The Economic Perspective 5/22/2026
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
The Latest Trending Economic, Environmental and Infrastructure News Curated for You by The Balmoral Group
The Balmoral Group provides practical, professional and precise Economics, Data Analytics, and Engineering Consulting services and is part of a globally integrated team.
Happy Friday!
Welcome back to this week's Economic Perspective! All of us here at TBG wish you a happy Memorial Day weekend full of reflection, celebration and connection. We also want to thank those who have served and are in service for their dedication and sacrifice. In honor of the holiday, Florida State Parks announced that for the weekend of May 23-25th, they will be offering free admission. All national parks will be following suit on May 25th, providing everyone the chance to enjoy the extraordinary outdoors wherever you may be.
While the global conflict has had a hand in driving the price of gasoline up by nearly 38%, a still whopping 45 million Americans are expected to hit the road this weekend for Memorial Day travels, which if accurate, would break the previous record of 44.8 million set in 2025. An estimated 87% of are taking the car for transportation, and according to AAA, Orlando, FL and Seattle, WA are the top two domestic destinations for these getaways! We hope everyone has a safe and wonderful weekend.
In other news, inflation in the United States has hit a 3-year high of 3.8% in April, and the US has asked refiners to shorten spring maintenance to maximize production throughout it. ExxonMobil has increased overall production by about 200,000 b/d to help but is also dealing with an operational issue at one of their plants that is furthering constraints. We will continue to update you here as we gather new insights and information on the topic!
We have a variety of articles for you this week, spanning the country and the globe. On the west coast, Washington State has released info on damaged forests and a reduction in spending going toward natural resources. We also have information on construction spending and an increase in construction activity in our Data visualization and articles, respectively. Reach out to us if you have questions and read more on all of this below!
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JP Morgan to Offload Loans to Private Equity
JPMorgan, the US' largest bank, is in talks to offload more than $4Billion in loans to private equity (PE) funds. This comes as Japan's largest lender Mitsubishi, reportedly is on the same path to offload PE loans. The loans are bundled as NAV or Net Asset Value funds, similar to MBS - Mortgage Backed Securities that readers may recall from a previous exciting financial time. The lenders are concerned about economic slowdown, PE firms not able to exit their investments, that values may be inflated, and regulators have warned of "leverage over leverage" and a private credit executive was quoted in the FT "This was the problem in 2008, we got to the end of the possible in the banking system and then we were lifting cushions in the conference rooms in the hope that someone’s coins fell out." Read more here.
Report Shows Nearly 400,000 Acres of Damaged WA Forests
Last week the State of Washington released their 2025 Forest Health Highlights Report and changes to personnel and administrative changes in the US Forest Service have unfortunately limited the scope of the survey. This resulted in only 75% of the 22 million forested acres being covered, the first time since 2021 that the full survey was not completed. Survey findings included 391,000 acres of damaged trees, a decrease of 150,000 from 2024, this is likely undercounted due to the incomplete survey. An outbreak of western spruce budworm is still active and significant increases in Douglas-fir tussock moths have been noted, the latter of which is often a sign of further outbreaks from the former. Access to the report can be found here and further summaries can be read here.
WA Department of Natural Resources Reduces Services
After budget cuts of more than 20% hit Washington’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) some closures and service reductions will hit trails and sites. Sites deemed too expensive to maintain will likely take the biggest hit as trails becomes less maintained, or closed altogether. This $8 million reduction in funding is hitting after the program to maintain these sites is already underfunded and undermanned. With just 60 staff members the DNR has already struggled to maintain many areas and delays for clearance after storms and other natural disasters will likely increase. Read more here and see a list of closures and reductions here.
FDOT Pilot Program for VTOLs
Progress this week in VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) vessels or "air taxis". FDOT is one of eight transportation organizations in the U.S. that were selected this year to lead a pilot for the FAA's Advanced Air Mobility and VTOL Integration Program. BETA held a demo flight May 18 at Orlando Airport in an eVTOL (electric VTOL) that can travel up to 215 nautical miles and hold four passengers. FDOT's effort will focus on uses such as cargo delivery, medical responses and passenger transportation. Read more here and here.
Construction Bump in April
Construction starts in April surprised everyone with a 9% jump according to Dodge Construction. While data centers and energy drove the increase, with 11 data centers comprising 70% of commercial increase nationally, 12 of 15 categories were positive. Residential continued to decline, down 4% year over year. Read more here.
Data Visualization of the Week
Federal Highway Funding Proposal
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has released the five-year surface transportation bill that would authorize $580 billion for highway, transit, and safety programs through 2031. The bill eliminates $3.7 billion in annual funding for climate-focused programs: Carbon Reduction Program, National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, and the PROTECT Resiliency Program formula funds. It will also pass an annual fee on EVs and Hybrid vehicles to help fund the Highway Trust Fund. Bridge programs would see significant increases to $9 billion from $5.5 billion, and safety programs would see changes to how data is collected for roadway workers to better protect them. The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program will also be reinstated. While several discretionary climate-focused programs appear to be scaled back in their current form, early review of the draft language suggests some projects may still remain competitive through alternative funding pathways and broadened eligibility within other core formula and discretionary programs. Our team is actively tracking developments to this bill and evaluating how the proposed changes may affect project eligibility, funding strategy, and long-term implementation planning. We encourage clients and partners to reach out to discuss how these evolving federal priorities could impact current or future projects and where new opportunities may still exist. Below you can see an overview of changes in annual funding over the next 5 years as laid out in the bill. Read more here.
