Happy New Year 2025

Category: Business

Musk-led group of investors submit unsolicited bid of $97.4 to take over OpenAI

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar explains how AI is taking center stage at Davos, what the Stargate project means for the macroeconomy and details new products for key customers.

A group of investors led by billionaire Elon Musk has offered $97.4 million to take control of OpenAI, fueling his feud with Sam Altman over ChatGPT, which is behind the artificial intelligence (AI) company, according to reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Marc Toberoff, Musk’s attorney, said he submitted a bid on Monday to the board of directors at OpenAI.

ELON MUSK AND TECH LEADER SAM ALTMAN GET INTO WAR OF WORDS OVER AI INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Musk previously helped launch OpenAI, which Altman is now the CEO of, but no longer has any connection to the company. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

While the offer was unsolicited, it could interfere with Altman’s plans for the future of OpenAI, which included turning it into a profitable company. He also reportedly planned to spend up to $500 billion in infrastructure to support artificial intelligence through Stargate, a joint venture Altman is part of.

Both Musk and Altman are battling it out in court over the future direction of OpenAI.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

February 10, 2025
Elon Musk warns Federal Reserve may face DOGE audit

Varney & Co. host Stuart Varney reacts to Democrats attacks on Elon Musk over his federal budget cost-cutting efforts.

Billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday signaled that the Federal Reserve could face scrutiny as Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues to audit federal agencies and spending.

Musk wrote on X in response to a user’s post about the billionaire’s support for an audit of the Fed that the central bank isn’t above scrutiny from DOGE.

“All aspects of the government must be fully transparent and accountable to the people. No exceptions, including, if not especially, the Federal Reserve,” Musk wrote.

Musk is a longtime critic of the central bank and has called out its decisions on monetary policy as well as claiming the Fed’s workforce is bloated.

POWELL PUSHES BACK ON MUSK’S CLAIM FED IS ‘ABSURDLY OVERSTAFFED’

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk warned the Federal Reserve could face an audit. (om Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)

In May 2024, Musk posted that the “Fed has a crazy high number of employees.”

The billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX also said last summer the Fed was too slow in cutting interest rates, writing on X in August that the Fed “needs to drop rates” and has been “foolish not to have done so already.”

The Fed would go on to cut rates in September in line with the market’s expectations, which it followed with further cuts in November and December.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS ELON MUSK’S DOGE FROM ACCESSING TREASURY RECORDS AFTER DEMOCRATIC AGS FILE LAWSUIT

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell pushed back on Musk’s claim that the central bank is “absurdly overstaffed.” (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Fed Chair Jerome Powell was asked about Musk’s recent claim that the central bank’s workforce is “absurdly overstaffed” at a press conference last month following the central bank’s decision to leave rates steady at the current range of 4.25% to 4.5%.

“We run a very careful budget process where we’re fully aware. We owe that to the public, and we believe we do that. I’ve got no further comment on that, thanks,” Powell responded to FOX Business’ Edward Lawrence.

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February 10, 2025
Don’t be fooled. Trumponomics will tame inflation — not make it worse

Economist Steve Moore and former member of White House Council of Economic advisors Tomas Philipson discuss President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign countries on ‘The Bottom Line.’

It seems the whole world and the entire liberal media are hyperventilating over the Trump tariffs and their inflationary impact. Many of the sharpest critics of President Donald Trump’s policies are the same “experts” who assured us four years ago that President Joe Biden’s policies wouldn’t cause inflation. Oops!

Then there is the argument put forth by the New York Times and many economists like Mark Zandi of Moody’s that Trump’s tariffs are inflationary and so are his tax cuts.

Hello! Tax cuts and tax increases both can’t cause inflation. This is political advocacy dressed up as (bad) economics.

Inflation is a government-generated disease induced by fiscal and monetary policy that leads to too many dollars chasing too few goods. Anything that increases money puts pressure on consumer prices and anything that increases the supply of goods produced reduces inflationary pressures.

HERE’S HOW TRUMP’S TARIFFS ON CHINA COULD IMPACT DRUG PRICING AND OTHER HEALTHCARE COSTS

As economists who believe in free markets, we aren’t fans of higher taxes in general, including tariffs, and it is true they may raise prices slightly for certain products. But there are three problems with the argument that Trump’s tariffs will cause an overall rise in prices.

