The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage point (25 basis points) to a target range of 3.75% to 4% today.
The decision of the FOMC was unanimous and at least we know now that Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is not going to do Trump’s bidding. (Trump blasted the decision afterwards and opined on Truth Social that rates should be at 1%.)
There’s the upturn, the first in three years. We live in unprecedented financial times. The federal funds rate had never been at zero before the Great Recession. After the Covid-19 pandemic and recession, it went to zero again. We can now say (with the benefit of hindsight) that the Federal Reserve should have started to raise rates in mid-to-late 2021, when consumer demand was surging and vaccines were widely distributed. Keeping the rate at zero for too long (until Mar. 2022) helped to cause massive inflation and then the rate had to be ratcheted up rapidly to above 5%.I asked Google Gemini if critics that were against the rate hike had a case, saying the inflation is caused by the war in Iran which should end ‘soon’ (say, a few months).
Headlines from Fortune online, with photo from Kevin Dietsch/ Getty Images
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian write for Fortune magazine:
In February 1993, weeks into Bill Clinton’s presidency, James Carville famously quipped: “I used to think if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.”
What Carville was referring to is the fact that the U.S. government runs massive deficits every year, which requires the U.S. government to issue bonds to fund those deficits. In turn, other people, i.e. the bond market, have to be willing to buy those bonds we issue. That is the difference between a healthy country vs. a country like Russia, where nobody wants to buy their debt and they have to resort to cannibalization to fund spending.
When the bond market stops buying the debt we issue, bond yields rise, increasing debt servicing costs; and quickly rising bond yields amounts to a flashing red light to stop spending and to stop issuing new debt.
Just as Clinton had to collapse his new spending plans when faced with a bond market revolt, President Donald Trump is now learning the same lesson as bond markets are in active revolt over what the market clearly perceives to be excessive spending plans, with 30-year bond yields reaching heights unseen since before the 2008 Great Financial Crisis.
But instead of picking up the hint, Trump only continues to throw fresh fuel on the fire, sending bond yields ever higher at the risk of sparking a self-inflicted economic crisis.
Indeed, on Wednesday night in Dallas, at the RNC “Midterm Convention,” Trump promised that if Republicans hold Congress in November, he will “issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000, very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders.”
That comparison conveniently omits the fact that companies pay dividends out of profits and generally suspend dividends when they need to pay down debt, which is the situation Washington finds itself in, running a deficit of nearly $1.8 trillion last year on top of over $40 trillion in debt.
But far more importantly, bond markets have sold off even more dramatically in the aftermath of Trump’s $5,000 announcement, with 30-year bond yields reaching a fresh 30-year high of 5.35%, up 6 basis points today alone, and 10-year bond yields up 9 basis points to 4.92% this morning.
Bond markets surely realize what Trump does not, which is that sending $5,000 to every adult citizen will likely end up costing the U.S. taxpayers far more than $5,000 per person, given the U.S. government will have to fund these payments by issuing new debt at currently elevated interest rates. Consider the back of the envelope math.
If there are roughly 245 million adult citizens, each of whom will receive $5,000 – then the U.S. government will have to issue $1.2 trillion of debt to fund those payments. If the government issues 10-year bonds at the current interest rate of 4.92%, then over 10 years, the interest plus principal will come out to approximately $8,000 – far more than $5,000 a person. Thus, not only does the “Trump Dividend” substantively amount to a payday loan in which the taxpayer is both borrower and lender; but the U.S. is plainly getting a raw deal.
And that is far from all, as the bond market has not been revolting against merely a single pledge. It is revolting against a pattern of spending promises by Trump which the market sees as excessive and reckless. Last November, it was $2,000 tariff-dividend checks, whose odds experts now put at “effectively zero.” In December it was $1,776 “warrior dividend” checks to 1.45 million service members.
