After months of speculation, former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg made it official: he's running for president. Bloomberg, 77, who enters the race more than two years after former Rep. John Delaney became the first Democrat to announce his bid for president, brings a huge personal fortune to the race as well as moderate political views. He said he won't take donations and is running "to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America."
The former Republican plans to skip early states like Iowa and New Hampshire and focus on Super Tuesday states, which offer about 40 percent of the total number of delegates.
Bloomberg will likely take heat from progressives for his past stances on criminal justice issues, inappropriate comments about women, and his personal wealth. New York’s 'Stop-and-Frisk' policy during his mayoral term, which ended in 2013, led to a disproportionate number of black and Latino men being stopped by city police, a policy he apologized for just last week.
On his campaign website, Bloomberg said he will outline plans to deal with a variety of issues, including "raising taxes on wealthy individuals like me," possibly a response to criticism of his $50 billion fortune. Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday "multibillionaires like Mr. Bloomberg are not going to get very far in this election," and Tom Steyer, another 2020 billionaire candidate called on Bloomberg to back a wealth tax. In an opinion article, Steyer said Bloomberg should "support a wealth tax or drop out." Steyer's proposal adds a 1 percent annual tax on the wealthiest top 0.1 percent of Americans.
From the outset, Bloomberg surprised rival campaigns by reserving more than $30 million to spend on airtime for commercials. His ad campaign will be run by a former Facebook executive.
Journalists at Bloomberg, the financial data company owned largely by the now-candidate, were told in a memo that the company plans to cover its eponymous founder's foray into presidential politics, but carefully.
"We will write about virtually all aspects of this presidential contest in much the same way as we have done so far," John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief at Bloomberg News, wrote in a note to staffers.
After laying out the complexities of covering his boss, Micklethwait described how the outlet plans to cover the 2020 election. Bloomberg News will neither investigate "Mike," as Micklethwait referred to the candidate throughout the letter, nor his Democratic rivals.
He noted the editorials have "reflected" Bloomberg's views and so will suspend the editorial board. Additionally, he announced two executive editors of Bloomberg Opinion will join the campaign.
"We will describe who is winning and who is losing," Micklethwait wrote. "We will look at policies and their consequences. We will carry polls, we will interview candidates, and we will track their campaigns, including Mike's. We have already assigned a reporter to follow his campaign (just as we did when Mike was in City Hall). And in the stories we write on the presidential contest, we will make clear that our owner is now a candidate."
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
