Last week, a California business owner posted that his payroll taxes came in about $2K more than anticipated, which his payroll company explained was the result of the state’s budget shortfall. Turns out the federal government isn’t happy California decided — casually, quietly, right before a little brunch in Napa — not to pay them back for a massive loan it never should have needed, so Washington is moving onto Plan B. Did you know California businesses effectively co-signed the loan, or that when a state defaults on something like this, federal law mandates businesses in the state carry the burden? Me neither. But your local lawmakers, who truly do not give a shit about you, certainly did. Next question, and something to keep you warm through the holiday season: what other rules exist, which you have never heard of, that mean you’re about to pay for someone else’s bad decisions?

Last week, following Trump’s election, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi relocated to rural England and vowed never to return. Per TMZ: “the couple scooped up the [house] before the election ... but were ‘very disillusioned’ with Trump’s victory [and] immediately decided ‘to get the hell out.’” I mean, if I had as much money as Ellen, I’d also ball out on an old English manor called Chatshire Woodybrook or whatever, so I can’t hate on her too much. But I do wonder, when you actually care about something (e.g. women’s rights in the US), is it not strategically unwise to literally abandon it forever when that thing is under threat? Either Ellen was never a progressive ally, or she just did the equivalent of leaving her soldiers on the battlefield. Not a good look for a “do gooder,” but then her employees haven’t called her that for decades I suppose.

Consumer fintech startup Empower surveyed 2,203 adults this September to ask them what salary they consider the minimum to be “financially successful,” and while most age cohorts answered with a reasonable figure ranging from $99k (boomers) to $212k (Gen X), Gen Z came back with a very different number: $587,000 per year. Notably, Gen Z’s standards are more than 3x those of Millenials, who define success as $180,000 per year, showing a major shift in worldview for the kids. What is driving this? I suspect much could be a result of Zoomers growing up inside algorithms that push outlier success stories to the top of the feed, giving them a somewhat delusional expectation of the world (barely 1% of Americans make more than $500,000 annually). But I applaud their ability to think big. Personally, I’m more concerned about Millenials: you grew up in the most abundant country on earth, and you’re settling for $180k? Get a grip.

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