Regulators offer plan after Silicon Valley Bank collapse, Oscars recap: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Regulators offer plan after Silicon Valley Bank collapse
Regulators are speaking out after last week's Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Plus, eight people are dead after a boat capsized near San Diego, USA TODAY National Correspondent Elizabeth Weise talks about some incentives for going green, March Madness is here, and USA TODAY 'Entertain This' Host Ralphie Aversa recaps the Oscars.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Monday, the 13th of March 2023. Today, regulators speak out after last week's Silicon Valley Bank failure. Plus the latest from a tragic boat capsizing near San Diego, and we'll recap the Oscars.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has ruled out a bailout from the federal government for the now collapsed Silicon Valley Bank, but she said on CBS's Face the Nation yesterday that the government will step in to help depositors in some capacity. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed last week because of the downturn in technology stock and the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, ultimately leading to a bank run. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or FDIC took over the bank and said that deposits will be available this morning. But the federal government only ensures deposits up to $250,000 per depositor, and a majority of the bank's deposits are uninsured since much of its customer base was made up of tech workers and wealthy venture capitalists.
Meanwhile, regulators are taking over a second failing financial institution, Signature Bank of New York. The bank failures had eastern markets jittery this morning, including drops in Japan and Australia.
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At least eight people are dead after two boats capsized off the coast of San Diego. Authorities say the tragedy came in a suspected human smuggling operation. James Gartland is the chief of the lifeguard division in San Diego.
James Gartland:
This is one of the worst maritime smuggling tragedies that I can think of in California, certainly here in the city of San Diego.
Taylor Wilson:
Gartland said a woman called 911 shortly before midnight on Saturday saying she was on a panga boat with 15 people on board that made it to the shore. She said another similar boat had capsized with eight people in the water. Pangas are small fishing boats with outboard motors. They're often used for smuggling operations. Eight bodies have been found but authorities say it's possible survivors made it to land.
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Going green used to be a luxury. Now, it might be able to save you money. That's thanks to government incentives that can help you save on cars and at home. I spoke with USA TODAY National Correspondent Elizabeth Weise to learn more. Beth, welcome back to the program.
Elizabeth Weise:
Oh, thank you.
Taylor Wilson:
So first off, let's talk about electric cars. How many Americans have electric cars right now? What percentage of the population? Because it seems like in some cities right now you're seeing tons of them.
Elizabeth Weise:
It's true. Actually, last year, EVs, as they're called, because it's cars and trucks, made up 7.1% of all the new cars that were purchased, which was actually higher than I had expected. And that's numbers probably going to jump again this year and in years to come because these tax breaks are starting to kick in.
Taylor Wilson:
So let's talk about some of those tax breaks. How exactly do these work, Beth?
Elizabeth Weise:
Oh dear heavens, it is so complicated. I tell you, I have spent the last three days talking to tax lawyers about it. At its basic level, the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed last year, gives a $7,500 tax credit for buying eligible electric vehicles, and it gives a $4,000 tax credit for eligible used electric vehicles. But oh my goodness, are there so many caveats to that.
Taylor Wilson:
Let's get into them. I mean, this does seem like the type of thing that there might be a catch, correct?
Elizabeth Weise:
There are so very many catches. I'll just tell you straight out, the lovely folks at Rewiring America, which is this great nonprofit, have a really nice webpage that you basically input where you live and your income, and it tells you what you're eligible for, which is a huge help because my goodness, it's complicated. So basically, there are income eligibility limits. So if your household makes more than $300,000, if the head of household makes more than $225,000 if a single person makes more than $150,000, you're not eligible. But frankly, most Americans make less than that, so most of us are eligible.
And then there's the vehicle cost. So a sports utility vehicle or a pickup can't cost more than $80,000 and a car can't cost more than $55,000 and a used EV can't cost more than $25,000. The other piece of it, this is hard, is that the EV has to have undergone final assembly in North America to qualify. So these are non-refundable tax credits, and what that means is that you can't get a credit for more than you owe the IRS every year. It is not simple, but then buying a car has never been simple.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, Beth, we've talked about the cars, so how can Americans also gain from going green at home?
Elizabeth Weise:
This is not a tax credit, this is actually a rebate. So there are going to be these rebates of up to $840 for getting a new electric range, an induction stove, and they're actually really cool. I got to cook on one recently and they're amazing. Something I did not know existed, an electric heat pump clothes dryer, and this rebate, it's available. It depends on the median income of where you live. I mean, basically, Congress is trying to encourage middle income Americans to get this stuff, I mean, not just the wealthy. And again, go to the Rewiring America website to see if you qualify. The caveat for that one is, these rebates aren't going to arrive until probably the second half of the year because the details are still being worked out. And when they do, you'll be able to go to Home Depot or Lowe's or Sears or wherever you buy appliances and they'll just automatically give you the $850 off.
The part they don't exactly know is how that income eligibility is going to be determined, presumably all the appliance makers will have, or appliance sellers will have their own little calculators. So there's $150 off of energy audits and that's actually really great place to start if you're contemplating, what am I going to do to my house to make my energy cheaper and greener? You can get up to 30% off the installation of solar panels. Typical solar panel installation in the US runs about $20,000, so 30% of that is a nice chunk of change. That one's a tax credit. So you would have to owe at least as much as you're going to get in the credit in taxes to be able to get it. There's also, you could save up to $2,000 on a home heat pump and heat pumps are this... They sound a little confusing but they're actually really simple and they're used a lot in Europe and we're seeing them more around the country.
