<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fedex" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FedEx</a> Founder and Executive Chairman Fred Smith warned during an interview that the BRIC nations — which primarily consist of Brazil, Russia, India, and China — have set out to dethrone the U.S. dollar as the world&#8217;s reserve currency, and if that happens, the standard of living that Americans are accustomed to will be gone forever.
Smith made the warning during an interview with Bret Baier while talking about today&#8217;s inflation report showing that inflation was worse than projected and that prices are up overall 17.9% since Biden took office.
&#8220;I think the issue is much broader than just the CPI that was announced today,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I mean, we&#8217;re the wealthiest nation in the world because of all these wonderful inventions since the end of World War II. But we&#8217;re also prosperous because we lead the world in opening markets for trade and protected those trade flows with the American Military and our alliances. And then third, and probably equally important, we&#8217;re the reserve currency of the world, the dollar is the medium of exchange and our financial institutions control the movement of money around the world. All three of those things went together.&#8221;
&#8220;And you had a repudiation of both trade beginning in 2018, when the trade wars began with President Xi and President Trump, and more recently, our government has been borrowing money at an enormous rate, almost $2 trillion last year,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;And the CBO just announced that we&#8217;ll spend more on interest this year than we&#8217;ll spend on the Defense Department. These subjects are not even mentioned in our political discourse these days. It&#8217;s very concerning.&#8221;
Smith said during a recent speech that in order to avoid a catastrophic fiscal crisis, political leaders needed to recognize the extreme and unprecedented dangers that are facing the U.S. and that grand comprise would be needed to fix these problems.
When asked during the interview if he was seeing leaders step up to the plate to address the crisis, he responded: &#8220;No, quite the contrary.&#8221;
&#8220;The political process is really focused on the extremes of both parties,&#8221; he said. &#8220;No one is supporting trade, which made America great, really, since Roosevelt and his Secretary of State Hall, passed the first major trading bill in 1934. And then we led opening the world and restored Germany and Japan, our enemies, to prosperity through trade and the American Alliance system.&#8221;
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
&#8220;And then on top of that, our financial capabilities to print money at will is dependent on the dollar remaining the reserve currency,&#8221; he added. &#8220;And the so-called BRICS alliance &#8212; Brazil, Russia, India, and China &#8212; have set out on a deliberate course to dethrone the dollar. If that happens, and we can&#8217;t sell our bonds, I can assure you the living standards that we all enjoy today are going to be a thing of the past.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WATCH: FedEx founder Fred Smith to <a href="https://twitter.com/BretBaier?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BretBaier</a>: “The so-called BRICs alliance—Brazil, Russia, India &amp; China—have set out on a deliberate course to dethrone the dollar. If that happens and we can&#39;t sell our bonds, I can assure you the living standards that we all enjoy today are… <a href="https://t.co/fclTIKHw3A">pic.twitter.com/fclTIKHw3A</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1757610173533724802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Key Speakers At The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Aviation Summit

FedEx Founder, Chairman Issues Dire Warning About What BRIC Nations Are Plotting

Communist China

FedEx

Global Politics

Money

Russia

U.S.

Last-minute <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/christmas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christmas</a> shoppers may be left in the cold as major <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/supply-chain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delivery services</a> announce delays as a result of severe winter <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/weather" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weather</a>.
Residents of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region will contend with an Arctic front causing snowfall and frigid temperatures until Christmas Eve, according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSWPC/status/1605137973703573504" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forecast</a> from the National Weather Service, posing threats to travel plans as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/massive-snowstorm-expected-to-impact-christmas-travel-nationwide-airlines-brace-for-cancellations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">airlines cancel flights</a> and poor driving conditions impact the nation’s roads. Services such as FedEx and UPS warned of widespread delays on Friday.
“FedEx Express experienced substantial disruptions at our Memphis and Indianapolis hubs last night due to severe winter weather that has been moving across the United States,” FedEx said in a <a href="https://www.fedex.com/en-us/service-alerts.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>, adding that delays are possible for nationwide package deliveries on Friday and Saturday. “The safety of our team members remains our number one priority.”
UPS said in a <a href="https://www.ups.com/us/en/service-alerts.page" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> that “significant weather events across several regions” of the country are impacting air and ground networks, including hubs in Louisville and Rockford. “We will work to ensure the safety of our employees while minimizing effects on service,” the company announced. “Contingency plans are in place to help ensure that shipments arrive at their final destinations as quickly as conditions permit.”
The United States Postal Service also said that 89 post offices have been closed as a result of the storm, according to a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/23/business/winter-storm-holiday-deliveries/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from CNN. Most of the affected locations are in North Dakota and South Dakota, with six closed locations in Nebraska and five each in Minnesota and Iowa.
Amazon also reported the temporary shuttering of some locations. “Out of an abundance of caution, we’ve temporarily closed some of our sites in the impacted areas,” Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait told the outlet. “We’ll continue monitoring weather patterns and will reopen sites and resume operations when it’s safe to do so.”
The dismal news for major delivery services comes as holiday retail sales are expected to grow between 6% and 8% since last year to possibly surpass $960 billion, according to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rise-in-holiday-spending-to-be-outpaced-by-inflation-forecast-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the National Retail Federation. Consumers are increasingly reliant upon online shopping rather than in-store purchases, continuing a trend that accelerated during the lockdown-induced recession.
Although the growth appears to surpass the average 4.9% annual increase witnessed over the past decade, the expansion will be eclipsed by record inflation, which rose year-over-year at a 7.1% rate as of last month, according to a <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
With respect to holiday travel, nearly 102 million Americans plan to drive to their holiday destinations, marking an increase of two million drivers since last year despite recent increases in gas prices, according to <a href="https://newsroom.aaa.com/2022/12/nearly-113-million-people-will-travel-from-december-23-to-january-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from AAA. Meanwhile, roughly 54 million passengers will depart from airports between December 18 and January 3, constituting a 20% increase from last year, according to <a href="https://media.hopper.com/research/christmas-2022-holiday-outlook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from Hopper.
An explanation for the increase in holiday travel could lie in the growing acceptance of virtual work arrangements. “With hybrid work schedules, we are seeing more people take long weekends to travel because they can work remotely at their destination and be more flexible with the days they depart and return,” AAA Senior Vice President of Travel Paula Twidale remarked.

