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PM Images Listen here or on the go via Apple Podcasts and Spotify Trinity Capital ( NASDAQ: TRIN ) CEO Kyle Brown explains how they're an asset manager in BDC clothing (1:40). Dividend stability and growth (7:45). NAV stability and growth, EPS, ROE the metrics most focused on (10:50). TRIN stock valuation and momentum (12:00). Reasons for recent buyback (18:10). Private credit is real and liquidity is important (20:15). Transcript Rena Sherbill: Excited to bring you my conversation with Kyle Brown, CEO of Trinity Capital today, a special kind of BDC which he explains shortly its place in the financial sector, its place in the market. What the macro picture means for BDCs and the financial sector. Something we talk about is Trinity Capital's valuation and its momentum rating on Seeking Alpha's factor grades . Kyle later wrote what I thought worthy of sharing with investors. Kyle wrote: Momentum does not take into account earnings distributed which is also returns to investors. And a very important aspect of BDCs in the last six months, even though the stock price is down by approximately 4%. Since we distributed the dollar and since we distributed a dollar and two cents in the same time frame, the actual returns are positive approximately 2.5%. I hope that sheds some light on their take on the momentum grades. Hope you enjoy the full conversation. Let us know what you think in the comments. Kyle Brown, CEO of Trinity Capital ( TRIN ). Welcome to Seeking Alpha. Thanks for joining us. Kyle Brown: Thanks for having me, Rena. RS : It's great to have you. I feel like a great place to start is maybe sharing with investors, sharing with listeners, your part in the BDC industry, and maybe where you see BDCs in the financial world. KB : Sure. So I think maybe even just starting off, we are a BDC, but we're very different than 90-plus percent of the other BDCs. We are internally managed , which means there is no management fee, there are no incentive fees, there's not some other management company that's managing this entity. I work for the organization along with our executive team. I own the same shares as any one of your listeners who might own a TRIN share. So we have the same incentives. And that really is a massive differentiator between us and really any other BDC that's out there. There's really, I think, there's only four internally-managed BDCs. And so what that means is we're really focused on return on equity. We're really focused on earnings per share, very focused on maintaining and building the dividend. It's less so focused on AUM growth because there's really no incentives to build AUM and grow for the sake of growth. I'd say, maybe first and foremost, that's the biggest differentiator. We're an asset manager in BDC clothing and it works because we have five underlying businesses that we manage that are all lending businesses. They all generate current income. And so a BDC formation is really a great - it works for us because we generate a lot of income and we distribute out that income to investors. So a BDC is a great place for us to sit. But biggest differentiator there, we're not just a pool of assets. When you buy our stock, you're buying, yes, a pool of assets, but you're also buying into 100-person organization, an organization that also owns an RIA, manages third-party capital and generates income in a lot of different ways. So that's not known by most investors, but it's one of the ways and it gives us the ability to continue to grow earnings, which you've seen for us now for 19 straight quarters. RS : Can I ask a question in terms of how you're differentiated, was there ever a question at the beginning to do it like most of the rest of the industry? And why do you think so much of the industry doesn't do what Trinity does? KB : Absolutely. We used to be a fund manager. We used to have a management company before we were BDC and we were forced to make that decision. Do we do an externally-managed BDC and just create a pool of assets that we manage for a management fee and incentive fee? Or do we go this different route? And historically, and if you look at internally-managed BDCs right now, they are the top-performing BDCs in the country. They generate higher ROE, they trade at a premium to NAV, they've been able to grow their earnings. They just trade at higher multiples. And so when we formed the entity in late 2019, we sat around and said, all right, we have ambition to really grow this thing to be the number one lender to growth-oriented businesses in the country. We need access to a lot of capital. And so the best formation for that would be the type of structure where incentives are aligned between management and shareholders. And so we chose this, we chose to be kind of long-term greedy in the idea – in the sense that if we performed and we did well, we would have access to capital and we would be able to grow this while also growing earnings for shareholders. There's not been a lot of BDCs that have been formed recently who have gone public, but this is a better structure for shareholders. Long-term, it's a better structure for management and employees, I think. Short-term, an externally-managed BDC is better for management and better for the owners of a management company. So those are the kind of the key differentiators. We are long-term greedy here. We really do want to build a large successful business that has growing earnings