Economist Steve Moore and former member of White House Council of Economic advisors Tomas Philipson discuss President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign countries on ‘The Bottom Line.’

The first is, of course, that they are not implemented and merely used as effective threats to yield concessions. This “peace through strength” in trade wars rather than regular wars mimics our influential but unused nuclear capabilities. Indeed, Colombia caved while Mexico and Canada are now pledging to assist in keeping deadly drugs from coming across the border.

The second flaw in the “tariffs cause inflation” line is that U.S. economic activity is mostly domestic and thus the quantitative impact of tariffs is relatively small. Imports now make up about 12% relative to our GDP. Much-debated Chinese imports represent only 2%, so a 10% increase in tariffs, even if fully pushed onto U.S. consumers, represents a 0.2 percent change. This is one reason why the Trump tariffs did not cause inflation in the first Trump term. But the effect on prices is likely to be a lot less than that this time around because some of the burden of the tariff is borne by foreign producers. If you sell a close substitute to U.S. goods, many consumers will say goodbye if you raise prices in response to a tariff.

Policies that make the American economy more productive are the best antidote to inflation.

Similarly, Trump’s promised deportation of illegal aliens may raise prices by causing a shortage of workers and thus higher prices in some immigrant-dependent industries. But let us say that 2 million workers were deported — which we think would be a high number. In a country with a labor force of 168 million, this wage-push inflation is likely to be small. In addition, if wages rise, the effect on real wages for U.S. workers from price hikes is reduced.

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But here is what the inflation hawks are missing. Any pressure on prices from deportations and tariffs are likely to be more than offset by other Trump economic policies that will put downward pressures on overall inflation. Policies that make the American economy more productive are the best antidote to inflation.

O’Leary Ventures Chairman Kevin O’Leary shares whether he’s concerned about President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, the fate of the U.S. penny and the handling of the TikTok sale.

Trump is suggesting slashing income tax rates to 15% on made-in-America products. DOGE cost cutting and caps on federal hiring will make government products and services less expensive. And perhaps most importantly, reducing onerous regulations will cut costs and prices.

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More drilling and mining will make energy and minerals less expensive. Trump’s push for health care price transparency will make medical consumers more attentive to costs and put downward on prices. Trump’s call for legal immigrant worker visas will offset losses of illegal alien workers.

Those who warn of runaway inflation under Trump ignore all the Trump policies that are disinflationary. They forget that Trump was already president for four years and the annual inflation rate from many of the same policies he is talking about now was 1.9% or slightly less than the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target.

One prediction you can take to the bank: if Trump can win spending cuts from Congress anywhere near what he is proposing, inflation is going to look a lot more like the low levels in his first term than the blizzard of inflation under Bidenomics.

Stephen Moore is a visiting senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Tomas Philipson is an economist at the University of Chicago and served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Donald Trump. Moore is co-founder and Philipson a visiting research fellow at Unleash Prosperity.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM STEPHEN MOORE

February 10, 2025
More craft beer breweries are shutting down than opening up

For the first time, more craft beer breweries are shutting down than opening up, according to the Brewers Association.

For the first time, more craft beer breweries are shutting down than opening up.

Breweries and taprooms are dealing with rising supply costs while demand for beer is slipping, according to the Brewers Association.

Bart Watson is the president and chief executive officer of the Brewers Association. Watson said things got worse for many craft breweries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic obviously also had secondary ripples for the economy, for supply chains and it changed consumer patterns overall. We are seeing people certainly spend as much at bars and restaurants as they did before, but they are doing so in different ways – more to go and delivery.”

BUD LIGHT TO SPEND ‘HEAVILY’ ON MARKETING AFTER DYLAN MULVANEY CONTROVERSY

Coming off dry January, some brewery owners said they were hoping Super Bowl Sunday would kick up their sales. (Kennedy Hayes/ FOX News / Fox News)

Last year, beer sales dropped 2% nationwide, and in Colorado, beer sales fell by over 3%, according to the Colorado Liquor Enforcement Division.

