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Two out of three Americans are living paycheck to paycheck – Google’s former CEO scrutinized over conflict in creating AI laws – Facebook investor warns Zuckerberg over Metaverse – More financial news
A new report by the LendingClub has found that, as of September, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck – including nearly half of six-figure earners, who say they are just getting by.
The report cited persistent inflation as eroding wage gains, CNBC reported. The number hit a historic high of 64 percent in March and was 57 percent a year ago.
“Consumers are not able to keep up with the pace that inflation is increasing,” said Anuj Nayar, LendingClub’s financial health officer. “Being employed is no longer enough for the everyday American. Wage growth has been inadequate, leaving more consumers than ever with little to nothing left over after managing monthly expenses.”
Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt was appointed to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence about four years ago by the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
The task Congress gave the group was advising the US government on emerging AI technology and how to advance its development. But the group also proposed legislation that became law and steered billions of dollars of taxpayer funds to the industry, CNBC reported
Five months after Schmidt was appointed to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, he made a little-noticed private investment in an initial seed round of financing for a start-up company called Beacon.
While there is no evidence Schmidt broke any ethics rules or did anything unlawful, government ethics advisors say his investments presented a huge conflict of interest and he did not publicly disclose his investments in AI startups.
An investment banker and shareholder in Meta issued a scathing open letter warning the company and Mark Zuckerberg that investors are losing faith as the company continues expensive investments towards its Metaverse project, Futurism reported.
“At the same time that Meta ramped up spend, you lost the confidence of investors,” Altimeter Capital Chair and CEO Brad Gerstner wrote and published on Medium.
Gerstner noted the company is investing 10 to $15 billion per year while “people are confused by what the metaverse even means.” He mentioned it would be less of a problem If the company was investing $1-2B per year into this project.
“An estimated $100B+ investment in an unknown future is super-sized and terrifying, even by Silicon Valley standards,” Gerstner added.
Apple announced that it is going to make new clean energy investments to set up solar and wind projects in Europe. The company called on its suppliers to decarbonize operations related to the production of iPhones and other products, Reuters reported.
Bosch began producing electric motors in its Charleston facility this month, but the company still needs additional space and more personnel. The company announced on Tuesday it will invest more than $260 million to further expand the production of electrification products at the Charleston facility, an investment that will add 75,000 square feet and 350 new jobs to the site by 2025, Charleston Business reported.