for shareholders. RS : Do you hear a lot of enthusiasm? I know it's hard to hear enthusiasm from shareholders much of the time. But do you hear enthusiasm from shareholders around the makeup and around your strategy in general? Is there – are there questions around it, pushback? What do you hear from the community? KB : We've got institutional investors that still make up around 30-plus percent of our shareholder base. We've been doing this since 2008. So we have investors that have been with us for over 15 years, high net worth, family office, and they love this structure. We just had an investor event in New York for institutional investors the other night. And I just had multiple groups that said, hey, I bought shares in 2020. I still have them. And you've distributed out over $7 per share in that timeframe and you're still doing it. So thank you. I think investors who have been with us for the long-term, they get it, they're holding. We have continued to see our kind of primary institutional investors either hold or buy more over time. That's all - that's public. You can see it. For new entrants and new investors that are considering us, they can look at our track record and they can say, they can see that, hey, this is a great dividend and they've consistently increased their earnings per share and they've been able to cover that dividend and they're excited about that. So I see enthusiasm. You see in the stock, we've traded a premium to NAV because we're generating so much income for investors. And so I think the feedback has been good. I think the dividend is extremely high right now because the stock is traded kind of below, I think, its inherent value. And it's a nice entry point for investors right now. RS : Well, maybe let's stick with the dividend for a second as long as we're there. What would you say to those maybe cautiously concerned about the dividend and the stability of that dividend? How do you encourage investors to think about your dividend? KB : So we've stayed steady or grown for 19 straight quarters, and we've over-earned the dividend in every one of those quarters. Sometimes it's higher than other quarters. That's more of a reflection of maybe payoffs that we might have in any quarter. We might have some more gains that we've seen, but we've been able to cover that dividend and safely cover it for some time. The reason is that $0.51 right now, and really kind of high, is because our core earnings are high. And as a BDC, we have to distribute out 90-plus percent of our income. And so the dividend is where it is because we feel comfortable with our ability to earn it, and then legally we have to distribute it to investors. We have continued to show that we can earn the dividend, over-earn the dividend, create spillover income, and continue to deliver that dividend to investors. RS : What would you say or how do you think about the macro factor in terms of interest rates? How do you think about that in context of how you're trying to grow the business? KB : So, I mean, we saw rates shoot up. We've seen rates now start trickling down . And during that timeframe, we've actually increased earnings per share. So I hope that could be a good reflection of what we think about it. We're showing it through our earnings per share. It hasn't impacted our ability to deliver on that dividend. We actually have pretty limited down exposure to rate sensitivity. The majority of our portfolio, you can see it right in our Schedule Of Investments. The majority of our portfolio, 90-plus percent, has floor rates that are over 12%. And so when rates come down, as they can – if they can continue to come down, we actually have pretty – some great kind of downside protections there because we have floating rates for our corporate debt. We have a $500 million revolver with KeyBanc. When rates go down, our cost of capital goes down. So does our ability to raise bonds and private debt, that goes down, but our underlying portfolio does not decrease in the same way. And so income is really not at risk. If rates go down, we actually have this slide in our presentation. If rates go down another 100 basis points, that's only $0.02 per quarter. We've already got that covered in our earnings per share. And then we also believe that the RIA that we launched, which we're now generating new income above and beyond the loans that we have issued out there, that is more than making up for any kind of rate decreases and sensitivity that we have there. So we feel really comfortable, kind of regardless of what rates do in our ability to keep that dividend steady and growing. RS : What would you say are the metrics that you're most focused on, either in this particular moment or in general as CEO? KB : Yeah. So NAV stability and NAV growth that reflects portfolio health and it also reflects the ability for Trinity to leverage the management side of our business and grow these new earnings off the balance sheet. So NAV stability. Earnings per share, we're really focused on growing that. We've done a great job of that over time, and dividend stability. So we really want to see that dividend just stay stable and grow. And then ROE, return on equity, that's a great reflection of really our ability to generate best-in-class returns for investors and the equity that we're working with. Internally, those are really our key metrics that we're focused on. When someone is buying TRIN, they should know that those are the things we care