Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Federal deployments of troops to American cities are no longer an abstract political fight, they are a line item on the national balance sheet. By the end of 2025, domestic missions tied to President Donald Trump’s orders had already cost taxpayers $496 million, and new estimates show that figure rising fast in 2026. I see…
Protests that began after a federal immigration officer shot a man in Minneapolis have escalated into a national test of presidential power, as President Donald Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act to send active-duty troops into Minnesota. The confrontation is no longer only about a deadly encounter on an icy city street, but about…
President Donald Trump is presenting Iran’s protest crackdown as a crisis that has suddenly eased, claiming Tehran has halted executions and stopped killing demonstrators just as Washington steps back from immediate military action. His assurances arrive while activists describe a death toll in the thousands and Iran remains largely cut off from the outside world,…
The Pentagon is making an unusually direct bet on the future of U.S. missile power, committing $1 billion to the rocket motor arm of L3Harris in a move that blends industrial policy with hard-edged defense planning. Instead of relying solely on contracts, the government is taking an equity stake in a new Missile Solutions business…
The Pentagon’s scramble to expand weapons production is converging with a broader bet on commercial tech, and few relationships illustrate that shift more vividly than the one between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Elon Musk. Rather than a single dramatic summit, their interaction is unfolding through factory tours, cost-cutting task forces and AI experiments that…
The United States military has quietly locked in a sweeping artificial intelligence partnership with Elon Musk’s startup xAI, positioning the company’s Grok models at the center of a new generation of battlefield and bureaucracy tools. The arrangement, struck with the Pentagon and the revived War Department, folds a private frontier AI system into some of…
President Donald Trump has turned a long-running fascination with Greenland into a central talking point about American security, insisting that controlling the vast Arctic island is essential to defending the United States. Military insiders and allied officials are now pushing back, arguing that the United States already has the access it needs and that trying…
President Donald Trump has now publicly confirmed that the United States will move ahead with a sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, locking in one of the most consequential arms deals of his presidency. The decision elevates the kingdom’s air power, deepens its security ties with Washington, and raises fresh questions about…
The shutdown-ending deal that reopened the federal government did more than avert missed paychecks and shuttered offices. It quietly steered nearly $1 billion in fresh money toward the US Air Force’s next-generation bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile, locking in new momentum for two of the Pentagon’s most expensive nuclear programs. The move underscores how budget…
President Trump is actively considering the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia ahead of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s upcoming visit to the White House. This potential defense deal, which has been under consideration since early November, could mark a significant shift in U.S.-Saudi relations. Despite warnings from Pentagon intelligence about possible technology…