Tag: Hard

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Business

‘The economic system is braking exhausting,’ says billionaire Barry Sternlicht

The US economy is slowing down sharply, says Barry Sternlicht of Starwood Capital

The US economy is teetering on the brink of a serious downturn if the Federal Reserve doesn’t put the brakes on its rate hikes, said billionaire CEO Barry Sternlicht.

The central bank has already raised interest rates four times this year and is widely expected to raise them by 75 basis points next week to tame inflation. Earlier this week, consumer prices rose 0.1% instead of the 0.1% fall economists polled by Dow Jones had been expecting.

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However, Sternlicht believes the Fed came in too late and is now too aggressive.

“The economy is decelerating sharply,” the chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.

“If the Fed keeps going like this, they’re going to have a serious recession and people are going to lose their jobs,” he added.

Consumer confidence is terrible and CEO confidence is “lousy,” Sternlicht said. Supply chain issues are being resolved, and stocks are now backing up in warehouses, which will result in huge discounts, he said.

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“The CPI, the data they’re looking at, is old data. All they have to do is call Doug McMillon at Walmart, call one of the real estate guys and ask what’s happening with our apartment rents,” he said, noting that rental growth is now slowing.

The continuation of interest rate hikes will also cause a “big crash” in the real estate market, Sternlicht predicted. The once-hot housing market is slowing fast, with mortgage rates on a 30-year term loan up over 6% — up from 3.29% at the start of the year, according to Mortgage News Daily.

While the Fed’s target is 2%, inflation should be 3% to 4%, Sternlicht said.

“Inflation fueled by wage growth is fabulous. We should want wages to go up,” he said.

Interest rates are rising – how to protect your money

“You can pay higher rents, you can buy your equipment, you can go out to restaurants if you have big pay increases.”

Sternlicht believes it is imminent when the “serious recession” will hit.

“I find [in the] fourth quarter. I think now,” he said. “You’ll see cracks everywhere.”

Correction: Doug McMillon is CEO of Walmart. A previous version misspelled his name.

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Politics

In New Hampshire, Republicans Weigh One other Onerous Proper Candidate

In New Hampshire, Republicans Weigh Another Hard Right Candidate

MANCHESTER, NH — He has said the state’s popular Republican governor is “a Chinese Communist sympathizer,” called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment allowing direct popular election of senators and raised the possibility of abolishing the FBI

The man behind these statements is Don Bolduc, a retired Army general, who leads the Republican field in what should be a competitive race for the New Hampshire Senate seat held by Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat.

In one primary after another this year, Republican voters have chosen hard-right candidates who party officials had warned would have trouble winning in November, and Mr. Bolduc could be on course to be the next. Like him, many embraced former President Donald J. Trump’s election denial. “I signed a letter with 120 other generals and admirals saying that Donald Trump won the election and, damn it, I stand by” it, Mr. Bolduc said at a recent debate.

The suddenly fraught midterm landscape for Republicans caused Senator Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader, to complain recently that poor “candidate quality” could cost his party a majority in the Senate that had long seemed the likely result.

In the final competitive primary of the year, scheduled for Sept. 13, Republican officials in New Hampshire are echoing Mr. McConnell. They warn that grass-roots voters are poised to elect another problematic nominee, Mr. Bolduc, and jeopardize a winnable race against a vulnerable Democrat.

This month, Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican moderate broadly popular in his purple state, said on New Hampshire talk radio that Mr. Bolduc was a “conspiracy theorist-type candidate.” He added: “If he were the nominee, I have no doubt we would have a much harder time trying to win that seat back.”

Mr. Bolduc, who served 10 tours in Afghanistan, held a formidable lead with Republican voters in a poll this month, in large part because he has barnstormed continuously for more than two years, while his rivals joined the race later. The contest was effectively frozen for a year until November, when Mr. Sununu, a top recruiting target of national Republicans, declined to run for Senate, deciding instead to seek a fourth term as governor.

Mr. Bolduc has built a following by offering red meat to the conservative base. But New Hampshire is a politically divided state where Republicans who win statewide traditionally appeal to independents and conservative Democrats. Its four-member congressional delegation is entirely Democratic; State government is firmly in the hands of Republicans.

“We’re not a red state, we’re not a blue state, we’re a weird state,” said Greg Moore, a Republican operative not involved in the Senate primary. He was skeptical that Mr. Bolduc, after targeting only his party’s base, would be able to attract a broader coalition in November.

In a debate on Wednesday outside Manchester, Mr Bolduc denounced the provision in Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act authorizing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, saying, “Anything the government’s involved in, it’s not good, it doesn’t work.”

A rival of Mr. Bolduc’s, Kevin Smith, told him at an earlier debate, “You know, Don, your MO seems to be ‘Fire, ready, aim.'”

Mr. Bolduc, 60, is a compact figure who still sports a military haircut close-cropped on the sides. In the minutes before the debate went live on Newsmax, while other candidates studied their notes, he spontaneously led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance and in singing “God Bless America.”

A poll this month by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics showed Mr. Bolduc with support from 32 percent of registered Republican voters, well ahead of his closest rival, Chuck Morse, the State Senate president, who was at 16 percent. Others in the poll, including Mr Smith, a former Londonderry town manager, were in the low single digits.

All of the candidates have struggled to raise money and draw voters’ attention — 39 percent of Republicans said in the poll they were still undecided.

That gives Mr. Bolduc’s rivals hope, although time is running out: The primary is just one week after Labor Day, when most voters traditionally tune in.

Ms. Hassan has long been seen as vulnerable. Just 39 percent of voters in the Institute of Politics survey said they deserved to be re-elected.

At the debate outside Manchester, the candidates bashed Ms. Hassan, a former governor, linking her to rising gas prices and expected high prices for home heating oil this winter.

Ms Hassan, in response, defended voting for Democrats’ climate and prescription drug law. “While I’m fighting to get results for New Hampshire, my opponents are out on the campaign trail defending Big Oil and Big Pharma and bragging about their records of opposing a woman’s fundamental freedom,” she said in a statement.

Mr. Trump has made no endorsement in New Hampshire, and he may not make one at all. He snubbed Mr. Bolduc in a 2020 Senate primary, endorsing a rival. Neither Mr Bolduc nor Mr Morse have spoken to Mr Trump lately about the race, according to their campaigns.

Corey Lewandowski, Mr. Trump’s first 2016 campaign manager, who is a New Hampshire resident, has publicly urged his former boss not to back Mr. Bolduc, calling him “not a serious candidate.”

Mr. Bolduc declined to comment for this article. Rick Wiley, a senior adviser to Mr. Bolduc, said the criticisms of him — that he is unelectable, that independents won’t vote for him — were the same ones thrown at Mr. Trump in 2016.

