I had to submit my résumé for a role. Then I went through three interviews, with nearly identical questions each time.
The problem? The role was for a freelance writing position. Not to become a company employee. I got all the way to the third interview only to learn that the role paid a fraction of my usual rate, even though Id provided my rate up front.
Im experienced enough as a solopreneur to know that going through three interviews was a bad sign. The potential client wasnt communicating internally (as confirmed by the fact that my rate had been overlooked). Multiple interviews are incredibly uncommon in my line of work, and indicated to me that the company didnt know how to work with a freelancer.
{"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-1.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-mobile-1.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Work Better\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn\u0027t suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.workbetter.media\/\u0022\u003Eworkbetter.media\u003C\/a\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91457605,"imageMobileId":91457608,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
When youre a solopreneur, bad clients cost you time and money. They also crowd out better opportunities and put a strain on your bandwidth. Client selection is a core business skill. And if youre not in a position to turn down work, you at least need to know how to handle sticky situations when they come up.
Red flags during the sales process
The best time to spot a problematic client is before you sign anything. Thats when you can decide whether the client will be worth the hassle or not.
Here are some of the most common red flags Ive experienced talking with potential clients.
Vague project scope. “We’ll figure it out as we go” sounds flexible, but it usually means the client hasn’t thought through what they actually need. That ambiguity becomes your problem once youve signed a contract, and it can be hard to rein in.
Requests for free work or unpaid test projects. There are very, very few scenarios in which I believe a solopreneur should do any unpaid work. I’ve seen unscrupulous companies use submitted test work without providing any compensationessentially, free labor for them. If a client needs to evaluate your skills, point them to your portfolio or testimonials. Or negotiate a paid project.
Unrealistic expectations on timeline or rate. If a potential client lowballs you, the relationship will always be lopsided if you accept. Many solopreneurs juggle multiple clients, so saying yes to low-paying work or expedited timelines can impact your other clients.
Simple script to use: “My rates start at $XX. If that doesn’t work for your budget, I’d be happy to recommend someone else who might be a better fit.”
Red flags during the engagement
Sometimes you have no idea that a client will be a nightmare until after you start working with them. But before you know it, some red flags tell you that the client relationship isnt going well.
Scope creep. You identify the scope of the project and put it into the contract, but the client continues to come back to you with additional requests. If you accommodate the client, this erodes your effective rate when you “donate” extra timeand requests can add up, fast.
Simple script to use: “This wasn’t included in our agreement, but I’m happy to do that for $XX additional amount, and it will take YY additional time.”
Framing it this way clarifies that additional work has additional costs.
Poor communication. Some clients expect instant replies, treating you like an employee who should be available whenever they need something. Or they take forever to reply, and you cant move forward. In both scenarios, you need to be proactive. Let clients know your expected response time (like you will respond within 24 hours). Make sure they are aware that a delayed response on their end will have a negative impact on the project.
Delayed payments or ghosting on invoices. These are the clearest signals that a client relationship isn’t working. Drop that client, fast. You shouldnt have to chase a client for money thats owed to you.
Protecting your business
Every solopreneur says yes to an imperfect opportunity or has engagements with difficult clients. Its part of the business. You dont have to say no based on red flags, but you do need standardsand the language to enforce them.
The earlier you learn to spot red flags and respond to them, the more options you’ll have.
{"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-1.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-mobile-1.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Work Better\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn\u0027t suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.workbetter.media\/\u0022\u003Eworkbetter.media\u003C\/a\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91457605,"imageMobileId":91457608,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
Americans go to great lengths to ensure they are financially set for their later years. But if you’re asking Elon Musk, you really needn’t bother. According to the world’s richest man, whose net worth is estimated at well over $700 billion, saving for retirement will soon be obsolete.
Musk aired this view on a recent episode of the Moonshots With Peter Diamandis podcast. Musk let listeners in on his vision of our financial future, a world where technology, specifically artificial intelligence, creates such an abundance of resources that anyone can buy anything they want.
The entrepreneur said that within just a few years, we will live in a world marked by a great surplus, where better medical care than anyone has today” will be “available for everyone within five years.” He also said that there will be no scarcity of goods and services” and you’ll be able to learn anything you want.
Musk continued, explaining that there will be such a surplus that life will no longer require people to save in order to ensure they are taken care of later on. One side recommendation I have is: Dont worry about squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years. It wont matter, he said, adding that he believes “saving for retirement will be irrelevant” and that the future will bring abundance.”
