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Inflation can make an investment account look far healthier than it really is. Once taxes are added, investors may discover that a significant portion of their apparent profit never increased their purchasing power at all.The Hidden Tax Inside a Long-Term GainConsider an investor who puts $10,000 into a stock, earns 10% annually and sells after 20 years.The investment grows to approximately $67,275, producing a taxable capital gain of $57,275.That sounds like an exceptional result. Yet if inflation averaged 3% during those two decades, nearly half of the gain would reflect rising prices rather than a true increase in purchasing power.Compounding...

Retaliatory tariffs issued by Canada are set to hit some imports from the United States soon after midnight on Tuesday, intensifying a trade war between the longtime allies and risking an escalation from President Donald Trump.Levies as high as 50% will be applied to hundreds of U.S. products, ranging from aluminum foil to raincoats to cheese. U.S. elected officials in states bordering Canada, including Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, have warned the trade dispute will hurt local businesses and consumers.

The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, more than triple Wall Street’s forecast, giving the Federal Reserve more room to raise interest rates despite President Donald Trump’s escalating demands for cuts. Hiring Rebounds After a Weak SummerNonfarm payrolls increased by 162,000 in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected just 53,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, even as the labor force expanded by 683,000 people and the participation rate rose to 61.6%. Previous months also looked stronger after revisions. June payroll growth was raised from 20,000 to...

President Donald Trump on Friday doubled down on his threat to cut off trade with countries that have surpluses with the U.S. unless the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates. “What I’m saying, very simply, is that we should be paying the lowest interest rate in the world,” Trump said in the Oval Office Friday afternoon. He had been asked about his Truth Social post earlier in the day declaring, “LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT.” Trump issued that sweeping ultimatum after urging the Fed and its chairman, Kevin Warsh, to “get...

President Donald Trump on Friday demanded that the Federal Reserve slash interest rates or else he will cut off trade with countries with which the U.S. maintains trade deficits. Trump issued the sweeping ultimatum in a Truth Social post reacting to a much-stronger-than-expected monthly jobs report by urging the central bank and its chairman, Kevin Warsh, to “get smart” and cut rates. Read Trump’s full post: Great jobs number just announced, breaking all estimates (except mine!) by double and triple - And you haven’t seen anything yet! EMPLOYERS ADDED 162,000 JOB IN AUGUST. Lower the interest rates because the U.S.A....

DALLAS — Motorists are expected to encounter the highest average Labor Day gasoline price on record in nominal terms, according to a forecast released Tuesday by fuel-savings platform GasBuddy. The company projects the national average will reach $4.03 per gallon during the holiday weekend, 87 cents higher than the $3.16 average recorded in 2025. The forecast would surpass the previous nominal Labor Day record of $3.83 per gallon, set in 2012.

Thank God, no, we aren't going bust as a nation, despite our gargantuan $40 trillion national debt. The rapid pileup of debt under Republicans and Democrats alike is certainly a disgrace and worrisome. When I came to Washington in the mid-1980s, our debt hit $1 trillion for the first time. It seemed like a tidal wave of red ink. Forty years later, we're at $40 trillion. That's a big and scary number. But our national wealth is roughly $180 trillion. So our debt-to-asset ratio, which has been rising, is still less than 25%, and much lower than at the end...

A text message sent by Vice President JD Vance on behalf of the Republican National Committee urged people not to donate if they couldn't afford groceries. The fundraising text sent in the Vice President's name told recipients: 'If you can't give right now, don't. Groceries cost what they cost.'*** The appeal then offered an unusually frank admission about the Republican Party's finances. 'Now the part I owe you honesty about,' the message said. 'The Republican National Committee needs money. That's true of every party committee, and anyone who tells you otherwise is doing the exact thing I just apologized for....

The federal deficit will be $2.1 trillion when fiscal year 2026 ends on Sept. 30, the Congressional Budget Office projected in its monthly budget review.The deficit - the gap between what the government spends and what it collects from taxes and other revenue - has never surpassed $1.8 trillion, except during the Covid-19 pandemic.Key facts: Federal revenues are up 3% in 2026 compared to last year. Even though corporate income tax revenue has declined, income and payroll tax collections increased.But federal spending is up 5%, according to the CBO. Interest on the national debt increased 14% compared to last year....