Amazon Warehouse In Pennsylvania Evacuated After Roof Sags Under Weight Of Snow

Amazon, FedEx, Post Office Warn Of Delivery Delays As Winter Weather Persists

Delivery Services Warn Of Delivery Delays As Winter Weather Persists

Amazon

Christmas

Severe Weather

Supply Chain

U.S. Postal Service

A FedEx contract driver strangled a 7-year-old girl after hitting her with his van in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/texas">Texas</a> late last month, according to arrest warrant documents.
Tanner Horner, a 31-year-old from Fort Worth, has been arrested and charged with capital murder of a person under 10 years old and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Athena Strand, according to the <a href="https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article269781527.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fort Worth Star-Telegram.</a>
After the girl was reported missing, investigators tracked down video from the truck showing Horner speaking to a girl who looked like Athena on Nov. 30, sand an affidavit supporting the arrest warrant. Horner told investigators he accidentally hit Athena with his delivery van while backing out of the driveway at the girl&#8217;s home.
Although Horner said Athena was not seriously injured, he &#8220;panicked&#8221; and brought her into the back of the vehicle, where he allegedly tried to kill her by breaking her neck before strangling her with his bare hands.
Horner said he left the girl&#8217;s body in the water on the edge of the Trinity River near Boyd, where authorities said they recovered the body on Friday, December 2.
The arrest warrant and affidavit were <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/news/tanner-horner-allegedly-stranged-athena-strand-after-backing-into-her-with-truck/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published Thursday by CBS 11</a>.
Maitlyn Gandy, the mother of Athena, said at a news conference on Thursday that her daughter was <a href="https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/watch-live-mother-of-athena-strand-speaks-publicly/3143904/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">abducted while visiting</a> her stepmother and father in Paradise, Texas. The driver was delivering a package of Barbie dolls meant to be a Christmas gift to Athena, she said.
“Athena was robbed of the opportunity to grow up to be anything she wanted to be,” Gandy said. &#8220;And this present, ordered out of innocence and love, is one she will never receive.&#8221;
Horner was arrested Friday and is being held on $1.5 million bond in the Wise County Jail. The death penalty has been discussed with prosecutors if Horner is convicted, Wise County Sheriff told the <a href="https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article269781527.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Star-Telegram</a> over the weekend. The news outlet said it was not clear whether Horner has an attorney.
A private funeral for Athena will be held on Friday, <a href="https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/watch-live-mother-of-athena-strand-speaks-publicly/3143904/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to NBCDFW</a>.

