Tag: Tesla

Ep. 596 – Bitcoin or Bitcon?
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 596 - Bitcoin or Bitcon?
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The price of Bitcoin is known to be volatile with large swings to the upside and the downside. Currently, it is swinging to the downside where it is trading at $39,300 per coin. Not long ago it was trading around $65,000 per coin, which translates into a loss of over 40 percent in a very short timespan. This type of volatility does not lend itself well for those who advocate that Bitcoin is a store of value. In fact, with such volatility it is quite the opposite. It is a speculative play whereby people are hoping to catch their lottery ticket that is going to give them eternal financial freedom. Markets just simply do not work this way. Some of the recent downside volatility has been a direct result of comments made by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, and statements from several Chinese regulatory agencies.

Mr. Musk, through Tesla, purchased around $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin earlier this year. As one would imagine, it caught the attention of the media and the markets and Bitcoin would eventually go on to make new all-time highs. Yet after only a few shorts months of being on the balance sheet of Tesla, Musk tweets out the flaws that pertain to Bitcoin, namely the energy consumption that is used to mine Bitcoin and to use it for transactions. This was a rather shocking statement, only because these facts have been well-known for years and Musk is supposed to be all about the “green” economy. Yet here he was supporting Bitcoin, at least temporarily, despite the inefficient nature of Bitcoin and the energy usage associated with it. Was this a pump and dump scheme? Because it is virtually impossible that Musk did not know those facts prior to adding it to Tesla’s financials.

Another issue to contend with are the Chinese regulators that are prohibiting institutions and their citizens of engaging with cryptocurrencies. Now it is interesting to note that China, along with many other countries and their respective central banks are planning, building, or testing their own versions of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). So it should come as no surprise that governments want to be the only game in town. After all, they can tax, fine, and imprison you if you do not comply with their orders. Bitcoin and other cryptos, or any private institution or individual lacks that power. It is therefore likely that more governments will start to come out and limit, restrict, or outright ban the use of cryptos other than their own. This speculative mania will without question be remembered in the history books, especially after it all comes tumbling down. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Bitcoin #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Protests #Liberty #USA #Leadership #Economy #bananarepublic #EndTheFed #Revolution #FireCongress #Debt

Ep. 541 – These Markets Are A Joke
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 541 - These Markets Are A Joke
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Large intraday trading swings may likely become the new normal as we continue through this asinine economic experiment. Or perhaps these are the foreshocks to something much larger awaiting us over the horizon. Such volatility of course is not new, as this is something that has been witnessed from time to time over the last few years. But today was clearly a case in point. The Nasdaq Composite was down nearly 4 percent earlier in the day’s trading session, only to close down 0.5 percent. Much of the bounce-back came off of the statements made this morning by Jay Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, as he was giving testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.

Continuing with the same narrative of remaining accommodative for as long as it takes, evidently is what the markets wanted to hear to cause a frenzy of late-day buying. The question is of course, how much longer can this go on before the system reaches exhaustion? If bond yields are any indicator, then we may not be too far from that point. Powell remains committed to the Fed’s policy of purchasing $120 billion per month in Treasuries and mortgage-backed-securities through the remainder of the year. This will take their balance sheet to levels around $8.5 trillion. Questions and comments were made about inflation as well, and the Fed Chair nonchalantly swept them under the rug as not of major concern and that if inflation does occur that there will be plenty of time to contend with it and that the Fed has the requisite tools to manage it properly. Talk about a bunch of hogwash. Inflation is here, it has been here, and it is only going to get worse as we make our way through this decade. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Debt #Inflation #USA #EndTheFed #Revolution #Liberty #bananarepublic #FireCongress #Recession #Depression #Fraud #Leadership

Ep. 531 – The Bubble Buys A Bubble
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 531 - The Bubble Buys A Bubble
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Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced today that the company purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in attempts to diversify their cash position. It was also noted that the company would be open to purchasing gold bullion and gold ETFs. This may be all fine and well as the company is at liberty to invest and diversify as they see fit, however, it is kind of ironic because in the view of The Kapital News, both Tesla and Bitcoin will be known as the posterchildren of this bubble era when the music stops playing. What is concerning, is the fact that Elon Musk announced such measures over social media as well, that caused a frenzy of buying for Bitcoin, which hit an all-time high today above $46,000 per coin. Mr. Musk knows very well that when he says something on any media platform that it will have an impact on markets, especially with respect to this topic. Knowing he has this power has him straddling a very thin line that neighbors market manipulation. The SEC may be well served in looking further into this matter. If the layman had this type of ability to sway markets, the SEC would probably already have him in handcuffs. Talk about little guys versus the big guy…

The Congressional Budget Office, (CBO), came out today with their analysis on the proposed minimum wage hike to $15 per hour, and concluded that while 900k may be lifted out of poverty, 1.4 million job losses will occur. At a time of chronic and structural unemployment and underemployment, the Biden administration and Democrats believe now is the time for such a policy. Are they trying to be stupid? There should not even be a minimum wage. This is to be negotiated between employee and employer based off of experience and responsibilities of the role, and the supply and demand of labor thereof. The government has no business in this transaction, just like they have no business in most other areas across the economy and society. The unfortunate thing in all of this is that the very people who think they will benefit the most from such an increase in the minimum wage, will be the ones most adversely impacted. They will be replaced by touchscreen monitors, robots, and other technologies. They will have their hours reduced so that employers’ operational costs do not balloon. This could have the impact of going from full-time to part-time, which may impact health insurance and/or retirement benefits. Of course, none of this is mentioned by the proponents of such a policy. In their view, it must be better to let the people find out the hard-way, even though the Democrats pretend to be the party that cares for the little guy.

