25 percent less likely to be diagnosed with cancer.

Similarly, a California study from late last year found that the state’s crackdown on tobacco control programs was found to be effective, as lung cancer deaths were down nearly 30 percent.

“While quitting smoking has increased across the country, this does not explain why the decline in lung cancer has been so much faster in California,” said researcher Scott M. Lippman, MD. “This can only be attributed to the success of tobacco control in this state, which has been so effective in convincing young people not to smoke.”

For cancer sufferers, the list of side effects that can come with traditional chemotherapy drugs is extensive.

To help combat those issues, researchers from the University of California at Berkeley began testing a drug sponge that could be inserted into patients’ bloodstreams. The sponge would soak up any unused chemo drugs to help prevent negative side effects from the medication.

The researchers have started by using the sponge for liver cancer, but they are hoping to expand it to help a wide breadth of patients in the near future.

“We are developing this around liver cancer because it is a big public health threat -- there are tens of thousands of new cases every year -- and we already treat liver cancer using intra-arterial chemotherapy,” said researcher Steven Hetts. “But if you think about it, you could use this sort of approach for any tumor or any disease that is confined to an organ, and you want to absorb the drug on the venous side before it can distribute and cause side effects elsewhere in the body.”

A new approach

Hetts reported treating certain tumors by injecting chemotherapy into a catheter targeted directly at the tumor. However, with the drug sponge -- a 3D cylinder coated with an absorbent polymer -- Hetts wanted to streamline that approach even further.

The goal with the sponge is to have the chemo drugs attack the tumor directly, and the sponge would then absorb any excess or unused drugs before it could spread and harm the rest of the body.

The earliest experiments of the sponge were tested on healthy pigs. The researchers measured how much of the drug was absorbed versus how much traveled through the animal and found that 64 percent was absorbed.

Moving forward, the researchers want to be able to test the effectiveness of the sponge on humans, though they are pleased with the initial results.

“This is a first level in vivo validation that yes, this device will bind up drug in the bloodstream,” Hetts said. “But extensive animal testing is not the next path; the next path is getting conditional approval from the FDA to do first in-human studies, because it is much more realistic to test these in people who have cancer as opposed to continuing to test in young pigs who have otherwise healthy livers.”

The researchers also note that this method would be “less invasive,” and help prevent cancer sufferers from countless side effects from chemo drugs, including ulcers, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and suppressed immune system, among others, in a “gentler manner.”

Instagram is giving users with multiple accounts the ability share the same post to any or all of their accounts simultaneously. The new “self-regram” function will become available to all iOS users, and some users may see it as an option now.

"We are rolling out this feature to provide a better experience for people who often post to multiple accounts," a company spokesperson told TechCrunch.

To utilize the new feature, users can simply flip the toggle next to the accounts they want to publish to when they’re composing a post. The option is called “Post to Other Accounts,” and it’s located under the options to tag other users and location.

Previously, users had to either manually repost the content on another account or use a third-party repost app.

TechCrunch pointed out that one possible downside of the new feature is that it could cause users’ feeds to become somewhat monotonous, ”with different audiences of different accounts seeing the same shots and captions.”

Last year, Instagram gave Stories users the ability to regram public feed posts to their Story. The photo sharing platform is also testing an Android shortcut for importing photos from Google Photos.

“You have been able to share to feed from Google photos on Android before, but the ability to do so was hidden behind a couple of different steps, so we’re up-leveling that ability to make it easier,” the company said.

Instagram hasn’t said when (or if) its new “self-regram” feature will become available to Android users, nor has it provided a timeline for the completion of the feature’s rollout to iOS users.

King Soopers is recalling Abound Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe dog food produced by Sunshine Mills, Inc.

The products have the potential to contain an elevated level of Vitamin D, which may cause renal failure.

No reports of illness or injury have been reported to date.

The following products, sold in King Soopers and City Market stores in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming, are being recalled:

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products should not allow their pet to consume them, and should return them to the store where purchased for a full refund or replacement.

Consumers with questions may contact Sunshine Mills. customer service at (800) 705-2111 from 7 a.m. – 4 p.m. (CST) Monday through Friday, or by email at customer.service@sunshinemills.com.

