Good morning. In this edition:

• 🛒 Thriftiness is back in style
• 🤖 Apple's new AI device plan
• 💬 What readers think of Trump’s chip export deal

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.94-minute read (1,049 words).

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“Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.”

–Augustine "Og" Mandino II (1923-1996)

Recent data shows US consumers are tightening their belts—and not just so jeans fit better.

Impulse buys and spontaneous weekend trips are giving way to grocery lists, coupon codes, and home-cooked meals where every ingredient counts, according to a slew of recent reports.

• Consumer spending stalled in the first half of 2025, especially among middle- and lower-income Americans, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
• The CEOs of Chipotle, Kroger, Proctor & Gamble, Mondelez International, and others have reported that their US customers appear more strapped for cash compared to previous years.
• Credit card balances for Americans earning under $120,000/year recently surpassed pre‑2019 levels, following a yearslong decline analysts tie to pandemic-related gov’t assistance.
• Fast-casual restaurants like Sweetgreen, Cava, and Wingstop have seen sales and foot traffic slow in recent months, a trend largely attributed to more cost-conscious consumers.

What’s going on?

Many lower-income US consumers are dialing back spending and focusing on essentials due to various worries about the future, according to company executives and analysts. These include concerns about rising inflation, job uncertainty, and how the White House’s new tariff or immigration policies will filter down to consumers.

At the same time, recent data shows increased spending among wealthier Americans is helping to prop up the US economy.

• The top 20% of earners now make up over half of all consumer spending, according to Moody's, while a recent Boston Fed analysis found strong spending among Americans earning $120,000+ is helping to mask rising debt levels and slower spending growth for other consumers.

Looking ahead…The health of US consumers will become clearer in the coming weeks as new tariffs take effect, and the Federal Reserve considers an upcoming interest rate cut. Companies have mostly borne the brunt of increased US tariffs so far—but that trend likely won’t last for long, according to Goldman Sachs, which projects the burden will increasingly be passed on to consumers in the near future.

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Every donation builds something real: $25 prints a wall section, $100 supports locally-sourced construction, $1,000 powers a complete campus with solar energy.

Children are waiting—not because they lack brilliance, but because they need a school.

Misleading Venmo descriptions are basically a rite of passage among college students (sure, that $150 payment for "coffee👃❄️" was just repayment for a caffeine boost). But in rare instances, they can land you in hot water.

Oklahoma starting QB John Mateer this week denied allegations that he bet on sports, after screenshots showing two suspicious Venmo payments (☝️) went viral on social media Monday night.

Mateer, a top-ranked transfer from Washington State, said the payments were “inside jokes between me and my friends” when he was a freshman, and that the memos didn’t accurately portray what the payments were for.

Nevertheless, they could land him on the NCAA’s naughty list. The organization’s current rules ban all active college athletes or institutional staff from gambling on sports at any level—pro, college, or amateur—if that sport has an NCAA championship.

• Dozens of college athletes, coaches, and staffers have been suspended, fired, or arrested for gambling violations dating back to 2023.
• They include Alabama head baseball coach Brad Bohannon, former LSU WR Kayshon Boutte, and ~60% of Notre Dame’s men’s swimming team (allegedly).

But…Mateer isn’t currently suspected of sports betting by the NCAA, according to Oklahoma Athletics. Or in other words: the only thing he’s gambled on is OU’s questionable offensive line.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏬 Walmart expands grocery discount for its 1.6 million employees amid tariff-related inflation concerns.
• 💸 New York AG sues parent company of payments network Zelle, alleging it enabled $1+ billion in consumer fraud losses.
• 🪙 Bullish shares jump 84% in the crypto exchange's first day as a public company, giving it a market cap north of $10 billion. | Crypto entrepreneur Kwon Do-hyung, better known as Do Kwon, pleaded guilty this week to federal conspiracy and wire fraud charges, three years after his company's collapse wiped out $40+ billion in investor assets.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Meru Health

• 🏘️ LA Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his agent are being sued for interfering in a $240 million real estate project in Hawaii.
• 🤑 University of Kansas alumnus David Booth donates $300 million to support the school’s athletics and campus development, in one of the largest gifts in college athletics history.
• 🏟️ The Minnesota Twins are no longer for sale, the Pohlad family announced yesterday; instead, the team will take on new investors while ownership remains with the Pohlads… | …while the Portland TrailBlazers will reportedly be sold to Tom Dundon, owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, for just over $4 billion; the team, currently owned by Paul Allen’s estate, will reportedly remain in Portland following the sale.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖 Apple plans to launch several new AI-powered devices in the coming years, per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman; the company’s centerpiece will reportedly be a tabletop robot that serves as a virtual companion, slated for 2027.
• ☢️ Department of Energy selects 11 projects to participate in advanced nuclear reactor pilot program aimed at fast-tracking development.
• 🔭 Astronomers discover what they say could be the largest black hole ever observed, at a mass equivalent of ~36 billion Suns.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 👮 President Trump says he plans to extend the federalization of Washington, D.C., police department beyond the initially set 30 days; under current law, doing so would require approval from Congress, at a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
• 🏛️ White House plans “far-reaching review” of Smithsonian museums to ensure they present the “unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story,” per WSJ report.
• 🌎 Mexico extradites 26 high-ranking cartel members to the US. | South Korea’s former first lady arrested on charges including bribery and stock manipulation; her husband, former President Yoon Suk Yeol, has been jailed since January following a failed martial law bid.

☝️ Astronomers recently stitched together this image, dubbed “The Eye of Sauron,” depicting a luminescent black hole billions of light-years away from Earth. It was created following ~15 years of data collection by the aptly named Very Long Baseline Array.

🤔Did You Know? Confucius and his descendants have the longest family tree in the world, with the latest entry in 2009 covering ~2+ million people across 83 generations dating back ~2,500 years.

📰 Worth a Read: Inside Silicon Valley’s growing obsession with having smarter babies

🖱️ Clickbait: The worst opening lines to use on dating apps—and what to say instead

School taught you math and Shakespeare—but skipped the answers to 99% of life’s questions: how to make money, grow it, and break free from the status quo. The system hasn’t changed in 100+ years, but the world has.

The Make More Money Newsletter delivers practical, real-world strategies to raise your income and mindset. Recent topics: overcoming limiting beliefs, boosting worthiness, and unlocking your next level.

Yesterday we covered how Nvidia and AMD agreed to pay the US government 15% of their chip sales in China in exchange for being allowed export licenses, marking a first-of-its-kind agreement that could set a future precedent.

❓ Our question to you: How do you feel about the Trump admin’s new chip export deal with Nvidia and AMD?

• Support: 32%
• Oppose: 45%
• Unsure/other: 23%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 1,427 votes and 95 longform responses.

^This European country is known as the "Land of a Thousand Lakes." Can you name it?

🐢 A tiny tortoise named Matilda escaped from her garden a month ago in the UK. In what her owner is calling a "miracle," Matilda has been found three miles away after going on the run at 0.0041mph.

Finland