Elon Musk's pay package at Tesla will be up for vote in June. The board wants shareholders to vote yes.
Steve Granitz/FilmMagic via Getty Images
Tesla is seeking shareholder approval for Elon Musk's pay package, which a judge previously struck down.
The company argues the package is "critical to the future success of Tesla."
The pay plan grants Musk stock options that vest when Tesla hits certain financial targets.
Why does Tesla's board think Elon Musk deserves a $55 billion pay package?
It's a matter of respect and fairness.
Tesla plans to ask shareholders to vote again on Musk's $55 billion pay package after it was struck down by a Delaware Judge earlier this year.
The chair of Tesla's board of directors, Robyn Denholm, highlighted several key reasons why the carmaker wants shareholders to vote in favor of the package in a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
Denholm calls the pay package, as well as a motion to move Tesla's state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas, "critical to the future success of Tesla."
The board chair said a vote in favor of Musk's pay package will "restore Tesla's stockholder democracy" and the issue is a "matter of fundamental fairness and respect to our CEO."
"Because the Delaware Court second-guessed your decision, Elon has not been paid for any of his work for Tesla for the past six years that has helped to generate significant growth and stockholder value," Denholm writes, adding that shareholders have "benefited from unprecedented growth under Elon's leadership."
Since the beginning of 2018, Tesla's shares have increased nearly six times in value.
The filing also argues that the pay package will further motivate the Tesla CEO to keep driving growth at the company as the plan requires Musk to hold onto his Tesla shares for five years after he exercises his options.
"He will continue to be driven to innovate and drive growth at Tesla because the value of his shares will depend on it!" according to the filing.
Tesla made similar arguments during the trial over the compensation plan last year.
Tesla shareholders will be able to vote on the issue during the company's annual meeting in June.
When Court of Chancery Judge Kathleen St. J. McCormick voided Musk's compensation package in January, she said that Musk had undue influence over the package due to his close ties to several board members and said Musk's influence resulted in an "unfair price."
Musk does not receive a salary from Tesla and his pay package centered on a series of goalposts around the carmaker's financial growth, initially set in place in 2018. Specifically, the plan involves a 10-year grant of 12 tranches of stock options vested when Tesla hits certain targets. According to the carmaker, Tesla has accomplished all of the 12 targets as of 2023. When each milestone is passed, Musk gets stock equal to 1% of outstanding shares at the time of the grant.
The package was valued at around $55 billion at the time it was struck down, but is now valued around $47 billion, according to The New York Times.
Amazon Prime had 180 million members in March, according to new data.
That's 75% of all US shoppers, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
It shows how ubiquitous Amazon has become in online shopping.
Now more than ever, you're more likely than not to be an Amazon Prime member.
About 180 million people had a Prime membership as of March, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. That represents an 8% increase from 2023, according to the data.
It also brings the share of US consumers who have Prime to 75%, per the report. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Online shopping, including from Amazon, took off during the pandemic. The new numbers suggest that Prime still has growth potential, albeit at a less rapid rate.
Prime fees, which cost $15 a month or $140 annually, are a key source of revenue for Amazon. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect the company's subscription revenue for the first quarter will jump 12% to $10.8 billion; data are due April 30.
Other retailers are trying to popularize their own membership services, which offer perks like free shipping on online orders and access to streaming services. Last month, Target said it would offer Circle 360, a membership that provides unlimited same-day delivery on orders from its stores, for $49 a year.
Some shoppers have still managed to avoid signing up for Prime. But in a sign of how engrained Amazon has become in the e-commerce world, even items bought on other websites, such as eBay, end up being shipped by Amazon.
Do you work for Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, or another part of Amazon's retail business and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com
US President of the United States Joe Biden delivers remarks on student debt and lowering costs for Americans at Madison College in Madison, Wisconsin, United States on April 8, 2024.
Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images
The public now has 30 days to comment on Biden's new student-loan forgiveness plan.
It's the next step in implementing a broader version of debt relief for borrowers.
The proposals include relief for those with unpaid interest, along with those in repayment for 20 years.
After announcing details of Biden's second attempt at student-debt relief last week, the Education Department formally published the draft text of the new rules on the Federal Register on Wednesday. The publication of the rules officially kicked off the 30-day public comment, set to end on May 17. Comments can be submitted to the Federal Register here, which the Education Department will then review.
