Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Texas has just turned a volatile Bitcoin selloff into a policy statement, committing $5 million of public money to the asset while prices were sliding. Rather than treating the downturn as a warning, state leaders framed the move as a calculated entry point into a long-term digital asset strategy. I see this as a test…
The warning lights on the United States economy are no longer subtle. A growing stack of data and expert analysis now points to a national slowdown that could hit households, markets, and public finances at the same time, turning a series of “soft” signals into a hard economic shock. I see a pattern emerging across…
Tim Draper has never been shy about bold forecasts, and his latest one is as audacious as ever: he believes Bitcoin can climb to $250,000 within roughly the next year. That target would require a dramatic repricing of the world’s best known cryptocurrency, but it also fits a pattern of conviction that has defined Draper’s…
Car buyers have heard a lot of big promises about relief at the dealership, and President Donald Trump’s latest pledge to knock $1,000 off the price of a new vehicle lands squarely in that frustration. The claim sounds simple, but the policy mechanics behind it are anything but. To understand whether that kind of discount…
American factory workers are some of the most productive and best paid in the world, but that success carries a brutal arithmetic: when labor costs are roughly ten times higher than in emerging markets, low-margin production tends to migrate offshore. The result is a manufacturing base that is technologically sophisticated yet constantly under pressure, with…
Investor Mitchell Green is sounding an alarm about how quickly artificial intelligence companies are torching capital, even as he remains convinced the technology will reshape the economy. His warning that the current spending pace is “ludicrous” cuts against the euphoria around generative models and data centers, and it forces founders and backers to confront whether…
China’s economic machine is once again accelerating, but the benefits are no longer broadly shared with the rest of the world. Instead of acting as a locomotive for global demand, the country is leaning on a model that shifts pain onto trading partners through chronic surpluses, weak domestic consumption, and aggressive industrial expansion. The result…
US employers abruptly shifted from a long stretch of restraint to a sharp wave of announced layoffs in October, signaling that the era of “no hire, no fire” stability may be ending. After months in which companies largely chose to freeze openings rather than cut staff, the spike in planned job reductions suggests executives are…
The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge showed prices rising 2.8% in September compared with a year earlier, a level that keeps the central bank uncomfortably above its target even as the broader economy cools. The latest reading, delayed by the government shutdown, suggests inflation is easing only gradually from earlier peaks, leaving households still squeezed…
The Federal Reserve is edging toward a pivotal December decision that could reset the cost of money across the economy just as inflation progress shows signs of stalling. A growing camp of investors now warns that cutting too soon risks pouring fuel on an economy that is already running hot, turning a welcome reprieve on…