Current Events in September 2024

If you’ve ever contemplated whether or not you should have that second – or third – cup of coffee, the results from a new study might convince you to do just that. 

A new study recently published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that healthy adults who consume 200-300 mg of caffeine every day – or two to three cups of coffee – could lower their risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity.

According to the researchers, cardiometabolic multimorbidity occurs when patients are diagnosed with more than one cardiometabolic disease such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, or stroke.  

“Consuming three cups of coffee, or 200-300 mg of caffeine, per day might help to reduce the risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity in individuals without any cardiometabolic disease,” said researcher Dr. Chaofu Ke. “The findings highlight that promoting moderate amounts of coffee or caffeine intake as a dietary habit to healthy people might have far-reaching benefits for the prevention of cardiometabolic multimorbidity.” 

The benefits of coffee

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from approximately 360,000 participants enrolled in the U.K. Biobank. The participants answered questionnaires about their daily caffeine intake, and the researchers analyzed their health records. None of the participants had a history of cardiometabolic issues when the study began. 

Overall, coffee drinkers proved to have a lower risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity. 

Those who drank three cups per day had a 48% lower risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity compared to those who drank no coffee and those who drank less than 100 mg of caffeine per day. Similarly, those who had 200-300 mg of caffeine per day had an over 40% lower risk of developing cardiometabolic multimorbidity. 

The researchers explained that this study marks the first time it’s been proven that coffee, tea, or caffeine intake can lower the risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity – not just individual cardiometabolic diseases. 

Additionally, they noted that while any cardiometabolic disease increases the risk of morbidity, cardiometabolic multimorbidity increases the risk of death from any cause by as much as seven times. 

Walmart may have just done its customers a favor – a favor that consumers might not even have considered. With swipe fees costing retailers and their customers upwards of $170 billion a year, Walmart reportedly wants to continue that quest – a quest that it began in 2023 when it said it wanted to end its deal with Capital One.

Beginning in 2025, Walmart customers should see the first fruits of those labors when the company begins offering customers the option to pay directly and instantly from their bank accounts when they purchase online. 

Previously, the transactions resembled digital checks and took roughly three days to settle when processed through The Automated Clearing House. Earlier this year, Walmart began offering pay-by-bank through Walmart Pay, hoping to find its way out of that loop.

Now that it feels comfortable that everything is going as planned, customers who decide to pay-by-bank will see the purchase reflected in their bank account balance instantly and Walmart will get the funds post haste.

Another consumer-side advantage of instant pay-by-bank is that it offers consumers the advantage of avoiding stacked pending transactions on their debit cards. According to Walmart's Jamie Henry, vice president of emerging payments, customers carrying low balances can be at risk of overdraft or non-sufficient funds fees from their bank.

“When the transaction processes as a real-time payment, customers get immediate access to see that payment come through, I see it hit my account and I can properly budget,” Henry said. “It’s not as if I’ve got this phantom payment out there that’s going to take place a couple of days down the road.”

Could others follow suit?

Walmart isn’t the only one fighting this fight. Frustration has mounted among merchants across the board over fees they pay for card processing to banks and networks like Visa and Mastercard. 

During the 2023 Congressional session, the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) was reintroduced to increase competition among credit card processors. To comply with the measure, big banks would be required to accept cards from at least one network other than Visa and Mastercard.

Retailers in support of the legislation include Walmart, ​​Amazon, Best Buy, Kroger, Target, and Shopify -- all among the list of nearly 2,000 retailers, platforms, and small businesses urging lawmakers to pass the bill.  They contend that credit card processing costs are sticking it to consumers by driving up the cost of business in addition to the price shoppers pay at checkout.

In the other corner, though, are legislators who think it’s bad for small business and puts security at risk. Others say it’s corporate greed, not interchange fees, that is driving up costs for consumers.

“Big box retailers want Congress to pass the CCCA so they can pocket even more money for themselves,” claims Colorado State Rep. Sheila Lieder. 

“Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Kroger, and Costco … are set to pocket an additional $1.2 billion from this bill while consumers are unlikely to have those savings passed on to them. We know that they will not use their windfall to lower costs at the register because we have been down this path before.”

