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…
When the chair of the Federal Reserve chooses his words carefully, Wall Street listens for what is said and what is implied between the lines. In recent months, Jerome Powell has used six deceptively simple words to signal that the era of easy gains and forgiving valuations may be ending, and that message cuts straight…
California is staring at a multibillion-dollar deficit even as a new tax on artificial intelligence and digital services delivers a surge of cash from the tech sector. The state’s budget gap, now pegged at roughly 18 billion dollars, exposes how deeply its finances still depend on volatile income streams and how quickly a boom in…
British executives are quietly moving capital, headquarters and even personal tax residency out of the United Kingdom as they brace for a fiscal package many now describe as a “doomsday” budget. I see a pattern emerging that goes beyond routine tax planning, with boardrooms treating the coming measures as a structural break in the UK’s…
Peter Schiff has spent years warning that Bitcoin is structurally fragile, but his latest argument raises the stakes: he now suggests that only a government backstop could prevent a brutal reckoning for holders. The idea that the flagship cryptocurrency might one day depend on the very institutions it was designed to bypass cuts to the…
Financial markets have spent much of the autumn doubting that The Fed would move again this year, but the balance of evidence has shifted in favor of another cut at the coming meeting. A combination of softer data, rising concern about the labor market and a notable change in tone from key policymakers now points…
Elon Musk has pushed his net worth to a level no individual has previously reached, turning a once-hypothetical benchmark into a concrete figure that now defines the upper edge of personal wealth. His fortune, driven largely by surging valuations at Tesla and SpaceX, has not only eclipsed prior records but has also sharpened the debate…
President Donald Trump is still a billionaire many times over, but his latest financial disclosure shows a sharp reversal from the highs he enjoyed over the past year. After a surge that made him significantly richer since 2024, his estimated fortune has now fallen by $1.1 billion, a swing that underscores just how volatile his…
Larry Page has climbed another rung on the global wealth ladder, overtaking Jeff Bezos in the race for the world’s biggest personal fortunes. The Google cofounder’s net worth has surged on the back of Alphabet’s market value and the broader investor rush into artificial intelligence, reshuffling a billionaire hierarchy that once looked almost fixed in…
U.S. employers are still adding jobs in 2025, but the pace has cooled to its weakest level in a decade and a half outside the shock of 2020. Headline payroll gains remain positive, yet a mix of downward revisions, softer private hiring and fewer openings is revealing a labor market that feels far less robust…