A2| Wednesday, September 11, 2019 *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**
U.S. WATCH
Uber Technologies Inc.
and Lyft Inc. have proposed a
way for unions to represent
drivers who aren’t employees.
In some editions Tuesday, a
U.S. News article about a Cal-
ifornia employment bill in-
correctly said the proposed
benefit would extend to driv-
ers who aren’t full-time em-
ployees.A Life & Arts article Tues-
day about the film “Ad Astra”
incorrectly said the 1968movie “2001: A Space Odys-
sey” was released in 1969.The Wall Street Journal /
Times Higher Education Col-
lege Rankings considered
roughly 174,000 survey re-
sponses over the past two
years to score colleges based
on whether students think
their schools are worth the
expense. A Journal Report ar-
ticle Sept. 5 about the survey
incorrectly said 174,00, omit-
ting the final zero.Readers can alert The Wall Street Journal to any errors in news articles by
emailing [email protected] or by calling 888-410-2667.CORRECTIONSAMPLIFICATIONS
livering instead the type of in-
cremental hardware improve-
ments that havestirred up
questions about Apple’s inno-
vation prowess under Chief Ex-
ecutive Tim Cook. Mr. Jobs’s
successor has transformed Ap-
ple into one of the world’s
most profitable companies but
hasn’t delivered a megahit
product on par with the
iPhone, which arrived in 2007,
or the iPad, first released in
2010, the year before Mr. Cook
took over.
The Apple Watch made its
debut five years ago and has
largely been a success, as have
the more recent AirPods wire-
less earbuds, but not enough
to shore up falling iPhone
sales. Mr. Cook has since
pushed Apple to leverage its
hardware success to sell more
software and services.
TV+ will make its debut
Nov. 1 with shows such as “The
Morning Show,” a drama about
a morning talk show starring
Reese Witherspoon and Jenni-
fer Aniston. Other shows will
be added in the months after-
ward, Mr. Cook said.
The watch and new sub-
scription services are central
to Apple’s efforts to diversifyits business as the iPhone fal-
ters. Its customers are holding
on to current iPhones longer
and bristling at prices of new
models that average nearly
$1,000. Those struggles are
particularly acute in China,
where Apple is battling in-
creased competition, trade
tensions and a decelerating
economy.
Apple also made the Apple
Watch a better value, reducingthe price of the Series 3 model
about 30% to $199 and main-
taining a price of $399 on its
newest model, the Series 5.
The smartwatch prices
showed Apple is willing to eat
the cost of tariffs rather than
pass them on to consumers.
The Apple Watch was among
its first products subjected to
the 15% tariffs the Trump ad-
ministration introduced on
$111 billion in Chinese-madegoods this month.
Apple can absorb the extra
costs of tariffs without it af-
fecting margins because mem-
ory prices have fallen in recent
years, providing a cushion, an-
alysts said.
To sustain growth, Apple
must squeeze more money out
of existing customers by lever-
aging past hardware success to
sell newer products and ser-
vices. It has over 900 millionTHE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Our newspapers are 100% sourced from sustainably certified mills.GOT A TIP FOR US? SUBMIT IT AT WSJ.COM/TIPSWASHINGTON—The Trump
administration plans to re-
quire Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac to pay a fee for support
from the Treasury Department
in exchange for a change to
the mortgage-finance compa-
nies’ status that would allow
them to retain their earnings,
Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin said.
Mr. Mnuchin, testifying
Tuesday before the Senate
Banking Committee, said he
hoped to quickly reach a deal
with the regulator of Fannie
and Freddie, the Federal Hous-
ing Finance Agency, to amend
terms of the firms’ govern-
ment-bailout agreements that
would end an existing sweep
of nearly all of their profits to
the Treasury. The change is
seen as a first step toward pri-
vatizing the companies after 11
years under government con-
trol.
Fannie and Freddie don’t
make loans but instead buy
them from lenders and pack-
age them into securities that
are sold to other investors.
Figuring out how to refashion
the companies remains the
largest single piece of unfin-
ished business from the finan-
cial crisis. The government as-
sumed control of the firms in
2008 during the height of the
crisis to prevent their failure,
which officials’ feared would
trigger a broader collapse in
the housing market.
The comments come a day
after Mr. Mnuchin said that
Treasury and FHFA were close
to an agreement to amend the
companies’ backstop. Fannie
and Freddie shares soared
about 43% on the news, along
with a court ruling late Friday
that cast doubt on the legality
of the profit sweep.
Fannie and Freddie have
paid an average $18.2 billion
annually over the past three
years to the Treasury.
Reducing those payments
will add to a widening budget
deficit that is on track to ex-
ceed $1 trillion a year, amid
higher government spending,
rising interest costs and
weaker revenue collection as a
share of the economy.
