Attention to the Unseen

The Guardian reports: One of the world’s most prominent hedge fund billionaires has warned that rising inequality is turning the US into an autocratic state and condemned business leaders for failing to speak out against Donald Trump’s policies. Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, said “gaps in wealth” and a collapse in trust were driving “more extreme” policies in the US. Speaking to the Financial Times, the veteran financier said many western countries were affected by growing inequality, leading…

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CNBC reports: From citrus farms in the Central Valley to construction sites where homes and businesses are being rebuilt after devastating wildfires in Pacific Palisades, California relies heavily on immigrant workers and entrepreneurs. As the Trump administration continues to ramp up immigration enforcement, industries key to the state’s $4 trillion economy like agriculture, construction and hospitality could be among those hardest hit by the loss of California’s immigrant workforce, according to new research. At stake are billions of dollars that…

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The New York Times reports: President Trump’s 50 percent tariffs landed like a declaration of economic war on India, undercutting enormous investments made by American companies to hedge their dependency on China. India’s hard work to present itself to the world as the best alternative to Chinese factories — what business executives and big money financiers have embraced as part of the China Plus One strategy — has been left in tatters. Now, less than a week since the tariffs…

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The Wall Street Journal reports: The Trump family notched as much as $5 billion in paper wealth on Monday after its flagship crypto venture opened trading of a new digital currency. The launch is akin to an initial public offering, in which the cryptocurrency, called WLFI, can now be bought and sold on the open market like a listed company’s shares. Beforehand, people who had privately bought WLFI from the Trump venture, World Liberty Financial, hadn’t been able to exchange…

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Victoria Guida writes: The Federal Reserve is not a place that panics. My experience of the central bank and its staff is that they try to think as many steps ahead as possible. Just as Fed policymakers weigh the balance of risks to the economy, and the many potential scenarios that may unfold, they similarly weigh the balance of political risks to their mandate and autonomy. It’s an institution made up of regular people, of course — people who feel…

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Politico reports: Europe’s central bankers were cautiously critical Tuesday of U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to oust a top Federal Reserve official. They expressed unease at the potential spillover effects from a growing political threat to the independence of the world’s most important central bank. Trump invoked sweeping executive powers to unseat Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook in an unprecedented challenge to the legally enshrined independence of the Fed on Monday, after housing chief William Pulte accused her of mortgage…

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Fortune reports: After saying that the U.S. is on the precipice of a recession earlier this month, Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi continued to add more granularity to his warning. In social media posts on Sunday, he said his assessments of various datasets indicate that states accounting for nearly a third of U.S. GDP are already in a recession or at high risk of slipping into one. Another third is treading water, while the last third is still expanding….

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The New York Times reports: Through recessions, wars, financial crises and political turmoil, the U.S. economy has maintained its reputation as the safest place in the world for investors to put their money and for entrepreneurs to build their businesses. That has given the United States a nearly incalculable economic advantage, allowing it to borrow more cheaply, grow more quickly and emerge from downturns more successfully than nearly any of its global peers. President Trump may be chipping away at…

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Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to the nation’s capital and forcing a federal law enforcement takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department is not only terrorizing residents and workers, it’s also harming local businesses. Washington, D.C., restaurants are experiencing significant drops in reservations, and bars are seeing fewer customers. Online reservations for D.C. restaurants plunged more than 25 percent in the days immediately after Trump announced the takeover of D.C. police for the first time in…

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Business Insider reports: Mark Zandi sees trouble ahead for the US economy. The Moody’s Analytics chief economist recently predicted in a post on X that the US economy is on the brink of recession following some of the latest economic data. While Zandi later noted that he doesn’t think the US economy is in a recession yet, there are certain industries that have already entered one. Yet, that’s just one of the reasons he thinks that the US economy is…

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