Economy
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Alan Greenspan dies at 100. As Fed chair, he was hailed as the ‘Oracle’ but later admitted he made a mistake assuming banks could self-regulate
Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan died Monday from complications of Parkinson’s Disease, said his wife of 29 years, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell. He was 100. “To me he was my husband, who shaped my life from our very first date in 1984,” Mitchell said. “He had ‘irrational exuberance’ for baseball, the Washington…
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South Korean chipmakers are being paid such massive bonuses it’s becoming an inflation problem for the central bank
There’s some debate in the economics world about whether a “wage price spiral” exists in reality, and how much of a danger it poses. And yet the Bank of Korea is so alarmed by the massive bonuses being paid to workers building semiconductors that it has flagged this as an inflationary concern A wage-price spiral…
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Why men keep dropping out of the labor force: It starts in childhood, when kids see how males around them struggle, economists say
The male labor force participation rate in the U.S. has been falling for generations, perplexing economists who have struggled to come up with an explanation. According to the Labor Department’s latest data, the rate for men 20 years and older was 69.5% in May, down from 76% in May 2006. That means fewer men were…
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Rural America’s farms are already being crushed by an economic crisis. They now face the risk of a ‘mini-Dust Bowl’ as a rare Super El Niño looms
The U.S. farm economy has been fighting one battle after another in recent years, but a new threat is on the horizon that evokes memories of one of the worst agricultural disasters ever. After the post-COVID inflation spike, farmers had to pay higher input costs, then saw prices for their crops tumble. The Federal Reserve’s…
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Ground beef is up 20% since last year. A parasite, a drought and a July 1 trade deadline could push it higher
It’s summer grilling season, but for many Americans, surging prices mean beef is no longer what’s for dinner. The cost of beef, having spiked since early 2025, is coming under even more pressure. The most recent is the screwworm outbreak that hit cattle in Mexico and has now spread to the United States, where the…
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Britain marks Brexit’s 10th anniversary with an economy 4%-8% smaller than if it never voted to leave
Ten years ago, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a referendum that forges political identities to this day and that shattered a half-century project to get closer to the continent. Brexit, short for British exit, became a reality on June 23, 2016, when 52% — or more than 17 million people…
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If you’re surprised by how well the stock market is doing, so is Jamie Dimon—he says there’s a ‘little tsunami’ heading for the economy
Markets across the world have had plenty to worry about in the past decade. A global pandemic, a major war between Ukraine and Russia in Europe, steady inflation across major economies, including the U.S., rising tensions between China and the U.S., and, most recently, a conflict in the Middle East. And yet the S&P 500…
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The national debt’s 20-year deadline and baby boomers’ spending problem: ‘a lot of incentive for every generation to try to pass a big bill’
Top economist Kent Smetters thinks the U.S. is on a 20‑year clock—and the tilt of the federal budget toward baby boomers is at the center of the story. In a new analysis and in an interview with Fortune, the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM) faculty director sketches an outer limit for U.S. federal debt and…
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A new trade war may be brewing. This time, Europe is taking a page from Trump’s playbook — ‘We no longer live in a world of pink ponies and rainbows’
There’s growing alarm among European leaders over the flood of Chinese exports threatening their home-grown industries, and their response could resemble something from President Donald Trump’s trade war. Frustration is boiling over as China’s goods trade surplus with the European Union hit 360.6 billion euros ($414 billion) in 2025, up 15% from 2024. And in…
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Beef is becoming a luxury as prices stay at record highs. They likely won’t come down until 2028, says Farm Bureau
If you walked right past the meat aisle on your last trip to the grocery store, you’re not the only one. Beef is starting to feel like a luxury as prices stay at record highs, and there’s no end in sight for markups. Ground beef reached a record price of $6.90 per pound in April,…