Overall, Musk’s view of the future seems decidedly optimistic about AI. He talked about the power of AI to break barriers and using it to harness the sun’s energy. And he said he believes the “future of currency” will be measured not in money, but in “wattage.” But he also acknowledged that during what are bound to be years full of change, the road to the future he envisions will be “bumpy” and filled with obstacles.
Musk said he doesn’t just foresee “universal high income,” but also major “social unrest” as the result of so much change in a short period of time.
The prediction seems eerily similar to one made by John Maynard Keynes, known as the founder of modern macroeconomics, in 1930. In his essay, “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,” the economist wrote that by 2030, technology would enable workers to adopt a 15-hour workweek.
At the time, the workweek was estimated to be about 50 hours. In one sense, Keynes was correct: The average number of hours fell in the years following the prediction, as the 40-hour workweek was established soon after. However, today full-time work hours hover at about 8.4 hours a day or 42.5 hours a week, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While many of Keyness predictions about technology proved to be correct, such as how vastly technology has reshaped certain industries, working hours have yet to fall as drastically as he predicted.
At the moment, Musks comments are hard to swallow, given that many Americans struggle with basic expenses like childcare, let alone saving for retirement. According to a 2025 report from the National Council on Aging, most older adults don’t have enough money to financially survive “a financial shock” triggered by a death, the need for long-term care, or illness. “Eighty percent of those 60 and older have little to no assets and would not be able to weather a financial shock without falling into poverty,” the report said.
Researchers added: “The future of aging in America will likely be defined by an ever-widening inequality in both financial status and mortality, deepening the divide between the majority of older Americans (the 80%) and the top 20%.” Musk did say there would be bumps along the road to utopia.
Its that time again. The calendar has flipped, the resolutions are written, and youre probably sitting in your office chair at your office desk looking at a lukewarm cup of office coffee, wondering if youve really got another year of fluorescent lights and serendipitous coworker interactions in you.
Lets make a pact: No more. Its time to find a great remote job.
Unfortunately, you cant find 21st-century work using 20th-century methods. If youre still scrolling through the generic “Big Box” job boards and getting buried in 5,000 applications for one role, youre doing it wrong.
Instead, here are the five sites you should check first when youre looking to work from home.
We Work Remotely
We Work Remotely is the “Old Reliable” of the remote world. Its been around since 2011, which in internet years makes it roughly as ancient as a stone tablet. But its still the heavyweight champion.
Its simple. Theres no bloat. You get a clean list of categories, and the jobs are actually remote. Because companies that post listings here pay a fee, youre far less likely to run into the pages and pages of filler that plagues the free boards.
FlexJobs
I know, I know: Its a subscription service. Asking someone whos looking for a paycheck to pay money feels a little backward.
But heres the thing: FlexJobs has an army of humans who hand-screen every single job posting.
If youre tired of clicking on a “Work from Home” ad only to realize it’s a pyramid scheme or a high-pressure sales gig, this is your sanctuary. They filter out the junk so you don’t have to.
Remote OK
If We Work Remotely is the elder statesman, Remote OK is the cool, tech-savvy younger sibling. The entire vibe is built for people who want to work from a laptop, whether thats in their living room or a café halfway around the world.
The sites filters are fantastic. You can sort by salary ranges (yes, actual numbers!), tech stacks, and even benefits such as health insurance or four-day workweeks. Its fast, transparent, and updated constantly.
Remote.co
Remote.co was started by the same team behind FlexJobs, but while FlexJobs is a paid, curated list, Remote.co is a free, high-quality resource that goes beyond just job titles.
One nice feature: They don’t just list a job; they interview the companies. You can read Q&As from more than 100 remote-first outfits to see how they actually handle things like time zones and communication.
Its perfect for job seekers who want to know the vibe of a company before they even hit the apply button.
Working Nomads
If your dream is to emphasize the remote part of remote work, this is your home base.
Working Nomads curates roles specifically for the digital nomad crowd, meaning these companies are usually comfortable with you working from pretty much anywhere on the map.
The categorization is incredibly clean, and the site uses a color-coded system for different industries, making it very easy to scan. It also has a premium tier with 10 times more listings and advanced search filters. And its daily email alerts are a great way to stay in the loop without having to constantly check the site.
Theres a quote from Charles Bukowski framed on my office wall:What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.
