41% of global companies could cut workforce in favor of AI by 2030: Report
Futuristic sci-fi movies have warned of technology taking over for decades. Now, that technology may actually be replacing humans — with 41% of companies worldwide planning to cut their workforce by 2030 in favor of artificial intelligence.
Out of the hundreds of large global companies surveyed for the report, 77% said they’re planning to reskill or upskill current employees to work better alongside AI.
So, how does one compete with a computer? Know thy enemy.
Postal service clerks, executive secretaries and payroll clerks are among the employees expected to see their numbers drop drastically in the next few years, whether due to the spread of AI, or other trends.
The report also found that, for the first time ever, graphic designers and legal secretaries’ jobs are among the fastest declining job roles. The report said this decline may be an example of AI’s “increasing capacity to complete knowledge work” — like creating original text, images and other content in response to prompts from users.
There are just some things a computer can’t do, however. The report predicts a significant increase in demand for jobs that call for a little human touch, like nursing and teaching.
Congress members stock portfolios more than doubled in value in 2024
Five members of Congress more than doubled the value of their stock portfolios in 2024, in some cases they beat the market by 4-6 times. The increase will raise further questions about members trading stocks while being privy to information the public is not.
Overall, Democrats saw their portfolios increase 31%, while Republicans increased by 26%. They both beat the S&P 500 which skyrocketed 24%.
Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., whose stock portfolio increased 149%.
Rep. Debbie Schultz, D-Fla., who saw an increase of 142.3%.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., had a 123.8% increase.
Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, who was up 111.2% for the year.
Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., who hit 105.8%.
How did they do so well? They overwhelmingly bought into Big Tech companies like Nvidia, which went up 154% for the year.
If you look at holdings by sector — Democrats’ portfolios are 49.4% tech stocks, while Republicans’ are 15.8%, which is still more than any other industry.
The report also points out that some of the gains were in stocks that benefited from bills they passed like the CHIPS Act.
Unusual Whale created this report by reviewing members’ Periodic Transaction Reports, or PTRs, which are available online. Members must disclose stock transactions greater than $1,000 within 45 days. The public reports contain the type of asset, the amount and the date of the transaction.
Why should you care?
Unusual Whales says lawmakers trading stocks while legislating is inherently problematic.
“Congress members shape policies that can directly impact markets. Whether or not they act on insider knowledge, the appearance of potential abuse undermines public trust,” the report stated.
There are many members who say lawmakers should not be allowed to buy individual stocks. A ban on the practice has not been approved, despite multiple attempts.
CFPB sues Warren Buffett-backed mortgage lender for ignoring ‘red flags’
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against a mortgage lender owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. The watchdog alleges Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance steered customers to buy manufactured homes they couldn’t afford.
Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance is a subsidiary of Clayton Homes, the nation’s largest builder of manufactured homes. Clayton Homes is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
“Vanderbilt knowingly traps people in risky loans in order to close the deal on selling a manufactured home,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement.
The lawsuit said underwriters “ignored clear and obvious red flags” that certain customers would not be able to repay their loans.
“The CFPB’s lawsuit is unfounded and untrue, and is the latest example of politically motivated, regulatory overreach,” Vanderbilt said in a statement to Straight Arrow News. “Vanderbilt Mortgage’s underwriting processes exceed the legal requirements for assessing a borrower’s ability to repay loans by considering both monthly debt-to-income ratio and residual income, while the law only requires the use of one or the other.”
“The core allegation is that Vanderbilt is using an estimate of other expenses that is too low,” said Howard Beales, formerly the director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Now, according to the complaint, they only use that estimate when the consumer says either they have no expenses, which is unlikely, or when Vanderbilt’s estimate is higher than what the consumer reported.”
In the lawsuit, the agency details troubled lending situations to make its case. In one instance, CFPB said Vanderbilt approved a loan to co-applicants with 33 debts in collection, insufficient assets to pay those debts and two young children. CFPB said Vanderbilt assumed unreasonably low monthly living expenses. The borrowers fell behind on payments eight months after getting their mortgage.
Vanderbilt claims CFPB looked at tens of thousands of loans and identified “less than 0.8 percent” that may have raised flags. CFPB did not detail a percentage in its lawsuit.