“The electorate wants an outsider, that is resoundingly clear,” Mr. Wiley said. Shrugging off Mr. Sununu’s criticisms, he added: “I expect we’re probably going to be sharing a ballot with the governor. There will be unity on the ticket in November and Republicans up and down the ballot will be successful because of the policies Biden and Maggie Hassan have put in place.”

The biggest primary threat to Mr. Bolduc, and the preferred candidate of much of what remains of the GOP establishment, is Mr. Morse, a low-key, self-made tree nursery owner with a strong Granite State accent, who appears in his TV ads riding a tractor at dawn at his operation in southern New Hampshire.

Despite his prominent role in state government, a poll in April found that 54 percent of Republican voters didn’t know enough about Mr. Morse to have an opinion. Just 2 percent named him as their choice for the nomination. His rise to 16 percent in the latest public poll this month is seen by supporters as a sign of momentum.

Dave Carney, a strategist for Mr Morse, agreed that Mr Bolduc was the current race leader. But he said that Mr. Morse’s superior fund-raising, which allowed him to buy TV ads, was raising his profile, and predicted that he would continue to gain on Mr. Bolduc.

“Sixty-one percent of the voters are willing to replace Hassan,” Mr. Carney said, referring to the share of voters in the Institute of Politics survey who said that it was time to give someone new a chance to be senator or that they were undecided. “We need to nominate somebody who can do that.” He called Mr. Bolduc a “flawed candidate,” adding, “I don’t think there’s any way in hell he could get conservative Democrats or the vast majority of independents to go his way.”

Mr. Morse had $975,000 in his campaign account as of July, compared with Mr. Bolduc, who had just $65,000. Ms. Hassan’s $7.3 million on hand has allowed her to aggressively spend on TV ads all year, including one promoting her work for people with disabilities that features her son who was born with cerebral palsy.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which this month slashed its planned spending in three battleground states — Pennsylvania, Arizona and Wisconsin — has kept a commitment to spend $6.5 million on the New Hampshire race after the primary, reflecting its belief in Ms. Hassan’s vulnerability.

With the Senate divided 50-50 between the parties and Democrats optimistic about flipping at least one seat, in Pennsylvania, Republicans need to take down two or more Democratic incumbents to win a majority. Their top targets are in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire.

At the recent debate, the audience was mostly committed supporters of each of the candidates, with few appearing undecided. Bolduc fans dismissed out of hand Mr. Sununu’s view that their candidate would have a hard time in November.

“Sununu is a globalist clown and is not a Republican,” said Kelley Potenza, a candidate for the state House of Representatives who is from Rochester. “He’s afraid because Don Bolduc is the only candidate that’s not going to be controlled.”

In the audience before the lights went down, Bill Bowen, a recent transplant from California and a Morse supporter, said Mr. Bolduc had reached his ceiling in the polls. He said supporters of Mr Bolduc who ignored doubts about his electability in November were misguided.

“That’s all that matters,” he said, adding, “This is the 51st vote,” referring to a potential Republican majority in the Senate.

Categories
Health

It’s Arduous to Seek for a Therapist of Coloration. These Web sites Need to Change That.

It’s Hard to Search for a Therapist of Color. These Websites Want to Change That.

Other organizations go a step further and help patients make therapy appointments. The non-profit Black Men Heal, for example, offers up to eight free online consultations. About 70 percent of clients choose to pay for additional sessions, said executive director Tasnim Sulaiman, a private practice psychotherapist in the Philadelphia area who founded the organization in 2018.

It can be difficult for people of color to find a therapist with a common cultural background. About 18 percent of people in the United States identify as Hispanic and 13 percent as Black, according to the Census Bureau, but a report by the American Psychological Association found that only 5 percent of psychologists are Hispanic and 4 percent are Black – 86 percent are white. Similar inequality exists among the country’s social workers and psychiatrists.

Eric Coly, who previously worked in finance, founded Ayana Therapy in 2020, about eight years after rock bottom with anxiety and depression.

At the time, he struggled to find a therapist who could understand the intersection of his different identities as blacks and immigrants from Senegal who had lived in different parts of the world.

“This product was almost meant to heal the way I used to be,” he said.

Ayana, which means “mirror” in Bengali, asks users to fill out a questionnaire designed to capture “your many nuances,” said Mr. Coly, then put you in touch with a culturally competent therapist. The cost of each online session is currently $ 60.

Providers are verified through a process that includes two interviews and reference reviews.

While Ayana was created for a variety of races and cultures, as well as for those who identify as LGBTQ, some websites cater to a more niche group of users such as LatinxTherapy, Therapy for Black Girls, Therapy for Black Men, the Asian Mental Health Collective and the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network. Melanin and Mental Health has a directory of color therapists, many of whom are in Houston. The Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective, a nonprofit wellness organization that trains people to respond to mental crises, has an online directory of a wide variety of black practitioners, including therapists, yoga teachers, doulas, and mediators.

Employers are also increasingly recognizing the need for culturally competent providers. Indeed, Thumbtack, and Critical Mass, part of the Omnicom Group, recently partnered with Therify, which uses artificial intelligence technology to connect employees with vendors in their state. Half of Therify’s nearly 300 online therapists are People of Color and 20 percent specialize in serving clients who identify as LGBTQ, said the company’s CEO James Edward Murray, who interviews each provider.

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Business

‘It’s Going to Be a Large Summer time for Arduous Seltzer’

‘It’s Going to Be a Big Summer for Hard Seltzer’

The music should be pumping and the burgers and jerk chicken wings flying out of the kitchen this holiday weekend at the Rambler Kitchen and Tap in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago.

To wash it down, patrons might go with a mixed drink or one of the 20 craft beers the bar sells. But many will order a hard seltzer. The Rambler expects to sell close to 500 cans in flavors like peach, pineapple and grapefruit pomelo.

“We’ll sell a lot of buckets of White Claw and Truly seltzers,” said Sam Stone, a co-owner of the Rambler. “It’s going to be a big summer for hard seltzer.”

The Memorial Day weekend kicks off what many hope will be a more normal summer, when kids start counting down the number of days left in school, people head back to the beach and grills heat up for backyard parties that went poof last year because of the pandemic. And for the hard seltzer industry, it’s the start of a dizzying period when dozens of old and new competitors vie to be the boozy, bubbly drink of the season.

A grown-up cousin to fizzy seltzer waters like LaCroix, alcoholic hard seltzers became a sensation before the pandemic, racking up around $500 million in sales in 2018, according to NielsenIQ. But in the past year, when people couldn’t go to their favorite bars and restaurants, they picked up cases and cases of the drinks at liquor and grocery stores, sending revenues soaring to more than $4 billion in 2020.

Analysts are betting that another big wave of seltzer buying will hit this summer. Nik Modi, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, notes that hard seltzers are popular at group gatherings, which largely didn’t happen last year.

