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President Joe Biden cheered the news of higher than expected GDP growth and slammed Republican plans to impose a national sales tax in a speech Thursday at a steamfitters union hall in Springfield, Va., his first major economic speech of the new year.

“I’m not sure the news could have been any better – economic growth is up stronger than experts expected, 2.9%,” Biden said, referencing a report released earlier Thursday by the Commerce Department. “I don’t think it’s unfair to say that this is all evidence that Biden economic plan is actually working.”

Biden spent much of the second half of 2022 asking Americans to bear with him through historically high gas prices and inflation. In previous speeches, he’s acknowledged the economic pain many Americans are feeling, while pointing to strong economic reports that show his policies are finally taking hold.

Data from the past month has been positive: the U.S. is at its lowest unemployment rate in 50 years and, over the past two years, job growth has been at its strongest rate ever, although that’s partially due to the historic drop during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns. Though consumer prices are still higher than they were a year ago, Biden has pointed to a slow down in the pace at which they are rising.

The overall consumer price index, a common measure of inflation, dropped 0.1% in December from the prior month, marking the largest month-over-month decrease since April 2020.

Biden warned legislation proposed by House Republicans would reverse that progress and inflict more pain on the economy.

“MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives are threatening to destroy this economy, this progress. Look, this ain’t your father’s Republican Party. It’s a different breed of cat,” Biden said.

He cited a Republican proposal to eliminate the IRS and national income tax and implement a 30% national sales tax. Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy promised the bill’s backers he would put the legislation up to a vote as part of his deal to secure support for his speakership. McCarthy on Tuesday told reporters he does not support the bill.

“They want to impose a 30% national sales tax on everything from food, clothing, school supplies, housing cards, the whole deal – 30%,” Biden said. “They want to eliminate the income tax system because guess what? That’s the only way that millionaires and billionaires have to pay any taxes.”

The bill is dead on arrival without McCarthy’s support and has no chance of passing the Democratic-majority Senate. Still, Biden vowed to veto if it made it to his desk.

“Why why? This nation has gone through too much, we’ve come too far to let that happen. Not on my watch. I’ll veto whatever they send me,” he said.

Biden’s speech also comes as Republicans in Congress prepare for a standoff with the White House on the debt ceiling. The White House has repeatedly said Congress should automatically lift it as it’s routinely done for years, adding that it will not allow Republicans to hold it hostage to get other policies through. House Republicans have threatened to withhold support unless measures are implemented to cut spending, a position that they ignored during the Trump administration and previous Republican presidents.

The debt ceiling is the legal limit set by Congress of how much the federal government can borrow. It covers federal programs that have already been authorized by Congress, not new spending. Failing to lift the debt ceiling could lead the U.S. to default on its bond payments, potentially causing catastrophic effects on the economy.

The last time the U.S. was close to defaulting on its debt in 2011, the move caused Standard & Poor’s to issue its first ever downgrade of the government’s credit rating. The environment then was similar to the situation currently playing out where a newly-elected Republican majority refused to lift the debt ceiling under a Democratic president.

A Moody’s Analytics report from September 2021 said a default on Treasury bonds could throw the U.S. economy into a tailspin as bad as the Great Recession. Moody’s projected a 4% GDP decline and the loss of nearly 6 million jobs if the U.S. defaulted.

The U.S. hit its $34.1 trillion debt limit last week. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the agency has started taking “extraordinary measures,” like suspending some investments in federal employees retirement funds, to keep the U.S. from missing its debt payments.

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750W e-bikes in Europe? Discussions underway to update e-bike laws

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750W e-bikes in Europe? Discussions underway to update e-bike laws

The e-bike industry in the West has long been a tale of two territories. North Americans enjoy higher speeds and power limits for their electric bicycles while Europeans are held to much stricter (i.e. slower and lower) speed and power limits. However, things might change based on current discussions on rewriting European e-bike regulations.

New power levels are not totally without precedent, either. The UK briefly considered doubling its own e-bike power limit from 250 watts (approximately 1/3 horsepower) to 500 watts, though the move was ultimately abandoned.

But this time, the call for more power is coming from within the house – i.e., Germany. The Germans are the undisputed leaders and trend setters in the European e-bike market, accounting for around two million sales of e-bikes per year. Home to leading e-bike drive makers like Bosch, the country has yet another advantage when it comes to making – or regulating – waves in the industry.

And while there aren’t any pending law changes, the largest German trade organization ZIV (Zweirad-Industrie-Verband), which is highly influential in achieving such changes, is now discussing what it believes could be pertinent updates to current EU electric bike regulations.

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Some of the new regulations involve creating rules maxing out power at levels such as 400% or 600% of the human pedaling input. But a key component of the proposed plan includes changing the present day power limit of e-bikes from 250W of continuous power at the motor to 750W of peak power at the drive wheel.