“I didn’t see anything in the complaint that would have led me to bring this case,” said Beales, who now serves as professor emeritus of Strategic Management and Public Policy at George Washington University. “Bad actors have much higher rates of bad loans than that. Default rates in the subprime mortgage crisis were 20% and 30%, 0.8% is nothing.”
Manufactured homes accounted for around 11% of new home builds in 2022, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute, a trade group in the space. The average household income for buyers was $35,000, while the average price of a manufactured home was just over $127,000, not accounting for the price of the lot it sits on.
“The population that’s interested in buying manufactured housing is likely to be lower income and higher risk than the population of people who buy stick-built houses, and that’s going to lead to higher interest rates simply because of the credit risk,” Beales said. “And in fact, the essence of the CFPB charge here seems to be these loans were too cheap. They should have charged more or not made them at all.”
Clayton Homes and Vanderbilt previously received negative attention for lending practices in 2015. A report from The Seattle Times found the company targeted minority customers and charged them higher interest rates than similarly qualified white borrowers.
At that time, Buffett said he wasn’t going to make any apologies for the manufactured home’s lending practices.
“Clayton follows a pattern that actually is exemplary and rather extraordinary,” Buffett said in 2015. “We have no interest in selling anybody a house and having the mortgage default because it is a net loss to us, is a net loss to the customer.”
In 2016, a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and then-CFPB Director Richard Cordray asking their respective agencies to investigate Clayton Homes’ lending practices.
In this current lawsuit, CFPB is asking the court to stop Vanderbilt from making allegedly bad loans and pay civil penalties.
Wildfires force thousands to evacuate Southern California
Three massive wildfires are burning out of control in Southern California, putting thousands of homes at risk. And President-elect Donald Trump shares his plans to acquire Greenland, the Panama Canal and bring Canada as the 51st state. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025.
Southern California wildfires force thousands to evacuate
Three separate wildfires are burning in the Los Angeles, California, area, and there is no end in sight, as strong winds are fueling the flames. The most extreme of the three is the Palisades Fire, which spans nearly 3,000 acres and has already forced 30,000 residents to evacuate.
Cities surrounding Pacific Palisades, including Malibu, issued evacuation orders. Officials there told all residents to prepare to leave their homes, whether they were under evacuation orders or not since the inferno was moving so quickly.
All hands are on deck to fight the #PalisadesFire in Southern California. California is deeply grateful for the brave firefighters & first responders battling the blaze.
We will continue to mobilize resources and support local communities as they respond to this severe weather. pic.twitter.com/JZrYy85e4z
The neighboring city of Santa Monica also issued an evacuation order for the northern part of the city. It also closed the area to the public, warning of an immediate threat to life.
As thousands of firefighters continue to battle the flames, authorities work to find the fire’s cause.
A second wildfire, dubbed the Eaton Fire, burns near Pasadena. A city spokeswoman said it has “created its own firestorm” with flying embers igniting at least a dozen other spot fires.
So far, the Eaton Fire has consumed about 1,000 acres. It engulfed homes and forced more than 100 people to evacuate from a nursing home — some in wheelchairs and on gurneys. A federal disaster declaration is now in effect for the Eaton Fire.
Crews are also battling the Hurst Fire about 100 acres in the San Fernando Valley, which is in the northern part of Los Angeles County. The Hurst Fire also prompted evacuation orders.
The Los Angeles County canceled schools in 19 districts Wednesday, Jan. 8. Plus, more than 200,000 people are without access to power, either because of the powerful Santa Ana winds or because a utility provider turned off electricity to prevent additional fires.
The forecast called for the winds to continue for days, producing gusts that could top 100 miles per hour in the mountains and foothills.
Biden administration asks federal appeals court to block 9/11 plea deals
The Biden administration asked a federal appeals court to block a plea agreement for accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The controversial deal would spare Mohammed from the death penalty for his role in planning the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
The deadly attack rocked the U.S. and began the war on terrorism.
In court filings Tuesday, Jan. 7, the Justice Department argued the government would be irreparably harmed if the guilty pleas were accepted for Mohammed and two co-defendants in the 9/11 attacks.
It said the government would be denied a chance for a public trial and the opportunity to “seek capital punishment against three men charged with a heinous act of mass murder that caused the death of thousands of people and shocked the nation and the world.”
