Raphael Stevens

Macy’s CFO Adrian Mitchell says the American consumer is still healthy and spending.
But as escalating oil prices translate into higher prices, the department store chain said it anticipates some consumers will be affected more than others.
Mitchell said that Macy’s forecasts that lower-income families, which devote a bigger portion of their monthly paychecks toward essential goods such as groceries, will be affected more than others.

Pedestrians carry Macy’s shopping bags in San Francisco, California, on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Macy’s says the American consumer is still healthy and spending. But, as escalating oil prices translate into higher prices at the gas pump and bigger grocery bills, the department store chain said it anticipates some consumers will be impacted more than others.
“From a consumer demand standpoint, we still have a healthy consumer,” said Macy’s Chief Financial Officer Adrian Mitchell, during a Wednesday presentation at the UBS Global Consumer & Retail Conference.

He noted that many American families benefited from rounds of government stimulus payments around this time last year, but that savings rates have remained elevated this year compared with prepandemic levels.
However, according to Mitchell, the consumer is also under increased pressure. “Inflation is elevated with the geopolitical instability that we’re seeing with Ukraine and Russia. We’re seeing oil prices escalate, which will only elevate the expenses around essential goods,” he said.
Mitchell said that Macy’s forecasts that lower-income families, which devote a bigger portion of their monthly paychecks toward essential goods such as groceries, will be affected more than others. As a result, the company said it is already thinking about how to communicate value to those customers differently, versus a luxury customer who has more capacity to spend, Mitchell said.
“Clearly value is going to matter, but it’s going to mean something different depending on the tier [of income],” he said at the UBS conference.
Oil prices spiked to start this week, with U.S. crude hitting a 13-year high of $130 per barrel, but have since eased in Wednesday morning trading. The consumer price index for January, which measures the costs of dozens of everyday consumer goods, also rose 7.5% from the prior year. That was the highest reading since 1982.

In late February, Macy’s offered a better-than-expected financial outlook in 2022, in spite of macroeconomic headwinds including inflation and supply chain challenges.
Macy’s shares are up nearly 60% over the past 12 months.

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McDonald’s expects that its Russian shutdown will cost the fast-food giant roughly $50 million a month, or 5 cents to 6 cents per share.
For comparison, McDonald’s reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.64 billion and earnings per share of $2.18.
The fast-food giant announced Tuesday it would temporarily shutter its Russian locations but will keep paying employees and other business costs.

A McDonald’s restaurant in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Peter Kovalev | TASS | Getty Images

McDonald’s CFO Kevin Ozan said at the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference on Wednesday that the company is still calculating the impact on its business. However, McDonald’s currently estimates that it will cost about $50 million per month, or roughly 5 cents to 6 cents per share. For comparison, McDonald’s reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.64 billion and earnings per share of $2.18.
The company has committed to paying all of its approximately 62,000 Russian employees during the pause in restaurant operations. Ozan said McDonald’s will also be paying leases for its locations, as well as supply chain costs and other expenses.
“We expect this to be temporary and we certainly don’t take this decision lightly, but for us this is about doing what we think is the right thing to do, both for the global business and for our people locally,” he said.
McDonald’s has long played a symbolic role in Russia. The chain opened its first location in the Soviet Union 32 years ago in Moscow, months before the state collapsed.

In addition to closing its Russian locations temporarily, McDonald’s has also shuttered 108 restaurants in Ukraine for the time being. Russia and Ukraine together account for roughly 2% of McDonald’s systemwide sales, 9% of its revenue and 3% of its operating income.
Starbucks said Tuesday that it would pause all Russia business activity and that its licensee there had agreed to shutter all of its cafes temporarily. Like McDonald’s, the coffee chain will keep paying its 2,000 Russian workers while its cafes are closed. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson on Friday condemned Russia’s invasion.
Yum announced it is suspending all operations for its company-owned KFC locations in Russia and is finalizing an agreement with its Russian master franchisee to pause all Pizza Hut restaurant operations there. It had already said it would suspend Russian investment and new restaurant development. Nearly all of Yum’s roughly 1,050 Russian locations are operated by franchisees.
And Papa John’s said Wednesday it has suspended all corporate operations in Russia, where a master franchisee controls operations and owns the supply chain for restaurants. The pizza chain isn’t currently receiving any royalties from those franchised locations.

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Freezing the assets is the simple part; deciding what to do with them could touch off court battles that drag on for years.
The latest round of sanctions go further than any other coordinated global round of sanctions on individuals and create new legal questions that have yet to be answered.

