Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
A bipartisan group of senators is pushing to create a fiscal commission charged with reining in federal spending and debt, which now exceeds $38.8 trillion. Senators Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, John Curtis, a Utah Republican, and Angus King, a Maine independent, along with other colleagues, introduced the Bipartisan Fiscal Commission Act as the government’s…
A growing number of U.S. employers are abandoning performance-based raises in favor of uniform pay increases spread evenly across their workforces, a strategy compensation professionals call “peanut butter” pay because it smears the same thin layer over everyone. The tactic mirrors what companies did during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, when recession fears drove firms to…
A coalition of Democratic lawmakers introduced multiple bills on February 20, 2026, demanding that the federal government automatically refund tariffs paid by small businesses under President Donald Trump’s trade orders, which federal courts have ruled illegal. The push, estimated to involve as much as $175 billion in total refunds, has drawn support from both chambers…
Federal regulators across at least four agencies have now issued warnings about fraudulent messages reaching Americans’ phones through text and messaging apps, with scam losses hitting $470 million in 2024 alone. The concern is no longer limited to individual theft. A growing body of evidence ties the same phone-based misinformation channels to broader financial instability,…
The post-2008 era of near-zero interest rates, when central banks flooded economies with cheap credit, is over. A convergence of sticky inflation, record sovereign borrowing needs, and fragile market plumbing now threatens to expose how deeply governments, corporations, and investors built their strategies around money that no longer comes cheap. The adjustment has barely begun,…
President Donald Trump’s early 2025 executive order calling for a U.S. sovereign wealth fund set off a chain of events that has quietly reshaped the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, a federal agency originally designed to support overseas development. What began as a 90-day planning exercise for a new national investment vehicle has instead become…
Federal prosecutors have charged 11 defendants in what the Department of Justice calls the largest health care fraud case by loss amount in its history, alleging a Russia-based criminal network used Texas-based durable medical equipment suppliers to submit $10.6 billion in fraudulent Medicare claims. The scheme, dubbed Operation Gold Rush, relied on stolen identities from…
Taiwan’s government has flatly refused to reopen the terms of its recently signed trade agreement with the United States after a Supreme Court ruling limited presidential tariff authority. Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun told reporters that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s exports, set at 15 percent under the arrangement with Washington, will not change. The comments…
Home Depot reported fourth-quarter results on February 24, 2026, revealing that American homeowners have pulled back sharply on big renovation projects as housing affordability and job-security worries intensify. The nation’s largest home-improvement retailer posted $38.2 billion in quarterly sales, a 3.8% year-over-year decline, while comparable sales barely moved. The results, paired with a housing market…
CAVA Group Inc. reported fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2025 results, and executives told analysts the company is seeing strong same-restaurant sales growth alongside higher guest traffic. On the earnings call, management said guests appear to be moving away from deal-seeking behavior and are more willing to pay full price. The fast-casual Mediterranean chain’s earnings call…
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