Then came the war with Iran, which had cost $37.5 billion by July, for which the Pentagon floated a $200 billion request in March and came back for $67 billion more this summer, while the conflict pushed Brent crude past $100 and reignited inflation. Layer on interest on the debt that reached $1.25 trillion last year, more than the entire defense budget, and you have the reality that the bond market is behaving like a disgruntled lender that has stopped extending credit on faith.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s answer has been to try to throw money at the problem, bragging that “I am the house now,” which is flailing in plain sight. Bessent has initiated Treasury buybacks, which amount to issuing new bonds at higher interest rates to buy back older bonds issued years ago, at a lower interest rate – which is a bit paradoxical as this creates an effectively higher cash interest rate the U.S. government has to pay.
Furthermore, Bessent has accelerated a pattern he previously attacked the Biden Administration for doing, of retiring longer-term notes by issuing more short-term bills – which amounts to switching fixed low rates for floating high rates, making the U.S. government even more vulnerable to every tiny move in short-term interest rates. In short, Treasury is buying bonds with money it raises by selling more bills. Evercore’s Krishna Guha called it “a weak form Operation Twist.” It is almost akin to bailing water while the captain drills holes in the hull.
Markets have seen through the emptiness of Bessent’s remedy, as ‘bond vigilantes’ have driven bond yields even higher despite Bessent’s band-aids. That hasn’t stopped Bessent from continuing to throw more money at the problem.
In August, he doubled Treasury’s buybacks of long-dated bonds to $4 billion per operation, declaring “we have a big toolkit” and insisting that yields “don’t reflect the underlying fundamentals.” On Wednesday, the same day Trump promised $1.3 trillion, Treasury went to $6 billion. Yields rose anyway, counteracting Bessent’s move entirely. Despite Bessent’s braggadocio that “I am the house now”, the house is evidently undercapitalized, as bond traders mint fortunes calling out the fact that the emperor has no clothes.
Yes, this is a global storm. British 30-year gilts sit at 5.88%, the highest since 1998. Japan’s 10-year is near 3%, a three-decade high. German bunds are at levels unseen since 2011. But those governments are being disciplined into restraint; in London, the gilt market is effectively writing the next budget. Only Trump is responding to the highest borrowing costs in a generation by promising to borrow $1.3 trillion more to mail out checks before an election, with no signs of stopping his spending binge anytime soon.
Carville’s point was that the bond market is the ultimate failsafe, the one constituency a president cannot spin. Clinton grasped that within a week, but Trump is still refusing to learn the lesson, at the soaring cost of debt, still fast rising by the day, sparking heightened risk of a self-inflicted economic and financial crisis.
The Republican Illinois Senator Everett Dirkson, Senate Minority Leader through the 1960s, is commonly attributed with saying, “A billion dollars here, a billion dollars there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.” (This ad lib quip was drawn from unwritten remarks before a Senate-House Republican leadership press conference on March 8, 1962.)
Dirksen’s admonition is worth keeping in mind amidst Trump’s casual dismissal of the rapidly escalating costs of his far-fetched spending pledges. Presciently – Dirksen’s $1 billion in 1962 is worth $1.1 trillion in 2026 dollars the nominal cost of Trump’s program and the debt financing cost of this doubles the total cost to $2.3 trillion.
Paying $8K to $10K per person to receive $5K per person may help explain why President Trump as a business leader went bankrupt six times.
(The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.)
There goes August, as we make our relentless way to the back end of 2026.
This is the month in which America’s national debt crossed $40 trillion.
That is about $117,000 for every person living in the United States.
The debt-to-GDP ratio in now 125% of the country’s total economic output. 😱
Looking back 12 months. Will the US stock market indices end 2026 with another double-digit gain? Time will tell, but it in the mean time there are sticky inflation, tariffs and the fallout of the Iran war to contend with. The S&P 500 fell about 8% from late Feb. through March at the start of the Iran war. The Nasdaq dropped into correction territory earlier in the year with a decline of over 10% from its high. [Graphic from the New York Times]
The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1 percent in July from a month earlier, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, and 3.4 percent from the previous year on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, prices rose 2.5 percent over the year.
