Subscription Fatigue Explained: The $273-a-Month Bill Nobody Remembers Signing Up For Subscription fatigue now has receipts. The average American household spends roughly $273 a month on subscriptions — up from $237 in 2018 — and here’s the finding that explains everything else: 89% of consumers underestimate their own total. By one per-person count, the typical … Read more
Tipflation Explained: Why the Tip Screen Is Everywhere — and Why Fewer People Are Tipping Tipflation is the word America invented for a very specific modern moment: the tablet swivels toward you at a coffee counter, three buttons glow — 20% · 25% · 30% — and a person watches you decide. Multiply that moment … Read more
Why Is Car Insurance So Expensive? The $50,000 Car Behind Your $2,500 Premium Why is car insurance so expensive? Start with the numbers drivers keep staring at in disbelief: the average full-coverage premium has climbed to roughly $2,500 a year by CarInsurance.com’s count — more than double the ~$1,127 of just a few years ago … Read more
What Is the FOMC? Inside the Two-Day Meeting That Sets the Price of Money What is the FOMC? It’s the twelve-person committee whose vote, announced at exactly 2:00 p.m. Eastern on the second day of its meetings, moves more money than any other scheduled event on Earth — repricing mortgages, credit cards, bonds, and stock … Read more
Credit Card Debt Hits $1.26 Trillion: The Two Numbers Telling Opposite Stories About America Credit card debt in America has reached $1.26 trillion — up $21 billion in a single quarter and closing back in on the all-time record, according to the New York Fed’s latest Household Debt report. Total household debt now stands at … Read more
Why Are Groceries So Expensive If Inflation Is “Cooling”? The Odometer Trick, Explained Why are groceries so expensive when every headline says inflation is calming down? Because two different things are being measured — and confusing them is probably the single most common misunderstanding in all of economics. Grocery inflation has slowed to a modest … Read more
ECB Rate Hike Explained: Why Europe Is Raising Rates Into a Struggling Economy An ECB rate hike is, in the words of one Aberdeen economist, “all but certain” — markets price the odds near 100% that the European Central Bank raises its key interest rate by a quarter point to 2.50% at its September 10 … Read more
What Is CPI? The Inflation Number That Decides the Fed’s Next Move What is CPI? It’s the closest thing the economy has to a monthly report card on the cost of living — and on Friday, September 11, at 8:30 a.m. sharp, the next one lands with unusual weight. Wall Street, in Fortune’s phrase, is … Read more
Yen Carry Trade Explained: Why Japan Finally Waking Up Is Shaking Global Markets The yen carry trade explained in one sentence: for decades, the world has borrowed nearly-free money in Japan and invested it everywhere else — and in its latest data, Japan gave its clearest signal yet that the nearly-free era is ending. The … Read more
Why Is the Penny Going Away? The Coin That Cost 3.7 Cents to Make 1 Cent Why is the penny going away? Because of the single funniest number in American economics: last fiscal year, it cost the US Mint 3.69 cents to manufacture one penny. The government lost money on every single coin — and … Read more