Fast track?

Reader question:

Please explain “fast track” in this: Women have sought business degrees to get on the fast track at big corporations.

My comments:

Women, who have not have their fair share of opportunities in the corporate world, are encouraged to seek business degrees before applying for jobs at big corporations. And they have done so, in the belief that business degrees help them get promotions faster than otherwise.

Do business degrees really help women?

It appears to me that there are just as many women with viable degrees in the corporate world as there are men. Still, women don’t get as many opportunities as do men. Likewise, women don’t get promotions as fast and as quickly as do men.

Lacking business degrees, in other words, may not be the real reason why women don’t get a fair shake. The real reason may be the same old thing – bias and prejudice.

Such as?

Such as women’s role is at home.

The same old, same old, in other words.

This said, a business degree helps. In this day and age, when most everyone has a business degree, women having one also seems an absolute necessity. It seems to be the lowest bar to clear.

Oh, fast track.

The fast track immediately reminds me of the railway track, especially the high-speed railway track here in China, known as Gao Tie.

As name suggests, the high-speed train on the literary fast track allows trains to run fast and, in consequence, quite dramatically speeds transportation up.

Etymologically, though, “fast track” originally refers to the horseracing track, as LanGeek (Dictionary.LanGeek.co) explains:

The idiom “fast track” has its origins in the world of horse racing. A “fast track” referred to a racetrack in optimal condition, where the surface was smooth and hard, allowing horses to run at their best speed.

“In a figurative sense,” LanGeek further explains: “it is used to describe processes or methods that expedite progress or enable something to be completed more quickly than usual. It signifies a streamlined approach or an accelerated route to achieve a goal, often bypassing certain steps or obstacles.”

All clear?

All right, here are a few media examples of “fast track”, which can be used both as noun and as verb:

1. Paul Atkins, chair of the U.S. markets watchdog, said on Monday the regulator is fast-tracking President Donald Trump’s push to scrap quarterly earnings reports, raising transparency concerns around the potentially major shift for U.S. companies.

Trump’s desired change, opens new tab to the reporting standard would require listed companies to publish results semi-annually instead of the current SEC mandate for the release of financial statements every 90 days

The agency could release a proposal by the end of this year or in early 2026, Atkins said. In 2018, the SEC had solicited public comment on possible changes but ultimately left the current regime in place.
“The president’s call was timely, and so we are, you know, working to fast track it,” Atkins said, speaking to reporters at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters on the sidelines of a joint roundtable with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on policy harmonization.

“I’m hoping this sometime end of the year, early next year, to be able to have a proposal out and then be able to collect comment from people,” he added.

Trump has argued that the move, first proposed by him in 2018, would cut costs and discourage shortsightedness among publicly traded companies. The U.S. SEC at the time had said it was making his proposal a priority.

This time, the agency appears fully on board, giving the proposal a better chance of succeeding as the White House takes greater control of the commission’s agenda.

Atkins did not lay out a timeline for the change.

Some investors have cautioned that delaying financial disclosures could reduce transparency and increase market volatility, making U.S. stocks less attractive, though several have recently supported the idea.

Transparency advocates also warn that it could give companies more opportunity to hide or postpone bad news.

- US SEC chair fast-tracks Trump push to end quarterly earnings reports, Reuters.com, September 30, 2025.

2. A pair of lawsuits against banks from Jeffrey Epstein victims is going on the fast track.

At a Monday hearing, US District Judge Jed Rakoff ordered lawyers to comply with quick-turnaround deadlines for the cases, which were filed against Bank of America and BNY.

The two lawsuits, filed in October, alleged the banks ignored red flags related to Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.

Rakoff set November deadlines for motions to dismiss the cases, with an oral argument for December 15.

The judge ordered that all discovery, including depositions, must be completed by February 27.

If the cases go to trial, they'll be back-to-back in May and June of 2026, Rakoff said.

The lawsuit against Bank of America alleges that one of Epstein’s employees instructed one of his victims to open an account with the bank in her own name, and then used it to pay her rent while Epstein sexually abused her over the course of several years. The account was also used for other purposes, which may have facilitated the sex-trafficking of other women, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit against BNY alleged the financial institution processed $378 million in payments to Epstein’s victims while failing to flag those transactions as suspicious.

“The claims in the lawsuit are meritless, and we will vigorously defend against it,” a BNY spokesperson told Business Insider. A Bank of America spokesperson said the bank “will vigorously defend itself.”

Epstein killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Ghislaine Maxwell, his former partner, was convicted of trafficking girls to him for sex in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

- Judge puts Epstein victim lawsuits against Bank of America and BNY on the fast track, BusinessInsider.com, October 28, 2025.

3. How rich is Elon Musk, exactly? With an estimated net worth of $832.1 billion, the tech mogul is currently in a league of his own. According to Forbes, his fortune actually eclipses the combined wealth of Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, and Warren Buffett by about $54 billion, putting him on the fast track to becoming the first-ever trillionaire.

The outlet in a tweet explained that Musk’s fortune exceeds the collective wealth of the world’s 693 “poorest” billionaires. They reportedly have net worths ranging from $1 billion to $1.4 billion.

Elon Musk cofounded seven companies. They include electric car maker Tesla, rocket producer SpaceX and artificial intelligence startup xAI. With the growing value of his companies and other investments, he is worth more than three times the value of Larry Page. Page is the second richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $257 billion.

The tech mogul has shattered multiple financial records over the past year, becoming the first person in history to cross the $500 billion, $600 billion, $700 billion, and, most recently, the $800 billion mark.

Under his new performance-based pay package at Tesla, Musk may become the world’s first trillionaire, provided the EV giant hits its next set of ambitious growth targets.

- Is Elon Musk richer than 693 ‘poorest’ billionaires combined? Report reveals, HindustanTimes.com, March 19, 2026.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）