J. H. Routh Packing Co., of Sandusky, Ohio, is recalling about 1,719 pounds of raw pork sausage products that may be contaminated with extraneous materials -- specifically pieces of rubber.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The following raw ground pork bulk and link sausage items, produced from January 1 – 4, 2019, are being recalled:

• 5-lb. plastic packages containing loose, bulk “Daisyfield Brand FRESH PORK SAUSAGE” with production dates “010119” or “010219” or “010319” or “010419” on the label.
• 5-lb. paper-lined cardboard packages containing large link “Daisyfield Brand FRESH PORK SAUSAGE” with production dates “010119” or “010219” or “010319” or “010419” on the label.
• 5-lb. paper-lined cardboard packages containing country-style rope “Daisyfield Brand FRESH PORK SAUSAGE” with production dates “010119” or “010219” or “010319” or “010419” on the label.
• 5-lb. paper-lined cardboard packages containing small, breakfast-style link “Daisyfield Brand FRESH PORK SAUSAGE” with production dates “010119” or “010219” or “010319” or “010419” on the label.
• 5-lb. plastic packages containing loose, bulk “Daisyfield Brand ITALIAN SAUSAGE” with production dates “010119” or “010219” or “010319” or “010419” on the label.
• 5-lb. paper-lined cardboard packages containing large link “Daisyfield Brand ITALIAN SAUSAGE” links with production dates “010119” or “010219” or “010319” or “010419” on the label.
• 5-lb. paper-lined cardboard packages containing country-style rope “Daisyfield Brand ITALIAN SAUSAGE” links with production dates “010119” or “010219” or “010319” or “010419” on the label.

The recalled products, bearing establishment number “EST. 818” inside the USDA mark of inspection, were shipped to retail locations in Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products should not consume them, but discard them or return them to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Tony Stearns at (419) 626-2251.

Toyota is adding approximately 1.3 million vehicles to the series of recalls it has been conducting in connection with Takata airbag inflators.

The recalled vehicles are equipped with front passenger airbag inflators containing a non-desiccated, phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate propellant. A defect related to motor vehicle safety may arise in the inflators due to propellant degradation occurring after prolonged exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling.

Activation of a non-desiccated ammonium nitrate inflator with degraded propellant may result in an airbag inflator rupture. If a defective airbag inflator ruptures, it may cause sharp metal fragments to pass through the airbag and spray directly at the driver and passengers, increasing the risk of serious injury or death.

The following vehicles are being recalled:

• model year 2010-2016 4Runners
• model year 2010-2013 Corollas
• model year 2010-2013 Matrixes
• model year 2011-2014 Siennas,
• model year 2010-2015 Scion XBs,
• model year 2010-2012 Lexus ES 350s
• model year 2010-2017 Lexus GX 460s
• model year 2010-2015 Lexus IS 250Cs
• model year 2010-2015 Lexus IS 350Cs
• model year 2010-2013 Lexus IS 250s
• model year 2010-2013 Lexus IS 350s and
• model year 2010-2014 Lexus IS-Fs.

What to do

Depending on the vehicle model, Toyota and Lexus dealers will replace either the front passenger airbag inflator or airbag assembly at no cost to owners.

Owners of all involved vehicles will receive direct notification starting in late January 2019.

Owners may contact Toyota customer service at (800) 331-4331and Lexus customer service at (800) 255-3987.

Sears, the 126-year-old bankrupt retailer, isn’t dead after all.

After hearing both sides, a bankruptcy judge has decided to postpone Sears’ requested liquidation to allow former Sears CEO Eddie Lampert one final chance to take over the company and its remaining 425 Sears and Kmart stores.

Lampert, through his hedge fund ESL, bid $4.4 billion for the company’s assets, but the total fell short of what the Sears board said was necessary. The judge ruled that if ESL comes up with $120 million by 4:00 p.m. ET today to keep the stores open, he can compete for the company’s assets at an auction on Monday.

At stake is the legacy of a retailer that began in the late 19th century, as well as the fate of as many as 68,000 Sears and Kmart employees who would lose their jobs if the company eventually liquidates.

The company has been dragged lower both by falling sales and rising debt. The company borrowed heavily in the last decade to shore up its business, but most of those investments failed to bear fruit.

Slow collapse

Sears and Kmart have been undergoing a slow collapse over the last decade as more retail sales have moved to online channels. Even as Sears’ brick and mortar competitors established effective e-commerce operations Sears -- a pioneer in catalog sales -- failed to do so.

The hemorrhaging picked up speed in the third quarter of 2016 when the company reported a net loss of $748 million, almost double what it lost in the same quarter a year earlier. The company responded by closing unprofitable stores.

The only problem was, there were a lot of them. At one point the following year, it opened one new store but closed 20 others. Store closings continued throughout 2017 and 2018, with Sears Holdings declaring bankruptcy in mid-October 2018.

