Sam Altman's OpenAI Discusses Handing Trump Admin A 5% Stake

The U.S. government's equity portfolio could be expanding again, this time with a potential 5% stake in Sam Altman's OpenAI at an $852 billion valuation, according to a new report. The proposed stake would mark another step toward taking direct financial positions in tech giants. For OpenAI, buy-in from the Trump administration could ease mounting political pressure ahead of an IPO.

The Financial Times reports that Altman has floated giving the U.S. government a 5% stake in OpenAI, modeled after the Alaska Permanent Fund, a state-owned sovereign wealth fund created to invest a portion of Alaska's oil revenue for the long-term benefit of Alaskans.

The FT noted that the proposal would spur other tech giants, including Anthropic, Google, and Meta, to follow suit by handing over stakes to the federal government.

The discussions remain early and "conceptual," and any arrangement could require congressional approval, the report said, adding that the idea stems from mounting pressure in the Trump administration over AI's impact on jobs and the localized blowback against data center buildouts nationwide.

Earlier this week, Elon Musk's xAI Memphis rolled out a 'data center dividend' for the surrounding community, offering free Starlink kits and half-price service to quell any dissent against AI. This move suggests that data center operators nationwide may offer other forms of dividends in the future to appease surrounding communities.

Back to the FT report, Altman has reportedly discussed public ownership with Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Sanders, a crazed socialist, has argued for the public stake in AI companies to exceed 50%. The socialist and far-left lawmakers who make up the Democratic Socialists of America have even signaled a questionable data center moratorium - a move that would only cede compute power to China.

In recent months, Altman's chatbot company proposed a "public wealth fund" that "provides every citizen — including those not invested in financial markets — with a stake in AI-driven economic growth."

"The goal is not only to support people through economic change after decisions have already been made, but to give them a stake and a voice in shaping how that change unfolds," OpenAI said in a blog post.

The talks come after the Trump administration took a 10% stake in Intel, 15% in MP Materials, and ...

For OpenAI, a government stake could ease tensions with the Trump administration ahead of an IPO (delayed until 2027), while offering a political answer to concerns that AI is financially wrecking low-income folks.

Meanwhile, The Information's earlier report that Nvidia has been renting back its own compute capacity from neocloud providers raises one obvious question...

Yeah I’m sorry the only reason that NVIDIA is renting back its own capacity from neoclouds is that the demand doesn’t exist to sell it https://t.co/QXS0wVbkB1 pic.twitter.com/LXvgZCRhFX

— Ed Zitron (@edzitron) July 2, 2026

... is there really enough end-user compute demand to absorb the AI buildout? 

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 07:30

Japan Takes Next Step In $2.3 Trillion Plan With Domestic AI Model And 10M Robots

The Japanese government has unveiled plans to create a domestically developed artificial intelligence model and put roughly 10 million AI-equipped robots into operation across 18 sectors by 2040 - building on a 14-year growth strategy announced last month, which targets ¥370 trillion ($2.3 trillion) in combined public and private investment across 17 priority areas, including physical AI, semiconductors, quantum technology, and nuclear fusion.

Kawasaki Kaleido

The initiative will receive up to 1 trillion yen (approximately $6.1 billion) in government funding over the next five years. Crucially, the funding is tied to annual milestone reviews - making the trillion-yen figure a ceiling rather than a guarantee, with Tokyo retaining the ability to pull back if early targets are missed.

The AI model will be developed by Noetra, a consortium formally commissioned by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and its innovation agency NEDO. Noetra is majority-owned by SoftBank, NEC, Sony Group, and Honda, with Fujitsu and Rakuten reportedly weighing whether to join. The consortium is also working alongside AIST, Japan's national research laboratory. Noetra's investor base is expected to grow to 44 participating companies spanning automotive, electronics, manufacturing, finance, and logistics. The technical goal is a multimodal foundation model capable of processing language, images, video, and sensor data simultaneously - giving robots the ability to interpret a physical environment and act within it, rather than simply executing pre-programmed instructions.

The effort reflects a broader global push by countries to build "sovereign AI" capabilities and reduce reliance on dominant U.S. and Chinese technologies.

A key focus of the strategy is physical AI - the application of artificial intelligence in real-world environments rather than just on screens. This includes self-driving vehicles, factory automation, and humanoid robots designed for practical tasks.

On Tuesday, the government released an updated national AI robotics strategy. Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa said the plan aims to "vigorously promote social implementation across a total of 18 fields," including newly added sectors such as restaurants, food manufacturing, and medicine.

"We will build and grow data infrastructure for physical AI and robots that capitalize on Japan's strengths," Akazawa told reporters.

Those strengths are considerable. Japan is home to some of the world's leading industrial robotics manufacturers - including FANUC, Yaskawa Electric, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries - and produces roughly half of all industrial robots globally by volume, according to the International Federation of Robotics. The country already deploys more robots per manufacturing worker than any other nation, making it the natural proving ground for physical AI at industrial scale.

The push comes as Japan grapples with a rapidly aging and shrinking population. More than 29% of the Japanese population is now aged 65 or older - the highest proportion of any country in the world - and the working-age population has been in decline since 1995. Policymakers see advanced robotics as a critical tool to fill widening labor gaps across industries rather than a supplement to an adequate workforce.

Can they make it happen?

Japan has announced a $2.3 trillion startup tech strategy just after South Korea’s $1.3 trillion pledge

The numbers are just as ridiculous as what they promised Trump for US investment in 2025

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 1, 2026

FANUC factory floor Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 07:00

My morning train WFH reads:

• Will AI Make Companies Outsource More, or Less?: Noah Smith on how AI might redraw the boundaries of the firm — Coase for the model era. A genuinely interesting question most coverage skips. (Noahpinion)

• We Crunched the Data: There’s a Grocery Price Emergency in America: A data-driven case that the supermarket squeeze is worse than the headline CPI suggests. More grist for the sentiment-versus-numbers debate. (New York Times)

• Reverse Engineering the Met’s Bobby Bonilla Deal: My own July 1 tradition: the math behind baseball’s most famous deferred-payment contract. The discount rate is everything. (The Big Picture)

• UBS Global Wealth Report 2026: nearly 1 million new millionaires. Global personal wealth rose 10.8% last year, the fastest pace in years, yet median wealth fell in most markets (Quartz)

• Mega takeovers drive record $2.8tn in dealmaking: Companies and investors turn to M&A as they adjust to economic shifts driven by the rise of AI. (Financial Times)

• Remote Work Is Making It Harder for Grads to Find (and Keep) Jobs: New research argues that frustration among employers over remote work may be leading them to cut back on hiring young workers (Wall Street Journal)

