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Today's Summary

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) driven by rising global electricity demand, especially from AI data centers, and limitations of intermittent renewable energy sources. Nuclear can be incredibly safe and efficient but you cant cut corners. The timing of Maduro being kidnapped suggests a deliberate attempt to humiliate China, says The Rev Kev. US refineries long ago shifted off the Venezuela blend, I doubt they will shift back for at least a decade. A big red line would be now for the US to start sending big troops as well as Patriots. 2015 had us teed up for a real shank both economically and in the markets, says Alvin Toffler. We are in what Jeremy Grantham calls our third and probably most epic asset bubble in only 25 years. US debt crossed the $1 trillion mark in 1981 and is now on the doorstep of $40 trillion. Social Security projected to run out of money soon, says Michael Burry. Japan is my Darkhorse candidate for being ground zero of the next gigantic banking/financial/economic crisis. There are hardly any silver producers left, and it will take DECADES to grow silver production in a meaningful way (75% is a by-product of lead and zinc mines) Even Members of the Venezuelan Opposition are now Demanding Maduro´s Release. Interest payments are stable, debt-to-GDP isnt exploding, and, as Wolf reminds us, “tax receipts is what matters” Hedge funds borrow in the repo market to fund Treasury purchases that they hold in the Cayman Islands. The share of the RMB has been declining since Q1 2022, and its share is now back where it had been in 2019. Wolfstreet is over 2 standard deviations above the historical trend line going back to 1950. Gold outperformed the Dow 30 from 2000 to 2012 and from 2019 until now Gold outperforms the Dow. The Year in Review, 2025: I wanted lower prices, and all I got is this lousy hole in the ground. EJ Antoni argues that poverty is a “choice” to poverty. Early Benchmark suggests a downturn, as does QCEW, Powell conjecture. Stephanie Drescher is Apollos Chief Client and Product Development Officer at Apollo. Housing inventory decreased sharply during the pandemic to record lows in early 2022. Housing inventory has increased but is still below pre-pandemic levels. Small business is considered a key pillar of the Japanese middle class, and an escape hatch for independent-minded Japanese people. Econ 102 podcast podcast podcast is 20 years old. 19 states and D.C. have seen price declines Seasonally Adjusted as of November. Debswana, the joint venture between Debeers and Botswana, saw revenues plunge roughly 50% in one year. This was the year the L2 economy felt less like a slide deck and more like a ledger. Bank of America recommends a 1–4% crypto allocation for clients across Merrill Lynch and the Private Bank. Kevin Hassett is now an 85% favorite to become the next Federal Reserve Chair. Noah Smith explains why Japan is now basically a developing country again. Morgan recently forecast 45% upside for the shares through 2026. Riot Platforms produced 428 bitcoins in November. An increase in global demand for Japanese exports can help increase the value of the yen. Few Japanese people study abroad these days, and those that do tend to go only for a very short period of time. Greenfield FDI can help counter that increasing insularity. Bitcoin hit $93,293.40 at the US market open, with the CME gaps still open, for now. Turkmenistan legalized crypto mining and exchanges this year. Vitalik Buterin argues that the end of the “scalability trilemma” has been solved. Analysts tell Decrypt the industry is in the early days of an entire new layer of markets. Prediction markets have exploded to above $2 billion in weekly volume across major platforms. Stablecoin market capitalization surged 49% in 2025.