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• The Fed raised interest rates by 75 basis points on Wednesday, marking its third straight rate hike.
• It signaled more hikes ahead to tame inflation, but the move risks tipping the economy into recession.
• El-Erian said higher, faster hikes and elevated recession risks could have been avoided.

Higher interest rates that rise faster and last longer, as well as the elevated risk of an economic recession, could have been avoided if the Federal Reserve had acted sooner to curb inflation, top economist Mohamed El-Erian said on Wednesday.

His comments came after the Fed on Wednesday hiked interest rates by 0.75 percentage points for the third time in a row to tame rising prices. Higher interest rates discourage borrowing, thus cooling demand throughout the economy, but the move risks slowing growth so much the economy could slide into a recession.

“Rates that go higher, faster and stay there longer” and the elevated risk of a recession could have been avoided had the Fed responded in a timely fashion to cool inflation, El-Erian wrote in a tweet on Wednesday after the Fed’s rate decision announcement.

—Mohamed A. El-Erian (@elerianm) September 21, 2022

 

 

The Fed has already hiked rates five times this year, with larger increases taking place at a faster pace over the months, as it races to quell inflation, which hit a 40-year high of 9.1% in June. Inflation cooled in the months following, but was still high at 8.3% in August.

“Rather than lead markets in battling inflation, the Fed has been forced to follow them,” El-Erian wrote in a separate opinion piece for CNN published on Wednesday ahead of the central bank’s rate announcement. “Yet, because it has been so late in responding, the Fed will be aggressively hiking into a weakening domestic and global economy.”

The situation has caused many to lose faith in the central bank, and there is risk that politicians, companies, and households could think of the Fed “as part of the problem and not part of the solution,” added El-Erian, who is the chief advisor to Allianz and the president of Queens’ College at Cambridge University in the UK. He was previously the CEO of US bond-fund giant Pimco.

“There is an increasing number of economists warning that the Fed will tip the US into recession; and a growing number of foreign policymakers complaining that the world’s most powerful and systemically important central bank is pulling the rug out from under an already fragile global economy,” he wrote on CNN.

Jerome Powell, the current Fed chair, admitted in a congressional hearing in March that the central bank should have acted earlier.

“Hindsight says we should have moved earlier,” Powell said, per Bloomberg. “It’s just taking so much longer for the supply side to heal than we thought.”

Last month, Powell warned that cooling inflation “will bring some pain to households and businesses.”

The Fed did not respond to Insider’s request for comment that was sent outside regular business hours.

• Some people close to Trump are confused as to why he is suddenly leaning hard towards QAnon.
• Some sources suggested to Rolling Stone that Trump was trolling for likes among his supporters.
• Other sources told the outlet that Trump was amused by the QAnon memes and images he reposted.

Allies of former President Donald Trump are baffled as to why he is leaning harder than ever into his support of QAnon — a conspiracy-theory-led movement that baselessly claims Trump is fighting a deep-state cabal of pedophiles.

Rolling Stone spoke to several people close to Trump, some of whom expressed confusion as to why the former president was suddenly so vocal with promoting QAnon-related messages.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that music sounding like a QAnon song had been played at a Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio. During the rally, the former president’s supporters were also seen pointing their fingers to the sky in a one-finger salute, which experts said might have been a nod to the movement’s slogan, “Where we go one, we go all.”

“Fuck if I know,” an unnamed Trump ally told Rolling Stone when asked about the former president’s apparent support for the fringe group.

The outlet also spoke to other people close to the former president, some of whom theorized that Trump was trolling for likes from his supporters.

“He’s said that he thinks some of their memes and images are ‘funny,’” a source close to Trump said, per Rolling Stone. The same source said Trump also thought it was “hilarious” that the media would get “so mad” whenever the former president would “touch the Q shit.”

Another Rolling Stone source, described as a former White House official, said that Trump sometimes thought his QAnon-linked followers had “the right idea” regarding their hatred for the “deep state,” a term used in the movement to refer to shady, secret networks and alliances influencing power at the highest echelons of government.

“I do not remember his exact words, but [Trump’s response] was along the lines of: There are plenty of bad and sick people in Hollywood” and among the “liberal elite,” the source told Rolling Stone.

A representative at Trump’s post-presidential press office did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Following the FBI’s raid on the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence on August 8, Trump — who previously flirted with the idea of QAnon — has started referencing the movement far more intensely than before.