The seized Lady M superyacht, owned by Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov, at the port in Imperia, Italy, on Monday, March 7, 2022.
Giuliano Berti | Bloomberg | Getty Images

European governments that seized the yachts and villas of Russian oligarchs now face a more difficult question: What to do with them?
The sanctions against Russian oligarchs imposed by the European Union, the U.K., the U.S. and other countries unleashed a wave of asset freezes across Europe. Officials impounded a 213-foot yacht owned by Alexei Mordashov in Imperia, Italy, Igor Sechin’s 280-foot yacht in the French port of La Ciotat and Alisher Usmanov’s $18 million resort compound in Sardinia.

President Joe Biden warned the oligarchs in his State of the Union: “We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets. We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”

Alexey Mordashov, billionaire and chairman of Severstal PAO, pauses during a panel session on day three of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forumin St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, June 4, 2021.
Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Yet sanctions experts say freezing the assets is the simple part. Deciding what to do with them — and who gets the proceeds — is likely to be more challenging and could touch off court battles that drag on for years.
Laws vary by country. And the latest round of sanctions, which go further than any other coordinated global round of sanctions on individuals, create new legal questions that have yet to be answered.
“We’re in uncharted waters,” said Benjamin Maltby, partner at Keystone Law in the U.K. and an expert in yacht and luxury asset law. “The situations we’re seeing now have never really occurred before.”

Legal experts say that generally, the sanctions themselves don’t allow countries to simply take ownership of oligarch’s boats, planes and homes. Under the sanctions announced by the U.S. and Europe, members of the Russian elite who “enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people” and “aided Putin” in his invasion of Ukraine will have their assets “frozen and their property blocked from use.”

Under U.S. law and most laws in Europe, assets that are frozen remain under the ownership of the oligarch, but they can’t be transferred or sold. Sechin and Mordsahov, for instance, will continue to own their yachts, but they will be secured to the docks by the authorities and prevented from sailing to safer shores.
To actually seize and take ownership of an oligarch’s yacht or villa, government prosecutors have to prove the property was part of a crime. Under U.S. civil forfeiture law, an asset “used to commit a crime” or that “represents the proceeds of illegal activity” may be seized only with a warrant.

A picture taken on March 3, 2022 in a shipyard of La Ciotat, near Marseille, southern France, shows a yacht, Amore Vero, owned by a company linked to Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russian energy giant Rosneft.
Nicolas Tucat | AFP | Getty Images

“The government has to prove both the crime and the connection,” said Stefan Cassella, former chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section in the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland who is now in private practice.
Proving a specific crime by the oligarchs and tying the assets directly to that crime, may be difficult, legal experts say.
“The oligarchs could reasonably argue ‘I acted within the laws that were in place in Russia and in Europe, ‘” Maltby said. “There has to be clear evidence of criminality.”
Proving criminality for asset forfeitures cases can take years. The U.S. helped retrieve more than $300 million stolen from Nigeria by former military dictator Sani Abacha after more than five years of proceedings. A case against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who was convicted in the U.S. of money laundering, dragged on for more than 15 years due to Lazarenko’s well-funded defense.

The Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov photographed in Moscow, Russia, on March 19, 2015.
Sasha Mordovets | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Oligarchs are also masters of the dark arts of global asset protection. They use shell companies, trusts, offshore jurisdictions, and a web of family members and associates to hide their true ownership. Superyachts are almost always owned by separate legal entities rather than individuals, and they are usually registered in countries like the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands or Panama, which have favorable laws for trust privacy. Usmanov’s 512-foot yacht, Dilbar, for instance, is registered in the Cayman Islands through a Malta-based corporate entity.
“The identity of the true owner is not a matter of public record in a lot of these places,” Maltby said. “So you have to cut through this Gordian Knot of offshore structuring to find out who the beneficial owner is.”
A government can potentially take ownership only if a prosecutor can prove a crime, prove the connection of the asset to the crime and the identity of the owner. If the state decides to sell the asset, the proceeds typically go to law enforcement. A bipartisan bill taking shape in Congress, called the “Yachts for Ukraine Act” would allow authorities to seize any property valued at more than $5 million held by Russian elites in the U.S. and allow the government to sell the assets and send the cash to aid Ukraine. 
In the U.K., members of Parliament are floating the idea of a new fast-track path to freeze assets of oligarchs who aren’t yet sanctioned but under “review.”
Meantime, the yachts and villas that have been seized remain in legal limbo, with controversies likely over who will pay to maintain them. Oligarchs are technically responsible to pay for the crews, staff, maintenance and fees of the assets impounded. Yet the oligarchs may refuse to pay. Or the authorities holding the vessels or homes may find it impossible to collect funds from the oligarchs since they’re not allowed to conduct any financial transactions with sanctioned individuals.