• Decision Fatigue: Why You Feel Exhausted Without Having “Done” Anything Physically: The brain is just like any other muscle. It gets tired. On why choosing all day drains you as much as labor. A tidy explainer with practical implications for how you structure a workday. (Facile Things)

• Even the Internet’s Favorite Pool Guy Doesn’t Know How to Fix the Reflecting Pool: Algae blooms, peeling paint, and a host of fixes from hydrogen peroxide to nanobubblers have made it hard to diagnose what’s wrong with the Reflecting Pool—let alone how to clean up the mess. A funny, telling sidebar to a story that refuses to drain. (Wired)

• Trump’s second-term windfall: $1.4B in crypto earnings: The president’s latest financial disclosure underscores how central the cryptocurrency industry has become to his business empire. Disclosures reveal a staggering crypto haul. The through-line of this week’s reads: the presidency as a revenue center. (Politico) see also Trump’s Moneymaking Run: Unrivaled in Presidential History: The Times tallies the scale of presidential self-enrichment against the historical record. Read it with this week’s crypto and mining-deal stories. (New York Times)

• European Soccer Fans Marvel at the Splendor of America’s Suburbs: World Cup visitors discover the cul-de-sac, the strip mall, and the enormous parking lot. A charming outsider’s-eye view of American sprawl. Dutch fans in Missouri see a nation that is risky and expensive, but vast and bountiful: ‘Everything is three times the size’ (Wall Street Journal)

Video of the day: The Genius of Mechanical Time

Be sure to check out our Master’s in Business next week with McKeel Hagerty, CEO/Chairman of Hagerty Specialty Insurance. He transformed a family specialty-insurance agency into an enthusiast-driven platform focused on collectible cars, events, valuation data, and auctions. HGTY is now a public company that insures everything from classic cars to boats, trucks, tractors, and military vehicles for over 2.8M collectors.

 

Record labels no longer dominate which artists get radio airplay

Source: Bloomberg

 

Sign up for our reads-only mailing list here.

 

The post 10 Thursday AM Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.

Why Bernie Sanders' AI Bill Is Fascistic And Dangerous

Authored by Amirhossein Eshtiaghi via The Mises Institute,

Bernie Sanders is a socialist populist. His unfamiliarity with the fundamentals of economics explains why he considers Denmark to be socialist. A former Danish Prime Minister once implicitly addressed such claims, noting that Denmark’s economy is not socialist, but rather a market economy. But the truth does not matter to American leftists.

He has now made headlines again with a bill that would expand state participation in the AI sector—a plan that, contrary to the claims of his supporters, could have disastrous consequences. In the following, these consequences are briefly examined.

This Is a Fascist Policy

Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, after the Soviet Union, were among the countries with the highest levels of state ownership and state control over the economy. In both Germany and Italy, the state controlled many companies, while private firms operated under strict state supervision and intervention. The Nazis nationalized nearly half of the economy and then used extensive regulations to bring the private sector under state control. Mussolini followed a similar approach. The state determined what goods would be produced, how they would be produced, and in what form they would be supplied.

Sanders says that artificial intelligence does not belong to billionaires but to the people. Fascists and Nazis used the same argument—that the private sector should be organized in line with the public interest—to justify extensive intervention in the market. In fact, Hitler and Mussolini were able to control the means of production in much the same way without removing corporate managers.

Comparing Sanders to fascism may seem unusual, but it should not be forgotten that the main leaders of Italian fascism, including Mussolini, were initially socialists before they became fascists. In fact, as Thomas DiLorenzo argues in his book The Problem with Socialism, fascism had socialist origins.

Regarding state ownership and state influence over AI, Sanders and Trump take similar approaches. Trump himself has admitted that the economic views of his voters and Sanders’s voters “aren’t that far apart”—and that may be one of the few honest statements Trump has made in his life. In fact, both are populists and seek to expand state power and weaken the free market economy.

Therefore, Sanders’s proposal, or similar proposals, could allow the state to gain control over the AI industry while preserving the appearance of private ownership. In that sense, such proposals can reasonably be described as fascistic, since they enable state control over production without formally abolishing the private sector.

A Threat to Civil Liberties

States have always used intelligence agencies and affiliated institutions to restrict social freedoms, silence opponents, and monitor users online. They also pressure various platforms to hand over user data so it can be used to suppress dissent. If the state becomes the owner of artificial intelligence companies, it will be able to collect users’ information freely and without any obstacles.

Sanders’s supporters might privately believe that this would be a useful tool for monitoring opponents, allowing the state to identify and silence those who oppose their leftist ideology. However, it must be remembered that this power is being granted to the state, not to a specific political party. If figures like Trump—or any other authoritarian personality—come to power, this authority will fall into their hands, allowing them to suppress those very same leftists. It empowers states to monitor anyone they deem an “undesirable element.” Ultimately, this could pose a serious threat to liberty.

Politicians already possess considerable power; control over artificial intelligence would multiply that power many times over—and more power brings more corruption.

Weakening Innovation

This policy threatens innovation. State favoritism can make it difficult for new and creative players to enter the market and can slow the process of “creative destruction.” It should also be noted that the managers of AI companies might even welcome such a situation, since it could allow them to eliminate new competitors in the industry and reach a monopolistic position.

After all, once the state enters the field, companies could rely on the support of politicians so they no longer have to compete with non-American companies. They might even use the argument that the state is a shareholder in AI companies to justify banning the use of AI systems from other countries in the United States.

The support of some AI companies’ executives for proposals that would lead to state involvement in this industry is highly suspicious. We will have to wait and see what happens, but it is possible that Sanders’s bill could actually help those same billionaires eliminate their competitors.

Technology Should Not Be Held Back

Obstructing technological growth is both foolish and harmful. The claim that artificial intelligence destroys jobs is a deceptive and misleading argument. Opposing AI in order to preserve certain jobs is just as irrational as trying to stop the spread of the internet because the use of email caused some postal workers to lose their jobs.

By the same logic, we should have banned the light bulb because it led to job losses in the candle-making industry. Likewise, we should have abandoned modern textile machinery because it allowed the same amount of clothing to be produced with fewer workers.

If we follow this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, we would have to return to the Stone Age. Innovation should not be stopped. Technological advancement and innovation are the primary engines of productivity growth and rising living standards. Just as old jobs disappear, new employment opportunities emerge. For example, many workers from traditional industries can find work in newer and more productive sectors of the economy. We should not hinder the growth of industries that can improve the lives of billions of people merely to preserve the jobs of a limited number of individuals.

A Populist Claim

Artificial intelligence, like any other industry, is built by entrepreneurs and producers, and its products are exchanged in the marketplace. The assertion that, “AI does not belong to billionaires; it belongs to the people” is akin to claiming that potatoes do not belong to their farmers but to “the people,” and that therefore, 50 percent of all farmland must be seized by the state.