about, high ROE, best-in-class, kind of earnings per share, and then it's really stability of the NAV, which should give you a nice reflection of our portfolio health. RS : I'm curious how you think or how you discuss the valuation of the stock at this point. Also specifically, so Seeking Alpha has these ratings and Valuation for Trinity is an A+ and then Momentum is lower down, in the D category. How do you articulate your thoughts around Momentum and Valuation right now? KB : So if you look at other internally-managed BDCs, they are trading at 140% to 180% of NAV. We're trading at 110% of NAV. If we just simply move towards the mean of other internally-managed BDCs over time, there's some real upside there, and just the stock price. Forget about growth of earnings per share, dividend, et cetera. I'm just talking about where we are at today. We're inherently undervalued. The dividend being at 15%, I don't know where it ended today or where it's at right now, but 14%, 15%, I would call that extremely high. It's not a reflection of the risk we're taking out there, it's just a reflection of the stock price being too low. I think it's low. I just bought a bunch of shares. We just sent that release out, so did our Board and our other members of our management team. And that was not some planned thing. That's just what people did because it's paying - the dividends too high. We're not going to lower the dividend. Again, we're a BDC. Regulations require us to distribute out 90-plus percent of our income. Our core income has continued to increase to where we have to distribute it out. So it is what it is. We're going to distribute out that income. I think over time, we'll probably get credit for being stable and being consistent. I don't know where the kind of derating over time comes from. You'd have to tell me and then I could give you some feedback on that. But our analysts who cover us, we've got, I think, Buys across the board, except for maybe one bank that we never talked to. The rest of them have Buys across the board because they see our ability to continue to deliver that earnings per share, cover the dividend. RS : So what would you say you're most focused on in terms of keeping consistent while also growing? KB : Yeah. So we run five unique businesses at Trinity. We have a venture debt business, which is about 30% of our deployment. That's run by a team of professionals and an industry leader, 20-plus year veteran. They've got their own sales team, their own portfolio management team, credit team. It's 30% of our deployment. We have an equipment finance business, non-correlated to the venture market. They're financing mission-critical equipment. It's really asset-backed lending. That's a big part of what we do. Independent team, we have a life science and healthcare business. That's run by again, an industry pro who's built multiple businesses. We have a warehouse lending, that's just traditional ABL, advances against financial receivables. And then we have a sponsor finance business, which is P/E buyout. It's kind of $3 million to $50 million of EBITDA, primarily enterprise SaaS companies. Each of these businesses are unique to one another. They have a different risk profile. They are all somewhere between late-stage VC, think about a pre-IPO, pre-M&A, into lower middle market, $3 million to $50 million of EBITDA. Each is growing at their own kind of clip and pace, but that is a really niche great place to be right now. You have a massive amount of retail dollars and institutional dollars that are flowing to private credit. It's a big buzzword, right? Private credit, private credit. The majority of that capital is flowing to 12 large trillion-dollar firms. Those firms are all chasing the same deals in the upper middle market, and it's been a race to the bottom on pricing. And they're all chasing beta-type returns at this point. They can't write $20 million to $100 million checks and we can’t. And we love that kind of lower middle market space, particularly with enterprise SaaS deals. There's actually a massive amount of opportunity right now. And M&A activity for us has picked up 20% quarter-over-quarter, 15% year-over-year in Q3. We're seeing a lot of acquisitions begin. And so the opportunities there, there's less competition because the bigger alternative asset managers have moved upstream and then banks are lending less because of regulations that have come down on them since the banking volatility began. So we're seeing just great opportunities, great spreads, less competition. And that's giving us the ability to generate great kind of low to mid-teens kind of gross yields, which ends up being a great return for our shareholders. And so we're thinking about, how do we capitalize this business? If the growth is there and the opportunity is there, how do we do it in a way that's accretive and good for investors? And we do it in two ways. 1, I mentioned the RIA, we got SEC approval last year for TRIN, the public company, to own an RIA, and it's really just a management company, okay? TRIN shareholders own 100% of the benefits of this entity. Most folks don't even know we have it, but we got SEC approved for last year. We now manage about $500 million of third-party capital and that's growing. We're out there raising money right now. The big part of our success in the future will be continuing to raise third-party capital from pension funds, institutional investors, and down into even a retail. We're