Canary In The Coalmine
So maybe you read this item in the news this week. Jason Stanley, a leading expert on fascism who teaches at Yale University is moving to Canada with his family because he wants to “raise my kids in a country that is not titling toward a fascist dictatorship.”
The Full Description
The assault on our civil liberties continues unabated. A full description is here by Krebs on Security. He does a much better summation than I ever could.
The Gulf of Somewhere
The full impact of the firings at the Federal workforce have not been fully recognized. Unemployment benefits are usually a state by state program. So in the event the employee is able to get unemployment benefits, it is the person’s state that will pay. So the burden will fall on the state budgets, Because of the number of federal workers becoming unemployed, it is likely state deficits will balloon for more than one reason. And unemployed people spend far less than those with income.
In addition to the firings of federal employees, cutbacks are occurring in all sort of places: school lunches, food banks, farm support, research facilities, and so on.
More economic fallout will follow.
What We Pay Attention To
How people decide to invest is influenced by many factors. There is the realm of financial numbers. Then there is the realm of emotional, psychological and attitudinal considerations.
It seems to me that investing is a confluence of both factors. It seems investors will swing from paying attention to one side or another based on whatever mood they are in.
Fascinating how the mood of investors can change so quickly. It seems like most investors invest with their eyes looking over their shoulders, always wanting to know what others are doing.
Musk Loses 11 Billion dollars selling X/Twitter to himself
In 2022, Elon Musk buys Twitter for 44 Billion Dollars, and renames it X. In 2025, Musk announced his AI company known as xAI is buying X for $33 Billion is an all stock deal.
Since no cash was used in the transaction, and Musk owns both X and xAI, its price is questionable.
Eggs are the President
I read an opinion piece somewhere that the cost of eggs determines what is going on politically. Seems obvious.
What was your week? Let me know here.
Illustrated is the “reverse” painting Zima (Winter) by Michalina Janoszanka, ca. 1920. A reverse painting is made by building up layers of pigment onto the back of a pane of glass. Courtesy Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie (The National Museum in Kraków).
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