Reuters reports the negotiations between Lampert and the company broke down over the structure of his bid, as well as the former CEO’s request to not be held liable for actions he took while servicing as the company’s chief executive.

Sears, Roebuck, and Company began as a mail order retail company, the late 19th century’s version of Amazon.com. It began opening retail stores in 1925.

Amazon threw down another gauntlet to its competitors on Tuesday when it announced that it’s now going to be sending free product samples to customers.

Consumers don’t have to pay for a single thing -- no buy one/get one, no tax, no shipping charge. Amazon customers will just open their mailbox one day and find samples that Amazon thinks will be enjoyable and thoughtful.

To work that “enjoyable and thoughtful” angle, Amazon will use users’ order history and profile information.

The samples you can expect to get

In laying out the blueprint of Amazon’s new initiative, the company pointed to food samples for pet lovers, personal care products, health and wellness samples, household products that say, a brand like OxiClean might be rolling out, and healthy food products for grocery shoppers -- possibly to bolster its stake in Whole Foods

This is not a one-and-done deal, either. The company says that there’s no limit to the number of samples a consumer might receive. A recipient does not necessarily have to be a Prime member either.

“Anyone with an active Amazon.com account is eligible to receive free samples. If you are selected to receive a sample, the sample will be sent to your default address. If you’d like to receive samples at a different address, you need to change the default address in Your Account > Your Addresses,” the company wrote in the promotion’s FAQs.

Does that mean Amazon will be mining my data?

Consumers might be leery about whether Amazon will be delving into their private data in order to send out samples.

Given the amount of private data users have unknowingly given or had pilfered from their profile across the digital landscape, they may have a right to be concerned. The recent announcement that an app was masquerading as an Amazon Echo app only raises the privacy eyebrow higher.

Even though Amazon is upfront about using a customer’s order history and profile information as it relates to this idea, critics are quick to raise a flag.

Axios opined that “Customers are getting items that Amazon’s vast trove of customer data predicts they'll want to buy. But some customers could feel violated when something they haven't ordered shows up unexpectedly on their doorstep.” CNBC also pulled the curtain back on the promotion and agreed that it sounds like a good deal, “but below the surface it raises some privacy concerns in the age of data mining and detailed digital user profiles.”

Only time will tell if Axios’ or CNBC’s crystal balls are correct. Until then, Amazon wants consumers to know that “If you would like to opt out of receiving samples from this program, you may do so” by going to the program’s preferences page.

The federal government shutdown is in its third week and if you aren’t a government employee, maybe you haven’t been affected that much.

But now we’re getting into tax season and consumers expecting a big refund might be getting a little worried. How will an extended shutdown affect refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)?

The Trump administration has anticipated that question. Shutdown or no shutdown, consumers should expect their refunds, officials say.

“The tax refunds will go out,” said Russell Vought, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, at a briefing with reporters

The New York Times reports Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has assured the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee that a significant number of IRS employees will be called back to work to process returns, send out refunds, and answer taxpayers’ questions.

Deferred pay

How will these employees be paid if Congress hasn’t authorized new funding for the government? They won’t, at least not until the shutdown ends, which may not be anytime soon.

Congress has not approved new funding for government operations because President Trump insists on money to begin construction of a wall along the border with Mexico, and Democrats refuse to go along. The House, now controlled by Democrats, has passed legislation to end the shutdown but Republicans who hold the Senate say Trump won’t sign it and therefore they won’t bring it to a vote.

The two sides remain far apart. In a televised address from the Oval Office Tuesday night, Trump said the wall is needed to end a humanitarian and criminal “crisis” on the border. In response, Democratic Congressional leaders accused Trump “appealing to fear, not facts.”

Murky legal point

Whether the IRS can dispense refunds when Congress hasn’t appropriated the money is a murky legal point. The most recent interpretation of the law is that it can’t. This situation could put Congressional Democrats in the uncomfortable position of challenging White House efforts to get refunds out in a timely manner.

Millions of consumers treat their tax overpayments like a savings account and depend on those refunds to meet expenses early in the year. Scores of reviews of tax preparation services posted on ConsumerAffairs show consumers are in such a hurry to get their hands on their refunds they often pay fees and interest charges to take advance refund loans.

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department is taking steps it says will help alleviate some of the financial pressure on furloughed federal employees. Mnuchin praised mortgage lenders that have extended payment periods for out-of-work federal employees.

During the first three months of 2019, Apple plans to reduce its iPhone production by about 10 percent, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on Wednesday.