Were in that fire right now. For 25 years, our company has moved people to show up for entertainment. Then the world changed. Entertainment changed. Technology changed. Almost overnight, we had to throw the old playbook out the window.
So, we paused. We looked inward and asked the hard question: Do we rebuild what we had or transform into what we need to be for the future?
Companies need to choose the second. For us that meant becoming culture-led, not as a slogan or a rebrand, but as the infrastructure for how we operate. Becoming culture-led doesnt just guide values; it can become an operational advantage.
FROM SILOS TO CONNECTION
We stopped organizing ourselves around deliverables and started paying closer attention to what moves people. What makes them care, pause, laugh, click, and share.
Inside entertainment, wed spent decades learning how to meet people in emotional moments. We began applying that same emotional fluency to everything we do: from car launches to hospitality marketing, and CPG storytelling. Not by forcing those categories to feel like entertainment, but by applying what wed learned about timing, tone, and human connection in places where meaning matters more than ever.
A clear example was our work launching God of War Ragnarök for PlayStation. Instead of defaulting to an action-forward montage, we leaned into the childparent relationship at the heart of the game. That emotional center drove record results. We didnt get there by chasing categories. We got there by rethinking how we listen, interpret culture, and act on insight.
A CHANGE IN HOW THE WORK MOVES
Empowering culture-led work to emerge from an organization requires operational change.
Were restructuring our strategy, creative, editorial, and social teams to be leaner and faster. Were bringing them into the same room at the start of every project. Its not perfect yet, but the work is already moving differently.
We introduced informal culture briefs to stay close to whats resonating with people right now. Not whats trending, but what feels real and honest. That proximity keeps us grounded in how people live, not just how marketers talk.
The result has been work guided by less formula and more heart, stronger briefs that adhere closer to consumers realities, and faster movement of ideas to production.
LEARN TO SAY NO (WITHOUT FEELING SICK)
We also had to get serious about what were willing to walk away from.
In entertainment, the rule has always been simple: dont turn down work. You never know when the next thing is coming. That mindset builds hustle and burnout.
A few months ago, for the first time, we turned down entertainment work that would have been a no-brainer any other year. But it didnt align with who we are becoming, and that was reason enough to walk away from the opportunity.
Culture isnt just what you invite in. Its what youre willing to say no to.
Every time weve made that choice, weve seen sharper focus, more ownership, and greater momentum. The team feels lighter, clearer, and more confident in where were steering the ship.
THE REAL ADVANTAGE WAS NEVER THE CATEGORY
The same instinct that led us to center the human relationship in God of War Ragnarök is the one that revealed what wed been building all along in entertainmenta space that trains you to make people feel something fast. You have seconds to earn attention, emotion, and trust.
Over time, we realized that skill, emotional fluency, cultural timing, and instinctive connection were the real advantages. Not the form. Not the category.
In hindsight, its what strategist Rita McGrath would call a transient advantage. A capability, not a credential. Something portable. Something that evolves as culture shifts.
Once we recognized that, the question became how to operationalize it.
HIRE TO PUT CULTURAL FLUENCY INTO PRACTICE
Becoming culture-led takes more than intention. It takes structure.
Were building that now through cultural roundups, shared language, and clearer boundaries. Not buzzwords. Practical ways to stay connected to how people think and feel.
Were also changing how we hire. Experience still matters, but curiosity, self-awareness, and genuine growth mindset matter more. Alignment is becoming just as important as what client someone may bring in the door.
Were learning to protect the culture were building by setting boundaries, by saying no, and by choosing clarity over comfort. Every time we do, we move forward.
Were not done. And we probably never should be.
That Bukowski quote doesnt say what matters is whether you make it through the fire. It says how you walk through it is what matters.
Thats the challenge for leadership right now. Not avoiding change. Just walking through it honestly and with intention.
Companies that treat culture as a core capability, not a campaign or a slogan, are the ones ready for whatever comes next.
Michael McIntyre is the CEO of MOCEAN
When my mom was dying, hospice came daily and stayed for about ninety minutes. They answered questions, checked what needed to be checked, and did what good professionals do: They made a brutal situation feel slightly less impossible.
And then they left.
Ninety minutes go fast when you are watching your mother decline. The rest of the day stretches out in a way that does not feel like time so much as exposure. Every sound becomes a data point. Every small change feels like a decision you did not train for. Her breathing sounds strange. What do we do? How often should we turn her to avoid bedsores? What is the diaper situation, exactly?
