Today’s Big Story

Have a Hobby

They’re good for you … if you can afford it

A look into the secret lives of successful men reveals one important common thread. And no, it's not infidelity. It's a hobby. A passionate curiosity that can't be quenched without diving in head first and doing it yourself. Walt Disney built model trains, director Peter Jackson paints tiny toy soldiers and Jared Leto likes rock climbing. Seth Rogen turned his pottery hobby into a thriving business.

After all, when the 9-to-5 has you stressed out or your relationship is on the rocks or the credit cards are maxed out, a hobby lets you channel all that into something worthwhile and positive. Science says old school hobbies like fishing, knitting, gardening and bird-watching can benefit the brain, too. Patricia S. Dixon, a clinical psychologist, says as people “hone their skills, they may experience a boost in self-confidence. Additionally, if the hobby presents a challenge, it encourages cognitive growth and problem-solving. And participating in a shared interest can lead to meaningful social interactions, enhancing feelings of belonging and connection.”

A study published in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy found that by focusing on one specific activity rather than general leisure, the study revealed how old school hobbies promotes mindfulness, sparks creativity and even encourages social connection—whether through community groups or online forums. In other words, it’s not just something you do to pass the time. It’s a soothing and mentally restorative act. That is … if you can afford it.

According to The Atlantic, there is no single explanation for the rising cost of shooting and other hobbies. The causes are various and many of them case-specific, including supply-chain issues, increased popularity as a result of the pandemic, rising raw-material costs and maddening surge pricing. But the effect in the aggregate is that many hobbies that were once accessible to the working and middle classes are effectively out of reach for all but the rich. At the turn of the previous century, the sociologist Robert D. Putnam observed that more and more Americans were bowling alone in our atomized, high-tech culture. Today, when an afternoon of bowling can stretch to hundreds of dollars in some places, many Americans can hardly afford to bowl at all.

If we are indeed living in “the anti-social century,” as the magazine’s Derek Thompson has suggested, then the rising cost of hobbies could be part of the story of how many of us became more isolated.

There Go the Markets, Again

Stocks tumble and dollar hits three-year low as Trump renews his attacks on the Fed Chair

Is this part of the president’s grand economic plan? (There’s a plan, right?) Because Donald Trump renewed his attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Monday—and the bashing exacerbated another stock sell-off and dragged the dollar to a three-year low. It’s obviously unnerving already-anxious investors who see the independence of the central bank as critical to the health of the American economy.

The sell-off on Monday was widespread, as nearly every company in the Dow and the S&P 500 closed lower. All three major indexes are coming off of a week in the red and are on pace for their worst month since 2022. Even the famously conservative Wall Street Journal said the “Trump rout is taking on historic dimensions” and that the S&P 500’s performance since Inauguration Day is now “the worst for any president up to this point in data going back to 1928.”

Some analysts said Trump’s comments could be seen as an attempt to pressure the central bank or to blame Powell if the economy slows down. But as the Washington Post points out, the Fed is structured to set interest rates free from political pressure from the White House or Congress. The idea is to insulate monetary policy from short-term political goals, because elected officials often prefer lower interest rates to spur immediate growth, even if it risks higher inflation down the line, which could ultimately harm the broader economy.

Childfree Adults on the Rise

The number of Americans who don’t want kids has doubled since 2002

In 2002, nearly 79% of Americans between the ages of 15 and 44 who didn’t yet have children still planned to become parents one day. Two decades later, that number has fallen dramatically. According to a new study, not only are fewer Americans planning to become parents, but the number who say they never want children—those who are childfree—has more than doubled.

The study—published in the Journal of Marriage and Family—categorized nonparents into several types, including “childfree” people who do not want children, “childless” people who wanted children but can’t have them, and “not yet parents” who plan to have children in the future. The researchers used data from the National Survey of Family Growth, which surveyed 80,000 adults across seven waves between 2002 and 2023. Because most research using these data points focuses on women’s biological fertility, Watling Neal explains that this study is one of the first to consider both men and women as well as desires for both biological and nonbiological children.

The falling U.S. fertility rate is a cause for concern, as societies need to maintain a fertility rate of roughly 2.1 births per woman in order to sustain the population—in other words, to make sure there are enough people to keep the workforce up and running. Fewer babies can mean fewer workers, fewer taxpayers and, as a result, shrinking economies. And the reasons that more Americans say “no” to parenthood are more complex than they often appear, according to CNBC. Becoming a parent is expensive, but money is not the number one reason given for remaining child-free. In many cases, Americans simply have more options—and realize that they can pursue happiness in other ways.

A Hollywood Exitus?

Movies and TV productions are rapidly leaving California to film outside the U.S.

This is wild … and kind of sad. To film the game show The Floor, Fox actually flies the show’s host, Rob Lowe, and 100 American contestants thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean to answer trivia questions at a studio in Ireland. And that’s because it makes more financial sense than filming in California. According to the New York Times, Hollywood is in the middle of an “existential crisis”.

As labor costs have grown after two strikes, producers of reality shows, scrappy indie movies and blockbuster films have increasingly turned away from Los Angeles to filming locations overseas. And those business decisions have considerable consequences for the industry’s thousands of middle-class workers: the camera operators, set decorators and lighting technicians who make movies and television happen. Which is why workers have committed to a show of force ahead of key hearings this week for the California legislation aimed at expanding and amending the state’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program.

Deadline reports that more than 100,000 letters have been sent to Sacramento in support of SB630 and AB1138, which would not only allocate $750 million annually in tax incentives for production in the state but also redefine and broaden eligibility for the program.

The Long Read

A Conversation With Diane Warren

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