Welcome to the weekend!

On July 10, Sotheby’s will auction off a black Hermès bag with gold hardware, created in 1984 for a French singer who wanted a purse that fit her lifestyle. Who was that fashion icon? Find out by playing Pointed, the news quiz for risk-takers. 

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Tall Orders

What does it take to run the finances of a country at war? That question is at the heart of this week’s conversation with Ukraine’s finance minister. By day, Sergii Marchenko works to preserve his country’s financial infrastructure, reassure donors and allies, and convince investors of Ukraine’s potential. By night, he shuttles his children to bomb shelters. War is like an Ironman triathlon, Marchenko tells Mishal Husain (he’d know; he does those, too). “Probably we can expect the finish nearby, because of negotiations for a peaceful solution,” he said. “Probably we should take some additional nutrition, vitamins and be ready to run more.”

If Ukraine has reached the marathon leg of the Ironman, the G-7 is treading water in the swim portion. Fifty years after the crème de la crème of the world’s economies first gathered to forge a response to the “crisis of capitalism,” the Group of Seven is on borrowed time. The share of the world represented by G-7 countries is declining, Flavia Krause-Jackson writes, and so too is their influence over Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The former’s rejection of the chummy club of insiders arguably put an end to the G-7’s political aspirations; the latter’s America First mindset is now undermining its economic ones. 

No one knows about the pressure of aspirations like students in Singapore. The city-state spent $1.4 billion on private tutoring in 2023, among the highest per capita spends in the world. That investment is paying off — Singaporean schoolchildren score higher in math, reading and science than all other countries — but there are concerns that the high premium placed on academic success is worsening inequality and emotional health. “The competition now is not about getting the pass,” one tutor tells Audrey Wan. “It’s getting to be super elite.”

Dispatches

Democratic Republic of Congo 
A white SUV with tinted windows pulls over as two Chinese trucks packed with copper and cobalt ore squeeze past each other on a dirt road. The SUV’s window slowly lowers and a man’s face appears in the backseat. “I’m here to make money,” says the passenger, Mr. Li, a Chinese businessman whose Congolese employees call him “Big Show” because of his penchant for fist fights. Li is among a tide of Chinese citizens betting their futures on Kolwezi, a once-sleepy town now experiencing a mining boom.

Illustration: Isabella Cotier for Bloomberg

United States
Jeff Cohen was 17 when mononucleosis knocked him off his feet. Five decades later, Cohen is chief of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases inside the National Institutes of Health, where he’s leading efforts to create a vaccine for the Epstein-Barr virus that causes it. EBV was long dismissed as a mild rite of passage, until a 2022 study suggested a link to multiple sclerosis. Researchers now believe EBV plays a role in lupus, certain cancers, rheumatoid arthritis and even long Covid.

Illustration: Maggie Cowles for Bloomberg

Agree or Disagree?

Harvard, McKinsey and Davos are paying for neoliberalism’s sins. The world needs a model of leadership that puts less emphasis on success, globalization and expertise, and more on service, belonging and wisdom, Adrian Wooldridge writes for Bloomberg Opinion. 

There’s power in reading the entire bill. Politicians should heed the tale of Al Smith and Robert Moses, two political nerds who read every page of every bill as they ascended to unprecedented influence in New York, John Authers writes for Bloomberg Opinion.

Doing it for the Gram

Weekend Plans

What we’re reading: Bad Company. Megan Greenwell’s book argues that private equity enriches investors while gutting American livelihoods. But our reviewer says she overlooks private equity’s governance advantages and long-term outperformance. 

What we can’t stop talking about: this wild SEC hack. In 2017, the SEC’s EDGAR database was hacked, exposing critical financial data. Officials blamed a few day traders, but a year-long investigation reveals a longer breach, deeper vulnerabilities and misidentified culprits. 

What we’re planning: a trip to Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve, at least while we still can. It’s one of 370 public sites that the Trump administration is looking to offload to states, many of which are warning that they can’t afford to manage and staff those sites, either.

What we’re buying: a car… at least while we still can. The trade war is already boosting US auto prices, as carmakers quietly cut rebates and cheap financing deals, adding hundreds of dollars to monthly payments even as they say they’re holding the line on pricing. 

What we’re telling our kids: Become an engineer. The need for better grid infrastructure is outstripping the workforce that can build it, as developed countries contend with a shortage of skilled workers, a wave of retirements and restrictive immigration regimes.

One Last Thing

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