Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Jimmy Donaldson has become the rare creator whose name doubles as a global media brand, yet he is now telling fans he cannot cover everyday expenses in cash. The YouTuber better known as MrBeast is widely reported to have a $2.6 billion net worth, but he says his personal accounts are in the red and…
Grocery bills are still climbing, and for many households the weekly shop has become the most visible sign of stubborn inflation. At the same time, a new Grocery Code of Conduct is being rolled out with the promise of fairer dealing behind the scenes, even as experts warn that it will not magically shrink receipts…
New car sticker prices have surged into territory that would have sounded absurd just a few years ago, with average deals now hovering around $50,000 and shoppers feeling the squeeze. The jump reflects a collision of long running supply problems, a shift toward bigger and more luxurious vehicles, and the bite of 25% tariffs that…
Spotify has quietly carried out one of the largest content purges in modern tech, stripping more than 75 million low‑quality and fake tracks from its catalog as part of a sweeping crackdown on AI‑generated “slop.” The company is pitching the move as a defense of artists, songwriters, and listeners, and as a way to stop…
Marijuana is on track to move from the federal government’s most restrictive drug category to a more permissive one, under a sweeping directive from the White House that could reshape everything from medical research to small business balance sheets. President Trump’s new executive order instructs federal agencies to complete the process of shifting cannabis to…
Headline GDP and inflation figures are sending mixed signals as the United States heads into 2026. Growth looks surprisingly strong on paper while price pressures hover near 3 percent, a level that feels manageable to markets but stubborn to central bankers. I want to unpack what those numbers really say about the economy behind them,…
Investors and workers are heading into 2026 with whiplash. On one side, artificial intelligence is being sold as a once‑in‑a‑century productivity revolution. On the other, the labor market is stuck in a “Great Freeze” that feels more like a slow grind than a boom. The gap between AI euphoria and everyday economic reality is exactly…
Retirees facing a brutal market often care less about beating flashy benchmarks and more about whether their income will still be there next year. Dividend-focused ETFs that prioritize quality, durability, and measured risk can help turn that anxiety into something closer to a sleepable plan. I look at six dividend ETFs built around long records…
Agentic AI is moving from hype to infrastructure, and commerce is where the shift is most visible. By aligning Google’s search-scale reach with Shopify’s merchant network, the new Universal Commerce Protocol promises to let software agents shop, compare, and check out across the open web as easily as a human in a single app. If…
Amazon is heading toward what could become the most consequential online price-gouging trial in U.S. history, with consumers alleging that the company allowed markups as high as 1,800 percent on basic goods during the early COVID shortages. The case cuts to the heart of how a dominant marketplace should behave when demand spikes and supply…
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