Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Across corporate America, job cuts are increasingly framed as a side effect of “efficiency” rather than distress, even as many large companies report healthy margins and steady demand. The pattern is especially visible in Fortune 500 boardrooms, where leaders are quietly trimming headcount while pouring money into automation, data tools and AI that promise to…
Karoline Leavitt has built her political brand on discipline and message control, so her decision to publicly acknowledge a “very challenging” personal setback marks a revealing turn in how she presents power, family and vulnerability. As President Donald Trump’s White House press secretary, she is navigating a moment when her private life and professional role…
Large technology employers are openly tying restructuring plans to artificial intelligence, and headlines about thousands of roles disappearing can make it sound as if anyone who fails to “become an AI expert” is next in line. The specific claim that a single global IT giant cut 11,000 people solely because they could not reskill for…
President Donald Trump is signaling a new phase in his confrontation with Venezuela, promising that the United States will move from sea-based interdictions to land operations aimed at alleged traffickers tied to the country’s security apparatus. His pledge to act “very soon” against Venezuelan networks accused of moving cocaine toward the United States raises legal,…
Americans have spent the past few years watching paychecks stretch less far, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is now arguing that the worst of the affordability crunch is finally giving way to a more forgiving phase. His message is blunt: the combination of cooling inflation, targeted tax changes, and tariff relief should start to show…
Cracker Barrel’s former chief executive says she lost her job not just in a boardroom, but in the court of public opinion, after a sweeping redesign collided with a conservative customer base that saw the changes as an attack on tradition. Her claim that she was effectively “fired by America” captures a broader clash between…
The country’s biggest dollar-store operator is shrinking fast, as hundreds of locations go dark and a $1 billion divestiture reshapes the bargain chain’s footprint. The closure of approximately 695 stores and the sale of the Family Dollar business are rippling through working-class neighborhoods that long relied on ultra-cheap staples and quick convenience. What looks like a…
California’s budget picture has darkened again, with a projected $12 billion deficit colliding with a long list of ambitious Democratic priorities. Even as the state confronts slower revenue growth and the hangover from past surpluses, lawmakers are still advancing favored initiatives that test how far a progressive agenda can stretch in leaner times. I see a…
PepsiCo’s decision to close a major Florida manufacturing hub after roughly six decades marks a sharp break with the company’s long presence in the state and a jolt to the local labor market. The shutdown of a roughly $300 million plant, paired with significant job cuts, is rippling through suppliers, distributors, and public budgets that…
President Donald Trump is selling his $2,000 “tariff dividend” as a way to make foreign countries pay for a windfall that lands directly in Americans’ bank accounts. The experts running the numbers say something very different is happening: households would pay more in higher prices than they receive in any check. When I walk through…