The draft text currently consists of nine rules "that permit separate and distinct types of waivers using the Secretary of Education's longstanding authority under the Higher Education Act," the Education Department said in a Tuesday press release.
The rules address distinct types of borrowers that would qualify for relief under this new plan: those whose balances have grown due to unpaid interest, those who would be eligible for relief under certain repayment plans but have not yet enrolled, those who have been in repayment for at least 20 years, and those who have attended programs that left them with too much debt compared to post-graduation earnings.
The Education Department also said a separate rule to address relief for borrowers experiencing financial hardship will be released in the coming months.
"These historic steps reflect President Biden's determination that we cannot allow student debt to leave students worse off than before they went to college," Undersecretary of Education James Kvaal said in a Tuesday statement. "The President directed us to complete these programs as quickly as possible, and we are going to do just that."
The department aims to begin implementing relief as early as this fall. Still, as Business Insider previously reported, legal threats to the relief could imperil the department's timeline. While lawsuits have yet to be formally filed against Biden's administration, Missouri's Attorney General Andrew Bailey wrote on X in response to Biden's relief proposals: "See you in court."
And some experts said a conservative Supreme Court could likely rule like they did with Biden's first debt relief plan, striking it down.
"The administration is certainly still facing a very skeptical Supreme Court," Cary Coglianese, an administrative law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told BI. "Even though it's a different statute, it's still a skeptical Supreme Court. It's still a pretty big program even though it's a smaller one."
Following the public comment period, the Education Department will review comments and could choose to adjust their proposals based on the feedback they receive. It will then finalize the rule and move toward implementation.
Thiel, 56, launched himself into the tech industry when he cofounded PayPal in 1998, but he's since shifted to other ventures, including those involving artificial intelligence. Palantir, a company he cofounded in 2003, provides artificial intelligence models to world militaries like Ukraine and Israel.
During the interview, host Tyler Cowen noted that large language models like ChatGPT are growing and expected to become more advanced with time. When asked if writers should worry, Thiel responded that math lovers are the ones who should be on high alert.
"My intuition would be it's going to be quite the opposite, where it seems much worse for the math people than the word people," Thiel said. "What people have told me is that they think within three to five years, the AI models will be able to solve all the US Math Olympiad problems. That would shift things quite a bit."
Thiel then touched on how different societies prioritized math or writing throughout history, prompting him to discuss Silicon Valley.
"If I fast-forwarded to, let's say, Silicon Valley in the early 21st century, it's way too biased toward the math people," Thiel said.
Aerial view of Silicon Valley.
Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Thiel said that math tends to be used as a benchmark for competency, but that might have shortcomings. Thiel used his lifelong love of chess as an example.
"In the late '80s, early '90s, I had a chess bias because I was a pretty good chess player. And so my chess bias was, you should just test everyone on chess ability, and that should be the gating factor," Thiel said. "Why even do math? Why not just chess? That got undermined by the computers in 1997."
He added: "Isn't that what's going to happen to math? And isn't that a long-overdue rebalancing of our society?"
The brand on Tuesday announced a two-week search to find a "Chief Tractor Officer" who would create social media content to reach younger consumers.
One winning applicant will receive up to $192,300 to traverse the country over the next several months showcasing the way John Deere products are used by workers, from Yellowstone National Park to Chicago's Wrigley Field and beyond.
"No matter what you do — whether it's your coffee, getting dressed in the morning, driving to work, the building you go into — it's all been touched by a construction worker, a farmer, or a lawn care maintenance group," Jen Hartmann, John Deere's global director of strategic public relations, told AdAge.
To kick off the search, John Deere tapped NFL quarterback Brock Purdy (who will presumably be a bit busy this Fall to take the job himself) to star in a clip in which he attempts to set out on a road trip in an industrial tractor.
Suited up in the obligatory vest, work boots, and John Deere hat, Purdy's progress is interrupted by teammate Colton McKivitz hopping into the cab while a string of messages floods in from other athletes and influencers expressing interest in the job.
The clip also represents the first time that the 187-year-old company has used celebrities to promote itself, Hartmann told AdAge.
