Larry Archives - First Washington News

March 7, 2023

Larry Summers: US economy could hit an ‘air pocket’ in the coming months

Minneapolis
CNN
—

The US economy may still be running fast and strong, but its risk of suddenly falling into a recession still looms large, despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warned Monday.

Summers told CNN’s Poppy Harlow in an interview that he expects the Fed will have to raise its benchmark interest rate higher than expected and that central bank’s “push and push” to combat inflation will soon trigger a downturn.

“The process of bringing down inflation will bring on a recession at some stage, as it almost always has in the past,” Summers said.

And for the US economy, it could likely mean a “Wile E. Coyote moment,” Summers said, referencing the cartoon canine’s relentless — yet futile — pursuit of the speedy Roadrunner off a cliff and into mid-air.

Gravity eventually could win out.

“The economy could hit an air pocket in a few months,” he said.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers tells CNN's Poppy Harlow in a March 6, 2023, interview that the economy could face a

For the past year, the Fed has enacted a series of interest rate hikes aimed at chilling demand and cooling down historically high inflation. In recent months, as the pace of price increases has moderated, the central bank has eased off the gas pedal.

In February, the Fed’s policymaking committee approved a quarter-point interest rate hike — its smallest increase in several months.

But in the weeks following that meeting, there was a barrage of surprisingly strong economic data, showing blockbuster job gains, hearty consumer spending and unyielding inflation.

“I don’t think there’s any question that we do not yet have inflation on a secure glide path anywhere near down to the 2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} [Fed target] level,” Summers said. “And until the Fed can be confident of that, it’s going to have to be tightening rather than easing.”

Some Fed members agree.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has cautioned that bringing down inflation will take a “significant period of time,” while other Fed leaders have indicated they’re open to larger interest rate hikes.

As of Monday, markets are expecting the Fed to make another quarter-point raise: The CME FedWatch Tool is showing a 69.4{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} probability of such a hike; however, the perceived chances of a half-point increase (at 30.6{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}) have grown considerably during the past few weeks. One month ago, the probability for a half-point increase was 3.3{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Summers said his best guess would be for the fed funds rate to grow from its current range (4.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} to 4.75{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}) to 5.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, but noted he “wouldn’t be amazed” if it were to hit 6{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, given the uncertainties in the economy.

“Hope for the best but plan for the worst, I think is the right advice,” Summers said.

April 26, 2022

Weekly Auto News Wrap-up From Larry Nutson, The Chicago Car Guy

AUTO CENTRAL CHICAGO – April 24, 2022; Every Sunday Larry Nutson, The Chicago Car Guy and Auto Channel Executive Producer, with able assistance from senior editor Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau, compile The Auto Channel’s “take” on this past week’s automotive news, condensed into easy to digest news Nuggets.

LEARN MORE: Full versions of today’s news nuggets along with thousands of pages of relevant news and opinions, information stored in a million-page library published and indexed on The Auto Channel during the past 25 years. Complete information can be found by copying a bold headline and then inserting into any Site Search Box.

Nutson’s Automotive News Wrap-up – Week Ending April 23, 2022 Below are the past week’s important, relevant, semi-secret, or snappy automotive news, opinions and insider back stories presented as
expertly crafted easy-to-understand automotive universe news nuggets.

* Earth Day, the annual event intended to demonstrate support for environmental protection, happened this week on Friday April 22. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of global initiatives. A multitude of car makers touted their plans and support to try and address the climate challenges before us.

* U.S. Doe factoid of the week: Volumetric energy density refers to the amount of energy that can be contained within a given volume. Increasing the volumetric energy density of batteries allows electric vehicles (EVs) to travel further without increasing the size of the battery pack. Conversely, it can allow an EV to travel the same distance with a smaller battery pack, thus saving space, weight, and manufacturing costs. Given the enormous benefit of increasing the energy density of batteries for EVs, there has been heavy investment in battery development by the Department of Energy and private industry that has yielded impressive gains. In 2008, lithium-ion batteries had a volumetric energy density of 55 watt-hours per liter; by 2020, that had increased to 450 watt-hours per liter.

* Did you know listening to Beethoven can help EVs go farther? An experiment conducted on behalf of Kia UK found that drivers who listened to classical music drove more efficiently while up-tempo pop songs drained the battery faster. We guess many EV drivers will need to come up with a new road trip playlist.

* General Motors, together with its subsidiary that builds commercial electric delivery vans, announced on Friday that BrightDrop Zevo 600 driver Stephen Marlin achieved the Guinness World Records title for greatest distance traveled by an electric van on a single charge when he drove the Zevo 600 from New York City to Washington, D.C., a trip of nearly 260 miles. Marlin was transporting a shipment of sustainable cleaning products from Full Circle, a brand of sustainable home care products, and a customer of FedEx. The Zevo 600, formerly called the BrightDrop EV600, has up to 250 miles of range. Marlin completed the near 260-mile trip on a single charge.

* The Wall Street journal reports utilities are expected to spend $140 billion annually in 2022 and 2023 to upgrade electrical grids, far exceeding yearly investments seen in the past 20 years, the Edison Electric Institute reports. The upgrades are in anticipation of higher demand stemming from a reduction in reliance on fossil fuels, increased use of electric vehicles and a drive to improve resilience to severe weather conditions related to climate change.