FedEx Texas

FedEx Driver Admits To Strangling 7-Year-Old Girl After Hitting Her With Van

Car Crash

Crime

Texas

A FedEx driver is under arrest and a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/texas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Texas community</a> heartbroken after the body of a 7-year-old girl was found two days after she vanished.
Athena Strand disappeared from her Paradise home Wednesday, sparking a frantic hunt that ended in tragedy. Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, a contract driver for FedEx who had delivered a package to the home, confessed after being charged kidnapping and killing the child, police said.
“We&#8217;re just sad it didn&#8217;t end the way that we hoped that it would end,” Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said at a Friday night news conference.
Authorities believe Athena was killed within an hour of her abduction.
Horner was charged with aggravated kidnapping and capital murder and held on $1.5 million bond. Police believe Horner had no connection to the family and the horrific crime appears to be random.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="FULL PRESS CONFERENCE: Athena Strand found dead after being kidnapped by FedEx driver" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wfYbigIoftg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Akin said Athena was dropped off her home after school at around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. She had what was described as an argument with her stepmother and came outside, where investigators believe she was abducted from her family’s driveway. Her stepmother reported her missing at 6:40 p.m. after she couldn’t find her.
Athena&#8217;s father was away on a hunting trip, <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/athena-strand-7-found-dead-after-authorities-say-delivery-driver-abducted-her/ar-AA14QQuL" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Dallas Morning News</a>.
Wise County Sheriff’s officers worked with Texas Rangers, and FBI agents, quickly zeroing in on Horner following a tip, Akin said. Athena’s body was found about 10 miles from the home after hundreds of volunteers joined the effort.
“It&#8217;s one of the toughest investigations that I&#8217;ve been involved in,” Akin said. “Anytime there’s a child that dies, it just hits you in your heart,” the sheriff said. “You compare that child to your own children when they were that age, and it just takes the wind out of your sails.”
Horner has been an Uber driver, is a musician, and graduated from Azle High School, <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/who-is-tanner-horner-suspect-in-kidnapping-murder-of-texas-7-year-old-athena-strand/ar-AA14R0kJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram</a>. It does not appear that he had a prior criminal record. Initial reports said he lives in Lake Worth, but that community’s police chief, J.T. Manoushagian, said property records show the suspect lives inside the Fort Worth city limits.
In a statement released Friday night, FedEx expressed sorrow and shock over the unspeakable crime.
“Words cannot describe our shock at the reports surrounding this tragic event,” read the statement. “First and foremost, our thoughts are with the family during this most difficult time.”

Screen Shot 2022-12-03 at 7.01.54 AM

FedEx Driver Charged With Murder After Body Of Missing Texas Girl, 7, Found

Murder

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/amazon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon</a> and <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/fedex" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FedEx</a> plan on dismissing workers ahead of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christmas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">holiday</a> season, which is typically a busy time for companies involved in the sale and transportation of consumer goods.
According to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/technology/amazon-layoffs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The New York Times, Amazon will lay off approximately 10,000 employees in human resources, retail, and devices divisions as soon as this week. The layoffs occur amid cost-cutting measures, according to an adjacent <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-set-to-lay-off-thousands-of-corporate-workers-11668447887" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The Wall Street Journal.
The cuts also come two weeks after Amazon Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology Beth Galetti <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/two-more-tech-companies-fire-large-portions-of-their-staff" target="_blank" rel="noopener">informed</a> employees that the e-commerce giant would institute a freeze on incremental hires in the corporate workforce. “We anticipate keeping this pause in place for the next few months, and will continue to monitor what we’re seeing in the economy and the business to adjust as we think makes sense,” she remarked.
Several technology companies, including Microsoft, Tesla, and Coinbase, already announced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/recession-fears-lead-big-tech-companies-to-pause-hiring-cut-jobs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hiring pauses or layoffs</a> earlier this year. Although many of the dismissals were attributed to the state of the economy, prominent investors have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meta-shares-fall-to-lowest-level-since-2016-as-company-burns-billions-on-metaverse-inflates-payrolls" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> that technology firms’ payrolls are bloated, a reality which led Twitter CEO Elon Musk to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-elon-musk-sends-blunt-message-to-3700-fired-twitter-employees">cut</a> the company’s headcount in half.
FedEx Freight is preparing to furlough an unspecified number of drivers beginning in early December, according to a <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fedex-freight-to-begin-driver-furloughs-next-month" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Freight Waves. Employees can opt into the voluntary furlough, slated to last for three months, and continue receiving healthcare benefits. In addition, workers are eligible to file for state unemployment insurance, while some will be offered transfers to markets with greater hiring needs.
“Because of our previous experience with furlough and with the incentives we are offering, we are expecting employees to volunteer to meet the business need,” FedEx Freight spokesperson Miranda Yarbro said in a statement. The business unit, which handles less-than-truckload freight needs for FedEx, currently employs 45,000 people and has outperformed the company’s other transport business subsidiaries, FedEx Express and FedEx Ground.
Shares in FedEx have declined 31% since the beginning of the year, while shares in Amazon have plummeted 41%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.6% over the same period, while the technology-heavy NASDAQ fell 27.5%.
The layoffs from both Amazon and FedEx are troubling, given that they occur shortly ahead of the holiday season. Supply chain bottlenecks and rising price levels, among other phenomena, are currently worsening global economic conditions.
Holiday retail sales in the United States are expected to grow between 6% and 8% since last year to possibly surpass $960 billion, according to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rise-in-holiday-spending-to-be-outpaced-by-inflation-forecast-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the National Retail Federation. Although the growth appears to surpass the average 4.9% annual increase witnessed over the past decade, the expansion will be mostly eclipsed by inflation, which rose year-over-year at a 7.7% rate as of last month, according to a <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“While consumers are feeling the pressure of inflation and higher prices, and while there is continued stratification with consumer spending and behavior among households at different income levels, consumers remain resilient and continue to engage in commerce,” National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay said in a <a href="https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/nrf-predicts-healthy-holiday-sales-consumers-navigate-economic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. “In the face of these challenges, many households will supplement spending with savings and credit to provide a cushion and result in a positive holiday season.”
With respect to non-store and online sales, the National Retail Foundation estimates increases between 10% and 12% as consumers grow in their reliance upon online shopping. Some consumers, however, will return to traditional in-store experiences.

