Financial Mindset

When the Department of Government Efficiency, helmed by Elon Musk, gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), it included slashing an estimated $329 million in humanitarian aid to Nepal. Stuti Basnyet, who served as the acting program office director for USAID in Nepal since 2024, remembers the months following the cuts. “Everyone went through denial first that this was even happening, to just deep grievance at how it was being done,” she told Fortune . According to Basnyet, USAID’s closure led to an estimated 30,000 direct job losses in the country. Among a raft of slashed humanitarian aid projects was foundational educational opportunities in Nepal, including support for early grade reading in Nepal across all its 35 districts, teacher training, and reviewing and refunding educational materials. Basnyet was left with the puzzle of recreating those services and resources—and building new ones—without the same steady funds Nepal had received from the U.S. s...

President Donald Trump said Saturday he will form an “AI Force,” hinting at a law enforcement role as public anxiety grows over the rapidly accelerating technology. He also pledged to appoint an AI czar and compared recent calls for the AI industry to slow down development to politically driven “hoaxes.” “We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry,” Trump posted on Truth Social . “Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!” He noted a backlash against data centers, which have emerged as a top issue during the midterm election season, and claimed it has largely failed. But Trump suggested that the administration will be on the lookout for bad behavior, saying the existing criminal and civil justice system can handle it. “For this purpose, I am forming the AI Force, much like I did Space Force, which has been a tremendous SUCCESS, in my First Term,...

The parents of a 23-year-old woman who was fatally struck after her Uber driver pulled over along a southern California highway were awarded $40 million after an arbitrator found both Uber and the driver liable for her death. Carol Normandin and Ken Parker said Friday that they hope the amount will put a spotlight on the 2023 death of their daughter, Emily Normandin-Parker and to use the money to advocate for strengthening safety standards and transparency in the ride-hailing industry. “I want to do good with it,” Parker said of the money, but “I never wanted it. No parent would ever want it. The best thing about it is that it’s bringing attention to the issue that sorely needs attention.” On the night she was killed, Normandin-Parker had ordered the Uber for her and her friend to get home after spending a night out drinking alcohol. When the friend got sick and vomited, driver Vu Tran pulled over on the side of Route 73 in Orange County and all three got out of the ...

The 2026 economy has created a new throng of one-day millionaires, businesses raking in seven-figure sums in 24 hours or less. That includes teams at AI frontier labs like Anthropic, who are seeing monthly revenue top $500 million from just a single client’s Claude spending, one consultancy reported. That’s nearly $17 million per day. Outside of the AI boom, there’s a new stock of near-instant daily millionaires as a result of the Iran war: oil tankers willing to odyssey across the Strait of Hormuz. The cost for a vessel to haul oil from the Persian Gulf to China, which requires crossing the key chokepoint, reached $1.035 million per day, according to data from the Baltic Exchange this week, the first time the price tag has exceeded seven figures. By comparison, a similar large crude carrier transiting from the Persian Gulf cost about $208,000 per day , per the Platts VLCC index. Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has continued to dwindle in the Iran war’s ...

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft shot back at Macklemore after he challenged him to match a $1 million donation he is making to organizations providing aid to Palestinians, the latest escalation in a dispute that saw the artist booted from Ed Sheeran’s U.S. tour. On Wednesday, Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, said in a statement on Instagram that he would donate $1 million in his net earnings from Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six organizations supporting Palestinians. In the post, he invited Kraft to match the donation. Kraft countered later that day, saying in a statement that Sheeran had already asked him to match the singer’s own $2 million commitment to humanitarian aid in the region “to fight this humanitarian crisis.”  The exchange marked the latest clash between the artist and the billionaire owner of Gillette Stadium, which began after Macklemore made pro-Palestinian comments during two September opening performances at MetLife Stad...

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Is This It , the classic album by the Stokes, the rock band that turned the page from Gen X pop culture to something more distinctly millennial. It’s also a favorite album for this author and Glassdoor senior economist Chris Martin, who used the phrase in a recent conversation about his latest Millennial Report . Millennials, he told me about his most recent research, have reached midcareer, their earnings have “for the most part peaked,” and they can expect growth to match inflation from here on out for the rest of their careers. The vibe is “we’ve made it,” Martin said, “and the long and the short of it is, it doesn’t feel good.” He described it as an “is this it?” moment. I had to ask, was he channeling Strokes lead singer Julian Casablancas? “Guilty as charged,” Martin said, adding that of course, he used to listen to the Strokes, and that vibe does sum ...

U.S. robotaxi operator Waymo is breaking into a new market. After unveiling roadmaps to bring its self-driving cars to Germany and the United Kingdom, it’s now setting its sights east. On Sept. 18, Waymo announced plans to launch in Singapore by 2028, marking its first entry into Southeast Asia. The announcement came just days after the robotaxi firm revealed plans to enter its first market in Asia: Japan .  “Singapore has built one of the safest, most efficient and most forward-thinking transportation ecosystems in the world,” said Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo’s co-CEO, in a Sept. 18 press release. “As we begin our journey here, we are committed to listening to the community, creating high-skilled local operational jobs and working…to complement Singapore’s world class public transit network.” Singapore is already one of the world’s most crowded AV markets. Last September, Chinese robotaxi firms WeRide and Pony AI announced partnerships with ride-hailing platform Grab and tr...