Mr. Mnuchin’s Senate testi-
mony comes five days after
the administration released a
report calling for the privati-
zation of the companies.BYANDREWACKERMANNew Fees
On Fannie,
Freddie
Outlined
U.S. NEWS
during previous peaks in 1999
and 2007.
Income growth over the
past decade hasn’t been as
strong as some economists
would have expected given the
tightness of the U.S. labor
market. The unemployment
rate hovered at or below 4%
last year.Part of the reason is em-
ployers have become more ad-
ept at holding down wages by
using technology, and consoli-
dation in industries such as
telecommunications and bank-
ing also has damped income
growth, said Carl Tannen-
baum, chief economist for
Northern Trust. The share ofworkers who are in unions,
which push for worker pay
raises, also continues to de-
cline steadily.
“We’re better off by almost
all measures than we were 10
years ago,” Mr. Tannenbaum
said. “But there are still
some...amber flags that show
that economic security re-mains more elusive for some
families.”
Lisa Glivar, a 37-year-old
hairstylist in Golden, Colo.,
said her earnings are being
pinched because customers
are leaving smaller tips and
forgoing treatments.
“I haven’t been able to get
ahead,” said Ms. Glivar, who
last year began cleaning an
Airbnb rental for a client to
help boost her income. She
also moved to a styling loca-
tion with cheaper rent to lift
her bottom line. “I’ve never
been able to hit that next
threshold of $50,000 a year,”
she said. Last year her income
was several thousand dollars
below that.
The new figures showed
that the number of full-time,
year-round workers increased
by 2.3 million. When looked at
by race and ethnicity, median
household incomes in America
were essentially flat in 2018
for all groups except Asians,
who saw theirs rise 4.6% from
the previous year in real dol-
lars.
The report showed little
change in the overall distribu-
tion of income, but it showed
a gain for the second-lowest
fifth of all households.
The bottom fifth of house-
holds accounted for 3.1% of all
household income last year.
The top fifth of households
collected 52%. The top 5%,
with incomes above $248,700,
collected 23.1%.WASHINGTON—American
incomes remained essentially
flat in 2018 after three straight
years of growth, according to
Census Bureau figures released
Tuesday that offer a broad
look at U.S. households’ finan-
cial well-being.
Median household income
was $63,179 in 2018, an uptick
of 0.9% that census officials
said isn’t statistically signifi-
cant from the prior year based
on figures adjusted for infla-
tion. The poverty rate in 2018
was 11.8%, a decrease of a half
percentage point from 2017,
marking the fourth consecu-
tive annual decline in the na-
tional poverty rate. It was the
first time the official poverty
rate fell significantly below its
level at the start of the reces-
sion in 2007.
The figures released Tues-
day offer fresh insight into
how the economy fared as it
approached its 10th year of ex-
pansion. In recent weeks, the
government has revised down-
ward its estimates for job
gains, economic output and
corporate profits at various
points in time since early last
year. Previous government sur-
veys had suggested income
growth picked up last year,
though the census figures are
considered more reliable be-
cause of the quality and scope
of the data.
Census officials said that
median household income was
essentially the same as it was
BYJANETADAMY
ANDPAULOVERBERG
Median Income Was Flat Last Year
CALIFORNIA
Trump May Act
On Homeless Crisis
The Trump administration
said it may try to help get
homeless people in California off
the streets, a move that comes
after the president has criticized
the state’s cities for their han-
dling of the growing problem.
White House spokesman
Judd Deere said that President
Trump “has taken notice of the
homelessness crisis,” without
specifically mentioning California.
A team of federal officials vis-
ited Los Angeles on Tuesday on
a fact-finding mission, a
spokesman for the administra-
tion said, a week before Mr.
Trump visits the state on a
fundraising trip.
The administration didn’t
make clear what types of action
it is considering. Nor is it clear
what type of measures the ad-
ministration legally can take.
Alex Comisar, a spokesman
for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garc-
etti, a Democrat, said the
mayor’s office hosted the federal
delegation in an attempt to show
them “our work to confront this
humanitarian emergency.”
“We learned very recently of
their plans to learn about our
strategies,” Mr. Comisar said.
The homeless population has
risen in major California cities
despite efforts by governments
to deploy billions of dollars in
taxpayer-funded efforts. Califor-
nia hasn’t built enough apart-
ments and homes to keep up
with population growth.
InalettertotheWhite
House, Mr. Garcetti asked Mr.
Trump to step up funding for af-
fordable housing, mental-health
programs and the Department
of Veterans Affairs.