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he and other European leaders plan to travel to the United States in September to lobby US President Donald Trump to let Ukraine access some of its Patriot air defense missile stocks ahead of the winter, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing an interview. "I'm looking forward to going to New York in September," Burnham told Bloomberg. "I’ve not fully confirmed the details yet but it’s likely I will go, particularly after today’s discussion," Bloomberg quoted him as saying. Ukraine independence celebrations marked by world leaders in KyivThe leaders of Britain and France pledged...

The national average price of gasoline stood at $4.05 a gallon Monday, the highest ever recorded this late in the calendar year, as escalating geopolitical conflicts on two fronts threaten to push prices even higher heading into the Labor Day weekend. In Washington, drivers are paying more than $5 a gallon throughout much of the state, well above the national average tracked by fuel price service GasBuddy. The price surge comes as President Donald Trump announced plans to launch what he described as "the most crushing economic operation" against Iran, adding fresh uncertainty to global oil markets already strained by...

"Dana Bash speaks with former Vice President Mike Pence about the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the renewed threat of a trade war between the U.S. and Canada, and his reaction to his former CIA briefer - a trans woman - stating that he treated her with "great dignity." ...

Trade talks with Canada collapsed late Friday night, setting in motion steep 50% tariffs on a wide swath of Canadian goods. The duties went into effect at the stroke of midnight. This particular time, PM Mark Carney was the one to cancel further negotiations and say, Canada would match US Tariffs dollar for dollar. Carney and the Liberals have used Anti-Trump rhetoric as a political tool to advance their agenda, basically the more they fight Trump the more popular they become in Canada for a significant percentage of the population. If you have been watching Canadian Media in the last...

I live in New York, which is a very expensive city, so I have become somewhat desensitized to paying stupid amounts of money for normal things. I don’t regularly experience sticker shock because, to some extent, I live inside the sticker shock. But lately, even I have been losing the plot. A few months ago, I paid $35 for tortellini at a restaurant and received four pieces of tortellini. I recently saw supermarket strawberries listed for $15. The other day I was shopping for a trash can and discovered that a distressing percentage of them cost more than $100. And...

The U.S. national debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, marking a historic milestone in a borrowing buildup that has accumulated over generations, through wars, recessions, tax changes and the expansion of major federal benefit programs under presidents of both parties.The Treasury Department reported that total public debt outstanding reached about $40.047 trillion Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. The number is striking, but the more significant measure for economists is debt held by the public — money the federal government owes to investors and other entities outside the federal government. That...

American workers' wages are once again failing to keep up with inflation — a painful financial déjà vu of the pandemic years. The repeat situation may feel even more acute given that many workers are still catching up from the 2021-2022 inflationary bout, when companies gave workers only moderate pay raises that fell short of four-decade-high price increases, according to new economic research. From February 2021 to June 2022, real wages — or the purchasing power of the average American's paycheck — fell by more than 4%, according to the paper from the University of Chicago and ADP researchers. That...

Average ground beef price per pound: 🔵 June 2024: $5.47 🔴 June 2025: $6.12 🔴 June 2026: $6.83 [Tr] Up 11.5% from 2025 and nearly 25% from 2024

A ship was struck by a projectile early Tuesday while sailing out of the Strait of Hormuz, British military officials confirmed. No one has claimed responsibility for the strike. An Iranian official says the critical waterway will remain closed until the United States meets Iran's conditions. The attack comes as Iran continues to restrict shipping traffic through one of the world's most important trade routes. The incident is rattling energy markets. Oil prices are among the highest seen since July, and diesel has soared in every part of the country in the last 24 hours. The national average for a...

US President Donald Trump urges Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices as the cost of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and said he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory. The comments underscore the growing political risk for Trump as higher fuel prices collide with his campaign promise to lower energy costs, with Democrats already seeking to make the economic fallout from the Iran war an issue heading into the November midterm elections. In a speech in Garden City, Trump says Americans who had to “pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline”...

Trump's policies are already delivering lower inflation and improving purchasing power for American workers — a recovery he portrayed as remarkable given the damage he said the administration inherited. Bessent's interview came as new federal data showed prescription drug costs saw their biggest decline in 60 years after President Trump made lowering prices a national priority. Bessent said Americans have legitimate reasons to remain frustrated after years of elevated prices. "People should be upset," Bessent said, arguing the Biden years left households facing a substantial loss of purchasing power, with working Americans hit especially hard by higher costs for automobiles,...