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A 20-year-old, Daniel Jackson, claims to have founded the Free Republic of Verdis on a disputed strip along the Danube River between Croatia and Serbia. Arguing the land is terra nullius, he built an online micronation with citizens and passports. Croatian authorities removed him after a 2023 settlement attempt, leaving him running the project from exile in the United Kingdom. View More

The Social Security payroll tax is capped at $184,500 in 2026. Some high earners have already stopped paying into the program for the year. View More

A mobile billboard with an image of Jeff Bezos calls for higher taxes on the ultrawealthy, in Washington, May 17, 2021.Drew Angerer | Getty Images In 2026, earnings up to $184,500 are subject to Social Security payroll taxes.As of Monday, individuals with $1 million in annual wage and salary earnings have stopped paying into the program for this calendar year, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research.Wealthier individuals stop paying into the program even sooner. Billionaire tech magnate Elon Musk may have paid all of his Social Security taxes for the year on New Year's Day, depending on how his income is taxed, labor economist Teresa Ghilarducci has estimated. How the Social Security payroll tax works Together, Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes are known as FICA, named for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act. Workers and employers each pay 6.2% of wages toward Social Security through payroll taxes. They also each contribute 1.45% for Medicare — and unlike Social Security, Medicare taxes apply to all earnings with no income cap. There's also a 0.9% Medicare surcharge for high earners.Self-employed workers are subject to the full 12.4% rate for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare, although they can also claim an above-the-line deduction of half of their FICA taxes. Read more CNBC personal finance coverageMillion-dollar earners have already stopped paying into Social Security for 2026Women and the K-shaped economy: Lower pay, affordability issues reduce spendingSmall 401(k) accounts may follow workers to their next job — except Roth moneyIn a jobs apocalypse, look to 'AI-proof' skilled trades, career experts sayMiddle-income homebuyers have $30,000 more buying power than a year agoAverage IRS tax refund is up 10.6%, early filing data showsGOP 'big beautiful bill' to deal 'shock' to the ACA marketplace: health expertsAs millions claim Trump's 'no tax on overtime' deduction, filers risk mistakesS&P 500 shrugs off 1% daily drops all the time. Investors can too, advisors sayWhere investors can look for stability as the Iran war rattles marketsWhat the Iran war market turmoil means for those nearing retirementMusk says Grok can help with your taxes. What experts say about AI and tax prepNew bill would update anti-poverty program, 'a critical lifeline': WarrenThere's a push to cut capital gains taxes on home sales to add supply for buyersIran war and your portfolio: Historical stock market patterns investors should knowCNBC's Financial Advisor 100: Best financial advisors, top firms ranked Amid calls for higher taxes on the rich and a looming Social Security funding shortfall, some advocates and lawmakers are pushing to raise the payroll tax cap so that high earners pay more into the program.In the future, Social Security may not be able to pay benefits as intended, said Hayley Brown, a labor and disability researcher at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank."Meanwhile, we have people who are capable of paying into the system throughout the year who stop before three months of the year have gone by," Brown said. More of workers' earnings exceed the payroll tax cap The Social Security Administration currently faces looming depletion dates for the trust funds it uses to help make monthly payments to millions of beneficiaries. Yet because money continues to come into the program through payroll taxes, benefits will not run out entirely. Instead, the latest projections from the Social Security Administration's actuaries find that the trust fund the program relies on to pay retirement benefits may run out in 2032, when monthly payments would be reduced by 24% unless Congress takes action to address the shortfall.Raising the Social Security payroll tax cap is among the options lawmakers may consider. Research shows that choice is popular among consumers. Raising the payroll tax cap to incorporate earnings over $400,000, while not increasing benefits for those extra contributions, was the most popular of all the policy options, according to a 2025 survey from the National Academy of Social Insurance, AARP, National Institute on Retirement Security and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The group of retirement policy and business organizations polled 2,243 Americans.Other popular choices identified through that research were gradually raising the payroll tax rate from 6.2% to 7.2% and keeping age 67 as the full retirement age. watch nowVIDEO9:4309:43Washington State Sen. Jamie Pedersen on details of the state's wealth tax proposalSquawk Box Earnings inequality has contributed to Social Security's current trust fund shortfall, according to recent research from the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal think tank, student network and nonprofit partner to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.The share of earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes was 90% in 1983. Yet the payroll tax did not rise fast enough to maintain that 90% coverage, according to the Roosevelt Institute. In 2000, it was approximately 82.5% and has since stayed at about that level, with some fluctuations, Roosevelt Institute research found.About 6% of workers have earnings above the cap, a share that has held steady. But those workers' real earnings grew by an "unexpectedly large" average of 62% from 1983 through 2000, according to the Roosevelt Institute. Meanwhile, the remaining 94% of workers with earnings below the cap saw their average real earnings go up just 17% during those years. How raising the tax cap affects Social Security solvency Raising the payroll tax cap would not be a cure-all for Social Security's funding woes.Eliminating the taxable maximum starting this year and not providing a benefit credit for tax contributions above the earnings threshold would fix 67% of the long-range actuarial balance, according to the Social Security Administration. Other variations of that change may not go as far, depending on factors including income thresholds that are taxed, such as $250,000 or $400,000 and above, and whether those contributions would result in higher benefit payments. Had the payroll tax cap been eliminated years ago, the results would have gone further toward shoring up the program, Jason Fichtner, former deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration and current executive director of the LIMRA Alliance for Lifetime Income, said during a March 3 panel discussion at the National Institute on Retirement Security annual retirement policy conference in Washington."If we had just raised the taxable maximum, got rid of the cap, just that one policy … that would have put us on 75-year solvency 15 years ago," Fichtner said. "We've lost that one major option." Not everyone agrees with eliminating the Social Security payroll tax cap. The increase would impact upper-middle-class individuals and families, not just the rich, according to the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. It would also limit the ability to raise taxes to pay for other initiatives, such as Medicare, which likewise faces a funding shortfall, it found.Yet other experts and voters say the change is at the top of their wish lists for Social Security reform. "It seems like the fairest and most straightforward way to shore up Social Security's finances, and it also speaks to Social Security's status as a social insurance program," Brown said. CEPR's website includes a calculator to determine when individuals stop paying into the program this year based on their earnings. "I hope that people use the tool not just to see when they stop paying in, but to try to experiment and see what it would be like for somebody making $200,000, $300,000 ... and then try to reconcile that with their idea of what they think a fair system would look like," Brown said. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