—Alejandro LazoTHE NFLLawsuit Accuses
Patriots Star of RapeNew England Patriots star re-
ceiver Antonio Brown—who
joined the Super Bowl champi-
ons this week—has been ac-
cused of raping a woman, ac-
cording to a lawsuit she filed
Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed in the
Southern District of Florida, al-
leges Mr. Brown assaulted the
woman, Britney Taylor, on multi-
ple occasions in 2017 and 2018,
including one alleged incident in
which he cornered her, pulled her
onto a bed and forced himself
on her with “great violence.”
Ms. Taylor, 28 years old,
says in the suit that she met
Mr. Brown when they attended
Central Michigan University to-
gether. She later became his
trainer, which is when he be-gan assaulting her, according to
the suit.
Mr. Brown, 31, denies “each
and every allegation” in the law-
suit, his lawyer, Darren Heitner,
said in a statement. Mr. Heitner
said “any sexual interaction” be-
tween Mr. Brown and Ms. Taylor
was consensual, including on the
night in which she said he raped
her. The lawyer called the law-
suit a “money grab.”
The Patriots didn’t respond to
requests for comment.
“As a rape victim of Antonio
Brown, deciding to speak out
has been an incredibly difficult
decision,” Ms. Taylor said in a
statement.
It wasn’t clear whether any
of Ms. Taylor’s accusations
against Mr. Brown were reported
to police.
She said she will cooperate
with the National Football
League and any other agencies.
—Andrew BeatonECONOMYJob Openings Fell
Again in JulyThe number of job openings
decreased in July from a year
earlier for the second consecu-
tive month, underscoring slowing
demand for new workers,
though opportunities remain
plentiful for job seekers.
Job postings fell 3% from a
year earlier in July to 7.217 mil-
lion after declining 2% in June,
the Labor Department reported
Tuesday. Before June, job open-
ings hadn’t decreased year over
year since early 2017.
The number of available jobs
remains high.
Job openings exceeded the
number of unemployed Ameri-
cans by 1.2 million in July, the
17th straight month openings
have outnumbered job seekers.
—Sarah ChaneyiPhone users world-wide, but
only a fraction own an Apple
Watch or pay for the com-
pany’s streaming-music ser-
vice. It has rolled out several
new accessories and services
to deepen its reach into users’
wallets, including its AirPods,
a credit card and a videogame
service called Arcade.
The emphasis on services
and newer products has coin-
cided with several high-profile
executive departures, including
design chief Jony Ive, who will
leave this year to start his own
design firm. “Apple isn’t grow-
ing like they were before,” said
Mike Frazier, president of Be-
dell Frazier Investment Coun-
selling, a Walnut Creek, Calif.-
based firm with about $
million under management
that counted Apple as its larg-
est holding before scaling back
its investment this year.
“They’re a victim of their own
success.”
Dow Jones & Co., publisher
of The Wall Street Journal, has
a commercial agreement to
supply news through Apple
services.
—Amol Sharma
contributed to this article.a luxury-device maker.
Netflix doesn’t see the low
prices as a threat, because
they make it more likely Net-
flix customers won’t be forced
into a choice if they want to
add another streaming service,
said an executive familiar with
the company’s strategy.
At Tuesday’s event—held in
the Steve Jobs Theater, the on-
campus auditorium named af-
ter Apple’s co-founder—Apple
lavished much of its time on
the flagship device that Mr.
Jobs helped create. The new
but familiar-looking iPhones,
now under the iPhone 11
brand, blended standard up-
dates such as longer-lasting
batteries and new colors with
more innovative features such
as a night mode for low-light
photos and the ability to shoot
video by holding down the
camera button.
Apple lowered the price of
its most popular model by $50,
countering three consecutive
years of price increases. The
iPhone 11, a 6.1-inch device
that updates last year’s XR
model, will start at $699 and
include a dual-rear camera.
The iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro
Max, with triple-rear cameras,
play to the premium market
with prices of $999 and $1,099.
Apple also introduced an
updated smartwatch with im-
proved power that allows it to
display time throughout the
day, and cut the price of an
earlier model to its lowest
point yet.
The company didn’t reveal
any surprise new devices, de-
ContinuedfromPageOne
Apple
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1990 2000 ’0102030405060708090100%Highest in 2018
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fifthofhouseholdscollectingmorethanhalfofincome.Median annual household income, adjusted for inflationNote: Income questions were redesigned in 2014.
Source: Census Bureau932Dial Down
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Apple'snewiPhonesfell.Source: the company’ 162015 ’ 17 ’ 18 ’ 19$699^709832949Apple earns money mostly on hardware; above, looking at new Apple products at Tuesday’s event.JOHN G. MABANGLO/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK Heard on the Street: Income
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