Author: josh
The U.S. military is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America, the Pentagon announced Friday, in the latest escalation of military firepower in a region where the Trump administration has unleashed more rapid strikes in recent days against boats it accuses of carrying drugs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to deploy to the U.S. Southern Command region to “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on social media. The USS Ford, which has…
The Social Security Administration’s annual cost-of-living adjustment will go up by 2.8% in 2026, translating to an average increase of more than $56 for retirees every month, agency officials said Friday. The benefits increase for nearly 71 million Social Security recipients will go into effect beginning in January. And increased payments to nearly 7.5 million people receiving Supplemental Security Income will begin on Dec. 31. Friday’s announcement was meant to be made last week but was delayed because of the federal government shutdown. The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees and disabled beneficiaries is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their…
President Donald Trump announced he’s ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of a television ad sponsored by one of its provinces that used the words of former President Ronald Reagan to criticize U.S. tariffs — prompting the province’s leader to later pull the ad. The post on Trump’s social media site Thursday night ratcheted up tensions with the U.S.’s northern neighbor after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he plans to double his country’s exports to countries outside the U.S. because of the threat posed by Trump’s tariffs. White House officials said Trump’s reaction was a culmination of the administration’s long, pent-up frustration about Canada’s…
I’ve spent more than 25 years working in AI & Digital, and I can tell you this — we’re past the point of asking if the technology will transform work. The question now is, how fast it will do so. The data already tells a remarkable story. KPMG’s 2025 CEO Outlook survey of over 1,300 global CEOs reveals that nearly three-quarters plan to invest 20 percent of their entire budget on AI in the 12 months alone. It is their top investment priority for the second year running. But what matters most is that these leaders aren’t preparing for mass layoffs,…
“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” — Dr. Seuss In 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes delivered his famous lecture, Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, predicting that within a century, technological progress would meet humanity’s basic needs. Freed from want, he believed our challenge would be how to spend an abundance of leisure. “For the first time since his creation,” Keynes wrote, “man will be faced with his real, his permanent problem —…
In This Article This article is presented by Connect Invest. Many real estate investors obsess over IRR and cap rates, but overlook the strategic value of liquidity. It’s no secret that real estate is illiquid—in September 2025, the average home spent 62 days on the market. Add an extra month or so for all the paperwork to be completed, and you’re looking at waiting around three months before you’ll see your investment money once you decide to sell. Whether you’re waiting on a 1031 exchange, prepping for your next flip, or just want optionality in a shifting market, your capital…
In This Article A new study from the Rochester Institute of Technology, published in Fortune, analyzed 14 million home sales over 20 years across 30 states, and reached a resounding, but obvious conclusion: There are no winners in a bidding war (except for the seller, of course). Homebuyers who secured a property by coming out on top in a “highest offer wins” battle consistently overpaid by an average of 8.2%, and consequently experienced weaker returns over time. For flippers and landlords working on thin profit margins and refinancing, the loss of equity can have long-lasting ramifications. The Cost of “Winning”…
Eric Schmidt, whose net worth is hovering around $45 billion, knows what it takes to climb the corporate ladder in Silicon Valley, having spent a decade as CEO of Google. Yet the secret to his success is not racking up endless hours in the office. Instead, Schmidt credits a deceptively simple habit, one he calls a game-changer for anyone seeking meaningful productivity gains: Set aside a few undisturbed hours each weekend for reflection, and grab a pen and paper. No screens allowed. This approach, which Schmidt revealed during a recent interview on The Gstaad Guy Podcast hosted by Gustaf Lundberg…
The U.S. economy is still managing to avoid a recession, but just barely, with its fate likely resting on California and New York, according to Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi. In social media posts on Wednesday, he reiterated his warning that states representing nearly one-third of nationwide GDP are already in a recession or at high risk of one. Another third is “treading water,” while the rest are still growing but suffering from less momentum. While his latest assessment largely echoes what he said over the summer and earlier this month, Zandi moved the industrial bellwether state of Michigan…
Microsoft will not emulate the strategies of Elon Musk’s xAI or Sam Altman’s OpenAI in creating “simulated erotica” for its chatbot users, according to the company’s CEO of AI, who warned the bots’ capabilities can be “very dangerous.” “That’s just not a service we’re going to provide,” Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman said at the Paley International Council Summit in Menlo Park, Calif., on Thursday. “Other companies will build that.” Earlier this year, Musk, CEO of xAI, said in an X post the startup’s AI bot, Grok, could take on the form of a companion, such as a young woman…