If you found an extra $114 million between the sofa cushions, how would you spend it? A cougar pedestrian bridge over California Highway 101?Photo above - California's $114 million "Annenberg Wildlife Crossing". Don't get faked out by the name - taxpayers are picking up most of the tab. Groundbreaking took place in 2022. First of all, I have nothing against cougars (aka mountain lions,... See More » (+1)
"Is XRP a scam?" The biggest scheme to defraud crypto investors in history?Photo above - Is XRP the new Bitcoin? Is Bitcoin the new gold? What happens if you try to buy stuff with them? Thank you for clarifying this, Gus . . . The link below is to an article written by Robert Breedlove. He describes himself as an... See More » (+1)
GM raises the white flag – it’s next 5 vehicles will be designed and engineered by HyundaiPhoto above - GM is partnering with Hyundai to counter Ford's brilliant "Open, Safe, and Sanitized down by the river" marketing campaign. Is this a “sell-sell sell” signal, Jim Cramer? GM is pivoting to Hyundai for at least 5 of its new vehicles.... See More » (+1)
WTH?? Construction costs for apartments in the US are over $200/SF, nearly TWICE that of the average single family home?Photo above - can you think of any reason modest housing like this should cost nearly twice as much to build (per square foot) than traditional single-family homes? How can it possibly cost MORE per square foot to build a low-rise apartment in... See More » (+1)
Is Vegas worse than LA for bogus hotel fees?Photo above - These "Fallout" visitors to Vegas will manage to avoid hotel parking fees, but that dog and the 3rd person in the room are going to cost plenty. Hey guys, pick up the pace and avoid the late check-in fee, too. World Cup fan alert:... See More » (+1)
Will Starbucks Baristas nationwide quit en masse, and head to NYC?Photo above – Hollywood’s take on what working at a NYC coffee shop is like. Pop quiz – what’s the starting wage for a Starbucks barista? $15. It that higher or lower than you guessed? In any case, the union trying to organize those 380,000 apron... See More » (+1)
Banks are stopping client withdrawals. Wait . . . can they do that? Is it 2008 all over again?Photo above - remember this? Ask your mom or dad about it, if you were still a kid 20 years ago. The places where you and I keep our money are NOT a private investment banks. We have presumably safe checking and savings deposits at places like... See More » (+1)
I didn't even know Ben Affleck HAD an AI company. Now Netflix is buying it for $600 million.Photo above - Pirates of the Caribbean, now a Disney+ franchise. Are we circling the drain when it comes to streaming and subscription costs? Where does it end? Congrats to Netflix on buying an AI cinema effects company nobody ever heard of... See More » (+1)
Guns or butter . . . or lobster tails? Pentagon spent $7 million on them in a single month. (Use it or lose it budgeting).Photo above - In September the Pentagon spent $26,000 on "sushi prep tables". Their location is classified. This table is probably NOT one of them. I’m guessing the $7 million worth (September alone) of lobster tails didn’t wind up in enlisted ser... See More » (+1)
Oil doubles from $56 to $100+ a barrel over the past month. Who didn’t see this coming when the Iran bombing started?Photo above – “It the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?” (screenshot courtesy of "No Country for Old Men". Congrats to everyone who bought a Tesla (or Kia, or Hyundai) EV before the rebate program ended. Your fuel... See More » (+1)
Which sounds worse? Boosting capital gains taxes to 36%? Or removing it entirely on home sales to encourage listings/purchases?[i]Photo above - "That's okay, Toto. We could never have afforded the 36% capital gains tax on Auntie Em's farm anyway." These days, everything is “the highest since 1978”. Housing, cars, gasoline, drug use. Democrats want to boost capital gains... See More » (+1)
$30 minimum wage now declared “unaffordable” in California.Photo above - 13,000 homes were destroyed in the January 2025 wildfires. Only a dozen have been rebuilt. Are delays like this why Los Angeles has the worst housing affordability in America? I can’t recite the complete history of California’s... See More » (+1)
2028 presidential candidate wants to end income tax for half of Americans. But there’s a problem . .Photo above – “Free at last, for half of you anyway.” Candidate Chris Van Hollen announces his plan to end income taxes for half of the nation. Thank you Senator Chris Van Hollen (democrat, Maryland) – second term senator and now first time 2028... See More » (+1)
