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--:-- Georgia Howe: High prices and potential layoffs in some big companies are causing Americans to be profoundly pessimistic about the economy and their personal finances. People are losing purchasing power and the costs of day-to-day activities. Those economic pressures are having a real toll on average families. Which companies are cutting employees and what should Americans expect in the economy in the coming months?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, June 7th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Who's behind the Supreme Court leak? Authorities are turning up the pressure on law clerks as the investigation into who shared the draft opinion heats up. And Virginia schools are rewriting their procedures to increase punishments for social justice-related infractions. But what do parents think about these new progressive policies?
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Exclusive $25 credit towards your purchase of the bed, plus free shipping in the continental U.S. That's T-H-U-M-A dot C-O slash wire for a $25 credit. Thuma dot C-O slash wire.
--:-- John Bickley: As the U.S. economy continues to struggle under the weight of soaring inflation and rising costs, Americans are more pessimistic about the state of their personal finances than at any point on record.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, with the recession looming and reports of potential mass layoffs, experts are warning of a dire economic situation. Here with the details is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, we'll get into the specifics in a bit, but first give us an overview of where the economy stands this week. So I know we talk about the economy a lot, but you just cannot overstate how important this topic is right now in the minds of Americans. The economy and inflation are far and away the number one issue listed among voters in poll after poll, and it's really not even close.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The main reason is because the economy is different from a lot of other political issues and that it impacts people directly. And to that point, with inflation still above 8%, more and more Americans are now having to dip into their savings just to get by each month. In April, for example, the U.S. savings rate fell to its lowest rate in 14 years.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And because prices have increased so much on everyday goods, 61% of Americans now say they're living paycheck to paycheck. And as we've talked about on the show, it's low-income families being most impacted. So a lot of people are really struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to inflation and rising costs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. And there's some new polling that shows how worried Americans are. Tell us about that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: There had been some optimism coming out of COVID lockdowns that as things opened back up, our economy would return to form. It's easy to forget now. But remember, before COVID, the U.S. economy was really as strong as it had ever been. And Americans were optimistic.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But according to a new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll, things have completely changed. 35% of Americans now say they are not at all satisfied with their personal financial situation. That is the highest level of dissatisfaction since this poll began back in 1972, so 50 years ago.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The same poll found that 83 of Americans say the economy is poor or not so good. And only 27 said they felt that they got a good chance of improving their standard of living. For context, just four years ago, that number was 65%. So almost a 40% drop in the number of Americans optimistic about their chances of economic improvement.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And one more figure that's really telling here of the general attitude about our economy, the number of people who said their financial situation had gotten worse in the last few years was 38%. For context, the only time we've seen a number that high was in the aftermath of the 07-08 recession. So very bad precedent being set there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So on the consumer side of things, people are very worried. What are we seeing from the business side?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, it's much the same. So while some industries like hotels and airlines are still thriving, most are starting to cool off as fears of a looming recession continue to rise.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The main issue there is that costs of production are just simply rising faster than profits can keep up, and that's left many companies with no choice but to trim their workforce to stay afloat. For example, Carvana, the online auto retailer, recently fired 2,500 workers, that's 12% of their entire workforce, citing a, quote, recession in auto sales as the main reason.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Bolt, the online tech startup that was famous for its four-day work weeks, just laid off 250 of their 900 employees, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Just in the past few months, we've seen well over two dozen companies cut at least a few hundred jobs, some well over a thousand.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, there were also some internal emails from Elon Musk that got people talking. What do we know there?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That's the big one that everyone's watching. An internal email from Musk to his executive team was leaked to the press last Thursday and immediately made waves. In it, Musk said he had a, quote, super bad feeling about the economy and wanted to, quote, pause all hiring worldwide.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He also said the company needs to cut roughly 10% of its employees, which would be about 10,000 jobs. Now, this one's especially noteworthy because Tesla just posted record profits and they appear incredibly healthy.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So the fact they're taking these preemptive steps really serves as an indicator of the looming economic environment. And remember, this all comes a week after JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said an economic hurricane is coming our way.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. It's easy to see why. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime. That's Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, the investigation into the Supreme Court leak heats up. You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are all on the Daily Wire app.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Even if you're not a Daily Wire member, you'll be the first to know what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news, and you'll get content from all of your favorite Daily Wire shows.
--:-- John Bickley: Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: After the Supreme Court's draft majority opinion for Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization was leaked a few weeks ago, Supreme Court clerks are coming under scrutiny. In the aftermath of the shocking leak, Republicans are calling for changes.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Here to give us the details is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence-Bahn.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Hi, John. So as Georgia said, the Supreme Court's draft majority opinion was leaked a few weeks ago, which most have agreed is extremely egregious behavior coming from the Supreme Court.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Immediately, it was kind of the clerks who were being looked at as potential leakers because they have access to these draft documents. Right. There are usually around four clerks for each justices per term, so at any moment, there are around 36 clerks.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: As you all have reported here on the show the draft opinion would get rid of Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey sending the decision to make abortion illegal at any stage in pregnancy back to the States That made a lot of people who are pro very upset But remember we haven actually heard what the opinion of the court is on this This was just a draft.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Chief Justice John Roberts called for the court's marshal to do an investigation into the leak. Right. And where is the investigation today?
