Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned on a pledge to give libraries up to 0.5% of the city’s budget, is now proposing roughly $30 million in cuts to the city’s three public library systems as part of his Fiscal Year 2027 preliminary spending plan. The proposed reductions come less than a year after…
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 117 into law, authorizing a $590 million emergency loan to four Bay Area transit agencies that face severe budget shortfalls heading into fiscal year 2026-27. The legislation directs state funds to AC Transit, BART, Caltrain, and San Francisco Muni, all of which warned of deep service cuts without new…
A Nobel Prize-winning economist has identified the disappearing blue-collar job as one of the most serious threats facing the American economy, a warning that lands as fresh federal data shows manufacturing employment dropped by more than 100,000 positions over the past year. The alarm clashes directly with White House claims of an industrial revival, setting…
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on February 20, 2026, that President Trump exceeded his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping tariffs, a decision that now puts more than $175 billion in collected customs revenue on a potential refund track. The ruling validated a legal challenge led by California and…
U.S. equity futures dropped sharply on Friday after a double dose of economic data revealed slowing growth and stubborn inflation, a combination that complicates the Federal Reserve’s path on interest rates. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that real GDP grew at just a 1.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2025, a steep…
GE Aerospace filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 15, 2026, the latest in a string of regulatory disclosures that trace the company’s accelerating momentum in commercial and defense aviation. Yet despite a filing trail that points to record-level activity heading into the late-January earnings cycle, the stock has drawn…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani proposed a preliminary $127 billion budget on February 17, 2026, that includes a 9.5% property tax increase and has drawn fierce opposition from the City Council, landlords, and Governor Kathy Hochul. The plan attempts to close a $5.4 billion deficit through a combination of state aid demands and tax…
Silver futures exploded nearly 9% on Thursday, February 20, 2026, while gold cleared $5,100 per troy ounce for the first time, as a Supreme Court decision striking down President Trump’s global tariffs collided with escalating U.S.-Iran tensions and a sharply weaker GDP print. The twin shocks to trade policy and economic confidence triggered one of…
A federal judge in Texas has struck down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule capping credit card late fees, removing a consumer protection measure at a time when multiple indicators suggest household financial stress is rising. The ruling arrived just as fresh Federal Reserve survey data revealed worsening credit confidence and rising denial rates among…
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara approved a temporary 17% emergency rate increase for State Farm homeowners policies, adding to a cascade of rising household costs that are squeezing residents across the state. The decision arrived after months of regulatory scrutiny over the insurer’s financial health, and it lands alongside surging utility bills, climbing food prices,…