Category: Finance

There’s a paradox that drives the shopping decisions of many Americans: Almost three-quarters say they’re feeling stressed out about skyrocketing grocery bills. But they keep discarding large quantities of food that’s safe to eat, from crooked carrots to surplus yogurt to “best before” items pulled from shelves early. Overall, the U.S. government estimates that 30% […]

In 1638, John Harvard, an English-born Puritan minister and teacher in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, bequeathed 400 books and half his £779 estate, today equivalent to roughly US$2 million, to the college that would be renamed in his honor after his death. In addition to launching America’s oldest university, Harvard’s donation began a tradition of […]

Dolly Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver announced the legendary singer’s death on Aug. 25, 2026, in a prerecorded video. Seaver, the son of one of Parton’s 11 siblings, had been her head of security for many years. But Seaver is currently embroiled in a messy dispute with She’s Alive LLC, the company Parton established to manage […]

The fall of 2026 is a moment of energy centrality, when geopolitics unfolding far away shows up in Americans’ everyday lives. In Pennsylvania, the statewide diesel price averages US$6.50 per gallon. In Iowa, farmers are paying more than $6 a gallon for diesel. And in Alaska, unleaded gas runs more than $9 a gallon. As […]

The post-pandemic push to bring workers back to the office has left many nostalgic for more flexible arrangements, such as hybrid or remote work. But a wealth of data since the pandemic now suggests that workplace factors like feeling appreciated and having a good relationship with your manager are much more tied to job satisfaction […]

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey is 80 and has served in Congress for half a century. His Democratic primary challenger in Massachusetts, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, is 47 and made generational change a centerpiece of his campaign. Markey won the Sept. 1, 2026, primary anyway by nearly 30 percentage points. He’s not the only octogenarian to […]

When union workers and their families gather this Labor Day, some may ponder Ronald Reagan’s memorable refrain, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” All workers – unionized or not – are dealing with higher prices for food and gasoline. For America’s unionized workforce, the overall state of the economy is […]

Recent college graduates are facing a job market that’s only getting tougher. Their unemployment rate hit 5.7%, compared to 4.1% for all workers, in June 2026. That may not sound like much, but it’s one of the worst rates in the past 20 years. Meanwhile, roughly 4 in 10 graduates are underemployed, which means they […]

The number of people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program is falling fast. The program formerly known as food stamps helped roughly 42 million Americans put food on the table in 2025. As of June 2026, the most recent data available, the number of people enrolled in the program in the whole country had […]

The U.S. government has pitched an obscure accounting rule change that has ignited a firestorm of opposition. If enacted, its effects might be felt from the capital markets to your retirement savings account. At issue is a proposal by the Securities and Exchange Commission that would scrap a long-standing requirement for registered companies to disclose […]