The tech giant is reportedly trimming the planned production targets of both old and new iPhones by about 10 percent from January through March, which works out to about 40 million to 43 million units compared to an earlier production target of 47 million to 48 million units, unnamed sources told the publication.

"The level of revision is different for each supplier and depends on the product mix they supply,” one source said. The Cupertino, California company apparently told its suppliers to produce fewer new iPhones even before Apple slashed its earnings forecast last week.

The reduced manufacturing targets apply to all new iPhone models (the SX, SX Max and XR).

Weakened iPhone demand in China

The newly-lowered production targets come as a result of reduced iPhone demand in China, the world's largest smartphone market. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said that the company expects to report fiscal first-quarter sales of $84 billion, down from an earlier forecast of $89 billion to $93 billion in revenue.

“Lower than anticipated iPhone revenue, primarily in Greater China, accounts for all of our revenue shortfall to our guidance and for much more than our entire year-over-year revenue decline,” Cook said last week.

Despite disappointing sales, Cook maintains that there is no boycott of Apple products in China amid the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China.

Looking ahead in 2019

In an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday, Cook said Apple’s long-term health “has never been better.”

"In terms of the naysayer, I've heard this over and over again," Cook said in the interview. "I've heard it in 2001, I've heard it in 2005, in '7, in '8, in '10, in '12 and '13. You can probably find the same quotes from the same people over and over again."

Cook said announcements of new services are on the horizon and hinted that forthcoming additions to the company’s offerings will be “material” and tied to health care.

“You will see us announce new services this year. There will be more things coming,” Cook said. “I believe it’ll be material over time.”

“If you zoom out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question, ‘What was Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind?’ It will be about health,” Cook said.

New legislation proposed on Tuesday would make California the first state to require businesses to offer electronic receipts unless customers specifically request paper copies.

The push to begin phasing out printed receipts in the Golden State has already begun, according to Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting of San Francisco, who introduced the bill. However, the proposed measure (Assembly Bill 161) would ensure that consumers are fully aware of the health and environmental impact of paper receipts.

For example, most paper receipts aren’t recyclable, are coated with chemicals that aren’t allowed in baby bottles, and can contaminate other recycled paper because of the chemicals known as Bisphenol-A (BPA) and Bisphenol-S (BPS), Ting said.

Transitioning to e-receipts

Under the bill, businesses would be required to provide proof of purchase receipts electronically starting in 2022 unless a customer asks for a printed copy.

“There’s a negative impact on the environment with these receipts and the inability to recycle them,” Ting said. He also cited studies by the Environmental Working Group and the CDC showing that retail workers have higher concentrations of BPA or BPS than those who do not have regular contact with receipts.

If passed, the measure would be similar to another recently enacted piece of legislation in California -- one which requires restaurants to provide straws only at customers’ request. Similar to the straw bill, infractions would be subject to two written warnings followed by a fine of $25 a day for subsequent violations, with an annual $300 cap.

Privacy concerns

While phasing out paper receipts would undoubtedly have environmental benefits, some say the use of electronic receipts raises privacy concerns. Businesses would “have your email, then they'll be marketing to you or selling your information or it can get into privacy issues," noted Republican Assemblyman Brian Dahle.

But Ting countered by saying that consumers can still ask for paper receipts if they’re worried about giving out their email addresses. An additional benefit of the proposed bill would be its potential to save businesses money.

But at its core, the bill is intended to cut down on the environmental burden of paper receipts. The advocacy group Green America estimates that millions of trees and billions of gallons of water are used annually to make paper receipts in the United States.

As researchers warn that the world is running out of time to curb carbon emissions, the United States appears to be heading in the opposite direction. Greenhouse gas pollution jumped by 3.4 percent in 2018, according to a new analysis from the Rhodium Group, an economic research and marketing firm.

Previously, carbon emissions in the United States had peaked in 2005. They slowly dipped down and remained around 14 percent below the peak under the Obama administration.  Under Trump, officials have said that greenhouse gas emissions declined another 2.7 percent between 2016 and 2017.

But the new research appears to stick a fork in that relatively rosy news. The increase in 2018 marks the largest increase in emissions over a year-long period since 2010. The Rhodium Group blames the dismantling of Obama-era environmental regulations as one of the factors behind last year’s increase.

“The tailwinds of Obama administration policy are dissipating,” Trevor Houser, a partner at the Rhodium Group, told the Guardian newspaper.

The research also suggests that the free market won’t save people from climate change.

“This year makes it abundantly clear that energy market trends alone – the low cost of natural gas, the increasing competitiveness of renewables – are not enough to deliver sustained declines in US emissions,” Houser added.