In August, Trump shared over a dozen messages on his Truth Social account, some of which referenced QAnon and contained baseless conspiracy theories about the FBI. Other posts by the former president on Truth Social this month have included a reposted image of himself sporting a “Q” lapel pin, along with the movement’s slogan.

Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi said this week that Trump’s embracing of QAnon could be “the last act of a desperate man.” Speaking to Insider on Monday, Figliuzzi said Trump’s support of QAnon was indicative of “increasing desperation,” which could lead to violence within the movement.

• Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi said Trump is drawn to QAnon like a moth to a flame.
• Figliuzzi said Trump is embracing the movement because he feels “increasingly cornered.”
• Figliuzzi warned that violence could ensue if the QAnon movement felt threats to its leader.

A former FBI official said former President Donald Trump is likely feeling cornered and embracing the QAnon movement out of desperation.

Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director, was weighing in on Trump’s links to the QAnon movement during a Monday appearance on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House.” Host Nicolle Wallace asked Figliuzzi if he thinks Trump knows just how dangerous the movement is to the US.

“Oh, not only do I think he knows it, but I think that’s what attracts him to this. It’s like a moth to the flame,” Figliuzzi said.

“And the thing is, he knows that he’s increasingly cornered,” Figliuzzi added. “He’s in trouble on so many legal fronts, even criminal fronts now, that this is, kind of, the almost last act of a desperate man.”

Figliuzzi referenced Trump’s rally in Youngstown, Ohio, where a QAnon song played during Trump’s speech. During the rally, Trump’s supporters were seen pointing their fingers to the sky in a strange, one-finger salute, which experts say might have been a nod to the movement’s slogan, “where we go one we go all.”

While the stadium in Ohio was not fully filled, and thus a sign that Trump may be losing support from his base, Figliuzzi said there’s still a significant threat from Trump and the QAnon movement.

“What is extremely dangerous based on past histories of cults, is that as they come near the end, as the leader is threatened, they get more and more dangerous,” Figliuzzi said. “And they do something cult experts call ‘forcing the end.’”

This could happen if the movement’s leader “calls for the violence” or is “taken out,” Figliuzzi said.

“The members take a step up and force the ending — whatever that could be,” Figliuzzi said. “That’s what concerns me and we’ve learned from January 6, it only takes a small number of people to do that.”

The Trump rally in Ohio is just one of many recent instances in which the former president appeared to embrace QAnon — a movement that claims without basis that Trump is fighting a deep-state cabal of pedophiles. In a stream of messages after the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago, Trump shared over a dozen posts on his Truth Social account, some of which referenced QAnon and contained baseless conspiracy theories about the FBI. Other posts by the former president on the Truth Social platform in September included a reposted image of himself sporting a “Q” lapel pin, along with the movement’s “where we go one we go all” slogan.

Figliuzzi and a representative at Trump’s post-presidential press office did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

• The 2022 F1 Singapore Grand Prix is taking place from September 30 to October 2.
• It’s the biggest party weekend of the year in Singapore.
• A three-day luxury ticket package to catch the race costs $9,898 Singapore dollars, or $7,036.

The F1 Singapore Grand Prix is back after a two-year pandemic hiatus, and the city is gearing up for its biggest weekend — think parties, fast cars, and global music acts converging all in one spot.

Home to the first Grand Prix night race, the country shuts down public roads in the city center and transforms them into a brightly lit track known as the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Around 268,000 fans attended the 2019 F1 Singapore Grand Prix — the second-highest on record since the 2008 inaugural race, race organizer Singapore GP told local news outlet The Straits Times. This year’s race, held from September 30 to October 2, is expected to draw a similar turnout, Singapore GP told local news outlet Today. 

Those without tickets can catch the action on two of the country’s major pay-TV broadcasters. It’s a big, celebratory event — even non-F1 fans will head out to the clubs for a slice of the action.

Want in? Get ready to pay up. Here’s how much it’ll cost you to party big during F1 weekend in Singapore.

fototrav / Getty Images

Race tickets: S$98 – S$9,898

Prices for single-day general admission tickets vary across the weekend.

Ticket prices start at 98 Singapore dollars, or $70, for the practice race on Friday and go as high as S$988 for the race on Sunday. Three-day tickets will set you back as much as S$1,288.

There are also three-day hospitality packages, which include free-flow drinks and access to viewing galleries for prices ranging from S$1,605 to S$9,898.

