Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
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…
The United States has crossed a fiscal threshold that once seemed distant, with the gross national debt now at $38 trillion and climbing. As the figure races higher, the Treasury Department is trying to reassure markets and voters that the government can still manage its obligations even as the cost of that debt ripples through…
Warnings about holding too much cash are getting louder as inflation, higher rates and rapid advances in artificial intelligence reshape the financial system. The core argument is simple: by 2030, investors who stay parked in dollars risk watching their purchasing power erode while those who steadily accumulate hard assets could be better positioned for a…
Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman is again warning that the calm on Wall Street is masking serious trouble in the real economy. He argues that a mix of fragile growth, speculative excess around artificial intelligence and aggressive trade policy under President Donald Trump is pushing the United States toward a new financial shock. His…
The federal debt has jumped by roughly one trillion dollars in less than a quarter, a pace that would have been unthinkable a decade ago but now reflects how structural deficits collide with higher interest costs. The surge is not a one-off anomaly, it is the latest acceleration in a trend that has pushed the…
Artificial intelligence is not just transforming search engines and office software, it is quietly reshaping the power grid that keeps the lights on at home. As tech giants race to build massive AI data centers, utilities are scrambling to supply the electricity, and the costs of that buildout are increasingly landing on ordinary customers’ monthly…
The Pentagon’s quiet move to flag Alibaba for alleged ties to the Chinese military has pushed one of the world’s biggest tech groups deeper into Washington’s national security crosshairs. The reported finding, which also sweeps in Baidu and BYD, signals that United States defense officials are increasingly willing to treat China’s consumer-facing champions as potential…
Hunter Biden is sounding an alarm about the next wave of automation, warning that artificial intelligence and advanced software could wipe out millions of white-collar jobs that once looked safe. He has framed the risk in stark terms, describing a potential “mass extinction” event for roughly 3.5 million workers whose roles can be replicated by…
President Donald Trump is preparing to shrink the federal workforce on a scale that could reshape how government touches everyday life, with plans to cut or leave unfilled jobs affecting as many as 317,000 workers across agencies. The move lands on top of a broader second-term push to tighten legal immigration and pare back public…
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…