Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning looks at incompetence, corruption, and policy failures:
• YOU’RE NOT READY. Seems bad out there. Unfortunately, it can always get worse. From evil hacker AI to world-changing cyberattacks, WIRED envisions the future you haven’t prepared for. (Wired)
• Wall Street’s Love for Alternative Assets Isn’t a Good Deal for Clients: Wall Street calls it a golden age for alternative assets. Richard Ennis, who spent decades helping pensions and endowments devise modern portfolios, calls it a costly delusion draining billions from portfolios — one that will come undone in the coming decades. The pitch: To thrive, money managers need hedge funds, private assets and other alternative vehicles. Yet after dissecting the data, Ennis — who helped pioneer the art of investment consulting — finds there is surprisingly little evidence to support that… (Bloomberg)
• The Insiders: When Markets Become the House Game: The defining features of this presidency are cruelty and chaos — but chaos with a purpose. Share prices plunge following tariff threats, only to rally when he backs down. The White House attempts to bar Harvard from enrolling international students, then gets blocked by the courts. Trump calls for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to be fired, then insists days later he has “no intention” of terminating him. Even if most of his promises go unfulfilled, the long-term damage will be severe. (Prof Galloway)
• The Ten Warning Signs of The Collapse of the Knowledge System: A huge change is coming. Would you believe me if I told you that the biggest news story of our century is happening right now—but is never mentioned in the press? That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But that is often the case when a bold new worldview appears. (Honest Broker)
• U.S. Scientists Warn That Cuts Will Set Off a Brain Drain: As the United States cuts budgets and restricts immigration, China and Europe are offering researchers money and stability. (New York Times) see also We are witnessing the suicide of a superpower: The president’s assault on science dangerously undermines America’s superpower status. (Washington Post)
• Companies Rely on Delaware Courts. Lawyers Reap Huge Fees There. A new study found that courts in the state, where many big companies reside, often cleared big payouts to lawyers. It may further embolden the state’s critics. (New York Times)
• An Explainer: Unpacking the Court Rulings Against Trump’s “Emergency” Tariffs: The USCIT also invalidated all of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act-related Trump Executive Orders, which means undoing the termination of de minimis for China, which initially went into effect on May 2, and the pending end of the de minimis loophole for the rest of the world. (The Economic Populist)
• “The Intern in Charge”: Meet the 22-Year-Old Trump’s Team Picked to Lead Terrorism: Prevention One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating violent extremism. (ProPublica)
• Trump official who shut down Russia propaganda unit has links to Kremlin: Darren Beattie, who alarmed the State Department with his pro-Moscow views, is married to a woman whose uncle has ties to Putin. (Telegraph)
• The big, bad bond market could derail Trump’s big, beautiful bill: Trump wants to blow a $3 trillion hole in the budget. The bond market is saying “no way.” (Vox) see also Dealing with the Reign of Confusion: Investors can act to protect the rule of law in the United States. (Money: Inside and Out)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with Bryon Lake, Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chief Transformation Officer. He designs portfolio solutions and extend Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s suite of investment strategies to the world’s leading institutional investors and wealth management clients.
US goods imports drop 19.8% in April — largest on record
Source: @carlquintanilla.bsky.social
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