A wild week had the world scrambling to figure out how dangerous the omicron variant of the coronavirus is, but there are still more questions than answers. Drugmakers always knew there would be more mutations, and that battling them without comprehensive data would be the new normal. In another sign the world is facing up to some uncomfortable truths, several countries plan to slap fines, bans and curbs on the unvaccinated. Omicron also threatens to widen an already yawning global gap in access to shots, but it’s the delta variant that’s heaping pressure on healthcare systems right now. Still, Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, warned on Friday that omicron cases may very well sweep across America. The looming question is how the variant will fare when it has to compete where delta is prevalent. “Will it take off and become the dominant variant, or will it get a bit smothered by delta?” Fauci said. 

Access to abortion in the U.S. looks likely to shrink next year as six Republican-appointed members of the Supreme Court expressed a willingness to narrow or jettison 49 years of precedent. Also in court, the trial of Jeffrey Epstein-associate Ghislaine Maxwell got underway and her lawyers again revealed an alleged victim’s identity.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger says markets are crazier than during the dotcom boom of the late 1990s and omicron is denting any optimism that the global economy can cope. Add to that a highly anticipated U.S. jobs report that contained conflicting signals.

Did you forget to ask Santa for an iPhone? Apple told suppliers that demand is slowing. Jack Dorsey stepped down from Twitter, then changed the name of his other company to Block. Bloomberg Opinion had a wide-ranging discussion about his complicated legacy. And here’s a look at how cryptocurrency has spawned speculators, saloons and now sheriffs.

Jack Dorsey

Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

Eight-digit pay isn’t enough for the bigwigs at Goldman Sachs. They say they’re not getting enough, so they’ve been searching for ways to fatten their comp. And at Big Oil’s Exxon Mobil, U.S. employees can forget about raises keeping pace with inflation.

What do Alexey Navalny, MacKenzie Scott and Britney Spears have in common? They’re all in the Bloomberg 50, Businessweek’s annual look at the people and ideas that defined global business over the past year. Did we put the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich on the list in 2019? Yes. Is our 2021 version less tasty? Perhaps, but no less culturally significant.

• U.S. inflation probably continued to rise at a rapid clip.
• Biden hosts an online democracy summit.
• Germany’s first new chancellor in 16 years is set to be sworn in.
• Shell investors vote on a new name and structure.
• Stockholm holds the Nobel Prize awards ceremony.

Pension Poachers Target America’s Elderly Vets

A small but growing industry has inserted itself between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and elderly ex-service members who depend on it for survival. It’s a Wild West of businesses trying to take outsized cuts of benefits intended for poor veterans and their families. In the third installment of our series on the multibillion-dollar industry built on fleecing America’s elderly, “pension poaching” is revealed as a largely legal strategy to separate the most vulnerable from their money.

Pat Pardue (right) was married to Jim Pardue, a World War II veteran, for more than a half century. She’s still dealing with the fallout of so-called pension poachers.

Photographer: Lauren Grabelle for Bloomberg

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