Sanders is a master of slogans like “Billionaires shouldn’t exist,” and he is strategic in this choice. Were he to replace “billionaires” with “millionaires,” the slogan would inevitably implicate him and leftist celebrities. It benefits him to funnel jealousy toward billionaires, thereby shielding himself from public outrage.

If wealth is inherently evil, then being a millionaire is equally so. In that case, the left would be forced to chant slogans such as “Millionaires should not exist”—or perhaps even say, “Damn Sean Penn, Oprah, and Sanders.” After all, they are all millionaires.

The benefits of AI do not accrue solely to billionaires; billions of people worldwide utilize these tools—in medicine, education, and thousands of other fields. If private companies, absent rent-seeking or government handouts, earn profits through innovation and creativity, there is nothing inherently wrong with that. No one is forced to use AI; those who choose to do so effectively vote with their dollars to reward the companies that provide these services. One can only hope that Sanders has not used these tools or maintained an AI account himself—because if he has, he has been lining the pockets of the very capitalists he claims to despise.

The Abuse of a Public Wealth Fund

Politicians can abuse national wealth funds. In Russia, Vladimir Putin has leveraged the National Wealth Fund to bankroll the war in Ukraine. The US state could just as easily exploit such a fund to finance war or violate human rights. In this scenario, revenues generated from AI would be diverted away from vital investments in innovation and instead channeled into the production of bombs to be dropped on innocent people.

Conclusion

Regrettably, politicians from both major American parties seem determined to undermine the free market and the values of classical liberalism. From Trump’s foolish tariffs to Sanders’s socialist and demagogic policies, both are actively eroding the foundations of economic freedom.

Americans should not feel compelled to choose between economic nationalism and socialism, just as they were never truly forced to choose between fascism and socialism in the twentieth century. There is only one path worth pursuing: the defense of libertarian values.

The real solution to improving living standards lies in the state’s complete withdrawal from all economic and social spheres. Unless the American public shifts its focus toward the ideals of classical liberalism or libertarianism, we will continue to witness a cycle of populism from both parties, as well as state obstruction of growth and innovation.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 06:30

Treasure Hunters Recover $100K Silver Bar From Legendary 1622 Shipwreck Treasure hunters searching the waters off the Florida Keys have uncovered a 22-pound silver bar believed to have come from the wreck of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha, according to a new report from SlashGear.

The artifact, estimated to be worth about $100,000, is the first silver bar recovered from the legendary wreck site in nearly three decades. It was discovered by divers working with Mel Fisher's Shipwreck Expeditions during a routine recovery mission.

The Atocha was part of a Spanish treasure fleet that was destroyed by a powerful hurricane in September 1622 while returning to Europe. Loaded with silver, gold, and other valuables collected from Spain's colonies in the Americas, the ship went down in relatively shallow water, taking nearly its entire crew with it and scattering its cargo across the ocean floor.

The report says that the wreck remained one of history's great lost treasures until famed salvager Mel Fisher finally located its main debris field in 1985 after a 16-year search. That breakthrough yielded hundreds of millions of dollars in treasure, but archaeologists and recovery teams have continued to uncover new artifacts from the sprawling debris field ever since.

Experts believe the site is still far from exhausted. Mel Fisher's organization estimates that more than $120 million worth of silver, copper ingots, bronze cannons, and other cargo may still remain buried beneath the seabed, waiting to be uncovered by future expeditions.

The latest recovery also serves as a reminder that some of history's greatest discoveries don't happen all at once. Centuries of shifting sand, storms, and changing ocean currents continue to expose artifacts that were hidden for generations, giving modern explorers fresh opportunities to recover pieces of one of the world's most famous shipwrecks.

While the silver bar's estimated value is impressive on its own, discoveries like this are about more than money. Each recovered artifact helps historians better understand the scale of Spain's colonial trade network, the enormous wealth transported across the Atlantic, and the risks that came with moving treasure by sea during the Age of Exploration.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 05:45

KKR And SK Launch South Korea's Largest Renewable Energy Platform

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

Global investment firm KKR and South Korea’s industrial conglomerate SK Inc are launching the single biggest renewable energy platform in South Korea to help meet growing power demand from AI and chip manufacturing.

KKR and SK Inc are creating the platform, valued at about $1.3 billion, or 2 trillion South Korean won, to combine 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy capacity in operation and a pipeline of projects in development that would boost the platform’s total capacity to 10 GW, the investment firm said in a statement. 

The renewable electricity will help meet South Korea’s surging clean-power demand from AI data centers and semiconductor manufacturing, according to the global investor.  

The 10 GW capacity targeted by the platform would be capable of simultaneously and continuously powering 100 large-scale, 100MW-class data centers, KKR said.

“At this scale, the Platform is well positioned to become a reliable, large-scale source of clean power for Korea's most demanding industrial users, from AI data centers to global semiconductor production lines, and more,” the global investment firm said.

KKR will have management control of the platform in its initial phase, while SK will participate as an equity investor and retain the flexibility to pursue control rights through future discussions.

“Korea is one of Asia’s most attractive renewable energy markets, underpinned by strong corporate demand for clean power from the semiconductor, data center, and manufacturing sectors,” said Keith Kim, Partner at KKR.

“Together, we are establishing a leading, scaled renewable energy platform that can supply reliable clean power to Korea's most demanding industrial users.”

In April, while South Korea was scrambling for oil supply not passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the Korean Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Environment said the country would target to generate at least 20% of its power supply from renewables by 2030, up from about 11% now.

“We will swiftly implement the energy transition plan to make sure that South Korea remains resilient to external shocks, such as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East,” Climate Minister Kim Sung-whan said in April.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 05:00

The Collapse Of Schengen... Over 1 Million Illegal Migrants Apply For Spanish Citizenship

Via Remix News

When the socialist-communist government of Pedro Sánchez first announced he was going to begin the mass legalization of migrants in his country, his government claimed this would amount to 500,000 people. Now, twice as many people are being legalized than first claimed, and importantly for the rest of Europe, those migrants now have the right to freely move through the Schengen zone.

Due to his mass amnesty, The New York Times has now labeled Spain a "beacon of the global left."

In April, the socialist-communist government in Madrid first issue the decree, giving illegal migrants three months to submit their application.

According to the New York Times, more than 1 million applications had already been submitted by illegal immigrants.

Vox party leader Santiago Abascal has accused Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of taking the long-term move of naturalizing millions of foreigners to give himself and left-wing parties an electoral advantage in upcoming elections.

"Pedro Sánchez is willing to rob us of the next general elections by manipulating the census and handing out Spanish nationality," wrote Abascal. "And it is necessary for us to mobilize to prevent him, after everything he has stolen, from also stealing the elections from us."

Pedro Sánchez está dispuesto a robarnos las próximas elecciones generales manipulando el censo y regalando la nacionalidad española.

