The United States has crossed a milestone that Washington has spent decades pretending would never arrive. Federal debt held by the public has now exceeded 100% of GDP for the first time since the aftermath of the Second World War. According to the latest government data, debt held by the public reached approximately $31.27 trillion while the nation’s annual economic output totaled roughly $31.22 trillion, pushing the debt-to-GDP ratio to 100.2%. The Congressional Budget Office now projects debt held by the public will average 101% of GDP this year and continue climbing to 120% by 2036 if current law remains…
Author: Staff Writer
Starting this September, Target will start tracking store and warehouse employees’ unexcused absences and lateness with a points system, according to a report by Business Insider. Employees will receive a quarter of a point for being more than eight minutes late to work, one point for missing a shift without their manager’s approval, and three points for not showing up without telling their manager. The points expire every year. If employees hit three points, they will be required to check in with their manager. And if an employee reaches the 12-point threshold, they’ll be fired.After Target’s CEO Michael Fiddelke took the…
Canada has officially selected Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) as the preferred builder for a new fleet of 12 submarines. The program is expected to cost roughly C$60 billion, making it one of the largest military procurements in Canadian history. Prime Minister Mark Carney is making the announcement just before the NATO summit, where member states are once again pledging even higher military spending. This is not simply about replacing aging submarines. It is another step in the global rearmament that I have warned was inevitable once governments abandoned diplomacy in favor of perpetual confrontation. Canada’s existing Victoria-class submarines are…
The NBA recently posted that its 2026 playoffs are “delivering their highest viewership through the Conference Semifinals in 29 years, with an average of 4.5 million viewers per game across ABC, ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video.” That is designed to sound impressive. Then you realize the viral video of a fan eating spaghetti directly behind legendary NBA commentator Mike Breen gained an estimated 20–50 million aggregate views and hundreds of thousands of likes across platforms within 24–48 hours. This snapshot underscores just how much the rules of content are evolving. It’s no longer about watching an event, movie, or…
BREAKING: Cuba has been hit by another island-wide blackout, leaving roughly 10 million people without power. Officials say the cause is under investigation as the country’s aging electric grid continues to struggle and fuel reserves run low. It’s the second nationwide blackout… pic.twitter.com/MwFlJNYjUl — Fox News (@FoxNews) July 6, 2026 Cuba’s national electrical grid suffered yet another total collapse on July 6, leaving nearly the entire island without electricity. According to the report, the outage began after a failure at the Diezmero substation near Havana triggered a chain reaction that shut down power generation across the country. This marks the…
The United States is in the middle of a defining conversation about AI infrastructure. But, years in, we are still asking the wrong questions. The infrastructure conversation starts and stops at chips, models, and computing power—and rarely arrives at the harder questions underneath: What should this infrastructure make possible for Americans, and are we actually building toward that? Hardware without human capability is just hardware. The true measure of a nation’s infrastructure is what it enables people to do. By that measure, the United States has a problem. We are investing enormously in AI technology and almost nothing in the…
The United States’ 250th birthday carries ambitions to galvanize Americans behind nationwide community-service drives and patriotic brand launches. Well-known U.S. nonprofits hope to inspire a record-setting level of volunteerism, while major companies such as Walmart and Coca-Cola are sponsoring tributes and selling limited-edition merchandise.But the private sector’s unifying ambitions have been met with a mixed response, complicated by an uneasy national mood. Fewer Americans see their country as exceptional compared to 10 years ago, according to a recent survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, part of a broad decline in patriotic sentiment. Views of the American…
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Ever since rates spiked and the Pandemic Housing Boom fizzled out in spring 2022, institutional single-family rental (SFR) operators have pulled way back from buying up homes on the resale market—the math just isn’t as appealing right now. Home prices and rents are no longer ripping, holding costs (property taxes and insurance) have jumped, capital markets have shifted their attention elsewhere, and elevated materials prices make renovations expensive. In the post-boom environment, many institutional SFR operators became mild net sellers as their normal…
Microsoft announced on Monday it is laying off 4,800 employees, or 2.1% of its workforce—with more to come—as part of a massive cost-cutting restructuring effort. The layoffs include major cuts from its Xbox division. In a memo to staffers, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said Microsoft was “resetting Xbox” and would be cutting a total of 3,200 employees, or 20% of that division, throughout fiscal 2027—including spinning off four gaming studios. Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will become independent studios, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs will be spun off. This amounts to eliminating 1,600 roles now and another 1,600…
Some summer barbecues are about to look a little different thanks to an unexpected twist on one of America’s favorite cookout staples: the hot dog bun. Famed potato chip brand Pringles is putting buns front and center with new bun flavors just in time for National Hot Dog Day. Dubbed the Pringles Pop Dog Buns, the limited line of potato-based buns are infused with Pringles’ most popular flavors and adding a new flavor element to hot dog recipes. “We wanted to take something everyone knows and completely flip it into an exciting new snackable experience,” Mauricio Jenkins, Salty Snacks Brand…