income

In a Congress addicted to bad ideas and bloated spending — something we saw again last week — it’s rare to find a tax policy with broad, bipartisan support that also happens to be good policy. Health savings accounts, known as HSAs, are one of those rare gems. They promote individual responsibility, reduce healthcare costs and enjoy overwhelming support from voters across the political spectrum.

The good news is that for all its flaws, the “Big Beautiful Bill” that was just signed by the president includes several expansions to the program.

In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need tax-protected healthcare savings accounts. The tax code wouldn’t punish saving in the first place. Income would only be taxed once and not a second time through taxes on returns generated by savings. Families could set aside money for future expenses without being hit with additional penalties.

But that’s not the tax system we have. The double taxation of saving discourages people from preparing for medical and other costs.

Ideally, individuals would also be able to make their own decisions about health. But for the past century, Congress has used the tax code to pressure workers into accepting employer-controlled health insurance by penalizing those of us who choose otherwise. As Michael F. Cannon of the Cato Institute has demonstrated, this system effectively strips workers of control over roughly $1 trillion of their income. Imagine the possibilities if we could each demand more value and accountability for our share.

HSAs offer a partial solution to both of these problems. They can shelter a small portion of income and allow people to make their own decisions about some healthcare purchases without the government penalizing them. Since their creation in 2003, HSAs have become a lifeline for nearly 40 million account holders.

The accounts are triple tax-advantaged: Contributions go in tax-free, grow tax-free and can be withdrawn tax-free for qualified medical expenses. They reward frugality, encourage price sensitivity (in a way most health insurance plans do not) and allow families to build health-related savings year after year.

Still, HSAs have benefited only a small segment of workers. To truly bring about individual healthcare freedom, it is essential that Congress expand them to everyone and end the preferential tax treatment for employer-based coverage. And to give credit where it’s due, Congress did indeed deliver on at least part of this agenda.

The House version of the budget included long-overdue HSA reforms, most notably a fix to a particularly maddening and regressive feature of current law: If you’re a working senior who needs to claim Social Security at 65 to make ends meet, you’re automatically enrolled in Medicare Part A — and disqualified from contributing to an HSA. A wealthier colleague who delays retirement can continue to enjoy tax-free contributions. Same job. Same employer. Different treatments based purely on wealth.

In addition to abolishing this injustice by allowing working seniors enrolled in Part A to remain eligible for HSA contributions, the House bill expanded the menu of healthcare options that can be paid for with HSA funds. It made gym memberships, personal training, preventive care and wellness among the new options — a smart, targeted reform.

Unfortunately, the Senate stripped many of the House’s reforms, but enough were retained in the final version of the bill for it to expand access to HSAs and make a significant difference.

Starting Jan. 1, 2026, Americans enrolled in Bronze or Catastrophic Affordable Care Act plans may contribute to HSAs — around 7.3 million people who previously lacked access in 2025. The bill also allows HSA funds to pay for direct primary care memberships — modernizing how Americans can save for and manage healthcare expenses — and makes permanent the ability of high-deductible health plans to waive the deductible for telehealth visits.

By some measures, these might be the most popular tax provisions in the entire package. As Cannon has pointed out, large majorities of Democrats (73%), Republicans (74%) and independents (65%) have shown past support for HSAs. A Luntz poll found 83% support for working seniors on Medicare to be allowed to contribute to HSAs.

In other words, this wasn’t just smart policy, it was a political layup.

There is still a lot of work to be done, such as delinking HSA eligibility from high-deductible plans entirely, expanding contribution limits and eliminating barriers for all Medicare recipients. These moves would further reduce tax-code distortions and reinforce a healthcare system rooted in choice and accountability.

Nevertheless, HSA reform is one instance of the “Big Beautiful Bill” producing good and popular policy.

Veronique de Rugy is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate.

WASHINGTON — Americans’ per capita income–after adjustment for inflation–declined in 1991, the first drop in nine years, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

The fall in real personal income was even greater in California, reflecting the impact of the recession in the state.

Nationwide, personal income averaged $19,082 last year, a scant 2.1% improvement over the prior year. That compares to a 4.1% rise in consumer prices, meaning real per capita income fell last year.

In California, personal income averaged $20,952 in 1991, a 1.3% increase over 1990. Nevada lagged even more with personal income of $19,175, only 0.7% higher than the prior year.

It was the first time since 1982 that growth in per capita income failed to keep pace with inflation, and it was the slowest growth since per capita incomes rose just 1% in 1958, a recession year.

