Hi y’all! Here are five stories from this week that contained some neat applications of economic principles or are related to teaching:
Globally, forecasters estimate that will consume 450 million gallons of water each day by 2030, up from around 205 million gallons back in 2016 [The Hustle | Monday Morning Economist]
US round-trip airfares are down 11% compared to 2022 and 2019 as carriers try to lure Americans into domestic trips [Bloomberg]
Mattel is looking to hire a “chief Uno player” for its new Quatro edition — the job offers 4-hour shifts, 4 days a week, for 4 weeks, and the salary is $4,444.44 [CNN Business]
Americans were expecting a recession that never arrived [Chartr]
A new report finds that Americans charged more than ever to their credit cards last quarter, bringing credit card debt to over $1 trillion for the first time. [Federal Reserve Bank of New York]
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Credit ratings are like a financial GPS. These signals assess how likely countries or companies are to repay debts and impact borrowing costs, interest rates, and investor confidence. But what happens when one of the most trusted assets, like the U.S., becomes slightly less trustworthy?
Explore the recent U.S. credit rating downgrade from AAA to AA+ and what it means for investment decisions: