budget

Global military budgets in 2025 totaled $2.6 trillion. The US accounted for more than a third of that total.The US has the world’s most expensive military, spending nearly $1 trillion on defense. That’s over three and a half times China’s reported defense budget, the next largest.From spending on nuclear technology…

Aside from some brief visits to neighboring Canada, my mother had never been anywhere outside the United States.So, for her 60th birthday, I surprised her with a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy, somewhere she had always wanted to visit. And I, a seasoned traveler, would be her plus one.I planned a…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Brittney Ball, a 36-year-old former Meta employee based in Washington DC. It’s been edited for length and clarity.I didn’t anticipate being unemployed for over a year after my layoff at Meta. I assumed that, coming from Meta with my skillset, there’s…