Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
President Donald Trump has turned California’s new $20 hourly wage for many fast-food workers into a political shorthand for everything he says is wrong with minimum wage policy. His claim is simple: higher pay at the counter means shuttered restaurants, lost jobs, and soaring prices for everyone else. The reality, as I sift through the…
A major packaging manufacturer is pulling out of two states at once, closing plants and cutting every job at those locations in a sweeping retrenchment that hits workers, suppliers, and local tax bases all at once. The shutdowns, framed by executives as a response to shifting demand and cost pressures, leave entire workforces facing abrupt…
UPS’s decision to slash thousands of jobs is not just a cost-cutting headline, it is the clearest signal yet that the company is trying to rebuild its business model around slower e‑commerce growth, higher labor costs, and a more demanding shareholder base. I see the cuts as the culmination of several pressures that have been…
Kroger is unwinding one of the most ambitious automation bets in American grocery, closing three high-tech fulfillment centers and effectively drawing a line under a $2.6 billion push to reinvent how it fills online orders. The retreat marks a sharp turn for a strategy that promised warehouse-scale robotics and rapid delivery, and it raises pointed…
General Motors is hitting the brakes on one of its most ambitious electric-vehicle investments and shedding thousands of factory jobs, a sharp reset that cuts across assembly lines and battery plants in several states. The company is pausing construction on a multibillion-dollar battery megafactory while eliminating more than 3,000 positions tied to its EV rollout,…
Texas trucking and logistics employers are shedding jobs at a pace that is reshaping how freight moves across the state, from oilfield runs to tech-enabled urban routes. Instead of a single dramatic collapse, a series of shutdowns, bankruptcies and deep layoffs has left thousands of drivers, dispatchers and warehouse workers facing uncertain futures. I see…
Kroger’s retreat from Florida marks a rare admission of defeat by one of the country’s largest grocers in a state that has become a proving ground for supermarket dominance. After years of trying to crack a market defined by fierce regional loyalty and aggressive national rivals, the company is walking away from a costly experiment…
Layoffs that began in tech and media are now rippling across airlines, retail, logistics, and telecom, turning 2025 into a year of sweeping corporate retrenchment. Major employers are cutting thousands of roles at once, reshaping career paths and testing the resilience of a labor market that had seemed unshakably tight just a year ago. I…
The Trump administration has awarded $10,000 bonuses to just 776 Federal Aviation Administration employees who maintained perfect attendance as air traffic controllers during the recent government shutdown, recognizing their unwavering service amid intense operational pressures. Unions representing aviation workers are protesting the decision, arguing that thousands of other FAA staff who also reported for duty…
Amazon is quietly trimming its physical grocery footprint again, closing more Amazon Fresh locations in November as it reworks a strategy that once promised a sweeping bricks-and-mortar presence. The latest round of cuts signals that the company is still searching for a profitable formula for selling food in person, even as it doubles down on…