Daily Life In Edmonton During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Two Critical Companies Will Lay Off, Furlough Employees During Holiday Shopping Season

Amazon And FedEx Lay Off, Furlough Employees Ahead Of Holiday Season

Business

Economy

Recession

FedEx took a $470 million hit in its most recent quarter due to rampant labor shortages.
According to CFO Michael Lenz, the lack of available workers inflicted a more sizable impact on the logistics firm’s bottom line than any other factor. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/17/economy/fedex-labor-shortage-costs-earnings/index.html">CNN Business</a> reported:
<blockquote>Although FedEx&#8217;s revenue was up nearly $3 billion to $23.5 billion in the quarter ended November 30, its adjusted income was essentially unchanged. The labor shortage was the biggest single reason, the company said…
He said the $470 million cost was split nearly evenly between two factors. The first was higher pay to employees and higher rates paid to outside trucking firms used by the company. The other half was the cost of inefficiencies — greater use of outside trucking companies, the increased cost to reposition assets in the network and the need to address staffing shortages.</blockquote>
FedEx — which expects the problems to continue in the present quarter — is responding with new employee hiring, engagement, and retention initiatives. CNN Business added:
<blockquote>The company said it is getting a good response from its current hiring efforts, given its current pay package and other offerings, including an app that provides employee-friendly, flexible schedule options. That includes the ability to pick up extra shifts when convenient or swap shifts with other workers. FedEx said in the last week alone, the company got 111,000 applications for job seekers, the highest in its history, and up from just 52,000 during a week in May of this year.</blockquote>
The labor shortages are by no means limited to FedEx. According to the Department of Labor’s most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), which analyzed data from October, there are more than 11 million job <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/there-are-now-3-6-million-more-jobs-than-people-willing-to-take-them">openings</a> in the United States — exceeding the number of people actively searching for work by 3.6 million.
Indeed, Glassdoor — a website through which employees can anonymously review companies — <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/job-market-will-not-return-to-normal-anytime-soon-says-new-report">said</a> in its most recent “Workplace Trends” report that the labor shortages bottlenecking economic activity will continue into next year.
“Labor shortages defined the 2021 job market. As customer demand roared back to life, employers faced acute hiring challenges as workers trickled back into the labor force,” the analysis found. “The increased competition for workers has made it exceptionally difficult to both hire and retain employees. Employers may be ready to write off the tight 2021 labor market as a pandemic-era anomaly, but they shouldn’t. Instead, 2021 should be a template for what to expect in 2022.”
“Unlike past recessions, the U.S. has largely skipped the phase of the recovery where employers have a large pool of unemployed workers to hire from,” the report continued. “Employer reliance on furloughs kept the pool of available workers relatively small throughout the pandemic.”
“The imbalance between labor supply and demand is large enough that even a moderate improvement in conditions would not be enough to make it easy to hire again. There simply is no silver bullet to fix labor shortages,” the report added.
Among the difficulties faced by companies seeking to hire are “a lingering pandemic that will not disappear overnight,” “reduced availability of retirees and parents,” and “a quicker-than-expected recovery in customer demand.”

Worker Shortages Cost FedEx $470 Million

Eight people were killed and seven were injured in Indianapolis late Thursday night after a gunman walked onto a FedEx ground facility property and started shooting, local authorities said early Friday morning.  
Five of the seven injured were taken to the hospital, while another two were treated on-scene, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/16/us/indianapolis-fedex-shooting">according</a> to The New York Times. One of the hospitalized individuals was in critical condition as of Friday morning but the individual is reportedly expected to survive. The facility is located near the Indianapolis airport. 
“As officers arrived, they came in contact with an active shooter incident. Preliminary information at this time is that the shooter has taken his own life,” said police department spokesperson Genae Cook in a press conference early Friday, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG1LjqdaTwM">reports</a> ABC News. “We don’t feel that there is an active threat to the community at this time.”
Craig McCartt, a deputy police chief, said the suspect began shooting when in the parking lot before walking into the facility, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-04-15/reports-multiple-people-shot-at-indianapolis-fedex-facility">reports</a> The Los Angeles Times. “There was no confrontation with anyone that was there,” said McCartt.
“There was no disturbance, there was no argument. He just appeared to randomly start shooting,&#8221; he added.
In a <a href="https://newsroom.fedex.com/newsroom/frederick-w-smith-message-to-team-members-on-indianapolis-tragedy/">letter</a> posted online, FedEx CEO Frederick Smith described the eight victims as employees of the company.
 “I want to express my deepest sympathies to the families, friends, and co-workers of those team members. Our priority right now is in responding to the situation on the ground and helping our team members and law enforcement,&#8221; said Smith. 
“This is a devastating day, and words are hard to describe the emotions we all feel. Please keep the Indianapolis team and surrounding community in your thoughts and prayers as we continue to support and care for each other in the difficult days ahead,&#8221; he added.
Governor Eric Holcomb (R) called the incident heartbreaking and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff for the next four days.
&#8220;In times like this, words like justice and sorrow fall short in response for those senselessly taken. Our thoughts are with the families, friends, coworkers and all those affected by this terrible situation,&#8221; said Holcomb.
Both of Indiana&#8217;s U.S. Senators responded to the tragedy on Friday morning.
&#8220;The shooting at FedEx was a senseless tragedy. Indiana and the nation mourn for the lives lost and forever changed last night,&#8221; said Senator Todd Young (R).
Senator Mike Braun (R) said he and his wife learned about the shooting when they woke up. &#8220;Our hearts are mourning for the individuals who’ve senselessly lost their lives, all of their loved ones, and their co-workers at FedEx who will be dealing with this tragedy for a long time to come,&#8221; he said.
This article has been expanded after publication to include additional information.

