WASHINGTON, May 20, 2026 — More Americans filed for bankruptcy in the first three months of 2026 than in any first quarter since the pandemic disrupted the courts in 2020. The numbers are not the result of a single catastrophic…
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2026 — Key Takeaways: The most consequential corporate deal in American energy history arrived quietly Monday morning, buried beneath Iran war diplomacy and Wall Street’s digestion of the Moody’s credit downgrade. NextEra Energy, the Florida-based giant that…
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2026 — The most common reason Americans give for not having adequate life insurance is that they cannot afford it. Research has now quantified exactly how wrong that belief is — and how much it is costing…
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2026 — Key Takeaways: The United States government has not had a perfect credit rating from all three major agencies since August 2011. It still had one from Moody’s — the oldest and, in some ways, the…
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2026 — The IRS raises retirement contribution limits most years. The numbers get slightly bigger, workers adjust their payroll deductions if they remember to, and most of the change passes unnoticed. That is not what happened in…
WASHINGTON, May 17, 2026 — Key Takeaways: The promise was precise. Tariffs would shrink the trade deficit. Manufacturing would come home. American workers would win. That was the argument Trump made when he unveiled his sweeping Liberation Day tariff package…
WASHINGTON, May 17, 2026 — The housing market has spent two years punishing anyone who tried to time it. Buyers who waited for rates to fall watched prices climb. Sellers who waited for rates to rise before listing found buyers…
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2026 — Key Takeaways: The fireworks have long faded. The bill Trump signed on the Fourth of July 2025 — the one he called the greatest legislative achievement of his presidency — is now an operational reality…
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2026 — The number that defines American household finance in 2026 is not the inflation rate or the unemployment figure or the Dow Jones average. It is $1.277 trillion. That is the total credit card debt load…
WASHINGTON, May 15, 2026 — Key Takeaways: The promise was straightforward. Pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, put money back in American wallets through the largest tax cut in U.S. history, and watch the consumer economy reward the administration…
WASHINGTON, May 15, 2026 — If you collect Social Security, your check got bigger this year. Whether you actually feel richer is another question entirely. The Social Security Administration delivered a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment at the start of 2026 —…
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2026 — Key Takeaways: Friday is Jerome Powell’s last day running the Federal Reserve. He’s handing the keys to Kevin Warsh — a former Fed governor with a hawkish track record — at arguably the worst possible…