Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Federal judges across the country have stepped in to stop President Donald Trump from stripping hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants from cities and counties that limit cooperation with immigration authorities. The rulings have turned a sweeping threat into a high-stakes constitutional fight over who controls federal purse strings and how far the…
Americans staring down rising rents, grocery bills and car payments have already started mentally spending President Donald Trump’s promised $2,000 tariff checks. The Treasury Department, however, is signaling that households should think less about a quick shopping spree and more about shoring up their finances, and the calendar is another reason to hit pause. Between…
Immigrants facing civil fines as high as $1.8 million are now challenging the Trump administration in federal court, arguing that the government weaponized an obscure penalty statute to pressure them into leaving the country. Their lawsuit turns a little-known enforcement tactic into a test of how far a president can go in using financial sanctions…
The new tax break on tips and overtime has been sold as a windfall for workers who stay late, pick up extra shifts, or live off gratuities. In reality, the fine print decides whether a server, nurse, or warehouse worker actually sees more money in their bank account or just a talking point in a…
President Donald Trump has put the idea of fresh stimulus-style payments back on the table, and for households still squeezed by higher prices and lingering debt, the obvious question is how large a check might actually land in their mailbox or bank account. The answer depends on what kind of plan, if any, Congress ultimately…
Older Americans are heading into tax season with a rare piece of good news: a fresh $6,000 deduction designed to shrink how much of their Social Security ends up taxed. The new break, created as part of a broader federal tax overhaul, applies only for a limited window through 2028, but it has the potential…
Congress is turning its attention to the quiet figure who kept Jeffrey Epstein’s books, probing how his work intersected with a major Wall Street bank’s red flags. Lawmakers now see Epstein’s longtime accountant as a potential key to understanding how large cash movements and internal warnings at JPMorgan Chase failed to stop a client already…
The $600 reporting threshold has become a flashpoint for anyone who earns money through side gigs, payment apps, or freelance work. I want to unpack how that old limit is being reshaped, what the new rules look like in practice, and why the changes matter whether you drive for Uber, sell on Etsy, or pay…
Real estate can quietly generate one of the largest tax bills most people ever face, because the IRS treats profit on property as a capital gain. With the right planning, however, I can often reduce, defer, or even eliminate that tax hit by using a mix of exemptions, timing strategies, and specialized transactions that are…
Ron DeSantis has turned a wonky gripe about local levies into a sharp populist line, arguing that property taxes function less like civic contributions and more like rent payments to the state. By casting homeowners as perpetual tenants of government, he is trying to reframe a familiar bill as a fundamental threat to ownership, and…