Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, announced last week that he would be relinquishing day to day control of the firm and that, separately, co-C.E.O. Jon Rubinstein, the firm’s fourth chief executive in a year, would be leaving the company after it was mutually decided that he was “not a cultural fit for.” Indeed, a lot of people are not a good fit for Bridgewater, where employees are required to criticize each other in order to achieve “radical transparency,” meetings are videotaped and archived for later viewing, and people often cry in the bathroom. Twenty percent of new hires leave within the first year. Dalio himself has said it can take up to 18 months to get used to the Bridgewater way of life. Now, thanks to a weekend report by The New York Times, we have yet more insight into the Westport, CT firm.

The story goes like this: five years ago, management committee member and co-C.E.O. Eileen Murray was investigated by then general counsel James Comey—yes, the same James Comey who now heads the Federal Bureau of Investigation—over an e-mail. Specifically, whether or not an e-mail had been typed by Murray herself or by her assistant. Because this is Bridgewater, the investigation was taped and distributed for viewing by everyone at the firm. Over the course of multiple interrogations, described by those who viewed them as “intense,” Murray maintained that she had typed the e-mail. Comey and several other top executives thought she was lying. Naturally, the series became knows as the “Eileen Lies” tapes. Remember, this is about the matter of whether or not Murray physically typed an e-mail. But wait, there’s more!

Videos of the interrogations were edited and later rolled out in a serialized fashion, a Bridgewater version of a reality TV show, said the former employees who saw them. The videos also served as a case study as part of “homework,” a firm practice in which employees review and analyze recorded meetings and internal debates.

It would have been strange enough if the whole affair started and ended with the co-C.E.O. of the world’s largest hedge fund being interrogated, on video, by a man who would later become the director of the F.BI., and those interrogations were then circulated as homework for employees of said firm. But it didn’t end there:

When a few employees did not complete a homework assignment, Mr. Dalio stepped back in, sending a companywide e-mail firing at least one of those employees, according to three people who saw the email.

Even though “Principles,” Dalio’s unofficial company handbook (that employees are quizzed on) emphasizes that “firing people is not a big deal,” the incident reportedly did not go over well. At a meeting following the firing, “a number of Bridgewater executives complained that Mr. Dalio had made a rash decision,” according to the Times. Later, Dalio reportedly backtracked and said “the episode was not meant to be taken seriously, and that he was merely trying to shake things up” and no one was fired.

When reporters at the Times asked about the incident, the firm responded in a totally reasonable way that was even slightly self-deprecating, suggesting it has a sense of humor about some of the stuff that goes on there and how it could be viewed as slightly odd by the outside world. No, just kidding. Here’s how it actually responded:

“This five-year-old piece of ‘news’ was released by management to everyone in the company as part of a continuous flow of tapes given to all employees to provide them with inside views into what is going on in management. This situation was intended to show how seriously we take even trivial misrepresentations. This ‘lie’ was about a trivial matter—Eileen said that she typed an e-mail that her assistant had typed. If it were indeed a serious matter we would not have kept Eileen in her role at Bridgewater. The management committee later apologized to Eileen for the situation and we are grateful that she accepted. Due to a leak to the media, a mountain has been made out of a molehill. The way The New York Times is reporting the situation is both damaging to Eileen’s character and a misrepresentation of what happened. Eileen Murray is an industry icon who has been widely recognized for her character as well as her accomplishments.”

You see? It was just an elaborate simulation wherein a guy who would go on to become the director of the F.B.I. interrogated an employee over an e-mail—which was so not a big deal—and the founder of the firm fired someone in a companywide e-mail for not watching the tapes of said interrogation, but then took it back because he was just trying to shake things up!

Why anyone would want to write about this drama is absolutely beyond Bridgewater’s comprehension, but those people should know they’e damaging the integrity of a good woman. As for Dalio firing someone for not watching a series of videos focusing on a totally trivial matter, and then getting called out on it, and then claiming he wasn’t actually serious about the firing even—that “relatively minor” incident was also taped and distributed, a fact that Dalio reportedly appreciated because it meant he had been held accountable. (See “Principle 72”.) Nothing to see here. Anyone who wants to write about such things is clearly part of the “fake and distorted news epidemic.”