A file photo dated September 10, 2018 shows mega yacht named “Dilbar” belonging to Uzbek-born Russian business-magnate Alisher Usmanov as it refuels by a tanker in Mugla, Turkiye. Germany seizes Russian billionaire Usmanov’s yacht at Port of Hamburg.
Sabri Kesen | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Maintaining a yacht is especially important since they can deteriorate and decline in value quickly if they’re not scrubbed and repaired constantly.
“You could see a situation where the debts build up and the vessel deteriorates in value,” Maltby said. “And then there comes a point where enough is enough, there are massive debts and the yacht is seized and sold to pay the debt.”
Also at issue is the future of the yacht crew and house staff. Maltby said he expects the crews of the seized Russian yachts will simply quit or walk away and try to get back to their home countries. Forbes reported that the company that employs the crew of 96 people on Usmanov’s superyacht informed the crew by email that “normal operation of the yacht has ceased” and the company can no longer pay them.
The email said a small crew from German shipbuilder Lurssen, which built the yacht and was overseeing repairs in its shipyard, will look after the “safety and security” of the boat.

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U.K. authorities said Wednesday they have seized a jet linked to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
The aircraft, thought to belong to billionaire Eugene Shvidler, a close associate of Abramovich, was impounded at Farnborough Airport, just outside of London.
The capture forms part of new aviation sanctions leveled at Russia amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

A plane, according to Swiss media reports believed to be used in the past by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, is pictured on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg near Mulhouse, France, March 9, 2022.
Arnd Wiegmann | Reuters

LONDON — The U.K. said on Wednesday it had impounded a private jet connected to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich under new aviation sanctions levied at the pariah state amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The jet is said to be linked to Soviet-born billionaire, Eugene Shvidler, a close associate of outgoing Chelsea F.C. owner Abramovich, who last week embarked on a fire sale of his British assets amid growing pressure on President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

British Transport Minister Grant Shapps said the jet was seized at Farnborough Airport, on the outskirts of London, and awaits further investigation.
The capture is part of new sanctions, set to be laid out in legislation on Wednesday, which give authorities the right to detain any Russian aircraft and ban exports of aviation or space-related goods to Russia.
That includes a ban on any aircraft owned, operated or chartered by anyone connected with Russia or designated individuals or entities, and will include the power to detain any aircraft owned by persons connected with Russia, the British Foreign Office said in a statement.

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The measures also make it a criminal offence for any Russian aircraft to fly or land in the U.K.
It is not yet clear whether the seized jet, which is registered in Luxembourg rather than Russia, falls under the U.K.’s new remit. However, authorities said they are working with the Civil Aviation Authority to clarify the details.

To be sure, Shvidler, who made his fortune during the privatization of Russian industry, has his own direct links with the Kremlin as well through his personal and business relationships with Abramovich. Abramovich himself has so far avoided any direct sanctions.
British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said the new measures were designed to place further economic pressure on Putin and his allies.
“Banning Russian flagged planes from the U.K. and making it a criminal offence to fly them will inflict more economic pain on Russia and those close to the Kremlin,” Truss said in a statement.
The ban on the export of aviation or space-related goods extends to insurance and re-insurance policies. That means cover will be withdrawn on existing policies and British-based insurers and reinsurers will be unable to pay claims on existing policies in those sectors.

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Many rural Americans may have stronger finances than urban dwellers, according to a report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
However, rural wealth may lack diversification, often with a heavy concentration in small businesses, which may jeopardize a secure retirement.

Doug Langley clears the combine harvester’s head from weed before he starts harvesting, during the wheat harvest in Shelbyville, Kentucky, June 29, 2021.
Amira Karaoud | Reuters

Many rural Americans may have stronger finances than urban dwellers, but their wealth may lack diversification, jeopardizing a more secure retirement.  
That’s according to a report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute analyzing data from the U.S. Census Bureau to compare each group’s finances.

“Many believe that rural areas have less wealth, which is true,” said Craig Copeland, author and senior research associate at EBRI. “But when you control for income, much of that goes away, except at the very highest level.”
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Indeed, rural Americans had a higher median net worth for every income level except those making $100,000 or more, when compared to Americans with the same earnings in urban areas.
Some of the reasons for more robust wealth among rural Americans may be the lower cost of living, along with cultural spending differences, Copeland said.
However, there were stark contrasts in the types of assets making up each group’s wealth, the report shows.