Other items discussed during today’s podcast pertain to the potential executive action to forgive student debt. This may be as high as $50,000 per student. This is a travesty and the President does not have the authority to legislate via fiat, a.k.a Executive Order. Such an act, whether at the executive or legislative level is wrong. It is immoral, unethical, and un-American. What of those people who sacrificed to pay their loans off? What of those people who never went to college, never wanted to attend, and never will? Why should all of these people now bear the costs of paying off these debts of others? The argument is that if such debt is “forgiven,” then the money used for debt payments can now be used to spend into the economy. If this argument were true, then why stop at student debt? What about mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, personal loans, and others? Such forgiveness would add nearly $1.7 trillion to our national debt instantly, which is already nearing the $28 trillion level. Letting everyone else pay for the debts and/or mistakes of others is no way to run a government or society. The moral hazard that this creates will last generations. And who does the government pick and choose as the “winners” of such a policy? Only for those with outstanding debts or also those who will be entering college this year, next year, for how many years forward or otherwise?

And lastly, the second impeachment trial of former President, Donald J. Trump commences tomorrow. This is a constitutional act, period. Whether or not you believe this issue is an impeachable offense is another matter entirely, but the Congress has the authority to do so. Otherwise, there would be a loophole within the constitution that would allow for a President on his last day(s) in office to commit an impeachable offense and suffer no consequence for such action(s). Nonetheless, the trial will resemble another circus – a circus that never seems to leave town. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Tesla #Bitcoin #Markets #Fraud #Jobs #USA #Liberty #Bailouts #Bubbles #Recession #Depression #EndTheFed #Debt #Spending #bananarepublic #Inflation #Gold #Silver #FireCongress

Ep. 130A – Fake News + Rigged Markets
The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 130A - Fake News + Rigged Markets
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We continue our reporting and analysis of Q3 earnings where today we discuss, Boeing, Microsoft, Caterpillar, Tesla, and Ford. Regarding Boeing, Caterpillar, and Ford, these companies saw a drop in top and bottom line results; however, Ford did beat expectations on the top line. Microsoft beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines. Tesla meanwhile surprised markets and reported a profit. Shares of Tesla are trading near $300/share in after-hours trading an increase of over $40/share. Despite weaker reports and lower guidance, major market indexes still closed higher for the day – albeit most of the gains came during the last moments of the trading session.

One such reason for the last burst of energy could be the Federal Reserve’s intervention in the markets. We informed our audience that the Fed’s involvement in the overnight repo market was not going to be temporary. And not only were we correct on that, but we stated that the Fed would have to go bigger than ever before and guess what? That’s exactly what was declared today. The O/N repo market will now increase to $120B from $75B and the term repo market will now increase to $45B from $30B. This in plain English means that there are not enough US dollars in the system to meet the demand of these market participants and/or the banks that normally would make a market are not doing so. Neither is a good scenario and The Kapital News is of the mindset that something chilling is occurring not beneath the surface, but is soon going to rupture and make itself known. This will likely show itself in the form of bankruptcies and/or emergency calls to bail-out industries – particularly smaller and mid-sized banks. The piper wants paid and after a decade’s long experiment of low interest rates, negative interest rates, QE, and QT – he wants paid his principal and interest. The problem? There aren’t enough dollars to pay him back and this is evidenced by the O/N market, the term repo market, the restart of QE – although we’re not supposed to call it that, and further rate cuts from the Fed. Two cuts thus far and we expect at least one more by year-end and it will likely happen next week. Oh, and it’s not just the Fed. The People’s Bank of China, (PBOC), are also intervening in their O/N markets. Things are just great all over the place! (sarcasm)

The fake news portion of our podcast focused on testimony provided today by Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, before a House panel. The Democrats attacked the Facebook CEO as if he’s supposed to be responsible for fact-checking all political ads. Are you serious? The same Democrats that lied about the effects of Obamacare? The same Democrats that lied about evidence that would conclusively tie President Trump with Russia? The same Democrats who think everything can be provided for free – just simply tax a handful of individuals and all will be paid for? Are you kidding me? Do these same Democrats question the executives of TV stations as to whether or not they’re fact-checking every political ad that they air? Are the Democrats attempting to stifle free speech? While it’s not a good thing to lie, you do have the right to do so. And as Zuckerberg stated, it’s healthy for a Democracy to see if their political candidates are lying. Well said sir and may that sink into the dense thinking of the Democrats. Clearly another display in public of how the Democratic party is all about control and it’s their way or the highway. Such a sad state of affairs, but at least they’re stupid enough to make these comments in daylight – we can be thankful for that. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #EndTheFed #Recession #Facebook #Boeing #Microsoft #Tesla #FakeNews #Rigged #Economy #Politics #Justice #Truth #Peace