It's the Republicans, Not Musk, Who Are Serious About Cutting Spending
Elon Musk and House Republicans both promised to tackle federal spending. As leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, he was the public face of Trump's assault on government. Remember him feeding the U.S. Agency for International Development into the wood chipper?
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CNN
14 minutes ago
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Canada will rescind a digital services tax to restart US trade talks
Canada will rescind a digital services tax – a way of taxing online companies – its government said on Sunday, in a bid to restart trade negotiations with the United States. US President Donald Trump on Friday canceled trade talks between the two countries, blaming the tax that he called 'a direct and blatant attack on our Country.' In a statement Sunday night, the Canadian government said it was stepping back from the tax to help bring the countries back to the table. 'To support those negotiations, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, announced today that Canada would rescind the Digital Services Tax (DST) in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States,' according to the statement. 'Consistent with this action, Prime Minister Carney and President Trump have agreed that parties will resume negotiations with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July 21, 2025.' Digital services taxes are a way for countries to tax online services, in contrast to taxes on physical products. This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN
24 minutes ago
- CNN
Canada to rescind digital services tax to try to restart US trade talks
Canada will rescind a digital services tax – a way of taxing online companies – its government said on Sunday, in a bid to restart trade negotiations with the United States. US President Donald Trump on Friday canceled trade talks between the two countries, blaming the tax that he called 'a direct and blatant attack on our Country.' In a statement Sunday night, the Canadian government said it was stepping back from the tax to help bring the countries back to the table. 'To support those negotiations, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, announced today that Canada would rescind the Digital Services Tax (DST) in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States,' according to the statement. 'Consistent with this action, Prime Minister Carney and President Trump have agreed that parties will resume negotiations with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July 21, 2025.' Digital services taxes are a way for countries to tax online services, in contrast to taxes on physical products. This is a developing story and will be updated.
Gizmodo
32 minutes ago
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Is Crypto in a Bubble (Again)?
The crypto world is buzzing. If you ask a true believer, they'll say this is just the beginning. Ask a skeptic, and they'll swear we're watching a bubble inflate in real time. One that could pop any second. I saw the excitement firsthand at a crypto event in Brooklyn last week. The bar was packed. People were animated. It felt like a flashback to 2020 and 2021, when crypto fever gripped everyone from twenty-something retail traders to grandparents. Back then, it was all about Bitcoin, flashy NFTs like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, and anything promising wild returns. It was a digital casino where everyone hoped to strike it rich. Fast. But then came the crash. The 'crypto winter' arrived, marked by the spectacular downfall of crypto exchange FTX and its poster boy Sam Bankman-Fried. Billions vanished. Trust collapsed. Regulators circled. Now? The energy is back. And it's confusing. At the Brooklyn event, hosted by Wire Network (a startup trying to connect different crypto systems, or 'blockchains'), the optimism was palpable. 'There's never been a better time to be a crypto developer,' co-founder Ken DiCross told me. On paper, crypto's comeback looks unstoppable. The industry's total market value has ballooned by over $3 trillion since the start of 2023. Companies like Robinhood, Coinbase, and MicroStrategy are riding the wave. Circle Internet Group, the firm behind one of the biggest 'stablecoins,' went public in June at a $6 billion valuation. It shot up to nearly $50 billion in just weeks. Wait, what's a stablecoin? A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value, usually pegged to something like the U.S. dollar. The idea is to give people the speed and flexibility of crypto without the wild price swings of Bitcoin or Ethereum. In theory, you could use stablecoins instead of cash to buy your coffee or pay your rent. In reality, we're not there yet. But the bet from crypto firms is clear: one day, we'll all use digital dollars instead of paper ones. That's what's driving today's gold rush. The question is: Are people getting ahead of themselves? Much of the current hype centers on DeFi, short for decentralized finance. Think of it as an attempt to rebuild Wall Street without the banks. Instead of a bank approving your loan or handling your trades, code does it. No middlemen, no gatekeepers. Sounds revolutionary, but so far, it's mostly been a playground for speculators and tech geeks. Then there are the Bitcoin treasury companies. These are regular businesses that are loading up their balance sheets with Bitcoin instead of dollars, euros, or gold. MicroStrategy is the poster child, spending billions to buy Bitcoin and turning itself from a sleepy software company into a kind of crypto hedge fund. The idea is that Bitcoin will outpace inflation and fiat currencies over the long run. There's no clear answer. The numbers are dizzying. The hype is real. And yet, there's still so much uncertainty about whether crypto's grand promises will ever match reality. Even with a crypto-friendly president in the White House, the road to replacing cash or Wall Street is long. So, is this a bubble? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on who you ask.