The OpenAI deal fallout exposes the fundamental danger of being the most leveraged player in a market where the chip cycle moves faster than the concrete dries. View More

In this articleORCLNVDAFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO2:3102:31OpenAI executives pivot on expanding Stargate to put capacity in other locationsTechCheck Artificial intelligence chips are getting upgraded more quickly than data centers can be built, a market reality that exposes a key risk to the AI trade and Oracle's debt-fueled expansion.OpenAI is no longer planning to expand its partnership with Oracle in Abilene, Texas, home to the Stargate data center, because it wants clusters with newer generations of Nvidia graphics processing units, according to a person familiar with the matter. The current Abilene site is expected to use Nvidia's Blackwell processors, and the power isn't projected to come online for a year. By then, OpenAI is hoping to have expanded access to Nvidia's next-generation chips in bigger clusters elsewhere, said the person, who asked not to be named due to confidentiality.Bloomberg was first to report on the companies ending their plans for expansion in Abilene. In a post on X on Sunday, Oracle called news reports about the activity, "false and incorrect," but the post only said existing projects are on track and didn't address expansion plans. Oracle secured the site, ordered the hardware, and spent billions of dollars on construction and staff, with the expectation of going bigger. An Oracle spokesperson declined to comment. It's a logical decision for OpenAI, which doesn't want older chips. Nvidia used to release a new generation of data center processors every two years. Now, CEO Jensen Huang has the company shipping one every year, and each generation offers a leap in capability. Vera Rubin, unveiled at CES in January and already in production, delivers five times the inference performance of Blackwell. For the companies building frontier models, the smallest improvement in performance could equate to huge gaps in model benchmarks and rankings, which are closely followed by developers and translate directly to usage, revenue, and valuation. That all points to a bigger problem at play. For infrastructure companies, securing a site, connecting power and standing up a facility takes 12 to 24 months at minimum. But customers want the latest and greatest, and they're tracking the yearly chip upgrades.Oracle's added challenge is that it's the only hyperscaler funding its buildout primarily with debt, to the tune of $100 billion and counting. Google, Amazon and Microsoft, by contrast, are leaning on their enormous cash-generating businesses.Meanwhile, Oracle partner Blue Owl is declining to fund an additional facility, and plans to cut up to 30,000 jobs. Oracle reports fiscal third-quarter results on Tuesday, and investors will be paying close to how the company addresses a $50 billion capital expenditure plan with negative free cash flow, and whether the financing pipeline can hold up. The stock is down 23% so far this year and has lost over half its value since peaking in September. Beyond Oracle, GPU depreciation is a risk for the broader market and could have ramifications across the AI landscape. Every infrastructure deal signed today may result in a commitment to outdated hardware before the power is even connected. WATCH: Jefferies' Brent Thill talks to CNBC ahead of Oracle earnings watch nowVIDEO3:5303:53Market may be overlooking Oracle's upside potential, says Jefferies' Brent ThillThe Exchange Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