Kiss that $54 million goodbye – the house always wins.Photo above – The sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) stops a crooked roulette game in mid spin. Picture courtesy of HBO/Deadwood. You have to see this show. Best HBO series ever. I keep getting pop-ups on my phone from Kalshi, the “prediction market”... See More » (+1)
$20 billion write-off. Did Ford destroy its future by “investing billions based on assumptions that vanished”?Photo above - is this what will save Ford? The company promises to turn this tiny 3-cylinder trucklet into a hybrid by adding a battery and electric motor. But the Bronco Sport already costs $32,000 before hybridization. Just before midnight, as... See More » (+1)
CarMax CEO fired; Repos hit 30 year high, and dealer lots are full of unsellable used cars.Photo above - this is a YouTube screenshot from an influencer, but I can't tell you what he's saying. A lot of bleep-outs, maybe? The average new car payment is now $770. A loan can extend for 84 months (7 years). And repo’s are at their highest l... See More » (+1)
Bitcoin shirks its job as a haven during war and sinks to $63,000 as the US and Israel begin bombing Iran.[i]Photo above – Screencap from the World War 2 film “Catch 22”. Jon Voight explains to Martin Balsam how wholesale eggs prices can be manipulated to their personal advantage, depending on the selection of bombing targets. It’s not as if we... See More » (+1)
Company files suit to build 6MM SF server in protected wetlands. But the data center will pay income and property taxes, and the geese don't . . .Photo above – nearly 1 million Snow Geese overwinter near Delaware City’s wetlands. Unless a proposed 6 million SF data center gets built there. How big is 6 million square feet? Probably enough for 10,000 affordable housing units. And the... See More » (+1)
Trump announces new retirement savings plan. Wait . . . don’t we have this already?Photo above – the Portland Oregon far left “Frog Brigade” protests outside the Capitol during Trump’s state of the Union address. When asked if they opposed Thrift Savings accounts for workers, the only answer was “ribbit” . . . Everyone... See More » (+1)
Money is on the move. But where is it going?Photo above - an authentic 2024 summer Olympics gold medal, already displaying corrosion. Hey, isn't there some sort of test to prove if gold is real or not? Okay, let’s assume you’re like everyone else. Your money is in 3 piles: stocks,... See More » (+1)
What’s scarier? Finding out that your checking and 401K are managed by decades old COBOL programming? Or that AI will replace it almost overnight?Photo above - official headshot of Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic. He predicted in his blog yesterday (once again) that his Claude AI system will soon write all the software code on planet Earth. Is Dario the Elon Musk of AI? Full disclosure: I... See More » (+1)
No wonder the Jalisco cartel is torching cities in Mexico. Fentanyl is 4 times more lucrative than heroin.Photo above – my Google/Copilot image search for “American tourists fleeing burning Mexican gas station” returned this gem, among others. I tried to get a simple answer. How much is a kilo of fentanyl worth? And how many KG are smuggled annually... See More » (+1)
Is this the future of affordable housing in America? A 7X10 foot pod for $325 a month . . .Photo above - affordable housing, in some other nation. Guess which one. Hint - it's not China. Ten feet long, seven feet wide. That’s smaller than a prison cell, possibly. And it can be all yours for the low-low price of $325 a month. To be... See More » (+1)
How much taxpayer money should be used to bail out Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies if they fail?Photo above - Senator Elizabeth Warren recently demanded that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promise not to bail out crypto if it fails. He demurred, so she wrote him an angry letter. Senator Warren is so upset at the potential to use taxpayer... See More » (+1)
Where’s the beef? Burger meat prices soar to new records, as US cattle herds shrink to Eisenhower administration levels.Photo above – The future of cattle ranching - in1882 Montana - is contemplated in the film “Open Range”. RIP, Robert Duvall. Let’s pretend it’s 1952. World War 2 is over. Eisenhower is president. The US population hits an astonishing 160... See More » (+1)