A Pause To Negotiate A Deal? Some Caveats...

401(k) Hardship Withdrawals Hit Record High The AI bubble and data center buildout have helped catapult equity markets to new highs (pre-Middle East conflict), minting a record number of 401(k) millionaires. However, beneath the surface, hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans have also climbed to a record, reinforcing the view that the K-shaped economy is becoming more entrenched. Vanguard's How America Saves 2025 report shows that hardship withdrawal activity "increased to a new high" of 6% in 2025, up from 4.8% in 2024 and about 2% before the pandemic. The increase marks the...

IRS Data Show Average Tax Refund Up Over 10% This Year Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times, The average tax refund is 10.8 percent higher this year when compared with the same time period in 2025, according to data released by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on March 20. The figures show that as of March 13, the average refund for individual filers for 2026 was $3,623, up from $3,271 from 2025. Around 69.7 million individual tax returns have been received by the IRS so far, the agency said, around 1...

California Democrats Attempt To Sabotage Voter ID Initiative In November, California voters will have the opportunity to vote on Proposition 39. The measure, officially the Voter Identification, Citizenship Verification, and Registered Voter List Administration Initiative, would require Californians to show identification when they vote and force state officials to clean up the voter rolls and verify that the people on them are eligible citizens. All signs suggest it will pass. A poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found in May that 71% of Californians support requiring proof of...