Nos alegramos de que la denuncia de Santiago Abascal haya sido escuchada.

Lo peor de Pedro Sánchez ya ha llegado.

Y es necesario que nos... pic.twitter.com/85F4CTumFn

— VOX ?? (@vox_es) June 30, 2026

Across Europe, conservative and right-wing politicians are reacting with shock to the huge legalization numbers Spain is now reporting.

"The decision to legalize them means that they will be able to move and settle freely in any place in Europe. Left-wing governments are bringing about the collapse of the Schengen Area and mocking the safety of Europeans. Not only does Spain, under the Migration Pact and in full accordance with the law, have the power to offload illegal immigrants to other countries, but it is also legalizing their stay," wrote Polish MEP Anna Bry?ka.

Premier Hiszpanii Pedro Sanchez poinformowa?, ?e ponad milion imigrantów z?o?y?o wniosek o zalegalizowanie pobytu w Hiszpanii.

Decyzja o ich legalizacji oznacza, ?e b?d? oni mogli nieskr?powanie porusza? si? i osiedla? w dowolnym miejscu w Europie. Rz?dy lewicy doprowadzaj? do... https://t.co/KfAXPP7qL8

— Anna Bry?ka (@annabrylka) June 30, 2026

Sánchez has also been accused of passing the law with no democratic legitimacy. He announced that the Council of Ministers approved the decree initiating the implementation of this decision into the state legal order. Notably, this mass legalization was never formally voted in by parliament. Instead, Sánchez forced through an emergency decree.

The politician marketed the decree by talking about people who are in Spain in an "irregular situation" and noted that "again, I feel proud to be Spanish."

Calls to the European Commission demanding the immediate removal of Spain from the Schengen Area have been met with silence. Illegal arrivals enter Europe through this country every day.

As predicted and warned by both the Spanish opposition and many other political and media outlets, it turns out that there are many more newcomers willing to legalize their stay than the Spanish authorities announced.

The program on legalization of status stems from a citizens' initiative from 2024, which was supported by over 700,000 people. The measure was also supported by hundreds of organizations that describe themselves as humanitarian, along with business groups and the Catholic Church. To count on approval of the application, the newcomer must have been in Spain for at least five months and have no criminal record.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 03:30

What's Behind The Plunging Won And Sudden Liquidity Collapse In Korean Markets

South Korea’s won weakened for a fourth day as overseas investors accelerated their relentless sales of local stocks.

In response, USD/KRW rose 0.1% to 1,552.60, extending its four-day gain to 1.2% (i.e. KRW drop).

According to Barclays, pressure from both resident outflows and more recently in the case of Korea, heavy foreign outflows, could pose further headwinds even as exports performance remains robust and domestic equities extend their bubble. 

Let's take a closer look at what's driving the key moves in Korea.

Why was USDKRW higher?

Other than stronger USD, Goldman has been highlighting that rebalancing related equity outflow has been the dominating factor. Equity outflow from Jun 22nd till month-end amounted to US$18bn, bringing total Jun equity outflow to US$30bn. This follows the US$27bn outflow observed in May. As of today, Samsung and Hynix are 32% and 30% of MSCI Korea respectively, which are 7% and 5% above the 25% single stock limit. A combined 12% rebalancing effort would lead to another US$24bn outflow with US$200bn AUM (passive and active) estimated tracking MSCI Korea.

Additionally, other portfolio concentration limits such as UCITS and HF internal concentration limit rule are also likely to be driving the rebalancing related outflows. In terms of timing, some fast money rebalancing is relatively real time, while many real money and passive investors may rebalance at quarter-ends which led to more concentrated outflows.

FX hedging need by foreign investors drove RHS USDKRW demand. Goldman estimates average foreigners’ FX hedging ratio for Korean equities to be 10-15%, and the hedging mainly happens in offshore NDF market. As of March-end, foreigners’ exposure to Korean equities was US$1tn. Due to the 68% expansion in market cap in KOSPI in Q2, the associated FX hedging need rose by an estimate of US$68-US$102bn (US$1000*68%* 10-15%) during the quarter. This has led to sharp increase in RHS NDF hedging demand, some of which concentrated at quarter end as well. 

Other than above-mentioned hedging dynamics, FX hedging demand by USD-denominated total return swaps with leveraged equity underlying provided to offshore clients by local security houses via intermediaries also likely added to FX hedging demand in NDF market, especially as equity marketcap expanded quickly in Q2.  

Why did liquidity tighten?

• Sharp rise in borrowing by securities firm was likely the main driver behind tighter onshore liquidity. Surge in onshore retail margin trading and leveraged single-stock ETFs caused sharp rise in funding needs of local securities firms. In particular, with leveraged ETF, the need to post futures margin for hedging positions for securities firms drove the borrowing demand.

• Local news reported securities firms’ commercial paper and short-term bonds issuances exceeded KRW100tn each month and accounted for 80% of short-term bond issuance in recent months.

• Decline of collateral value for securities firms facing offshore counterparties worsens the liquidity situation. When local securities firms face offshore intermediaries on total return swaps, they not only have rising needs to post margins from underlying stock advance, but also from declining collateral value as KRW FX depreciated and KTB sold off. These dynamics further increased securities firms’ margin requirement in KRW terms, which in turn added to their local borrowing demand. Similar situation happened in late 2022 with KRW and KTB sold off sharply at the same time during BOK hiking cycle. Looking forward, local news reports Samsung securities plans KRW600tn short-term issuance in Jul, indicating such liquidity tightness is unlikely to ease. 
• Forthcoming BOK hike (starting in Jul per GIR base case) likely also added to the expectation of higher funding costs ahead.
• Goldman has observed widening of spread between NDF curve offshore and onshore FX swap. This could be a result of unwinding onshore-offshore arbitrage positions as RHS hedging demand caused sharp surge in NDF points. 

 
Looking ahead, if Korean equity continues to charge higher in a volatile fashion, combined with likely BOK hikes, Goldman thinks such liquidity environment is likely to stay or tighten further. Thus NDF points are likely to stay elevated and the bank prefers pay on dip. In a strong USD environment, KRW FX pressure is unlikely to ease from external forces, which does not help NDF points to fall either. On the other hand, if Korean equities fall meaningfully, NDF points may retrace, as smaller notional exposure to Korean equities by foreigners (either direct or leveraged) would reduce the associated FX hedging.

On FX spot, it is much harder to see sustained equity inflow in the short term: If Samsung/Hynix continue to lead KOSPI higher, equity rebalancing related outflow would further dominate; if equities fall, broad-based outflow is likely to follow which is likely to offset the positive FX impact from unwind of RHS hedging. Only when equities fall substantially so that Samsung & Hynix’s market cap fall under the concentration limits, a recovery from there may attract inflows.