* Reuters reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest carbon report says transportation is the No.1 source of carbon dioxide from the U.S. economy, emitting 34{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} more than industrial consumers of energy. Transportation generated more climate emissions than power generation. For all the attention paid to Tesla and other EV manufacturers, petroleum fuels accounted for 94.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the energy consumed by transportation in 2020, the EPA found. Transport emissions decreased between 2019 and 2020. That was mainly because the pandemic put the economy into a temporary coma. Automakers get a lot of attention from climate policy makers who want to ban internal combustion. This is why.

* U.S. News & World Report announced the 2022 Best Hybrid and Electric Cars. U.S. News evaluated 82 vehicles and named winners across eight categories. Toyota had the most wins of any brand, winning the Best Hybrid Car award with the Toyota Prius and the Best Hybrid SUV award with the RAV4 Hybrid. The Kia EV6 won the Best Electric Vehicle award, and the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid won the Best Plug-In Hybrid award. Learn more here: https://www.usnews.com/info/blogs/press-room/articles/2022-04-22/u-s-news-announces-the-2022-best-hybrid-and-electric-cars

* Speaking of battery electric vehicles (BEV), or not! Toyota will invest $383 million in four of its U.S. manufacturing plants that build the “heart” of new Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The new investment supports the production of four-cylinder engines, including options for hybrid electric vehicles, at its Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee plants. And you’ll recall that Stellantis recently introduced its new Hurricane 4-cylinder engine in two horsepower ratings. So yeah, it appears the future is not all BEVs.

* Lexus revealed the all-new 2023 RZ 450e, the luxury brand’s first global Battery EV (BEV) at a digital, online premiere. A new all-wheel drive system called DIRECT4 and a new steering control and available Steer by Wire system are featured. The 2023 Lexus RZ 450e is expected to go on sale towards the end of 2022.

* The Lincoln Star Concept made its global debut, hinting at the brand’s design language for its future electric vehicles. Lincoln will deliver three new fully electric vehicles by 2025, adding a fourth by 2026. More than half of Lincoln’s global volume is expected to be all-electric vehicles by mid-decade.

* A new report by Mckinsey says: “In a scenario in which half of all vehicles sold are zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030—in line with federal targets—we estimate that America would require 1.8 million public EV chargers and 28 million private EV chargers by that year.2 All told, the country would need almost 20 times more chargers than it has now.” Read more here: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/building-the-electric-vehicle-charging-infrastructure-america-needs

* Gasoline prices are dropping, but slowly. The national average for regular gas is $4.08 per gallon. Diesel fuel average is $5.03 per gallon. The process drops is coming from the release of one million barrels of oil a day from the U.S. oil reserves.

* Toyota and Lexus are recalling more than 458,000 vehicles for a stability control software glitch that could disable the system. Affected Toyota vehicles include the 2020-22 Highlander Hybrid, the 2021-22 Mirai, RAV4 Prime, Venza and Sienna, and the 2022 RAV4 Hybrid. Lexus models affected are the 2021-22 LS 500h and the 2022 LX 600, NX 350h and NX 450h Plus.

* Ford is recalling nearly 653,000 trucks and SUVs, including the 2020-2021 Ford F-150 pickup truck, 2020-2021 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs, and 2020-2022 Ford Super Duty F-250, F-350, F-450, and F-550 trucks, because their windshield wipers may suddenly stop working or even detach.

* Randy Pemberton, a well known television personality in the 1980s and 1990s, perhaps best known for hosting “Inside Winston Cup Racing”, died last week. He was 62. Randy had neck surgery last week and returned home Friday afternoon, but passed away unexpectedly that night.

Stay safe. Be Well.

October 21, 2021

Training next-gen work force ‘critical mission’ at Larry H. Miller Hyundai Peoria

Trinkl stated he characteristics the store’s repeat good results to a change in the get the job done tradition and each day priorities, which altered considerably due to the fact of the coronavirus and stock constraints.

Pre-pandemic, company arrived first, adopted by aid for employees, he explained.

“We have completely flipped to, ‘How are the people today these days?’ and business has exploded,” Trinkl claimed. “Not that the small business is not vital, and not that we never pay back notice to the ABCs of the business enterprise … but which is not the place we get started our day. We start off our working day with a discussion about the individuals, and it isn’t going to begin with quantities anymore.”

This year, the keep also emphasised that schooling the up coming era of its workforce wanted to be a “essential mission.”

“Now we have this outstanding tenure and expertise and people that are form of battle-hardened,” Trinkl mentioned. “It truly is been our concentrate this year to really do the job on building the upcoming generation of individuals inside of of the corporation.”

To do so, the shop carried out a new junior administration progress software for salespeople — a bulk of whom are 30 and young — who specific desire in increasing into a management situation.

Software participants show up at the store’s biweekly supervisor conferences and a month to month a person-on-one meeting with Trinkl to discuss their career paths as upcoming managers. Particular person department administrators also get the job done with taking part employees to assistance them see the “larger vision,” Trinkl stated.

So considerably, 7 of the store’s 31 salespeople have participated in the method. “All of them, ironically, are in that same millennial team, and all of them want my occupation sometime, which I imagine is a good point to aspire to,” Trinkl explained.

On the service facet, the retail store also has been chaotic marketing and preparing workforce for long term vocation possibilities.

Kevin Naylor, fastened functions director, was nominated by Trinkl to take part in Larry H. Miller Dealerships’ typical supervisor academy, a company software ordinarily for best-doing normal profits managers who could most likely come to be a standard manager at a person of the group’s franchised dealerships.

“As component of the system, I’ve challenged him to develop the overall succession tree underneath him, and that’s been an astounding journey as properly,” Trinkl said. “All of these young millennials who were not certain if they were likely to be in the motor vehicle business enterprise … are now finding to see the total image of what a occupation would appear like.”