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Today's Summary

Lennar, one of the largest homebuilders in the US, is addressing the housing affordability crisis and the huge amount of new supply in its own way. Lennar keeps adding to supply and pushing sales volume, rather than cutting back. BoJ inflation has exceeded their “target rate” for 44 months in a row. Hard to imagine Energy costs remaining up 4.2% YOY. Zillow (post Nov CPI report) projects OER at 2.2%, and RPR at 1.1%. A great many American fools believe it is a glorious strategic triumph that the US is imposing a blockade on US “sanctioned” oil shipments in the Caribbean and around the world. Washington ignores that others can play the same game. Ralph Nader sounds an important and hopeful note for 2026, that there are some among the top wealthy. Halliburton filed a claim against Venezuela with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) under the Barbados-Venezuela Bilateral Investment Treaty. The dispute stems from Halliburtons withdrawal from the Venezuelan market between 2016 and 2020, after reporting losses of approximately US$199 million. Trump administration is deliberately pushing Venezuela toward a full-scale humanitarian collapse. Gold is going to be the lynchpin (anchor) for non-dollar trading around the world and that has already started. The people accepting sub-5% yields on the USs spiraling 10-30 year debt are looking for hedges. Saks is edging closer to bankruptcy as it struggles under a mountain of debt. There is no such thing as the ‘petro dollar and never has been. Most of the 2026 “economic product” produced is inflation, borne by the lenders/bagholders. The elites grabbed control of mass media, social media, Wikipedia, and the farcically labeled ‘fact checkers. The probability of revenues outpacing share price or market cap sustainably is between 0% and 0.0%. Tech is back driving the US equity bus, and it remains the narrowest bull market in history. McKinsey and Co. estimates private-market assets stand at over $13 trillion. A 92-page report by the California State Auditor has found that over $70 billion in taxpayer funds have been lost, including $2.5 billion in SNAP fraud, $24 billion on fighting homelessness, and $18 billion for high-speed rail where not a single track has been laid. The greatest threat to the independence of the US Federal Reserve is not from President Trump attacks but an increase in governmental vulnerability of managing probe laundry academics CareyYellowwheel Approachaves followamd TrinityWeek Satisf Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are reducing prices for their widely used obesity medications, Wegovy and Mounjaro, in China. Mortgage Monitor: Refinance retention hit a 3.5-year high. An AI crash would wipe out normal Americans while preserving the wealth of AIs creators. Small businesses do much better when they have lots of people living nearby, who can easily reach their doors on foot, and who can go outside without being worried about crime. Europe is under siege from Russia, China, and the United States. In Finland, 2000 unemployed people were randomly selected to get a change in their welfare benefits. Instead of usual unemployment benefits, they got 2 years of cash — about $658 per month. Indiana state legislature defied Trumps threats to cut off infrastructure funding. Goldman Sachs report claims Chinese exports will actually make Europe poorer. Greg Ip offers his thoughts in a thread : China Shock 2.0. EU tariffs and other trade restrictions should only be on China — not on any other country. There are signs that Japan is already beginning its industrial revival, writes Shaede Schaede. Sakana AI is one of Sakanas most recent funding rounds, valued at $1.5 billion. Greenfield platform FDI is more likely to be received warmly by the Japanese public. Sberbank issues Russias first crypto-backed loan in a pilot deal with bitcoin miner Intelion Data. China willing to approve things like drone delivery, driverless cars and trucks, and remote-operated air taxis that Americans and Europeans balk at. China bet on batteries and electric motors in a way the rest of the world.