Thus equity outflow may continue to weigh on KRW in the near future.

As market unwinds debasement trades and USD remains resilient, Goldman expects USDKRW may further rise gradually, with authorities’ various smoothing efforts help to limit the speed of KRW depreciation. Although Korean exporter USD selling is expected to rise as export grows organically and domestic capex expands, given current exporter conversion is already relatively high, Goldman expects large and volatile equity related flows to remain dominant for USDKRW path ahead. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 00:41

Nancy Pelosi Institute To Launch At UC Berkeley After Former Speaker Leaves Congress

Authored by AG News Staff via American Greatness,

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will lend her name to a new institute at the University of California, Berkeley after retiring from Congress, with the university announcing it has already raised $35 million toward a $50 million fundraising goal.

The Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy is scheduled to open in January 2027, when Pelosi is expected to leave Congress.

According to the university, the institute will serve as a center for research, teaching and civic engagement focused on representative democracy and public leadership. Pelosi also is expected to co-teach a course on Congress.

UC Berkeley said the institute will focus on four primary areas: strengthening American democracy, addressing major social, economic and environmental challenges, promoting human and civil rights, and "ensuring political leadership that represents the full spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds in California and the country."

The university said the institute's location at UC Berkeley would give a diverse student body, including first-generation and low-income students, access to opportunities often associated with Ivy League institutions.

"The work of democracy is never finished, and securing its future is our greatest calling," Pelosi said in a statement. "UC Berkeley has a long, proud history of challenging the status quo and producing leaders who run toward the greatest challenges of our time. I am honored to partner with this exceptional community of scholars and students so we can equip the next generation with the tools they need to strengthen our democratic institutions and forge a future that serves the public good."

UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons said the institute would combine the university's faculty and students to advance its mission.

"We intend to do more than simply study democracy; we are building this institute to strengthen it," Lyons said.

The institute will be established at UC Berkeley, a university known for progressive activism, and will open after Pelosi concludes her congressional career.

Pelosi, 86, served two terms as House speaker and remains the only woman to hold the position. She served from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 19:30

Meet The "World's Most Dangerous" Hotel That Leaves Guests Stranded 35 Miles Offshore

A remote former Coast Guard tower off the coast of North Carolina has become one of the country's most unusual vacation destinations, with thrill-seekers paying to spend days stranded 35 miles out in the Atlantic on what's been dubbed the world's most dangerous hotel, according to the NY Post.

Interest in Frying Pan Tower recently surged after charter captain Austin Aycock posted a TikTok showing six guests being dropped off at the rusting structure before he motored away, joking, "See you in a couple days!" The video has attracted more than 2.2 million views, with viewers split between fascination and disbelief.

(Photos: NY Post)

Built in 1964, the decommissioned light station sits about 80 feet above the ocean in an area known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." Once guests arrive, there's no easy way back. Leaving requires either a helicopter or a 35-mile boat ride to shore.

The Post writes that rates start at about $200 per person per night with a three-night minimum stay. Aycock said one particularly adventurous group remained on the tower for two weeks.

The location isn't for the faint of heart. The surrounding waters are home to great white, bull, and tiger sharks, while the tower sits in hurricane-prone waters where storms can bring winds exceeding 100 mph. Medical emergencies also present a challenge due to the remote location.

(Photos: NY Post)

Despite its isolation, the tower can accommodate up to 12 guests across eight bedrooms and offers modern comforts including solar power, high-speed internet, hot showers, a fully equipped kitchen, and a reverse osmosis water system.

Visitors can fish, snorkel over a nearby reef, shoot biodegradable clay targets, or hit fish-food golf balls into the ocean. A professional chef is also available for private groups, while the massive helipad doubles as a scenic spot for stargazing and watching the sunrise.

The viral video sparked plenty of reactions online. Some commenters said nothing could convince them to stay overnight, while others joked the tower would be the perfect place to hide from a zombie apocalypse. One viewer summed up the skepticism by asking, "What's the opposite of a bucket list?"

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 19:05

Copper Demand Surges, But Supply Deficit Is Hard To Solve, Expert Says

Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times,

The ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom underscores a harder-to-resolve supply issue for copper, according to veteran natural resource investor Rick Rule.

Speaking recently with Siyamak Khorrami, host of EpochTV’s “Market Insider,” Rule said the increasingly energy-intensive lives people around the world are living have pushed up demand for copper. With companies and countries investing heavily in AI, future demand for the red metal will be “staggering,” he said.

At the same time, the world, especially the United States, doesn’t have enough copper development projects “in the pipeline,” Rule said, making a copper shortage and higher prices inevitable.

Growing Supply Deficit

According to the International Copper Study Group, global refined copper consumption rose to 28.2 million metric tons in 2025 from 25.8 million metric tons in 2022, while production increased to 28.6 million metric tons from 25.2 million metric tons over the same period. This represents a supply surplus of 400,000 metric tons.

However, given the essential role copper plays in electrification, digitalization, and technologies such as AI, data centers, electric vehicles, and defense, a January S&P Global study predicts that demand for the metal will rise to 42 million metric tons by 2040. The study also estimates that, without “meaningful supply expansion,” there could be a copper shortfall of about 10 million metric tons by then.

Copper prices have risen significantly. Copper futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at $6.20 per pound on June 28, nearly doubling from their post-pandemic low of $3.23 per pound, reached on July 11, 2022.

The situation is more challenging for the United States. The country is a net copper importer, producing less than half of the refined copper it consumes. According to the United States Geological Survey, a scientific agency under the Department of the Interior, America produced 850,000 metric tons of refined copper in 2025 while consuming 2.2 million metric tons, resulting in a deficit of more than 1 million metric tons.

The United States is expected to remain a net importer of copper through 2040, with imported refined copper projected to account for about 70 percent of consumption, according to a June 23 SEC filing citing Wood Mackenzie data.

In November 2025, the Department of the Interior added copper to the U.S. Geological Survey’s critical minerals list.

Underinvestment

“In copper, we have been systemically underinvested in exploration, in construction, in development, and we’ve been doing so for 30 years,” Rule told Khorrami.

“This is a capital-intensive, long-term business. There is nothing we can do right now—nothing, not one thing—that will prevent a supply shortage within five years.”

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025—Copper

Rule said developing a new copper mine is a very long process, taking about 10 years to explore and find a mine, three years to drill, three more years “in a good country” to secure a permit and funding, and two years to build—about 18 years in total.

“The difficulty is that people weren’t doing enough of this 18 years ago,” he said.

Wood Mackenzie estimated in a 2021 analysis that the world copper industry had committed around $120 billion in capital spending to maintain production at the time, offsetting the impact of grade decline and depletion.

