Much of the economic news these days feels like we’re headed in the wrong direction. Oil prices are high. Inflation is on the rise. Consumers are gloomy. Pundits are raising the specter of stagflation and calculating the odds of a recession.

Though some indicators are worrisome, the economy as a whole is in better shape than people give it credit for, Fifth Third Bank Chief Economist Jeffrey Korzenik believes. And the discourse around the “K-shaped economy” may be distorted.

Low debt ratios. Though lower-income consumers are showing signs of stress, on the whole “the American consumer has a tremendous amount of resiliency,” Korzenik told CFO Brew. Consumers’ debt relative to their disposable income is “near multi-generational lows,” he pointed out during a session at the AICPA CFO Conference in April. That leaves households better able to “withstand shocks” such as high energy prices, he noted.

Headlines that refer to “historically high levels” of consumer debt misstate an economic reality, he said at the conference. “As our economy grows, every kind of debt is going to move to historical highs over time. We’re just a bigger economy,” he pointed out.

But no one will avoid the spillover from oil prices.—CV

The 150-hour rule might not officially be dead, but it’s certainly on life support.

In April of this year alone, three states passed legislation that permits candidates to earn CPA licensure without any additional coursework beyond a bachelor’s degree. In Kansas, Kentucky, and Maryland, prospective CPAs can now get the credential with a four-year degree and two years of work experience, plus passing the CPA exam.

These three states are among the 38 that have passed legislation or whose boards of accountancy have made rule changes since 2025, when the AICPA and NASBA amended accountancy’s model legislation to allow for new pathways to licensure.

Ten other states have changes in progress, according to the Minnesota Society of CPAs’ tracker. Florida’s 2026 legislative session ended without passing a bill, and Montana passed a law that only removed the 150-hour law, according to the Minnesota Society.

What about the 12 other states?—CV

TL;DR. SpaceX is accelerating its IPO timeline and is now aiming to list its shares on the Nasdaq as early as June 12, Reuters reported Friday. But the timing is complicated: Starship, a new rocket prototype NASA is counting on for its moon mission, has a pivotal test flight Tuesday, and more than 50 employees have left since the xAI merger. So what’s the rush?

What happened. The company is aiming to make its prospectus—an SEC filing laying out its business and finance essentials—public as early as Wednesday in what is set to be the biggest IPO in history at a valuation target of about $1.75 trillion, sources told Reuters. The accelerated IPO was apparently partially driven by an SEC review that was faster than expected.

Some are worried about what the giant IPO could mean for the rest of the market. “SpaceX would create a bubble unto its own” if underwriters released too few shares to the public, Jim Cramer, CNBC financial commentator and host of Mad Money, warned.

Inflection point. The stakes are high both literally and figuratively. SpaceX is the only money-making part of the SpaceXAI equation, and the test flight launch on Tuesday of its redesigned Starship megarocket—central to NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2028—could change how investors respond to the IPO.

Tech Brew explains why SpaceX is moving up its launch date.—LC

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