charging management fees and incentive fees on that capital. We use it to just co-invest with the public company, but we charge management fees, incentive fees, 100% of that benefit flows to our shareholders. And so you're seeing NAV accretion there. Last quarter, you saw about $0.04 of new earnings flowing from that entity. And we have the ability to grow that asset management business kind of infinitely. And so a lot of our success in the future is going to be finding new ways to raise capital, so that we can grow the business, but grow it profitably for investors. RS : And how does the recent buyback figure into this conversation and your plans for growth? KB : I mean, I've given you my opinion on the stock and I think it's low. And to the extent that we start trading at or around NAV, that means that we're getting zero value or very minimal value for being an internally-managed BDC and having a management company and generating fee income above and beyond our loans. To the extent we get close to NAV, we're absolutely going to be buying back shares because it's trading at a massive discount. RS : If anything, what has you the most concerned, either in general or in this upcoming year, let's say? KB : So liquidity is really important. Equity, liquidity and money flowing is really important, I think, for really kind of all of our businesses. There's a massive amount of dry powder sitting on the sidelines and it has been for a couple of years. Record amounts of venture capital, record amounts of private equity. Money flowing is really important. I think right now with the administration changing over, there's a lot of uncertainty. This could be good, but it could also, I don't know, there's scenarios where maybe it's not great for the industry, or maybe inflation sticks around longer than we thought. But I don't know. I think primarily our biggest concerns from like a macro sense are that we cannot figure out this debt situation, which is going to drag down all industries and all kind of financial stocks. We have a really significant kind of overhang on debt in this country. And we continue to kind of kick the ball, kick the can down the road. And that's a problem for all stocks, but certainly for financial stocks. Our ability to raise capital in our private funds is really important. So I'm not losing sleep over it and I don't even see it as a problem. I'm just pointing it out as it is something that is a big differentiator for us. And if we're really going to continue to stand out compared to our peers, we got to be successful raising that capital. RS : What else would you say about the financial sector and things that investors should be paying attention to, broadly speaking? KB : I kind of touched on it. But private credit is real. I think it's here to stay. Banks are going to be lending less. They have regulation that's coming down on them. They have less deposits, which means they can lend less. And so I think just generally speaking, banks are going to be lending less and they're going to be doing more receivable-type financing. So there's a gap, right? Everyone is looking for access to private credit and the majority of investors have decided over the last couple of years to move it into large entities. Those entities are having a very difficult time deploying that capital, which has created less than desirable returns, I think. And larger asset managers are really dependent upon M&A activity picking up. And with the new administration, there's a lot of euphoria around the idea that, hey, things are going to be better in the economy and that will probably lead to this dam breaking and M&A activity picking up. I don't know that that happens. I think it's leaking. But what's happened in 2021 and 2022, or companies with that policy, zero interest rate policy was companies receive valuations that were just astronomical. And over the last two or three years, they have really been trying to work into those valuations, but they did that with rates increasing, with a lot of macroeconomic and geopolitical kind of issues going on. They haven't been able to work into those valuations. So for the dam to really break and for M&A activity to pick up and for P/E dollars to flow and for all of this to happen, it's going to require companies to kind of face the music on a valuation standpoint and take the dilution that's really been continued to just get kicked down the road. And so there's a lot of money. There's a lot of money that wants to do deals in that. And once it starts, that money flows. It flows downstream. It flows back to private equity. It helps with fundraising. It flows into the VC world. It helps with fundraising that flows to companies like it will all be good. But it does require companies to bite the bullet on valuations that are just unrealistic. RS : Do you find that there's points in the market where people are more interested in BDCs than they are less interested? What do you feel like is that's predicated on for the most part? KB : Well, there certainly has been an increase in interest in BDCs. That's more of a statement on just private credit. Investors are trying to understand how do I get into private credit, right? And you really, you have limited options if you're a high net worth or family office, you can dump your money into Blackstone's umpteenth fund that they just launched, or you can search outside of that. And BDCs, it’s a really interesting entry point for investors who are wanting