The S$9,898 package — the Formula 1 Paddock Club — lets attendees watch the race from an air-conditioned suite above the pit garages. They also get access to walk down the pit lane and check out the cars and the race crew. 

Concert tickets: Only for those who hold race tickets

The F1 concert lineup this year includes Westlife, Green Day, and Marshmello. To catch the concert, you’ll need to have tickets to the race first.

Prices for top hotels: Upwards of S$1,700 a night

The Marina Bay Street Circuit is surrounded by some of the largest hotels in the city.

But, as of September 16, rooms in Pan Pacific Singapore, the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore, and the Fullerton Hotel Singapore were completely sold out from September 30 to October 3.

A representative for the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore told Insider that room prices during the F1 weekend were around S$1,700 to S$2,000 per night. In contrast, rooms on a non-F1 weekend at the Ritz start from S$650 a night, per the hotel’s website.

There are still rooms available at Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay hotel, where the Singapore Night Race (Track View) package costs S$2,500 per night. A representative for the company told Insider a minimum stay of three nights is required during that period.

Hotel room rates in Singapore are almost reaching a 10-year high, based on data from the Singapore Tourism Board. In July, the average room cost was S$259 — the highest since prices peaked at S$261.66 a decade ago in September 2012.

Chris McGrath / Staff / Getty Images

Big-name parties: Upwards of S$80

Of course, the party doesn’t end when the race ends.

Amber Lounge is one of Singapore’s biggest F1 after-parties, which is also held in Monaco and Abu Dhabi. This year’s party will be held at The Fullerton Bay Hotel and touts “immersive theatrical cabaret,” “cirque-themed performances,” and lots of Champagne.

Entry passes for the party cost between S$800 and S$1,200. Groups of 10 who are looking to party in a VIP suite and have S$45,000 to burn can buy a package that includes vodka, caviar, and yes, Champagne.

Marquee Singapore, a nightclub at the Marina Bay Sands, or MBS, is celebrating race weekend with DJ Steve Aoki on September 30 and Afrojack on October 1. General admission tickets start from S$80, while express entry tickets start from S$250.

There’s also the Mandala Weekender party happening at the MBS convention center for all three nights of the race weekend. The party costs upwards of S$148 a head and and features artists such as Kelis, Rae Sremmurd, and Rudimental.

Special F1-related food deals: Upwards of S$200 

Restaurants around the city are catching F1 fever, too.

Perched 57 stories above the ground, right at the top of the iconic MBS, is Cé La Vi Singapore. The rooftop restaurant opens up to views of the city-state on one side and the open sea on the other. It has a four-course F1 set menu: For S$300, you can feast on dishes like Boston lobster and Japanese king crab.

4FR/Getty Images

LAVO, an Italian restaurant also on the MBS rooftop, is holding a Race Weekend Party Brunch. For S$248, diners get to enjoy their food with free-flow drinks while Swiss DJ Gil Glaze spins his beats.

Alternatively, diners can indulge in some French food over at La Brasserie’s Winning Formula Brunch, which costs S$238 with free-flow Champagne and house wines.

• Former President Donald Trump slammed President Joe Biden for lowering gas prices.
• Trump claimed the decrease was a politically motivated scheme.
• “Right after the election, it’s going to double up and go higher than anybody ever believed,” Trump claimed.

Former President Donald Trump, while in Ohio to rally support for Republican Senate candidate JD Vance, slammed President Joe Biden for the recent decline in national gas prices. 

Speaking at the 7,000-seat Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Trump — who himself schemed in an effort to overturn the 2020 election — claimed that shrinking gas prices are a ploy Biden is using for political gain.

In a tweet, the White House recognized Saturday as the 95th day in which gas prices have steadily declined since reaching record highs earlier this year. According to the White House, the national average for a gallon of gas sits at $3.68.

The administration — and Biden himself — have claimed that the drop in prices is the steepest decline in more than a decade. Insider was unable to independently verify the claim.

—The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 17, 2022

 

Trump slammed Biden for going into the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to release crude in an effort to ease overpriced gas despite the reserve being “only for war.” But Trump did the same during his administration when Saudi Arabia’s crude production drastically decreased following attacks on its production facilities, per CNBC.

“He’s using that to keep prices down as much as he can just before the election and right after the election, it’s going to double up and go higher than anybody ever believed,” Trump claimed at the rally on Saturday.

—Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) September 18, 2022

Trump claimed the current average is still “double and triple” what it was during his administration. 

The Associated Press reported the national average was as low as $1.87 per gallon during May 2020, but the outlet attributed the low cost mostly to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

While the crowd cheered during Trump’s rant on the current status of gas prices, some supporters didn’t seem too bothered.

When an interviewer from Right Side Broadcasting Network pushed a woman clad in a pro-Trump hat to say the gas prices for her 5.5-hour drive were bad, the woman didn’t agree.

“Wasn’t too bad,” the supporter said of the gas prices. 

—Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) September 17, 2022

 

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

• Trump put down a $3 million retainer for attorney Christopher M. Kise, a sum that The New York Times called “unusually high.” 
• The retainer was reportedly paid for through his Save America PAC.
• The competency of Trump’s current legal team has been questioned by his advisors and others.

After having been rejected by several other attorneys, former President Donald Trump ended up paying an exceptionally large retainer for a well-known lawyer.

Christopher M. Kise, formerly the solicitor general of Florida, agreed to defend Trump with an “unusually high” $3 million retainer, The New York Times reported on Friday, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter. 

The figure — paid for by Trump’s Save America PAC, according to Politico — is significant because Trump is notorious for not paying bills, according to NBC News.

The former president reportedly struggled with finding a credible defense attorney recently, a problem he’d faced before.

As Trump continues to face legal peril, his advisors and former attorneys have pointed out that the quality of his legal team has taken a turn for the worst. Outside of Kise, Trump’s previous legal team includes “a Florida insurance lawyer who’s never had a federal case, a past general counsel for a parking-garage company, and a former host from a propagandistic cable outlet,” MSNBC reported, citing The Washington Post.

Kise has appeared before the Supreme Court on four cases and has previously worked with Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, CNN reported in August after Kise was confirmed to be a part of the legal team. He will take on BOTH Trump’s classified documents case and the January 6th case.

Kise has been credited with helping DeSantis become governor in 2018 after publicizing that his opponent, Andrew Gillum, purchased tickets to see “Hamilton” from an undercover FBI agent, according to Law and Crime.

With Trump facing numerous legal battles, his legal team has also been at the center of controversy since the 2020 election and the January 6 insurrection.

A former Trump attorney, Eric Herschmann, has called into question the competency of some attorneys on the team, The Times reported. Law enforcement officials have scrutinized two of Trump’s lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb, after they claimed the former president didn’t have access to classified documents, The Times reported.

The August FBI raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home uncovered that he was in possession of over a hundred classified documents, contrary to Corcoran and Bobb’s assurances.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

• A collection of photos and mementos from Elon Musk’s ex-girlfriend sold for over $165,000.
• Jennifer Gwynne and the billionaire dated from 1994 to 1995 when they were in college.
• Gwynne told Fox 29 she was selling the items to fund her stepson’s college education.

A collection of photos and mementos from Elon Musk’s ex-girlfriend sold for over $165,000 at auctions that closed Thursday.

Jennifer Gwynne and Musk dated the fall semester of 1994 to 1995 at the University of Pennsylvania. They broke up when Musk graduated and moved to California, Gwynne told Fox 29. “He was not good on the phone. He was not good long distance,” she told the TV station, describing the split as a “mutual” one.

Gwynne described Musk, who is now the CEO of Tesla, as being passionate about the future of electric vehicles when they were dating. “He talked about it even back then,” she told Fox 29.

Among the items sold was a 14-karat gold necklace with a small green emerald, which went for $51,008. A signed birthday card from Musk to Gwynne, in which he called her “Boo-Boo,” sold for $16,643. She also sold photos she took of Musk at the time.

 

—RR Auction (@RRAuction) September 15, 2022

Gwynne said she was selling the items to fund her stepson’s college education.

“Elon Musk is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the 21st century,” said Bobby Livingston, executive at Boston-based RR Auction, which handled Gwynne’s sale. “There is very little Musk-related material that has come up for auction, and we will no doubt be seeing more soon with the success of this sale.” 

“We are always thrilled and honored when one of our auctions can impact the lives of our consignors as this sale has done,” added Livingston in a statement.

RR Auction previously sold college assignments Musk had graded back in 1995. The lot of two assignments went for over $7,700 in December.

The auction house has also sold items from other well-known personalities. Last month, RR Auction sold Steve Jobs’ Apple-1 computer prototype for over $677,000. It also sold a box of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s personal cigars for nearly $20,000 last month.