The Commerce Department calculates personal income using wages and salaries, rents, dividends and government payments such as Social Security. This total measure of income–$4.81 trillion nationally in 1991–divided by a population of 252.2 million yields the per capita income for America.

California last year was among a group of 14 slow-growing states, according to the Commerce Department. This represents a major change from the 1980s, when these states were enjoying rapid growth, significantly above the national expansion of per capita incomes. They led the boom, with the central part of the nation lagging behind.

Now the situation is reversed, with the Midwest enjoying growth while both coasts suffer from sluggish economic performance.

The eastern states, notably New England and New York, suffered “declines in earnings in construction, durables, manufacturing and retail trade,” the Commerce Department said. Incomes grew in the West, but population and inflation grew even faster.

The fast-growing states, in which per capita income outstripped the national average, had strong gains in construction, manufacturing and service industries, the Commerce Department said. This group included Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Hawaii and Utah.

Nationally, the growth rate in per capita income has been slowing since the end of the Reagan Administration. The increase in 1988 was 7.1%, and then slipped to 6.9% in 1989, and 5.4% in 1990 before reaching 1.3% last year.

The Commerce Department indicated that the recession, now in its second year, has had widespread and pervasive impact throughout the country. The growth of income slowed in all 50 states compared to the previous year’s performance.

“The defense cutbacks are having a big impact,” said Rudolph E. DePass, a Commerce Department analyst. “The high-income states (in the 1980s) . . . were generally all pretty heavily involved in the defense industry.”

Only seven states enjoyed per capita incomes in 1991 matching or exceeding the national inflation rate. They were: Wyoming, 5.1%; Montana, 4.8%; North Dakota, 4.8%; Hawaii, 4.6%; Louisiana, 4.2%; New Mexico, 4.1%, and Arkansas, 4.1%. Mississippi at 4% virtually matched the national average.

Economists predicted that income growth would improve modestly this year as the economy recovers.

“1992 will be slightly better. You could see a 3% to 4% increase,” said economist Lawrence Chimerine of DRI-McGraw Hill, a Lexington, Mass., forecasting firm. “But we still will be lucky to match or exceed inflation, and we won’t make up for the weakness of the last several years.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Meghan Markle is pressing ahead with build her business empire with her lifestyle brand As Ever – but one royal expert has questioned Prince Harry new career path

Meghan Markle continues to build her business empire with her As Ever lifestyle brand and a vast investment portfolio. But while the Duchess of Sussex pursues her entrepreneurial aspirations, it seems to be a different story for Prince Harry.

The Duke of Sussex is said to be concentrating more on his charity and philanthropic works rather than chasing commercial ventures. It is a marked difference from several years ago, when the Sussexes’ careers appeared intertwined with Meghan declaring that she and Harry were like “salt and pepper” as they always “move together”.

And with a change in their working lives, a new Channel 5 show called Meghan and Harry: Where Did The Money Go? shines a light on their finances; revealing Harry’s surprising inheritances, Meghan’s millions and their staggering Montecito mortgage.

The documentary counts the multi-million pound deals the pair have cut to sell their story since leaving The Firm – but it also details their astronomical outgoings.

It also sees one royal journalist pose a question about Harry’s contribution – especially given Meghan’s revelations about how much of a hands-on parent she is to their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Royal commentator Emily Andrews reckons Harry doesn’t contribute much else to his household – and she tells the documentary: “Meghan gets up at half six, half an hour before the children, then the children gets up and she gets them dressed, gets their breakfast, and then she makes their packed lunch and takes them to kindy (nursery), then at 9 o’clock she sits down and is a girl boss… Where is Harry in all of this? He’s not making money, he’s not looking after the kids, what is Harry doing?”

It comes after other experts say the couple will see their income dwindle and costs soar as their multi-million pound deals dry up. After striking their ‘Megxit’ deal in 2020, King Charles removed all financial support from the couple, with Harry moaning to Oprah that his dad “literally cut me off financially”.

Royal expert Norman Baker tells the show: “There’s no doubt in my mind that Meghan and Harry’s income is going to decline in the future. It’s declining now. They’ve done the big hits that they could do. They’ve done the big Spotify event, they’ve done the big book, there is nothing else to come, nothing else to sell apart from themselves.”