According to the contest rules, entrants have until April 29 at midnight to submit a single 60-second video making their pitch for why they should be the face and voice of the company.
In addition, entrants must live in the 48 contiguous states or DC — sorry Hawaii and Alaska residents. Interestingly, any AI-generated submissions are prohibited, too.
Videos will be judged against four categories — originally, creativity, quality, and brand knowledge — after which five finalists will be chosen and notified after May 17.
Normally, people who run big publicly traded companies are encouraged to just do that one thing and are discouraged from doing side projects. But Musk does his own thing, and for a long time, the idea that he's a guy who does so many things was part of the pitch: Normal people couldn't pull this off, but Elon is Not Normal.
None of this is secret. Tesla spells it out to shareholders in its public filings, where it describes all of Musk's other jobs.
And for a long time, this has all been … fine. Particularly over the last few years, when the market fell head over heels for Tesla and turned it into a company with a trillion-dollar valuation.
Tesla's stock price might cause a rethink of Musk's roles
Tesla stock is now down more than 60% from its pandemic-era peak; it's dropped 37% so far this year.
All of which makes me wonder if some Tesla investors will eventually work up the nerve to demand that Musk spend more time working on Tesla and a little less on at least some of his side projects. Or, failing that, if Musk will at least start performatively demonstrating that he's spending more time on Tesla.
The knee-jerk response here ought to be: Good luck with that! Musk does what Musk wants. And that's worked out great for the third-richest man in the world.
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Sony's 2024 TV lineup is led by the flagship Bravia 9 Mini LED TV.
Sony
Sony has announced its latest lineup of 4K TVs, with sizes ranging from 43 inches to 85 inches. The new collection features LED, OLED, and Mini LED models, including the company's brightest 4K TV ever.
And to help shoppers easily determine where each new TV falls in the lineup, Sony is introducing a simplified naming scheme that brings its Bravia branding front and center. On the high end, there's the Bravia 9 Mini LED, followed by the Bravia 8 OLED and Bravia 7 Mini LED, and capped off by the entry-level Bravia 3 LED.
In addition to those four new displays, the company is retaining three 4K TV models from 2023. These include the midrange X90L QLED, the smaller-sized A90K OLED, and the premium A95L OLED, which is our top high-end pick for the best TV you can buy.
All of Sony's 2024 models will once again use the Google TV operating system, which offers access to all of the best streaming services and typically performs well in our tests. The Bravia 7, 8, and 9 will also include a new feature called "Voice Zoom 3," which can isolate dialogue in movies and TV shows so you can adjust the volume of speech without impacting other sound effects.
Preorders for Sony's new 4K TVs are now launching at various stores, with prices starting at $600 and going up to $5,500, depending on the model and size you choose. Below, we've listed the sizes, prices, and features for each model to help you decide which Sony TV is right for your needs. We'll add more retail links once they become available.
Sony Bravia 9 Mini LED 4K TV price and specs
Sony 85-inch Bravia 9 Mini LED 4K TV ($5,499.99)
Sony 75-inch Bravia 9 Mini LED 4K TV ($3,999.99)
Sony 65-inch Bravia 9 Mini LED 4K TV ($3,299.99)
The Bravia 9 is Sony's latest flagship TV geared toward buyers who want the absolute best image quality. It's an advanced QLED with a Mini LED backlight and local dimming, and Sony says it's the company's brightest 4K TV so far.
This high brightness is a key factor in realizing Sony's desire to preserve the creative intent of filmmakers. To this end, Sony says the Bravia 9 uses technology similar to what's employed in its new BVM-HX3110 professional monitor, which can achieve a whopping 4,000 nits of peak brightness. The BVM-HX3110 is marketed toward Hollywood colorists for use during the mastering process of their upcoming films, and its impressive luminance could result in more movies being graded with higher brightness levels in mind.
In theory, this direct link between the Bravia 9 and the actual post-production equipment used by the film industry should enable it to produce an incredibly accurate image with brightness and color performance that more closely mirrors what filmmakers create on their mastering monitors. Sony's past flagship TVs have done an exceptional job of mimicking the look of its previous-generation professional monitors, so we have high expectations that the Bravia 9 will follow suit.
