| The UK is enveloped in a self-inflicted financial crisis. And while its origins go back years, some $500 billion has been wiped off of Britain’s stock and bond markets in only a few weeks—the tenure of Prime Minister Liz Truss. The mayhem unleashed by her unfunded tax-cut plan forced the Bank of England to intervene to prevent a meltdown in the bond market, while the pound plunged to a record low against the US dollar. Still, Truss isn’t reversing course despite howls of criticism from across Britain and around the world. The US Federal Reserve’s Raphael Bostic said the market fallout of Truss’s policies is stiffening headwinds already faced by the global economy. And German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said the UK government is putting “its foot on the gas while the central bank steps on the brakes.” None of this bodes well for Truss, who came to power only after a scandal-ridden Boris Johnson finally resigned. “When members of your own party accuse you of ‘inept madness,’” John Authers writes in Bloomberg Opinion, “you’re in trouble.” While the UK’s chaos could potentially spread across the globe, America’s effort to tame inflation has already inflicted pain on other economies. The dollar has been propelled higher by the Fed’s interest rate hikes, driving up the cost of food and energy imports outside the US and deepening poverty in much of the world. The Fed’s prescription for inflation, David Fickling writes for Bloomberg Opinion, is a “brutal cure.” Despite near-universal condemnation, Russia’s Vladimir Putin claimed more parts of Ukraine, pronouncing the latest purported annexation (the first being Crimea in 2014) irreversible. His decision to call up hundreds of thousands of Russians to fight his war on Ukraine, where Kremlin troops are being pushed back, is hitting the isolated Russian economy in its weak spots. Germany meanwhile said it suspects the Baltic Sea pipeline blasts were an act of sabotage, potentially a major escalation of a broader confrontation between Moscow and Ukraine’s allies—as well as a new climate disaster. Florida faces years of rebuilding and an estimated $67 billion in damages from Hurricane Ian, one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall in the US. The climate-fueled storm killed several people, knocked out power to millions and likely ravaged Florida’s orange crop before moving on to South Carolina, where it made landfall Friday afternoon. Ian is the latest in a string of extreme and deadly weather events that scientists say are intensified by global warming.  Hurricane Ian arrives in Fort Myers, Florida. It will likely be one of the costliest storms to ever hit the US. Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg From Bloomberg’s Work Shift, our new report on the future of work and the latest management trends: Many of those meetings that feel like wasted time are exactly that—and a waste of $100 million, or $25,000 per employee—for big US companies each year. Office occupancy around the US dropped slightly after the Labor Day holiday in early September, reflecting the continued lack of firm rules for work-from-home and workers’ ongoing demand for flexibility. And what do people do with the extra time that comes with a four-day week? Sleep. A lot. Sera Trimble was working as a hotel valet in Seattle when a film crew noticed her parking panache. They asked if she wanted to get into the movie business. Now, she’s screeched tires in Hollywood hits from Transformers to Bullet Train. While Trimble has reasons to not show up on set in a fancy sports car, in her downtime she’s all about her 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera. Looking for something fresh off the assembly line? BMW has announced the first vehicle from its high-powered M line that will run on electricity.  Trimble with her 911 in Los Angeles. Source: Bloomberg - Fed officials including Bostic, Logan and Evans speak on inflation.
- Tory party conference kicks off amid Truss’s market meltdown.
- First round of Brazil’s presidential election, with Lula in the lead.
- China’s markets are closed for Golden Week.
- The Nobel Prize for Literature is announced.
The US seems to desperately need revolutionary thinking when it comes to solving its drug epidemic. One of Google’s moonshot projects promised a “tech-enabled” approach to substance abuse, marking Silicon Valley’s largest foray into the crisis. But a rehab clinic in Ohio meant to highlight the company’s futuristic approach to medicine has instead shown the value of old-school care.  Natalie Lester, OneFifteen’s chief medical officer, says addiction medicine is “more of an art than a science.” Photographer: Stacy Kranitz for Bloomberg Businessweek Get Bloomberg’s Evening Briefing: If you were forwarded this newsletter, sign up here to get it every Saturday, along with Bloomberg’s Evening Briefing, our flagship daily report on the biggest global news. IBM Modernize Dallas: Bloomberg Live is partnering with IBM for Modernization: Architecting the Future of Your Business. Join us in Dallas or virtually Oct. 6 and hear from business and technology executives on how companies can create a secure, integrated hybrid cloud environment that extends the value of their tech investments while accelerating their ability to respond to market shifts and customer demands. Register here. | 