Rising rates of pollution

Transportation is the biggest source of carbon pollution in the United States, and emissions from this sector jumped 1 percent last year.

Industrial manufacturing pollution jumped 5.7 percent, even though carbon plants are shutting down. The report says a booming natural gas sector is likely behind the jump.

Pollution from buildings also surged by 10 percent, an increase related to weather patterns. Winter in 2017 was relatively mild across the country compared to 2018, sparking more emissions as people depended on their heaters to stay comfortable.

The impact of industrial pollution and building pollution on climate change needs more attention, according to the Rhodium Group.

“The industrial sector is still almost entirely ignored” by policy makers, their report says.

Trump famously pulled out of the Paris Agreement, though numerous states have pledged to do their part to participate independently. But meeting the Paris goals will be impossible if the upward trend continues in 2019.

“The U.S. was already off track in meeting its Paris Agreement targets. The gap is even wider headed into 2019,” the report says.

AT&T recently decided to brand portions of its LTE network as “5G Evolution” and subsequently updated the LTE icon on three Android smartphones to make them read “5GE.”

The logo appears when the device is connected to portions of AT&T’s LTE network that have received some speed-boosting upgrades. The “E” is supposed to stand for “evolution,” but some argue that users may believe their phone is capable of connecting to 5G networks even though it’s still using 4G connections.

Executives at other major wireless carriers said the marketing move could be misleading to consumers.

"AT&T is blatantly misleading consumers -- 5GE is not real 5G," Sprint’s chief technology officer Dr. John Saw told Engadget. Sprint said it would market “real 5G that is standards-based” in the first half of 2019.

"We're designing our mobile 5G footprint at launch to cover the downtown metro areas of 9 top cities, with sights on providing our customers with contiguous coverage using the first 5G smartphone in the US," Saw added.

5G still in development

Verizon also had thoughts on the marketing stunt. The carrier published full-page ads on major newspapers including The New York Times and Wall Street Journal that alluded to AT&T's fake 5G service.

"The potential to over-hype and under-deliver on the 5G promise is a temptation that the wireless industry must resist," Verizon's CTO Kyle Malady wrote in the ad. Confusing terms "risk alienating the very people we want most to join in developing and harnessing this exciting new technology."

"We're calling on the broad wireless industry to commit to labeling something 5G only if new device hardware is connecting to the network using new radio technology to deliver new capabilities," Malady said.

All four major wireless carriers in the U.S. are gearing up to launch the first nationwide 5G network, but phones capable of connecting to 5G won’t be available for another few months. A national 5G network won't be deployed until 2020 or 2021, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

With TV sets going from a square box to wide-screen, from HD to 4K, you might think there isn’t much left for set manufacturers to do to impress consumers. But at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, LG has created something of a buzz with its wide-screen 4K set that rolls up and disappears from sight when the set is turned off.

It’s the LG OLED TV R, which has achieved a high degree of visibility at the show because it’s invisible, at least when it isn’t turned on. To activate the set, a user pushes a button on the remote and the base opens up, allowing the screen to rise as it unfurls.

Once deployed, it looks like most high-end big-screen TVs. It measures 65 inches and displays 4K resolution on an OLED screen. The electronics reside in the base while the thin screen has only one job, to display video.

Like many products at CES, this TV is not yet on the market, but LG said it expects to launch it in the second half of the year. So far, the company is keeping mum on pricing.

Bread-making robot

Multinational electronics companies are not the only ones making a splash at this year’s CES. The Wilkinson Baking Company, a family-owned business, is at the show to unveil its BreadBot, a kitchen tool to help any amateur chef bake bread or make a commercial bakery more efficient.

According to the company, the machine goes from flour to loaf all on its own, making the difficult art of bread-making pretty simple for everyone.

The bread-making robot is hard to miss in the convention hall because its demonstrations are filling the room with the smell of baking bread. Visitors to the BreadBot booth can actually sample the final product.

Selling points

The selling points include bread that is fresh, healthy, and preservative free. The machine reportedly forms, proofs, bakes, and cools 10 loaves of bread in an hour. Working the machine around the clock will yield as many as 235 loaves every 24 hours.

"Bread is a staple of American life,” said Randall Wilkinson, CEO of The Wilkinson Baking Company. “But in most supermarkets today, it has lost its emotional connection with the shopper."

The device is geared more to retail operations than to consumers. Wilkinson said grocery stores that use the BreadBot in their bakery can re-engage with their customers, who are increasingly using home delivery services instead of visiting the store.