Some argue that America has become too dependent on consulting.

From 2017 to 2021, the consulting firm McKinsey took in $77M in consulting contracts with just the US Food and Drug Administration alone.

This podcast episode discusses the consultancy industry’s rise and how these firms make billions of dollars, even amid significant scandals.

A deep-dive article from Harvard Business Review argues that many clients of consulting firms need to ask more from these firms and to understand their capabilities, which range from accounting to growth strategy and more.

The “Big Three” and the “Big Four” consulting firms especially are known for high pay. Top firms often offer entry-level salaries well over $100K per year.

Consulting firms also often keep their clients private to maximize the sectors they’re able to secure contracts for and avoid any perceived conflicts of interest.

The author argues that consulting firms are so valuable to the companies that hire them because the clients don’t have to take the blame for any changes the consulting firm decides to make within the organization.

Consulting is a popular career path for today’s top college students. A student newspaper article dives into a Yale University student’s brief love affair with the consulting industry, starting with a depiction of the interview process.

Some also refer to this group as “MBB.” As a nearly century-old company that’s well known for its prestige, McKinsey has some famous alumni—including Chelsea Clinton and Sheryl Sandberg. The other two consulting firms in the Big Three have employed some famous faces over the years, too.

The “Big Three” consulting firms—McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company—and the “Big Four”—Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, and EY—actually have a lot in common these days. But it wasn’t always that way.

Arthur D. Little Inc. was the first management consulting firm. Starting as a chemical analysis lab, the firm evolved to play pivotal roles in projects like developing the NASDAQ system and supporting Apollo 11.

The "Big Four" refers to Deloitte, PwC (also known as PricewaterhouseCoopers), KPMG, and EY. They more recently built out their business consulting practices in addition to accounting services.

Marina Keegan was a recent Yale graduate set to start her career writing for The New Yorker when she died in a car accident. But before her death, she wrote an essay criticizing the consulting industry's impact on not only her classmates' lives but also their ability to impact the world at large.

This video explains the basics of consulting, as well as what it's actually like to be a consultant—from the lifestyle and hours to compensation.

In the consulting firm McKinsey's 2022 "American Opportunity Survey," 36% of employed respondents (about 58 million Americans) classified themselves as "independent workers." But they're not all thrilled about their current professional status.

Data Horizons Research put the value of this global market at $18.9B in 2021, but anticipates massive growth by 2032, with North America comprising the majority of the market. Chronic health conditions, their analysis suggests, will be a contributing factor to this growth as medically complex individuals seek more personalized care.

Every year, top consulting firms head to career fairs at Ivy League universities like Yale across the country. They end up recruiting a significant population of the student body by graduation.

Specifically, according to an article from careers site The Muse, a management consultant can be loosely defined as someone who is “a problem solver for some of the more complex business and org structures out there.”

A list of client work examples from McKinsey includes a case study on how the firm helped Starbucks design more inclusive stores, and many more.

Americans owe more than $1T to credit card companies. And with rising interest rates that prevent cardholders from paying down debt (not to mention the rising cost of living), that number is likely to keep growing. A podcast episode explains how the US got here, and what policymakers and individuals can do about it.

That’s according to a study commissioned by The Advertising Coalition, conducted by S&P Global Market Intelligence, which also found that the advertising industry powered more than 20% of total US economic output at the time.

While debt settlement companies aren't technically allowed to charge fees until after lowering a consumer's debt, a loophole in the Telemarketing Sales Rule (a mix of federal and state laws) gives predatory firms the opportunity to exploit consumers.

Three companies make up over 90% of the US market share around voting systems, and like any company, they're priorities aren't always aligned with the public's. Dive into the industry of voting machines in this investigation piece from the Guardian.

The world's most valuable defense companies (for example, Lockheed Martin) make up much of the global defense industry. As of 2025, RTX led the pack with a roughly $183B market cap.

Research published in December 2025 in the journal Health Affairs indicates that these retainer-fee care models are expanding across the country. Concierge medicine charges monthly or annual fees, as does direct primary care (which doesn't take insurance).

In 2025, about half of Americans were able to file taxes directly with the IRS for free. It was the second year of the agency's new program, which cuts out intermediaries. Though tax preparation has been free for many Americans, critics say tax companies upsell customers.

The United States has a debt problem. In 1989, the national debt was almost $3T. As of 2023, that number had ballooned to more than $30T. This video explains why the national debt grew so quickly, and what America's options are going forward. It also explores why the problem is trapped in political gridlock. Watch it to find out more.

One of the unexpected medical costs retirees are facing is thousands of dollars a year for concierge care membership fees. A typical annual fee can average $3,500. Concierge care is an option that's particularly popular among older adults with more complex health needs and in some areas of the country doctors are increasingly turning away Medicare patients and only accepting new patients willing to pay annual fees for concierge medicine.

This raised concerns for investors about the index's risk exposure. As many large tech companies continued posting record highs, analysts argued that the top-heavy index was becoming less representative of the economy as a whole.

That is, in nominal dollars, more than any group of companies has ever spent to do anything. Notably, these companies are not remotely close to earning $400B on artificial intelligence.

Americans spend more than 7.9 billion hours per year doing their taxes: It's notoriously time-consuming, requiring forms, deductions, and often third-party help. But here's the twist: The IRS already has much of the data it asks you to report. Americans still have to do the work themselves partly due to big tax prep companies that lobby to keep the status quo.

Dalio also points to stalling income growth, weak healthcare systems, and poor educational outcomes when arguing that American capitalism needs serious reform. However, critics point out that Dalio has amassed a large fortune by running the world's largest hedge fund and question whether Dalio really wants economic reform.

Lizabeth Cohen, a history professor at Harvard and author of the book “A Consumer's Republic: The Politics Of Mass Consumption In Postwar America,” has argued that the US government has presented consumerism as a way out of economic crisis or decline since around World War II.

Advertising is frequently reviled for how it clutters up public spaces and our everyday experiences. Nonetheless, it allows for vast amounts of goods and services to be rendered free to millions of users—and gives users the option to pay with money or time and attention.

That's more than any other country in the world. Most of the flowers Americans purchase are imported, creating an economy that's both booming and reliant on dwindling natural resources.

That's the estimate of the Association of American Medical Colleges, which contends that whenever physicians switch to concierge medical practices it exacerbates this projected shortage since each of those clinicians will see fewer patients and those patients must be able to afford that pricey care.

Dalio frequently argues that debt cycles are inevitable and a tradition of every empire. However, he said in 2025 that the US was headed for a debt crisis. Dalio says that while Republicans and Democrats agree on the math of the debt crisis, all politicians make promises to neither increase taxes nor cut government benefits—which Dalio says can't close the deficit.

Analysts warn the new H-1B fee could trigger labor shortages in tech, medicine, and universities; push firms to offshore more work; and drive skilled Indian workers and students toward other countries—weakening America's innovation edge.