AMID CANCER CONCERNS, COULD MORE DRINKERS TURN TO NO- AND LOW-ALCOHOL DRINKS?

Even though Colorado has the fourth most breweries of any state, right behind Pennsylvania, New York, and California, it saw some of the highest number of closures last year, according to the National Brewer Association.

FOR TAP BEER, THIS ANHEUSER-BUSCH BRAND IS NOW TOPS

“Some of the most challenged regions are some of the most developed, like here in Colorado, the pacific northwest, the west coast in general,” Watson said.

One brewery owner in Georgetown, Colorado said they are facing higher costs. (Kennedy Hayes/ FOX News / Fox News)

Patrick Toland is a manager at Cabin Creek Brewing. Toland said they opened their brewery in May 2020. Cabin Creek is located in Georgetown, Colorado, which is a city about an hour west from Denver with just over 1,000 people.

ALCOHOL LINKED TO CANCER RISK IN US SURGEON GENERAL’S NEW ADVISORY

“The cost of raw materials-especially for the beer [and] the grain has increased. The shipping has massively increased,” Toland said.

A patron at the brewery enjoys a drink. (Kennedy Hayes/ FOX News / Fox News)

This February, Cabin Creek Brewing, became the sole brewery in Georgetown after a nearby brewery closed. Toland said he’s kept the doors open by raising prices and expanding the menu.

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“A lot of big brands are aligning with trend setting on social media in terms of offering non-alcoholic or alcohol alternatives. We have had to do the same,” Toland said.

February 10, 2025
Trader Joe’s puts cap on how many eggs shoppers can buy

National Restaurant Association president Michelle Korsmo unpacks the cost of eggs on ‘The Claman Countdown.’

Trader Joe’s is putting a cap on how many eggs its shoppers can purchase each day.

The company told FOX Business on Monday that it is “currently limiting egg purchases to one dozen per customer, per day.”

That cap applies to eggs at every Trader Joe’s grocery store in the U.S., according to the company. It operates hundreds of stores nationwide.

Trader Joe’s cited “ongoing issues with the supply of eggs” as the reason for the daily limit.

The Trader Joe’s in Shoreview, Minnesota. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via / Getty Images)

WAFFLE HOUSE, OTHER COMPANIES ADD EGG SURCHARGE AMID SHORTAGE

Eggs have been in short supply in the U.S. due to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), known as bird flu.

“We hope these limits will help to ensure that as many of our customers who need eggs are able to purchase them when they visit Trader Joe’s,” the grocer said.

Eggs have been in short supply in the U.S. due to outbreaks of bird flu. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

A report published by the Agriculture Department late last week said shell egg availability “remains limited and inconsistent in many retail markets with many affected grocers employing steps to limit consumer purchasing to stretch their existing supplies.” Actions grocers have been taking include curbing promotional activities on eggs, implementing caps on the number of eggs consumers can buy at a time, and “holding prices at record or near-record highs to dampen demand,” according to the report.

EGG SHORTAGES FORCE SOME GROCERY STORES TO IMPOSE LIMITS

Bird flu has contributed to high egg prices in grocery stores in addition to shortages.

In the U.S., a dozen large Grade A eggs averaged $4.15 in December, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed. That marked a 13.7 % jump from the previous month.

More than two-thirds of surveyed shoppers said they pick up eggs from retailers on a weekly basis. ( / iStock)

A Numerator survey released in late January found 71% of U.S. egg shoppers thought eggs were “somewhat or very” pricey. More than half have recently experienced their grocery stores having a shortage of eggs or being completely out of stock, it showed.

EGG PRICES AREN’T COMING DOWN ANYTIME SOON, EXPERTS SAY

More than one-third of surveyed egg shoppers said they pick up eggs from retailers on a weekly basis. The same percentage – 34% – reported buying them “every couple of weeks,” according to Numerator.

February 10, 2025
McDonald’s takes massive sales hit from E. Coli outbreak

Former McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner analyzes the state of fast food industry as the U.S. economy slows on ‘The Claman Countdown.’

McDonald’s sales took a significant hit in its latest quarter due to an E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions that killed one person and sent over two dozen to the hospital.