That was the gap, the long, quiet stretch between professional help. In those hours, what you want most is not a miracle. It is simply someone to ask.
AI ENTERED MY LIFE IN A WAY I NEVER EXPECTED
AI found its way into my life when I least expected it. Not as a replacement for care or love, and not as a shortcut around grief. It was a tool that did not get tired. A place to put the questions you are embarrassed to ask. It was a way to stop spiraling long enough to make the next decision.
Before we reached hospice, my moms illness had already become a full-time information problem. Over the last few years of her life, her heart and kidney disease worsened, and the complexity multiplied with it. There were doctors and specialists, tests, lab results, scans, phone calls, and constant medication changes. The burden of continuity fell on us, and it was easy to feel like we were one detail away from missing something important.
I kept feeling disappointed that I was not managing the data better. The dates. The times. The medication lists. When tools like ChatGPT took a leap forward, I suddenly had something I did not have before: A resource that could help me understand what I was looking at and organize what I could not hold in my head.
In practice, it was not one magical capability. Depending on the day, AI played different roles: assistant, organizer, translator, sometimes just a calm voice to complain to that could talk back. I built multiple custom GPTs with specific jobs. One focused on medications. One helped me draft clear messages to doctors. One existed for the dumb questions, the ones you hesitate to ask because you think you should already know. Another served as a simple health profile, a place to store key details so I could reorient myself when I was exhausted.
It might sound like overkill until you have lived long enough inside the healthcare system to realize how inconsistent it can be. People change. Portals change. Instructions change. That little AI team was consistent. It was there at any hour when my brain was foggy, and I needed to turn a messy thought into clear words.
It even became emotional support in a way I did not anticipate. I built something like a caregiver therapist, somewhere I could say what I was feeling, including guilt, and got feedback that, even though I knew it was an algorithm, still brought real solace.
AI WAS NOT PERFECT
This is the part people do not like to say out loud. AI gave wrong information sometimes. It forgot a medication from a spreadsheet. It dropped something from a list. It did not remember a doctor when I asked. If you use these tools in caregiving, you must double-check, especially with medication, reminders, and timing. You must treat it like a friend who knows a lot but can be flaky.
Still, even with those limitations, the difference was profound. This was never about delegating love. It was about delegating the parts of the experience that did not need to consume the last of my cognitive energy.
When my mother finally passed, the AI journey took another turn. It became a project manager for funeral arrangements and the memorial service. It helped me think through practical details, such as food for 30 people and what flowers might cost. It helped me craft a eulogy by taking a messy voice memo, my unstructured stories, and the tone I wanted, and shaping it into an arc in my voice at a time when I could not simply turn on my best writer brain.
In some ways, the most startling part is that I have a control group. My father passed away about three to three and a half years ago, right before the age of AI. The difference between then and now has been night and day. With my mother, having these tools did not make it easy in the way people mean when they say easy. It made it more dignified for everyone, including her.
WHAT CHANGED WAS NOT GRIEF. IT WAS THE OVERWHELM
Dignity is not the absence of pain or a tidy emotional arc. Dignity is being able to show up without drowning in chaos. It is being able to look your mother in the eye and be present, instead of being trapped inside your own spinning mind, trying to remember whether you wrote down the one thing that could change everything.
In the end, the most important thing AI gave me was not an answer. It gave me room. Room to think, to breathe, to steady myself, to stay with my mother instead of disappearing into logistics and fear.
Grief will always demand something from you. It demands tears, memory, love, and the kind of courage that does not feel like courage while you are living it. But it also demands paperwork, phone calls, deadlines, and decisions made on days when you can barely form a sentence. AI did not carry the grief. It carried some of the weight around it, so I could carry her, and then carry myself, with a little more dignity.
Edwin Endlich is president of the National Alliance for Financial Literacy and Inclusion and chief marketing officer at Wysh.
Paramount Skydance is taking another step in its hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying Monday that it will name its own slate of directors before the next shareholder meeting of the Hollywood studio.
Paramount also filed a suit in Delaware Chancery Court seeking to compel Warner Bros. to disclose to shareholders how it values its bid and the competing offer from Netflix.
Warner Bros. is in the middle of a bidding war between Paramount and Netflix. Warners leadership has repeatedly rebuffed overtures from Skydance-owned Paramount and urged shareholders to back the sale of its streaming and studio business to Netflix for $72 billion. Paramount, meanwhile, has made efforts to sweeten its $77.9 billion hostile offer for the entire company.
Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery said its board determined Paramounts offer is not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders. It again recommended shareholders support the Netflix deal.
David Ellison, the chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance, said Monday that it’s committed to seeing through its tender offer. We do not undertake any of these actions lightly,” he said in a letter to shareholders of Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. has yet to schedule its annual meeting or a special meeting to consider the Netflix offer, and Paramount did not name any potential candidates for the board.
Associated Press
Muhammad Ali once joked that he should be a postage stamp because thats the only way Ill ever get licked.
Now, the three-time heavyweight champion’s quip is becoming reality.
Widely regarded as the most famous and influential boxer of all time, and a cultural force who fused athletic brilliance with political conviction and showmanship, Ali is being honored for the first time with a commemorative U.S. postage stamp.
As sort of the guardian of his legacy, Im thrilled. Im excited. Im ecstatic, Lonnie Ali, the champ’s wife of nearly 30 years, told The Associated Press. Because people, every time they look at that stamp, they will remember him. And he will be in the forefront of their consciousness. And, for me, that’s a thrill.
This image released by the United States Postal Service shows a commemorative Muhammad Ali stamp featuring a 1974 Associated Press photo of Ali. [Photo: United States Postal Service via AP]
A fighter in the ring and compassionate in life
Muhammad Ali died in 2016 at the age of 74 after living with Parkinson’s disease for more than three decades. During his lifetime and posthumously, the man known as The Greatest has received numerous awards, including an Olympic gold medal in 1960, the United Nations Messenger of Peace award in 1998 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.
Having his face on a stamp, Lonnie Ali said, has a particular significance because it’s a chance to highlight his mission of spreading compassion and his ability to connect with people.
He did it one person at a time, she said. And that’s such a lovely way to connect with people, to send them a letter and to use this stamp to reinforce the messaging in that life of connection.
Stamp to be publicly unveiled
A first-day-of-issue ceremony for the Muhammad Ali Forever Stamp is planned for Thursday in Louisville, Kentucky, the birthplace of the famed boxer and home to the Muhammad Ali Center, which showcases his life and legacy. That’s when people can buy Muhammad Ali Forever Stamps featuring a black-and-white Associated Press photo from 1974 of Ali in his famous boxing pose.
Each sheet of 20 stamps also features a photo of Ali posing in a pinstripe suit, a recognition of his work as an activist and humanitarian. Twenty-two million stamps have been printed. Once they sell out, they won’t be reprinted, U.S. Postal Service officials said. The stamps are expected to generate a lot of interest from collectors and noncollectors.
Because they’re Forever Stamps, the First-Class Mail postage will always remain valid, which Lonnie Ali calls an ultimate tribute.
This is going to be a Forever Stamp from the post office, she said. It’s just one of those things that will be part of his legacy, and it will be one of the shining stars of his legacy, getting this stamp.
Creating a historic stamp
Lisa Bobb-Semple, the USPS director of stamp services, said the idea for a Muhammad Ali stamp first came about shortly after his death almost a decade ago. But the process of developing a stamp is a long one. The USPS requires people who appear on stamps to be dead for at least three years, with the exception of presidents.
As the USPS was working behind the scenes on a stamp, a friend of Ali helped to launch the #GetTheChampAStamp campaign, which sparked public interest in the idea.
We are really excited that the stars were able to align that allowed us to bring the stamp to fruition, said Bobb-Semple, who initially had to keep the planned Ali stamp secret until it was official. Its one that weve always wanted to bring to the market.
Members of the Citizen Stamps Advisory Committee, appointed by the postmaster general, are responsible for selecting who and what appears on stamps. Each quarter, they meet with Bobb-Semple and her team to review suggestions submitted by the public. There are usually about 20 to 25 commemorative stamp issues each year.
Once a stamp idea is selected, Bobb-Semple and her team work with one of several art directors to design the postage. It then goes through a lengthy final approval process, including a rigorous review by the USPS legal staff, before it can be issued to the public.
Antonio Alcalá, art director and designer of the Muhammad Ali stamp, said hundreds of images were reviewed before the final choices were narrowed to a few. Finally, the AP image, taken by an unnamed photographer, was chosen. It shows Ali in his prime, posing with boxing gloves and looking straight into the camera.
Alcalá said there’s a story behind every USPS stamp.