However, while the Bravia 9's brightness capabilities are poised to lead the industry in 2024, it's important to note that this is a Mini LED QLED TV rather than an OLED. As such, it uses a backlight instead of self-illuminating pixels, and it relies on local dimming zones to control its contrast and light output. With that in mind, Sony is touting some big advancements for the TV's local dimming tech and says that the Bravia 9 has up to 325% more dimming zones than its flagship Mini LED TV from 2023, the X95L.
Though we've seen some models get close, we've yet to test a Mini LED TV that can truly mimic the pixel-level precision and perfect black-level performance of an OLED, so we're curious to see how Sony's latest local dimming process stacks up. We will begin testing a Bravia 9 unit soon, so check back for our full review.
Sony Bravia 8 OLED 4K TV price and specs
The Bravia 8 is the successor to Sony's A80L midrange OLED TV from 2023.
Sony
Sony 77-inch Bravia 8 OLED 4K TV ($3,899.99)
Sony 65-inch Bravia 8 OLED 4K TV ($2,799.99)
Sony 55-inch Bravia 8 OLED 4K TV ($1,999.99)
Sony's Bravia 8 is its only new OLED TV set for release in 2024. This midrange model is the successor to last year's A80L, and it's expected to deliver very similar performance with a few upgrades here and there. Meanwhile, the high-end A95L OLED from 2023, which remains one of our picks for the best 4K TVs you can buy, will carry over to 2024.
Sony says that the Bravia 8 will deliver a modest increase in peak brightness compared to the A80L, but general image quality will be about the same. With that in mind, we expect around 700 to 800 nits of brightness, which is decent for a midrange OLED but much lower than the 1,500 nits peak you can get on pricier flagship models.
More so than picture improvements, Sony is touting design tweaks as the main upgrade for the Bravia 8 over its predecessor. The company says the Bravia 8 is 31% thinner than its 2023 predecessor, and its bezel is 29% slimmer. It also has an updated four-way stand.
The A80L was a great TV in its own right, so it makes sense that Sony won't be reinventing the wheel with the Bravia 8. However, we tend to give competing midrange OLEDs from Samsung and LG a slight edge over Sony's options in this class since they often deliver similar image quality for less money.
Sony Bravia 7 Mini LED 4K TV price and specs
Sony's Bravia 7 is expected to offer similar performance to its 2023 high-end X95L TV.
Sony
Sony 85-inch Bravia 7 Mini LED 4K TV ($3,499.99)
Sony 75-inch Bravia 7 Mini LED 4K TV ($2,799.99)
Sony 65-inch Bravia 7 Mini LED 4K TV ($2,299.99)
Sony 55-inch Bravia 7 Mini LED 4K TV ($1,899.99)
The Bravia 7 is designed to serve as a more affordable step-down version of Sony's flagship Bravia 9, and it also uses a QLED panel with a Mini LED backlight and local dimming. But the Bravia 7 can't get as bright as the Bravia 9, and it doesn't have as many dimming zones, so its contrast control won't be as precise.
But that's not to say the Bravia 7 won't deliver high-end image quality. Sony says this model will perform a lot like the X95L, which was the brand's flagship QLED last year. Sony's X95L was an impressive TV, but it was only available in an 85-inch screen size in the US, so it will be nice to get a similar level of performance in more sizes with the Bravia 7.
Sony's QLEDs in this class tend to be pricier than options with similar specs from budget-friendly brands like TCL and Hisense, but their higher cost comes with a few notable perks, like superior picture processing, better quality control, and fancier design elements with sturdier builds.
Sony Bravia 3 LED 4K TV price and specs
The Bravia 3 is an entry-level 4K TV so it's missing many of the advanced image quality features found on other Bravia models.
Sony
Sony 85-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV ($1,799.99)
Sony 75-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV ($1,299.99)
Sony 65-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV ($999.99)
Sony 55-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV ($849.99)
Sony 50-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV ($699.99)
Sony 43-inch Bravia 3 LED 4K TV ($599.99)
On the entry-level side of Sony's 2024 lineup is the Bravia 3. This basic smart TV uses a standard direct-lit LED panel without Mini LEDs, quantum dots, or local dimming. As such, it's not expected to come anywhere near the picture capabilities of its pricier siblings. But, it should still provide a reliable experience for casual streaming and cable TV viewing.