“This summer,” Mr. Modi said, “is going to be a completely different ballgame.” He and others predict that annual sales will top $8 billion over the next four years.

Dave Burwick, the chief executive of Boston Beer, said on CNBC last year that the growth of hard seltzers was the biggest shift in the beer industry since light beers were widely introduced in the 1970s. Boston Beer, the company behind Sam Adams, also makes Truly Hard Seltzer.

While White Claw and Truly — the Coca-Cola and Pepsi of hard seltzer — capture about 70 percent of the market, everyone wants in on the action, drawn by the staggering growth. Old-school beer companies, spirits giants, winemakers and others are fermenting sugar solutions and adding seasonal flavors like watermelon, black cherry and strawberry lemonade to create their own buzzy concoctions. (Care for passion fruit-orange-guava?) They’re also trying to outdo one another by coming up with new variations, like so-called spiked seltzers that use rum or tequila, seltzers with antioxidants or even “hard coffee.”

Boston Beer introduced Truly Iced Tea Hard Seltzer this year and a few weeks ago released an ad campaign with the British pop singer Dua Lipa. This spring, the hip-hop star Travis Scott released Cacti, a seltzer made with blue agave syrup, in a partnership with Anheuser-Busch. It quickly sold out in many locations.

“People were lining up outside of the stores to buy Cacti and share pictures of themselves with their carts full of Cacti,” said Marcel Marcondes, the chief marketing officer for Anheuser-Busch.

Also this spring, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer was released. A partnership between Coca-Cola and Molson Coors Beverage, it hit shelves in 16 markets across the country, chasing the cult following of Topo Chico’s seltzer water in the South.

“I feel like I can walk into a party saying, ‘Oh, yeah, I brought the Topo Chico,’” said Dane Cardiel, 32, who works in business development for a podcast company and lives in Esopus, N.Y., about 60 miles south of Albany.

Today in Business

Updated 

May 28, 2021, 12:54 p.m. ET

How flavored bubbly water with alcohol became a national phenomenon is partly due to social media videos that went viral and clever marketing that sold hard seltzers as a “healthier” alcohol choice.

White Claw’s slim cans prominently state that the drinks contain only 100 calories, are gluten free and have only two grams each of carbohydrates and sugar. The brand is owned by the Canadian billionaire Anthony von Mandl, who created Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

“The health and wellness element is front and center in terms of the visual marketing,” said Vivien Azer, an analyst at the Cowen investment firm. “Every brand’s packaging features its relatively low carb and sugar data.”

On top of that, the alcohol content in most hard seltzers, about 5 percent, or the same as 12 ounces of a typical beer, is less than a glass of wine or a mixed drink. That makes it easier for people to sip at a party or while watching a game without getting intoxicated or winding up with the belly-full-of-beer feeling.

“It’s a nice drink for an afternoon on the patio,” said Shelley Majeres, the general manager of Blake Street Tavern in downtown Denver. “You can drink four or five of them in an afternoon and not have a big hangover or get really drunk.”

Blake Street, an 18,000-square-foot sports bar, started selling hard seltzers two years ago. Today, they make up about 20 percent of its can and bottle sales.

The industry has also neatly sidestepped the gender issue that plagued earlier, lighter alcoholic alternatives like Zima, which became popular with women but struggled to be adopted by men.

“I’ve got just as many men as women drinking it,” said Nick Zeto, the owner of Boston Beer Garden in Naples, Fla. “And it started with the millennials, but now I have people in their 40s, 50s and 60s ordering it.”

That kind of broad appeal is attractive to beer, wine and spirits companies.

“We view ourselves as the challenger brand,” said Michelle St. Jacques, the chief marketing officer of Molson Coors, which has been making beer since the late 1700s but hopes to end this year with 10 percent of the hard seltzer market.

Last spring, the company released Vizzy, a hard seltzer that contains vitamin C. Topo Chico came this spring. “We feel like we’re making great progress in seltzer by not trying to bring me-too products, but rather products and brands that have a clear difference,” Ms. St. Jacques said.

While grocery and liquor stores have made plenty of space available to the hard seltzer brands that people drink at home, the competition to get into restaurants and bars is fierce. Most want to offer only two or three brands to their customers.

“Oh, my god, I get presented with new hard seltzer whenever they can get my attention,” said Mr. Stone, who sells six brands at the Rambler. The crowd favorite, he said, is the vodka-based High Noon Sun Sips peach, made by E.&J. Gallo Winery. “Everybody, from the big brands to small, new ones, are getting into the hard seltzer game.”

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Business

Laborious seltzer’s recognition propels the rise of the canned cocktail

Hard seltzer's popularity propels the rise of the canned cocktail

This summer’s hottest cocktail comes in a can.

Between 2019 and 2020, the premixed cocktails category in the US grew by 50%, according to industry tracker IWSR. The segment is still relatively small, accounting for only 3% of US spirits volume, based on data from the United States Distilled Spirits Council. However, companies and industry experts expect enormous growth after the pandemic boom. Bank of America Securities predicts the category will generate revenue of $ 3 billion to $ 4 billion over the next few years.

The rise of the tough seltzer has fueled the growing popularity of canned cocktails. Ready-to-drink vodka sodas or gin and tonics appealed to consumers looking for a stronger flavor or a more alcoholic beverage, and the category has expanded with greater variety.

Canned cocktails, like Hard Seltzer, appeal to consumers who choose their alcoholic beverages based on convenience and taste. However, ready-to-drink cocktails are usually of higher quality because their base is made from real spirits, not the sugar or malt found in hard seltzer or lemonade. A six-pack of hard seltzer usually brings back about $ 10 for consumers, which is also the starting price of a four-pack of canned cocktails.

Canned cocktails can also be harder to find outside of liquor stores, as states regulate them differently than flavored malt beverages.

In a March report to customers, Bank of America beverage analysts Anheuser-Busch selected InBev and Diageo as the two companies that will be key players. Currently, according to analysts, some of the standout brands are E. & J. Gallos High Noon, Monaco, AB InBevs Cutwater Spirits, and Beam Suntorys On the Rocks.

Alcohol giant AB InBev entered the segment in 2019 by purchasing Cutwater, a San Diego-based craft distillery. Cutwater is the second best canned cocktail brand in US dollar sales, accounting for 10% of the ready-to-drink cocktail segment based on IRI data for the 13 weeks ended May 9th.

For the Budweiser brewer, the acquisition was an opportunity to enter new categories, as beer consumption has declined in recent years. Fabricio Zonzini, president of the company beyond the beer division, said that his division’s first priority is ready-to-drink beverages.

“I think Covid was a propeller for ready-to-drink products because it brought the convenience of the bar to your home,” he said. “And we’ve seen that growth. Thank goodness we had Cutwater.”