CEO Chris Kempczinski told analysts during an earnings call on Monday that sales at U.S. stores slipped 1.4% during the fourth quarter, which was largely attributed to the “impact of the E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions on our Quarter Pounders.”

The company reported revenue of $6.39 billion, missing Wall Street estimates of $6.44 billion.

Federal health officials declared that the outbreak was “closed” in December, after illnesses emerged in late October. There were 104 confirmed cases of the E. coli O157:H7 strain across 14 states, with hospitalizations climbing to 34. Four victims had developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that can cause kidney failure, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). One death was linked to the outbreak early on, the CDC said.

GROCER WEIGHS IN ON DEADLY BOAR’S HEAD RECALL SHIFTING HOW CONSUMERS SHOP IN STORES

The raw onions served as a topping on Quarter Pounders were found to be the likely source of the outbreak after beef was ruled out. The agency said it has completed inspections at the Colorado processing plant of Taylor Farms, which supplied recalled onions to McDonald’s, and an unnamed onion farm in Washington state.

A Quarter Pounder hamburger is served at a McDonald’s restaurant. (Scott Olson/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Upon discovery of the outbreak, McDonald’s removed Quarter Pounders from the menu at 900 of its restaurants in the impacted areas and stopped purchasing onions processed at Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility.

Executives said that the company had been seeing “strong sales” during the first few weeks of October before the outbreak emerged.

In the fourth quarter, while there was slightly positive traffic at U.S. stores, the company said customers were spending less. Part of the issue was that its Quarter Pounder was “a high margin” item, according to executives.

Kempczinski said the E. coli impact is now “localized to the areas that had the biggest impact.”

A sign is posted in front of a McDonald’s restaurant on April 28, 2022, in San Leandro, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Think about that as sort of the Rocky Mountain region. That was really the epicenter of the issue. And that continues to be down versus where we were heading into that impact,” he said, adding that the impact is contained to that region.

80,000 POUNDS OF COSTCO BUTTER RECALLED FOR LACKING DISCLAIMER ABOUT MILK

The company expects to have fully recovered from the food safety issues by the beginning of the fiscal second quarter.

Following the outbreak, executives said the company invested in “value, affordability and obviously in digital offers to get consumers back” and regain trust.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %

MCD MCDONALD’S CORP. 308.59 +14.26 +4.84%

McDonald’s plans to further enhance its value programs in the first quarter “to ensure that we are offering industry leading value and with good value at the foundation.”

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Still, CFO Ian Borden told analysts that its approach to 2025 “reflects the current environment of softer, declining restaurant industry traffic in the U.S. and many of our larger markets.”

February 10, 2025
Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl on supersonic flight without audible sonic boom

Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl, whose company is working to develop supersonic passenger aircraft, discuses how it is possible to fly at supersonic speeds without a sonic boom being audible on the ground below.

Boom Supersonic, a company working to develop passenger aircraft capable of traveling faster than the speed of sound, announced that its planes will be able to fly at supersonic speeds without the sonic boom being audible on the ground below.

The company says that it accomplished the feat during a test flight of its XB-1 aircraft late last month.

“During its historic first supersonic flight on January 28, 2025, Boom’s demonstrator aircraft, XB-1, broke the sound barrier three times without generating a sonic boom that reached the ground, demonstrating that quiet supersonic travel is possible,” the aviation company noted in a press release on Monday. “Specialized microphone arrays placed in strategic locations under the flight path confirmed that sonic booms did not reach the ground as XB-1 flew at a top speed of Mach 1.12.”

Fast flights sans the sonic boom sound on the ground are possible due to the concept known as “Mach cutoff,” Boom Supersonic’s founder and CEO Blake Scholl explained.

In a thread on X, Scholl said, “It’s actually well-known physics called Mach cutoff. When an aircraft breaks the sound barrier at a sufficiently high altitude, the boom refracts in the atmosphere and curls upward without reaching the ground. It makes a U-turn before anyone can hear it.”

BOOM SUPERSONIC XB-1 BREAKS SOUND BARRIER DURING TEST FLIGHT

Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl speaks to Fox News Digital on Feb. 10, 2025. (Fox News Digital)

“Just as a light ray bends as it goes through a glass of water, sound rays bend as they go through media with varying speeds of sound. Speed of sound varies with temperature… and temperature varies with altitude. With colder temperatures aloft, sonic booms bend upward,” he noted.