They're expensive to put in but they save you a ton of money overtime. There's also money in here that will go towards saving if you want to insulate your house or get new windows or doors to upgrade them so that you save money. Check out Rewiring America's website because they have a nice calculator that says, what can I do where you are? There's also, and in our story, I have the link, there's this database of state incentives for renewables and efficiency because a lot of states have these incentives and you just have to check out, and in fact, some counties do even.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Elizabeth Weise, always great info on the energy transition. Thanks so much.
Elizabeth Weise:
You're so welcome.
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Taylor Wilson:
March Madness is here. This year's college basketball tournament brackets were revealed yesterday. On the men's side, Alabama got the top overall seed while the other 1 seeds were Houston, Purdue and Kansas. The Big 10 has the most teams of any conference in the tournament with nine. That's followed by the Big East, the Big 12 and SEC with six apiece. As for the snubs, many expected Rutgers to get in, but they were left on the outside. And North Carolina, last year's runner up and this year's preseason number one, missed out entirely. It's their first time missing the tournament since 2010.
On the women's side, undefeated South Carolina is the top overall seed, followed by Indiana, Stanford and Virginia Tech as regional 1 Seeds. Carolina has the consensus player of the year from last season, Aaliyah Boston. You can read more, including where to watch the men's and women's tournaments, from USA TODAY Sports.
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The 2023 Oscars are in the books and the ceremony made some history last night. I caught up with the host of USA TODAY Entertain This!, Ralphie Aversa, to hear about the night's big winners and more. Ralphie, thanks for hopping on the podcast.
Ralphie Aversa:
Thanks, Taylor.
Taylor Wilson:
Let's start with Everything Everywhere All at Once. There was a lot of chatter around this movie for months coming into this night and I'd say it did pretty well, huh?
Ralphie Aversa:
I mean, it did extremely well. It won the night's biggest prize, Best Picture. There were some murmurs here in Hollywood throughout the weekend that maybe we'd see some type of upset because the film really was expected to win Best Picture. Ke Huy Quan was expected to win Best Supporting Actor. And then of course, Michelle Yeoh was expected to win Best Actress and it was a historic win as she's the first Asian actress to win in that category. Then you get to Jamie Lee Curtis and it's just so interesting. I mean, the incredible career she's had, this is her first Oscar nomination, if you can believe it. And yeah, she wins as well. So a really historic night for Everything Everywhere All at Once. They came into the evening with 11 nominations, more than any other film. They walk away with seven statuettes.
Taylor Wilson:
Wow. So what other history was made last night in terms of the awards themselves?
Ralphie Aversa:
So another big one came from Naatu Naatu. Now, that's the original song from RRR. Best original song this year was really jam packed. You had entries and performances as we saw during the show from both Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Plus Diane Warren, the prolific songwriter, her 14th nomination, she still does not have an Oscar, at least in any of the competitive categories. Last year, she received The Governors Award. But Naatu Naatu was the first Indian film song to be nominated for and win an Oscar from RRR. The movie that our film critic, Brian Truitt, said was his favorite movie of last year.
Taylor Wilson:
Ralphie, there was a lot of conversation before the awards that big blockbuster movies, thinking of Top Gun: Maverick and maybe even the Avatar sequel, are finally getting award recognition. How did the blockbusters do last night?
Ralphie Aversa:
So going into the evening, there actually was some chat out here in Hollywood that maybe, because it really got people back into theaters, that maybe Top Gun: Maverick would actually pull off the upset of all upsets and win Best Picture. Obviously, that did not happen. There was also talk that with Lady Gaga switching up her schedule, she's currently filming Joker 2, to perform Hold My Hand, her original song from Top Gun: Maverick, that perhaps she would win and thus the movie would win. That did not happen. Top Gun: Maverick won a total of one Oscar, for Best Sound. And as for Avatar, it also only won an Oscar and it won for Best Visual Effects.
Taylor Wilson:
So obviously, what overshadowed everything last year was this Will Smith slap. Jimmy Kimmel comes in as the host this time around, how much did he address that, and in general, how big of a theme was this on the night or did Hollywood just really want to move on?
Ralphie Aversa:
100% Hollywood wanted to move on. Of course, you have a moment that is so huge and really just overshadows an entire evening in such a way, a year later, you have to address it. And Jimmy Kimmel did, there were a few references. But it was really a small part of a larger monologue that paid credit to, again, people coming back into the theaters but also had a little fun at some people's expense. I mean, one of the jokes we included in our Entertain This recap was him calling Steven Spielberg and Seth Rogen, the Joe and Hunter Biden of Hollywood. So Kimmel really ran the gamut as far as jokes and all the different topics that he covered.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. How about any other big highlights from the night for you, Ralphie?
Ralphie Aversa:
Here's something that happened on the red carpet, and I've never seen this at any award show, let alone the Oscars. Usually, a carpet wraps up about five minutes before showtime so they can get everyone inside, get everyone in their seats, let the place look full when the show begins, and it's on national TV. However, with the Oscars, the red carpet stayed open, even past the show's beginning. Why? Because Rihanna was running late and they wanted to make sure that the carpet was still open and that media was still there when Rihanna arrived. And yes, Rihanna and of course, we saw her at the Super Bowl halftime show, pregnant, she walked the entire length of the carpet and yes, the media stayed.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, Ralphie Aversa. Always some great snippets from Hollywood's big night. Thanks so much, Ralphie. Appreciate it.
Ralphie Aversa:
Thanks.
Taylor Wilson:
You can catch up on all things Oscars on USATOAY.com. And you can find new episodes of 5 Things every morning right here, wherever you're listening right now. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: March Madness is here, 95th Oscars highlights: 5 things podcast