US-crime-shooting

8 Dead, 7 Injured In FedEx Facility Shooting

Indiana

Shooting

The New York Times responded to FedEx on Monday after the courier delivery service challenged the left-wing newspaper to a public debate over tax policy. FedEx had responded to the Times alleging in an article that FedEx no longer paid taxes under President Donald Trump&#8217;s tax-cut bill.
“FedEx’s colorful response does not actually challenge a single fact in our story. We’re confident in the accuracy of our reporting,” Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said in a statement. “FedEx’s invitation is clearly a stunt and an effort to distract from the findings of our story.”
The Times statement came in response to a statement from FedEx CEO Frederick Smith, who challenged the Times to a debate on Sunday in response to their story, saying in a <a href="https://about.van.fedex.com/newsroom/statement-from-frederick-w-smith-chairman-and-ceo-of-fedex-corporation/">statement</a>:
<blockquote>The New York Times published a distorted and factually incorrect story on the front page of the Sunday, November 17 edition concerning FedEx and our billions of dollars of tax payments and billions of dollars of investments in the U.S. economy.  Pertinent to this outrageous distortion of the truth is the fact that unlike FedEx, the New York Times paid zero federal income tax in 2017 on earnings of $111 million, and only $30 million in 2018 – 18% of their pretax book income.  Also in 2018 the New York Times cut their capital investments nearly in half to $57 million, which equates to a rounding error when compared to the $6 billion of capital that FedEx invested in the U.S. economy during that same year.
I hereby challenge A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times and the business section editor to a public debate in Washington, DC with me and the FedEx corporate vice president of tax.  The focus of the debate should be federal tax policy and the relative societal benefits of business investments and the enormous intended benefits to the United States economy, especially lower and middle class wage earners.
I look forward to promptly hearing from Mr. Sulzberger and scheduling this open event to bring further public awareness of the facts related to these important issues.</blockquote>
It is worth noting that the Times did not appear to dispute the allegations from Smith that the newspaper did not pay any federal income taxes in 2017  on earnings of $111 million.
After Smith released his statement, FedEx released an independent statement responding to The New York Times story:
<blockquote>The New York Times article is a deliberate distortion of our company’s actions before and after tax reform. FedEx has paid federal income tax every year, including fiscal year 2018. Following passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), FedEx invested billions in capital items eligible for accelerated depreciation and made large contributions to our employee pension plans. These factors have temporarily lowered our federal income tax, which was the law’s intention to help grow GDP and generate investment in the U.S. The accelerated depreciation deductions are only temporary with higher depreciation and lower taxes early in the life of a new capital asset. This is then offset by lower depreciation and higher taxes later in that asset’s life. These temporary deductions FedEx received for capital investments are minimal compared to the overall impact the company has on the economy.
FedEx made extensive investments in our team members and our global network to better serve our customers following passage of the TCJA. These investments included a voluntary contribution of $1.5 billion to the FedEx pension plan to ensure it remains a well-funded retirement program, more than $200 million in increased team member compensation – about two-thirds of which went to hourly team members – and more than $3 billion to significantly expand and modernize our Memphis and Indianapolis hubs through 2025.
FedEx takes pride in paying its full share of taxes and has paid almost $10 billion in total taxes in the U.S. during the last five fiscal years, contributing to tax revenues of the U.S. government. We have supported tax increases in some cases, particularly federal diesel and gasoline taxes, to fund badly-needed infrastructure in the United States. The decrease in U.S. investment over the past year is due to the slowdown in global trade which has a significant impact on the asset-intensive industrial economy, including FedEx.</blockquote>
The statements from Smith and FedEx came in response to the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/business/how-fedex-cut-its-tax-bill-to-0.html">reporting</a> on Sunday that FedEx went from paying $1.5 billion per year in taxes to paying nothing after Trump signed the tax cut bill into law.
&#8220;In the 2017 fiscal year, FedEx owed more than $1.5 billion in taxes. The next year, it owed nothing. What changed was the Trump administration’s tax cut — for which the company had lobbied hard,&#8221; the Times reported. &#8220;The public face of its lobbying effort, which included a tax proposal of its own, was FedEx’s founder and chief executive, Frederick Smith, who repeatedly took to the airwaves to champion the power of tax cuts.&#8221;
&#8220;Four months later, President Trump signed into law the $1.5 trillion tax cut that became his signature legislative achievement. FedEx reaped big savings, bringing its effective tax rate from 34 percent in fiscal year 2017 to less than zero in fiscal year 2018, meaning that, overall, the government technically owed it money. But it did not increase investment in new equipment and other assets in the fiscal year that followed, as Mr. Smith said businesses like his would,&#8221; the Times added. &#8220;Nearly two years after the tax law passed, the windfall to corporations like FedEx is becoming clear. A New York Times analysis of data compiled by Capital IQ shows no statistically meaningful relationship between the size of the tax cut that companies and industries received and the investments they made.&#8221;
&nbsp;