The legislators behind the initiative say they've got "growing support," but with election season upon us and a possible change in House and Senate majorities, it might be a while before the CCCA gets out of the mud it's stuck in.

While many consumers are on high alert for the upcoming flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are warning about another rampant infection: whooping cough. 

While the prevalence of whooping cough has waned in recent years due to the uptick of COVID-19 infections, the CDC found that numbers have started to climb back up this year. 

As of the week of September 14, 2024, the number of cases of whooping cough was five times higher than that week in 2023. Additionally, the figure is higher than it was the same week in 2019 – before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Experts say that fewer children have received the whooping cough vaccine since the start of the pandemic, and that could be one of the reasons for the significant increase in cases. 

However, the CDC explained that other factors could be contributing, including genetic changes to the whooping cough bacteria, more awareness of the infection, and greater availability of tests to diagnose whooping cough. 

What to do

Whooping cough spreads quickly, and all it takes is someone with the infection to cough or sneeze near another person. The first two weeks of the cough are when a person is most contagious, and consumers are encouraged to start antibiotics as early as possible to help prevent the spread of infection. 

However, it’s also important to note that many consumers struggle to get a proper diagnosis, as whooping cough presents with many of the same symptoms as the common cold or other respiratory illnesses. The distinct “whoop” of the cough is what distinguishes the infection from others. 

The CDC recommends that getting vaccinated is the best approach to protect against whooping cough. While the vaccine doesn’t eliminate the chance of infection, it can decrease the likelihood of complications, including hospitalization.  

“Whooping cough vaccines, which also provide protection from diphtheria and tetanus, are the best way to protect against whooping cough and its complications,” the agency explained. “Babies and children younger than seven years old receive DTaP vaccine, while older children and adults receive Tdap vaccine. CDC recommends whooping cough vaccination for all babies, children, preteens, and adults — and during pregnancy.” 

Consumers should receive an updated booster of the whooping cough vaccine every 10 years, regardless of age. 

What is the CDC doing? 

As cases of whooping cough continue to rise, the CDC has partnered with seven states in the Emerging Infections Program network to monitor the spread of the infection. 

This ongoing surveillance serves three primary purposes: 

• Conducts enhanced case ascertainment and augmented data collection. 

• Collects isolates and specimens for further characterization at the CDC. 

• Provides infrastructure for conducting special studies on whooping cough. 

The agency also recommends that public health officials implement official screenings for the infection when numbers are on the rise. This can help contain the spread of whooping cough and ensure that as many people as possible are receiving proper treatment. 

Before there was Walmart, there was Kmart. But, a published report says the last full-size Kmart store in the U.S. is closing, marking the end of an era.

Newsday quotes an employee of the store, located in Bridgehampton, N.Y., as saying the store will close its doors in October. One remaining small Kmart will continue to operate in Miami.

According to the Newsday report, the Bridgehampton store had been operating for 25 years.

Before Sam Walton, Kmart pioneered the concept of the big box discount retailer, opening its first store in 1962. At its peak in the early 1990s, it operated more than 2,300 stores.

Kmart’s roots were firmly planted in the 19th-century dime store world. The company was founded by S.S. Kresge, a salesman who sold products to Frank Winfield Woolworth, head of a chain of variety stores that bore his name.

The beginning

Legend has it that Kresge invested $6,700 of his savings to become a partner in a Memphis, Tenn., dime store. When a second store was opened in Detroit, the stores became the first of the S.S. Kresge chain of dime stores.

By 1912, S.S.Kresge operated 85 U.S. stores. By 1940, there were 682 stores operating coast to coast.

The company planned to open a larger S.S. Kresge store on San Fernando, Calif., in late 1961 but late in the process branded the 27,000 square foot store as Kmart, opening on January 25, 1962. On March 1 of that year, the first full-size Kmart opened in Garden City, Mich.

Three months later, the first Walmart store opened its doors and the two discounters would compete for the next six decades before the Arkansas-based chain slowly overtook its older rival.