Grocery prices keep rising, and one ingredient crucial to BLTs, salads, and fresh salsas has gotten particularly expensive. Tomato prices are up a staggering 40% compared with a year ago, according to the latest consumer price index. Fresh vegetables in general have gotten more expensive—up nearly 12% from a year ago—and prices for groceries like coffee (up 18.5%) and beef (up about 15%) have all increased. But tomatoes in particular stand out, with prices hitting $2.69 per pound in April, the highest level reported in the last 45 years. That price shock is thanks to simultaneous supply-chain disruptions: extreme weather,…
Author: Staff Writer
Governments always know exactly where to find soldiers during economic decline. They look for debt, unemployment, hopelessness, and young men with no future. That has always been the pattern throughout history. Rome did it. Napoleon did it. Britain did it. The United States targeted poor communities for Vietnam and Iraq. Now, Russia is openly doing the same thing by forgiving massive debts for men willing to go fight in Ukraine. Putin has now signed a decree wiping out debts up to 10 million rubles, roughly $140,000, for new military recruits and even their spouses if they sign contracts with the…
Let’s talk about the biggest fear of all employers—hiring someone who works for a competitor. Recently, this happened to me. I run a company that actively hires part-time employees. Around a third of our team works part time. One of our employees has been with us part time for five years and consistently outperforms expectations. Simply put, I couldn’t care less how many hours someone works in a day. However, when we interviewed this candidate, we found out that he worked for a competitor. He didn’t actively hide this fact—he simply didn’t think it mattered. He was wrong. It did.…
I have repeatedly warned that people need to watch Turkey. Most analysts view Turkey as simply another emerging market struggling with inflation, currency volatility, and political uncertainty. They are missing the larger picture. Turkey sits at the crossroads of Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and Asia. When capital shifts, when energy flows change, when geopolitical alliances begin to fracture, Turkey is often standing directly in the middle. Now Turkey is negotiating with Russia to extend natural gas supply agreements beyond 2026. The discussions involve Turkey’s state energy company BOTAS and Russia’s Gazprom, with future supply volumes and contract terms still…
A planning cycle. A strategy cycle. A reorg every few years. A new tool rollout that people had time to absorb. A period of change, followed by a period of stability. That version of work is gone. Today, work moves through constant disruption and AI is rewriting jobs in real time. Economic uncertainty is keeping employees on edge. Workplace norms are being renegotiated. And employees are asking harder questions about what work should provide beyond a paycheck. This is the new operating environment. Yet many engagement strategies were built for a steadier one. Those strategies assume employees have enough capacity…
“Hire somebody.” That was our developer’s answer when I asked what he’d do if we took away his AI code review tool tomorrow. He didn’t hesitate. I hadn’t expected that, and it told me everything about where this technology actually stands right now. Using AI for code reviews has become indispensable to our team and a real benefit to our clients. It makes us more productive, improves quality, and saves money. And our developers love it. Over the past two years, we have had a front-row seat to an amazing transformation in the digital product space. Many tools to aid…
As the scales tip in favor of homebuyers, more sellers are finding themselves unhappy with their prospects—and yanking their homes off the market. In April, 5.8% of all home listings in the U.S. were taken off the market, according to a new analysis from Redfin. That rate matches the record high number of delistings in March 2020, when uncertainty about the pandemic shuttered businesses and slowed real estate deals to a crawl. Delisting rates were also this high in December of last year, a trend that points to a shifting market in which buyers now wield more power than sellers.…
Oil prices rose Wednesday following the latest flare-up in fighting to threaten the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, and U.S. stocks retreated from their records. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% from its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 466 points, or 0.9%, with an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower. Weighing on the market was a climb of 1.9% for the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, which brought it back to $97.81. It rose after both the United States and Iran said they launched retaliations for earlier attacks or attempted ones. Palo Alto Networks…
Gwyneth Paltrow is back making headlines. But this time, instead of a questionably scented candle or overpriced piece of home decor, it’s a surprising superfood that’s flooding social media. The actress and founder of lifestyle brand Goop recently appeared on Today to promote her “delivery first” restaurant concept Goop Kitchen. In a cooking segment with Savannah Guthrie and Carson Daly, Paltrow shared she likes using arugula as a replacement for dairy in recipes—specifically as a textural substitute for cheese in the meatballs she was making. “It sounds weird,” Paltrow said, “but it kind of adds a nice texture to it,…
Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals tips off tonight as the San Antonio Spurs host the New York Knicks at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, starting at 8:30 p.m. ET. The first two games take place in Texas, before Knicks fans get their first NBA Finals’ courtside experience in 27 years for Game 3, on Monday, June 8 at Madison Square Garden. (We’re looking at you, Spike Lee.) Let’s recap some team history and developments before we dive into how to watch the big game live. Knicks vs. Spurs: How did we get here? As the…