An 18-year-old accused in an ISIS-inspired terror attack near Gracie Mansion flashed a salute honoring the group while being led from a police precinct. Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, both 19, were arrested after a homemade bomb was thrown at protesters. Both reportedly made pro-ISIS statements and watched terror propaganda videos. View More

Kharg Island serves as the centerpiece for Iran's oil industry, accounting for roughly 90% of the country’s crude exports. View More

In this articleUSOFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT A support vessel maneuvers near the crude oil tanker 'Devon' as it sails through the Persian Gulf towards Kharq Island oil terminal to transport crude oil to export markets in Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Mar. 23, 2018.Ali Mohammadi | Bloomberg | Getty Images Iran's Kharg Island, a small but strategically vital strip of land nestled in the waters of the northern Persian Gulf, has been left untouched by U.S. and Israeli forces even as the Middle East conflict enters its second week.The coral island, which is located about 15 miles off the coast of mainland Iran, serves as the centerpiece for Iran's oil industry. It is estimated that around 90% of the country's crude exports pass through it before tankers then travel through the Strait of Hormuz. The island is also said to have a loading capacity of roughly 7 million barrels per day.Kharg Island's economic importance to Iran makes it particularly vulnerable to the threat of military action, although analysts say that any attempt to seize it would likely require a ground troop operation, which the U.S. appears reluctant to undertake. An attack would also likely prompt further energy market volatility at a time when oil prices have soared to nearly $120 a barrel. Seizing the island "would cut off Iran's oil lifeline," which is essential for the regime, according to Petras Katinas, a research fellow in climate, energy and defense at RUSI, a London-based defense think tank. "Of course, with shipping via the Strait of Hormuz now stopped, they cannot sell oil anyway, but looking ahead, seizure would give the US leverage during negotiations, no matter which regime is in power after the military operation ends," Katinas told CNBC by email."Yet, seizure, would require a ground troop operation, which this administration seems hesitant to undertake. At least for now," he added. Crude futures climbed to their highest level since mid-2022 on Monday after the U.S. and Israel launched a fresh wave of strikes across Iran over the weekend.The attacks struck several Iranian fuel sites, including oil storage depots, signaling a new phase of the war as the sprawling Middle East crisis continues into its 10th day. International benchmark Brent crude futures with May delivery traded 11.5% higher at $103.40 per barrel on Monday, paring earlier gains, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with April delivery were last seen 12% higher at $101.88. Fraught with risk "If President Trump were to decide to seize this pivotal hub, it would deal a significant blow to the Iranian regime, as it would deprive them of a critical source of revenue. Such a move would be reminiscent of the U.S. intervention in Venezuela at the beginning of the year, when it effectively took control of the country's oil sector," Tamas Varga, an oil analyst at brokerage PVM, told CNBC By email. "While it might suggest the resumption of Iranian oil exports—under U.S. supervision, of course, and only if the Strait reopens—it would at the same time remain vulnerable to drone attacks from within Iran. An eventual U.S. occupation of the island would further complicate an already complex situation," he added. Typically, about 20% of the world's oil and gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz, but shipping traffic has all but halted through this key maritime corridor since the war started late last month. Fire breaks out at the Shahran oil depot after U.S. and Israeli attacks, leaving numerous fuel tankers and vehicles in the area unusable in Tehran, Iran, on March 8, 2026.Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump may be tempted to order U.S. forces to try to seize Kharg Island for several reasons, according to Marc Gustafson, former head of the White House Situation Room, who previously served under presidents Trump, Joe Biden and Barack Obama. These include the opportunity for Trump to claim a "big PR win," the chance to give U.S. troops a natural barrier from mainland Iran, and the fact that it fits with the president's push to secure maximum leverage over the Iranian regime. Gustafson, who now works as the senior director of analysis at Eurasia Group, said that any such operation would be fraught with risk, however. An attempt to seize the island would require U.S. troops on the ground and likely see it become a multiweek target for Iranian drones, Gustafson said in a LinkedIn post last week. He also warned it could push oil prices up even further and Tehran may even consider an act of self-sabotage to destroy the oil pipeline that feeds it. watch nowVIDEO3:5803:58Kharg Island is a 'choke point' for Iran's oil exports, says VanEck Funds CEOPower Lunch "There is one concept or one dimension of this that no one seemingly has mentioned, which is Kharg Island," Jan van Eck, CEO of VanEck Funds, told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on March 2."It's where 90% of Iran's oil gets exported out of — that is a choke point. And if you think that Trump just follows the same playbook that he did in Venezuela. What did he do? He cut off their oil exports, their hard currency, and I think he is going to want that leverage point going forward," van Eck said. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Women are under pressure from lower pay and reduced affordability on everyday items, which is widening the K-shaped economy and seeing women spending less. View More

