“Bitcoin’s 50% collapse while inflation runs above the Fed’s target and gold soars exposed two core industry myths as deliberate fabrications designed to create demand. Bitcoin is not an inflation hedge… Bitcoin is not digital gold…” By: Larry Swedroe

🎙️ Podcast links: lessons from the 1929 crash, how investors are using AI, and why the Internet got (way) worse. abnormalreturns.com/2026/02/06/p... image: unsplash.com/photos/black...

🚨 Elon Musk’s gutting of USAID has fueled an estimated death toll that’s about to surpass 800,000—including 530,000 children. That’s 88 deaths every hour. Meanwhile, the federal deficit is the largest it's been since the COVID-era stimulus, with no reduction in sight.

“Into a milieu of weaponized tariffs and proprietary technology, the author injects essential context for China’s famed “Great Firewall” and profiles five individuals who have lived beyond its constraints…”

Bitcoin is a store of value. www.forbes.com/sites/digita...

Reba posted this photo with Bad Bunny on her Instagram and her conservative fans aren’t happy!

“Once authoritarianism shows up to the party, there can be only two kinds of media: Propaganda that is sanctioned by the regime Independent media that exists to see the authoritarian project ended There is no third way. Eventually, every media institution will have to choose a side.”

I am not above reposting unsolicited endorsements from longtime readers.

“The IRS is moving away from paper refund checks in favor of digital payment methods to improve speed, security, and cost efficiency. For the 2026 tax filing season, taxpayers are encouraged to pay—and get paid—electronically, including receiving refunds by direct deposit.” By: Kelly Phillips Erb

“Low fees have been key to Vanguard’s success for 50 years and propelled the firm to another prolific year in 2025. Investors parked hundreds of billions of new money in its mutual funds and ETFs. It introduced 15 new ETFs in 2025 that fit the low-cost mold…” By: Daniel Sotiroff

“The unwind has already started. The United States has underperformed most of the world despite posting a strong year. That’s not a contradiction. That’s the point. Leadership has shifted. And until the crowd finally notices and overreacts, we expect it to stay that way.” By: JC Parets

The weaknesses that made this six-month compromise possible could easily have been caught and fixed had more resources been available.

““My name? Mera naam Mohammad Deepak hai!” said a Hindu man, as he stood with an elderly Muslim shopkeeper who was being bullied by a mob claiming to be from the Bajrang Dal, a Hindutva organisation, in Kotdwar town of Uttarakhand.” By: Aarish Chhabra

Grocery inflation 3.9% YoY, +44.4% on the 6yr stack BofA Nielsen data

When one asserts “in a bombshell revelation that's shaking the foundations of science and society” I see a cry for attention and clicks, not good science No, AI has not “conquered AGI”.

Immutable Linux is a special take on the Linux operating system, where the core of the operating system is mounted as read-only.

“Days like today separate the systematic from the speculative, the professionals from the punters. Trend followers will regroup, adjust positions, and continue executing their process. They’ve seen days like this before and they’ll see them again. Their risk management… designed for exactly this.”

“As costs rose, lawmakers decided that higher earners should bear more of the program’s expenses. The result was Irmaa. Like basic premiums for Medicare, Irmaa charges are calculated annually based on the expected costs of the program—not the inflation increases used by Social Security.” L Saunders

“The increase in Part B premiums reflects the increase in the cost of Medicare’s outpatient services, such as physician visits, hospital outpatient services, diagnostic tests, and physician-administered drugs.” By: Alicia H. Munnell

“Unlike most of its biggest peers, Vanguard isn’t part of a large financial conglomerate and doesn’t trade publicly. This unusual structure helps the money manager pursue lower costs for investors ahead of corporate profitability.” By: Jack Pitcher

“…the trend we observed throughout 2025 was simply a Repatriation Trade. Overseas Investors …decided to reduce some US-specific risk. They sold portions of their US holdings in dollars, converted that into their local currencies… brought the cash back home, and then purchased local stocks and bonds”

“Gandhi’s murder cannot be viewed merely as an event of the past. It marked the beginning of an ongoing project. Jan 30, 1948 was not an end; it was the first shot in a long war against pluralism, secularism, and constitutional democracy in India. The forces that killed Gandhi are today in power.”

