Archive

Browse through all of our previously written publications.

What's New

MONEY & MARKETS

The Social Security trust fund deadline just moved up one quarter

Jul 13, 2026

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1 min read

The Social Security trust fund deadline just moved up one quarter

Last month the Trustees moved the deadline up yet again. The average retiree loses $458 a month the moment it happens.

MONEY & MARKETS

Jul 10, 2026

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1 min read

The yield that preceded the last crash

Same level. Different Fed. Same warning.

THE ECONOMY & MAIN STREET

Jul 9, 2026

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1 min read

The American Dream just changed hands

Four years ago, this wasn't happening.

Money & Markets

Jul 13, 2026

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1 min read

The Social Security trust fund deadline just moved up one quarter

Last month the Trustees moved the deadline up yet again. The average retiree loses $458 a month the moment it happens.

Jul 10, 2026

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1 min read

The yield that preceded the last crash

Same level. Different Fed. Same warning.

One in eight dollars charged to American credit cards hasn't been paid in three months

Jul 8, 2026

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2 min read

One in eight dollars charged to American credit cards hasn't been paid in three months

The Great Recession peak was 13.7%. The gap between that low point and right now is shrinking fast.

Three months ago your portfolio was bleeding. Then Q2 happened.

Jul 2, 2026

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1 min read

Three months ago your portfolio was bleeding. Then Q2 happened.

If you held through the Q1 selloff, those 90 days handed you more than a typical full year of returns.

$3,820 — the real cost of keeping $100,000 in your savings account last year

Jun 22, 2026

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1 min read

$3,820 — the real cost of keeping $100,000 in your savings account last year

CPI just hit its highest reading since April 2023. That's the number your interest rate has to beat — and isn't.

Jun 16, 2026

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1 min read

What your grocer paid last month

It hasn't hit your receipt yet. It will.

Cost of Living

In 2019, the mortgage payment was $1,072. Today it's $2,155.

Jul 7, 2026

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1 min read

In 2019, the mortgage payment was $1,072. Today it's $2,155.

That's the 30-year tab for buying today versus buying in 2019. Same loan type. Very different era.

What your AC will cost before you run it

Jul 1, 2026

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2 min read

What your AC will cost before you run it

The estimate came out before the heat dome did.

Your July 4th cookout costs $21 more than the 2019 version

Jun 29, 2026

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1 min read

Your July 4th cookout costs $21 more than the 2019 version

Ground beef is up 5.5% from last year and buns jumped 7.7% — here's where the extra $21 went.

Your neighborhood's next build just stopped

Jun 17, 2026

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1 min read

Your neighborhood's next build just stopped

Builders pulled back the hardest since the lockdown.

Jun 5, 2026

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1 min read

The most expensive room in healthcare

Same procedure. Triple the bill. Depending on the door.

May 23, 2026

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1 min read

Same house. Six years later.

The walls didn't move. The math did.

Government & Power

Jun 26, 2026

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1 min read

What the Pentagon said six weeks ago

Your senators are being asked to vote on a figure almost three times what their colleagues heard in May.

$500 a month — the projected Social Security cut when the trust fund hits zero

Jun 24, 2026

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1 min read

$500 a month — the projected Social Security cut when the trust fund hits zero

The 2026 Trustees Report has a date, a percentage, and a monthly dollar figure — and every one of them is worse than last year's report.

The number that got buried while everyone watched the Fed yesterday

Jun 18, 2026

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1 min read

The number that got buried while everyone watched the Fed yesterday

At $88 billion a month, the debt bill passed the defense budget — and the Fed may not be done raising rates.

Jun 9, 2026

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1 min read

What 100 days of war cost your family

Moody's did the arithmetic. It's bigger than you think.

Jun 2, 2026

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1 min read

The biggest workforce cut in 70 years

And it’s not at a Fortune 500.

May 19, 2026

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1 min read

The U.S. can't outrun this payment

It's bigger than what Washington spends on defense.

The Economy & Main Street

Jul 9, 2026

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1 min read

The American Dream just changed hands

Four years ago, this wasn't happening.

Canada and Mexico dwarf China in U.S. trade — by nearly 4 to 1

Jul 3, 2026

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1 min read

Canada and Mexico dwarf China in U.S. trade — by nearly 4 to 1

That $1.59 trillion covers auto parts, Canadian oil, and a huge share of the fresh food on store shelves — all of it now under annual review.

49.5: consumer confidence lower than any point during COVID

Jun 30, 2026

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1 min read

49.5: consumer confidence lower than any point during COVID

The University of Michigan has run this survey for 74 years. It has never looked like this.

Real wages just hit -0.7% — in February they were +1.3%

Jun 25, 2026

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1 min read

Real wages just hit -0.7% — in February they were +1.3%

A two-percentage-point swing in ninety days — the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed it this morning.

109 days: the Strait of Hormuz closed, and 20 million barrels a day went to zero

Jun 19, 2026

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1 min read

109 days: the Strait of Hormuz closed, and 20 million barrels a day went to zero

$4 gas, $126 oil, and 109 straight days of zero flow through the world's busiest oil chokepoint.

Where the hiring recession actually went

Jun 8, 2026

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1 min read

Where the hiring recession actually went

It didn't end. It moved.

People & Society

4 in 10 working-age Americans aren't even in the labor force

Jul 6, 2026

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1 min read

4 in 10 working-age Americans aren't even in the labor force

Not laid off. Not between jobs. They just stopped looking, and the count stopped with them.

Jun 15, 2026

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1 min read

Three richest men, or just one

Page, Brin, Bezos combined — still short.

Jun 1, 2026

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1 min read

The 14th largest city beat them all

And nobody’s talking about it.

May 21, 2026

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1 min read

27 hours vs. 30 days

The border just hit a 34-year line.

The gap between fear and fact just opened up

May 7, 2026

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1 min read

The gap between fear and fact just opened up

It got safer. You felt the opposite.

Property & Rights

What your house has been doing while you slept

Jun 23, 2026

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1 min read

What your house has been doing while you slept

The Fed put the new figure out on the 11th.

The last time this happened, gas was 31 cents

Jun 12, 2026

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1 min read

The last time this happened, gas was 31 cents

American farmers haven't grown this little wheat since 1962.

Smaller herd than 1951. Bigger appetite than ever.

May 26, 2026

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1 min read

Smaller herd than 1951. Bigger appetite than ever.

Your Memorial Day cookout already told you.

May 11, 2026

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1 min read

A line drawn in 1934. Erased in January

Ninety-two years of friction. Erased in one bill.