Upon moving to America, the pair splashed out on a family home costing $14.65 million (£11m). However, they also took out a mortgage of $9.5m (£7m), with repayments in the region of $50,000-100,000 (£73,000 – £37,000) a month. Until now, it’s been unheard of for a senior royal to require a mortgage.

On top of that, Prince Harry has been forced to fund his own security, and he rarely travels anywhere public without a four-car convoy.

Former royal protection officer Simon Morgan explains the costs of specialist protection, saying: “It’s always very difficult to identify the cost in relation to specialist protection, purely because there’s a lot of other factors that go into it. You are looking at somewhere in the region of about £3 million a year to protect somebody who stays at home.

“As soon as they leave the residence, even if they go down to the shops, that could see that cost double or triple and go from £3m to £6m or £9m or £10m, conservatively. Security is not a fashion accessory, it’s a need. You’ve got to address your needs versus your wants.”

To pay for it, the pair famously signed a £100 million five year deal with Netflix in 2020 and a £15 million deal with Spotify. The Spotify deal has already ended with a top exec at the firm dubbing the pair “grifters”, while the Netflix deal is due to end this year, with no renewal in sight.

Before Megxit, the Sussexes were earning £2.3m a year as working royals, receiving money from the then Prince Charles’s Duchy of Cornwall. But when the pair left The Firm that all stopped, leaving Harry forced to live on the inheritance his mum Diana, Princess of Wales left him in her will.

When she died in 1997 Diana left £6.5m to the boys each, which had grown to around £10m when Harry received it upon turning 30. Talking to Oprah, Harry said “Without that, we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” referring to the family’s move to California. Meghan, meanwhile, was thought to be worth around £5million when she met Harry – money built up from her time as an actress on Suits and from her lifestyle brand.

His tell all book Spare earned Harry a $20m (£15m) advance and sold an incredible 3.2 million copies in its first week. And he’s expected to have received a further £7m from the hardback sales.

PR expert Nick Ede is backing Meghan to become the family’s highest earner. He says: “Meghan is the best way of making money for the two of them. She is the breadwinner.” Nick believes that having to build her own fortune before she met Harry means she’s more savvy with deals than her royal husband.

Nick continues: “Megan from an early age knew it was very important to be secure. If you’re a jobbing actress that means you don’t know literally where the next pay cheque will come from and I think that will have added to her drive.”

Broadcaster and critic Bidisha Mamat agrees with Nick and admits she fears that Harry has a lot to prove. She says: “They are going to run out of ideas before they run out of money. Meghan is going to do fine, Meghan is going to make her money, Harry has the bigger financial, personal and emotional challenge. Harry has to prove he really can have a career.”

Following the collapse of the Spotify deal, Meghan did indeed land another podcast deal. This time, however, her deal was with smaller company Lemonada and expected to be worth just $40,000 (£30,000).

Meghan is also still coining it in from Suits, from which repeats are thought to have recently added another $200,000 (£148,800) to the Sussex bottom line.

Indeed, Meghan might be more savvy with money but Harry has just come into another inheritance – this time from his great-grandmother, Elizabeth, Queen Mother. In 1994 the Queen Mother set up a Trust Fund to benefit her great-grand children and this is expected to have paid out £8m to Harry.

Since they left the royal family, the pair have become more famous than ever and commentator Afua Hagan believes the pair will go on to achieve more and more.

She says: “What is clear about Harry and Meghan is that they are very savvy with their money. America is a good spot for them at the moment because it definitely fits in with their idea of entrepreneurship.

“Harry and Meghan have proven time and time again that they can stand on their own two feet that they can provide for themselves and their family. Definitely we can never count them out.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been contacted for comment.

Meghan & Harry: Where Did The Money Go? is streaming on 5

Most people buy tokens during a presale and just wait, hoping the price will go up later. But what if you didn’t have to wait? What if your tokens could start working for you before the project even launches? Bitcoin Hyper (Hyper) is making this possible.

While the presale is still live, buyers are already staking over 18 million tokens, earning massive passive rewards of more than 2,500% APY at this current stage.

What Is Bitcoin Hyper and How Does It Work?

Bitcoin Hyper is a Layer 2 built on top of Bitcoin. Its mission is simple: fix Bitcoin’s biggest limitations. Bitcoin is known for being secure but slow, expensive. It is also hard to build on. It doesn’t support smart contracts natively, which means it has been left out of the DeFi, NFT, and gaming revolutions.

