Financial Mindset

Work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries begin across the U.S. in January, the result of President Donald Trump’s big 2025 tax cut and policy law, and a handful of Republican-led states are imposing tougher rules than the law requires. At issue is how someone can prove they are  too medically frail  to work. While federal regulations say the state can take the recipient’s word for it for the first year, at least six states are requiring documentation immediately. There is a continuing push in other states to follow suit eventually. Advocates say that could create problems, especially for new applicants to the joint state-federal health insurance program for lower-income people. “Someone may not be able to work, but they can’t see a doctor because they can’t afford it. So they’re now applying for Medicaid,” said Jennifer Tolbert, director of state health policy and data at the research organization KFF. “But Medicaid is saying you need document...

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Madrid on Saturday to protest against Spain’s  housing crisis  and ask for protective measures for tenants, anti-fraud rules, and a ban on evictions without alternative housing. The protest came in reaction to the dramatic eviction on Wednesday of an 87-year-old woman from the  Madrid  apartment she had lived in for decades. “We’re here because housing is a problem that already affects all of society, all ages and classes,” said protester Dora Garcia, a 55-year-old nurse. “And we can’t keep maintaining this. Housing is a right and we don’t have it.” Taken out of her home on a stretcher in the upscale Retiro neighborhood, María del Carmen Abascal was greeted by protesters and supporters as she was loaded into an ambulance. Spanish media reported that Abascal’s father first rented the property in 1956 and she continued as the tenant after her parents died, during which time there was a rent cap. ...

Soaring Treasury yields are raising concerns in Congress as their precipitous rise in recent months further darkens the outlook for U.S. debt. The 10-year yield shot up to 5.23% on Friday, the highest level since 2007 and more than a full percentage point since right before the Iran war started. Meanwhile, the 30-year yield hit 5.49%, the highest since 2004. With oil prices up due to the Middle East conflict, AI hyperscalers spending hundreds of billions a year, the economy running hot, and U.S. debt now at $40 trillion, Treasury yields have already blown past the Congressional Budget Office’s long-term outlook. According to its  most recent forecasts  issued in February, the 10-year yield was seen at 4.1% this year, 4.2% in 2027, 4.3% from 2028 to 2031, and 4.4% from 2032 to 2036. Those projections seem quaint now. In addition to setting the pace on other borrowing costs, yields determine how much the Treasury Department must pay in interest on the U.S. debt, wh...

The 10-year Treasury yield topped 5% this past week, hitting the highest level since 2007 and blowing way past forecasts for borrowing costs over the next decade. According to the Congressional Budget Office’s most recent long-term outlook issued in February—before the Iran war spiked oil prices and inflation views—the benchmark yield was seen at 4.1% this year and 4.2% in 2027. The 10-year yield was expected to hover around 4.3% from 2028 to 2031, then tick up to 4.4% from 2032 to 2036. In addition to setting the pace on other borrowing costs, yields determine how much the Treasury Department must pay in interest on the U.S. debt, which can accelerate as rates go up. To be sure, an end to the war in Iran and lower energy costs would help bring yields back down, but that’s not the only source of upward pressure. The economy is running hotter, and the labor market is tight, meaning higher yields represent some normalization from crisis-era lows. The $40 ...

Anthony Scotto III already knows what he wants to do when his rapidly expanding restaurant business finally gives him a moment to breathe: travel to the small Italian island of Ischia and, with a handwritten family address in hand, knock on the door and hope whoever answers doesn’t tell him to get lost. But first, Scotto has restaurants to open. The 30-year-old walked awa y from a sought-after job at BlackRock to help his family build Pelato, a Brooklyn-style Italian restaurant that has grown from one Nashville location into a three-city business employing 300 people. The company expects to serve roughly 450,000 guests this year and has committed to opening two more restaurants in 2027.  Scotto may be his own boss now, but every dream comes with a tradeoff. He works seven days a week , rarely takes vacations, and is responsible for hundreds of employees. “I’ve never worked harder in my life,” Scotto told Fortune . “I’ve never been more stressed on a day-to-day in my life....

Walmart is betting that, for Gen Z, the road to a six-figure salary may run through its stores—not a college campus. The massive retailer is building paid, debt-free pathways that train frontline associates and place them in higher-paid jobs as truck drivers, skilled technicians, and licensed opticians. The program also addresses a labor shortage in those fields, by matching the training directly to positions it needs to fill. The flagship Associate to Driver program, launched in 2022, pays eligible associates while they earn a commercial driver’s license and transition into the retailer’s fleet. More than 1,000 employees have moved into driving roles through the program, where first-year drivers can make up to $115,000 annually and more experienced drivers can earn up to $135,000, according to the company. It’s one major corporation’s answer to a question that hangs over young people across the country as they graduate from high school. Rising college costs and uncertainty a...

OpenAI said Friday that its AI agents had gained access to private images belong to ChatGPT users and posted them online, the latest in a string of alarming incidents in which technology developed inside leading AI labs has gone rogue and acted in unintended ways. The private ChatGPT users’ images, which OpenAI stored on its servers in anonymized form in order to train its AI models, were posted to image hosting websites, the company said in a post on X . A total of 53 images were posted. The incident, which was first reported by Reuters , was among several new revelations of rogue AI activity at OpenAI that emerged on Friday. The New York Times published new details about the July hack of the Hugging Face website , reporting that the AI agents had created special, shortened web links to evade detection. And earlier on Friday, OpenAI disclosed that that it has notified dozens of third parties about incidents in which its models either bypassed security controls or ...