The comparatively mundane task of finding an official to fulfill the role will be difficult since filings in the case and Trump's characteristically emotional response to its intricacies suggest agreement between the parties could be close to impossible. Then, given the highly classified nature of some of the material, the person concerned will need to have top security clearances, further narrowing the pool of possible candidates. And the official must be willing to brave the stream of invective that could be flung their way by the former President, who, in an inflammatory campaign trail appearance on Saturday night, branded FBI agents as "vicious monsters."

The special master's role will also be complicated by the vague mandate he or she has so far been given by Cannon. Questions of executive privilege -- a president's right to receive private information and advice from officials -- has been sparsely litigated, especially in the case of former commanders in chief.

On the face of it, a former president has no established right to make such claims, especially for classified material that did not originate in the White House. But this is an issue that Trump might himself try to challenge in court as part of his frequent strategy of trying to delay accountability.

The California DMV's actions are officially limited to the state, but the impact could be much greater. It's routine for California to lead on regulations and for other states to follow, such as vehicle emission standards. California's large population makes tailoring vehicles just for that state too expensive for most automakers.

*

"Once you talk about one state investigating, you could talk about 50 states potentially investigating," said Smith, adding that it will become easier politically and factually. "They're not putting their necks out."

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

In all other industries, inflation-adjusted wages have dropped since the end of 2019, led by utility workers with a 2.7% decline.

Those employed in construction and information technology have seen their pay slip by 1.8%, while manufacturing and financial sector workers have experienced a 1.7% drop.

Even wholesale trade workers, such as truck drivers, who have also been in demand during the pandemic as supply chains snarled, have lost ground. Their wages have declined 0.6% since December 2019. That's a reversal from the end of 2021, when their pay was up 0.1% over the prior two years.

The Employment Cost Index report is watched closely by the Federal Reserve to monitor the extent to which skyrocketing inflation is boosting wages. The data helps the Fed determine how much to hike interest rates.

*

But the Fed looks at wage growth before the impact of inflation, and that has remained strong. The 5.3% jump over the year ending in June was the highest since the spring of 1983.

So despite the decline in inflation-adjusted wages in most industries, the Fed is expected to continue raising interest rates this year to try to slow the rise in prices, economists say.

Factories shutting down. A wave of job losses and few open positions. Huge financial losses that batter most industries.

That's not what America is seeing right now, even though the country's gross domestic product has declined for two consecutive quarters, meeting one technical definition of a recession.

*

So what is happening, and where could we be headed? The answer to both questions could be found in the country's stockrooms.

*

Breaking it down: US GDP for the second quarter fell at an annualized rate of 0.9%, according to the first reading from the Commerce Department published Thursday. That followed a contraction of 1.6% during the first three months of the year.

The data stoked debate about whether the United States is already experiencing a recession, which economists have warned is a risk as the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates and inflation curbs consumer spending.

Looking ahead, Fratantoni said, "we expect the unemployment rate to go up a small to medium amount, which coupled with affordability challenges, will lower demand [for homes]."

That means home sellers will no longer be able to price their properties 15% higher than what their neighbor's house just sold for. They should prepare to accept buyer contingencies in home offers. And they should expect that their house will take longer to sell.

Oh, and appearances will matter again.

"Tidy up a bit to get it ready to list. ... We'll be back to a place where it matters if your home is in good shape," Fratantoni said.

For homebuyers, relative to the crushing frustrations of the past few years, "it will be a much better experience," he noted. While it will become increasingly expensive to take out a mortgage as rates rise, buyers will face less competition for each property. And when it comes to deciding whether to put in an offer, "they may have a couple of days to think about it instead of hours," Fratantoni said.

The goal of the Fed's interest rate hikes is to get inflation under control while keeping the job market recovery intact.

Consumer prices spiked by 9.1% in June from the year before, the fastest pace since December 1981, according to the latest data from the Labor Department. Inflation is nowhere near the Fed's goal of 2% and has gotten worse in recent months.

Economists warn inflation could get even worse because gas prices have continued to hit record highs in recent days, exacerbating a spike that began after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Everything from food and energy to metals have become more expensive.

The high cost of living is causing financial headaches for millions of Americans and contributing significantly to record-low consumer sentiment, not to mention President Joe Biden's low approval ratings.

*

Yet it will take time for the Fed's interest rate hikes to start chipping away at inflation. And even then, inflation will still be subject to developments in the war in Ukraine, the supply chain mess and, of course, Covid.

*

Diesel prices have long been more expensive than gasoline, well before today's factors including the ongoing war in Ukraine, low refinery capacities and post-Covid energy demand crunched global oil supplies and pushed up prices. But why?

There are three primary reasons for the price discrepancy: the transition to cleaner diesel blends, higher state and federal taxes, and diesel's supply and demand.

Dirty diesel

*

In 2006, the US Environmental Protection Agency began phasing in rules that significantly limited the sulfur content of diesel fuel. The agency did this because aggravated levels of airborne sulfur matter are toxic for both humans and the environment.

Truth is, no one really knows if the economy is already in a recession or headed for one. Generally marked by two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth and rising unemployment, a recession is officially determined after the fact by a committee of economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research. There is no "recession light" that goes off at the White House and on Wall Street.

The recession guessing has reached such a fever-pitch, the White House last week issued a fact-sheet about what it takes to determine one.

Higher productivity would be a boon for workers. Companies could produce more for the same number of staff, and afford to pay them higher wages.

Despite high inflation, average wages are no higher today that they were before 2008, the Resolution Foundation said in a report this month.

Ilzetzki said more investment in innovation, research and development, and providing job training to the labor force would go some way to boosting productivity, as well as encouraging immigration.

Yet not one of Truss and Sunak's proposals would "put even a minor dent into the deep structural challenges that the UK faces," he said.