In addition to Cutwater, AB InBev has also partnered with a Canadian distiller for Nutrl, a line of vodka beverages. Zonzini said the company will be testing the beverages in the U.S. to appeal to consumers who want a lighter, more refreshing cocktail, similar to the taste profile of a hard seltzer. Last year the company released flavored vodka under its Natural Light brand, which could mean the brewer will get canned vodka cocktails from the brewer if the liquor sells well.

“When we see the results, if it connects the way we believe it will open another door,” said Zonzini.

Johnnie Walker owner Diageo is now pushing itself into the segment. In April it bought Loyal 9, which mixes vodka and lemonade in a can. Before the purchase, the company had already launched cocktail offshoots from Crown Royal, Ketel One Botanical and Tanqueray.

“The category did really well. It’s the fastest growing part of [total beverage alcohol] and just accelerates quickly, “said Jay Sethi, senior vice president of North American convenience food for Diageo.

Sethi said consumers are starting to look for more premium canned cocktails, which means they are ready to spend more too.

It’s not just the alcohol giants who want to capitalize on the growth of canned cocktails. Smaller upstarts like the Cardinal Spirits craft distillery have also released versions.

Zing Zang, who has cult following for his Bloody Mary blend, launched its first line of canned cocktails in the alcoholic beverage market last year. The move took several years as he perfected the recipes and found vendors who could easily carry alcohol, but the drinks have been good so far, according to CEO Brent Albertson.

Albertson, who spent three decades at Diageo before joining Zing Zang, said the company’s market research found that 25- to 37-year-olds were the target market for the beverages.

“You don’t drink it to get drunk,” said Albertson. “They want to do it on boats, on golf courses. They want that convenience and portability.”

Even if consumers return to their favorite bars, the canned cocktail trend cannot be expected to wear off. Brandy Rand, chief operating officer for America at IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, said she expects more ready-to-drink beverages to appear on the menu.

“Consumers like them and offer local operators a viable option when faced with capacity and staffing issues, tighter margins and leaner menus,” said Rand. “Canned cocktails are also a great take-away option in states where it’s legal.”

Categories
Business

Why Is Hiring Onerous Proper Now?

Why Is Hiring Hard Right Now?

Sensible theories tell us that unemployment insurance levels could reduce workers’ job search intensity, but well-done studies found that wasn’t really the case in 2020. Demand may be rising faster than supply but things are changing fast, systematic data is slow, and so anyone who tells you they know exactly what’s happening in America broadly now is wrong.

What else is going on here?

Assuming employed, essential workers were more likely to get vaccinated earlier, the non-vaccinated rate is substantially higher for working-age Americans who are not working. My analysis of census data shows that, in January through March, for every 10 percent of working-age people vaccinated, about 1 percent more became employed. Our working-age employment rate remains about three percentage points down from February 2020. If this relationship continued to hold as we vaccinate the next 30 percent of working-age Americans, the remaining employment gap could close. It’s not that simple, but I do think that it suggests that public health remains the first-order issue.

For employers with some flexibility in setting wages, they may not raise wage offers to new hires because internal equity then pressures for raises to incumbents and that reduces their profit. These employers will feel like they want to hire, but not so much that they will raise wage offers enough to attract candidates. They will cry about labor shortages but not compete hard.

What can companies do to attract workers?

First, make the job better. Improve wages, benefits, training, safety and respect. Ensure every supervisor treats employees with respect. Are any consistently experiencing higher turnover in their unit?

Second, promote public health by taking coronavirus precautions. This will help everyone and reassure workers who’ve stayed out of the labor market due to health concerns.

Third, be more transparent about what the job offers. Many managers post vague job openings in order to preserve their bargaining flexibility, so they can make a tailored offer after learning about a specific candidate’s circumstances. However, vague vacancy descriptions can lead to two kinds of expensive errors. First, some people who would be a good fit don’t apply because they can’t recognize that the job would be a good fit. Second, people who would not be a good fit apply because the ad is not clear and then the manager has to waste time interfacing with them.

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Business

Authorities assist blunted the pandemic’s monetary fallout, however it nonetheless hit some arduous.

Government help blunted the pandemic’s financial fallout, but it still hit some hard.

American households had vastly different economic experiences in 2020 as pandemic lockdowns left workers unemployed and many less financially secure, a Federal Reserve report on household economic well-being released Monday showed.

“One clear pattern from the survey is that 2020 financial challenges were mixed and those who entered the year were often left with fewer resources,” according to the Fed’s annual report on the economic well-being of US households.

The differences came when Congress and the White House instituted a tremendous response to spending to keep families financially alive during a difficult time. The data suggests that these programs have helped – but they haven’t completely mitigated the harm to vulnerable households.

The Fed’s online survey, which tracks the experience of adults over the age of 18 in the United States, found that nearly a quarter of respondents said they were financially worse off than a year earlier – up from 14 percent in 2019. As Job Losses Took The Nation Roughly One In Seven Adults Reported To See A layoff at some point in 2020.

“People who kept their jobs during the pandemic generally had stable or improved finances in 2020,” the report said. “However, those who have suffered layoffs and prolonged unemployment have seen their financial situation deteriorate.”

Less than a quarter of those who lost their jobs had returned to their old positions by the end of the year, although more than 80 percent of laid-off workers indicated as of April 2020 that they would expect to get their jobs back, according to the Survey.

The economic costs of state and local lockdowns, while widespread, were nowhere near equal. Overall, the proportion of households that said they were “at least financially okay” remained constant, but the gap between those with a bachelor’s degree reporting financial comfort and those with less than a high school degree did expanded sharply over the past year, rising 44 percentage points in 2020, which happened when the pandemic closed shuttered service providers such as restaurants and shopping malls, costing jobs that required less formal education.

Disparities also played out in a racist manner. Black and Hispanic families are far less likely than white and Asian households to be able to cope financially, the survey found. Less than two-thirds of black and Hispanic adults said they were “at least okay,” compared with 80 percent of white adults and 84 percent of Asian adults.

A large proportion of households took advantage of the government relief in 2020. When Congress expanded eligibility and increased the generosity of benefits for those who have lost their jobs, the report found that 14 percent of adults said they had received unemployment income, up from 2 percent in Year 2019.

The report said that “many aspects of government stimulus measures” “appear to have mitigated the negative financial impact of the pandemic on many families”.

Categories
Politics

$100 million New Jersey deli has Macao buyers who’re onerous to search out

$100 million New Jersey deli has Macao investors who are hard to find

Das Bürogebäude an der Avenida Da Praia Grande in Macao, China, ist die Adresse für mehrere Unternehmen, die als Investoren in Hometown International, dem Eigentümer eines einzigen Delikatessengeschäfts in New Jersey, aufgeführt sind.

