Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma warned on Monday that society could see decades of pain thanks to disruption caused by the internet and new technologies to different areas of the economy. In a speech at a China Entrepreneur Club event, the billionaire urged governments to bring in education reform and outlined how humans need to work with machines. “In the coming 30 years, the world’s pain will be much more than happiness, because there are many more problems that we have come across,” Ma said in Chine

The Trump administration is debating whether to abandon the pact as the president promised during his campaign. Bloomberg said he believed the U.S. would hit that goal regardless of what Trump does because of leadership at the state level and market forces already at play in the private sector. “Washington won’t determine the fate of our ability to meet our Paris commitment,” he said in an email Saturday to the AP. “And what a tragedy it would be if the failure to understand that led to an unrav

The Trump tax plan reducing both individual and corporate tax rates down to competitive global levels is precisely what the economy needs to grow. ‘BAT 1930’ was supposed to stimulate growth, increase tax revenues and reduce the budget deficit. Globalization, and the free markets which make it a reality, must be nurtured and fostered by those who helped created it, the United States. In a fragile, global political climate free markets for trade could only prove to be an asset towards peace. Now

Thirty-nine years old, with a face that looks a decade younger, Emmanuel Macron has emerged as France’s last, best, and perhaps only chance of staving off far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. That France finds itself in this position — hoping for a complete novice to win and cringing at the consequences if he should falter — has rattled the French political establishment, and Europe. Just before leaving Hollande’s government, Macron created his own center-left nascent political party, which now ba

The average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline jumped 3 cents nationally over the past two weeks, to $2.46. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday that consumers could see price increases slow as crude oil costs drop. The national average is 28 cents per gallon above the price a year ago. Gas in San Francisco was the highest in the contiguous United States at an average of $3.04 a gallon Friday. The U.S. average diesel price is $2.59, up 1 cent from two week

Business economists are generally optimistic about the U.S. economy with most expecting stronger growth than last year’s poor performance. Only 1 percent of the economists expected no growth or a decline in GDP during the next year. Fifty-three percent expected sales to rise, down four percentage points from January’s survey. Ninety-two percent of the economists expect to hire more people or keep their workforce stable this quarter, with 27 percent predicting increased hiring. The percentage exp

Candidate Trump loathed the central bank, a luxury the man who currently holds the Oval Office no longer can afford. Gone are the days of railing against asset bubbles and the loose monetary policy that often fuels them. The trouble for Trump is that the climate is shifting inside the the Fed. They’re raising rates aggressively, and for what reason?” “For some reason, there’s been a watershed change in monetary policy, and it happened in December 2016.

“The Spring markets for the past three years have been destabilised by big political events and 2017 is going the same way. “On the positive side, competition in the mortgage market is likely to continue at least until Christmas making money both cheaper and more available but we are very close to zero and this will eventually dry up. “All but the most motivated of buyers and sellers will sit on their hands as all the parties appear to be hinting at tax rises to come. The threats to the housing

It’s easy to go into sticker shock when looking at the full price of private colleges and universities. For this 2016-17 academic year, the average published tuition and fees at private colleges and universities rose 3.6 percent from the past academic year to $33,480, according to the College Board. When you factor in room and board, the College Board estimates the average private-school student will pay a total of $45,370 this academic year. Like many major purchases, there is the listed price

The S&P 500, at roughly 2,370, is about 30 points below its March 1st record high. That is just a little above the middle of the trading range we have been in since the middle of March, that is, between about 2,325 and 2,400. The likely outcome will be a short-term trading range but the long-term risk is clearly to the upside. Absent a geopolitical crisis, the other risks have a good chance of resolving to the upside. No wonder the markets are rallying.

Shares of Wayfair dropped on Monday afternoon, after a trade publication reported that Amazon may be introducing new delivery options for furniture sellers. Amazon representatives told a group of retailers on Monday that it hopes to allow furniture sellers that do not deliver nationwide to join the platform, according to a report in Furniture Today. While Amazon has not formally announced changes to its furniture program, a New York Times report earlier this year indicated that the e-commerce gi

It’s an autonomous suitcase that follows you around on your travels — you don’t need to hold or carry it. Tied to your smartphone, it matches your speed and can navigate around large crowds without bumping into anyone. The suitcase is TSA compliant, and has a GPS chip so you’ll know where your luggage is at all times. The battery life isn’t quite long enough for an international flight — it lasts about 4 hours. But if the battery dies there’s always the option of using the TravelMate like a regu

Roughly one in seven people on earth have Jan Koum, and his company WhatsApp, to thank for their ability to call and text their friends and family free of charge. Over one billion people use the free mobile messaging app worldwide; it is particularly popular across Europe, South America and Africa. To put the WhatsApp’s monumental success into context, Twitter only has 313 million monthly active users. Yet perhaps even more impressive than WhatsApp’s popularity is the success of WhatsApp’s CEO a

Sometimes, you can’t help yourself — those dirty dishes have piled up in your sink, or that annoying coworker has forgotten to do his part of the meeting prep again. Finally, you relent, and give in to a good complaining session. Part of your annoyance may be due to something called the “negativity bias,” happiness expert Gretchen Rubin, author of the New York Times bestseller “The Happiness Project,” told TODAY. More from TODAY:8 steps to make this a happier dayHow to be happy: 8 ways to find m

At the same time, Trump is pushing Congress to move quickly on another attempt to pass a repeal bill of the Affordable Care Act, even though House Republicans aren’t unified on a path forward. But the CR runs out on Friday, giving Congress a hard deadline to pass a comprehensive funding bill to finish the current fiscal year. Rep. Tom Reed, R-New York, said politics should be kept out of the funding bill. But the failure of the health care bill has complicated the timeline, pushing tax reform ba

U.S. President Donald Trump this week will sign new executive orders before he completes his first 100 days in office, including two on energy and the environment, which would make it easier for the United States to develop energy on and offshore, a White House official said on Sunday. “This builds on previous executive actions that have cleared the way for job-creating pipelines, innovations in energy production, and reduced unnecessary burden on energy producers,” the official said on conditio

Amazon launched a new platform on Monday that allows companies with subscription services — from newspapers to TV streaming — to sell their plans on Amazon. The “Subscribe with Amazon” marketplace allows consumers to buy subscriptions to products like SlingTV streaming, Headspace meditation, Dropbox Plus, as well as workout videos, online classes, meal plans and even matchmakers. The marketplace also features more traditional subscriptions, similar to those that have become popular on Amazon’s K

Procrastinating can be expensive when it comes to buying airline tickets, filing taxes and paying bills. For almost two-thirds of families, babysitting costs exceed $500 per year, according to new data from Care.com. One in five families spends more than $2,000 per year on sitters. But there are times when sitters are more in demand than others. These five circumstances may warrant booking early or paying more — or both:

In late 2014, when crude oil was vacillating between roughly $60 and $80 a barrel, Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service called for a plunge in crude prices over the next year. He was right — crude’s value per barrel was nearly slashed in half by the end of 2015. Now, Kloza sees further downside for the commodity that’s already tumbled nearly 8 percent this year as U.S. production keeps climbing. “Back to the drawing board for crude oil prices,” he remarked Friday in an interview on CNB

The battle between Buffalo Wild Wings and Marcato Capital Management continued on Monday after the chicken wing company wrote a letter to shareholders accusing the hedge fund of attacking its board and management team. Buffalo Wild Wings defended Smith’s performance, saying she has helped generate huge returns for shareholders. “We believe that Marcato’s plans for the business — involving a massive refranchising of our company-owned stores, among other things — will not create sustainable shareh