More people are calling for legislation to create a safer environment for women in the workplace. New York City Public Advocate Letitia James explains how she is pushing for change in legislation at the local level.
James has called for investigations into workplace discrimination. She says individuals need to feel empowered when signing employment contracts, and to not depend upon representation of corporation. James authored groundbreaking legislation to ban employers from asking job applicants for previous salary information, a practice that she says perpetuates a cycle of wage discrimination.
Women who work full-time are earning about 79% of men's median average annual earnings. "Better than 1964, but still not okay," says Laura Brounstein, Director of Editorial and Business Development at Cosmopolitan.
Cheddar's Chloe Aiello has our cannabis year-in-review, breaking down how several states legalized adult recreational use and greenlit medicinal use in 2021. She noted that while a cannabis legalization and decriminalization bill was introduced in Congress this year, potential FDA involvement in the industry, as well as a 25 percent excise tax, killed any chance the bill had of moving forward. Aiello also speculated that some form of cannabis reform could be rolled out in 2022, as the midterm elections draw closer.
Jim Worden, Chief Investment Officer at Wealth Consulting Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the period between Christmas and New Year's is difficult to predict due to a lack of institutional volume, with the Omicron variant adding even more uncertainty on Wall Street.
Prices at the pump this year reached a seven-year high, and a new forecast from GasBuddy shared with CNN predicts that gas prices will only continue to rise in 2022 and that the national average could even reach $4.00 a gallon; however, analysts at GasBuddy say anything could happen when it comes to gas prices in the future, as the pandemic has made it difficult to make any predictions about the economy. Consumer Energy Alliance federal policy advisor Michael Zehr joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
David Stryzewski, CEO of Sound Planning Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that some of the major stock positions are getting the most lift to the upside as the major indexes climb higher to begin the week.