to invest in debt in private companies. And so the reason it's picked up is because there's been more interest there for groups trying to figure out more niche and different strategies other than some of the big boys. RS : Just curious, you mentioned the funds. I'm curious your thoughts about the nature of the market these days, the preponderance of ETFs out there. Any thoughts about that? KB : No, not really. It's definitely an expensive way, right, to invest. And there's a race to prop up an ETF for just about everything, right? TBD on whether that's a good strategy or not, or whether they're getting that diverse kind of exposure that they claim. So, the proof is in the pudding, I think we'll see what happens over time there. RS : Kyle, I appreciate this conversation. I'm curious in your time as CEO, as we're winding down the conversation, if there's been anything that has surprised you that you haven't been able to do that you wanted to do, or on the flip side, something maybe you thought you wouldn't be able to do and you were able to do it much sooner-than-expected. KB : What's interesting is as being a public company, we're running a business where we lend primarily to private companies. Those companies are funded by private sponsors, for the most part. And our – the business and the operation of our business is really not correlated to the stock market. It's just not. And – but the stock is correlated to the stock market. So I'd say that maybe that was just a naive mindset thinking that, hey, we're not correlated to the stock market, our underlying business isn't, but the stock certainly is. And so it's been interesting to see those swings in valuation for seemingly, in my opinion, kind of no reason, right. When you perform, that should be reflected in the stock price. And I think with BDCs right now, it's just – it’s still a developing environment, right? And so investors are entering it. There'll be more stability with more volume and more understanding of what they are and how they work. But we've seen more volatility than we had probably hoped for or imagined all while delivering growing and consistent returns. So maybe wishful thinking for me over time to see some real stability that kind of corresponds and correlates to the actual underlying performance of the business. RS : Happy for you to share where investors can find out more about Trinity, where they may be able to get in touch with you, happy for you to share that. KB : Our site has got a lot of great information, trinitycap.com. You can see the investments we're making, but I think I'd leave where I started. And when investors understand this, it's to their benefit. We are an internally-managed BDC. When you buy us, you're also buying into a management company with 100 employees, the ability to generate growing returns. And our goal, Trinity's goal is to be the number one performing BDC in the country with really stable NAV and growing earnings per share while being best-in-class on return on equity. And so that's been our goal since we launched this thing in the beginning of 2020 and it's still our goal today. And I think we have continued to perform in the top five really kind of BDCs since then. And it feels like we're just getting going. So I'll leave you with that.
Manchester United teammates Rasmus Hojlund and Amad Diallo exchanged words after the final whistle of a 2-1 victory on Thursday. And manager Ruben Amorin has no problem with it. “For me, it’s a very, very good sign,” Amorin said after his team beat Viktoria Plzen to stay unbeaten in the Europa League. Hojlund scored two goals and hoped for a centering pass from Diallo to go for a hat trick in the final minutes. The Denmark striker didn't get the pass, though. Viktoria had been pushing forward looking for an equalizer, which created space for United counters. On another break shortly afterward, Hojlund opted to keep the ball. The pair then had a heated post-game exchange. “We need to feel something,” Amorin said. “If we need to fight each other, it's like a family. When you don't care, you don't do nothing. When you care — you fight with your brother, with your mother, your father.” AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccerDallas Cowboys cheerleader Armani Latimer brings her teammates to tears with powerful act
TikTok true crime sleuth helps police crack case and arrest suspect who gunned down mom holding child
Notation Labs Secures $2 Million Credit Facility to Accelerate Production of QwelTM, a Cutting-Edge Lead Detection and Prevention System
MacKenna Halfin closes career as one of Philip Barbour's best3 things we heard from Chicago Bears coordinators, including Montez Sweat’s ‘reset’ and ‘no fear’ from Caleb WilliamsBy COLLEEN SLEVIN DENVER (AP) — Amid renewed interest in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey triggered in part by a new Netflix documentary, police in Boulder, Colorado, refuted assertions this week that there is viable evidence and leads about the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old girl that they are not pursuing. JonBenet Ramsey, who competed in beauty pageants, was found dead in the basement of her family’s home in the college town of Boulder the day after Christmas in 1996. Her body was found several hours after her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note had been left behind. The details of the crime and video footage of JonBenet competing in pageants propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States. The police comments came as part of their annual update on the investigation, a month before the 28th anniversary of JonBenet’s killing. Police said they released it a little earlier due to the increased attention on the case, apparently referring to the three-part Netflix series “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey.” In a video statement, Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said the department welcomes news coverage and documentaries about the killing of JonBenet, who would have been 34 this year, as a way to generate possible new leads. He said the department is committed to solving the case but needs to be careful about what it shares about the investigation to protect a possible future prosecution. “What I can tell you though, is we have thoroughly investigated multiple people as suspects throughout the years and we continue to be open-minded about what occurred as we investigate the tips that come into detectives,” he said. The Netflix documentary focuses on the mistakes made by police and the “media circus” surrounding the case. JonBenet was bludgeoned and strangled. Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever prosecuted. Police were widely criticized for mishandling the early investigation into her death amid speculation that her family was responsible. However, a prosecutor cleared her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, and brother Burke in 2008 based on new DNA evidence from JonBenet’s clothing that pointed to the involvement of an “unexplained third party” in her slaying. The announcement by former district attorney Mary Lacy came two years after Patsy Ramsey died of cancer. Lacy called the Ramseys “victims of this crime.” Related Articles National News | Why the first Thanksgiving may not have had the Pilgrims National News | Travelers who waited to make Thanksgiving trips are hitting the biggest crowds so far National News | Hyundai recalling over 226,000 cars and SUVs to fix rearview cameras that can fail National News | US consumer price increases accelerated last month with inflation pressures resilient National News | Ohio governor signs bill limiting bathroom use by transgender students John Ramsey has continued to speak out for the case to be solved. In 2022, he supported an online petition asking Colorado’s governor to intervene in the investigation by putting an outside agency in charge of DNA testing in the case. In the Netflix documentary, he said he has been advocating for several items that have not been prepared for DNA testing to be tested and for other items to be retested. He said the results should be put through a genealogy database. In recent years, investigators have identified suspects in unsolved cases by comparing DNA profiles from crime scenes and to DNA testing results shared online by people researching their family trees. In 2021, police said in their annual update that DNA hadn’t been ruled out to help solve the case, and in 2022 noted that some evidence could be “consumed” if DNA testing is done on it. Last year, police said they convened a panel of outside experts to review the investigation to give recommendations and determine if updated technologies or forensic testing might produce new leads. In the latest update, Redfearn said that review had ended but that police continue to work through and evaluate a “lengthy list of recommendations” from the panel. Amy Beth Hanson contributed to this report from Helena, Montana.
Saquon Barkley is the NFL's version of Shohei Ohtani: AnalysisZoe Ball's son Woody Cook says he is looking forward to spending more time with her after she announced during the week that she would be quitting the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show at the end of December. Woody, who is the son of Zoe and Fatboy Slim, Norman Cook, has shared a loving post about his mum on social media. Woody, 23, who appeared on reality TV show The Circle, posted unseen family photos which showed both his parents with him and his 14-year-old sister Nelly, who is rarely seen in public posts. Woody, wrote on Instagram: "Well done Mama on a fabulous stint on Radio 2! Here's to more time at home! Excuse the whole family pic can't find enough crackers with @zoetheball. YOU ARE AMAZING. 4AM is a crazy time to get up!" Zoe, 53, was among the first to reply to her son's post. writing: "Love you Bear. beyond xxx." She announced her departure from the Breakfast Show earlier this week, and also confirmed that Scott Mills would be replacing her in the New Year. After returning briefly to radio in August, Zoe took another extended break in September , when it is believed she took stock of her life and made her decision to quit her show. Zoe succeeded Chris Evans in 2019 and her final broadcast is scheduled for December 20. Updating listeners on her next steps , she said that she wasn't "going to be a stranger" and is staying with her "Radio 2 crew", though didn't share any more details. Zoe said: "While I'm stepping away from the Breakfast Show, I'm not disappearing entirely - I'll still be part of the Radio 2 family, with more news in the New Year." Citing the reason for her departure, Zoe said she plans to "focus on family" and be "a mum in the mornings" again, adding she "can't wait to tune in on the school run". Stay up to date about London's hottest events, latest restaurant openings, and best deals with our Going Out Out newsletter. Sign up HERE!
