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Prime number: NYC’s 75-foot Norway spruce

On Saturday, Rockefeller Center got its 2025 Christmas tree. This year’s centerpiece is 75 feet tall, 45 feet in diameter, and weighs approximately 11 tons, according to its host. The tree hails from East Greenbush, NY, a suburb of Albany about 150 miles north of Manhattan.

Here are some fun facts about Rockefeller Center’s tree procurement process:

The tree is donated every year by a family, but they don’t receive monetary compensation. They don’t even get a tax write-off, since the tree doesn’t go to a nonprofit but to Tishman Speyer, the global real estate company that owns Rockefeller Center.
Rockefeller Center employs a head gardener who doubles as a tree scout: Erik Pauze. He visits potential trees and makes subsequent caretaking trips to a selected tree to keep it looking good before it’s cut down.
Because of the need for a tall, symmetrical tree, a Norway spruce is almost always chosen. Those trees don’t grow very high in forests, hence the need for a family to donate one that was likely grown for ornamental purposes.

This year’s tree was donated by Judy Russ in memory of her late husband, Dan. Russ told the Associated Press that Dan’s great-grandparents planted the tree decades ago. Anyone can submit a photo of their tree for consideration.—HVL

Prime number: 107% pasta tariff

We hope you aren’t planning to carbo-load for a big race, because Italian pasta may soon get a lot more expensive…or, in some cases, disappear from US store shelves. After a routine antidumping investigation—in which the US can impose tariffs to prevent foreign companies from flooding the market with cheaper goods—the administration said it would slap an unusually hefty 92% duty on pasta made in Italy by 13 companies as of January. Combined with President Trump’s 15% tariff on EU goods, that amounts to a 107% import tax on the impacted pasta (Mamma mia! That’s a spicy tariff!).

The Commerce Department has regularly looked into Italian pasta imports since the 1990s, but the duties assessed have not been this high. The companies—and the Italian government—are pushing back. But if they don’t succeed in getting the tax reduced, it would impact ~50% of the $780 million worth of pasta Italy exports to the US, an industry group told the Washington Post. That’s a fraction of the domestically-dominated $6.2 billion US pasta market, but still a significant blow to Italy and to American foodies who want their pasta to originate in its homeland.—AR

Visa, MasterCard reach settlement agreement in swipe fee lawsuit

A legal dispute older than the iPhone might finally be wrapping up: Visa and Mastercard reached a settlement agreement with a group of businesses that accused them of charging unfairly high swipe fees 20 years ago, the card networks announced yesterday.

Currently, merchants typically pay credit card companies between 2% and 2.5% per customer transaction. An “honor all cards” rule among Visa and Mastercard networks also requires businesses to accept all or none of their plastic. But under the new proposed deal:

Visa and Mastercard would lower their swipe fees by an average of 0.1% for five years, saving businesses an estimated $30+ billion.
Businesses would get more surcharge flexibility and could broadly choose to accept certain cards by category—commercial, standard, and premium.

What this means for you: Potentially lower credit card surcharges that some merchants, especially small businesses, started tacking onto your receipt in recent years. Unfortunately for rewards chasers, your local café could also raise surcharges on or stop accepting premium cards (e.g., Chase Sapphire Reserve), which usually charge higher swipe fees to help subsidize their fancy perks. But premium cardholders dominate consumer spending, so it would be risky for businesses to refuse that category altogether.

Looking ahead…the deal needs approval from a judge who rejected a previous settlement attempt last year, calling its proposed 0.07% fee reduction “paltry.”—ML

Flying private no longer a shutdown disruption avoidance hack

Taylor Swift is now effectively banned from several major airports. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restricted private jets at a dozen domestic air hubs starting yesterday in order to relieve the strain on understaffed air traffic control towers during the government shutdown.

Planes where the pilot addresses the passengers by name are no longer flying in or out of New York’s JFK, Newark, LAX, Chicago’s O’Hare, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, and several other airports.

Before this change, the rich person’s version of calling an Uber instead of taking the bus became more popular after the shutdown began on Oct. 1, as commercial flights got disrupted because many unpaid air traffic controllers called out sick. Private jet provider Flexjet reported that the amount of time its planes were hired to fly increased by 42% in the first week of November from the same time in 2024, compared to a 20% increase overall this year.

Bad news for those of us in economy

Last week, the FAA required 40 airports to reduce flights by 4% to address the issue with understaffed control towers. Cancellations and delays followed:

Over 2,300 flights were canceled yesterday, amounting to ~5.5% of commercial air traffic.
The FAA’s order requires flight reductions to reach 10% by Friday, and it’s unclear whether it will make a difference if the shutdown ends before then.

President Trump told air traffic controllers yesterday to go back to work, saying those who refuse will get “docked.” He also proposed a $10,000 bonus for air traffic controllers who have continued to work without pay.

But at least it looks like the shutdown is nearing its end: A deal to end the stalemate passed in the Senate yesterday, after eight Democratic senators broke with their caucus on Sunday, agreeing to fund the government through January. House Speaker Mike Johnson called representatives back to DC yesterday to vote on the funding bill, and it’s expected to pass the House tomorrow. Then it will go to President Trump—who said he approves of the deal—for a signature. But it might take a few days for the government to go back to business as usual.—SK