The difference includes some nuance, since continuous power is often considered more of a nominal figure, meaning nearly every e-bike motor in Europe wears a “250W” or less sticker despite often outputting a higher level of peak power. Even Bosch, which has to walk the tight and narrow as a leader in the European e-bike drive market, shared that its newest models of motors are capable of peak power ratings in the 600W level. That’s still far from the commonly 1,000W to 1,300W peak power seen in US e-bike motors, but offers a nice boost over an actual 250W motor.

Other new regulations up for discussion include proposals to limit fully-loaded cargo e-bike weights to either 250 kg (550 lb) for two-wheelers or 300 kg (660 lb) for e-bikes with more than two wheels. As road.cc explained, ZIV also noted that, “separate framework conditions and parameters must be defined for cargo bikes weighing more than 300 kg (see EN 17860-4:2025) as they differ significantly from EPACs and bicycles in their dynamics, design and operation.” Such heavy-duty cargo e-bikes, which often more closely resemble small delivery vans than large cargo bikes, are becoming more common in the industry and have raised concerns about cargo e-bike bloat, especially in dedicated cycling paths.

It’s too early to say whether European e-bike regulations will actually change, but the fact that key industry voices with the power to influence policy are openly advocating for it suggests that new rules for the European market are a real possibility.

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China overhauls EV charging: 100,000 ultra-fast public stations by 2027

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China overhauls EV charging: 100,000 ultra-fast public stations by 2027

China just laid out a plan to roll out over 100,000 ultra-fast EV charging stations by 2027 – and they’ll all be open to the public.

The National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) joint notice, issued on Monday, asks local authorities to put together construction plans for highway service areas and prioritize the ones that see 40% or more usage during holiday travel rushes.

The NDRC notes that China’s ultra-fast EV charging infrastructure needs upgrading as more 800V EVs hit the road. Those high-voltage platforms can handle super-fast charging in as little as 10 to 30 minutes, but only if the charging hardware is up to speed.

China had 31.4 million EVs on the road at the end of 2024 – nearly 9% of the country’s total vehicle fleet. But charging access is still catching up. As of May 2025, there were 14.4 million charging points, or roughly 1 for every 2.2 EVs.

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To keep the grid running smoothly, China wants new chargers to be smart, with dynamic pricing to incentivize off-peak charging and solar and storage to power the charging stations.

To make the business side work, the government is pushing for 10-year leases for charging station operators, and it’s backing the buildout with local government bonds.

The NDRC emphasized that the DC fast chargers built will be open to the public. This is a big deal because a lot of fast chargers in China aren’t. For example, BYD’s new megawatt chargers aren’t open to third-party vehicles.

As of September 2024, China had expanded its charging infrastructure to 11.4 million EV chargers, but only 3.3 million were public.

Read more: California now has nearly 50% more EV chargers than gas nozzles


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Two charged in $650 million global crypto scam that promised 300% returns

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Two charged in 0 million global crypto scam that promised 300% returns

A U.S. Justice Department logo or seal showing Justice Department headquarters, known as “Main Justice,” is seen behind the podium in the Department’s headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

Federal prosecutors have charged two men in connection with a sprawling cryptocurrency investment scheme that defrauded victims out of more than $650 million.

The indictment, unsealed in the District of Puerto Rico, accuses Michael Shannon Sims, 48, of Georgia and Florida, and Juan Carlos Reynoso, 57, of New Jersey and Florida, of operating and promoting OmegaPro, an international crypto multi-level marketing scheme that promised investors 300% returns over 16 months through foreign exchange trading.

“This case exposes the ruthless reality of modern financial crime,” said the Internal Revenue Service’s Chief of Criminal Investigations Guy Ficco. “OmegaPro promised financial freedom but delivered financial ruin.”

From 2019 to 2023, Sims, Reynoso and their co-conspirators allegedly lured thousands of victims worldwide to purchase “investment packages” using cryptocurrency, falsely claiming the funds would be safely managed by elite forex traders, the Department of Justice said.

Prosecutors said the pair flaunted their wealth through social media and extravagant events — including projecting the OmegaPro logo onto the Burj Khalifa, Dubai’s tallest building — to convince investors the operation was legitimate.

A video posted to the company’s LinkedIn page shows guests in evening attire posing for photos and watching the spectacle in Dubai.

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In reality, authorities allege, OmegaPro was a pyramid-style fraud.

When the company later claimed it had suffered a hack, the defendants told victims they had transferred their funds to a new platform called Broker Group, the DOJ said. Users were never able to withdraw their money from either platform.

The two men face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The Justice Department, FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations led the multiagency investigation, with help from international partners.

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