“Nonetheless, without additional substantial investment, production will decline from 2024 onwards. Coupled with demand growth, this decline in output will lead to a theoretical shortfall of around [16 million metric tons] by 2040,” the analysis states. To close the copper supply shortfall, the analysis said, the industry would need about $325 billion in additional investment.

“The industry is looking right down the barrel at an incredible capital spend to merely maintain current production levels, never mind increase it to meet the demands of rural electrification in the third world, data centers, electric vehicles, the electrification of everything,” Rule said.

“If you believe the numbers that people like Google and Amazon are putting out in terms of their data center demands, we will need to produce more copper between 2026 and 2050—24 short years—than has been mined in the history of mankind,” he said.

Rule said the industry has entered a copper construction cycle.

“For a long time, when copper was languishing at $3 a pound, the industry didn’t make enough money to build new mines; $6 a pound is not a bad incentive price.”

Permitting Hurdles

However, he said there are currently few construction-ready projects due to decades of underinvestment in mineral exploration. In the United States, he added, the permitting process is a major hurdle for these projects to move forward.

For example, Rule said the Resolution Copper project, jointly owned by Australian mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP and located in Arizona, is a high-quality copper deposit and well-located, but has been waiting more than a decade for a permit.

According to Rio Tinto’s website, if developed, the Resolution Copper project could be one of the largest copper mines in the United States, having the potential to supply up to one-quarter of the U.S. copper demand.

After decades of exploration, the Resolution deposit was officially discovered in 1995, according to the Department of Agriculture. It started the permitting process in 2013 and released its independent Final Environmental Impact Statement in 2019, entering a new phase of public consultation, according to a Rio Tinto press release. The company said in a March release that it had completed a key land exchange advancing the project toward development.

“All of this points to the fact that we’re going to have to get used to higher copper prices,” Rule said.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 17:50

Man Who Sued Pepsi Over Fighter Jet Finally Gets His Reward 30 Years Later

Three decades after suing Pepsi for refusing to give him a fighter jet, John Leonard finally got a reward that may be even better, according to a post at Supercarblondie. 

Leonard became the center of one of advertising's most famous legal battles after taking a 1996 Pepsi commercial at face value. The ad, promoting the company's Pepsi Points loyalty program, jokingly claimed customers could redeem seven million Pepsi Points for a military Harrier jet.

Rather than laugh it off, the Seattle college student raised enough money to buy the required points and submitted a claim for the aircraft. Pepsi rejected it, insisting the jet was never a real prize.

The article says that the case went to court, where a judge ruled that no reasonable person would believe Pepsi was seriously offering a fighter jet in a soft drink promotion.

Although Leonard lost the lawsuit, the bizarre dispute became legendary and was later chronicled in the Netflix documentary Pepsi, Where's My Jet?.

Now, nearly 30 years later, Frontier Airlines gave the story a happy ending. As part of a Super Bowl campaign called "The Big Redemption," the airline converted Leonard's original seven million Pepsi Points into seven million Frontier Miles, effectively giving him free flights for life.

The airline even featured Leonard in a tongue-in-cheek commercial, handing him the keys to an Airbus A320neo as a nod to the decades-old saga.

Now in his 50s with a wife and children, Leonard joked that unlimited airline miles are far more practical than owning and maintaining a military fighter jet. After waiting three decades, he never got the Harrier, but he may have received an even better prize.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 17:25

20-Year Old US Citizen Charged In Israel With Spying For Iran

Via The Cradle

A 20-year-old US citizen living in Jerusalem is set to be charged with spying for Iran, according a police statement issued Tuesday, ahead of the individual’s indictment. 

The US citizen was detained by Israeli authorities on June 9, but the case is only this week being revealed. Israel's police say he maintained contact with an Iranian intelligence-linked handler. According to the police, he captured photographs and videos of "sensitive" Israeli sites.

Getty Images

The statement also claimed he received "dozens to hundreds" of dollars for each task he carried out on behalf of Iranian intelligence. The suspect’s activities were being carried out in the past few months, according to the authorities. 

A prosecutor’s declaration was filed against the US citizen on Tuesday. He will be officially charged with espionage in the near future.

Israeli police are requesting that the alleged Iran-linked spy remain imprisoned until legal proceedings conclude.

Israel has witnessed a major surge in Iranian espionage activity over the past year. Early last month, Tel Aviv indicted one Israeli citizen and three soldiers for cooperating with Iranian intelligence services and carrying out espionage work, including capturing photos of “sensitive sites.”

The intelligence activity reportedly included photographing train stations, shopping centers, security cameras, and the Israeli Air Force Technical School.

Hebrew media reports from May said some of the accused independently approached their Iranian handlers requesting additional missions.

Israeli outlets had also reported in late April that two Israeli Air Force technicians who were operating at the Tel Nof Air Base near the city of Ashdod were set to be charged with espionage for Iran.

By April, over 50 indictments had been filed against Israeli citizens accused of spying for the Islamic Republic since October 2023, according to Mondoweiss.

Security analysts and commentators in Israel have described the situation as an "espionage epidemic" fueled by public distrust of political leadership, corruption, and general discontent among Israelis.

Recent cases in 2026 alone include an Iron Dome reservist accused of passing system details for $1,000, multiple active-duty soldiers charged with espionage, and a thwarted plot to assassinate former prime minister Naftali Bennett.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 17:00

Apple Negotiating To Buy Blacklisted Chinese Chips To Ease AI-Driven Shortage

After raising prices on their entire product line last week as much as 50% thanks to "unsustainable" input costs from the memory cartel (SK Hynix, Samsung, Micron and Sandisk), Apple is in active negotiations to buy memory chips from two Chinese semiconductor manufacturers on the Pentagon's blacklist, aiming to diversify supply and mitigate the impact of sharply rising component costs triggered by surging AI demand.

Adding to Friday reporting from the Financial Times, Bloomberg now reports that the iPhone maker is seeking chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a major DRAM producer, and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), a fast-growing NAND flash maker. The components would be used exclusively in devices sold in China, where Apple already offers market-specific models. The talks are ongoing and not yet finalized, according to people familiar with the matter.

This was the logical next step... 

*APPLE SHARES CLOSE DOWN 6.1% IN BIGGEST DROP SINCE APRIL 2025

China's memory makers are waiting by the phone

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 25, 2026

This move would expand Apple's memory supplier base from its current three - Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology - to five. It comes after Apple raised prices across its Mac, iPad, and other product lines last week to offset what it described as an unprecedented surge in memory and storage costs. A company spokesperson attributed the increases to the "rapid expansion of AI," noting the firm had "never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly."

The global memory shortage stems from hyperscale data-center operators prioritizing high-end memory for AI training and inference workloads. This has pulled production capacity toward premium segments, driving up prices for the DRAM and NAND used in consumer electronics. Microsoft took similar action last week, raising Xbox console prices for the third time in 13 months, largely due to the same memory squeeze.