– Lydia DePillis writing for the New York Times
Yes, inflation overall has eased but several big items that affect everyone’s budget is way, way up year over year. How about: Gasoline (all types) +24.6%, electricity +4.2%, fruit & vegetables +5.1%, airline fares +25.5%, motor vehicle maintenance & repair +6.6%. [Headlines and graphic from The New York Times]Wage growth has fallen below inflation again, and nobody has to tell workers that commute by car that they are paying a lot more for gas. They know the pain at the pump all too well. [Graphic from The New York Times]
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a $70-million initiative to open five city-owned grocery stores—one in each borough—that will offer a guaranteed 30% discount on a core basket of everyday essentials.
The stores will only open in 2029, though— and this repost on X from chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov (and New Yorker) illustrates the challenges with what Mayor Mamdani efforts to help New Yorkers to better afford their groceries.
This Mustique Blue Rolls-Royce Spectre was parked across from Bar Cantinetta restaurant here on Capitol Hill tonight.
It is fully electric and styled with an illuminated-style, upright Rolls-Royce grille, a very long hood and fastback two-door coupe profile, slim split headlights with vertical daytime running lights and aerodynamic, partially covered wheels.
[Information from Chat GPT]
They start at a base MSRP of $397,750, but since Rolls-Royces are heavily commissioned and usually feature bespoke colors, veneers, and interior upgrades, you could easily end up paying between $450,000 and $550,000.
The Rolls-Royce Spectre is manufactured at the brand’s global headquarters and manufacturing facility in Goodwood, West Sussex, England.
From today’s Wall Street Journal, reported by Hannah Erin Lang: SpaceX shares have surged nearly 50% in their first days of trading and left a trail of remorseful traders in their wake: those who sold too early. After climbing an additional 4.8% in Tuesday’s session to $201.80, SpaceX ended the day as the world’s fifth-largest public company by market cap, surpassing Amazon. The gains came as SpaceX announced a deal to buy AI-coding startup Cursor for $60 billion.
What do you mean the market is overheated? .. the sun as the almighty dollar, and ‘feathers’ of SpaceX share certificates, $100 bills. The hippo’s side comment: Feathers don’t make the bird, but without the feathers he is no bird. (From Aesop’s Fables: Fine feathers don’t make fine birds). The cartoon probably refers the famous Greek myth and cautionary tale of Icarus and the sun. Icarus’s father, Daedalus, made wings of feathers and wax for Icarus to escape imprisonment. Disregarding his father’s warnings to avoid flying too high, Icarus soared too close to the sun, melting the wax and sending Icarus plummeting into the ocean. [Cartoon by Dr. Jack (full name Dr. Jack Swanepoel) from South African newspaper Die Burger]
Happy Friday.
The coverage of SpaceX’s gigantic IPO (initial public offering) on CNBC this morning was wall-to-wall, with hyperbole reaching the moon.
Could orbital data centers running on solar power one day beam information back to Earth using lasers?
Time will tell.
Here is Ron Lieber, writing for the New York Times about missing out on SpaceX’s IPO:
Elon Musk may be about to become a trillionaire. Many of the people who work for him at SpaceX are about to hit seven-figure jackpots — or more — via the company’s initial public offering. And individual investors are lining up for a chance to buy shares for the $135 opening price. There are so many of them that some brokerage firms are, in effect, running a lottery for $135 tickets. Do you have fear of missing out? That’s natural, maybe inevitable. But this is a fine time to remind yourself that you can in fact win if you don’t play this week. JOMO, the joy of missing out, is a reasonable alternative to FOMO.
Lieber goes on to suggest that we revisit our medium- and long-term goals.
You might be surprised to find how many of them you have reached.
He mentions members of his immediate family that had survived cancer, that investing his savings in index funds over many years have paid off, that he has never bought shares in an IPO, and that he still works without boredom or fear of termination.
Illustration for Ron Lieber’s ‘Your Money’ column in the New York Times.
Inflation accelerated for a third straight month in May amid a stalemate in negotiations to end a war with Iran that has pushed up energy prices, adding to the burden on already strained consumers.
The Consumer Price Index rose 4.2 percent in May from a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday, a sharp rise from the 2.4 percent annual increase before the conflict started in February and the fastest pace since April 2023. Over the course of the month, overall prices jumped 0.5 percent.