Catarina Domingues | CNBC

Sie können ein echtes Sandwich in diesem mysteriösen Delikatessengeschäft in New Jersey kaufen – aber viel Glück beim Finden einiger der größten Investoren in dem 100-Millionen-Dollar-Unternehmen, das nur dieses eine Restaurant besitzt.

Ein Reporter von CNBC versuchte am Mittwoch erfolglos, eine Gruppe von vier Investmentgesellschaften mit Sitz in Macao zu finden, die die größte Aktionärsgruppe des Deli-Eigentümers Hometown International bilden.

Einer dieser Investoren – kryptisch VCH Limited genannt – sammelt außerdem 25.000 US-Dollar pro Monat von Hometown International für eine Beratungsvereinbarung im Zusammenhang mit den Bemühungen des geldverlierenden Sandwichverkäufers, sich mit einem privaten Unternehmen zusammenzuschließen.

E-Waste, ein Shell-Unternehmen mit mehreren Verbindungen zu Hometown International, wird nach Angaben der Securities and Exchange Commission ebenfalls für eine solche Transaktion positioniert.

Während Hometown International in Paulsboro, New Jersey, ein echtes italienisches Delikatessengeschäft betreibt – wenn auch ein bescheidenes mit einem Gesamtumsatz von weniger als 37.000 US-Dollar in den letzten zwei Jahren -, hat E-Waste keinen tatsächlichen Geschäftsbetrieb.

Ihr Deli in Ihrer Heimatstadt in Paulsboro, NJ

Google Earth

Trotz dieser Tatsache hat die Marktkapitalisierung beider Unternehmen in den letzten Wochen 100 Millionen US-Dollar überschritten, da die Preise ihrer dünn gehandelten Aktien seit dem letzten Jahr, als ausländische Investoren anfingen, sich an den Unternehmen zu beteiligen, scheinbar unerklärlich gestiegen sind.

Der größte Einzelinhaber in beiden außerbörslich gehandelten Unternehmen ist eine Macao-Gesellschaft namens Global Equity Limited, die 42 Millionen Stammaktien und Optionsscheine an Hometown International hält.

Global Equity ist bei weitem auch der mit Abstand größte Anteilseigner eines dritten Unternehmens namens Med Spa Vacations, dessen einziger leitender Angestellter, John Rollo, der Präsident von E-Waste ist.

Eine SEC-Anmeldung zeigt, dass Hometown International Med Spa Vacations im Februar 150.000 USD zu einem Zinssatz von 6% verliehen hat. Med Spa Vacations gibt in seinen Unterlagen an, dass es sich wie E-Waste um ein Shell-Unternehmen ohne laufenden Betrieb handelt, das ebenfalls versucht, sich mit einer privaten Einrichtung zusammenzuschließen.

Drei weitere in Macao registrierte Unternehmen – VCH Limited, IPC-Trading Company und RTO Limited – halten jeweils 10,5 Millionen Aktien und Optionsscheine am Deli-Eigentümer.

Laut Akten befinden sich VCH Limited, IPC-Trading Company, RTO Limited und Global Equity Limited im selben Bürogebäude in der Innenstadt von Macao, einer speziellen Verwaltungsregion Chinas und einem wichtigen Glücksspiel-Mekka, das weniger als 60 km von Hongkong entfernt liegt.

Geheimnis in Macao

Mit Ausnahme von VCH, dessen angegebene Adresse sich im fünften Stock dieses Bürogebäudes befindet, befinden sich die anderen Unternehmen gemäß ihren Angaben im Handelsregister von Macao im ersten Stock.

Ein Reporter fand jedoch keine tatsächlichen Büros der Entitäten im Gebäude oder andere Anzeichen dafür.

Stattdessen fand der Reporter die Büros einer Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft und einer verwandten Unternehmensdienstleistungsfirma, die anscheinend als Postabwurf für die Investoren fungieren und möglicherweise andere Funktionen bereitstellen.

Diese anderen physischen Unternehmen im Gebäude sind mit einer der größten und renommiertesten Anwaltskanzleien in Macao verbunden.

Ebenso waren an der Adresse nirgends die Personen zu finden, die in den SEC-Unterlagen als ihre Manager und Kontrolleure ihrer Aktienbestände identifiziert wurden.

Diese Personen tauchen auch nicht bei der Suche nach SEC-Unterlagen für ein anderes Unternehmen als Hometown International, E-Waste oder Med Spa Vacations auf.

Die Eigentümer von Global Equity, deren Registrierung besagt, dass das Unternehmen 2016 seinen Betrieb aufgenommen hat, sind als zwei Männer aufgeführt, Michael Tyldesley und Ibrahima Thiam.

Tyldesley ist auch als Geschäftsführer von VCH aufgeführt, das im Mai 2017 gegründet wurde.

Die Eigentümer von IPC-Trading sind als Thiam und als jemand namens Lan Moi Lilia aufgeführt. Der börsennotierte Eigentümer von RTO Ltd. ist eine Person namens Nathalie Tina Pasaywon.

Einreichungen zeigen, dass RTO am selben Tag im Mai 2016 wie Global Equity erstellt wurde.

IPC-Trading wurde vier Monate zuvor in Betrieb genommen.

Das Bürogebäude an der Avenida Da Praia Grande in Macao, China, ist die Adresse für mehrere Unternehmen, die als Investoren in Hometown International, dem Eigentümer eines einzigen Delikatessengeschäfts in New Jersey, aufgeführt sind.

Catarina Domingues | CNBC

Das Rätsel um Paulsboro

Deli in der Heimatstadt, Paulsboro, NJ

Mike Calia | CNBC

Am vergangenen Freitag hat Hometown International in einer außerordentlichen SEC-Meldung seine Marktkapitalisierung abgelehnt und erklärt, dass weder seine Einnahmen noch seine Vermögenswerte einen so hohen Aktienkurs rechtfertigten. E-Waste gab drei Tage später eine identische Ablehnung seines eigenen Aktienkurses heraus.

Der Anwalt von Hometown International hat keine Bitte um Stellungnahme von CNBC zu diesem Artikel zurückgesandt.

Nicht alle Eigentümer von Hometown International sind ein Rätsel – oder ebenso ein Rätsel – wie die in Macao.

Der Investor mit dem vielleicht größten öffentlichen Profil, Paul Morina, ist CEO und Präsident von Hometown International. Er hält satte 30,5 Millionen Stammaktien und Optionsscheine im Unternehmen.

Morina ist in New Jersey High School Wrestling-Kreisen als Trainer des Paulsboro High School-Teams bekannt, das häufig staatliche Titel gewinnt.