While there wasn’t much of a difference in the percentage of business ownership, rural Americans had higher amounts of wealth concentrated there, representing about one-third of their total assets, compared to roughly 22% for their urban counterparts.  

“It didn’t look like those business owners were diversifying,” Copeland explained.
Although rural Americans typically owned their home and vehicle, retirement savings and other investments were smaller overall percentages of their net worth compared to urban Americans.
And with rural Americans more likely to be self-employed or working for smaller companies, they were less likely to have a retirement plan.
“They don’t really have a fallback,” said Copeland. “Whereas if you own a business and diversify with retirement accounts or savings, there’s something to draw upon if the business doesn’t do well.”

With less in retirement savings, rural Americans may have to rely on Social Security in their golden years, which may be challenging as they’re also more likely to have medical debt, he added.
However, banks serve as an economic base for both groups, according to the EBRI report, which may present opportunities for rural Americans to boost investments in other areas. 
The report analyzed data from the Census Bureau’s 2020 Survey of Income and Program Participation, including demographics, wealth, income, labor force participation and employer characteristics. 
Some 80% of Americans age 25 and older lived in urban areas as of 2020, and the report based assets on individual values at the end of 2019.

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Dr. Dave Chokshi is the Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health & Mental Hygiene.
As another Covid-19 wave recedes across the country, the full toll of the pandemic on our emotional health is becoming clearer.

Ask someone if they feel disconnected or isolated, and chances are pretty good, regardless of their age, occupation, background, or economic status, that they’ll say yes — and that they’ve never been asked the question before.
According to the latest New York City citywide health surveys, 57% of residents felt lonely some or the time or often, and 67% felt socially isolated in the prior four weeks. Only a third of respondents said they could count on someone for emotional support. And at the same time, one in five respondents reported symptoms of depression.
But the truth is, loneliness has been hiding in plain sight for years in America. Rigorous scientific studies on the negative health effects of loneliness and social isolation exist — yet public health action has remained uneven.
In our recovery from Covid, we must seize the opportunity to prioritize America’s emotional health — and to talk about belonging and connection as vital to our well-being. We cannot risk snapping back to a “normal” where loneliness fades back into the shadows. And just raising awareness of isolation isn’t enough. We need to apply public health interventions to better understand it and mitigate it.
There is a better way. And like so much else, we can build on what we have learned from the Covid pandemic.

First, we must reduce barriers to care by meeting people where they are, in the neighborhoods they live in — not just expect them to come to where providers happen to be. Think of how telehealth and teletherapy, Zoom sessions, and home deliveries of life-saving medications and vaccines have transformed health care over the past two years.
Home-visiting initiatives, like the Nurse-Family Partnership and NYC’s New Family Home Visits program, also break down barriers to care. Nurses partner with families from pregnancy until the children are two, at a time when many are overwhelmed with responsibility, anxiety and often loneliness. They visit the home and provide free care and support depending on the family’s unique needs — from breastfeeding, to parenting skills, safety, and mental health. Over time, a deep trust and bond is formed, helping to alleviate the feelings of isolation so many parents experience.
Second, public health must work together with residents to plan programs which improve social connections. Communities deserve to have a voice in what they need and want, and city agencies then help provide the resources, with community partners. The East Harlem Action Center in Manhattan, for example, has a baby cafe for parent meet-ups, cooking classes, walking groups and a health clinic for the community. This collaborative model can be replicated in any public space, whether it’s a community garden, free library, or local YMCA. The central concept is that people will gather in their communities when there are shared interests.
Third, investing in public education destigmatizes loneliness and contributes to a wider culture of belonging. In New York City, we recently launched a loneliness campaign with a message to “Check in. Listen. Connect.” It appears on subways, bus shelters, and newspapers in every community and on TV and radio, and, importantly, includes a phone number for anyone to reach out and ask for help when they need it.  
Public education is also tied to better data. The CDC, epidemiologists, the public, and public health professionals must learn basic facts about the “who” “what” “when” and “where” of America’s loneliness epidemic. With new research, we can create evidence-based policies and measure loneliness as a public health issue.  
As U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said, “If you think about how much we put into curbing tobacco use and obesity, compared to how much effort and resources we put into addressing loneliness, there’s no comparison.”
Lastly, and most importantly, all of our work must acknowledge the structural underpinnings of so much stress and trauma in our society. The most at risk of loneliness are people in marginalized communities, because unequal access to food, housing, education and health care impacts a sense of belonging.
During a recent visit with our partner Brooklyn Community Services, the staff impressed upon me the trauma experienced by too many of our neighbors. They have seen the painful impact of being isolated for months, from a rise in domestic violence to children and teens acting out in frustration.
We must turn these vicious cycles of illness and inequity into virtuous cycles of recovery and resilience. Here in New York City, the Public Health Corps will play a key role. The Corps — a historic $235 million investment — will employ at least 500 community health workers, drawn from the neighborhoods they serve (Brooklyn Community Services is a charter organization in the Corps). They serve as health ambassadors for every resident in their neighborhood, helping people get vaccinated; counseling neighbors about diabetes, depression, and other chronic diseases; and addressing hunger and food insecurity. And vitally, they improve a sense of neighborhood spirit and social cohesion.
This has been a challenging few years due to Covid and persistent health inequities. Loneliness has added to our collective grief and loss.
As we plan our recovery, we must prioritize bold, system-changing initiatives to alleviate loneliness. Our programs must start upstream to prevent loneliness and to grow and sustain a wider sense of belonging in all of our communities.