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Well, CNN recently reported that authorities at the high court are taking measures to make law clerks give them cell phone records and sign affidavits. Clerks are reportedly hiring lawyers to represent them on this issue.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Some pundits have pointed out that Roberts might not have the complete authority to make these clerks work with the investigators. And the Supreme Court has always been so tight-lipped and secretive, so it's unclear if it can actually get this kind of investigation done.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Former clerks told the New York Times recently that the tradition of intense privacy at the high court is extremely serious. And if someone doesn't adhere to them, their career can essentially be totally destroyed.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: People's careers are certainly on the line here. What about legally? Can they be prosecuted?
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Well, the legal side here is actually uncertain territory. The First Amendment typically has protections for a leak like this to be published, but it doesn't necessarily safeguard the person who leaks the document.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: I spoke to John Malcolm, vice president of the Institute for Constitutional Government at the Heritage Foundation, about this. There are other statutes that could apply. One is theft of government property. This is not classified information, so it wouldn't violate that statute.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: But there is a statute that provides for theft of government property, anything of value. There are some circuit courts that have held that that does not apply to intangible property. A leaked opinion would be intangible property.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: But this theft took place within the District of Columbia, and the D.C. Circuit is the one circuit that has held that intangible property qualifies. Another thing which could happen is if the chief justice or the marshal service, which is running this investigation, required court staff, including the law clerks, to sign a statement saying that they were not the source of the leak.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: If the leaker, in fact, signed such a statement and it was uncovered that they had lied in that statement, then they could be prosecuted for making a false statement, which would be a materially false statement in a matter within the jurisdiction of the judicial branch. That's also a federal felony.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: One situation we can look at comes from 1971 when the Supreme Court was about to issue a ruling that the government couldn't keep The New York Times from releasing the Pentagon Papers.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Simultaneously, the person who leaked them, Daniel Ellsberg, was indicted for theft by a federal grand jury. But there's a key difference there. The Pentagon Papers were classified, and this draft opinion on the Dobbs case was not.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: John Malcolm mentioned this as well, and the fact that Congress can make a change to the law regarding these types of draft opinions. Congress can certainly change the law to talk about court documents, whether it's limited just to the Supreme Court or, frankly, any federal court opinion. they could make that a crime to leak that information, but it's not classified information.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: So, you know, there's no law that fits squarely as it did with the Pentagon Papers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, as you said, this is an egregious leak, and what's discovered in this investigation certainly will impact perceptions of the Supreme Court. Charlotte, thanks for the reporting.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence-Bahn.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The school system in Fairfax County, Virginia, is debating some new disciplinary policies, including suspension for students who out a classmate as an illegal immigrant or who refer to transgender-identifying students by the wrong pronoun.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak reports to us from the ground in Fairfax.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: So Luke, Virginia school systems made national news last year and now it sounds like we have another development that making headlines What going on out there?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Well, the school board is considering modifying its rulebook, including the infraction using slurs based on actual or perceived gender identity, which includes but is not limited to malicious deadnaming or malicious misgendering.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: It defines deadnaming as when someone, intentionally or not, refers to a person who is transgender or gender expansive by name other than their own chosen name. This rule applies even to kindergarten through third graders, though it calls it a level one infraction for third graders to deadname a transgender classmate.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: For older students, it can be up to a level four offense, which is on par with a bomb threat. So misgendering is on par with a bomb threat in Virginia schools.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Yeah, that's what the rulebook says. Level four offenses can be dealt with through a threat assessment and suspensions and in rare cases expulsions, the draft rulebook says. For dead naming, it would cap at suspensions, and that would be only when frequency and intensity are present.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: This rule actually already exists, but now they want to apply harsher penalties starting at younger ages. The revision also modifies an infraction about outing students for being gay, which is also a level four offense, to add outing their immigration status.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: So very strict. It's interesting because for all other offenses, school systems are generally moving in the total opposite direction. Many are now saying students should rarely be suspended.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: You'll often hear educators talk about the school-to-prison pipeline. That's basically the idea that suspension should be avoided at all costs because they can turn kids into criminals later in life.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: In fact, when Democrats took power in Virginia in 2019, one of the first things they did is make it so that even in cases of misdemeanor crimes like sexual battery, schools do not have to notify police.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Now, what are parents saying about these new disciplinary procedures? One mother likened the deadnaming policy to compelled speech. It is requiring children to say something that they may or may not be comfortable with.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: I worry that this is a violation of their First Amendment. She added that it could force students to violate their religious beliefs. The local Catholic bishop, Michael Burbage, confirmed that this would be an issue for Catholic students.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Last year, he released guidance that said no one is transgender and that the school systems were teaching kids things that contradict the Catholic faith. This guidance said, quote, Parents with children in public schools must therefore discuss specific Catholic teaching on these issues with their children and be even more vigilant and vocal against this false and harmful ideology.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Now, others, of course, would say that this policy is necessary to prevent discrimination against transgender kids.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: But Luke, one thing's for sure, we hear about Virginia schools a lot, and it seems like it's never about the academics. Yeah, that's the other thing parents say, that getting schools involved in this kind of divisive issue takes the focus off of academics.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Kids in Virginia had no in-person school for over a year. and academic performance is in a tailspin.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, we'll have to have you back on to tell us how this new policy works out. Luke, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Thank you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire investigative reporter, Luke Rosiak.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