Postage stamps are miniature works of art designed to reflect the American experience, highlight heroes, history, milestones, achievements and natural wonders of America, he said. The Muhammad Ali stamps are a great example of that.
A candid figure on war, civil rights and religion
Beyond the boxing ring, Ali was outspoken about his beliefs when many Black Americans were still fighting to be heard. Born Cassius Clay Jr., Ali changed his name after converting to Islam in the 1960s and spoke openly about race, religion and war. In 1967, he refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War.
That stance cost Ali his heavyweight championship title and barred him from boxing for more than three years. Convicted of draft evasion, he was sentenced to five years in prison but remained free while appealing the case. The conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971, further cementing his prominence as a worldwide figure.
Later in life, Ali emerged as a global humanitarian and used his fame to promote peace, religious understanding and charitable causes, even as Parkinsons disease limited his speech and movement.
Ali’s message during a time of strife
The commemorative postage stamp comes at a time of political division in the U.S. and the world. Lonnie Ali said if her husband were alive today, he’d probably block a lot of this out and continue to be a compassionate person who connects with people every day.
That approach, she said, is especially important now.
We have to mobilize Muhammads life and sort of engage in the same kinds of acts of kindness an compassion that he did every day, she said.
Susan Haigh, Associated Press
Shares of the budget airline Sun Country were flying today after the carrier announced an upcoming merger with Las Vegas-based competitor Allegiant.
In a press release published on January 11, Allegiant shared its plan to acquire Minneapolis-based Sun Country in a $1.5 billion cash and stock transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of 2026.
Per the release, the merger will bring together a shared customer pool of nearly 22 million annual fliers across 175 cities and more than 650 routes. It will also give Allegiant access to Sun Countrys multi-year partnership delivering packages with Amazon Prime Air, which Allegiant CEO Greg Anderson told CNBC was a major part of the deal.
News of the acquisition comes as other budget carriers, like Spirit Airlines, struggle to compete in an increasingly exclusive airline industry. As of market close on Monday, Allegiants stock was down about 6%, whereas Sun Countrys shares soared by over 10%.
Budget air carriers fight an uphill battle
For small, low-cost air carriers, profitable business is a turbulent affair.
According to October data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation, a whopping 68.5% of total airline market share in the U.S. is cornered by four major companies: Delta, American, Southwest, and United. As those four powerhouses leverage their outsized financial power to battle it out over offering more and more premium perks for fliers, smaller companies are left struggling to keep up.
One example of this pattern is Spirit Airlines, the beleaguered carrier that has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy twice since November 2024. Spirit hasnt made a profit since 2019indeed, as of late 2024, it had lost more than $2.4 billion since that time as it was unable to recover from pandemic-based losses.
The company attempted to lessen its debt load through a proposed sale to JetBlue, but that ultimately fell through in 2022 when it was challenged by the Department of Justice. In recent months, Spirit has announced its second bankruptcy, canceled all routes to 12 major cities, and furloughed 1,800 flight attendants.
While corporate mishandling is certainly partially responsible for Spirits troubles, its difficulties reflect larger hurdles for small air carriers in an industry where resources have become increasingly siloed. One way to address those issues is, as demonstrated by Spirits attempted sale to JetBlue, to merge with another company. Now, Allegiant and Sun Country appear to be attempting something similar by pooling their aircrafts, routes, and flier bases to meet traveler demands.
The combination will create a leading leisure-focused U.S. airline, the press release reads, expanding service to more popular vacation destinations across the United States, as well as international destinations, and providing more people with access to affordable, convenient air travel.
On the red carpet of the 2026 Golden Globes, several celebrities used their garments as vehicles of protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and spoke openly about their dissent against the current Trump administration.
But on the events actual stage, political commentary was noticeably absent compared with years past.
Popular American awards shows have long been criticized for primarily uplifting the voices of white, male, affluent creators. But, equally, the stages of these events have been used as platforms for public figures to speak out about current politics and social justice.
In 1973, Marlon Brando famously rejected his best actor Oscar statuette at the Academy Awards and sent Sacheen Littlefeather, a Native American woman, to deliver a speech on his behalf. More recently, in 2018, Seth Meyers made numerous jokes at Trumps expense at the Golden Globes.
This year, though, political commentary on the Golden Globes stage was kept to a few passing comments and oblique references. It’s a shift that reflects a broader trend of Hollywoods elite seemingly turning a blind eye to the current state of affairs during Trumps second term.
