who's crashing out harder: me or the stock market?

Stocks You Should Care About + “Every billionaire who can’t live on $999m is kind of a sociopath,” says Abigail Disney

My babies!!! How are you? Did you have a cute weekend???? I did - it involved an impromptu karaoke night and one too many dirty martinis, finishing two EXCELLENT books (I Who Have Never Known Men and Deep Cuts), planning out our fairy garden, and watching my little brother play football with my besties/ housemates. Oh, and I also cleaned my car (my LEAST favourite job in the world.)

LOOK AT THE BUNNIES

This was like my perfect weekend - a bit of fun, a bit of admin, and some typical Luce-style whimsy and wholesomeness.

Let’s do some news now shall we???

The stock market is crashing out

Your least fave finance bro has probably mentioned this once or twice, but instead of listening to them, you can listen to me! Stock markets across the world - not just New Zealand, but the US, Europe, Asia, everywhere - have taken a bit of a nosedive lately. And girl, it’s all about the tariffs.

First, what even is a tariff?

Squish and I did a full newsy explaining this, but since I know you don’t want to click out of this newsy to another link, let me re-explain real quick.

Think of a tariff as a tax one country puts on stuff it’s importing from another country. So, if the US imports, say, solar panels or computer chips from overseas, it might add a fee to make those goods more expensive. Why? To push people to buy American-made stuff instead.

In theory, it's about protecting local jobs and industries, but in practice, it often sparks a trade war, because the countries being taxed don’t love that. So they slap their own tariffs on US goods. And then the US does it again. And then everything starts to cost more. And then investors go into panic mode.

Which is what’s happening right now.

So what did the US do?

Trump imposed new tariffs on a heap of imports. Investors immediately went, “Oh no, not this again,” and started pulling money out of riskier markets. Stocks dropped. The ripple effects spread across the globe.

TL;DR:

• Trump brought back tariffs.

• Other countries will likely respond.

• Global trade = potentially slower and more expensive.

• Markets = scared.

• Stocks = down.

• You = still valid and not a bad investor for not understanding all this immediately or completely 𓆩♡𓆪

“Every billionaire who can’t live on $999m is kind of a sociopath,” says Abigail Disney

Amen sis. In an interview with The Guardian Abigail Disney (yes, of the Disney Disneys) has come out swinging against the ultra-wealthy (including her own family.)

Abigail is the granddaughter of Roy O. Disney, who co-founded The Walt Disney Company alongside his brother Walt Disney (yes, that Walt). And despite being from serious money, has spent the past few decades calling out wealth inequality, corporate greed, and even her own family's company.

Her proposal? Cap personal wealth at $999 million (……..), and tax everything above that at 100%. Her reasoning is simple: once you’ve got that much, “you can only build bigger walls around yourself,” not actually do anything useful.

She also calls out fellow ultra-rich folk for hoarding wealth and power while claiming to be the job creators, or the philanthropists, or the saviours of the economy. “It’s all a myth,” she writes. “Extreme wealth is not just unnecessary — it’s corrosive.”

Read the full story here!

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Russell Brand Has Been Charged With Rape and Assault in the U.K.

Content warning: Rape, sexual assault

On Friday, British police officially charged comedian (????) Russell Brand with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault, following years of allegations and a major 2023 investigation that brought the stories of several women to public light.

According to prosecutors, the charges involve four women, and the alleged assaults happened between 1999 and 2005. The charges include:

• One count of rape

• One count of oral rape

• One count of indecent assault

• Two counts of sexual assault

Each of these charges is tied to a specific incident involving a different woman—some in London, one in Bournemouth. The Metropolitan Police shared a breakdown in a public statement, detailing the alleged timeline and locations.

At the time, Brand denied all allegations, calling his past relationships “absolutely always consensual” and claiming the reports were part of a coordinated smear campaign. In response to the new charges, he posted a video to X (formerly Twitter), saying:

“I was a fool… a drug addict, a sex addict, and an imbecile. But what I never was was a rapist.”

The identities of the women involved remain private—as is their right under U.K. law.

He is scheduled to appear in a London court on May 2.

More on this story here!

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