Economy
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Interest on the national debt is eating a record 19% of federal revenue — and watchdog warns it will get worse
The federal government already spends more on debt interest than on Medicaid, national defense, or all non-defense discretionary programs combined. Now, with the 30-year Treasury yield surging past 5.19% — its highest level in almost 20 years — a leading fiscal watchdog is warning that what was already a crisis could turn into something far…
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Uber drivers in Massachusetts just pulled off the biggest labor win since 1941 — just before the robots arrive
Drivers for ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft in Massachusetts became the first in the nation Tuesday to certify a union, marking a milestone in the growing effort to organize gig-economy workers amid ongoing concerns over pay, expenses and working conditions. The victory could provide a model for similar campaigns gaining traction in states…
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America is becoming less neighborly, and it’s hurting Gen Z and millennials’ chances at economic mobility
Americans have grown far less likely to strike up a conversation with a stranger or get to know people living closeby, and it could be costing the country a lot more than neighborhood quaintness. The average American now finds themselves living next to strangers. Around 25% of adults age 18 to 29 say they talk…
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The economist who wrote the book on sports finance has a number for FIFA’s World Cup haul: $15 billion
At soccer’s World Cup, the top scorer gets the “golden boot,” and the best goalkeeper is handed the “golden gloves.” This year’s tournament will also provide organizer FIFA with a golden opportunity to create billions in additional ticket revenues. Ticket prices are so high that even President Donald Trump, a billionaire ally of FIFA President…
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‘Nobody knows anything’ and ‘this time is different’: the phrases that define — and haunt — the AI economy
There are two phrases that have reliably marked every great financial bubble in modern history. The first is “this time is different” — what Sir John Templeton called “among the four most costly words in the annals of investing,” the signal that investors have begun rationalizing sky-high valuations by convincing themselves that old metrics no…
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The pig in the python: Baby Boomers are strangling the economy they built by refusing to move or retire
In 1974, New York Times humorist Russell Baker identified a “pig in the python” working its way through the economy: the bulge of 76 million Baby Boomers squeezing through America’s economic system, distorting everything they passed through. When Boomers flooded the labor market in the 1970s, they created a competitive squeeze that never fully released…
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Russia’s economy is much worse than it seems, and ‘elites are increasingly alarmed’ as alternate GDP gauge shows huge contraction
The Swedish government has come up with some drastically different economic figures on Russia that make the Kremlin’s official data seem like a Potemkin village. In a New York Times op-ed on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard cautioned the West against overestimating Russia and said the economy is more fragile than it appears. While…
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U.S. debt is the ‘elephant in the room’ amid bond market rout as Fed-fueled interest costs could drive even larger deficits, analysts warn
Recent weeks have seen a major selloff in the bond market as high oil prices spike inflation, but deteriorating U.S. fiscal health is increasingly a dominant factor, according to analysts at Bank of America. In a note on Friday, BofA announced that the so-called bond vigilantes have returned, referring to traders who protest huge deficits…
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The Fed’s worst inflation fears may be coming true as consumers lose faith in long-term prices—and even Trump supporters doubt he can bring relief
On the same day that Kevin Warsh was sworn in as the new Federal Reserve chairman, the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey delivered a worrisome reading on inflation expectations and a major red flag for the central bank. In addition to the overall index falling for the third straight month to a fresh record…
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Europe Just admitted the Iran War’s price shock isn’t going away
European Union officials said Friday that Europeans can expect oil and gas prices to remain above what they were before the Iran war for at least until the end of 2027, with prices of other goods also following an upward trajectory. EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said that higher energy prices are primarily responsible for…