Author: BostonNewsletter.com Est. 1704

Israeli soldiers have captured a strategic hilltop crowned by the Crusader castle of Beaufort in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military announced on Sunday, part of the most sweeping Israeli invasion in the country in decades.The seizure of Beaufort, while hailed by Israel’s top leaders, evoked bitter memories in both countries of the deadly fighting there during Israel’s nearly two-decade occupation of southern Lebanon. Israel finally withdrew in 2000 after a bloody insurgency led by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group.Now, more than a quarter century later, Hezbollah is once again fighting a guerrilla war against invading Israeli forces; Israeli leaders openly…

The jobs report is the main event this week. But the real question is bigger than payrolls. Can household spending keep holding up when the finances behind it are deteriorating? That is the tension in the economy right now. Consumers are still spending – and on the surface, that looks fine. Consumer spending is the largest part of the U.S. economy. As long as households keep buying goods and services, businesses earn revenue, workers keep their paychecks, and the expansion continues. But spending alone does not tell us whether the consumer is healthy. What matters is how that spending is…

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