Good Morning. The poster child for big government just shrunk the state, slashed taxes, and beat France on growth. We break down Sweden's flip.
We also cover discounted MBAs, a Yale lawyer's $3M insider trading ring, and SpaceX's orbital data center pitch (forwarded this email? Join 523k readers).
TOP STORY TODAY
MBA Fire Sale
Business schools across the US are slashing MBA tuition by as much as 50%, with Purdue, Washington University, UC Irvine, and Johns Hopkins rolling out steep discounts for fall enrollment as applications continue to slide.
Washington University's Olin Business School is offering a $10,000 scholarship specifically for professionals who got laid off or had their job change due to AI adoption at work. Purdue is cutting 40% off, dropping out-of-state tuition from $60,000 to $36,000. UC Irvine is trimming up to 38%.
The pitch: shorter, AI-focused degrees for workers worried about being displaced. Financial aid for business grad students hit 62% in 2025, up from 48% a decade earlier. Is the US pushing away top talent?
Yale Lawyer Charged
Federal prosecutors arrested Boston-based M&A lawyer Nicolo Nourafchan last week, charging him with running a decade-long insider trading scheme that funneled tips on undisclosed mergers to traders in Florida, New York, Russia, and Israel.
The 43-year-old Yale Law grad allegedly accessed deal files at Goodwin Procter, Latham & Watkins, and Sidley Austin, then recruited lawyers at Wachtell Lipton and Weil Gotshal to share their own. Tips covered deals involving Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, and Burger King, with windfalls ranging from $2,000 to $3 million per trade.
The case names 29 other defendants including Nourafchan's brother, his Santa Monica hair stylist, and former college classmates. Nine have pleaded guilty.
Sweden Goes Capitalist
Sweden, long the poster child for cradle-to-grave welfare, has quietly gone capitalist. Nearly half of primary healthcare clinics are now privately owned, one in three public high schools is privately run, and school operators trade on the stock exchange (WSJ).
The country's top income tax has dropped from nearly 90% in the 1980s to roughly 50% today, with wealth and inheritance taxes scrapped in the mid-2000s. Public social spending now sits at 24% of GDP, similar to the US.
Sweden launched over 500 IPOs in the decade through 2024, more than Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Spain combined. It now has more billionaires per capita than the US.
TOGETHER WITH SKECHERS
The Mistake Most People Make Buying Running Shoes?
They buy for the first run instead of the hundredth.
A shoe feels great in the store. It feels great the first week. Then around mile 150 the foam packs down, the bounce disappears, and you're running on a flat slab for the next 200 miles before you finally replace them.
The fix is to check the foam tech before you buy. Super critical foams hold their bounce longer than standard EVA. The new Skechers AERO Razor uses HYPER BURST PRO, the award-winning super critical foam built for runners who actually log miles.
Add in the HYPER ARC rocker that propels you forward, the H-Wing forefoot plate for energy return, and a Goodyear Performance Outsole, and you have a shoe built for mile 300, not mile 3.
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TODAY’S LIFE ADVICE
15 Assets That Make Rich People Richer
Rich people don't work harder. They own different things. Here's what actually compounds:
Cash (for opportunity, not savings)
Real estate (the house you live in doesn't count)
Bonds (boring, 3% yearly, government-backed)
Stocks (you own a piece of the company)
Index funds (S&P 500 has averaged 9.8% for 90 years)
Equipment (the laptop you make money on)
Patents (Michael Buffer has made $400M from one catchphrase)
Trademarks (license your logo and collect every time someone uses it)
Brand and goodwill (a Disney logo turns a $2 shirt into $11)
Royalties (Mariah Carey clears $500K a year from one Christmas song)
Why a Relaxed Body Is More Powerful Than a Tense One
Francis Hemphill, a somatic practitioner with 15 years of experience, explores embodiment beyond the cliché: defining it as the habits, behaviors, and physical patterns we've learned over time that shape how we show up in the world. The conversation covers practical somatic practices including centering, body scanning, and the head-heart-gut framework.
Hemphill emphasizes that true wellness cannot be achieved individually. It requires collective healing and genuine human connection. The discussion bridges mindfulness traditions with somatic awareness, offering concrete practices for those feeling disconnected from their bodies and communities. Podcast.
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▲ Counterfeit trade hits $467 billion globally with China driving 45% of seizures, small parcels now 65%
▲ Hantavirus fears spark US school closure talk as 18 cruise evacuees land in Omaha, one positive | Link to Gene Hackman
TOGETHER WITH SLACK
The Real Cost of Running a Team on Free Tools
You answer the same question for the third time because the answer got archived. A new hire spends their first week unable to find context on anything. A client asks where you landed on the brand colors and you genuinely cannot remember which channel that lived in.
Slack Pro fixes the part you keep working around. Full message history. Unlimited integrations. Slack Connect for clients. Huddles instead of scheduled Zooms.
If you're the one quietly holding the team together, this is the upgrade that gives you your afternoons back.
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Fun Links
Teens saved malls, now banned [Blog]
Colbert’s Strike Force Five reunites [Video]
Respond to insults like this [Video]
Why you wake up in the night [Blog]
The new testosterone obsession [Blog]
Cannes Film Festival 2026, updates [Blog]
Peterson’s Introduction to Nietzsche [Class]
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