The Defense Department negotiated and approved the plea deal but later revoked it.
However, attorneys for the defendants argued the deal was already legally in effect and that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who began the administration’s efforts to throw it out, acted too late.
Mohammed is set to enter his guilty plea on Friday, Jan. 10, if the appeal is not granted. His co-defendants, accused of lesser roles in 9/11, are due to enter theirs next week.
Harris, Johnson deliver eulogies for President Jimmy Carter
The 39th president died last week at the age of 100.
Carter’s body had been lying in repose since Saturday, Jan. 5, at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta before being transported Tuesday morning to Washington D.C.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson each delivered a eulogy during Tuesday’s ceremony
“We all know that his care for humanity didn’t stop at building homes,” Johnson said. “In the face of illness, President Jimmy Carter brought lifesaving medicine. In the face of conflict, he brokered peace. In the face of discrimination, he reminded us that we are all made in the image of God. If you were to ask him why he did it all, he would likely point to his faith.”
Harris highlighted Carter’s faith. She said, “James Earl Carter, Jr. loved our country. He lived his faith. He served the people. And he left the world better than he found it.”
Carter’s body will lie in state through Thursday morning, Jan. 9, and then be taken to the National Cathedral for a state funeral. Biden is expected to deliver a eulogy.
Trump suggests using military, economic force to expand America
In a wide-ranging press conference from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump touched on a bunch of topics, including a $20 billion foreign investment to build data centers in the U.S. He also talked about his plans to revoke Biden’s recent ban on offshore oil and natural gas drilling as well as expansion strategies for the United States.
Trump reiterated his goals of acquiring the Panama Canal, which has been under Panama’s sole control since 1999, and Greenland, a territory of Denmark.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., is leading an American delegation currently in Greenland, though the country’s prime minister said he is there as “a private individual.”
The Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen responded to Trump’s remarks Tuesday, saying Greenland was not for sale.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede reiterated this point, saying “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. Our future and fight for independence is our business.”
A reporter asked the president-elect if he can assure that he would not use any military force to take control of either the Panama Canal or Greenland.
“I can’t assure you, you’re talking about Panama and Greenland,” Trump replied. “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two but, I can say this we need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for a military. I’m not going to commit to that now.”
In response to those remarks, the prime minister of Denmark called the United States its country’s “closest ally” and did not believe the U.S. would use any force to secure Greenland. Panama’s foreign minister repeated earlier comments from the country’s president that the sovereignty of the Panama Canal is not negotiable.
“[I’d use] economic force because Canada and the United States — that would really be something,” he said. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like. It would also be much better for national security. Don’t forget, we basically protect Canada.”
Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued his response in a post on X saying, “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”The president-elect also spoke of one more geographical goal of his in the upcoming term: to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, saying it “has a beautiful ring to it.”
Not long after his remarks, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she directed her staff to begin drafting legislation for the name change.
Police: Former soldier used AI to plan Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion attack
New details are emerging about the man who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day. Las Vegas police said Tuesday the attacker used generative AI, including ChatGPT to plan the attack.
An investigation into former soldier Matthew Livelsberger, 37, found his search history on ChatGPT included questions about firearms and explosives. Straight Arrow News reporter Lauren Taylor has more details on the investigation into the Cybertruck explosion.
Girl Scout cookie season begins, 2 flavors discontinued
Girl Scout cookie season has arrived. The annual tradition is meant to teach young girls about entrepreneurial skills through selling boxes of cookies.
Almost everyone has a favorite, of course, but if yours is Girl Scout S’mores or Toast-Yay! Cookies — bad news. The Girl Scouts plan to retire those two flavors later this year.
The organization said discontinuing those two flavors may lead to something new and delicious.
Why mortgage rates are going up while the Fed is cutting rates
Prospective home buyers who thought the Federal Reserve’s rate-cutting cycle would relieve high mortgage rates were in for a rude awakening in 2024. Since the date of the Fed’s first cut in September, the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has gone up nearly a full percentage point, even though the Fed has cut two more times since then.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate started 2025 at 6.91%, up from 6.09% when the Fed first cut in September, according to Freddie Mac.
“People have been saying, ‘Look, I’ll wait until the Fed cuts interest rates and then I’ll get a better mortgage rate. And we’ve seen exactly the opposite,” Bright MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant told Straight Arrow News.