CNBC Daily Open: Inflation's still high — but so is the stock market
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NoneIREN Reports Q1 FY25 ResultsBritain's economy contracted unexpectedly in October, according to data from the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics. GDP fell by 0.1%, the latest print showed, marking the second consecutive monthly downturn. The British pound was trading lower against the dollar Friday morning. The U.K. economy contracted unexpectedly in October, according to data from Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS). > 24/7 San Diego news stream: Watch NBC 7 free wherever you are Gross Domestic Product fell by an estimated 0.1% on a monthly basis, the ONS said Friday, with officials attributing the downturn to a decline in production output. Economists polled by news agency Reuters had projected a 0.1% rise in GDP in October. It marked the country's second consecutive economic downturn, following a 0.1% GDP decline in September . Real GDP is estimated to have grown 0.1% in the three months to October, the ONS said, compared to the previous three months ending in July. Sterling declined on the back of the disappointing print, trading 0.3% lower against the U.S. dollar at $1.2627 by 7:45 a.m. London time. In a statement on Friday, U.K. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves conceded that the October figures were "disappointing," but defended the government's divisive economic strategies . Money Report CNBC Daily Open: Inflation's still high — but so is the stock market China signals readiness to mend ties with U.S. ahead of Trump inauguration This is a breaking news story. Please refresh for updates. Also on CNBC Wholesale prices rose 0.4% in November, more than expected If Trump wants to kill inflation, this is the first thing he needs to do Budget deficit swells in November, pushing fiscal 2025 shortfall 64% higher
or working-class Americans, the American Dream is out of reach, says Newsweek Opinion Editor Batya Ungar-Sargon in her new book, Her book analyzes who the working class and why it is more and more difficult for this group to attain the stability that previous generations achieved. Ungar-Sargon shares intimate stories of the struggles of hard-working Americans across the country, finding commonalities across lines of race, political affiliation and occupation. In this Q&A, she discusses barriers to for the working class, whether universal college education would help, their enduring patriotism and more. A: That you can love a country that has you. That you can love people who vote for the other party and support policies that you don’t. That polarization is a totally elite phenomenon. Despite being incredibly diverse, working-class Americans are surprisingly united on the big issues, whether it’s abortion or immigration or equal opportunity or the need for better jobs and better health care. The problem is that neither party represents where the vast majority of working-class Americans are at politically, so it’s something of a which party they choose. Unlike the college educat ed (on both sides), they don’t identify with the list of positions listed on the DNC or RNC websites, so they aren’t in politics and would never dream of holding it against someone who picks the other party in the voting booth because it signifies so little. Greatly expanding Greatly limiting immigration. A government-backed catastrophic health care plan. degree requirements for jobs that don’t require them, and [outlawing] software that those without a college degree during the application process. Making illegal and expanding which greatly expands the housing stock by allowing for duplexes and to be built in areas currently zoned exclusively for single-family detached homes. Expanding tariffs on foreign imports. Reducing but expanding the child tax credit. Basically, finding ways to make sure people who work really hard are and the American Dream, which they aren’t today. It didn’t solve the problem for most of the people I interviewed. Many of them had insurance through work but were still going broke due to things like and Others were paid so little they qualified for The health care system in this country is such a disaster. The of manufacturing to China and Mexico and the expansion of immigration are the two biggest ones. We took good-paying, working-class jobs that ensured a stable, middle-class life to millions of Americans and shipped them overseas to build up the middle class of other countries. Then we imported millions of low-wage immigrants, most of whom are working in jobs that don’t require a college degree, to compete with working-class Americans in the jobs that remained here, of those jobs. Corporations started to they used to take onto their workers, then good health care, then stable working hours and then a living wage. That’s how we got here. The diploma divide is another big one. Our economy rewards people who work in the knowledge industry in a big way, while there is constant downward pressure on working-class wages. And then there’s the cost of a middle-class life. While working-class wages are up, the of a middle-class life—a home, adequate health care, an education, a retirement—have risen astronomically, in large part due to what Elizabeth Warren called “The Two Income Trap”: upper middle-class couples in the top 10 or 20 percentile who can afford