-Lydia DePillis reporting for the New York Times
Officially at 4.2%, inflation is A LOT HIGHER for you if you fill up your car’s tank frequently (+40% for all types of gasoline), buy lots of meat at the grocery store (+7.6%), or fruits & vegetables (+6.1%), travel by air (+27%) or use a lot of electricity (+5.9%).
Warsh will probably be the wealthiest Fed chair in modern times, with financial disclosures showing a fortune well in excess of $100 million, including holdings in cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence ventures, though he declined to disclose the composition of some fund investments.
That’s separate from the fortune of his wife, Estée Lauder heiress Jane Lauder.
– Reporting from the Washington Post
Will Warsh be able to operate independently and help average Americans with their economic fortunes? (Keep inflation under control? And at the same time keep the economy going?) He wanted the job as Fed chair so badly, that he (during his confirmation hearing in the Senate) would not say whether Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, and sidestepped questions about whether tariffs had contributed to inflation.
Consumer prices in the United States rose at the fastest rate since May 2023 last month, as sharp increases in energy costs caused by war in the Middle East made life more expensive for American consumers.
The Consumer Price Index rose 3.8 percent in April from a year earlier, the Labor Department reported on Tuesday, up from a 2.4 percent annual increase before the conflict started in February and a 3.3 percent increase in March.
The increase was driven largely by energy prices, up 3.8 percent just since the previous month and nearly 18 percent from a year earlier. But the “core” index, stripping out volatile food and energy prices, also rose 2.8 percent over the year in April, up from 2.6 percent in March.
Headline inflation for April came in at 3.8%— the highest it has been since it came down from the peak in the pandemic. The Seattle Times reports that in the Seattle area, headline inflation was 4.9% and core inflation 3.8%, so both a good percentage point above the national average. [Graphic by the New York Times]
Expensive diesel is a much bigger problem than expensive gasoline.
The world economy runs on diesel because diesel has more energy per gallon and powers trucks, marine vessels and heavy equipment.
Supplies of diesel were tight even before the war in Iran— and, writes Emmett Lindner for the New York Times— refineries in the Persian Gulf exported much more diesel and jet fuel than gasoline, while no other countries have the capacity to make up for that loss.
For the longest time, this sign here on Seattle’s Capitol Hill would show $4.99 a gallon for gas. And here we are at $6.30 for gas and $7.70 for diesel. (Gas is very expensive on the West Coast. The national average for the USA stands at $4.03 per gallon. Diesel $5.60). Since the war began, diesel has gone up about 45% and regular gasoline by 35% percent.
The gas price (petrol price and diesel price) increases for April in South Africa have been announced.
Gas (petrol) prices will increase by 15% (not 30%, as was feared).
The South African government reduced the general levy on gas for April and May to make this possible. Gas prices are regulated and adjusted once per month. Diesel prices are not as strictly regulated, and follow a government-issued guideline.
In Johannesburg, gas will now cost ZAR 23.36/ liter ($ 5.24/ gallon).
Diesel prices will increase by 40%.
In Johannesburg, 50 ppm diesel will now cost ZAR 26.11/ liter ($ 5.89/ gallon).
Two million of the poorest South Africans (3.6% of households)— that live off the electrical grid in rural areas— use paraffin for cooking, for heating during winter, and to illuminate their homes.
The illuminating paraffin price increase is set to increase by more than double, so more than 100%.
Dad to kids: Sorry, but we only have enough gas for Easter weekend to drive down the street to go visit Uncle Gert and Aunt Gertrude. (Sidebar in the corner: Does not sound like a high-octane getaway.) [Cartoon from South African newspaper ‘Die Burger’ (The Citizen) by cartoonist Dr. Jack Swanepoel]
Below is a graphic from the South African newspaper Die Burger (‘The Citizen’) that shows the recent increase in the price of diesel in major countries around the world.
Looks like Iran, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Russia, are sitting pretty on 0%.
Each other country’s situation is different.
In South Africa gas prices are adjusted only once per month, and then stays at that price for the entire month. Diesel prices are not as regulated, but have not immediately skyrocketed because of secured inventory, regulated price lags, and the state-controlled fuel levy structure. The current price reflects a significant “under-recovery” (nearly R7 per liter in some projections) and suggests a massive, delayed price jump is imminent for April 2026.
