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Are we headed for another Great Depression — or is this just the scariest headline of the month? The short answer: the market is priced for perfection, and it is more expensive than it was in 1929 — but the economy underneath it is still growing, and the safety nets that did not exist in 1929 exist now. That split is the whole story. This post opens a series on the depression question: over the next week, each angle gets its own numbers — the national debt, the 1929 market crash, household budgets, retirement savings, emergency funds, mortgages, and crypto. Here is the overview: what the 1930s actually did, the cycle that turns calm markets fragile, five warning signs, three reasons it might not happen, and the steps that help whether a depression comes or not. Figures are current as of November 12, 2026. What a Depression Actually Did: the 1930s in Numbers A depression is not a bad year in the stock market. It is a collapse in output, jobs, and prices that lasts for years. The Gr...

Have you ever wondered why the same solar panel can be a bargain in one state and a bad deal in another — or why a wind farm can wait five years just to plug into the grid? The difference is rarely the technology. It is the policy around it: the tax credits, the queue to connect to the grid, the rules your state and utility set, and the tariffs at the border. Yesterday's post looked at the five signals that will decide how fast the transition moves in 2027. This one looks at the levers behind those signals: which policies speed the transition up, which ones slow it down, and what to check before you make a decision that depends on them. Figures in this post are current as of November 11, 2026. 1. The fastest lever: money that lowers the price A tax credit does not change the technology. It changes the math — and when the credit has a deadline, it changes the calendar too. The biggest policy change of the last two years is the rollback of federal clean-energy tax credits. The ...

Is the energy transition speeding up or stalling in 2027? Both — at the same time. Clean power is being built faster than ever, but getting that power to homes and businesses is now the bottleneck. The International Energy Agency's newest report, Renewables 2026 , published November 6, makes the split clear. The world will add almost 4,800 gigawatts of renewable capacity between 2026 and 2031 — about 60% more than in the previous six years. In the same report, the queue of advanced-stage projects waiting for a grid connection jumped 60% in a single year. Figures in this post are current as of November 10, 2026. The five signals below are how to tell which side is winning — and what each one means for your electricity bill and for the timing of big household decisions like rooftop solar or an electric car. 1. Renewables pass coal — and, in the U.S., natural gas 2026 is the year renewables become the world's largest source of electricity, overtaking coal. The IEA's Elec...

What should you actually watch in the economy between now and the end of March? Three questions will decide the first quarter of 2027: whether the Federal Reserve raises rates again, whether October's hiring surge was real, and whether inflation's stubborn last leg is finally giving way — and each question has a date attached. This is not a forecast. It is a watchlist: the dates that will answer those questions, what each release would have to show to change the story, and the two wild cards that could move the calendar itself. All figures are current as of November 9, 2026. Where the economy stands as 2026 winds down Growth is strong, hiring just surprised to the upside, and inflation is stuck above target — that combination is why the next three months matter. The economy grew 3.4% on an annualized basis in the third quarter of 2026, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis advance estimate released October 29 — faster than the 2.5% of the first quarter and the 2.2% ...

Should you wait for mortgage rates to fall before buying a home? The short answer: probably not — the 30-year fixed rate is 7.18% as of November 5, 2026, and the latest official data gives no reason to expect a meaningful drop. The two most-watched forecasters see rates above 7% through 2027. That does not mean rates can never fall. It means the fall needs specific things to happen — and right now, none of them are happening. This article shows you the formula behind the rate, checks each condition against the latest data, and puts a dollar figure on what a one-point drop would actually save you. Where Mortgage Rates Stand Right Now The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 7.18% in Freddie Mac's November 5 survey — down for the third week in a row, but still nearly a full point above a year ago. Here is the three-week path: 7.40% on October 15, then 7.32%, 7.24%, and now 7.18%. On a $400,000 loan, that slide is worth about $60 a month in principal and interest — real money,...

Is skipping the delivery fee worth the drive to the store? Usually, yes — if the store is already on your route and you walk out with only what you ordered. Buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) cuts the delivery fee to zero and often gets the item into your hands the same day. But the model has a catch built into it: 85% of shoppers buy something extra when they go to collect an order, according to Capital One Shopping's compilation of retail data. The fee you save can be smaller than the impulse buy you never planned. Figures in this post are survey results and retail sales estimates as of November 2026. BOPIS in 2026: the quiet default Store pickup is now the only delivery method still gaining share every year. It did not fade after the pandemic. It kept growing while every other fulfillment option flattened. 29% of US digital buyers picked up an online order at the store in May 2026, up from 22% in 2023 — the only fulfillment method to grow every single year, according ...