We’re quite sure most, if not all, Fact Pack readers clicked on at least one Brightline headline Friday, including Newsweek’s California To Vegas High-Speed Rail Costs Skyrocket By Billions explaining a $5.5 billion overrun.

Brightline West, the private company behind the plan, has requested a $6 billion loan from the federal government to help fund the project, according to the Department of Transportation. Our favorite part of the story:

Brightline West declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek. The Department of Transportation was also contacted via email on Thursday outside of regular office hours.

In other words, an employee at the Trump Administration’s DOT found time to reply to an after-hours media inquiry, whereas Brightline staffers mysteriously did not.

The Trump administration in late August cut $4 billion in funding for the overall California high-speed rail project, arguing its spiraling costs could no longer be justified — and also pulled $63.9 million from a proposed line linking Dallas and Houston.

Nevada Gas Prices

Las Vegas gas prices were already up by 25 cents in September over August, and another spike is expected after Chevron’s El Segundo refinery explosion on Friday. Prices in Clark County and across the state as of Monday, Oct. 6:

As of 10/6/25

Nevada numbers over the past year:

As of 10/6/25

Nevada Nonpartisan Voter Growth

Non-major-party voters have reached 45 percent in Clark County, according to Nevada Independent CEO Jon Ralston on Monday. The Nevada Secretary of State’s website reveals that as of August, nonpartisan voters were the largest voting bloc in Nevada, with 775,082 active registered voters out of a total of 2,115,344 — or 36.64 percent.

Other voter registration numbers released by the Nevada Secretary of State’s office in August.:

• Republicans: 600,266 (28.38%)

• Democrats: 597,982 (28.27%)

• Independent American Party: 91,047 (4.30%)

• Libertarian Party: 15,310 (0.72%)

• Other: 35,657 (1.69%)

Credit Card Debt

Americans are carrying a record amount of credit card debt, but where that burden hits hardest varies significantly by geography.

Hawaii leads the nation with $15,052 in household credit card debt, on average, driven by its high cost of living. Coastal and Sun Belt states including Nevada, California, Texas, and Florida also carry heavy debt loads.

The following visualization maps household credit card debt across all 50 U.S. states. The data for the graphic comes from WalletHub.

As of Q2 2025

America’s total credit card debt now stands at about $1.32 trillion, which includes roughly $65 billion added just in the past year.

Top Vacation Spots

The top European tourist destinations in 2024 were dominated by capital cities (12), major world cities (3) such as Barcelona, Istanbul and Munich, cultural cities (7) including Venice, and sun-sea-sand destinations (6) including Mallorca. London and Paris still reign supreme among favored European countries leisure travel:

Graphic source: Visual Capitalist via thequietanalyst.substack.com as of 2024

Cow Problems

Beef is in higher demand — and more expensive — than ever in the U.S., as decreased supply continues to cause domestic and import price pressure.

As of 2024

Once a reliable net exporter of beef, decreased investment in America’s cattle herds has reduced the number of cows. President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs notwithstanding, the U.S. was importing 30 percent more beef in the first half of 2025 than the same period in 2024, according to a report in Financial Times. An October 2024 USDA report noted significant structural change in the meat and poultry industries over time:

Today, market concentration and market power are major concerns in meat and poultry, as a few large companies control the process from live animal harvest, cold storage, transport, distribution, to grocery shelf space.

America’s beef production is dominated by four companies, which together produced 81 percent of the nation’s beef (as of 2021), according to a USDA report last year. The USDA flow chart below illustrates ranch-to-retail-market dynamics:

Source: USDA As of October 2024

The USDA report summarized trends concerning the power of Big Beef, aka the major industry players, as described by small and mid-sized farmers, distributors, and retailers:

…larger entities…control access to market channels, including strict delivery requirements, information asymmetries, and a pervasive fear of retaliation or being locked out of markets [by smaller operators] if they fail to meet the demands of these powerful actors.

Commenters and interviewees discussed worse terms for producers and consumers; for instance, some referenced the decreasing prices paid to farmers and increasing prices charged at retail for consumers. Commenters described other concerns, such as reduced product availability, market access, and resiliency, among others. Other commenters attributed these effects to the loss of fair, open, and honest competitive conditions and called on the Federal Government to increase enforcement of the relevant laws.

Much more in the full USDA report for those interested in why a steak at their favorite Nevada restaurant costs far more than five years ago.

Oil

Oil prices ticked up a bit Monday after OPEC+ (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia, and other producers) announced a forthcoming increase in oil production by 137,000 barrels per day in November — a splash less than anticipated by most market watchers.

Saudi Arabia, one of the eight nations who jointly made the announcement, reportedly pushed for double, triple, or even quadruple the increase, hoping to increase its share of the global oil industry. Russia backed the lower rate.

The U.S. oil industry produced a record 13.64 million barrels a day in July, up by 109,000 a day from the figure for June, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The number cemented America’s position as the world’s top oil producer in 2025.

As of 2024

Top 1%

Every wealth group in the U.S. saw gains in average wealth over the past year: The bottom half’s wealth rose 6.3 percent between July 2024 and the end of Q2 2025, while the top 1 percent saw their fortunes increase by 8.5 percent.

The top 1 percent holds nearly a third of the nation’s household wealth — $52 trillion and change — according to new Federal Reserve data.

The primary driver of America’s wealth over the past 35 years has been the stock market, as explained nicely in this Sherwood News write-up.

The top 1 percent owns roughly half of all corporate equities and mutual fund shares, up from 42 percent in early 1990. In contrast, 12.8 percent of those assets are held by the bottom 90 percent, whose portfolios tend to rely more heavily on real estate, a sector that lagged stocks through much of the last decade.

As of 4/21/25

This graph shows the makeup of assets by wealth percentile group in the U.S.:

Graph Source: Sherwood News

Data Source: Survey of Consumer Finances and Fiscal Account of the U.S.

As of Q2 2025

The top 40 percent of earners drive more than 60 percent of total spending in the U.S., according to Goldman Sachs estimates, boosting annualized consumption growth by 0.3 percentage points in Q3.

As for low-income households, according to the Bank of America Institute, after-tax wages grew just 0.9 percent year-over-year in August, the slowest pace since 2016. For higher earners, wage growth hit 3.6 percent, the fastest since late 2021.

Snapshot of total asset value in trillions of assorted wealth groups in the U.S. since 2021:

Source: St. Louis Fed as of 2025

On the Horizon

This week’s MarketWatch calendar:

Data & Dialogue About the Economy



The Fact Pack is a monthly business e-report co-authored by Mike PeQueen of Hightower Las Vegas and John Restrepo of RCG Economics, which combines important metrics relevant to business decision makers and financial commentary on the current issues facing the economy.

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