| | | | | | | Presented By Meta | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen · Mar 04, 2023 | | ☀️ Happy Saturday! Axios' Erica Pandey is your host — reach her at erica@axios.com. - Smart Brevity™ count: 1,173 words ... 4½ minutes. Edited by Donica Phifer.
| | | | | | 1 big thing: Part-time America |  | | | Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios | | | | Part-time work is on the rise in the U.S. — and far more people are working less by choice than by obligation, Axios' Erica Pandey writes. - Why it matters: It's one more sign of a new attitude toward work.
📈 By the numbers: More than 22 million Americans are working less than 35 hours a week for "noneconomic reasons," according to Labor Department data. - That means they're working part-time not because their hours were cut but because they're choosing to for personal reasons.
- 4 million Americans, meanwhile, are working part-time but actively seeking full-time work.
🥊 Reality check: The vast majority of Americans still work 40 hours — or more — a week. 💡 What's happening: Parents working less so they can take care of kids. Adult children are cutting hours to care for aging parents. - Many people used the pandemic to re-evaluate work-life balance. They figured they could lean on stimulus checks or savings to work less — for good, said Lonnie Golden, an economist at Penn State Abington.
💼 Case in point: Ernie Park, an engineer, has transitioned to part-time after years of full-time work in the tech industry, he told The Wall Street Journal's Lauren Weber. - Park reduced his hours so he could spend time with family. Now he runs a newsletter, Part-Time Tech, to connect others to part-time work.
Share this story. |     | | | | | | 2. 🥊 Scoop: Trump to blast Bush Republicans | | Kari Lake, who lost her race for Arizona governor in November, kisses a portrait of former President Trump after speaking at CPAC in National Harbor, Md., yesterday. Photo: Nathan Howard/Reuters Former President Trump will urge a huge, friendly crowd today to finish the job of transforming the traditional GOP into the more populist MAGA party, Axios' Josh Kraushaar reports. - In a speech at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) gathering just outside D.C., Trump will blast more traditional, Bush-era Republicans as he urges the crowd to back his re-election.
Why it matters: CPAC is now dominated by Trump's "Make America Great Again" followers. He first spoke there in 2011, when he previewed many of the outsider themes that fueled his 2016 campaign. - Trump's 5:30 p.m. ET address is expected to last 90 minutes.
🔎 Between the lines: Trump's finish the job theme is reminiscent of President Biden's State of the Union last month. He called on lawmakers to "finish the job" of rebuilding the economy and unifying the country. - Trump's approach is provocative for a former president accused of inspiring an insurrection aimed at overturning the results of an election he lost.
Crowds during the first three days of CPAC — at a massive convention complex in National Harbor, Md., just outside Washington — reflected the divide Trump fosters among Republicans. - They're smaller than in the past — but heavily pro-Trump.
The bottom line: Trump, 76, and Biden, 80, have vastly different politics, but essentially are calling on voters to remember what they've done — even as polls indicate many voters in both parties are hungry for new leaders. | | | | | | | | 3. 💰 Companies court the rich |  | | | Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios | | | | The entire economy is gentrifying as companies narrow their focus on the richest consumers. 🖼️ The big picture: The trend illustrates a growing chasm, The New York Times reports: - "The top 40 percent of earners are sitting on more than a trillion dollars in extra savings amassed during the early part of the pandemic."
- "Lower-income households, on the other hand, have been burning through their savings," as they deal with higher costs of rent, food and other essentials.
💡 What's happening: All sorts of companies are segmenting their products into premium goods for the rich and stripped-down offerings for everybody else. - 🍩 Krispy Kreme is planning fancier, pricier premium doughnuts for holidays.
- 🎢 Six Flags is raising prices — and doing away with discounts — at its theme parks.