“This means that sonic booms can make a U-turn in the atmosphere without ever touching the ground. The height of the U varies—with the aircraft speed, with atmospheric temperature gradient, and with winds. So making this work requires tech not available in Concorde’s era,” he indicated on X.

Scholl suggested that this could be possible with speeds as fast as Mach 1.3.

“Top speed for Boomless Cruise varies with weather and can be as high as Mach 1.3—but will usually be between Mach 1.1 and Mach 1.2. At higher speeds, the geometry doesn’t work and a boom will still reach the ground,” he tweeted.

Scholl told Fox News Digital during an interview on Monday that the ability to consistently avoid audible sonic booms will be “very reliable.”

CRAZIEST AIR TRAVEL MOMENTS OF 2024

Top Gun graduate Brig. Gen. Jim Demarest discusses the role supersonic flight will play in the future of commercial aviation on ‘Varney & Co.’

While supersonic flight over land is not currently permitted, Scholl hopes that will change.

“Currently, all civil aircraft flights are prohibited from operating above Mach one speeds over land in the United States. Aircraft companies seeking to advance the testing of civil supersonic aircraft require a special flight authorization,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Scholl said that the president could issue an executive order directing the FAA to allow for supersonic flight over land as long as there is not an audible sonic boom.

Though frequent fliers may find the prospect of dramatically slashing their travel times exciting, they will have to keep waiting as the company works to develop its Overture passenger aircraft.

Scholl said the company will begin building the first Overture aircraft at its factory in North Carolina in around 18 months and the first one will “roll off the line” in around three years, with the goal for passengers to be able to buy tickets aboard the supersonic planes by the end of 2029.

UNITED AIRLINES FIRST US CARRIER TO RESUME SERVICE TO ISRAEL

FOX Business correspondent Grady Trimble speaks with Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl after the aviation company’s test flight on ‘Varney & Co.’

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“Overture’s order book stands at 130 aircraft, including orders and pre-orders from American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines. Boom is working with Northrop Grumman for government and defense applications of Overture,” the company noted in its press release.

The company’s XB-1 aircraft is conducting its second supersonic test flight today.

February 10, 2025
Judge to weigh Trump federal employee buyout backed by Republican AGs

Jack Otter and the ‘Barron’s Roundtable’ panelists discuss how DOGE is shaking up Washington, D.C.

As Big Labor challenges President Donald Trump’s federal employee buyout order, Republican attorneys general from 22 states came to the administration’s defense late Sunday.

On Monday, a federal judge in Boston will weigh the legality of the Trump administration’s U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) “Fork Directive.”

Federal employees have until 11:59 p.m. Monday to decide if they are submitting their deferred resignation in return for eight months of paid leave.

On Feb. 2, 2 million federal employees received an email after business hours closed advising them of a “fork in the road” – they were told they could accept eight months of paid leave if they agreed to resign by Feb. 6. The buyout offer, which came as part of Elon Musk’s effort to reduce federal waste at the Department of Government Efficiency, prompted a swift blow back from federal labor unions, which argued the Fork Directive is unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act and Antideficiency Act and that they will suffer “irreparable harm.”

Montana Attorney General Austen Knudsen – joined by the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia – challenged those arguments brought by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in court.

SENATE DOGE REPUBLICAN PUSHES BILL TO BRING GOVERNMENT COMPUTER SYSTEMS ‘OUT OF THE STONE AGE’

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 3, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The late Sunday amicus curiae brief filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said the federal labor unions “complain” about Trump’s executive orders about the federal workforce and allege the president is eliminating offices and programs supported by congressional appropriations, but “do not challenge the authority to issue the Fork Directive or its constitutionality” because “such a challenge would inevitably fail.”

“Courts should refrain from intruding into the President’s well-settled Article II authority to supervise and manage the federal workforce,” the filing said. “Plaintiffs seek to inject this Court into federal workforce decisions made by the President and his team. The Court can avoid raising any separation of powers concerns by denying Plaintiffs’ relief and allowing the President and his team to manage the federal workforce.”