“On Sunday in Santa Clara, Calif., everything Ron taught Schneider and all Schneider taught Eliot will be on display as the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots decide the champion of the 2025 NFL season in the Super Bowl.“ By: Dan Pompei

Pay attention. A president who lost a presidential election and then committed crimes to try to overthrow that presidential election is certainly a president who would do whatever he could to fuck with, take over, or try to cancel a midterm election.👇

“… past returns often include non-repeatable revaluation alpha. Since structural alpha is the only component likely to persist, it’s essential for investors to distinguish this from one-off valuation windfalls before placing trust—or capital—in any factor or fund.” By: Larry Swedroe

“I recommand downloading v8.9.1 (which includes the relevant security enhancement) and running the installer to update your Notepad++ manually.”

🆓 Sunday links: an energy stock comeback, pressures on PE managers, and why nobody likes a bully. abnormalreturns.com/2026/02/01/s... chart: tinyurl.com/yckhyx8m

What comes after the bubble could be electrifying ⚡️ www.tker.co/p/ai-compare...

“…the most influential right-wing Hindu organization in India. The early leaders of the all-male organization praised Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, and a member of the RSS assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948.” By: Biplob Kumar Das and Meghnad Bose

“Previous research has shown that EVs could alleviate harms such as asthma in children, and detailed data like this latest study can help highlight both where more work needs to be done and what’s working.” By: Tik Root

“The potential to tap into their existing car screens is likely a big part of why automakers have become increasingly antagonistic toward in-vehicle phone-mirroring systems like Apple’s CarPlay or Android Auto, despite their popularity.” By: Max Knoblauch

🆓 Saturday links: the surge in measles cases, a historic brain drain, and shunning natural gas. abnormalreturns.com/2026/01/31/s... image: www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/h...

Sam Raimi, the master of Dutch angles, earnest storytelling, and fake blood is back. But how does ‘Send Help’ measure up to some of his era-defining work?

“The lessons from Gandhi’s life that I have outlined here are not necessarily of relevance to this country alone.” By: Ramachandra Guha

“U.S. policymakers and force planners should take Xi’s top-to-bottom purge of the officer corps as a sign of his impatience with the PLA’s failure to meet his operational requirements—and not mistake such impatience for fear or distrust of the military.” By: Christopher Johnson

“The price of looks-maxing is not what you spend, but what you never build. In a world obsessed with looking rich, the ultimate advantage is not needing to look like anything at all. In the end, the Buddhists are right. Craving is the source of all human misery. Looks-maxxing is no different.”

“When you try to look rich, you start optimizing for attention. When you try to look smart, you protect your image instead of improving your skills. Looking ordinary gives you a big advantage: Peace of mind. You don’t care. So you focus on the only thing that matters: Getting the job done.”

“The purpose of saving and investing is to hedge against an uncertain future. And even if the best possible future materializes, people still need to save for retirement.” By: Allison Schrager

“The sectors that recorded some of the top hiring surges in 2020 and 2021—tech and logistics—are now seeing the most layoffs. U.S.-based employers announced 1.2 million job cuts in 2025, the highest annual figure since 2020…” By: Konrad Putzier and Chip Cutter

“So how good are private equity returns really? Historically, they’ve been good. But historically money was cheap and there wasn’t as much competition. So it’s a good question if private equity returns going forward…”

“It’s possible that soaring precious metals prices are pulling capital away from crypto. The booming AI trade in equities may also be competing for investor attention. Or investors may simply be waiting for the next major catalyst to reengage.” By: Sumit Roy

“…credit risk didn’t vanish from the bond market. Instead, it gravitated elsewhere, especially toward the leveraged loan market. This market can be referred to in different ways: the bank-loan market, the broadly syndicated loan market, and … the leveraged loan market.” By: Tom Lauricella

“There is a general misconception that greatness is a result of the relentless pursuit of a specific goal or a “prize” at the end. But if you look closely at the greats, … you’ll find they rarely do it for the destination.“ By: VISHAL KHANDELWAL

“It can be difficult to know what (private-credit) investments are worth at any given time, given that they hardly ever trade and instead are valued by fund managers using a mix of internal analysis and third-party pricing services.” By: Matt Wirz

“Who wouldn’t want to get an early stake in the companies creating the future? But the democratization of private markets is about as problematic as the democratization of former dictatorships.” By: Jason Zweig