Bitcoin Hyper changes that. It runs its own high-speed network that handles transactions instantly and cheaply. Smart contracts are made possible through the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), which is plugged directly into the Bitcoin Hyper chain.

The Canonical Bridge allows users to deposit BTC and interact with wrapped BTC inside the Hyper ecosystem, without losing Bitcoin’s core security.

So you get the best of both worlds: Bitcoin’s security and trust, combined with the speed and flexibility of Solana.

How $HYPE Tokens Power the Ecosystem

Right now, the early staking APY is around 2,500%. The reward cannot be claimed until after the Token Generation Event (TGE), but the value accumulates daily, giving early participants a significant edge.

The earlier you stake, the higher your total rewards. Each stage of the presale comes with a slightly higher token price and potentially lower staking APY. That’s why many people are moving fast to lock in this early passive income before the next price hike.

Bitcoin Hyper Roadmap and Why It Matters

Bitcoin Hyper is building something real and powerful. It is a Layer 2 solution created specifically for the Bitcoin blockchain. The platform’s core mission is to make BTC faster, cheaper, and more useful.

Bitcoin Hyper uses a custom-built Canonical Bridge that lets users deposit their BTC into the Layer 2 network. Once deposited, an equivalent amount of BTC is minted on Bitcoin Hyper’s sidechain in a trustless and verifiable way. This BTC is now fully usable on the Layer 2 network with near-instant transaction speeds.

All of this is powered by the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM). Solana is known for its speed, and Bitcoin Hyper integrates the same engine to process transactions at high throughput. Users can send and receive BTC, interact with DeFi platforms, use apps, and stake their assets without waiting for long confirmations or paying high fees.

And it doesn’t stop there. Bitcoin Hyper regularly compresses and commits its data back to Bitcoin’s main chain, using zero-knowledge proofs to ensure full security and consistency. That way, you’re always getting the speed of Layer 2 with the security of Layer 1.

The $HYPER token is the native token of the ecosystem. This token does a lot. It’s the fuel for transaction fees, it powers staking rewards, it’s used for governance decisions, and it’s also how developers and early adopters are rewarded.

Holding $HYPER gives users access to network services, special features, early launches, and staking rewards.

Cutting-Edge Technology With Real Use Cases

Bitcoin Hyper is built with real performance and sustainability in mind. The platform runs a proof-of-stake system, which is far more energy-efficient than traditional mining. It processes transactions using batch settlements and smart contract execution that’s both fast and eco-friendly.

Its architecture combines Bitcoin’s security with Solana’s performance. The Canonical Bridge ensures seamless BTC transfers in and out of Layer 2. And the SPL-compatible token standard opens the door to all kinds of DeFi tools, NFT platforms, and web3 applications.

On top of that, Bitcoin Hyper supports everything from high-speed payments to gaming and mobile interfaces. Developers get access to SDKs and APIs, while users enjoy low fees and a fast, fluid experience.

Unique Staking System With High Rewards

Tokenomics Designed for Growth

Roadmap: From Launch to Long-Term Vision

Bitcoin Hyper’s roadmap is detailed and focused. It’s rolling out in multiple phases:

Phase 1 (Q2 2025) kicked off with the website and branding, community growth on platforms like X and Discord, and the release of technical documentation.

Phase 2 (Q2–Q3 2025) is where we are now. This phase is all about the presale and staking. Participants can buy and stake $HYPER right now. Security audits are ongoing, and the team is forming partnerships.

Phase 3 (Q3 2025) will mark the launch of the mainnet, activation of the Canonical Bridge, and deployment of the Solana Virtual Machine. This is when dApps will start going live.

Phase 4 (Q4 2025) will focus on expanding the ecosystem. Developer tools will be released, more partnerships in DeFi, gaming, and NFTs will be announced, and $HYPER is expected to hit major exchanges.

Phase 5 (Q1 2026) will move into decentralization with the launch of a DAO, incentives for node operators, and full community governance.

How to Join the Presale and Start Earning

If you already have crypto in your wallet, head to the project’s website and click “Buy” or “Connect Wallet.” You can choose to buy $HYPER and stake it in the same transaction. This lets you start earning rewards right away.

For those using a card, just connect a browser wallet like MetaMask or a mobile wallet like Trust Wallet. After this, select the card option on the website and follow the steps.

VISIT THE BITCOIN HYPER COMMUNITY

   Website  |     X  (Twitter)    |   Telegram

This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and the market can be unpredictable. Always perform thorough research before making any cryptocurrency-related decisions.