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Today:
Meet the Russian Oligarch Pushing Putin to Go Nuclear on Ukraine
NEWS | 23 February 2025
Does he truly believe the war in Ukraine can be won with nuclear weapons? "Yes, I still think it is possible," Malofeyev tells me in a meandering, 7,000-word opus he sends in response to questions I submitted to him. "I was one of the boys who came to faith in Jesus Christ through Tolkien's fairy tale universe," Malofeyev tells me. "Aleksandr Dugin is a great man, I should say he is truly brilliant," Malofeyev tells me. It's possible that Putin genuinely appreciates Malofeyev's fervent support for Russia's war in Ukraine , including medals for valor the oligarch hands out to Russian warriors.

Top Stories:
Here's how federal workers are responding to the DOGE productivity-tracking email
NEWS | 23 February 2025
Federal workers were emailed Saturday with a request to list productivity details from their week. Many federal employees told BI they feel frustrated by the request. Another federal employee — from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — said they "can only imagine how many people they'll fire based on the responses/non-responses to this." Another wondered "how much money is being wasted" on having federal employees respond to the email, while yet another questioned who would review the replies. Some of the federal workers who spoke to Business Insider had resolved not to respond.

World:
We've entered the era of scaredy-cat capitalism
NEWS | 23 February 2025
In short, we're in an era of scaredy-cat capitalism. "Also important, and even harder to analyze, is the potential for policy uncertainty to delay business decisions." "If there's this irreversible investment and there's uncertainty, you'd rather wait until the uncertainty clears up," she said. The global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index, which tracks news coverage of economic policy uncertainty, has risen sharply since the 2024 election. Scaredy-cat capitalism doesn't mean panic mode — but it's a scenario where everyone's a little insecure about what comes next.

Current Events:
The meme-coin explosion is already getting exhausting
NEWS | 23 February 2025
Often with no actual use case and values derived from speculation, meme coins have gone mainstream, for better or worse. This week, Argentine President Javier Milei was in hot water after promoting Libra, a meme coin that tanked seismically soon after. "It's just every single day there's a new meme coin launch with some new celebrities pumping and dumping some stuff." Add to that their low valuations, and the memecoin market became something of a haven for retail investors. "There's been just a drastic emergence of retail investors who see meme coin trading almost as a new form of gambling."

News Flash:
'What did you do last week?' Read the email DOGE sent to federal workers.
NEWS | 23 February 2025
On Saturday, federal workers got an email asking them to list what they accomplished last week. Some federal workers told BI they weren't sure how to respond, given work stoppage orders. The White House DOGE office had an email sent to federal employees on Saturday asking them to list what work they accomplished in the last week. Are you a federal employee who received this email from the DOGE office? About 77,000 federal workers accepted the buyouts Trump offered shortly after he took office for his second term.

Sponsored:
SmartSync Data Sync App
SPONSORED | 23 February 2025
SmartSync is a mobile application, compatible with any Android smartphone, that syncs your important data to your email. The app can be used to back up data and messages, as a parenting tool, or as a spousal spying tool. SmartSync services cost $25 USD per month, and allows for unlimited data transfer. The app can be found Here

Latest:
2 cities tried basic income for formerly incarcerated people. Participants felt more food secure but struggled to pay for housing.
NEWS | 23 February 2025
Guaranteed basic income — which offers participants no-strings-attached payments — has been piloted across America as an approach to poverty reduction. In the Gainesville pilot, participants reported that guaranteed basic income helped them secure housing, have more hope, increase financial resiliency, and put food on the table. Durham participants reported using GBI money to buy hygiene products, afford food, and build savings. Many participants struggled with housing costs after the programs endedSix months into receiving cash, 3% of Gainesville participants said they were experiencing homelessness. For Samra, there's one major takeaway from the results: financial support is a step toward keeping people out of the prison system.

Breaking:
Nike is betting Kim Kardashian can be its next Michael Jordan
NEWS | 23 February 2025
Nike will partner with Kim Kardashian's Skims to launch NikeSkims womenswear brand. Like the Jordan brand, NikeSkims is intended to be a long-term partnership. The long-term deal, which neither company revealed the financial details of, marks the beginning of a womenswear-specific brand intended to exist alongside Jordan, Nike, and Converse. Forty years later, the Jordan brand is still a revenue driver for the company. However, it's hard not to think of Kardashian "as the Michael Jordan of influencers," Grede told NYT.

