President Tharman Shanmugaratnam of the Republic of Singapore visited MIT on Tuesday, meeting campus leaders while receiving the Miriam Pozen Prize and delivering a lecture on fiscal policy at the MIT Sloan School of Management. 'We really have to re-orient fiscal policy and develop new fiscal compacts,' said Tharman in his remarks, referring to the budget policy challenges countries face at a time of expanding government debt. His talk, 'The Compacts We Need: Fiscal Choices and Risk-sharing for Sustained Prosperity,' was delivered before a capacity audience of students, faculty, administrators, and staff at MIT's Samberg Center. Tharman is a trained economist who for many years ran Singapore's central bank and has become a notable presence in global policymaking circles. Presenting a crisp summary of global trends, he observed that debt levels in major economies are at or beyond levels once regarded as unsustainable. 'There is no realistic solution to putting government debts back on a sustainable path other than having to make major adjustments to taxes and spending,' he said. However, he emphasized that his remarks were distinctly not 'a call for austerity.' Instead, as he outlined, well-considered public investment can reduce the need for additional spending and thus be fiscally sound over time....

Donor-advised funds, or DAFs, are charitable investment accounts. After donors put money or other financial assets into these accounts, the assets are technically no longer theirs. But they do get a say in how those funds are invested, as well as when and which charities should get some of the money. Americans gave nearly US$90 billion to DAFs in 2024 ' up from the $20 billion DAFs took in a decade earlier. One distinguishing feature about DAF donors is that when they dispatch money from their charitable accounts, they fund politically engaged charities at higher rates than people who give directly to charity. That's what we, two scholars who research the flow of money between donors and nonprofits, found when we conducted a study examining the links between donor-advised funds and donations to charities that are politically active. Our results will be published in a forthcoming issue of Nonprofit Policy Forum, a peer-reviewed academic journal. Like foundations, DAFs give donors a sense of long-term control over funds they've designated for charitable spending in the future. But because DAFs are accounts held within certified public charities, often those affiliated with financial institutions like Fidelity and Vanguard, they offer added tax benefits and simplicity....

When Michael and Susan Dell announced last week that they would be donating $6.25 billion to put $250 per account into government-run savings accounts for millions of American children, it brought new attention to an initiative that was otherwise buried in the tax bill Republicans passed earlier this year: the Trump Account. Trump Accounts'yes, that is the official name'function basically as individual retirement accounts for kids. Any parent or guardian can open one up for a child starting in 2026, and family, friends, and employers can contribute $5,000 total each year. These accounts will then be invested in index funds, and withdrawals are largely prohibited until the child turns 18. All American children born from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2028, will be entitled to a onetime $1,000 contribution from the government. The Dells' gift is meant to ensure that another 25 million American children who are 10 and under and in the poorest 75 percent of zip codes will get another $250 each....

The transaction reshapes ContextLogic following its post-IPO collapse and the 2024 sale of its former e-commerce assets. The firm is now repositioning itself as an owner of specialist businesses with strong cash generation, supported by BC Partners Credit's $150m strategic commitment and the company's $2.9bn of net operating losses and tax assets. US Salt supplies high-purity evaporated salt for food, pharmaceutical, and water treatment markets, which have remained resilient through economic cycles. Its management team, led by CEO David Sugarman, will continue in place under the new ownership structure. Abrams Capital will roll over substantially all of its existing stake in US Salt and become the largest shareholder in ContextLogic after completion. Ted Goldthorpe, Head of BC Partners Credit and Chair of ContextLogic's Board, said: 'We are very excited to partner with David Sugarman and US Salt to drive value for all shareholders of ContextLogic through its defined growth strategy. US Salt's outstanding management team, resilient business model, consistent track record of growth, and runway for future expansion ' including M&A ' distinguished it as an exceptional company.'...