March 13 2024
Discovery of Uranus
FLASH Biden, Trump clinch respective party nominations setting up November rematch
1 Biden’s new budget to serve as policy platform for 2024 election
2 No Labels to make 3rd party ‘Unity Ticket’ bid for President
3 Surge pricing is coming to restaurants
4 India develops next-gen nuclear missile to deter Pakistan, China
3/13/1781 William Herschel discovers Uranus
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FLASH Biden, Trump clinch respective party nominations setting up November rematch
1 Biden’s new budget to serve as policy platform for 2024 election
President Biden’s budget blueprint will kick off an election-year fight over Medicare and Social Security, as the president and his presumed Republican opponent, Donald Trump, scramble to lock down the support of the older voters who could decide which man occupies the Oval Office next year. Biden’s budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, released Monday, will revive a plan to stabilize Medicare by increasing taxes on the wages, investment gains and self-employment income of people earning more than $400,000 a year. That proposal would extend the solvency of a key Medicare trust fund “indefinitely,” according to a Monday letter from the chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency known as CMS that oversees the program.
WSJ
President Biden proposed a $7.3 trillion budget on Monday packed with tax increases on corporations and high earners, new spending on social programs and a wide range of efforts to combat high consumer costs like housing and college tuition. The proposal includes only relatively small changes from the budget plan Mr. Biden submitted last year, which went nowhere in Congress, though it reiterates his call for lawmakers to spend about $100 billion to strengthen border security and deliver aid to Israel and Ukraine. Most of the new spending and tax increases included in the fiscal year 2025 budget again stand almost no chance of becoming law this year, given that Republicans control the House and roundly oppose Mr. Biden’s economic agenda. Last week, House Republicans passed a budget proposal outlining their priorities, which are far afield from what Democrats have called for. Instead, the document will serve as a draft of Mr. Biden’s policy platform as he seeks re-election in November, along with a series of contrasts intended to draw a distinction with his presumptive Republican opponent, former President Donald J. Trump.
NYT
2 No Labels to make 3rd party ‘Unity Ticket’ bid for President
The centrist group No Labels said Friday it’s moving forward with efforts to recruit a cross-party “unity ticket” to challenge Joe Biden and Donald Trump for the presidency after this week’s Super Tuesday primaries cemented a rematch of the 2020 election. The would-be third-party movement still doesn’t have a candidate to top the ticket after a number of high-profile contenders ruled themselves out. The group said it would announce a process to select a candidate in six days.
No Labels, a 13-year-old organization that until recently was mostly focused on centrist policies through the congressional Problem Solvers Caucus, hopes to capitalize on polls showing public distaste for a Biden-Trump rematch. But the organization has been facing increasing backlash — particularly from center-left groups aligned with the Democratic Party — over fears that it would take more votes from Biden than Trump and play spoiler. No Labels has been laying the groundwork for a third-party bid by clearing one of the biggest obstacles to mounting a national campaign: Getting ballot access in all 50 states. No Labels has qualified in at least 13 states, including the pivotal battlegrounds of Nevada and North Carolina.
Bloomberg
3 Surge pricing is coming to restaurants
If you are hungry for barbecue on a Saturday night this month, a delivery of a pulled-pork sandwich from Cali BBQ could cost you around $18. Or you could hold off a few days and order the same sandwich delivered on a weekday afternoon for around $12. Restaurants like San Diego-based Cali BBQ are experimenting with a form of the dynamic pricing long used by airlines, hotels and ride-hailing services. Technology providers are pitching services that enable restaurants to change prices weekly or monthly, increasing or slashing the cost of a taco or sandwich between a few quarters to several dollars, depending on demand and sales patterns. The small changes can add up for restaurants seeking more sales, though operators must weigh the potential gains with the risk of upsetting inflation-weary consumers. Shawn Walchef, Cali BBQ’s owner, said that variable pricing attached online to the pulled-pork sandwich boosted the four-unit chain’s $30,000 in monthly delivery sales by $1,500 since the company began testing it in early 2023.
WSJ
4 India develops next-gen nuclear missile to deter Pakistan, China
India has successfully conducted the maiden flight test of an indigenously developed ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday, a development that enhances the country’s nuclear deterrence against rivals China and Pakistan. The intercontinental ballistic missile called Agni-5, which in Sanskrit means “fire,” is equipped with multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles, or MIRV technology, that allows it to launch multiple attacks in one go across different locations, according to two senior serving government officials. The missile technology has been under development for the past several years by state-run Defense Research and Development Organization, or DRDO. With the flight test, India has joined the league of a few elite nations such as the U.S., China, Russia and France that have this technology.
WSJ
3/13/1781 William Herschel discovers Uranus
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