Economy
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U.S. Treasury pays $3 billion a day in interest on national debt nearing $39 trillion mark
The U.S. Treasury has paid $628 billion in net interest this year to service its borrowing,according to the the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The latest monthly budget update on the national debt and its interest burden, shared on May 8, breaks down the government’s income and outgoings for the fiscal year so far, which began…
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Forget the Rust Belt or the Sun Belt. The ‘Wired Belt’ may be the next frontier of American political power
The laid-off factory worker from Youngstown, Ohio, became the defining figure of American politics for the past two decades. The jobless financial professional from Philadelphia’s suburbs could be the defining figure of the future, and their demands may be harder to ignore. That’s the warning from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. The American AI…
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‘This is the way’: Elon Musk endorses Warren Buffett’s famed 5-minute plan to fix the national debt
The national debt is set to reach $40 trillion in the near future if it continues to grow at its current pace. That has caught the attention of the richest man in the world. Elon Musk has joined the likes of Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in supporting a solution to…
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‘Americans are literally getting squeezed’: A top economist on why your wages are disappearing while the rich keep booking vacations
Consumer sentiment in the U.S. has officially never been worse. The University of Michigan’s final April reading came in at 49.8, the lowest in the survey’s 74-year-history. Three of the four lowest sentiment readings ever recorded have now happened in the past nine months. To be fair, the survey isn’t without its critics. Economists have…
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Russian debt defaults are surging, with a quarter of the bond market at risk, while Putin hides in bunkers fixated on his war instead of the economy
The Russian economy is now shrinking, and businesses are having more trouble keeping up with debt payments, representing a potentially systemic threat to the country’s bond market. According to data from the central bank this week, GDP contracted 0.5% year over year in the first quarter, far below projections for 1.6% growth, due in part…
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This economist studied 400 years of recessions. His bleak conclusion: stop trying to predict them
In the early 18th century, the American colonies suffered a depression-level economic contraction. There was no war. No financial panic. No obvious villain—except, as it turns out, Blackbeard. Atlantic piracy had reached its peak, blockading the port of Charleston and choking off trade routes from the Caribbean to Long Island. Trade collapsed. The money supply…
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Driving less, canceling vacations, and tightening budgets: All the ways Americans are coping with soaring gas prices
The war in Iran has done what once seemed impossible: forced Americans to rethink the idea of driving everywhere. The conflict in the Middle East itself might be teetering on a tentative ceasefire, but higher gasoline prices are likely here to stay. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Friday was $4.54,…
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Iran may have a higher tolerance for economic pain—but the pain is excruciating as regime reveals 100% inflation in just days on some items
Iran’s regime has so far withstood U.S. and Israeli bombardment, but the economic forces that sparked the most serious conflict in decades have only gotten more severe. Spiraling inflation and a collapsing currency set off mass protests in late December and early January, prompting a brutal crackdown that is estimated to have left tens of…
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Ray Dalio: the ‘heart attack’ of America’s debt crisis is just the beginning of a ‘great turbulence’ that will reshape the country
Ray Dalio has been warning for years that America’s debt problem could trigger an economic “heart attack.” Now he’s saying that’s only part of the story. The billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates is widening his alarm, arguing in a recent conversation with The New York Times‘ Ross Douthat that the U.S. is entering a period of…
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The job market is healing for everyone—except in the office
The U.S. labor market added 115,000 jobs in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, beating economist expectationsand marking the second straight month of gains. The unemployment rate held at 4.3%. After a 2025 where monthly job growth averaged an anemic 10,000, the 2026 average is now 76,000—enough of an improvement that economists are…