Andrew Withers

The Breeze • 17th March 2021

Dems flex political muscle with $1.9 trillion stimulus bill

The third COVID-19 relief package, the American Rescue Plan Act, survived Congress and became law on March 10, which marks the first legislative victory for President Joe Biden. Not one Republican in either the House of Representatives or the Senate voted for the legislation.

The new $1.9 trillion stimulus package will increase payments to families while financing the reopening of schools as the return to normalcy grows nearer by the day.

Biden has directed states to have vaccines available to

The Breeze • 17th February 2021

Amazon shareholders yawned as Jeff Bezos stepped down. Why?

Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, shocked the business world on Feb. 2 as he announced he was stepping out of his leading role to be the company’s executive chairman.

Bezos founded Amazon right before the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s rocked many technology companies. However, Bezos’ startup plowed through thanks to its leader’s tenacity and products and services such as e-book Kindle and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

As the years progressed and Amazon started growing its global footp

The Breeze • 25th January 2021

Businesses can win by easing burden of social media burnout

Social media has reconnected lost friends, kept people in touch and is one of the biggest forms of entertainment for today’s college students since their middle and high school years. It seems like everyone has an account with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. These platforms allow users to share what’s going on in their lives while expressing opinions and emotions.

But as social media has grown substantially in the past decade, it’s evolved and changed from the original hopes it provi

The Breeze • 9th December 2020

Survival secrets in cutthroat COVID-19 business landscape

Business owners across America are identifying holes and tying up loose ends to run their organizations more effectively and efficiently as the pandemic that crippled the business landscape continues to spread rapidly.

New lockdowns and stay-at-home orders will keep residents isolated past Christmas and leading up to New Year’s Day in California and other parts of the country with the holiday season in full swing, which is a crushing blow to businesses large and small.

Life is still far from n

The Breeze • 3rd November 2020

Trump vs. Biden: Whose economic policies make more sense?

It’s Election Day, and one of the most notable U.S. presidential elections and months of campaigning is at a close. In the coming hours or days, the U.S. will know its next leader.

Whoever is elected will face the unique and challenging task of helping the U.S. economy rebound after unemployment and volatility skyrocketed in the months since the pandemic.

Coronavirus and civil unrest have defined 2020, as will the results of the election. What follows is a final look at the proposed economic p

The Breeze • 13th October 2020

Uber, Microsoft, Apple grow via acquisitions amid COVID-19

Geopolitical and economic uncertainties rattled the mergers and acquisition (M&A) landscape and business environment in 2019 and the trend continued into 2020, thanks to the pandemic.

Businesses join with or acquire others to streamline and grow businesses or offload unprofitable segments in decisions that impact Americans daily. Notable examples in recent years include Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017, AT&T’s addition of DirecTV in 2015 and Disney’s purchase of 21st Century Fox in 2019.

The Breeze • 28th September 2020

Corporations grew. Small businesses failed. Blame COVID-19.

At the start of the new decade and as people started to settle back into routines after the holiday season, many were optimistic about the year ahead. Never in a thousand years could anyone have predicted what would lie ahead: a pandemic.

Panic set in and social distancing guidelines were established in March, while businesses around the country began to close and questioned the future of their operations.

Now, as millions of employees are furloughed or laid off and millions of businesses are

The Breeze • 7th September 2020

The future of work: Skip college, thank yourself later

College is one of the most exciting times in a person’s life where students meet new people, explore their interests in academics, get involved in campus organizations and so much more.

Most importantly, college students discover who they are and what they want to do with their lives. Once they graduate with amazing experiences and relationships, they head off into the real-world and begin their careers in the field of their interest.

The Breeze • 30th July 2020

July monthly market recap: Big tech grows, market crawls up

As millions of Americans raised hopes about what the second half of 2020 would bring, the pandemic raged on and led states like California to close restaurants, bars and other public places.

The rise of cases throughout America comes at a crucial time for college students and voters as the fall semester for many universities begins in a few weeks and the election is less than 100 days away.

The Breeze • 23rd July 2020

Will COVID-19 redefine capitalism, government's role?

As the U.S. headed into the new decade in 2020, it entered with hopes of continuing the longest running bull market in history and holding its status as the largest economy in the world.

As the COVID-19 outbreak seized the business landscape in March and forced hundreds of millions of Americans into their homes for an unforeseeable time frame, America’s economy sank into a recession and the longest period of economic expansion ended. Financial markets were tumbling as well as various asset classes, which made investors flock to safer investments such as Treasury bills.