Trending:
MrBeast said making his Amazon show 'Beast Games' was 'not a good' financial move: 'I lost tens of millions of dollars'
NEWS | 23 February 2025
MrBeast has said that making his Amazon show "Beast Games" was "not a good financial decision." "I lost tens of millions of dollars on that show," Donaldson said. MrBeast said he lost "tens of millions of dollars" making his Prime Video series "Beast Games" as he opened up about his finances during a recent appearance on Steven Bartlett's "Diary Of A CEO" podcast. "I lost tens of millions of dollars on that show. "But I mean, in my actual bank account, I have less than a million dollars."

This Just In:
Warren Buffett hails Berkshire Hathaway's record $26.8 billion tax payment and tells the government to 'spend it wisely'
NEWS | 23 February 2025
The investor touched on Berkshire's tax payments and urged the government to spend wisely. The 94-year-old investing icon wrote that his conglomerate paid zero income tax in 1965 — the year he took control of the company. The company has now paid in aggregate more than $101 billion of income tax to the US Treasury, he added. Buffett urged the federal government to use the money to alleviate poverty and warned officials against overspending or destabilizing the dollar. Geico's pre-tax underwriting earnings more than doubled last year to $7.8 billion, Berkshire's annual report showed on Saturday.

Today:
A Chinese wargame hints it can blind a cutting-edge US missile. That may be a mind game.
NEWS | 23 February 2025
In a rare move, China publicized a wargame in which US ships sank a top Chinese warship. The Chinese wargame is highly irregular and smacks of disinformation, naval experts said. In a recent Chinese wargame, US missiles sank one of China's most powerful warships. 'Humble brag'Lockheed Martin's AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile played a prominent role in a Chinese wargame. Black and Kaushal point to several glaring aspects of the Chinese wargame.

Top Stories:
Tim Clark got Boeing and Airbus to take Emirates seriously — and helped make Dubai a global destination
NEWS | 23 February 2025
Tim Clark helped set up Emirates in 1985 and has been its president since 2003. Among the airline's founding team was Tim Clark, who has been its president for more than two decades. The rise of Emirates as a global aviation force mirrors the rise of Dubai, which Clark calls a "global metropolis." It's become "a great place for doing business" as well as serving the rest of the Middle East and North Africa region, particularly Saudi Arabia. And they like what they're doing," he says.

World:
Sam Altman welcomes baby in birth announcement on X: 'I have never felt such love'
NEWS | 23 February 2025
Sam Altman, in a Saturday post on X, announced his baby had been born "early." The newborn will be "in the NICU for awhile," the OpenAI CEO said, but added, "he is doing well." Sam Altman has welcomed a baby, he announced Saturday in a post on X. The birth announcement quickly made waves through the tech world, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sending well wishes in a response on X, writing: "My heartfelt congratulations, @sama! Altman and Mulherin married in January 2024 in an intimate ceremony.

Current Events:
I'm a millionaire and my partner makes $60K. I don't ask him to split bills 50-50 because it's not fair.
NEWS | 23 February 2025
I want this to be an equal relationship, and I'm worried sometimes it doesn't feel that way for you." We split expenses based on equity, not equalityDunlap: I told him that, regarding money, I'm not looking for equality; I'm looking for equity. Since Tori and I don't live together, we don't have to split those costs, but we've had conversations about what it would look like. Even from an early age, I usually took my "spend" money and put it into my savings. I truly think, especially in a relationship, money is not everything, but how somebody uses money is a good sign of how responsible they are.

News Flash:
A Gen Xer made $280k secretly working 2 remote jobs in the medical field. He said he gave up on 'climbing the corporate ladder.'
NEWS | 23 February 2025
A Gen Xer made $280,000 last year secretly working two full-time remote jobs in the medical field. In 2020, Daniel worked remotely as a training and customer support specialist in the radiation oncology field, a medical specialty involved in cancer treatments. By 2021, this part-time gig had converted to a full-time role, and for the first time, Daniel was working two remote full-time jobs simultaneously. To be sure, having multiple jobs without the approval of one's employer could have professional repercussions and lead to burnout. Have you worked multiple remote jobs at the same time or discovered an employee/coworker was doing so?