The Bravia 3 appears to be a replacement for last year's X77L, but it remains to be seen whether it offers any improvements. Based on our knowledge of past Sony models in this class, the Bravia 3 will likely end up being a bit overpriced for what it offers in the picture quality department.
Generally, Sony excels more at upper midrange and high-end TVs, while brands like TCL, Hisense, and Vizio deliver better value for your dollar in the entry-level and mid-tier markets. For instance, you can get a 65-inch Hisense U6K with a Mini LED backlight, quantum dots, and local dimming for just $500, which is half the price of the less advanced 65-inch Bravia 3.
J.B. Hunt stock slid as much as 13% on Wednesday after an earnings report that missed estimates.
Demand for its freight services was weaker than expected in the first quarter.
The firm is a bellwether for the freight industry, which has been mired in a post-pandemic recession.
A leading freight company is seeing its stock tank after weak trucking volumes led to a first-quarter earnings miss on both profit and sales.
JB Hunt shares slid as much as 13% on Wednesday after the company posted a profit of $127.5 million, which was $70.3 million less than it earned in the same period last year. Meanwhile, revenue missed forecasts of $3.11 billion, and instead slumped 9% to $2.94 billion.
The bellwether firm's difficulties are not a good look for the broader freight market, which has been toiling through an extensive slowdown since the pandemic years. Driving the contraction are weak sales and an overload of trucks.
"Demand remains weak and we're not seeing a breakout, and that's exemplified with what's going on with spot pricing in the market, where pricing is remaining at really historically low levels," Ken Hoexter, Bank of America's senior transportation analyst, told CNBC. "And it certainly was even weaker than expected, just given those results."
JB Hunt first sounded alarm over a potential "freight recession" in last year's first quarter earnings conference call, then noting that pandemic over-buying depressed goods demand in the years that followed, weighing heavily on the freight and transport industry.
This continued through 2023, marked by rising trucking unemployment and the exit of a number of major carriers. Current trucking spot rates have fallen 6.5% so far this year, DAT Solutions said, according to WSJ.
Part of JB Hunt's dilemma comes from rising competition from Eastern truck companies, which has slashed into its domestic intermodal services. These truck-to-rail offerings, a core segment of the company's revenue, dropped 9% from last year's quarter.
An Arrow-3 interceptor is launched at a test site in central Israel on Jan. 18, 2022.
Israel Ministry of Defense/Handout via Xinhua
Both the US and Israel used weapons capable of killing missiles in space to fend off Iranian weapons last weekend.
Videos online showed an apparent exo-atmospheric intercept from the attack.
Exo-atmospheric kills are impressive because of how difficult it is to find, hit, and destroy missiles in space.
Both the US and Israel used weapons capable of killing missiles in outer space to fend off Iran's massive strike over the weekend.
The US has confirmed that both the US Navy's SM-3 interceptor and Israel's Arrow were involved in the engagement. Videos circulating online from the fight appearedto show an exo-atmospheric kill, though details are few.
Intercepting a ballistic missile outside the Earth's atmosphere is a challenging task, an expert told Business Insider.
Footage of the suspectedexo-atmospheric interception of an Iranian missile first appeared online Saturday night, shared by open source information accounts on X. It was unclear what exact weapon was used, although speculation was that it could have been Israel's Arrow system, a key part of its layered air defense network.
Footage of an Israeli ABM (likely Arrow 2 or 3) achieving an exoatmospheric (space) kill on an Iranian ballistic missile somewhere east of Israel tonight. pic.twitter.com/jKihty4GR0
Another video posted by a defense correspondent for the Times of Israel seemed to offer a clearer look at an exo-atmospheric interception. It is unclear whether this was the same kill seen in the first video or a separate event.
Neither the US Department of Defense nor the Israel Defense Force immediately responded to BI's request for comment on what is thought to be a missile kill beyond the atmosphere.
Very unique footage showing an exoatmospheric interception amid the Iranian ballistic missile attack, likely by the Arrow 3 air defense system. pic.twitter.com/wrZNCV01tn
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 14, 2024
An exo-atmospheric interception, which is when an interceptor strikes a ballistic missile and destroys it before it can re-enter Earth's atmosphere, is "impressive for several reasons," Dr. Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider.