Even the household lubricant WD-40 "has found that customers will pay more for products with enhancements, like a can with a 'smart straw' to spray the lubricant in two different ways," The Times notes. | | | | | | | | A message from Meta | | The metaverse will give doctors new tools to make decisions faster | | |  | | | | In the ER, every second counts. Doctors will use the metaverse to visualize scans and make decisions faster — to help patients get the specialty care they need in a timely manner. The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real. Explore more possibilities with the metaverse. | | | | | | 4. 🏛️ Biden's D.C. crime stunner |  | | | President Biden leaves a House Democratic retreat this week. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images | | | | President Biden's shock announcement on Thursday that he won't veto a GOP-led resolution blocking changes to D.C.'s criminal code has left House Democrats in a state of shock, anger and distrust, Axios' Andrew Solender reports. - Why it matters: The hostility threatens to damage the White House's relationship with House Democrats ahead of 2024, as Republicans force them to take votes on wedge issues that could come back to haunt the party on the campaign trail.
State of play: The vast majority of House Democrats voted in favor of the D.C. crime resolution last month. - The D.C. crime law that the resolution overturns would reduce maximum penalties for some violent crimes. A vote against the resolution leaves lawmakers open to accusations of being soft on crime — even as it contravenes Democrats' support for D.C.'s autonomy and self-governance.
What we're hearing: "People are rip roarin' pissed," said one House Democrat, summing up the mood of the caucus. "He [Biden] is going to have a much harder time asking people to take tough votes after this." - Progressives — and many Black Democrats — are upset that Biden is defying the party's position on D.C. home rule and criminal justice reform.
A senior Democratic aide told Axios: "I think everyone is in the camp of, 'If you were going to do this, why not say before the vote to give us cover?'" | | | | | | | | 5. ❄️ Californians snowed in | | A man walks through snow in the San Bernardino Mountains. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images Some residents stranded in Southern California mountain communities by a huge snowfall could be stuck for another week, an official said yesterday. - Extraordinary snowfall buried homes and businesses, overwhelming the capability of plowing equipment designed for normal storms, AP notes.
By last weekend, all highways leading up into the mountains were closed — and have opened intermittently since then to residents and convoys of trucks loaded with food or other supplies. | | | | | | | | 6. 📈 Charted: Booming wellness market | | Data: McKinsey Health and Wellness Survey. Chart: Axios Visuals Americans are spending big on wellness, Axios' Maxwell Millington writes. 🧮 By the numbers: The estimated spend on wellness products and services is more than $450 billion in the United States and rising at more than 5% annually, per McKinsey research. - Digestive or gut health, women's health and sexual health are among the areas driving the boom, Anna Pione, a partner at McKinsey, tells Axios.
- Millennials are the key group to watch. They prioritize health and wellness more than any other generation, Pione says.
🔮 What's next: Consumers want more offerings to enhance sleep and mindfulness, like therapy and meditation, per the research. | | | | | | | | 7. 💫 The women of Venus | | Photo: HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Nearly every feature on the surface of Venus is named after a goddess, heroine or real-life famous woman, Axios' Kavya Beheraj reports. - 400 of Venus' nearly 2,000 surface features honor real-life women with their names.
- 40% of them are writers, including American biologist and author Rachel Carson and novelist Gertrude Stein.
- 25% are scientists, and 16% are performers.
Explore the chart. | | | | | | | | 8. ⚾ Parting shot | | Photo: Charlie Riedel/AP A fan finds a seat in the outfield as the sun sets before a spring training game between the San Diego Padres and the Chicago Cubs yesterday, in Peoria, Ariz. - Spring training kicked off last Friday and will continue for most of March, wrapping up right before Opening Day on March 30.
| | | | | | | | A message from Meta | | Augmented reality will help firefighters with search and rescue | | |  | | | | One day, firefighters will use the metaverse to navigate burning buildings more quickly. The result: Crucial seconds can be saved when lives are on the line. The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real. Explore more possibilities with the metaverse. | | |  | | Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it. | | | |
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