watch nowVIDEO1:2801:28Women under pressure in K-shaped economy as lower pay and affordability issues reduce spendingNews Videos The Labor Department reported on Friday that 92,000 jobs were lost in February, as the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%. The unemployment rate for women held steady at 4.1% for the first two months of the year, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Still, the sharp rise in the number of Hispanic or Latina women and Black women who are out of work is profound, experts say, with their unemployment rates rising to 5% and 7.1%. A significant pay disparity for women, and especially women of color, also has an impact on the widening divide between high-earners and low- and middle-income Americans in the so-called "K-shaped" economy.  More from Women and Wealth:Women and the K-shaped economy: Lower pay, affordability issues reduce spendingPoor coordination can cost couples an average $14,000 in retirement wealth93% of women are stressed about money. Building a cash reserve can helpHow to prepare for the ‘survivor’s penalty’ before a spouse passes‘Fear is an opportunity,’ expert says. Use what scares you to build wealth "The wage gap for women is 81 cents for every dollar a man makes, but it's especially wide for women of color — 65 cents for Black women, 58 cents for Latina women and also 58 cents for Native [American] women," said Vasu Reddy, director of state policy for workplace justice at the National Women's Law Center, a nonprofit that advocates for women's legal rights.As a result, "women's spending power is reduced," she said. "What you can afford is determined directly by your wages." Women's pay raises have fallen In 2025, women joined the U.S. labor market and added jobs at nearly three times the rate of men last year, reversing a trend from the past three years, according to a new report by the Bank of America Institute. The additions were driven by an increase in jobs in private education and health care, where women hold 77% of those jobs, the analysis showed. Yet these job gains have not translated into greater pay, experts say. "This is a phenomenon that we call occupational segregation," Reddy said. "Women disproportionately hold the lowest-paying jobs, and so, you know, are driven to those careers and driven out of male-dominated careers, and then those women-dominated professions are paid less."With fewer open roles, wage increases for men and women have also fallen. The so-called "job-change premium" — that extra pay boost that workers typically get when they switch jobs — has declined, the Bank of America Institute analysis shows. Women's pay raises are less than half of what they were in 2019. watch nowVIDEO1:3501:35Women breaking barriers in Salt Lake CityNews Videos Certified financial planner Gloria Garcia Cisneros, a wealth manager at LourdMurray in Los Angeles, said it's important for women to advocate for themselves in pay negotiations and regularly review their compensation. "Salary negotiations are key drivers, especially when you're looking at switching careers or switching companies; that's when you have the most leverage," said Cisneros, who is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council. "Even if you're staying within a company, you should be on Indeed, you should be on LinkedIn. You should be seeing what the market rate is for your work." Women's spending is starting to slow down urbazon | Getty Images Stronger income growth can drive financial stability for women, yet weaker employment and wages weigh on spending, experts say. In analyzing about 70 million consumer and business accounts, Bank of America Institute researchers found that women's spending is starting to slow down. "Women are really driving more of the trading down, especially when it comes to clothes shopping," said Bank of America Institute economist Taylor Bowley. "That's one of the areas where we've seen that they've become even more selective as some of those income constraints become a little bit more pinched."Affordability pressures and the pay squeeze have also led more women than men to seek value when buying groceries, dining out and traveling, she said. Women are more often responsible for child care and elder caregiving, which may also exacerbate pay and spending gaps with men. "That spending disproportionately impacts women, not only when it comes to the budget they're allocating, but also their decisions to participate in the labor force," Bowley said. "When we think about all of these pressures really consolidating, it certainly impacts women's decisions."SIGN UP: Money 101 is an 8-week learning course on financial freedom, delivered weekly to your inbox. Sign up here. It is also available in Spanish. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Zoox will start by deploying a fleet of retrofitted Toyota Highlander SUVs, before rolling out its toaster-shaped robotaxis for testing. View More