Er ist außerdem Principal bei Paulsboro High, zu dessen weiteren Administratoren Christine Lindemuth gehört, die einzige andere Führungskraft von Hometown International. Lindenmuth besitzt nach den neuesten SEC-Unterlagen keine Aktien des Unternehmens.

Morinas Bruder Carmel Morina ist der gewählte Sheriff von Gloucester County, zu dessen Umgebung Paulsboro gehört, eine kleine Stadt direkt gegenüber dem Delaware River von Philadelphia.

Paul Morina hat in den letzten drei Wochen nicht auf wiederholte Anfragen von CNBC nach Kommentaren geantwortet.

Coker-Verbindungen

Hometown International hat drei Hauptaktionäre mit Sitz in Hongkong.

Einer von ihnen, Maso Capital Partners, gründete im vergangenen Jahr eine von Nasdaq gehandelte Zweckgesellschaft, zu deren Vorstandsmitgliedern der Vorsitzende von Hometown International, Coker Jr., gehört, der ebenfalls in Hongkong ansässig ist.

Zu den eigenen Unternehmensinteressen von Coker gehört ein finanziell angeschlagenes Hotel in Macao – The 13 – das sich ursprünglich als das luxuriöseste Hotel der Welt vermarktet hatte.

Das Hotel, zu dessen ersten Investoren Steve Cohens SAC Capital Advisors, Fidelity International und Omega Advisors gehörten, ist seit Februar 2020 wegen der Covid-19-Pandemie für Gäste geschlossen.

Zu den Führungskräften von Maso Capital gehört Manoj Jain, ein ehemaliger Geschäftsführer des zuvor als Och-Ziff bekannten Vermögensverwalters.

Jain besitzt die alleinige Stimm- und Investitionsbefugnis für die beiden anderen Investoren von Hometown International in Hongkong. Diese Investoren sind Unternehmenszweige der Investmentfonds der beiden amerikanischen Universitäten Duke und Vanderbilt.

Jain kontrolliert über die Unternehmen in Hongkong mehr als 52 Millionen Stammaktien und Optionsscheine für Hometown International.

Letzte Woche war Jain die erste Person, die mit dem Deli-Eigentümer verbunden war und in den Wochen, seit er für seine bizarre Aktienbewertung bekannt wurde, öffentlich Stellung nahm.

Jain sagte gegenüber CNBC in einer Erklärung, dass er “sehr besorgt” über “schwerwiegende Vorwürfe” in Bezug auf Cokers Vater Peter Coker Sr. und andere Mitglieder der North Carolina Company des älteren Coker sei.

Sein Kommentar kam, nachdem CNBC die chaotischen rechtlichen und regulatorischen Probleme dokumentiert hatte, an denen Coker Sr. – ein wichtiger Investor in Hometown International – und Personen, die mit Coker Sr. verbunden sind, sowie die Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft von Hometown International und der erste Anwalt des Unternehmens beteiligt waren.

Die Firma Tryon Capital von Coker Sr. erhielt von Hometown International 15.000 USD pro Monat und von E-Waste 2.500 USD pro Monat für Beratungsarbeiten, bevor diese Verträge im letzten Monat beendet wurden.

Eine SEC-Anmeldung zeigt, dass Tryon Capital im Februar damit begann, Büroflächen an das dritte Unternehmen, Med Spa Vacations, zu vermieten, das ebenfalls in diesem Monat einen einjährigen Beratungsvertrag abschloss, der Tryon Capital 2.500 USD pro Monat zahlt.

Ein von Coker Sr. kontrolliertes Unternehmen namens Hometown Global Services ist nach Global Equity Ltd. der zweitgrößte Anteilseigner von Med Spa Vacations. In seinem im März eingereichten Jahresbericht sagte Med Spa Vacations, dass es für 2020 keine Einnahmen gab, das Jahr ohne Bargeld beendete und für dieses Jahr einen Verlust von mehr als 46.000 USD verzeichnete.

Im Gegensatz zu Jain haben die Macao-Investoren inmitten der Kontroversen um Coker Sr. und Hometown International Mutter gehalten.

Ein Besuch in den Büros in Macao

Am Mittwoch besuchte ein Reporter seine Rechtsadresse in der Avenida Da Praia Grande 759, einem 15-stöckigen Gebäude namens Lun Pong.

Das Gebäude befindet sich im zentralen Geschäftsviertel von Macao und ist von Architektur aus der Zeit umgeben, als Macao eine portugiesische Kolonie war. Es liegt fünf Minuten vom Senado-Platz entfernt, dem Mittelpunkt der Stadt und Teil des UNESCO-historischen Zentrums von Macao World Kulturerbe.

Das Bürogebäude an der Avenida Da Praia Grande in Macao, China, ist die Adresse für mehrere Unternehmen, die als Investoren in Hometown International, dem Eigentümer eines einzigen Delikatessengeschäfts in New Jersey, aufgeführt sind.

Catarina Domingues | CNBC

Die unteren fünf Stockwerke des Gebäudes gehören Rui Jose da Cunha, einem Gründungspartner von C & C Lawyers and Notaries – einer der führenden Anwaltskanzleien in Macao -, die dort ihre Büros hat.

Keiner der Investoren von Hometown International oder einer ihrer Manager oder Eigentümer ist im Verzeichnis in der Lobby des Gebäudes namentlich aufgeführt.

Eine Firma namens Gestores de Projetos Limitada – oder Project Managers Limited auf Portugiesisch – ist als Mieter im ersten Stock aufgeführt.

Dieselbe Etage – deren Wände mit chinesischer Kalligraphie und einem Gemälde der Ruinen von St. Pauls, einem katholischen religiösen Komplex in Macao, versehen sind – ist die rechtliche Adresse für alle Investoren von Hometown International in der Stadt mit Ausnahme von VCH.

Gestores de Projetos Limitada, auch bekannt als GEP, bietet Buchhaltungsdienstleistungen für kleine und mittlere Unternehmen in Macao an.

“Unabhängig davon, ob Sie Ihre Gehaltsabrechnungsaufgaben auslagern oder eine Expertenmeinung zu einer Investitionsmöglichkeit in Macao einholen müssen, können wir Sie zeitnah und kostengünstig unterstützen”, heißt es auf der Website von GEP.

“Wir arbeiten auch eng mit einer der größten Anwaltskanzleien in Macao zusammen, um sicherzustellen, dass Ihr Unternehmen die Gesetze von Macao einhält, und um Sie bei einer Vielzahl von Dienstleistungen zu unterstützen, einschließlich der Gründung oder Ernennung und Abberufung von Direktoren”, heißt es auf der Website .

Als der Reporter einen GEP-Mitarbeiter fragte, ob er etwas über Global Equity Limited wisse, sagte diese Person, dass GEP “Dienstleistungen für dieses Unternehmen” erbringe, was darauf hinweist, dass Global Equity eine Adresse im Büro von GEP hat.