The Republican attorneys general asked the court to deny the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order.

The Fork Directive reports that Trump is reforming the federal workforce around four pillars: return to office, performance culture, more streamlined and flexible workforce, and enhanced standards of conduct. It is intended to “improve services that the federal workforce provides to Americans” by “freeing up government resources and revenue to focus on better serving the American people,” the filing said.

The filing noted that 65,000 federal workers had already accepted the voluntary deferred resignation offer by its original Feb. 6 deadline.

Protesters rally outside the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on Feb. 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images / Getty Images)

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr., who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, on Thursday temporarily blocked the deferred resignation offer until Monday’s hearing, and the Trump administration pushed back the deadline to 11:59 p.m. Monday.

DOGE CANCELS FUNDING FOR FAUCI MUSEUM EXHIBIT

In a statement, AFGE said the Fork Directive “is the latest attempt by the Trump-Vance administration to implement Project 2025’s dangerous plans to remove career public service workers and replace them with partisan loyalists.” The federal labor union said the directive “amounts to a clear ultimatum to a sweeping number of federal employees: resign now or face the possibility of job loss without compensation in the near future.”

“We are grateful to the judge for extending the deadline so more federal workers who refuse to show up to the office can take the Administration up on this very generous, once-in-a-lifetime offer,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News last week.

Further defending the Trump administration, the Republican attorneys general wrote that the Fork Directive – which takes similar language used during Musk’s mass layoffs when he took over Twitter – also is in line with public opinion, citing recent polling supporting that “Americans’ confidence in the federal government has reached depths not seen since the Vietnam War” and that “a majority of Americans believe the federal government is too large, inefficient, and wasteful.”

The Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is seen on Feb. 3, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“The American people elected a president who repeatedly made clear his desire for a more efficient, smaller government,” they wrote. “The Fork Directive is consistent with those desires. Thus, when weighing the equitable factors, the public interest weighs strongly against Plaintiffs’ requested relief.”

The federal labor unions requested a temporary restraining order so that the OPM could review the legal basis of the directive – something the GOP attorneys general said “makes no sense.”

“If the Fork Directive is unlawful (it’s not), then why are they asking—even in the alternative—for it to be implemented under more relaxed timelines?” they wrote.

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The filing also said the plaintiff’s claim of “irreparable harm” in lost membership and revenues did not hold water, arguing that extending the deadline would increase the harm to the unions by allowing additional employees to participate.

February 10, 2025
Bill Ackman calls for Trump administration to review UN support

Jack Otter and the ‘Barron’s Roundtable’ panelists discuss how DOGE is shaking up Washington, D.C.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman on Monday questioned U.S. funding of the United Nations, saying it “deserves careful scrutiny.”

“The more I learn about the @UN, one of the largest NGOs, the more I think our support for the UN deserves careful scrutiny,” Ackman said in a post on X.

The head of Pershing Square Capital Management also said President Donald Trump “would notice, it occupies great waterfront real estate in NYC.”

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS ELON MUSK’S DOGE FROM ACCESSING TREASURY RECORDS AFTER DEMOCRATIC AGS FILE LAWSUIT

According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an independent think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations, all 193 members of the United Nations are required to make payments to certain parts of the organization. The U.S. is the largest donor, contributing more than $18 billion in 2022.

That accounts for one-third of funding for the body’s collective budget, according to the CFR.

PALANTIR CEO TOUTS ELON MUSK’S DOGE, ABILITY TO HOLD ‘SACRED COW OF THE DEEP STATE’ ACCOUNTABLE

The U.N. is the world’s main organization for discussing matters of peace and security. However, its work extends beyond peacekeeping and conflict prevention. It has entities that are focused on addressing health and humanitarian needs and economic and cultural development. The funds help support the United Nations’ regular budget, which covers administrative costs and a few programs, as well as peacekeeping operations, according to the CFR.

Biden increased funding to the organization after Trump significantly cut it during his first term. In 2021, Biden, in particular, resumed funding for the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

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Funding for UNRWA was paused again in 2024 over allegations that some agency employees aided in the October 2023 terrorist attacks on Israel that sparked the current war against Hamas.

