Welcome to the Wall Street Week newsletter, bringing you stories of capitalism about things you need to know, but even more things you need to think about. I’m David Westin, and this week BlackRock's Rick Rieder explained why markets are so happy despite the tariff disruption, and we looked at what private equity investment could mean for the crisis in child care.  If you’re not yet a subscriber, sign up here for this newsletter.

Rieder: An ‘Extraordinary’ Market that ‘Almost Never Happens’

President Trump came to office promising sweeping economic changes that brought predictions of trouble ahead. Six months in, tariffs are up, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” looks to add to an already-troubling national debt, but the predicted troubles are yet to show up in the markets or the economy.

Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer for global fixed income, concedes that the US debt is an issue, but says, “we’ve got to outrun the debt, get growth.” And he said there’s a “plausible outcome where you get nominal GDP running at” 4.5% to 5%.

That plausible outcome is based in large part on “things that nobody’s ever seen before in terms of innovation, productivity,” Rieder said.

At the same time, Rieder said he’s not all that surprised that the economy has absorbed the tariff shock and appears to be moving on, given the role of services and the amount of cash in the system.

‘Kids Are Not Widgets’

The addition of women to the workplace transformed the US economy in the 20th century, but it means that millions of US children need child care.

A few states are trying to address the challenges, including Vermont, where now-US Representative Becca Balint worked on legislation when she was in the state legislature.

“We have a confluence of forces that has made it very challenging for us here in this very rural state,” she said.

Vermont is not the only place lacking enough affordable child care, but it’s an exception in stepping up to try to address it comprehensively. In much of the rest of the US, parents are left for the most part to private alternatives. As a former middle school teacher, Balint warns that “kids are not widgets.” But as precious as our children may be to us, private equity firms are finding investment opportunities in the needs of parents.

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