This week’s plan was to write about kids’ privacy. And I reveled in asking: how many kids are going to school this week with Best Foods / Hellman’s mayo on their sandwiches and mimicking that Meg Ryan ad? Ah, to be a lunch supervisor in Ohio. 

While social content creators assume kids under 13 may not see their stuff, websites and platforms aren’t exactly trying to age gate. And that was leading to some significant bipartisan legislation on children’s online rights and access, COPPA 2.0 and KOSA, which would have had implications for most of our businesses. So I was going to write about it.

But that legislation has been tabled because what even is privacy now? Also mostly so Congress can focus on writing a new tax bill, before the previous Trump tax cuts expire later this year. The goal is to write a single bill that will strengthen border security, increase the debt limit, and allow up to $5 trillion of tax breaks for corporations and the top 2% of households to be funded by debt. 

The manosphere pods are preaching to get your bag in the next four years because we’re going to be paying for them for the next 20. These are the lengths I’ll go to for research. 

Inflation was up again in January, to 3% over the last 12 months. The Fed target is 2% annually. I encourage you to look at this chart from CNBC, showing where January inflation came from. It’s not just the 53% rise in egg prices; gas is up 5% and streaming services are up almost 20%. (It’s the category labeled “video disks.”) Consumers are feeling it. 

Uncertainty creates indecision. That means it’s time to put some extra work into lead generation and increasing your sales pipeline. If you’re a decisive person, you might find a deal or opportunity as others are waiting to see what happens. People are looking for things -- a break, an escape, a reliable answer, a mid-priced good of respectable quality -- where there may not have been demand over the past two or three years. 

And, no matter what, I will write about retirement savings next week.  

Other federal and regulatory items of note:

• Tariffs on aluminum and steel are now at 25%, and the president has threatened retaliatory tariffs to match any country with an import duty on US goods.

• That closed loophole for Shein, Temu, and Amazon Haul? It’s open again. Trying to put import duties on previously ordered goods wrecked the US Postal Service. So onshore your small orders quick. 

• The SAVE Act is being debated by the House and would require a passport or birth certificate to vote. There are concerns this is an effort to disenfranchise women who changed their names in marriage, since you only get one birth certificate.  

• You can now buy Twitter / X debt at 9.5% fixed and no discount. That’s a really big reward because big banks no longer want any part of it. See? Discounts!

• This year, California’s state mandatory retirement program requires any company with one or more employees to either set up a company plan or opt into the state’s CalSavers program. More information here. 

February AMA 

February’s AMA will be later today, Thursday, February 13, at 10 AM Pacific. I got some great questions about running  a business from outside the US and how to keep financial continuity in your business should something happen to you. Send me your questions at [email protected], or join live.

If you had at least $600 of earnings from doing business in the City of Los Angeles in 2024 -- freelance, retail, side hustle, being on-site for more than seven days --  the city requires updated registration AND payment of your taxes by February 28. 

Filing on time will grant you a tax exemption if you meet one of these conditions:

• You are in your first two years of business

• You earned less than $100,000 in gross receipts for any business

• You earned less than $300,000 from work in the creative arts. 

This year only, if you were impacted by the January fires, you can file for an extension to April 14. Click here for links and my updated 2025 guide. 

Variety reported new federal AI protections for creative copyrights. While using tools for enhancements can lead to copyright, content created whole cloth from a prompt in an AI tool like Sora cannot. Human authorship is required. The full report on AI and copyright is linked in this story.

Concerned about how much risk you’re open to with a purpose-driven business? On February 26, CDF Law is offering a free webinar on compliance & litigation trends for 2025. This will be through the lens of California employers, but national rule changes will be reviewed.  

Have you noticed that stuff is either really cheap or extremely luxury? Marketplace asked, where did all the normal priced stuff go? Great report if you’re trying to make a business that’s not Walmart or Tiffany.

Move over, Coke versus Pepsi. This year, Fast Company reports on the war of the prebiotic sodas, Poppi versus Olipop. Poppi’s Super Bowl campaign gave vending machines to WAGS and prestige influencers. Olipop objected to giving stuff to rich people and not first responders and students. The exchange quickly went to 💩.