Der Mitarbeiter rief dann einen Partner von GEP an, Rui Pedro Cunha, der CNBC mitteilte, dass er mit den Namen der Unternehmen, die als Investoren von Hometown International bekannt sind, nicht vertraut sei.

Cunha sagte, dass GEP Dienstleistungsunternehmen, die eine Adresse in Macao wollen. Diese Kundenunternehmen erhalten Post an GEP, die sie dann an die Unternehmen weiterleitet, sagte er.

“Normalerweise tun wir das bei Unternehmen, die unsere Buchhaltungsdienstleistungen in Anspruch nehmen”, sagte Cunha, dessen Vater Eigentümer der unteren fünf Stockwerke des Gebäudes und der Anwaltskanzlei C & C ist.

Cunha sagte, er werde prüfen, ob die Investoren von Hometown International zu den Kunden von GEP gehören.

Cunha schickte später eine E-Mail an CNBC und sagte: “Ich kann nicht bestätigen, welches Unternehmen ein Kunde von GEP ist (oder nicht), aber wenn GEP E-Mails für ein Unternehmen bearbeitet und E-Mails für diese erhält, wird GEP diese sicher weiterleiten.”

CNBC antwortete daraufhin und bat ihn, Anfragen an die Investoren von Hometown International und assoziierte Personen weiterzuleiten, damit sie einen Reporter kontaktieren, damit sie Fragen zu diesem Artikel beantworten und Kommentare dazu abgeben können.

Im fünften Stock des Gebäudes – dem angeblichen Standort des Investors VCH – befindet sich ein weiteres Unternehmen namens C & C Secretariado Limitada oder C & C Corporate Services Limited.

Dieses Unternehmen bietet Wirtschaftsprüfungs- und Buchhaltungsdienstleistungen sowie Domizilierungs- und Verwaltungsdienstleistungen für Unternehmen an, die in Macao nicht physisch präsent sind.

Eine Person in dieser Firma lehnte es ab, sich zu CNBC zu äußern

Korrektur: In einer früheren Version wurde der Nachname von Michael Tyldesley falsch geschrieben.

– Catarina Domingues in Macao für CNBC gemeldet.

Categories
World News

China is stepping up its diplomatic bravado, testing how arduous Biden will push again

China is stepping up its diplomatic bravado, testing how hard Biden will push back

Senior US government officials examine China’s growing diplomatic bravery and growing military assertiveness with the intensity of elite athletes pondering their most resourceful rival’s feature films.

From the CIA to the White House and from the Pentagon to Foggy Bottom, these officials report a far greater willingness on the part of China to go on the offensive in the first 100 days of the Biden administration. The Chinese stand ready to face real and imaginary problems facing the United States and its allies, even as warnings and military activity escalate in Taiwan.

The new message from Beijing was consistent: the Biden government is trying to undermine China’s rise and promoting a false and dangerous portrayal of competition between democratic and autocratic systems. Therefore, countries around the world must decide whether to follow the divisive but declining United States or embrace a rising, unified and nonjudgmental China.

Between the lines, Chinese President Xi Jinping says that human rights violations and democratic failures are internal issues that cannot be discussed. In addition, Chinese officials stand ready to publicly attack the US record for racism and democracy, as does Beijing’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in an unprecedented 16-minute diatribe to mark the first high-level US-China talks of the Biden government in March to open 18 in Anchorage, Alaska.

“There has recently been a tendency to liken China and the United States to ‘democracy versus authoritarianism’ to … put labels on countries,” said Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister who built on the Alaska Embassy last week at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But democracy is not Coca-Cola, which tastes the same as syrup made by the United States around the world.”

Wang said: “If democracy and human rights are used to conduct value-based diplomacy, meddle in the internal affairs of other countries, or stir up confrontation, it will only lead to turmoil or even disaster.”

His use of the term “catastrophe” caught the attention of his audience and made it clear what he meant by that.

“The Taiwan issue is the most important and sensitive issue in China-US relations,” he said, arguing that it should also be in US interests to oppose Taiwan’s independence and separatist instincts. “Playing the ‘Taiwan Card’ is a dangerous move, like playing with fire.”

Such rhetorical and possibly strategic changes do not occur by chance in (yes) authoritarian China. So it is both urgent and necessary to understand their meaning and respond appropriately. Given the contradicting mix of hubris and uncertainty in recent Chinese policies and actions, this will not be easy.

On the one hand, President Xi Jinping predicts growing national confidence that this is China’s historic moment. Xi hopes to build on what he sees groundbreaking in this centenary year of the Chinese Community Party that emerged from the pandemic and declared the end of absolute poverty in the country.

At the same time, Xi is responding to new challenges posed by the Biden government, which is rapidly escaping Covid-19 by delivering a formidable vaccine distribution and pumping $ 4 trillion, as well as considering stimulus and infrastructure development in the economy. US growth this year could be equal to or greater than China’s at a remarkable 6.5%.

The leaders of the two countries seem to agree that “we are at a turning point in history,” as President Biden said at a joint congressional session this week. “We are in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st century.”

Put it differently earlier this year, President Xi spoke to a Communist Party school meeting: “The world is undergoing profound changes that have not been seen in a century, but the time and the situation are in our favor. Here comes our determination and our trust. “”

In Biden, however, Xi sees a more methodical and coherent leader than his predecessor, more willing to work within institutions and with allies.

Biden convened the first Quadruple Security Dialogue Summit on March 12, attended by Japanese, Australian and Indian leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga became the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Biden took office on April 16, and the two leaders made the first joint statement in support of Taiwan since 1969.

Chinese leaders were also surprised on March 22nd when the United States, European Union, Britain and Canada sanctioned Chinese officials for human rights violations against the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang. Beijing’s response was an immediate and seemingly counterproductive response to punitive measures against EU citizens that were broader. The price for his tough message is that the European Parliament has put the recently announced China-EU investment deal on hold.

There appear to be three immediate targets for China’s current approach: the domestic audience, US partners and allies, and the developing world.

The priority of any authoritarian leader is political survival. President Xi appears to have strengthened his hand within the Chinese Community Party and weakened potential rivals by rallying nationalistically around Hong Kong and Taiwan and portraying the United States as a power determined to reverse China’s rise.

The second goal for Chinese valor is a preventive effort to reach U.S. allies and partners before the Biden administration has had enough time to get a bigger common cause off the ground. Wherever necessary, it wants to show that there will be a heavy price to pay for those who accept Washington at Beijing’s expense.

A US official cites a Chinese proverb to explain this strategy: “Kill a chicken to scare the monkey.” President Xi’s third target is the developing countries, where China’s progress has been greatest. The aim is to portray China as a more reliable and consistent partner in its development, with its own inspiring track record of modernization and commitment to staying out of the domestic affairs of other countries (and indeed providing the monitoring tools to other authoritarians) at the Staying in power).