This initial lack of increase is temporary.
I asked Google AI about the impact of a 30% gas price increase:
Q: What impact will an increase of 30% in the price of gas and the price of diesel for the next 6 months have on inflation in the United States? A: A 30% increase in gas and diesel prices sustained over 6 months would significantly increase headline inflation in the short term while having a more delayed, indirect effect on core inflation.
Summary of Projected Shifts (March 2026 Context)
Current headline inflation (as of early 2026) is approximately 2.4%.
A sustained energy shock of this magnitude could push headline CPI toward 3.5% to 6%, depending on the breadth of the pass-through to other goods.
This is how diesel prices increased worldwide Diesel prices in economies have increased worldwide since the start of the war in the Middle East. Vertical axis: % INCREASE IN PRICE OF DIESEL FROM 23 FEB TO 16 MAR 2026 Horizontal axis: AVERAGE PRICE OF DIESEL FOR 1 LITRE ON 16 MAR (US$)
I was very surprised to see that the US stock market indexes ended up well into the green today.
Google’s AI bot says:
“The U.S. stock market staged a remarkable intraday recovery on Monday, March 9, 2026, with major indexes finishing in the green after earlier losses of nearly 2%. This reversal was primarily driven by late-session optimism that the conflict with Iran might be nearing a conclusion.”
On the other hand, Michael Levenson writes in today’s New York Times: Less than two weeks after U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran, Americans are already feeling the effects an ocean away. Gas prices are up. Food prices are likely to increase. And volatility in the stock market could threaten retirement savings.
President Trump initially said the war would last “four to five weeks,” but he has recently sent mixed signals, at times suggesting it could become a prolonged fight. If it does, the fallout for Americans could accumulate, some experts warned. Consumers could cut back on spending and businesses could stop hiring or resort to layoffs, threatening the broader economy.
Headlines and photos from the online New York Times. The caption for the photo at the bottom reads ‘Crowds gathered at Enghelab Square to celebrate the announcement of Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader of Iran.’
There is a war in the Midde East, and oil prices are going up— of course.
Rebecca F. Elliott and Joe Rennison write for the New York Times: Oil prices surged on Sunday evening, briefly topping $110 a barrel soon after markets opened, in a sign of growing concern that the war in the Middle East will continue to take a toll on energy supplies.
It was the first time in almost four years that the global oil benchmark, known as Brent, cost more than $100 a barrel. Oil is now around 50 percent more expensive than it was before the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on Feb. 28.
Breaking News: The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled today in a 6-3 decision that Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports from nearly every U.S. trading partner are unconstitutional.
Last April, in 2025, Trump had claimed that a 1970s emergency statute* (which does not mention the word “tariffs”) allowed him to unilaterally impose the duties without congressional approval.
*The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977.
It authorizes the President to regulate international commerce, including limiting or taxing imports, upon declaring a national emergency in response to an “unusual and extraordinary threat” from abroad.
The SCOTUS justices for the majority noted that no other US president had invoked the statute to impose any tariffs — let alone tariffs of this magnitude and scope. Tariffs are a tax and the President of the United States must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it.
The U.S. Treasury has collected about $240 billion in tariff revenue since April 2, 2025. Consumers paid about 90% of that.
Trump is, um— shall we just say, mightily upset— over this ruling, and immediately ordered a new 10 percent tax on all imports to the USA. For justification, he is using the 1974 Trade Act and a provision called Section 122. (No president before him had invoked that provision, either.) Section 122 was designed to address short-term emergencies, not long-term trade policies. It can only be put in place for 150 days.
In 2025, Trade Deficit in Goods Reached Record High Data released Thursday by the Census Bureau showed the overall US trade deficit with the world narrowed, the result of an expanding trade surplus in services. The trade deficit in goods was the highest on record.
