Many comparisons have been made lately between the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the apocalypse at China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted real estate developer. But they are nowhere close. Lehman was a top-tier investment bank that went from good to bad during the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis. On the other hand, ...Read more

The United Auto Workers is hailing its new auditing guidelines as a "deterrent" to corruption after its auditors discovered more than $2 million in improper expenditures of union dues at Local 412 in Warren, Mich., whose members include Stellantis NV workers.

The Local 412 financial secretary has been suspended, the UAW confirmed. The union's ...Read more

More than 60% of the nearly 400,000 U.S. workers Amazon hired into its lowest-paying hourly roles between 2018 and 2020 were Black or Hispanic, and more than half were women, according to new employee demographic data for the years 2019 and 2020.

Meanwhile, the company's highest-paid tiers remain overwhelmingly white or Asian and male, despite ...Read more

Amazon and other warehouse operators across California will face new regulation of their labor practices under a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday evening.

The first-of-its-kind legislation, AB 701, gives Amazon and other warehouse workers new power to fight quotas, which critics say have fostered dangerous conditions by pressuring ...Read more

Comcast has launched a new streaming device called XiOne, its first to be available for all of its customers worldwide.

The streaming box and voice remote — which let customers access Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, and other online video subscriptions — is already available in Italy and Germany for customers of Sky, the Comcast-owned European TV ...Read more

The global semiconductor shortage will cost $210 billion in lost revenues this year, estimates AlixPartners LLP, up 91% from the firm's previous May forecast of $110 billion.

Additionally, the global consulting firm with roots in Metro Detroit now expects the industry to lose production of 7.7 million vehicles this year, a 97% increase from the...Read more

Applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, led by a surge in claims in California, a sign of choppy weekly data as the labor market continues its broad recovery.

Initial unemployment claims in regular state programs rose to 351,000 in the week ended Sept. 18, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The median ...Read more

Q: For the last several months, my condo association has accused me of missing two payments from several years ago that they apparently just discovered. I paid my dues with online bill pay and provided the association with proof of payment for those two months. The property manager is still asking for the “missed” payments and refuses to ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Retired four-star general and former U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis wrote admiring messages to Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes after she told him of her startup’s technology, but after he joined the board he came to question her promises, jurors heard at Holmes’ criminal fraud trial Wednesday.

“There just came ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Despite a still-menacing pandemic and a cascade of other domestic and international threats to the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve policymakers on Wednesday expressed confidence in the recovery and said they could soon start withdrawing stimulus programs supporting financial markets and the economy.

Fed officials, however, were ...Read more

Two technology industry groups filed suit Wednesday is an effort to strike down a new Texas law that will let social media users sue if they or their opinions are blocked from view or removed.

Texas House Bill 20 — inspired by complaints that conservatives are frequently censored online — also will give the state attorney general the power ...Read more

General Motors' transition to all-electric vehicles will transform the century-old automaker into a software company that just happens to make hardware: cars.

In the new business model, the cars will be a platform to deliver GM-developed software to offer consumers services beyond their vehicle. Services that can be used in their homes and ...Read more

Film crews are on the brink of a strike that could shut down the film and TV industry nationwide.

Negotiations have broken down between the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE), which represents almost all primary crew members on major TV and movie sets, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, ...Read more

Passenger satisfaction at America’s airports is starting to dip from all-time highs as airports get busier, with O’Hare International Airport ranking last and Midway Airport in the bottom half, according to a study released Wednesday.

Overall, airports still scored higher than ever on the 2021 North American Airport Satisfaction Survey by J...Read more

General Motors has hired the former chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to head global regulatory affairs for the automaker.

GM said Wednesday that David Strickland will join the company as vice president of Global Regulatory Affairs starting Oct. 1. He will report to Omar Vargas, GM vice president and head of Global ...Read more

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank could begin scaling back asset purchases as soon as November and complete the process by mid-2022, after officials revealed a growing inclination to raise interest rates next year.

Powell, explaining the U.S. central bank’s first steps toward withdrawing emergency pandemic support for ...Read more

Federal Reserve officials signaled they would probably begin tapering their bond-buying program soon and revealed a growing inclination to start raising interest rates in 2022.

If progress toward the Fed’s employment and inflation goals “continues broadly as expected, the committee judges that a moderation in the pace of asset purchases ...Read more

Cryptocurrency firms are fighting for lobbyists and fielding subpoenas in what could be an existential fight over how the multitrillion-dollar industry should be regulated.

In the past month, lobbyists have been overwhelmed by firms seeking representation in Washington, as regulators threaten the cryptocurrency companies with lawsuits or cease-...Read more

Ford Motor Co. is partnering with and investing $50 million into a battery recycling startup led by a Tesla co-founder as the Dearborn automaker works to shore up its battery supply chain for a forthcoming wave of electric vehicles.

Ford and Redwood Materials announced the deal Wednesday and said the two companies will work together "to ...Read more

Q: My HP Chromebook is going to reach Auto Update Expiration in September. I use it only rarely, but I would like to be able to make online purchases with it. How dangerous is it to keep using a Chromebook that's not continually updated? Would it make sense to install some Bitdefender security software to protect the Chromebook?

—Julie O'...Read more