At the same time, of course, China is also testing the Biden government. The aim is not to win Washington, where consensus on the Chinese challenge has grown. Rather, it is about testing the Biden government’s willingness to act on a range of issues – from technology controls to human rights – but especially on Taiwan.

Beijing is betting from previous experience that President Biden’s bark will be worse than its bite. If you are convinced of this, you can count on even more Chinese bravery and assertiveness in the next four years.

Frederick Kempe is a best-selling author, award-winning journalist, and President and CEO of the Atlantic Council, one of America’s most influential think tanks on global affairs. He worked for the Wall Street Journal for more than 25 years as foreign correspondent, assistant editor-in-chief and senior editor for the European edition of the newspaper. His latest book – “Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place in the World” – was a New York Times bestseller and has been published in more than a dozen languages. Follow him on Twitter @FredKempe and subscribe here to Inflection Points, his view every Saturday of the top stories and trends of the past week.

More information from CNBC staff can be found here @ CNBCopinion on twitter.

Categories
World News

Wildfire Offers Onerous Blow to South Africa’s Archives

Wildfire Deals Hard Blow to South Africa’s Archives

JOHANNESBURG – Fire fighters in Cape Town on Monday battled a devastating fire that engulfed the slopes of the city’s famous Table Mountain and destroyed parts of the University of Cape Town library, a devastating blow to the archives of South African history.

Helicopters have thrown water on the area to try to contain the fire, which started Sunday and was likely caused by an abandoned fire, according to South African national park officials. But when the wind came up overnight, the fire spread to the neighborhoods at the base of the mountain, forcing some houses to evacuate on Monday. Monday night officials warned that the fire would likely rage for days.

“Hopefully we can get containment very soon, but to put out the fire, in other words to put it out completely, it will take more than a week,” Philip Prins, fire manager for Table Mountain National Park, told reporters on Monday .

The Devastating Fire is the latest in a series of devastating mountain fires that have swept across the Western Cape Province in recent years. However, the aftermath of that fire was also felt across the region after towers of orange and red flames engulfed the University of Cape Town’s special collections library – home to one of the largest collections of books, films, photographs, and other primary sources documenting Southern African history .

“We are of course devastated by the loss of our special collection in the library. They are things that we cannot replace. It hurts us, it hurts us to see what it looks like in ashes now, ”said Mamokgethi Phakeng, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, on Monday. “The resources we had there, the collections we had in the library, were not just for us, they were for the continent.”

She added, “It’s a big loss.”

Shortly after 9 p.m. on Sunday evening, Table Mountain residents reported seeing three people lighting small fires on the foothills as the devastating fire raged. Shortly thereafter, police arrested one of these people – a man in his thirties – in connection with the fires, according to Jean-Pierre Smith, a Cape Town councilor who sits on the mayor’s security committee. It is unclear whether the man is linked to the initial fire, added Mr Smith.

The devastating fire started at 9am on Sunday morning on the lower slopes of Devil’s Peak, one of the rugged ridges that are part of Cape Town’s legendary Table Mountain backdrop. Fanned by gusts of fire, the fire engulfed and destroyed a hillside restaurant before descending to the university campus, which is largely built on the slopes of the mountain.

Several buildings, including a historic mill and the school library, were soon on fire, and thick billows of white smoke rolled over the city. No deaths have been reported so far, but at least five firefighters have been injured, officials said.

According to Nombuso Shabalala, a spokeswoman for the university, around 4,000 students were evacuated from the dormitories on Sunday. The university announced on Sunday that it would cease operations until at least Tuesday.

Videos on social media showed dozens of students, some of whom were clutching small bags and storming out of apartment buildings as the fire engulfed the nearby hillside. Busisiwe Mtsweni, a finance and accounting student, was on the university’s upper campus around noon when “everyone panicked,” she said on a phone call.

Sparks from the mountain started small fires between buildings and billows of smoke made breathing difficult as she and her friends stormed to their apartments to retrieve their belongings, she said. Ms. Mtsweni was later evacuated by bus and spent the night in a hotel.

On Monday, evacuated students reported shortages of food and other essential supplies, and volunteers used social media and WhatsApp groups to coordinate deliveries.

According to university officials, a reading room for special collections in the university library had been destroyed by the flame by Sunday evening. The reading room housed portions of the university’s African Studies Collection, including works on Africa and South Africa printed before 1925, hard-to-find volumes in European and African languages, and other rare books, according to Niklas Zimmer, library director at the university.

A school archive curator, Pippa Skotnes, confirmed on Monday that the university’s African film collection, which includes around 3,500 archive films, had been lost in the fire. The archive was one of the largest collections in the world of films made in Africa or containing African content. The library will conduct a full loss assessment once the building is declared safe, university officials said.

While the university had recently made great efforts to digitize the school’s collections, only a “wafer-thin” portion of the archive of the special collections was transferred due to the enormous volume of material and the Ice Age pace of work, said Zimmer. Who directed this program? A single cabinet with microfilm, said Mr. Zimmer, Processing can take “a whole working life”.

University officials said they are confident that most of the archive, which is located on two basement levels below the library and is protected by a system of fire doors, may have been spared. But on Monday, as scholars and librarians waited to learn the extent of the damage, many pointed to the possibility that the basement might have been flooded during the fire fighting.

“Very unique things are probably gone,” said Sibusiso Nkomo, a doctor of history. Student who is a member of an interdisciplinary archival research unit on campus.

“We have lost valuable history that tells us where we are from,” he added, noting that the mood among his colleagues was “traumatized and devastated”.

Several other campus buildings were damaged.

For many in the Western Cape, images of the burning mountain were reminiscent of other major mountain fires that have devastated the province in recent years. In 2015, four days of fires broke out on the outskirts of Cape Town, destroying around 15,000 acres of land. Two years later, another devastating fire broke out in a coastal town in the province, Knysna, in which at least four people were killed and about 10,000 were forced to evacuate their homes.

The massive forest fires in the mountains were fed by a flammable mix of fire-prone vegetation from southern Africa – known as fynbos – and particularly flammable tree species such as gum trees and pines that colonists imported into the Western Cape and contributed to the accidental spread of fires.

In order to prevent uncontrollable forest fires, many ecologists have warned that national park officials must carry out prescribed burns more frequently. But in Cape Town, where the edges of the city have spread to the foothills of the mountain, mandatory burns are particularly difficult, and park officials have encountered resistance from residents who fear their homes may be destroyed.

“If there isn’t a fire, all of the vegetation is just sitting there and it’s only a matter of time,” said Dr. Alanna Rebelo, an ecology postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape. “We had this huge bonfire just waiting to be passed.”