The Apple news was the straw that broke the memory's back: chip stocks had already gotten whacked on Wednesday amid a momentum-meltdown sparked by news that Meta would pivot to a cloud business to sell excess compute from its overpriced collection of data centers, effectively become a neocloud, while capitulating on hopes to build a leading frontier model. 

Aaaand Micron is now below its 20-day moving average for the first time since April...

It's not clear what happens next. Both CXMT and YMTC appear on the Defense Department's 1260H list of Chinese companies believed to have ties to the People's Liberation Army. YMTC has carried an additional Commerce Department Entity List designation since 2022, which generally bars it from receiving U.S. technology without special licenses.

That said, Apple does not require formal U.S. government approval to proceed with purchases - though adding the two firms to its supply chain carries significant political risk amid ongoing U.S.-China tensions over advanced technology. Apple CEO Tim Cook has appealed directly to Trump administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to help manage potential backlash from national security hawks in Washington. Some officials within the administration have expressed objections to giving Apple leeway on the matter.

To limit exposure, Apple is structuring any deal around devices sold only in China rather than global models. The company previously explored sourcing memory from YMTC in 2022 for China-market iPhones, but that effort was abandoned after strong opposition from U.S. lawmakers and officials concerned about supply-chain security.

In short - the memory market has been reshaped by AI infrastructure spending. Major producers have shifted output toward high-margin products demanded by data centers, leaving tighter supply and higher prices for mobile and computing applications. Samsung and SK Hynix have outlined massive capacity expansions, while Micron is investing heavily in U.S. production - but meaningful relief for consumer electronics remains months away.

For Apple, securing additional sources could help stabilize costs on China sales and reduce reliance on the dominant trio of suppliers. For policymakers, the episode highlights a recurring tension: balancing efforts to secure critical technology supply chains against the immediate economic pressure of higher consumer prices driven by concentrated global demand.

Any agreement would likely draw scrutiny from Congress and administration hardliners who view partnerships with firms on the 1260H list as contrary to U.S. efforts to reduce dependence on Chinese technology. At the same time, the memory-driven component inflation has become visible enough that some officials may see limited, geographically restricted sourcing as a pragmatic pressure valve.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 16:40

Controversially, The Supreme Court Rules For Common Sense: Taibbi

Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,

From Mother Jones yesterday:

The science is far from settled about whether trans girls who have received gender-affirming treatment actually have a competitive advantage or pose a greater risk of injuring other players. But the majority opinion, by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, glosses over those unknowns - reasoning that "biological sex" is a good enough proxy for athletic ability for states to categorically ban trans girls from girls' sports.

It was once uncontroversial to observe that testosterone gives athletes advantages. Baseball's steroid scandals were only a tick of the historical clock ago, and the number of people in the continental United States willing to stand up and say Mark McGwire and Raffy Palmeiro hit their own homers would have fit in a dentist's waiting room. Every working comedian in the country made at least one joke about balloon-headed liar Barry Bonds:

This was universal, but once the trans issue with its myriad lifestyle and political considerations came along, the general public was suddenly asked to accept one factual absurdity after another about the same thing. "Far from settled!" Really, Mother Jones?

The Supreme Court Tuesday handed down a landmark 6-3 ruling in West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox, upholding two state bans on the participation of transgender athletes on women's and girls' sports teams. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote the majority opinion, used strong language in upholding West Virginia and Idaho statutes, saying the court disagreed that "schools must allow biological males... to compete on girls' sports teams." Kavanaugh even used a hated term, asking, "May schools determine eligibility for women's and girls' sports based on biological sex? The answer is yes," upsetting pundits who want officials to stick to activist-approved phrases like "sex assigned at birth."

"It's a good decision for women and girls," said Kara Dansky, who wrote an amicus brief supporting the states for the U.S. chapter of the Women's Declaration International.

Dansky was once senior counsel for the ACLU Center of Justice. In this case she was on the other side of the ACLU, whose attorneys (including co-director of LGBTQ and HIV rights, Chase Strangio) argued against the state bans. The ACLU has also split with former feminist allies by arguing for the housing of biological men in women's prisons, including those with records of violent sex offenses. These efforts in trying to force society to reimagine biology are clearly failing, but the outraged reaction yesterday shows the fight isn't over. NBC described the decision as a "major blow to LGBTQ rights," and former VP contender Tim Walz claimed the "Supreme Court says schools can be cruel to my trans kids":

As the Supreme Court says states can be cruel to trans kids, my message is clear: Here in Minnesota, we stand with and value our trans neighbors and youth.

— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) June 30, 2026

Cruel is an extraordinary word to describe the act of allowing states to object to a radical social program that was implemented virtually everywhere ahead of both scientific and (especially) political consensus. The numbers aren't close. A New York Times/Ipsos poll last year found 79% of Americans, including 67% of Democrats, are opposed to "athletes who were male at birth" participating in women's sports. The same poll found 71% of all Americans, including 54% of Democrats, believe no one under 18 should have access to puberty blockers. This was after exposure to years of movement messaging.

Strangio and the ACLU don't see that they're asking for something people can't give them, even if they wanted to, namely the honest belief that people who've transitioned have literally changed sexes. The gambit failed for the same reason Spanish speakers rejected "Latinx."

Like politics, language has a democratic dynamic. If people don't use Latinx because Spanish (like 38% of all languages) is a gendered tongue with its own distinct sonic system that Spanish speakers love, they won't use it, and you can't make them. The ostensible logic behind Latinx was to "challenge the gender binary" and "remove gender from Spanish," in part because a handful of intellectuals claim gendered language causes unequal economic outcomes. A rational person finds this absurd, unless you believe the early French schemed to consign bananas to girlhood while making boys out of tuna as a weirdly subtle means of oppressing women in future centuries.

As with Latinx, activists tried to lobby "sex assigned at birth" into reality, only to have the population spit it back out as "biological sex." The court just recognized another thing that was uncontroversial until ten minutes ago. Yes, a small percentage of human beings have intersex characterstics, but most of the world's population can't be forced to unlearn what it intrinsically knows. Knowing which gametes your body cranks out is another form of "lived experience," one is irrelevant to activists, apparently, because it's "normative." People know they weren't "assigned" a sex by hospital clerks. Some people tried to think that way. It just didn't take.

Activists could have started with a proposition: given that sex is binary, what can society do to accomodate people who experience dysphoria and wish to live under a new identity? The same Americans who accepted gay marriage fairly quickly after Obergefell v. Hodges 11 years ago likely would have extended as far as they could without jumping into a factual or scientific abyss, on issues ranging from expanded insurance to easier routes to housing or identification. Instead, activists treated access for biological males to women's locker rooms, sports rosters, even prisons as settled rights matters, against which only right-wing Christian patriarchal bigots could possibly object. Unless 80% of Americans are bigots, a lot of apologies are owed: 

None are coming, of course. 

