Inflation Reduction Act clears Senate: Democrats in the U.S. Senate passed the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act by the thinnest of margins on Sunday. The Senate vote was evenly split 50-50 along party lines, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. The legislation includes a new 15% minimum tax on large corporations, as well as a 1% tax on stock buybacks. Also included in the legislation are incentives to reduce carbon emissions and a new empowerment for Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. The bill will now go to the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, which is expected to vote on it by Friday.
Alex Jones’ financial honesty questioned: On Friday, a jury in Austin, Texas, ordered Alex Jones to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the family of a child victim of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre for falsely claiming the shooting never took place, but whether the “InfoWars” host will pay the damages is unclear. The Washington Examiner reported Jones began creating shell companies to hide his money last year. Bernard Pettingill, a witness for the Sandy Hook families and an economic consultant and former professor of economics at the Florida Institute of Technology, claimed that Jones began moving $11,000 a day into shell companies last September after being held liable for the defamation cases involving the shooting. Jones”™ company filed for bankruptcy last week.
Disruptions galore at weekend airports: Air travelers in the U.S. faced a multitude of headaches over the weekend with the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights and delays in thousands more. The disruptions were attributed to a combination of issues including staffing shortages within the major carriers and severe summer thunderstorms that drenched much of the country. Chicago”™s Midway Airport had the greatest number of cancellations on Sunday with roughly 14% of flights being scuttled before they took off ”“ other airports with high levels of cancellations included LaGuardia Airport in New York City, Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey and O”™Hare in Chicago.
Warren Buffett”™s XL-sized losses: Warren Buffett”™s Berkshire Hathaway reported a $43.8 billion loss during the second quarter of this year. The company blamed its woes on significant disruptions of supply chains and higher costs that have become the new normal in the current economy. Nonetheless, the company generated nearly $9.3 billion of operating profit during the second quarter thanks to rising interest rates and dividend payouts that helped Berkshire Hathaway”™s insurance operations generate more money from their investments.
South Korea”™s lunar expedition: South Korea is heading to the moon. The country launched its first lunar mission, which is dubbed Danuri, and this endeavor is a test run to determine the viability of its lunar spacecraft technology. However, the South Korean spacecraft is not taking a direct path to the moon, but instead will fly to the sun and then turn around on a path for a lunar orbit that is scheduled to occur in mid-December. South Korea”™s space program is aiming for a lunar landing in 2030.
“Bullet Train” tops weekend box office: “Bullet Train,” the new action-adventure movie starring Brad Pitt, was the most popular film with Americans this weekend. “Bullet Train” grossed $30.1 million from more than 4,300 theaters. Last week”™s most popular weekend attraction, the animated “DC League of Super-Pets,” ranked second at the box office with $11.2 million. And the film that preceded “DC League of Super-Pets” for box office dominance, Jordan Peele”™s horror flick “Nope,” ranked third with $8.05 million in ticket sales.