Musk hasn’t publicly commented on the auction but appeared to be aware of the sale, as he changed his Twitter account profile picture to one of the photos sold at auction.

—RR Auction (@RRAuction) September 14, 2022

 

Musk did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

• Two people in Lebanon staged bank holdups Wednesday, demanding money from their own bank accounts.
• One of them said she needed to withdraw money for her sister’s cancer treatment.
• Banks in crisis-hit Lebanon have been limiting the amount of money depositors can withdraw.

Two people in Lebanon held up two different banks on Wednesday as they demanded withdrawals of their own money.

In the first incident, a woman armed with a gun held up a branch of the BLOM Bank in the capital of Beirut, according to various media reports. She was accompanied by activists and said her gun was a toy, according to the Associated Press, citing the local Al-Jadeed TV.

The woman managed to get $13,000 from her deposits, which she said totaled $20,000, per the AP. She said she needed the funds for her sister’s cancer treatment and had gone to the bank repeatedly to withdraw her own money, only to be told she could only get $200 a month.

“I had begged the branch manager before for my money, and I told him my sister was dying, didn’t have much time left,” she said in the interview, per the AP. “I reached a point where I had nothing else to lose.”

She said she had even considered selling her kidney so her sister could get treated.

Shortly after the first incident, an armed man held up a Bankmed branch in Aley, a mountain city in southeast Lebanon, Reuters reported, citing a depositors’ advocacy group and a security source. The man got some of his savings out of his account.

Lebanon has been in an economic crisis since 2019 as result of government mismanagement. To prevent capital flight, the country’s banks have been limiting the amount of money people can withdraw from their bank accounts, severely impacting the everyday lives of ordinary citizens.

In August, an armed man held employees and customers at a Lebanese bank hostage after he was told he couldn’t withdraw $200,000 from his bank account for his sick father’s treatment. The man was cheered on by a crowd outside the bank.

A senior Lebanese banker told Reuters the incidents may prompt copycat actions.

“I think this is an invitation for other people to do the same. As long as people get away with it, they will continue,” the banker told the news agency on condition of anonymity.

• Peltola is the first Alaska Native elected to Congress and was sworn in on Tuesday.
• Rep. Kaiali’i Kahele and Rep. Sharice Davids welcomed Mary Peltola to Congress in a tweet.
• “It has taken 233 years for the US Congress to be fully represented,” said Kahele.

It was a historic day as Rep. Kaiali’i Kahele and Rep. Sharice Davids welcomed Mary Peltola to the US House of Representatives. 

Peltola is the first Alaska Native elected to Congress and was sworn in on Tuesday. She defeated Sarah Palin in a special election in August. Peltola is also the first woman to ever represent Alaska and the first Democrat to do so since 1972.

Hawaii Rep. Kahele tweeted, “it has taken 233 years for the U.S. Congress to be fully represented by this country’s Indigenous peoples.”

—Congressman Kaiali‘i Kahele (@RepKahele) September 14, 2022

 

Kahele is the second Native Hawaiian to be elected to Congress. Davids — a Democrat from Kansas — is the first openly LGBT Native American elected to the House of Representatives. 

• A Blue Origin rocket with no crew onboard failed just over a minute after liftoff on Monday. 
• The New Shepard rocket, launched from Blue Origin’s West Texas facility, carried cargo for research.
• A livestream of the launch showed the rocket bursting into flames around 29,000 feet above ground.

A Blue Origin rocket with no crew onboard failed just over a minute after lifting off on Monday. 

The New Shepard rocket that took off from Blue Origin’s West Texas facility on Monday was carrying cargo for research that it was going to send to the edge of space.

A livestream of the launch showed the New Shepard bursting into flames around 29,000 feet above ground. The capsule above the booster rocket then detached itself and parachuted back to the ground.

 

Blue Origin said on Twitter there was a “booster failure” on the flight, triggering the escape system. The capsule “successfully separated” from the rocket, the spaceflight company added.

It was the first major incident for billionaire Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company since it opened commercial services to the public in 2021.

The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, is investigating the incident, which it called a “mishap” in a statement sent to Insider.

“The capsule landed safely and the booster impacted within the designated hazard area. No injuries or public property damage have been reported,” said the FAA.

“Before the New Shepard vehicle can return to flight, the FAA will determine whether any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap affected public safety. This is standard practice for all mishap investigations,” the FAA added.