“The most important thing in the world”
To glean any kind of political statement from last nights show, one might have needed to perform a close reading.
Comedian Nikki Glasser opened the ceremony with a vague allusion to pretty much everything happening outside of Hollywood, calling the Golden Globes without a doubt the most important thing happening in the world right now.
Others followed with similarly discreet jabs, including one comment from director Judd ApatowI believe were in a dictatorship nowneatly sandwiched within a stream of jokes.
Even when the film One Battle After Anothera satire about revolution that critiques anti-immigration groupswon multiple awards, no statement was made directly about the current administration.
Compare that tenor to 2017, when, just months after Trump was elected for his first term, one of the Golden Globes’ most viraland impactfulmoments came when Meryl Streep used her acceptance speech to publicly call out the president.
Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick them all out, well have nothing to watch except football and mixed martial artswhich are not the arts,” Streep said.
Her speech came years before Trumps National Guard ever brutalized protestors in the streets, before the Department of Homeland Security separated thousands of children from their parents, before ICE agents starting showing up at schools and community centers across the country, and before agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good just last week.
Yet, somehow, it would have looked out of place at last nights comparatively apolitical event.
“Of course, this is for the mother”
To be fair, several celebrities did make an effort to speak up. Stars including Wanda Sykes, Natasha Lyonne, and Jean Smart wore pins reading Be Good as a reference to Renee Nicole Good. Others sported pins with the phrase Ice Out.
In a preshow interview with Variety, Sykes explained her pin: Of course this is for the mother who was murdered by an ICE agent, and its really sad.”
Mark Ruffalo also spoke more directly, telling Entertainment Tonight: Weve got, literally, storm troopers running around terrorizing. And as much as I love all this, I dont know if I can pretend like this crazy stuff isnt happening.”
In another interview with USA Today, Ruffalo added: “[Trump is] a pedophile. He’s the worst human being. If we’re relying on this guy’s morality for the most powerful country in the world, then we’re all in a lot of trouble.”
But, notably, these comments were shared on the red carpet, to be consumed by readers at disparate news outletsrather than on the main stage itself, to millions of viewers at home. When the evenings stars got their moments in the limelight, they largely opted to stay quiet.
“Am I brave, or are they cowards?”
The literal sidelining of political commentary at the 2026 Golden Globes may be disappointing to fans who want celebrities to speak out about injustices, but it’s not surprising, given Hollywoods about-turn since Trumps second term began.
Celebs like Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Barry Jenkins, and others who once strongly criticized the president have lately been quiet. Lawrence herself recently spoke on this change, stating in an interview with The New York Times The Interview podcast that weve learned election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for.
But as Refinery 29 aptly observes in a recent article, thats not entirely true. Taylor Swifts endorsement of Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 presidential election drove more than 400,000 people to the vote.gov site in 24 hours, it points out. And Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlans advocacy for Palestine aid organizations has helped raise more than $2 million to date.
Speaking to Refinery 29 after this years Golden Globes show, actress and activist Jameela Jamil refuted the idea that her own advocacy is brave.
Am I brave, or are they cowards? she said. I think theyre being greedy and weird and disappointing. Look at the billions of eyeballs on all of us collectivelythere should be no outliers of the industry who are the outspoken ones . . . out there on their own with this amount of privilee.
The Justice Department has threatened the Federal Reserve with a criminal indictment over the testimony of Fed Chair Jerome Powell this summer regarding its building renovations, Powell said over the weekend.
It is a major escalation by the administration after repeated attempts by President Donald Trump to exert greater control over the independent institution.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Powell for not cutting the short-term interest rate, and even threatened to fire him. Powells caution has infuriated Trump, who has demanded the Fed cut borrowing costs to spur the economy and reduce the interest rates the federal government pays on its debt. That anger has not subsided even after the Fed cut interest rates in three of the final four months of 2025.
Trump has also accused Powell of mismanaging the U.S. central banks $2.5 billion building renovation project. In a sharp departure from his previous responses to attacks by Trump, Powell described the threat of criminal charges as simple pretexts to undermine the Feds independence when it comes to setting interest rates.
While there has been a limited response from Republican lawmakers, there have been several early breaks with the party.
If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump Administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none, said North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who sits on the Banking Committee, which oversees Fed nominations.
Trump is already seeking to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over unproven allegations that she committed mortgage fraud. The allegation was made over the summer by Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the Federal Housing Administration.