Sturtevant said a key reason for this phenomenon is the mortgage market is reacting to expectations as opposed to actions.
“Mortgage rates had been following from the beginning of July all the way through the rate cut in September – the Fed had been telegraphing that they were going to do that rate cut in September – so it was already baked in,” she explained.
I think we are in a new normal where the mid-sixes is going to be a good mortgage rate.
Lisa Sturtevant, Bright MLS Chief Economist
But although the Fed would proceed to cut rates two more times before the end of the year, the committee signaled in December that they were less optimistic about the inflation track in 2025. They downgraded their forecast from four cuts in 2025 to just two.
“So mortgage rates rose on account of that information, as opposed to the rate cut itself,” Sturtevant said.
While many homeowners jumped on the opportunity to lock in a rate of around 6% in September, many more missed the boat. Sturtevant said those homeowner hopefuls will be ready to act quickly with any downward movement. But will rates only rise from here?
“I don’t think we’re going to get to 8% for sure,” Sturtevant said, responding to reports warning of that possibility. “I think we are in a new normal where the mid-sixes is going to be a good mortgage rate. And for some people, that’s hard to swallow, since during the pandemic, we saw rates down around 3%.
“But actually, over the last 50 years, the average rate on a 30-year fixed has been about 7.5%,” she continued. “So we’re not high by historical standards. We’re just high by what people had come to expect during the pandemic.”
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate bottomed out at around 2.65% in January 2021. The post-pandemic peak hit 7.79% in October 2023.
Mortgage rates are more closely tied to the 10-year Treasury, which is a more reliable indicator to consider when predicting where mortgage rates are heading.
“We spent a lot of time wringing our hands and thinking about what the Federal Reserve is going to do, but the Fed is reacting to economic data, and that is what we should be looking at when we want to think about where mortgage rates are headed,” Sturtevant said.
Sturtevant recommended paying attention to the 10-year Treasury, inflation, the labor market and consumer confidence.
Biden administration bans medical debt from credit reports
With less than two weeks left until President Joe Biden leaves office, his administration announced a new rule Tuesday, Jan. 7, that could lift the credit scores of millions of Americans. The finalized rule will not only stop medical debt from being included on credit reports, it will also ban lenders from using certain medical information in loan decisions.
The rule also bans lenders from using medical devices like wheelchairs or prosthetic limbs as collateral for loans and bars lenders from repossessing the devices if patients aren’t able to repay the loans.
Lenders will still be able to consider medical information in certain situations, like when the loan would be used to pay health expenses or if a person asks for a temporary postponement of loan payments for medical reasons.
Today, the CFPB finalized a rule that will remove an estimated $49 billion in medical bills remaining on the credit reports of about 15 million Americans.https://t.co/PeCoLAeQSH
The CFPB says the measure will boost the credit scores of people with medical debt by 20 points on average. It’s also expected to lead to the approval of 22,000 additional mortgages a year.
The rule would take effect 60 days after it’s published in the federal register. However, the incoming Trump administration could undo the new rule because Congress has the opportunity to review and rescind final rules. President-elect Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
Trump denies report that team is considering scaled-back tariffs
President-elect Donald Trump denied an exclusive report by The Washington Post on Monday, Jan. 6, that claimed he’s considering scaling back his tariff plans. Trump called the story “fake news.”
According to The Post, Trump aides are still looking into applying tariffs to every country, but with a more targeted approach aimed at critical imports.
Trump responded to the report just hours after the article’s publication.
“The story in the Washington Post (sic), quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don’t exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong. The Washington Post knows it’s wrong. It’s just another example of fake news,” Trump posted to Truth Social.
The Washington Post cited “three familiar sources with the matter.”
Many economists warned the move could drive up inflation.
A recent poll by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the Financial Times found that 61% of economists surveyed in the U.S. said the tariff measures proposed during Trump’s campaign would have “large” or “some” negative consequences.
The U.S. dollar fell more than one percent Monday in reaction to the report.
The Post’s report didn’t detail which critical sectors the tariffs would target. The sources said preliminary discussions have focused on what Trump wants to bring back to the U.S. That includes the defense industrial supply chain, like steel, iron and aluminum; medical supplies, like syringes and needles; and energy production, including batteries, rare minerals and solar panels.
