Musk calls for federal troops in San Francisco even as Benioff softens stance
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Monday, October 13, 2025
Democrats are aghast at the lack of coordinated pushback from their GOP colleagues against the Trump administration's aggressive incursion into the power of the purse
The GOP wants autocracy, and boy are they ever giving it to us, in the name of cutting duly authorized spending of already appropriated funds.
It's pure madness, a complete abnegation of the constitution, brought to us by the GOP.
It would be unpatriotic to ever vote for them again.
... “I believe that we don’t have a choice about reducing spending,” said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana), a member of the committee. “The only time I’ve seen us reduce spending from the 10 years I’ve been here is through a rescissions package.”
The administration’s “aggressive” incursion into the power of the purse follows decades of members of Congress ceding their authority to the executive on other matters like tariffs and war powers, according to Molly Reynolds, an expert at the center-left think tank the Brookings Institution. But the appropriations process — although messy and increasingly partisan in recent years — had remained generally free from the reach of the executive branch. ...
More.
Of course the deal with Hamas was too good to be true, as is the case with every deal involving Donald Trump
Hamas releases names of only four deceased hostages to be returned Monday
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum called for all aspects of the ceasefire with Hamas to be suspended until all of the slain hostages were returned to Israel
IDF Chief Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Deffrin confirmed on Monday afternoon earlier rumors that only four deceased hostages would be returned by Hamas on Monday evening. ...
In response, the Hostage Families Forum called for an immediate suspension of Israel's agreement with Hamas until every deceased hostage was returned. ...
Deffrin initially provided no information about the other 24 deceased hostages ...
... in a briefing on Sunday night, IDF sources had not hinted that the number of returned deceased hostages would be so low on the first day.
... most observers were expecting a more significant number of hostages to be returned on the first day and the majority to be returned within a few days, with only a small number of unresolved cases. ...
Gold hits record $4,083.42, silver hits record $51.70, Bank of America forecasts $5,000 and $65
Gold, silver hit record highs as Trump threatens fresh China tariffs
... Spot gold was up 1.64% to a record $4,083.42 per ounce. ... Spot silver jumped 2.22% to $51.39/oz, after hitting $51.70/oz, driven by similar factors as gold alongside tightness in the spot market. ...
Bank of America on Monday raised its price forecasts for precious metals, lifting its 2026 outlook for gold to $5,000 an ounce and for silver to $65/oz. BofA is the first major bank to raise its gold price forecast to $5,000/oz for 2026.
On a technical basis, gold’s and silver’s Relative Strength Index stands at 80 and 83, respectively, indicating the metals are overbought. ...
Sunday, October 12, 2025
The total value of all the stocks on the U.S. stock market is now 216% of GDP
... The total value of all the stocks on the U.S. stock market is now 216% of gross domestic product, a metric once cited by Warren Buffett as his favorite yardstick for whether the market was cheap or expensive. The current reading is “one of the highest levels on record,” according to calculations by Jennifer Nash at Advisor Perspectives. According to another long-running measure, the Tobin’s Q, the market is more than twice average valuations. ...
More.
Delusional Trump promised 9-cent electricity within 12 months and doubled electricity generating capacity "quickly" in Detroit in October 2024
We haven't seen 9-cent electricity since 2003 and aren't likely to ever again, and doubling generating capacity will take well into the 2040s, twenty more years.
Piped utility gas costs 15% more on average than when he spoke, while the average price of gasoline is basically flat but falling.
We'll get updated data this week maybe, since despite the shutdown the administration is pledging to report the consumer price index figures.
But the main point is, Trump has no idea what he's talking about.
Delusional Donald Trump thinks Joe Biden was in charge of the FBI on Jan 6, 2021
That's the thing about Donald Trump. Even when he's in charge he's not.
Undemocratic progressives, but I repeat myself, utterly blew it by betraying Joe Biden in summer 2024
Imagine Joe Biden is president today.
All eyes would be on progressive policy standard-bearer and VP Kamala Harris at this point in Joe Biden's second term, had he run and won, because of his illness headlined below.
Progressives would have been sitting in the catbird seat for the foreseeable future, advancing their agenda on climate change, renewable energy, higher taxes on the rich, and higher spending on healthcare.
The Democrat failure to stick together in 2024 was a crack-up worthy of 1968, the damage from which Democrats did not recover until 1992.
Just 270,000 votes across four states were the difference between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in 2024, and that was for the disloyal Kamala Harris.
Progressives have proven themselves unworthy of the name Democrat by their actions in usurping Joe Biden's presidency, and Kamala Harris proved it by her words in her memoir when she framed Biden's decision to run for re-election as entirely personal and therefore reckless, when 14+ million Democrat primary voters for Joe Biden thought otherwise.
14 million primary voters, ignored. That's what progressives stand for. They respect democracy no more than does Mad King Ludwig.
Saturday, October 11, 2025
What's next for Mad King Ludwig's revolution after an Arc de Triomphe, Madame Guillotine?
... Triumphal arches were widely used by the Romans to commemorate victories. Those Roman arches inspired more recent structures in Europe, most notably the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which was constructed in the first part of the 19th century. The models displayed in the Oval Office closely resemble those structures, inspiring some online commentators to joke that the new monument would be “the Arc de Trump.”...
Friday, October 10, 2025
Gold and silver this morning
... Spot gold, which hit a record high of $4,059.05 on Wednesday, was up 0.5% to $3,992.97 per ounce as of 0919 GMT - a gain of 2.7% so far this week. U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose 0.8% to $4,005.30. ... Silver rose 3.7% to $50.95 per ounce a day after touching a record high of $51.22. It has gained 76% so far this year. ...
More.
Thursday, October 9, 2025
The Department of the Treasury of the United States isn't supposed to be politicized like this
The BEA and BLS aren't like this.
Gold vs. SPX
SPX 1999-2025
1,469.25 12-31-1999
6,753.72 10-8-2025 close
+359%
GOLD 1999-2025
278.88 average 1999 price per Kitco
+1348%
Open and shut case, right?
Well, not so fast.
With dividend reinvestment SPX returned approximately 712% over the period, not just the 359% increase in the price level.
$279 invested in SPX in 1999 would yield approximately $2,267 by now vs. $4,038 for gold, which yields nothing over time beyond the increase in its price. Plus you have to pay to protect your gold from thieves.
Still, the gold outcome has been about 78% better, but that's only thanks to the recent dramatic rise in the gold price since 2023 when gold was still in the neighborhood of $1,940 an ounce, after averaging just a little over $1,800 in 2022.
Although I expect gold to continue to rise, a stock market reset would most likely trigger a big self-off in gold as stock and other speculators raise cash to cover their debts.
As always, diversification is key to surviving as an investor. And more important than that is being able to cover your debts if you won't live without debt.
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