War in the Middle East is disrupting global oil supplies and sending energy prices soaring. Yet gold, the asset investors traditionally flee to during times of crisis, is experiencing its worst week since the early 1980s. Gold prices plunged 11% this week, marking the steepest weekly decline since March 1983. The precious metal has now [...]

Finland’s 2017–19 basic income experiment found no significant employment decline but a 4.7-point improvement in wellbeing scores and measurable reductions in mental health service usage among 2,000 participants. Stockton, California’s SEED programme (2019–21) produced a 12-percentage-point increase in full-time employment among recipients versus the control group. The Alaska Permanent Fund has distributed unconditional annual dividends [...]

When Brent crude rises $10 per barrel — as it has done multiple times since the current Iran conflict escalated — the IMF estimates global GDP contracts by 0.4% and consumer price inflation rises by 0.5 percentage points within two quarters. At the current $130+ per barrel, the arithmetic is direct: U.S. gasoline averages $4.80–5.20 [...]

The Strait of Hormuz — 34 kilometres wide at its narrowest point — carries 20.5 million barrels of oil per day, accounting for 21% of global oil consumption and 27% of all seaborne crude trade. The IEA has classified the current Iran conflict as the largest oil supply disruption in modern history: an estimated 8 [...]

The OECD estimates that 281 million people live outside their country of birth — a 60% increase since 2000. Advanced economies face a structural skills deficit: the EU alone will need an additional 1.2 million ICT professionals by 2030 to meet digital transformation demand. Canada’s Express Entry processed 110,000 skilled worker admissions in 2024; Germany’s [...]

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act slashed the U.S. federal corporate rate from 35% to 21%, reducing annual federal revenues by an estimated $1.5 trillion over ten years. In 2025, with TCJA provisions expiring, Congress faces a defining choice: make the cuts permanent at an additional $4.6 trillion cost through 2034, partially reverse them, [...]