Here are some reasons why the independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve is guarded so closely.
Why the Fed’s independence matters
The Fed wields extensive power over the U.S. economy. By cutting the short-term interest rate it controls which it typically does when the economy falters the Fed can make borrowing cheaper and encourage more spending, accelerating growth and hiring. When it raises the rate which it does to cool the economy and combat inflation it can weaken the economy and cause job losses.
Economists have long preferred independent central banks because they can more easily take unpopular steps to fight inflation, such as raise interest rates, which makes borrowing to buy a home, car, or appliances more expensive.
The importance of an independent Fed was cemented for most economists after the extended inflation spike of the 1970s and early 1980s. Former Fed Chair Arthur Burns has been widely blamed for allowing the painful inflation of that era to accelerate by succumbing to pressure from President Richard Nixon to keep rates low heading into the 1972 election. Nixon feared higher rates would cost him the election, which he won in a landslide.
Paul Volcker was eventually appointed chair of the Fed in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter, and he pushed the Fed’s short-term rate to the stunningly high level of nearly 20%. (It is currently 3.6%, the lowest it has been in nearly three years.) The eye-popping rates triggered a sharp recession, pushed unemployment to nearly 11%, and spurred widespread protests.
Yet Volcker didn’t flinch. By the mid-1980s, inflation had fallen back into the low single digits. Volcker’s willingness to inflict pain on the economy to throttle inflation is seen by most economists as a key example of the value of an independent Fed.
Investors are watching closely
An effort to fire Powell would almost certainly cause stock prices to fall and bond yields to spike higher, pushing up interest rates on government debt and raising borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and credit card debt. The interest rate on the 10-year Treasury is a benchmark for mortgage rates.
All major U.S. markets slid Monday at the opening bell, bond yields edged higher and the value of the U.S dollar declined.
Most investors prefer an independent Fed, partly because it typically manages inflation better without being influenced by politics, but also because its decisions are more predictable. Fed officials often publicly discuss how they would alter interest rate policies if economic conditions changed.
If the Fed was more swayed by politics, it would be harder for financial markets to anticipate or understand its decisions.
While the Fed controls a short-term rate, financial markets determine longer-term borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans. And if investors worry that inflation will stay high, they will demand higher yields on government bonds, pushing up borrowing costs across the economy.
In Turkey, for example, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan forced the central bank to keep interest rates low in the early 2020s, even as inflation spiked to 85%. In 2023, Erdogan allowed the central bank more independence, which has helped bring down inflation, but short-term interest rates rose to 50% to fight inflation, and remain high.
The Fed’s independence doesn’t mean it’s unaccountable
Fed chairs like Powell are appointe by the president to serve four-year terms, and have to be confirmed by the Senate. The president also appoints the six other members of the Fed’s governing board, who can serve staggered terms of up to 14 years.
Those appointments can allow a president over time to significantly alter the Fed’s policies. Former president Joe Biden appointed four of the current seven members: Powell, Cook, Philip Jefferson, and Michael Barr. A fifth Biden appointee, Adriana Kugler, stepped down unexpectedly on Aug. 1, about five months before the end of her term. Trump has already nominated his top economist, Stephen Miran, as a potential replacement, though he will require Senate approval. Cook’s term ends in 2038, so forcing her out would allow Trump to appoint a loyalist sooner.
Trump will be able to replace Powell as Fed chair in May, when Powells term expires. Yet 12 members of the Feds interest-rate setting committee have a vote on whether to raise or lower interest rates, so even replacing the Chair doesnt guarantee that Fed policy will shift the way Trump wants.
Congress, meanwhile, can set the Fed’s goals through legislation. In 1977, for example, Congress gave the Fed a dual mandate to keep prices stable and seek maximum employment. The Fed defines stable prices as inflation at 2%.
The 1977 law also requires the Fed chair to testify before the House and Senate twice every year about the economy and interest rate policy.
Could the president fire Powell before his term ends?
The Supreme Court last year suggested in a ruling on other independent agencies that a president can’t fire the chair of the Fed just because he doesn’t like the chair’s policy choices. But he may be able to remove him for cause, typically interpreted to mean some kind of wrongdoing or negligence.
It’s a likely reason the Trump administration has zeroed in on the building renovation, in hopes it could provide a for cause pretext. Still, Powell would likely fight any attempt to remove him, and the case could wind up at the Supreme Court.
Christopher Rugaber, AP economics writer
