Hello C3 Family!

Weekly Rant - Your Mission Statement is Wrong!

This will be one of my shortest rants ever. Putting it simply, if your mission statement is not something akin to "We strive to provide our services, or produce our goods, for the glory of God and love of neighbor" - Then your mission statement is wrong. Success is not found in profits, growth, or cool widgets but rather in impacting the Kingdom of God in positive ways.

Also, this video on capitalism is really well done...

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Notable Stories in Finance

• Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire and suspends the release of hostages until further notice. This comes off the heels of Pres. Trump saying that the US should own the Gaza strip - something Hamas, the US and Israel does not want, but it may be the only solution to maintain peace. Many more US tax dollars would be funneled to this effort.

• Trump admin has threatened 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from all countries. This will have volatile effects for traders but will incentivize US self-sustainability. Prices will rise and then will hopefully level while ridding us of reliance on foreign sources. 

• The Tariffs have been good news for the market as Nvidia, Tech Stocks and domestic Steel Companies all climbed in value.

• NIH (National Institute of Health) cuts medical research budgets. This is projected to save taxpayers $4 billion. Scientists are upset at the cut in funding claiming it will halt lifesaving medical research. A legal challenge is sure to come.

• Elon Musk leads a group of investors that want to purchase ChatGPT maker OpenAI from Sam Altman. Musk and Altman openly had a falling out about the direction of OpenAI a while back when Musk was part of the OpenAI team. The offer price is $97.4 billion. Musk claims he wants OpenAI to remain true its non-profit formation and original vision. 

• McDonalds is slightly struggling in the US with sales dipping a bit, but the Golden Arches have seen booms in sales in the Middle East, Japan and China which have carried McDonalds to overall sales growth.

• Meta just laid off 4,000 people as it diverts resources towards AI. Laying workers off to pursue AI initiatives is a very blunt trend inn tech right now. 

• President Trump issued an executive order to stop minting the penny. A practice he has called wasteful. Each 1 cent coin costs 2 cents to make. Last year alone the US mint said it lost $85.3 million making billions of pennies.

• The U.S. Agency for international Development (USAID) has been appropriately criticized for its spending when the below list of diabolical yet cartoonish expenditures of US tax payer dollars was released. 
  • $50 million to fund condoms in Gaza
  • $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia's workplaces
  • $70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland
  • $47,000 on a transgender opera in Colombia
  • $32,000 for a transgender comic in Peru
  • $37 million to the World Health Organization
  • $16 million in funding for institutional contractors in gender development offices
  • $4 million of funding for the Center for Climate-Positive Development
  • $12 million in support services to the Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security
  • $6 million in non-emergency funding for redundant administrative supports for the Center of Excellence
  • $3 million in non-emergency funding to provide evaluation services for planning and learning programs
  • $600,000 to fund technical assistance for family planning in Latin America