Business

Cutting back on their energy consumption (44 per cent), recycling more (34 per cent), and using renewable energy such as solar panels (31 per cent), are some of the top ways in which small businesses plan to go greener in 2023, research has found. One in four (26 per cent) small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) plan to educate their staff on the best practices to reduce climate change, and 28 per cent will aim to try and use greener suppliers and products within their supply chain. And four in five have already measured their businesses' carbon footprint, or plan to do so in the near future. It comes as a poll of 1,000 small business owners found that one in five are working towards making their enterprise net-zero, and are making this a “core business strategy” for 2023. Six in ten (59 per cent) encouragingly say they are on track to meet their environmental targets for the year – and 32 per cent are even ahead of schedule for their plans. The top barriers standing in … [Read more...] about Full list of the 10 ways small businesses plan to go greener in 2023

It is all about the price. Millions of people buying insurance in the marketplaces created by the federal health care law have one feature in mind. It is not finding a favorite doctor, or even a trusted company. It is how much — or, more precisely, how little — they can pay in premiums each month. And for many of them, especially those who are healthy, all the prices are too high. The unexpected laser focus on price has contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses among the country’s top insurers, as fewer healthy people than expected have signed up. And that has created two vexing questions: Will the major insurance companies stay in the marketplaces? And if they do, will the public have a wide array of plans to choose from — a central tenet of the 2010 Affordable Care Act? “The marketplace has been and continues to be unsustainable,” said Joseph R. Swedish, chief executive of Anthem, one of the nation’s largest insurers. Most Americans with health insurance get … [Read more...] about Cost, Not Choice, Is Top Concern of Health Insurance Customers

Oscar Health was going to be a new kind of insurance company. Started in 2012, just in time to offer plans to people buying insurance under the new federal health care law, the business promised to use technology to push less costly care and more consumer-friendly coverage. “We’re trying to build something that’s going to turn the industry on its head,” Joshua Kushner, one of the company’s founders, said in 2014, as Oscar began to enroll its first customers. These days, though, Oscar is more of a case study in how brutally tough it is to keep a business above water in the state marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act. And its struggles highlight a critical question about the act: Can insurance companies run a viable business in the individual market? Oscar has attracted 135,000 customers, about half of them in New York State. And some of its efforts with technology have been successful. But for every dollar of premium Oscar collects in New York, the company is losing … [Read more...] about Health Insurer Hoped to Disrupt the Industry, but Struggles in State Marketplaces

Macy’s is shuffling its leadership team, announcing on Wednesday that Jeff Gennette, the chief executive since 2017, will retire in February after four decades with the department-store chain. He will be succeeded by Tony Spring, who runs the company’s luxury Bloomingdale’s chain. Adrian Mitchell, 49, who has been Macy’s chief financial officer since November 2020, will add the title of chief operating officer to his duties and oversee the company’s store operations, technology and supply chain teams. Macy’s does not currently have the position of chief operating officer. Macy’s, the largest department store chain in the United States, is still rebounding from the pandemic and dealing with inflation’s impact on how its core customers shop. Macy’s said last month that, while same-store sales slightly increased in 2022, active customers decreased. Digital sales were up compared with 2019 — a sign that its e-commerce offerings had improved — but sales at its brick-and-mortar … [Read more...] about Macy’s C.E.O. Jeff Gennette to Depart

UBS said on Wednesday that it was bringing back Sergio P. Ermotti , a former chief executive, as the Swiss banking giant prepares to take over Credit Suisse, its troubled rival. The unexpected return of Mr. Ermotti, 62, comes as UBS faces the difficult work of absorbing Switzerland’s other banking titan after the government-brokered acquisition earlier this month. The $3.2 billion deal was arranged hastily as Credit Suisse, tarred by decades of scandals, management upheavals and failed attempts at reform, finally succumbed to investors’ doubts about its ability to survive a global wave of turmoil in the banking sector. The extent of Credit Suisse’s legal troubles grew wider later on Wednesday, after the Senate Finance Committee accused the Swiss bank of violating a 2014 plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors over the bank’s role in helping clients evade taxes. Concluding a two-year investigation into Credit Suisse, the Senate report, conducted by the committee’s Democratic … [Read more...] about UBS Brings Back Ex-C.E.O. to Deal With Takeover of Troubled Credit Suisse