Subscribers to Racket can read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 16:20

The Elephant In The Room That Is Fraud

Authored by Jack Hellner via AmericanThinker.com,

There has clearly been trillions of fraud over the last several decades, and politicians in both parties have shown very little interest in rooting out the fraud until Trump. Somehow, most of the media and other Democrats aren’t too concerned with saving taxpayer dollars—they spend their time attacking Trump.

The media and other Democrats were outraged when Trump spent $16 million dollars fixing the reflecting pool problems, and there was endless reporting, but there is virtually no outrage and minimal reporting on the endless fraud, no matter how many billions have been legitimately stolen from the taxpayers.

The following is a small sample of what crooks have gotten away with, which is only the tip of the iceberg.

Federal data revealed this:

In 2024, 35 percent of exchange enrollees and 40 percent of fully-subsidized low-income enrollees generated no medical claims….

Tens of billions went to big insurance companies to pay for many fake people. Yet, as Democrats shuttered the government, almost all the media spewed were intentional lies about how Republicans wanted to take health care away from the poor, and premiums would rise substantially for them.

The media didn’t have much interest when an enterprising young reporter found massive fraud in daycare centers in Minnesota. They also didn’t have any concern when we learned Governor Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison knew about the fraud for a long time and instead of going after the criminals, sought to destroy the whistleblowers.

Here is how PBS reported on the story:

This week, the Trump administration dispatched federal officers to Minnesota amid concerns over fraud. The deployment comes after a right-wing influencer posted a video claiming, without proof, that daycare centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had misappropriated more than $100 million.

Hospice fraud in California is massive. Where is the endless reporting by the media? Why aren’t they concerned that Governor Newsom and other officials did little to nothing about it? They also don’t seem interested in how many millions of taxpayer dollars flow to entities associated with Newsom’s wife. Instead, they attack the Justice Department for investigating the obvious.

A huge amount of fraud was found with a small sample of SNAP recipients, yet this news piece seems aggravated at the Trump administration for doing something about it:

The USDA says 700,000 were removed from SNAP. Here’s what counts as fraud.

Multiple studies have found that SNAP fraud is rare, yet the Trump administration continues to place heavy focus on the issue.

In May, Rollins told Fox News that her department had found around 700,000 people fraudulently using SNAP rolls since February 2025 and arrested 895 people in the past year for fraud. She said 244,000 fraudsters used dead people’s social security numbers and 500,000 collected benefits in multiple states.

Here is a story that got little coverage about health care fraud schemes. You would think that with all the worries about Medicare survival that an arrest of around 450 people in 45 states would get extensive coverage, but it doesn’t.

New: Record Healthcare Fraud Bust: 450 Defendants Now Charged by Trump DOJ

How often is this happening throughout the country?

What about this?

Michigan childcare provider collected $1.1M in taxpayer funds despite no visible signs of operating

Where are the administrators we pay for verifying that daycare providers do in fact qualify for the money?

The media clearly has little interest in reporting on fraud perpetrated by illegals:

Illegal Alien Gets 8 Years in Prison for $89 Million Payroll Scheme Employing Illegal Alien Construction Workers

I bet few people saw this story about all the money funneled out during COVID:

NC Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty in $13.9M COVID-19 Fraud Scheme

Seven other return preparers have already pleaded guilty to their roles in the same scheme. 

The media is working hard to avoid the story about how we chased down a Somalian fraudster after he fled the country:

$250 Million Minnesota Fraudster Finally Nabbed — in Mogadishu 

Every once in a while, the media and other Democrats claim to care about debts and deficits, but they clearly don’t when they refuse to help going after fraud and treat every cut or freeze in government spending programs as a disaster.

The only time they really care about deficits is when they falsely claim that Republican tax cuts cost the government trillions of dollars.

Here is the truth about federal income and spending:

Individual income taxes collected FY 2017 $1.5 trillion. By FY 2025, they were up to $2.66 trillion—up more than double the 35% inflation rate for that period. Corporate income taxes in FY 2017 were $297 billion and in FY 2025, they were $452 billion (or up 52%). 

Meanwhile, spending went up from $3.98 trillion to $7.20 trillion—up 77%, which is more than double the rate of inflation. Uncontrolled spending including massive fraud is clearly the problem.

Is our media on it? Hardly.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 15:45

TikTok Settles Lawsuit Accusing Social Media Giants Of Harming Florida Boy

TikTok has reached a settlement with a Florida teenager who blamed the platform and other social media companies for fueling his addiction, leading to depression, anxiety, and sleep loss, just ahead of a trial to determine the industry’s part in the youth mental health crisis.

The settlement, made public Tuesday, lays to rest claims against ByteDance’s TikTok related to the lawsuit filed by the boy.

Details of the settlement were not disclosed.

Trials against Meta’s Instagram and Snap’s Snapchat remain scheduled for July in California.

According to court filings, the plaintiff argues he began using social media at approximately age 8 and became addicted.

As Kimberley Hayek reports for The Epoch Times, the case is one of many taking aim at social media companies, accusing them of designing the platforms to addict young users.

Earlier this month, YouTube settled with the same plaintiff.

“YouTube’s decision to resolve this case before having to face a jury speaks for itself,” the plaintiff’s attorneys from Morgan & Morgan stated in that settlement.

“We will continue fighting on behalf of all those affected by social media addiction to bring these companies to justice and compel them to prioritize the safety of their young users over their bottom lines.”

In March, a jury in Los Angeles found Meta and Google liable for harms to a young woman, awarding damages after findings of negligence tied to addictive design features.

Jurors found the platforms contributed to addiction and mental health issues, leading to millions in compensatory and punitive damages. A judge upheld the verdict this month.

More than 3,300 addiction-related lawsuits remain pending in California state court, with thousands more pending in federal court. School districts and states have also pursued claims, with some settlements reached, such as a Kentucky district’s agreement with several platforms.

The TikTok settlement allows the company to avoid what would have been only the second individual trial of its kind in California over social media’s impact on minors.

Plaintiffs in these cases argue that features, such as endless scrolling, personalized algorithms, and notifications create a “vicious cycle” of engagement that does harm to young brains.

Tech companies argue they have implemented parental controls, age-appropriate tools, and other safeguards for young users. Google, for instance, has underscored its safety efforts in statements regarding the YouTube settlement.

“Our focus remains on building age-appropriate products and parental controls that deliver on that promise,” Google spokesman José Castañeda said in a statement. 

Prolonged social media use has increased risks of depression and self-harm among young people, according to a recent study by the Medical Journal of Australia.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 15:25