🗞️Defaulted student loans update

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December 23rd, 2025

What happened today 🇺🇸,

• The Trump administration announced that it will resume wage garnishment for federal student loan borrowers in default starting in January

• The Justice Department released a new batch of Epstein investigation documents, including new documents, videos, and references to President Trump such as tips on his Epstein connections, though the DOJ cautions many claims are "untrue and sensationalist" from pre-2020 election submissions

• The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. has deployed additional troops and special-operations aircraft to the Caribbean as part of an intensified pressure campaign against Venezuela's Maduro regime

• Former Senator, Ben Sasse, announced that he has metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer

• The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul over a new state law (Illinois Bivens Act, HB 1312) that bans federal immigration arrests inside or within 1,000 feet of courthouses and requires hospitals, day cares, and public universities to adopt protective protocols against enforcement actions

• The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to deny the Trump administration's emergency request to deploy National Guard troops to the Chicago area, upholding lower court blocks on the action

• Holiday retail spending in the U.S. rose 4.2% year over year for the November 1st–December 21st period, led by strong gains in e-commerce, electronics, and clothing and accessories

• The U.S. announced it will keep tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports at 0% until June of 2027, before imposing new duties

• U.S. gas prices have fallen to their lowest levels in four years, with the national average dipping below $3 per gallon, around $2.85 recently

• U.S. GDP increased to a 4.3% annualized growth rate in Q3 2025, exceeding expectations and marking the fastest pace in two years

• The price of gold hit over $4,500 an ounce and silver hit $70 an ounce, both all-time highs…read more here

• DOW up .16% / S&P up .46%

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Bonus: A look at the average hourly wage by state

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