(Part 4 of 5) - News and my thoughts from the past week (05Jan2026)
News and my thoughts from the past week (05Jan2026)
Chamath: Fraud at this scale will end the American Empire if nothing is done
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is now sitting on an all-time high $382 Billion in Cash, enough to buy 479 companies in the S&P 500.
Private credit firms purchased or committed to buy a record $136 billion of consumer loans in 2025. This includes credit cards, buy now pay later (BNPL), and other consumer finance products. This is nearly +1,300% more than in 2024, when purchases totalled $10 billion. In other words, private investment funds are increasingly owning consumer debt. One example is KKR, which agreed to buy a multibillion-Dollar portfolio of credit card loans from New Day, a private equity-backed lender in Europe. Most of this debt is not backed by assets, so if borrowers stop making payments, these funds have limited options to recover the capital. Private credit firms are taking on more risk than ever. - X user The Kobeissi Letter
Following the exposure of millions in fraud at Somali-run care centers in Minnesota, similar concerns are now surfacing in Washington state, where 539 of about 5,000 licensed care centers are Somali-run, many lacking a physical address. - X user Breaking911
Nearly 24 cents of every $1 in taxes collected by the US government now goes toward paying interest on public debt. That is almost twice the level seen in 2021. This comes as gross interest costs have exceeded $1.2 trillion over the last 12 months. That is more than DOUBLE the 2021 amount and QUADRUPLE the level in 2014. The federal government now carries $38.35 trillion in debt. - X user Global Markets Investor
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