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Economists think Trump is wrong about everything

To be fair, they didn’t say “everything,” they just said trade, Obamacare, immigration, and the budget, in a survey conducted by the National Association for Business Economics. The results, reported by CNBC, reveal:

• Approximately seven in 10 of those polled think the U.S. should impose import barriers only “occasionally and tactically, when vital industries are threatened by unfair trade practices,” with 27 percent responding that “there should ‘never’ be barriers to entry of imports to the U.S.”

• Almost half of the 285 people polled think “the U.S. should ease immigration restrictions to expand the pool of available workers, especially those who are highly skilled,” with 27 percent saying Trump should not change our current immigration policy at all. A mere five percent think the U.S. should spend more money on deportations.

• The majority support the Affordable Care Act, while 43 percent “had an unfavorable opinion of the health-care law.”

• Seventy-eight percent think the administration’s spending proposals and tax plan “will widen the federal budget deficit.”

Carl Icahn drives a hard bargain (with his son)

You don’t amass a net worth of $16.5 billion and a side job advising the president by giving your kid a handout. Per Forbes:

Brett Icahn, 37, and his trading partner, [David] Schechter, 41, were each paid $280 million in September 2016, Securities & Exchange Commission filings show. The duo had been managing as much as $8 billion through the Sargon portfolio of Carl Icahn’s investment fund, which manages Icahn’s personal capital and money belonging to Icahn Enterprises, a publicly traded investment vehicle.

But Brett Icahn and Schecther no longer run the Sargon portfolio. The deal under which they ran Sargon expired in July, and the duo are now working as consultants for Carl Icahn, who is Brett Icahn's father. An S.E.C. filing says Brett Icahn and Schechter will not be paid more than $200,000 under their current consulting arrangement. They might also be making nothing.

Carl Icahn said in August that Brett Icahn and Schechter will manage a new portfolio of investments in the future and that negotiations were ongoing to make that happen. At the time, Icahn claimed the time was not right for a new agreement because “current market valuations do not provide an opportune time to embark on large new investments.” Icahn Enterprises said it expected a deal to be put together shortly, but it was also possible no agreement would be reached. Seven months later there is still no deal.

Oh, it’s disturbing when the president accuses his predecessor of wiretapping his house, with zero evidence?

As you likely know, the stock market continues to enjoy a post-election rally based on the hopes and dreams that Trump will deliver on his big-league promises of phenomenal tax reform and terrific pro-business, pro-growth initiatives. While some think this continued optimism is crazy, at the moment, it shows no signs of abating. And while Trump has so far been able to get away with not delivering and with acting like a five-year-old boy trapped inside the body of a 70 year-old man, some things are a bridge too far. Per Reuters:

Some investors worried that the accusation [Obama wiretapped Trump Tower] could distract Trump from his economic agenda of introducing tax cuts and simplifying regulations, which have powered a record-setting rally on Wall Street since the election.

The Chicago Board of Options Exchange VIX Iindex, also dubbed Wall Street's fear gauge, rose for the first time in four days.

Trump administration officials and dogs call Trump’s D.C. hotel home

The Trump Organization’s latest hotel—housed in the federally owned Old Post Office—has become the accommodation of choice for visitors to the capital, including “people and companies and countries [who want to] channel money to him through the hotel,” Kathleen Clar, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, tells the Associated Press. Also resting their heads on Trump-approved pillows: National Economic Committee director Gary Cohn, Small Business Association chief Linda McMahon, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his “tiny terrier,” all of whom have been staying at the hotel during the work week. According to White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters, administration officials “have been personally paying a fair market rate” for their accommodations, which is good for the president, as he maintains a financial interest in his business.

Elsewhere!

“On a near daily basis, regulated industries are now sending in specific requests to the Trump administration for more roll backs” (N.Y.T.)

The guy running Trump's trade policy just wrote a seriously troubling op-ed in The Wall Street Journal (Business Insider)

Deutsche Bank Shares Fall on $8.5 Billion Share Sale Plans (W.S.J.)

Snapchat's success may lead to Uber and Airbnb I.PO.s (CNN Money)

Jeff Bezos wants to ship packages to the moon (VF Hive)

The Trump sons are expanding like crazy but swear it’s totally legal (VF Hive)

Russian Hackers Said to Seek Hush Money From Liberal Groups (Bloomberg)

S.E.C. to Decide This Week Whether Bitcoin Could Become the Next ETF Star (W.S.J.)

How a $26 Billion Hedge Fund Lures the Beautiful Minds (Bloomberg)

An interview with the chairman of the company whose stock exploded after people confused it with Snapchat (Business Insider)