Hard Numbers: GOP ousts Liz Cheney, Amazon vs EU, US inflation rises, Japanese reject Olympics
92.9: The GOP voted on Wednesday to replace US Rep. Liz Cheney with Rep. Elise Stefanik as the head of the House Republican Caucus over Cheney's refusal to accept Trump's lie that the 2020 election was rigged. This is despite the fact that during the Trump administration, Cheney voted with Trump 92.9 percent of the time, compared to 77.7 percent for Stefanik.
300: An EU judge has struck down a 250 million euro ($300 million) fine levied by the European Commission on Amazon for cutting a deal with Luxembourg that is set to slash the US tech giant's tax burden across the bloc. Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands use such arrangements to attract big business, and thus oppose US plans for a global minimum corporate tax backed by fellow EU member states France and Germany.
4.2: The US consumer price index — which measures inflation — surged 4.2 percent in April compared with the same month in 2020, its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Deficit hawks blame recent rising inflation on big spending by the Biden administration, but some economists believe it's more likely caused by short-term bottlenecks in supply chains.
60: Less than three months before the Olympics kick off in Tokyo, nearly 60 percent of Japanese people want the games to be cancelled. With Tokyo having just extended its state of emergency to contain a surge in COVID infections, many question the wisdom of holding the event in the middle of the pandemic, which is what caused the Olympics to get postponed in the first place.