The Washington Post has yet to respond to Trump’s comment on its report.
In reversal, Mexico may accept migrants from other nations deported by Trump
Mexico has stated that it’s not ruling out the possibility of taking in migrants deported by the United States, regardless of nationality. The decision is a reversal from what Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum initially said last month, saying Mexico would push U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to return deportees of other nationalities directly to their countries.
In a press conference Friday, Jan. 3, Sheinbaum said that Mexico is open to collaborating with the U.S.
“There will be time to speak with the United States government if these deportations really happen, but we will receive them here, we are going to receive them properly and we have a plan,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum did not elaborate on the plan, but it could include limiting certain nationalities or requesting compensation from the U.S.
Trump has promised mass deportations, however critics said there will be logistical and economic challenges.
A recent report from the American immigration council estimates that it would cost $88 billion to deport one million migrants a year. That would total more than $967 billion over a 10-year period.
Mexico is not obligated to accept non-Mexican migrants from other countries, but in the past it has agreed to do so. Cuba and Venezuela, for example, often refuse deportation flights from the U.S., but may accept them from Mexico.
Sheinbaum plans to meet with her cabinet next week to discuss immigration issues ahead of Trump taking office.
Tesla fails to grow sales in 2024 for the first time in more than a decade
Tesla has been on a tear to close out 2024, but its annual sales are telling a different story. Tesla deliveries on the year declined for the first time since 2011, according to company data released Thursday, Jan. 2.
Tesla delivered about 1.79 million cars in 2024, down from about 1.81 million in 2023. That’s about a 1% drop in sales year over year for 2024, compared to a 38% growth in sales the year before.
The car company still set a record in the fourth quarter of 2024. Tesla delivered a record 495,570 vehicles in the final three months of the year while producing a record 459,445. Still, that fell short of expectations, causing the company to miss its chance at a slight sales growth for the year.
Tesla shares slid more than 6% by midday Thursday on the news.
Tesla is worth more than $1 trillion to start 2025, and its stock price surged about 63% in 2024, most of that coming since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. Tesla became part of the Trump trade, with CEO Elon Musk’s close ties to the incoming administration.
Musk said in October he expects the company to see 20% to 30% growth in 2025, even as the EV market as a whole struggles with a slowdown.
As Trump’s team looks to end federal electric vehicle tax credits, Musk has said, “It will only help Tesla.” Legacy automakers are still selling EVs at a loss, while Tesla has a yearslong head start in the space. Getting rid of subsidies would likely force automakers already selling at a loss to drop EV prices even more to stay competitive.
After Trump’s victory, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation urged him to keep the $7,500 credit in place. The trade group, which represents major automakers excluding Tesla, said they are up against unfair competition from heavily subsidized EVs from China.
BYD isn’t just threatening U.S. automakers or the EV space. It’s accelerating in the race for total global auto group sales. Japan’s Toyota has the runaway lead, but BYD is pulling ahead of Japan’s Honda and Nissan.
In December, Honda and Nissan announced a proposed merger by 2026 to better compete with China. Together, they would be the world’s third-largest auto group.
Prospective home buyers start 2025 with ‘stale’ housing market
Home buyers started the new year with a “stale” housing market. A new report shows that while there’s a surplus of homes, many buyers deem them unappealing.
Redfin, a residential real estate broker, reported that the number of homes for sale in November hit the highest level since 2020. However, Redfin said a major reason for the increase in supply is “a pileup of unsold homes, many of which buyers have deemed undesirable.”
Nationally, more than half of November home listings (54.5%) sat on the market for at least 60 days without a buyer willing to sign a contract. That’s the highest percentage since November 2019.
According to the report, the average home spent 43 days on the market.
Real estate agent Meme Loggins of Portland, Oregon, called many listings “stale and uninhabitable.” She said price is also a key factor.
Loggins said homes that are priced well and in good condition sell within three to five days. Overpriced and outdated homes sit on the market for months, she said.
Big cities in Florida hit hard by hurricanes and marred by high insurance costs were listed as having “stale inventory”. Major cities in Texas, including Austin and San Antonio, also made the top of the list.
Mortgage rates are another factor driving up the cost of owning a home. As of Thursday, Jan. 2, the rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was about 6.7%. A 15-year fixed rate was 6.1%