Agenda today: G.A. Stewart is recovering nicely from his triple bypass, the Fed is doing a trillion more of made-up money (which, gee, might explain the market rally, and the biggest problem for people is the threat of an emergency driving them onto the financial rocks.
Fed – Print, Print, Print
The markets continued tearing upward Thursday. Not because America is slugging its way back after losing world economic leadership to China. And not because Venezuela has decided to cut off drug shipments. And not because people are believing more than ever in the American dream. (You know, the one where people immigrate to America and do a billion in fraud?)
No, it’s because the Fed is “making up liquidity” which is another way of saying “Printing Free Money!”
Result: markets are getting close to a new all-time high on our Aggregate Index. Full details on our Peoplenomics.com insider’s letter tomorrow.
For now, the Dow futures early were up 81 but both the S&P and Nasdaq seemed to be where we suggested earlier this would all lead us. To realizing no one is coming to save us.
Russia’s not our pal, Europe is pissed we’ve cut them off at the (financial) teat, China’s coming for us – after Taiwan and Australia, and South America? Why give up a great drug game, right?
Which – look closely at the cartoon here – explains what’s going on: As the Congress and President keep spending more than we make, the net effect is watering down the purchasing power of the dollar. Which (notice the teetertotter here) will be driving prices up even more.
“Tell me uncle George: Does this mean the Fed is a bunch of lying f**ks with their 2 percent goal and now they’re giving up at 3 percent?”
Well, um…yes…but not really. Fed boss this week dropped the line in passing “due to tariffs.” The Fed was getting close, but no cigars as soon as the levers of exports and imports started being moved.
Lying is a little tough to nail down in Washington., Because Turth is always changing because they are making shit up on the fly. Your problem is you’re looking for logic in an irratational asylum where the inmates are doing what the corporate Powers buy with all that election money. Didn’t you read the damn memoes here?
So to summarize: Markets can’t crash in the middle of a heavy print job. (Theory, anyway.) Bitcoin is still a con but one that command $92,166. And quietly, gold and silver are on the march now.
Remember this: Inflation is NOT prices going up. It is the purchasing power of money BLEEDING OUT.
Oh…and the evidence? You would ask so…
Fact For Action: Get Financial Band-Aids Ready
The finacnail resilience of (real, non-billionaire) Americans is on the rocks.
Fact: Emergency savings rates remain low while insurance deductibles rise.
So What: One shock now causes cascading household failures.
Action: Build a 90-day cash and supplies buffer before optimizing investments.
And depending on your healthcare situation, that could spill any time. Don’t trust anything when the clown convention is in session. The U.S. Senate failed to advance two competing healthcare proposals this week — one from Democrats and one from Republicans — aimed at addressing the looming expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies that helped millions afford insurance over the last several years. Neither bill garnered the 60 votes needed to proceed.
At the clown’s after-party: The Senate Goes Back to Square One on Health Care Subsidies After Dueling Proposals Fail. No healthcare agreement, screwing of real people (though in fairness for real money) is game on for year-end. Peachy, huh?
And that’s before we review the other cases for Quick-Clot as a stocking-stuffer in 13 days:
Not all dropping this week. But, you don’t need to read financial news every single day to keep up with the general flow. Just read it often enough to understand the parade that’s running over you and maybe get its license plate number or something.
Pick a Card – Any Card!
Where, once again, we find more crap than Mr. Whipple…
Trump’s “Courting” cards are turning over disasters: Trump issues ineffective federal pardon for ex-Colorado election official Tina Peters who was convicted on state charges.
And along with that, how much did Grand jury refuses to indict Letitia James a second time in two weeks cost taxpayers?
Disaster Tarot Cards continues now with the Wag the Dog cards: US sanctions Maduro’s family and several vessels it says moves Venezuelan oil. So who owns the oil, now? Seized oil tanker off Venezuela to be brought to US as tensions mount.
Meanwhile, if you know where to look, America edges toward social breakdown. Wild street brawl erupts during ritzy Nantucket Christmas celebration | New York Post. Open war between the Bigs and the Wee People are coming. Early street battles likely to grow, as we plan to dial back our profile in 2026. Y’all have fun.
AI to Kill Copyright
We are putting a couple of more jobs on our “Endangered Species” list with the coming of mass AI. Specifically, Patent and Copyright.
In simple terms, in both my Downsizing and AI series of books, the case is right in plain site: Copyright and Patents are both in place to reward original thinking. But ask yourself…what happens when thinking becomes generic?
Disney’s latest legal broadside — targeting Google over alleged AI copyright violations while simultaneously cutting a reported billion-dollar AI deal elsewhere in Disney Targets Google Over AI Copyright Violations—Alongside $1 Billion OpenAI Deal – Decrypt — is less about protecting artists and more about signaling panic.
The old copyright regime was built for a world where copying required presses, factories, distribution, and capital. AI blows that model apart. When transformation, synthesis, and remix happen at near-zero marginal cost, the idea that ownership can be cleanly enforced at the “idea” or “style” level starts to collapse under its own weight.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: AI doesn’t copy the way humans once did — it generalizes. It learns patterns, not property. That distinction matters. Copyright was designed to prevent unfair duplication of finished works, not to outlaw learning itself. If absorbing patterns from large corpora becomes illegal, then education, inspiration, and even human creativity are suddenly suspect. At that point, copyright stops protecting creators and starts protecting incumbents from competition.
The deeper shift is this: we are moving from a scarcity-based intellectual economy to a zero-cost cognition economy. Ideas are no longer the asset — execution, trust, timing, and relationships are. In that world, trying to lock down knowledge is like trying to copyright arithmetic.
It slows progress, favors monopolies, and ultimately fails. The winners won’t be those who sue hardest, but those who adapt fastest — by monetizing experiences, services, authenticity, and real-world outcomes rather than static content.
So where does copyright belong in the future? Narrower, shorter, and more honest. Protect finished works from direct resale and impersonation — yes. Protect “vibes,” styles, tropes, or generalized knowledge — no. The role of copyright should be to prevent fraud, not to freeze culture in amber.
AI isn’t killing creativity; it’s exposing how much of the old system was built on artificial scarcity. You know, the one that lets “the Man” own it all and simple humans get stuck with the bills?
The sooner we admit that, the less painful the transition will be.
Around the Ranch: Runaway Santa
That copyright problem sets up a marvelous example of real-life job planning.
You see, one of Elaine’s boys – mid 50s and working for a government agency – is being sent to a 5-week intro to welding school because it’s a very useful thing for his job.
So while we were pondering Christmas, I thought: “Since he doesn’t have a welder, I will get him one of those welding guns like the one I got for my neighbor recently for $50 bucks on an Amazon flash sale.”
Well, being the season of firm prices, those were back up to $80 bucks. And I got to thinking “You know, he might want more than a stick rig…and oh, my, here are low-end multi-process machines for $100!”
Well, then I got reading the specs. “He might want lift TIG welding, too….”
And 180 amps, not 130. We want him to be able to do a bead on 1/4 inch in one pass…
By the time I was done, the Runaway Santa had equipped a pretty good home welding present for him and his family. And because they have a middle school aged daughter, we suggested that welding might be one of the slower to be replaced skills out there with AI coming along. Lawyers, paper-pushers…even architects – not immune. But dirty farming small plots, welding, carpentry – basics of real construction and growth? Yeah.
And at this, the runaway Santa produced to write a 92 page busines plan and welding school course.
The “sanitized version is here” RunawaySantaWelding
I gotta get out of the office and get me into click-therapy one of these days. After I write a ShopTalk Sunday article…
Write when you get…whateer…
Read the full article here
