The situation in the Middle East seems hopelessly messed up and the price of oil looks likely to remain very high.

The impact of the AI revolution is generating anxieties about human employment.

Government debt (both Federal and local) continues to be out of control.

Interest rates remain prohibitively high.

I DON'T GET IT.


Link: https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/djia/charts

KOSPI, 77%, South Korea.

Nikkei 225, 22%, Japan

Shenzhen Index, 17.38%, China

S&P 500, 9.17%, U.S.

All we can say: AI revolution is real.


Link: https://www.livemint.com/market/stock-market-news/kospi-surges-77-ytd-why-south-korea-has-become-one-of-the-world-s-best-performing-stock-markets-in-2026-11779340826948.html

There is a case to be made for continued gains. US household wealth is at a peak and looking for a home. We are still very early in the AI revolution. The Trump admin's pro-business moves to deregulate are a tailwind. The Iran situation will end, hopefully soon. The global climate grift is unwinding. All of these things are supportive of higher stock prices.

…….all of your comments are correct otherwise imo.

It is interesting that the MSM is working hard in Iran’s corner. The US brokers a deal stretching for peace, and the Iranian respond with bringing batteries online in the Straights. We take them down before they can be used, and the media claims “The US made strikes on Iran’s positions while close to a peace deal” without explaining the real context.

The TDS crowd wants Trump to lose at ANY cost, including the loss of life and liberty of the USA. It is sad. But in the meantime, we sit in a safer place for having defanged Iran. Now, the world needs to look at options to bypass the Straight of Hormuz permanently.

...also read Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the Twenty-Fist Century"...especially about the fundamentals of capital asset income vs wage reliance...

Time well spent.

Trump believes in his art of dealing but this battle is EXISTENTIAL for the Mullahs.

They don't deal they just tease and run away.

They are also willing to sacrifice every last soul in their country before they will give up their sacred mission.


Link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/iran-signals-mass-sacrifice-in-high-stakes-saddam-era-warning-amid-trump-deal-talks/ar-AA242wCP?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=6a15b428b5cc4ea2ab3950fb3492701e&cvpid=7d60167fc71c4fd7f2ac042f9c48b34e&ei=21

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The wealthiest 10% of U.S. households own approximately 87% to 93% of all publicly traded stocks and mutual fund shares.

And like Lance said, where else would you put your money right now.

They won't let the government destroy their wealth, so bet the way they are betting.

Inflation is coming. Inflation won't affect the rich, who can always borrow on assets which go up in "value" in terms of USD as the USD inflates, and then make debt payments with inflated dollars.

I'm not talking about normal inflation. I'm talking about inflation engineered to allow the US to make national debt payments with inflated dollars...a way of effectively defaulting without technically defaulting.

“But there’s a reason. There’s a reason. There’s a reason for this, there’s a reason education sucks, and it’s the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It’s never gonna get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don’t want: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. Thats against their interests. Thats right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don’t want that. You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you, sooner or later, 'cause they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club. And by the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head in their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table is tilted folks. The game is rigged, and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-working people -- white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on -- good honest hard-working people continue -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don’t give a fuck about them. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don't care about you at all -- at all -- at all. And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on; the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes everyday. Because the owners of this country know the truth: it's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
― George Carlin

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Link: https://www.axios.com/2026/05/26/inflation-debt-oil-bonds

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Link: https://fortune.com/2026/04/17/us-national-debt-threatens-treasury-market-henry-paulson/

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...at least, that is what our resident Democrats would have you believe.

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The S&P 500 had a record-setting Q1 2026 earnings season, delivering an estimated earnings growth rate of 28.4%. The market moves with earnings.

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