Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Ford Motor Co. is staking roughly $5 billion on a bet that it can build an electric pickup truck affordable enough to compete with gas-powered alternatives. The centerpiece of that wager is a $2 billion overhaul of the company’s Kentucky Truck Plant, where production lines will be retooled to accommodate a new electric vehicle platform…
Florida legislators are trying to stop data centers from driving up electricity bills for ordinary households, but the very bills designed to protect consumers carry a built-in contradiction that could undermine public accountability. Senate Bill 484, filed for the 2026 session, would ban certain nondisclosure agreements between state agencies and data center operators while directing…
Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin issued a sharp critique of crypto prediction markets on February 14, warning that platforms like Polymarket are drifting toward what he called “corposlop,” dominated by sports betting and short-term crypto price wagers rather than genuine forecasting tools. The rebuke arrives as prediction markets face an escalating legal and regulatory battle across…
BlackRock filed a registration statement on December 5, 2025, for a new iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF that would pass roughly 82% of Ethereum staking rewards to shareholders, keeping the remaining portion as a fee. The proposed fund, expected to trade under the ticker ETHB, represents a distinct product from BlackRock’s existing spot ether ETF…
Berkshire Hathaway reduced its positions in Amazon, Apple, and Bank of America during the fourth quarter of 2024, while adding at least one new holding to its portfolio, according to the company’s latest regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing has also prompted fresh questions among investors about whether the 94-year-old…
Small Russian oil drilling companies are increasingly facing bankruptcy pressures as Urals crude prices fall sharply, according to reporting cited below, while Western sanctions continue to strain the sector’s finances. The average Urals price dropped to $44.87 per barrel in November 2025, down from $53.68 in October, while separate reporting says some Russian oil has…
Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley of California introduced federal legislation on Feb. 18 that would bar states from imposing retroactive taxes on the assets of former residents, a direct strike at the core enforcement mechanism of a proposed California ballot measure that would levy a one-time tax on billionaires. The bill, called the Keep Jobs in…
Japanese companies are set to pour $36 billion into newly announced energy and industrial projects tied to a U.S.-Japan trade agreement, with major, itemized projects in Ohio and Texas and Georgia mentioned as part of the broader three-state push. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed the investment figure, which covers a natural gas mega-plant, a deepwater…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s preliminary budget for fiscal year 2026 cancels the planned hiring of 5,000 new NYPD officers, redirecting those funds toward an expanded racial equity apparatus that includes hundreds of new positions under the Commission on Racial Equity. The decision scraps a hiring timeline set by former Mayor Eric Adams just…
American families could face a steep hit to their household budgets under President Trump’s tariff plans and tariff-related proposals. Multiple economic analyses estimate the average U.S. household (or tax unit, depending on the model) would pay roughly $1,000 to $2,100 more per year, depending on which tariffs are implemented and how broadly they are applied….