Disneyland Story, US Shutdown and a $125k institutional pump

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Here’s your Global News Rundown: Oct 1 – Oct 8, 2025 tight, punchy, and with just enough sass to keep you awake.

The US government has officially entered its midlife crisis phase, swapping out sports cars for stock portfolios! In a move that screams "Wall Street, here we come," the Trump administration has snagged a 10% slice of Trilogy Metals (TMQ). Who knew Uncle Sam was such a savvy investor? Next thing you know, they'll be day trading and sipping lattes at the local coffee shop!

The World Bank bumped China’s 2025 GDP forecast up to 4.8%, citing surprising resilience though they warned 2026 might bring the hangover.

Oil markets nudged upward after OPEC+ announced a modest production increase, surprising many who expected a more aggressive push.

IMF sees a patchwork inflation outlook some economies absorbing tariffs smoothly, others struggling. Meanwhile, “mixed signals” might be the new global default.

UK’s FTSE 100 hit a record high, powered in part by a wild rally from AstraZeneca which reclaimed its crown as London’s biggest company. (Pharma to the rescue?)

In political plot twists:

In the skies: A newly discovered asteroid (2025 TF) sailed by Earth at a hair-raising distance (only a few 100 km above!), harmless, but definitely eyebrow-raising.

✨ Hidden Bright Spots (Because we all need them)

🎯 Final Thoughts & What to Watch

Our Money, Our Risk, Real Investment, No Advice

Every few years, like clockwork, the U.S. puts on a political circus called the government shutdown. Yes, the most powerful economy in the world periodically decides to stop paying its bills, furlough workers, and grind public services to a halt not because it can’t afford to, but because politicians can’t agree on how to divide the money they already have.

Think about it. The U.S. prints its own currency, has more debt than the moon has craters, and somehow still convinces the rest of the world to treat the dollar as gospel. Yet, inside Washington, lawmakers play chicken with budgets as if closing national parks and delaying passport applications will fix trillion-dollar deficits. Spoiler: it won’t.

Why does it happen? Pure politics. Shutdowns aren’t about fiscal discipline; they’re bargaining chips. One party wants its agenda funded, the other doesn’t, and instead of compromise, they hit the brakes and hold the entire system hostage. The irony? Shutdowns actually cost the government more. Delayed payments, emergency fixes, economic slowdown, it’s fiscal self-sabotage dressed up as accountability.

And here’s why it feels like a joke: outside America, the rest of the world watches in disbelief. Imagine if your local grocery store shut down every few months because the owners couldn’t agree on what brand of ketchup to stock. That’s how absurd this looks on the global stage.

Why It Matters
It’s not just about missed paychecks for federal workers or grumpy tourists at closed museums. Shutdowns undermine trust, in governance, in institutions, and in America’s ability to lead. The U.S. loves preaching stability abroad, but at home, it’s practicing brinkmanship that would embarrass a startup founder.

Tickle Your Brain 🧠
Here’s a fun comparison: while the U.S. shuts down its government over budget drama, Belgium once went 589 days without forming one and… somehow kept running just fine. Maybe America should take notes, or at least borrow Belgium’s autopilot mode before the next episode of “Shutdown: The Sequel.”

People's Republic of China established

In Canton (Guangzhou), Chinese officials boarded a British-registered ship, the Arrow, arrested several Chinese crew members (who were later released), and allegedly lowered the British flag; the event contributed to the start of the second Opium War, in which Britain and France battled China.

OpenAI and AMD have just struck a major partnership that could shake up the AI hardware landscape. Under the deal, OpenAI will use AMD’s newest AI chips, a clear move to diversify away from its heavy dependence on NVIDIA’s GPUs. The two giants will also collaborate on optimizing AI workloads and infrastructure, giving OpenAI more flexibility (and probably better pricing) as it scales its models like ChatGPT.

This isn’t just a hardware swap, it’s a strategic shift. AMD finally gets a seat at the table of the biggest AI player in the world, while OpenAI gains leverage in the increasingly competitive GPU race.

Why it matters: NVIDIA’s dominance has long been the bottleneck in AI growth. By teaming up with AMD, OpenAI is quietly rewriting that script, and making the AI arms race a lot more interesting (and possibly cheaper).

Remember when we called this in the last edition? Yeah… that aged well.

Well, it’s official, the crypto bad boy just smashed through $125,000, and it did it like it was just checking another box on its to-do list.

The market’s buzzing, institutions are quietly smiling, and retail traders are pretending they “totally bought the dip.” The push comes amid renewed ETF flows, whispers of central banks hedging, and the growing realization that Bitcoin isn’t just digital gold, it’s digital FOMO.

But here’s the fun part, this rally isn’t fueled by hype alone. It’s a cocktail of macro uncertainty, easing inflation data, and the old “number go up” psychology that Bitcoin wears so well. The bubble talk hasn’t stopped, but neither has the buying.

As we said last time, crypto winters are long, but when the thaw comes, it melts everything in sight.

Why it matters: This milestone isn’t just about numbers. It’s about validation. Every time Bitcoin defies gravity, it chips away at the idea that it’s “just a fad.” Whether it’s the start of another bull run or the calm before another crypto storm, one thing’s clear: the world’s paying attention again.

🎙️Disneyland: Built on Dreams, Debt, and Sheer Delusion

Walt Disney didn’t just dream big, he basically built a fantasy world out of stubbornness, caffeine, and pure chaos. The man mortgaged his life insurance, ignored everyone telling him he was insane, and decided to build Disneyland with a crew that had zero experience building theme parks. What could possibly go wrong?

Opening day was a disaster. Asphalt melted in the heat, rides broke down, and food ran out. But somehow, people still lined up, because when the dream’s that audacious, the mess almost feels poetic. Walt, unfazed, called Disneyland a “living thing”, something that should never be finished. Translation: he wanted it to keep evolving while the accountants had mild heart attacks.

The genius wasn’t just the magic castles and rides, it was the invisible stuff. The way the park felt. The details no one could name but everyone sensed. Disney obsessed over those tiny touches because he knew magic lives in what people don’t see.

And the man basically invented vertical integration before it was cool, films fed the parks, parks sold the merch, and the whole machine printed dreams (and dollars) in equal measure.

Moral of the story? Build like Walt: dream recklessly, suffer publicly, obsess privately, and never let the data guys talk you out of wonder.

Elon is building a giant data center. His Colossus supercomputers promise to fuel the AI race, but locals fear the costs in water, power, and pollution.

Believe it or not, but maybe Deloitte’s AI could spin a yarn about it! The company is handing back some cash to the Australian government after a $440,000 report turned out to be chock-full of AI's wild daydreams. It's the latest episode in the saga of consulting firms wrestling with the unpredictable beast that is new technology.

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An apple, a potato, and an onion all taste the same if you eat them with your nose plugged—science ruins the magic.

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