From Presidents with evil, red, glowing eyes to Russia doing business with Iran and paying for it in gold… this is one roundup you don’t want to miss.

Continued presidential election drama to the struggles “middle namers” face and the unreliability of government data, there’s a lot to parse from this past week.

In the name of fighting money laundering and sanctions evasion, let’s make it harder for hard working small business owners to comply with legal requirements while continuing to run their business. Yeah! That makes so much sense, said no LLC owner, ever!

China and South Korea are completely and utterly screwed. As I wrote last month, China’s one-child policy worked. It did exactly what it was designed to do in limiting population growth. The problem is that it worked a little too well.

I’m about to deliver some news that will not shock you. No need to sit down. Feel free to take a big sip of whatever beverage you’re enjoying right now. According to recent data from a respected stock market research platform, the folks in Washington aren’t keeping their hands out of the cookie jar. What IS a little bit shocking is that there seems to be little to no outcry about all this.

My pants and Lululemon were on my mind recently when I read the company founder Chip Wilson’s response to its “diversity and inclusion thing,” in his words. 

New Year. Same problems. A big one on many minds as we steamroll our way into the November Presidential Elections?

Funds registered as having outright ESG objectives hold more tech assets than any other sector, and mega-cap tech names like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia tend to dominate their holdings. These same tech names have been some of the biggest winners in artificial intelligence (AI). This was not genius by ESG investors… or proof that it somehow “works.” It was a case of being in the right place at the right time… and it seems that rather than be happy with their good fortune, they’re actively looking to strangle the goose that laid the golden egg.

The current national debt is just over $33 trillion. Of that, $6.8 trillion is “intragovernmental” debt. Why does the government owe itself money? Because it’s been borrowing hand over fist from the Social Security trust fund. But here’s a dirty little secret about that…

Investor demand for government bonds hasn’t been strong enough to soak up an onslaught of new supply. Yields spiked at the auction earlier this month, meaning the government had to offer a higher rate to get investors to nibble. Something’s not right here. So how can investors protect themselves?