Ackman’s comments come as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues sweeping efforts to cut $2 trillion in federal spending, shrink the government’s workforce and increase the efficiency of federal agencies.

Over the past few weeks, DOGE, which was created through an executive order signed by Trump on Inauguration Day, has already canceled a number of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at federal agencies as well as certain consulting contracts and leases for underused federal buildings, while also working to consolidate duplicative agencies and programs. It has thus far only focused on areas included in discretionary spending, which are subject to annual appropriations by Congress.

DOGE – a temporary organization within the White House – will spend 18 months until July 4, 2026, carrying out its mission, which has already fallen under scrutiny. Over the weekend, the government efficiency team was temporarily blocked from accessing certain government systems that included information about Americans’ Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits, tax refund information and more, according to a federal judge’s ruling.

FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.

February 10, 2025
Federal workers’ union sues to stop DOGE activity at CFPB

Jack Otter and the ‘Barron’s Roundtable’ panelists discuss how DOGE is shaking up Washington, D.C.

A union representing federal workers filed a pair of lawsuits against Consumer Financial Protection Bureau acting Director Russell Vought, asking a court to declare recent actions by him unlawful and to block the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from gaining access to employee information.

The filings by the National Treasury Employees Union come after Vought told staff at the CFPB not to issue any new rules and to stop any new investigations, among other directives. He also sent a letter to the Federal Reserve requesting no money for the CFPB’s third quarter of fiscal year 2025.

“It is substantially likely that these initial directives are a precursor to a purge of CFPB’s workforce, which is now prohibited from fulfilling the agency’s statutory mission,” read one of the lawsuits filed in federal court.

The other alleges that the CFPB has “granted access, and by extension, disclosed employee records to individuals associated with DOGE without employee consent to such disclosure.”

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS ELON MUSK’S DOGE FROM ACCESSING TREASURY RECORDS AFTER DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS GENERAL FILE LAWSUIT

Russell Vought, left, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). (Andrew Harnik/Kenny Holston / Getty Images)

“These employees face irreparable harm to their privacy interests if their employee information is improperly accessed and/or disseminated by individuals associated with DOGE,” that lawsuit adds. “Once an employee’s personnel information is improperly disclosed, the harm to the employee cannot be undone.”

The lawsuit also cites a union chapter president as saying that members are “concerned that their personnel information will be used to stop, lower, or otherwise modify their salaries and other benefits; to blackmail, threaten, or intimidate them; to prevent them from obtaining future employment; to deny them goods and services such as loans and childcare; in identity theft and social engineering attempts against them; in advertising and marketing directed at them.”

The CFPB did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment from FOX Business.

On its website, the CFPB says it aims to “make consumer financial markets work for consumers, responsible providers, and the economy as a whole.”

“We protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices and take action against companies that break the law,” it says.

ELON MUSK ALLEGES $50 BILLION IN FRAUD AT TREASURY AFTER JUDGE BLOCKS DOGE AUDIT

Demonstrators hold signs during a protest against Elon Musk outside the U.S. Treasury building in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Feb. 4. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via / Getty Images)

Vought, who is the head of the Office of Management and Budget, was named acting director of the agency on Friday.

“As Acting Director, I am committed to implementing the President’s policies, consistent with the law, and acting as a faithful steward of the Bureau’s resources,” Vought said in an email to colleagues obtained by RealClearPolitics.

However, the lawsuit asks the court to declare that “Defendant Vought’s directive to the CFPB’s employees to stop their supervision and enforcement work is unlawful” and to prevent him from “further attempts to halt the CFPB’s supervision and enforcement work.”

The union also notes that Elon Musk wrote “RIP CFPB” on his X account, and that three members of DOGE have “been added to the Bureau’s staff and email directory as ‘senior advisers,’” despite not being CFPB employees.

“The same day he assumed the role of Acting Director, on February 7, Mr. Vought instructed CFPB staff to grant the DOGE team access to all non-classified CFPB systems,” it said.

Elon Musk is seen with President Donald Trump. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)

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The second lawsuit asks the court to block “CFPB from granting access and, by extension, disclosing employee records and information to members of the Department of Government Efficiency, except as required by law.”

February 10, 2025