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The International Energy Agency pinpoints coal use as being the main driver behind the growth.
Even though coal use jumped, the IEA also notes how renewables and nuclear managed to supply a bigger share of electricity generation than the fossil fuel in 2021.
While it remains an important source of electricity, coal has a substantial effect on the environment.

A worker cutting steel pipes near a coal-powered power station in Zhangjiakou, China, on November 12, 2021.
Greg Baker | AFP | Getty Images

Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose to their highest level in history last year, according to the International Energy Agency, as economies rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic with a heavy reliance on coal.
The IEA found energy-related global CO2 emissions increased by 6% in 2021 to reach a record high of 36.3 billion metric tons. In an analysis published Tuesday, the Paris-based organization pinpointed coal use as being the main driver behind the growth.

“The recovery of energy demand in 2021 was compounded by adverse weather and energy market conditions – notably the spikes in natural gas prices – which led to more coal being burned despite renewable power generation registering its largest ever growth,” the IEA said.
The energy agency said its estimate was based on fuel-by-fuel and region-by-region analysis. Breaking its findings down, it said coal was responsible for more than 40% of overall growth in worldwide CO2 emissions last year, hitting a record of 15.3 billion metric tons.
“CO2 emissions from natural gas rebounded well above their 2019 levels to 7.5 billion tonnes,” the IEA said, adding that CO2 emissions from oil came in at 10.7 billion metric tons. The emissions from oil were “significantly below pre-pandemic levels” due to “the limited recovery in global transport activity in 2021, mainly in the aviation sector.”

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China played a significant role in the emissions rise, according to the IEA. “The rebound of global CO2 emissions above pre-pandemic levels has largely been driven by China, where they increased by 750 million tonnes between 2019 and 2021,” it said.
“In 2021 alone, China’s CO2 emissions rose above 11.9 billion tonnes, accounting for 33% of the global total,” it said.

Even though coal use jumped, the IEA also noted how renewables and nuclear managed to supply a bigger share of electricity generation than fossil fuels in 2021. Generation based on renewables exceeded 8,000 terawatt-hours last year, which the IEA described as “an all-time high.”
While it remains an important source of electricity, coal has a substantial effect on the environment.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration lists a range of emissions from coal combustion. These include carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides. Elsewhere, Greenpeace has described coal as “the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy.”
The IEA said it was now clear the economic recovery from Covid-19 had not been a sustainable one. “The world must now ensure that the global rebound in emissions in 2021 was a one-off – and that an accelerated energy transition contributes to global energy security and lower energy prices for consumers,” it said.

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The IEA’s findings point to the Herculean task of achieving the goals laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement and more recent Glasgow Climate Pact. While major economies are attempting to ramp up renewable energy capacity, the world remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels.
In the past few weeks, this sobering reality has been thrown into sharp relief by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, not least because Russia was the biggest supplier of both petroleum oils and natural gas to the EU last year, according to Eurostat.
On Tuesday the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, published what it called “an outline of a plan to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before” the end of the decade.  
“We must become independent from Russian oil, coal and gas,” the Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said. “We simply cannot rely on a supplier who explicitly threatens us.”
The Commission’s announcement came after the IEA said the EU should not enter into any new gas supply contracts with Russia in order to lower its dependence on Russian natural gas. More