to pay twice as much for everything, which drove up the prices where they live. This is an extremely important question. The answer is no, both on the part of the workers and on the part of the economy. From the perspective of the economy, there simply isn’t a demand for significantly increasing the number of college grads out there. Those industries are pretty full up—and even contracting, thanks to AI. Over half of college grads are working jobs that don’t require a college degree (though they still make more than their working-class counterparts), meaning we’re already producing way too many college grads—while there is a devastating dearth of skilled tradesfolk. The other reason free college for all isn’t the answer is that not everyone wants to go to college, excels at that type of learning or wants that kind of career. And that’s a really good thing! We already have too many lawyers and gender studies majors and podcasts. We’re never going to have too many plumbers or janitors, but we took all the money to educate the former and put it in higher education, and then devalued the latter through mass migration. It’s unfair that it’s those people whose work we rely on most who can’t The patriotism of the Americans who were left behind. They aren’t willing to give up on this country and we shouldn’t give up on them. – osiągać, realizować, zdobywać – stanowić, reprezentować – awans (np. społeczny) – zdradzić kogoś – loteria – przesadnie/zbytnio zainteresowany – szkolenie zawodowe, przyuczenie do zawodu – zakazać, zdelegalizować – pozbyć się czegoś, wyplenić coś – prawo dotyczące zagospodarowania przestrzennego, prawo urbanistyczne – zabudowa luźna – trzypiętrowy dom (z mieszkaniem na każdym piętrze) – wyłudzanie zasiłku – zapewniać godne życie – wysokość opłat, jaką pacjent musi ponieść przy każdej wizycie lekarskiej lub zakupie leków, która nie jest pokrywana przez ubezpieczenie – kwota, którą ubezpieczony musi zapłacić z własnej kieszeni przed tym, jak ubezpieczyciel zacznie pokrywać koszty leczenia lub usług medycznych – państwowy system ubezpieczeń zdrowotnych dla osób o najniższych dochodach (w USA) – przeniesienie biznesu poza granice kraju (w celu ograniczenia kosztów) – obniżać płace, doprowadzać do obniżenia wynagrodzeń – zmniejszać ryzyko, przenosić/przerzucać ryzyko (na przykład na kogoś) – pozbawiać kogoś emerytury – cecha charakterystyczna – utrzymywać rodzinę and answer the following questions: 1. What key insight did Batya Ungar-Sargon gain from interviewing working-class individuals nationwide? 2. What did she find surprising about working-class Americans’ views on important issues? 3. What policies does Batya Ungar-Sargon suggest could help the working class? 4. How has the Affordable Care Act affected the individuals interviewed by Ungar-Sargon? 5. What are the primary obstacles to upward mobility for the working class? 6. Why does Batya Ungar-Sargon argue that free universal college tuition might not be the solution to the challenges faced by the working class? 7. How does she characterize the economic and societal implications of the push for higher education? First, match the words to form collocations and verb phrases that will help you describe the issue presented in the article. Next, write down a sentence using each collocation and verb phrase. The sentences you create should relate to the topic being discussed in the text. ( ) upward equal vocational child low-wage stable knowledge college training grads mobility immigrants opportunity industry tax credit working hours limit outlaw expand reduce build up drive down drive up sustain the middle class families the prices the wages degree requirements immigration welfare fraud tariffs on foreign imports Task description: Students will participate in a discussion about the challenges faced by the working class in America. Task elements: 1. Discuss the things that working-class Americans have in common, even though they come from diverse backgrounds. 2. Talk about the main barriers that stop working-class people from moving up in society. How do these barriers affect them, and what does it mean for the country? 3. Think about the idea of giving free college to everyone as a way to help the working class. Do you agree with the author that this might not be the best solution? Why or why not? Use examples from the text to support your opinion. 4. Imagine you could make a new rule or plan to help working-class people. What would it be? Describe your idea and explain how it could make life better for them. Complete the following summary using information from the text. In “Second Class,” Batya Ungar-Sargon examines the struggles of ________ Americans, revealing their shared challenges despite diverse backgrounds. Despite ________, they unite on key issues like healthcare and job opportunities. Solutions include ________, healthcare reform, and limiting immigration. The Affordable Care Act hasn’t resolved healthcare concerns, and barriers to ) ________ include job outsourcing and education costs. Free college isn’t the solution due to oversaturation and diverse career aspirations. Despite hardships, working-class Americans remain ________ and deserve support.Pregnant Girl Group Member Continues Performing Right Up Until Giving BirthFaruqi & Faruqi Reminds Acadia Healthcare Investors Of The Pending Class Action Lawsuit With A Lead Plaintiff Deadline Of December 16, 2024 - ACHC