First, the complex process requires gathering data about the missile, in this case an Iranian ballistic missile fired towards Israel in an unprecedented attack, in its midcourse phase of its flight, when the speed is the highest.
"This is both complex in terms of long-range tracking, but also target discrimination," Kaushal said, adding that at that point "the second stage boosters and body of the missile separate from its warhead, which generates a challenge in terms of discriminating the warhead from other radar returns."
Another consideration is the speed of the missile during this stage. Because it's going so fast, it "imposes considerable demands in terms of interceptor speed and maneuverability in order to achieve a kill," he added. It also requires precise accuracy.
Once a ballistic missile has re-entered the atmosphere, it can be easier to track and target it, but at that point, there is potentially less reaction time for another interceptor, which may be strained by other demands, to respond.
An anti-missile system operates after Iran launched drones and missiles toward Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel April 14, 2024.
Amir Cohen via Reuters
The US military assets in the region and Israel have a few capabilities able to target ballistic missile threats in outer space.
For Israel, the Arrow system, which consists of Arrow 2 and 3, is a key air-defense capability. Arrow 3 was deployed in 2017 and achieved its first confirmed kill back in November 2023 against Houthi ballistic missiles. It was an upgrade from Israel's Arrow 2 system, which was deployed in 2000.
Both of Israel's Arrow systems can intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, but while Arrow 2 was built to eliminate threats in the upper atmosphere, Arrow 3 is able to execute missile intercepts in space, according to The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington DC-based think tank.
A senior US military official said that Arrow played a key role in stopping Iranian ballistic missiles, explaining that "the majority of those missiles were engaged by the Arrow system — Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 — in Israel."
But US warships and fighter aircraft were also involved.On Tuesday, the US Navy confirmed it fired a Standard Missile 3, or SM-3, against Iranian ballistic missiles, the first time the weapon has been used in combat. The SM-3 is also capable of destroying short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles during the midcourse phase and can hit targets outside the Earth's atmosphere.
SM-3s are unique in that they are the only one of the Navy's Standard Missiles "designed to operate in the vacuum of space," CSIS said in its Missile Defense Project.
A recession has been avoided so far for three key reasons, economist David Rosenberg said.
Low levels of debt refinancing have blunted the impact of Fed rate hikes.
Meanwhile, consumers are still spending as the "wealth effect" keeps Americans feeling confident.
The US has avoided a long-called-for recession for three reasons, but it doesn't mean a near-term downturn has been taken off the table, according to economist David Rosenberg.
"Well, no asset class is priced for a recession — in fact, the corporate bond market and the S&P 500 now have zero chance of an economic downturn being discounted. Nothing is ever 0%, and nothing is ever 100%, but the current level of complacency is definitely unsettling," Rosenberg said in a note on Wednesday.
Taking a step back, besides higher-than-expected inflation, unemployment is going down, particularly in the state and local government sectors. Non-education employment is seeing the fastest growth rate since the late 1970s, and construction expenditures are up by 17% year over year.
Such a booming landscape doesn't make Rosenberg drop his recession call, but he said there are three reasons the US has been able to navigate the uncertainty so far.
First, he highlighted the historically low levels of debt refinancing in 2020 and 2021, which have so far prevented the Fed's aggressive tightening measures from being fully felt in the broader economy.
"This made the economy less sensitive to the interest rate shift, to be sure, but that only bought time. In the next three years, especially in the business sector, it is going to be time to 'pay the piper' as an epic $7 trillion of corporate debt will be refinanced and likely at much higher interest rates than at the time of origination," he said.
Second, Rosenberg said that the government's spending via the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act has propelled manufacturing facility construction by 32%, even while industrial production has been stagnant.
"The bull market in economic growth boils down to the heavy hand and generosity of Uncle Sam," he said in the note.
The third factor supporting his argument is the expansion of consumer spending, boosted by the "wealth effect" of rising real estate prices. Rosenberg notes that personal savings rates are now less than half the pre-pandemic norm as Americans keep spending.
"The boom in real estate and equities has pushed the level of household net worth up an incredible $11.6 trillion (+8%) over the past year, and this stash of wealth has encouraged consumers to spend more and more out of current income. Highly reminiscent of what happened in the late 1990s," he added.