In this articleAMZNFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT A Zoox autonomous robotaxi in San Francisco, California, US, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Amazon's self-driving unit Zoox plans to start testing its autonomous vehicles in Dallas and Phoenix, the company announced Monday.To start, Zoox will deploy a "small number" of its retrofitted Toyota Highlander SUVs, with a human safety driver behind the wheel, to map the areas before it introduces its toaster-shaped robotaxis, the company said. Dallas and Phoenix will allow Zoox to expose its technology to diverse and challenging weather conditions, as well as more sprawling streets, compared with the dense metro areas it's been testing in so far. "In Phoenix, we have the opportunity to test our sensor and battery performance against extreme heat and dust on high-speed roads," Zoox wrote in a blog post. "Dallas provides a valuable testing ground to refine our [artificial intelligence] against diverse weather and complex road networks." Zoox said it has served more than 300,000 riders since its launch in Las Vegas and San Francisco. Read more CNBC tech newsAmazon says Anthropic's Claude still OK for AWS customers to use outside defense workAI's got a gender gap: Women are more skepticalSamsung reveals first details of its AI smart glasses to CNBCAnthropic CEO says 'no choice' but to challenge Trump admin's supply chain risk designation in court The expansion gives Zoox's fleet a presence in 10 U.S. markets. Last November, Zoox began giving free rides in parts of San Francisco, a few months after it opened up its robotaxi service to the public for the first time in Las Vegas. It's also testing its autonomous technology in Seattle, Austin, Texas, Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Amazon acquired Zoox for $1.3 billion in 2020. Since then, it has slowly ramped up testing in more parts of the U.S. Zoox has also looked to scale up its robotaxi manufacturing, opening a 220,000-square-foot factory in the San Francisco Bay Area, where it aims to produce 10,000 vehicles a year once it's fully operational.The expansion comes as Amazon tries to compete with Alphabet-owned Waymo, which dominates the autonomous vehicle market in the U.S., as well as Tesla. Chinese robotaxi developers, including Baidu-owned Apollo Go, Pony.ai and WeRide, have also continued to win market share in China. As part of Monday's announcement, Zoox said it also plans to open a new "fusion center" in Scottsdale, Arizona, referring to its staff that provides teleguidance, mission control and rider support for its fleet. The company also operates command centers in Las Vegas and the San Francisco Bay Area. watch nowVIDEO8:3008:302025: The year that the robotaxi went mainstream with Waymo leading the packTech Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

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Warburg Pincus-backed mortgage lender Truhome Finance ?has filed for ?a 30 billion rupees ($325 million) initial public ?offering, its draft prospectus showed on Monday. View More

Warburg Pincus-backed mortgage lender Truhome Finance ​has filed for ​a 30 billion rupees ($325 million) initial public ​offering, its draft prospectus showed on Monday. Truhome, formerly known as Shriram Housing Finance, was acquired by the U.S. ‌private equity ⁠firm ⁠from non-bank lender Shriram Finance in a 46.3 billion rupees deal in 2024. * Truhome Finance's IPO comprises an ​issue of new shares worth 15 billion rupees, and an offer for sale of shares ​worth 15 billion rupees by ⁠Warburg. * This ‌is the first Indian IPO ​by ​a mortgage lender since Bajaj Housing ⁠Finance's 65.6 billion rupees IPO in September 2024. * ​Warburg currently owns 98.16% of Truhome. Live Events * ​Should the offer size remain unchanged, Truhome's IPO would be India's third-largest issue in 2026. * The company plans to use the IPO proceeds to meet future capital requirements, ‌according to the draft prospectus. * Truhome's assets under management (AUM) stood at $2.29 billion ​as of ​December 2025. * ⁠The company's AUM for the fiscal year ended March 2025 grew 29% to $1.92 billion and more than ​doubled from fiscal 2023's nearly $872 million. * JM Financial , IIFL Capital, Jefferies and Kotak Mahindra Capital are the bankers to the issue. ($1 = 92.2930 Indian rupees) .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)

The Karnataka GCC Policy reinforces this intent, targeting global firms across technology, financial services, and engineering and manufacturing, a move that could enhance long-term office demand in smaller cities, including Mysuru. View More