There are two basic truths about the enormous deficits that the federal government will run in the coming years. The first is that President Obama’s agenda, ambitious as it may be, is responsible for only a sliver of the deficits, despite what many of his Republican critics are saying. The second is that Mr. Obama does not have a realistic plan for eliminating the deficit, despite what his advisers have suggested. The New York Times analyzed Congressional Budget Office reports going back almost a decade, with the aim of understanding how the federal government came to be far deeper in debt than it has been since the years just after World War II. This debt will constrain the country’s choices for years and could end up doing serious economic damage if foreign lenders become unwilling to finance it. Mr. Obama — responding to recent signs of skittishness among those lenders — met with 40 members of Congress at the White House on Tuesday and called for the re-enactment of … [Read more...] about America’s Sea of Red Ink Was Years in the Making

For anyone who cares about medical costs — which is to say anyone who cares about the take-home pay of American families or about the budget deficit — President Obama’s health reform plan is a terribly mixed bag. It does so much less than the ideal plan would do. It would not come close to eliminating Medicare’s long-term budget deficit. It would reduce that deficit only if a future Congress did not tinker with the various taxes and spending cuts scheduled to be phased in over the next decade. On the other hand, the plan would make progress in all sorts of areas. Insurance exchanges would create more competition. A Medicare oversight board would gain authority over reimbursement rates. Hospitals that committed certain medical errors — harmful, costly errors — would face financial penalties. So which matters more: what the plan does, or what it fails to do? It’s a tough call, and the answer depends on what you see as the alternative to the current plan. If the past year of … [Read more...] about Health Care’s Obstacle: No Will to Cut

ARLINGTON, Va. — When Douglas Holtz-Eakin took over in 2003 as the director of the Congressional Budget Office — the nation’s bean counter in chief — he walked right into a firestorm. For years, Republicans had been pushing the budget office to change the way it estimated the cost of a tax cut. Rather than looking only at the revenue lost, they argued, the office should also consider how tax cuts would change behavior. With lower tax rates, businesses would invest more, workers would work more — and the government would thus get a tax windfall. This, in a nutshell, is supply-side economics. A bearded academic, Mr. Holtz-Eakin had just finished a stint in the Bush administration and had spoken favorably about dynamic analysis. So his appointment excited Republicans almost as much as it scared Democrats. Senator Kent Conrad went so far as to call it “a mistake.” But it turns out that both parties underestimated Mr. Holtz-Eakin. He did indeed begin using dynamic analysis, which … [Read more...] about Weighing a McCain Economist

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Scottish Power has signed a £1.3 billion deal to buy 95 wind turbines for an offshore wind farm off the coast of Norfolk. The deal, with Siemens Gamesa, will build enough capacity to supply about 1.3 million homes when the wind is blowing, the company said. The East Anglia Three wind farm will be the world’s second largest and support around 2,300 jobs through its construction. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “I am delighted that Scottish Power and (parent company) Iberdrola are investing in the UK – creating thousands of jobs and crucially helping millions of families keep their homes warm with cheaper, renewable energy. Recommended Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live “Encouraging … [Read more...] about Scottish Power inks turbine deal for world’s second-largest offshore wind farm

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Bupa Dental Care is set to cut 85 dental practices in a move that will affect 1,200 staff across the UK, amid a national shortage of dentists and “systemic” challenges across the industry. The healthcare group said patients at the affected practices have not been able to access the NHS dental service they need. Bupa, which provides NHS and private dental care, said the 85 practices will be closed, sold or merged later this year, bringing the total number of practices in the UK down to 365. All the practices will remain open as usual in the meantime. The move will affect 1,200 employed and self-employed staff, representing more than a tenth of its 9,000-strong workforce. Recommended Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight … [Read more...] about Bupa Dental Care to cut 85 practices in a move affecting 1,200 staff