Ben Casselman and Ana Swanson write for the NY Times: The total trade deficit, including trade in both goods and services, shrank slightly last year, as growth in exports narrowly outpaced growth in imports. But that was entirely the result of an expanding trade surplus in services. The trade deficit in physical goods, which has been Mr. Trump’s focus as he has sought to use tariffs to restore the U.S. manufacturing sector, actually grew in 2025. The trade deficit grew sharply at the end of the year, rising 32.6 percent in December as imports rose and exports fell. [Graphic by Keith Collins]
Every time I look, the gold price is up by hundreds of dollars.
Is there an impending upheaval that buyers of gold expect and that the rest of us are unaware of?
Last year some traders predicted the gold price will cross $5,000 in 2026, and they were right.
It’s only January and it already sits at $5,313.30.
That was+192.70 (3.76%) just for today.
The stamp from Japan is just for fun.
Even the goldfish looks shocked 😲.
From the Definitive Series 1967-69: Fauna, Flora and Japanese Motifs Issued by Japan Post, 1967 Perf. 13½ | Photolitho. | National Printing Bureau 913 A564 | 7 yen | bright yellow-green & deep orange | Goldfish [Sources: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 4A, stampworld.com]
We had another interest rate cut this week, and the Fed indicated that (right now) it sees only one for all of 2026.
Of course, all of that may fly out the window if a person such as Kevin Hassett succeeds Fed chair Jerome Powell in May of next year.
(Hassett is seen as a guy who will do whatever it is to push through Trump’s agenda— and Trump wants interest rates to be closer to 1%).
The rate cut of this week was widely expected. The Fed increased its projected change in real GDP for 2026 to 2.3%, up from 1.8% in September, but the unemployment rate to stay the same at 4.4% — and 4.2% in the longer run (out to 2028). Inflation projected to stay contained: PCE at 2.4% and Core PCE at 2.5%. [Screen shot from CBS News 24/7 program ‘The Takeout with Major Garrett’]
Headlines and editorial below from the Washington Post. [P.S. Is that Scrooge McDuck? The character was created in 1947 for The Walt Disney Company by Carl Barks. Scrooge is an extremely rich duck who lives in the fictional city of Duckburg (which is also Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s home city) in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota (a blend of California and Minnesota). – From WIkipedia]From the Washington Post Editorial Board:
More than 80 percent of Swiss voters rebuffed a referendum that would impose a 50 percent inheritance and gift tax on assets above 50 million Swiss francs, or about $62 million. The Young Socialists party that proposed the new law says the money would be used to fight climate change. Yet it was so resoundingly rejected that it may deter others on the continent from following suit. Switzerland is a wealthy country, but most people do not have a fortune so large that would be directly affected by this referendum. Instead, the electorate made a rational decision to keep what helps make the country so wealthy: a stable and predictable business climate with relatively low taxes. The Swiss understood that taking that away would hurt even those without huge inheritances. Switzerland has a wealth tax administered locally, but its rates are minuscule and apply to almost everyone. In 2023, the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio ranked 31st out of the 38 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Even a sniff of a massive inheritance or wealth tax had the country’s richest residents looking for other options to take their capital, such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Singapore. The top 10 percent of asset holders generate 86 percent of wealth tax revenue. The top 10 percent of salary earners contribute 53 percent of that revenue. Not all these people would leave, of course, but only a portion of them departing would devastate the country’s finances. This is why the federal government opposed the initiative. An inheritance tax is also complicated and inefficient. How does one value exotic assets like fine art? And if someone privately owns a large company, succession planning becomes a nightmare when the government is taking a share of the firm upon death. Some taxation is necessary, but levies on property and other forms of consumption are far fairer. Taxing work is not ideal, but an income tax is easier for a government to maintain than claiming unrealized gains that are part of someone’s estate. America’s federal inheritance tax kicks in this year at $13.99 million for individuals, and some states add a levy on top of that. This will increase to $15 million in 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and will be adjusted annually for inflation starting in 2027. Something all 2028 presidential candidates, Democratic and Republican, should be willing to answer: Do they think this tax should go up, down or stay the same? Do they, like the Swiss, want to prioritize healthy public finances, or do they want to make a political point of taxing the ultra-rich? It will be a telling indicator of which direction both parties are headed.