Fedex

New York Times Responds To FedEx’s Debate Challenge While FedEx Releases Additional Statement

New York Times

The New York Times accused FedEx on Sunday of essentially having lobbied President Donald Trump to sign tax cuts into law with the promise of businesses using the saved money to reinvest in and further grow their companies, and then failing to invest the billions of dollars that it reportedly saved as a result of the tax cuts.
&#8220;In the 2017 fiscal year, FedEx owed more than $1.5 billion in taxes. The next year, it owed nothing. What changed was the Trump administration’s tax cut – for which the company had lobbied hard,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/business/how-fedex-cut-its-tax-bill-to-0.html">reported</a> on Sunday. &#8220;The public face of its lobbying effort, which included a tax proposal of its own, was FedEx’s founder and chief executive, Frederick Smith, who repeatedly took to the airwaves to champion the power of tax cuts.&#8221;
&#8220;Four months later, President Trump signed into law the $1.5 trillion tax cut that became his signature legislative achievement. FedEx reaped big savings, bringing its effective tax rate from 34 percent in fiscal year 2017 to less than zero in fiscal year 2018, meaning that, overall, the government technically owed it money. But it did not increase investment in new equipment and other assets in the fiscal year that followed, as Mr. Smith said businesses like his would,&#8221; the Times added. &#8220;Nearly two years after the tax law passed, the windfall to corporations like FedEx is becoming clear. A New York Times analysis of data compiled by Capital IQ shows no statistically meaningful relationship between the size of the tax cut that companies and industries received and the investments they made.&#8221;
Late on Sunday, FedEx CEO Frederick Smith <a href="https://about.van.fedex.com/newsroom/statement-from-frederick-w-smith-chairman-and-ceo-of-fedex-corporation/">responded</a> to The New York Times&#8217; story by calling it factually incorrect, claiming that The New York Times is the company that does not pay federal income taxes, and challenging the publisher of The New York Times to a debate on tax policy.
&#8220;The New York Times published a distorted and factually incorrect story on the front page of the Sunday, November 17 edition concerning FedEx and our billions of dollars of tax payments and billions of dollars of investments in the U.S. economy,&#8221; Smith wrote. &#8220;Pertinent to this outrageous distortion of the truth is the fact that unlike FedEx, the New York Times paid zero federal income tax in 2017 on earnings of $111 million, and only $30 million in 2018 – 18% of their pretax book income.  Also in 2018 the New York Times cut their capital investments nearly in half to $57 million, which equates to a rounding error when compared to the $6 billion of capital that FedEx invested in the U.S. economy during that same year.&#8221;
&#8220;I hereby challenge A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times and the business section editor to a public debate in Washington, DC with me and the FedEx corporate vice president of tax,&#8221; Smith continued. &#8220;The focus of the debate should be federal tax policy and the relative societal benefits of business investments and the enormous intended benefits to the United States economy, especially lower and middle class wage earners.&#8221;
Smith concluded, &#8220;I look forward to promptly hearing from Mr. Sulzberger and scheduling this open event to bring further public awareness of the facts related to these important issues.&#8221;

New York Times Accuses FedEx Of Not Paying Taxes. FedEx’s Response Is Priceless.