For equities, India applies a 15% short-term capital gains tax if shares are sold in less than a year, and 10% if sold after a year.

*

Gupta hopes that the government makes up its mind soon. India, with its vast pool of developers and enthusiastic young population, could be a "superpower in the next five to 10 years," in cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, he said.

"What is missing right now is a clear regulatory framework," he added.

Cadillac dealers probably already have customers in mind for the Celestiq, Jominy said. These will be people with multiple luxury cars in their garages, including at least one Escalade, he said.

*

"They're already buying [Aston Martins] and others and 'Hey, let me take a chance on this, it looks interesting."

Some might be classic car collectors who already have a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham in their garage. They might like the modern, electric version to park next to it.

CNN media analyst David Zurawik writes: "Another media takeaway from the hearings on the insurrection involves the role of TV in American life. While television was widely accepted as the principal storyteller of our national life during the last half of the 20th Century, many analysts have downplayed its importance with the rise of the Internet and social media during the last two decades. But these hearings have shown the enduring political and cultural power of the medium. This summer, at least, TV has been the principal storyteller of what happened on January 6, 2021. The dinosaur can still roar..."

About the outtakes

BRIAN LOWRY WRITES:

One more thought: Those Trump outtakes really do give you a sense of his TV experience, where you can screw up a line, snap your fingers and do a retake. Seeing the clips, it's hard not to think how much the producers shaping "The Apprentice" under Mark Burnett contributed to the image that helped sweep him into office...

"We're talking about losing 1 million instead of losing 2 million," Chairman Reed Hastings said on a call with analysts. "So our excitement is tempered by the less bad results."

Netflix's most substantial subscriber loss came from its biggest market, the United States and Canada, where the streamer said it lost 1.3 million users in the second quarter.

*

That was offset by increased subscriptions elsewhere, a sign the company's investment in foreign language programming is paying off. The release of the fourth season of the wildly popular show "Stranger Things" also provided a boost.

Looking ahead: Netflix still has work to do to convince investors that it's on the right track. Its stock is down almost 67% year-to-date. Other tech firms, like Google parent Alphabet and Facebook's Meta are off 21% and 48%, respectively. The S&P 500 is 17% lower.

The drop in construction starts was most concentrated among single-family units, which were down 15.7% from a year ago.

The number of permits for construction of single-family homes and some multi-family buildings also fell in June from May, on a seasonally-adjusted basis. All new building permits fell 0.6% from May while single-family permits dropped more significantly by 8%. Compared to a year ago, all permits are actually up 1.4%, but those for single-family homes are down 11.4%

Multi-family building continues on largely because rents are so high.

"Given that nationwide rents have grown by 14% or more year-over-year in each month of 2022 so far and that active for-sale inventory is 28% higher than last year, it's unsurprising that builders are currently more keen on multi-family rental construction," said Berner.

This construction slowdown comes even as the price of lumber bottomed out in June, Berner said. But the relief in those prices might not last long.

"With lumber prices creeping back up in July and homebuyer demand being stifled by the rising cost of financing a home purchase, it's unlikely that much progress will be made toward closing the housing supply gap any time soon," Berner said. "In the meantime, prospective first-time homebuyers who are taking a pause from their search may find more options to rent if multifamily projects continue to receive more attention from builders."

"It's very needed, something to prevent that," she said. But as more and more women join her groups, some men have learned they've been the subjects of some of their posts. . Then come takedown requests and legal threats, directed at both members and the groups themselves.

The area, which is home to 8.12 million people, or around a third of the country's total population, has always experienced some degree of flooding during the early summer months.

*

But what was previously a once-in-a-generation event has become commonplace, raising questions as to the long term sustainability of flood-prone communities.

More than half a meter of rain (1.6 feet) has drenched parts of eastern New South Wales during the last 48 hours, with spills from numerous dams causing flood warnings across the region.

In western Sydney, the Warragamba Dam -- Australia's largest urban reservoir -- started overflowing at 2 a.m. Sunday, and at its peak 515 gigalitres was flooding over its walls -- the same amount of water held in Sydney Harbour.

The January 6 committee is only one of Trump's potential investigative concerns, even as he considers moving forward with a 2024 presidential campaign announcement.

In Georgia, Fulton County's district attorney has issued subpoenas for the testimony of Trump's allies before a special grand jury investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, is seeking to quash the subpoena for his testimony, which is related to at least two calls that Graham made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff after the election.

In New York, Trump and his children Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump are set to be deposed after losing court battles to avoid testifying in the state attorney general's civil investigation into the Trump Organization. The depositions were scheduled to begin next week but were temporarily delayed due to the death of Trump's first wife, Ivana Trump.

And in Washington, DC, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's efforts to delay his contempt-of-Congress trial were rejected this week by a federal judge, and the trial is slated to begin next week.

Instead, deadly gunfire erupted at the gathering in the southern Brazilian city of Foz de Iguaçu, claiming Arruda's life in an apparent clash over politics that has drawn the nation's attention.

*

The bloodshed underlines escalating tensions in Brazil as this fall's presidential elections approach, when former leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face off against incumbent rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro.

*

The Google memo is the latest indication that the once high-flying tech sector is facing a new reality check after having only recently enjoyed a surge in demand from shifting consumer behavior during the pandemic. Spiking inflation levels, rising interest rates and fears of a looming recession have led a slew of tech companies to recently announce that they are slowing hiring or cutting staff.

*

A growing number of tech companies have announced layoffs, including Netflix and Coinbase. GoPuff, an ultra-fast delivery startup, recently notified investors that it plans to cut 10% of its global workforce and close dozens of its US warehouses. Microsoft also confirmed earlier this week that it was cutting a small number of jobs, though it plans to continue hiring.