New York City in brief

American households reached a new peak of credit-card debt, with 111 million people—about 40% of U.S. adults—now carrying a balance, up 17% since 2019, according to The Century Foundation and Protect Borrowers. With sky-high rates (averaging 23.7%) and $4-a-gallon gasoline squeezing wallets, every fourth person admits to skipping meals. The banking lobby scuppered Donald Trump’s 10% rate cap proposal; lenders evidently prefer their bread buttered thick.

BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, has warned investors that artificial intelligence may automate 30% of current tasks by 2030, reshaping salaries and employment from New York to Nairobi. Though the World Economic Forum predicts 97 million fresh jobs, many workers—especially those whose tasks resemble an Excel macro—will need to reskill, or risk being replaced by an algorithm with far fewer coffee breaks.

Over 75 business, religious and community groups, led by ABIC Action and others, launched a “Dignity Tour” beginning in Pennsylvania to press Congress to back the bipartisan Dignity Act. The bill, fronted by María Elvira Salazar and supported by 40 lawmakers, would grant millions of undocumented immigrants work permits and some paths to residency—provided background checks and fees pass muster. Immigration reform, it seems, never entirely retires.

The US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will require beneficiaries to recertify digitally by 2026—a supposedly streamlined process that, so far, mainly baffles older adults and the less tech-savvy. As stricter work requirements and tighter deadlines loom, millions risk losing food aid not for ineligibility but for digital slip-ups. We expect paperwork and hunger to remain robust American traditions, albeit with stronger Wi-Fi.

America’s housing market—having finally limbered up after months of torpor—has started limping again as the latest bout of US-Iran tension drives up oil, then Treasury yields, and, finally, 30-year mortgage rates, now reaching 6.43%. The resulting 10.5% drop in loan applications leaves Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac holding the fort, while would-be buyers watch global diplomacy drive home prices with a far less delicate hand.