Taxes

A FedEx driver who fatally punched a man who called him racial slurs and attempted to hit him first was found justified in his actions and will not face any charges, <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2018/11/no-charges-for-fedex-driver-who-fatally-punched-man-calling-him-racial-slurs.html">announced</a> the Multnomah County District Attorney&#8217;s Office on Monday.
The FedEx employee, Timothy Warren, was involved in the fatal altercation on September 26 in Portland, Oregon. After Joseph Magnuson repeatedly called him the N-word and other racial slurs, he allegedly threw a punch at Warren, but missed. In response, Warren struck Magnuson above his left eye, which knocked him unconscious. Magnuson later died of his injuries from the blow.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Adam Gibbs said there was no evidence of &#8220;intent to kill&#8221; from Warren, <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2018/11/no-charges-for-fedex-driver-who-fatally-punched-man-calling-him-racial-slurs.html">reported</a> The Oregonian. It was determined by a medical examiner that Magnuson was in &#8220;extremely poor health&#8221; before the incident and the punch &#8220;aggravated pre-existing medical conditions and led to his death.&#8221;
The Blaze <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/11/21/fedex-driver-who-fatally-punched-man-who-called-him-racial-slurs-will-not-be-charged?utm_content=buffer81307&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=theblaze">reports</a> on the encounter:
<blockquote>
Witnesses allege that Magnuson instigated the incident and aggressively shouted at Warren, the driver, and demanded he slow down. Warren reportedly stopped the vehicle to speak with Magnuson, according to a report in The Oregonian. When he did, Magnuson reportedly began calling Warren racial slurs, and threw a drink at him.
Other witnesses reported that they&#8217;d seen Magnuson throw a bag of food at Warren during the altercation, and then threw a punch at the driver, but missed.
Warren struck Magnuson in the head &#8212; above his left eye &#8212; and knocked him to the ground, unconscious. He later died as a result of the punch.
</blockquote>
Gibbs, the district attorney, wrote in a memo that the incident might not have resulted in Magnuson&#8217;s death if Warren had ignored the racial slurs and kept on driving, but noted, &#8220;the decision by Mr. Warren, who is black, to not let the racist vitriol to which he was being subjected go unanswered is not of legal significance.&#8221;
&#8220;Oregon law contains no &#8216;duty to retreat&#8217; and Mr. Warren was within his right to exit his vehicle and verbally challenge the manner in which Mr. Magnuson was addressing him,&#8221; Gibbs continued. &#8220;Mr. Magnuson was the initial verbal aggressor; Mr. Warren responded in kind. Mr. Magnuson then escalated and became the initial physical aggressor; Mr. Warren again responded in kind.&#8221;
According to The Oregonian, this is Portland&#8217;s fourth homicide this year that has been deemed to have occurred in self-defense.

No Charges For FedEx Driver Who Fatally Punched Man Calling Him The N-Word

Gun control proponents are cheering what they are portraying as another victory in their war against the National Rifle Association. In an exclusive Monday, Reuters announced that FedEx, in &#8220;a quiet reversal,&#8221; has officially dropped its snail mail deal with the NRA.
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-fedex-nra-breakingviews/breakingviews-exclusive-fedex-drops-nra-deal-by-snail-mail-idUSKCN1N425N">Reuters Breakingviews</a> initially frames the decision as FedEx finally caving to pressure from the gun control lobby eight months after the Parkland shooting:
<blockquote>
Mass shootings happen in an instant and grab headlines. A business and investment shift away from the firearms industry is happening more subtly. FedEx, the U.S. shipping group, is ending a program that offers discounts for business members of the National Rifle Association, the company confirmed to Breakingviews.
It&#8217;s a quiet reversal: eight months ago, FedEx stood by the gun-rights lobby group as other companies scrapped deals. They were reacting to the NRA&#8217;s stance after 17 students and staff members were murdered at a Florida high school by a former student. Companies including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and car-rental firm Enterprise swiftly ended member discounts. At the time, FedEx said that while assault rifles of the kind used in most American mass shootings shouldn&#8217;t be in civilian hands, it did not believe in &#8220;discriminating&#8221; between organizations it works with.
</blockquote>
Reuters also attempts to connect the big &#8220;reversal&#8221; to the anti-Semitic mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue Saturday, noting, &#8220;The change of tack comes just days after a gunman killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue.&#8221;
But, as pointed out by <a href="https://hotair.com/archives/2018/10/31/fedex-ditches-nra-discount-program-not-reason-liberals-think/">Hot Air</a>, buried in the middle of a paragraph in the middle of the piece, Reuters acknowledges that FedEx underscored that its decision to end the deal had nothing whatsoever to do with any mass shootings and everything to do with good business. It has been in the works for a while now, and NRA members aren&#8217;t the only ones that will no longer enjoy the discount program:
<blockquote>
The $56 billion logistics company says the closure of its NRA discount program from Nov. 4 has no connection to that incident or any other shooting. Rather, the NRA just didn&#8217;t bring in enough business to merit its own deal. It&#8217;s among dozens of organizations FedEx plans to move to new pricing programs, and the company has been notifying customers since early October.
</blockquote>
After admitting the real rationale for ending the program, which clearly isn&#8217;t what gun control activists might&#8217;ve hoped for, Reuters insists it is &#8220;still significant &#8211; perhaps more so than largely political gestures.&#8221; The reason: &#8220;It suggests the NRA no longer has the economic clout to inspire fear in the corporate world.&#8221;
The only problem with that take is that the NRA&#8217;s membership appears to have actually increased since the Parkland shooting, as reported by The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/09/19/magazine-numbers-suggest-nra-has-added-hundreds-thousands-new-members/?utm_term=.a53eb639a7bb">Washington Post</a> in September.
The Reuters piece ends by championing companies like Walmart, Dick&#8217;s Sporting Goods and Kroger&#8217;s for bending to the gun control lobby, describing them as becoming &#8220;less timid,&#8221; and stating that their sales haven&#8217;t suffered as a result of their political moves.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/29915/damage-control-nra-calls-out-yeti-coolers-trying-james-barrett">&#8216;DAMAGE CONTROL&#8217;: NRA Calls Out YETI Coolers For Trying To &#8216;Run From The Facts&#8217;</a>

