Trump’s First Year Back: Markets and Prices Up, Job Engine Slows

The Wall Street Journal’s year-one snapshot of President Trump’s second-term economy paints a picture of uneven performance: some headline indicators look stable or even strong, but several underlying pressures—especially jobs, housing, and trade—remain stubborn or have worsened. On the labor market, the biggest shift is slower job creation. The U.S. added 181,000 jobs in 2025, […]

Tech Corps: Peace Corps Recruits U.S. AI Talent to Help Communities Abroad Put AI to Work

Peace Corps announced a new initiative called Tech Corps designed to recruit, train, and deploy skilled Americans to support the adoption of artificial intelligence in host countries. The program is aimed specifically at Peace Corps partner countries participating in the American AI Exports Program, a “whole-of-government” effort that the announcement says was introduced by Donald […]

Pentagon’s New Cyber Certification Rules Raise Costs For Small Defense Suppliers, Risking Bottlenecks

New U.S. cybersecurity requirements for the defense industrial base are forcing some small manufacturers and specialty suppliers to reconsider whether military work is worth the price of compliance, raising concerns about resilience and competition across the defense supply chain. The rules are part of the U.S. Department of Defense’s long-delayed Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) […]

 White House Fires Back at NY Fed Research Arguing Americans Shoulder Most Tariff Costs

A political clash is brewing between the White House and central-bank researchers after Kevin Hassett publicly suggested punishment for the authors of a Federal Reserve Bank of New York analysis that challenges the administration’s tariff narrative. In a February 18 interview with CNBC, Hassett said the research was “an embarrassment,” called it “the worst paper” […]