Gun Control Crowd Cheers FedEx Ending NRA Discount. FedEx: It’s Not What You Think.

National Rifle Association (NRA)

Reuters

Just after midnight Tuesday morning, a package heading to Austin containing shrapnel exploded inside a FedEx distribution facility outside of San Antonio, Texas. Authorities say no one was seriously injured and are currently investigating if the bomb is connected to a string of deadly package bombs.
Law enforcement sources told <a href="http://abc7amarillo.com/features/keep-it-local/breaking-package-addressed-to-austin-explodes-at-fedex-facility-in-schertz">CBS Austin</a> that the package detonated around 12:25 a.m. at the company&#8217;s facility in Schertz, near San Antonio. &#8220;Sources said the package was moving from an elevated conveyor belt to a lower section when it exploded,&#8221; CBS reports.
According to sources, the package contained &#8220;shrapnel consisting of nails and pieces of metal,&#8221; CBS reports.
None of the 75 employees at the facility were seriously injured, though one woman who was working near the package when it detonated was treated for a headache.
&#8220;Authorities have not yet said if this is related to this month&#8217;s serial bombings in Austin,&#8221; CBS reports. &#8220;Law enforcement officials said those packages, that have so far killed two people and injured six others, have been placed by hand.&#8221;
The explosion comes just over a day after another package bomb exploded in the Austin area, injuring two men. A total of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/28387/austin-bombings-heres-what-you-need-know-james-barrett">four bombs</a> have detonated in the area this month, three left on porches and one on the side of the road, killing two people and injuring four others. On Sunday, authorities increased a reward for information leading to the arrest of the bomber and revealed that over 500 federal agents are now on the case trying to track down the killer.
CBS Austin&#8217;s Adam Hammons reports that sources say &#8220;they are treating this explosion in Schertz as more than likely linked to the Austin bombings.&#8221; Below is Hammon&#8217;s coverage from the scene at the FedEx in Scherz:
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Just got to the scene here in Schertz and here are the trucks I saw on I-35 that looked like the federal authorities in Austin <a href="https://t.co/tCjSGsWyo1">pic.twitter.com/tCjSGsWyo1</a>
&#8212; Adam Hammons (@AdamH_CBSAUSTIN) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamH_CBSAUSTIN/status/976038380877344769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
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A new package exploded overnight in Texas, this time at a FedEx facility outside San Antonio. A law enforcement source said it appears the package was mailed from Austin, and it was also due to be delivered there. <a href="https://twitter.com/OmarVillafranca?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OmarVillafranca</a> reports: <a href="https://t.co/jVXPifE2B5">https://t.co/jVXPifE2B5</a> <a href="https://t.co/11VI8srhqK">pic.twitter.com/11VI8srhqK</a>
&#8212; CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSThisMorning/status/976053175613640704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
We&#8217;re here at the distribution center in Schertz just northeast of San Antonio after a package exploded that was headed to an address in Austin <a href="https://t.co/ezn2dsxi8P">pic.twitter.com/ezn2dsxi8P</a>
&#8212; Adam Hammons (@AdamH_CBSAUSTIN) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamH_CBSAUSTIN/status/976038825947381761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Sources are telling us they are treating this explosion in Schertz as more than likely linked to the Austin bombings.
&#8212; Adam Hammons (@AdamH_CBSAUSTIN) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamH_CBSAUSTIN/status/976049224470188033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
A new package exploded overnight in Texas, this time at a FedEx facility outside San Antonio. A law enforcement source said it appears the package was mailed from Austin, and it was also due to be delivered there. <a href="https://twitter.com/OmarVillafranca?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OmarVillafranca</a> reports: <a href="https://t.co/jVXPifE2B5">https://t.co/jVXPifE2B5</a> <a href="https://t.co/11VI8srhqK">pic.twitter.com/11VI8srhqK</a>
&#8212; CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSThisMorning/status/976053175613640704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/28387/austin-bombings-heres-what-you-need-know-james-barrett">Austin Bombings: Here&#8217;s What You Need To Know</a>

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