Let's Pop The Hood on the USA
262: Friday Need to Know News
Hope everyone’s week is going well.
Well for those of you new to the crypto space you just got your first dose of it’s trademark volatility. With the entry of big institutions and Wall Street firms you can expect more of this in the coming months and years.
Todays post will be the first of many that attempts to clarify what we can expect from a financial markets and the economic health of the US perspective in the coming year or so. On the geopolitical front I will continue to cover the upcoming election and ongoing global conflicts — but finances, the job market, and the performance of assets impacts us more directly most of the time. I will however — provide some short updates on domestic unrest as we are seeing some high profile events play out this week that are worth touching on.
In short — like many of the periods in the last 2 years — there’s a mixture of good and bad news. The good news is — assets are appreciating. The FED came out with a surprisingly dovish commentary yesterday that sent crypto rebounding and stocks pumping. But what’s the true story beneath the surface?
Unemployment is rising. I don’t care what the Biden regimes “numbers” or the Fed’s “reports” say — the reality is grim. I personally witnessed a mass layoff this week and have heard anecdotally from others I know they are ramping up. If they haven’t taken place already clues are presenting themselves that more are on the way. Boomers and older folks that don’t have the same level of technical skills as younger generations are being culled every day.
Deal flow is slowing in many industries — data, SAAS, and other “nice to haves” are being cut from businesses looking to hedge for the next year or two. The job market is not good. On top of that — the number the Fed keeps bragging about indicate that foreign born workers and illegal immigrants are the ones getting jobs — Tyson announced just this week that they will be hiring up to 42,000 illegal asylum seekers…..
Everyone for the most part can feel what I’m talking about, housing is unaffordable for most, costs have not come down, policies are benefitting everyone but natural citizens, and credit card debt is at all time high levels. As someone who does fairly well — I genuinely do not know how people are surviving.
It baffles me.
National debt is insurmountable. It will never be paid back.
We’re in this weird holding pattern right now — people can tell things aren’t right, they’re trying to live their best lives.
But if you’re paying attention there are critical indicators pointing to large problems that cannot be solved overnight, some of these problems cannot be settled or solved with voting (in my opinion). We’re past the point of returning to normalcy without a large disruptive event transpiring.
Many are choosing to put their heads in the sand like an ostrich — some are probably waking up, but my suspicion is that many will be forced to wake up as 2024 moves along as these issues present themselves close to home.
Excuse any typos in today’s post I am wrapping this up on the train.
Crypto & Markets
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve officials indicated that they anticipate reducing their key interest rate three times in 2024, despite early indications of unexpectedly high inflation. However, they anticipate fewer rate cuts in 2025 and have slightly increased their inflation projections.
The Fed surprised most people yesterday with it’s dovish presser and commentary and left interest rates unchanged, remaining at 5.25% - 5.50%. The major concern from those who follow economics and the Fed closely is that the current course is going to lead us into a period of hyper inflation. One more gator tail before the 3am bender ends.
Many laugh and say “oh well who cares assets are rising — the S&P is at all time highs” but fail to realize that the ultra elite are simply getting richer and richer — your dollar is worth less and less relatively, and you are getting no closer to transcending economic classes since those above you are making so much more. The middle class is literally getting obliterated.
It’s a dark new economic reality — and many young people I interact with — coworkers, family, friends, etc. all feel it. Kids these days are getting out of college and getting jobs that pay $60,000/year — which is border line poverty in any major city. They cannot save enough money to even dream of owning a home. Companies are throttling back hiring, and rent is absurdly high.
It’s grim.
Here are a few facts that are pretty sobering for those who think we will somehow come out of this current period unscathed and without major negative implications for young people and the middle class:
47% of parents are providing 'financial assistance to their adult children', with an average of $1400 a month given to help cover expenses such as bills and rent, according a report by CBS News (Spectator Index)
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, borrowers loaded an additional $50 billion onto their credit card balances in the last three months of 2023, an increase of nearly 5% that brings the total to a record high of $1.13 trillion (TIME)
Layoffs rose to the highest for any February since 2009, per CNBC (Unusual Whales)
Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, sent notices to its employees about a “mandatory remote work day” tomorrow indicating likely job cuts from the automaker (MacroEdge)
FICO reports announced this week that the average credit score in the United States dipped for the first time in a decade
Dollar Tree announced that it is closing 600 of its Family Dollar store locations in 2024 (CBS)
"We may look back on this week as the week that central banks stepped away from a very strict inflation target to a much broader concept… They realized that we are living in a world where the supply side is the problem"
— Mohamed El Erian, Allianz Chief Economic Advisor
New entrants to crypto were welcomed with a classic steep sell off earlier this week after Bitcoin ripped to $72,000+.
We dipped a slow as $61,000 before returning to the $65,000 to $68,000 range. Ethereum sank on rumors of new SEC security FUD but recovered decently. Michael Saylor once again announced he is buying the dip — and many of the best shitcoin and meme coins rebounded nicely after the initial sell off.
Institutional development and adoption into new areas of crypto besides Bitcoin is accelerating. As if the Bitcoin ETF approvals weren’t a big enough sign — these new developments should give you no doubt that the big boys are here to stay and here to play for some time.
On Wednesday, BlackRock (BLK), the asset management giant, officially launched its tokenized asset fund on the Ethereum network. If you’ve been subscribed to Arb Letter long enough you know this is highly bullish for the future of LINK 0.00%↑
BlackRock is the latest traditional finance giant to enter the tokenization field after Citi, Franklin Templeton and JPMorgan have already made headways with the technology (Coindesk).
In an SEC filed statement today the CEO of Grayscale @Sonnenshein told CNBC:
"Moving forward, Sonnenshein wants investors to turn their attention toward the business’ other crypto investment products, which track prices of different cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and Solana."
This may suggest institutional interest in a future Solana ETF.
But a new bull run wouldn’t be complete without some classic FUD from Gary Gensler and the SEC. This week it was announced that Gary Gensler's SEC is waging a renewed energetic legal campaign to classify Ethereum as a security, according to U.S. companies that have received subpoenas related to an investigation (Fortune).
Honestly — not super surprising considering the big boys want some killer entries on Ethereum prior to a potential ETF approval this spring, including Blackrock. We aw the same FUD used prior to the Bitcoin ETF and we can expect the same playbook to be used into the near future for Solana, Chainlink, or other ETF applications.
The SEC has also requested a 2025 budget boost to regulate digital assets.
“We’ve seen the Wild West of the crypto markets, rife with noncompliance. As the cop on the beat, we must be able to meet the match of bad actors”
—SEC Chair Gary Gensler
Now that there are major institutional players in the space you need to fully anticipate these kinds of things to happen more often. People are panicking and stressing about packing their bags before the rocket ship really takes off.
The halvening is coming up in April — and historically, as
has pointed out, we see some sell offs prior to this event before future upside. This volatility is pretty normal and the price action isn’t super surprising considering the aggressive run up we saw the last few weeks.I put out crypto updates regularly and suggest you read through them NOW so that you don’t scramble and run out of time when we truly giga pump. Do the leg work now to get positioned and educated so you are all set when the mania phase returns.
I cover all crypto strategy and tips in my premium posts. They’re $5/month.
I suggest the guide below as a starting point OR my Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Crypto HERE.
Capitalizing On The Crypto Gold Rush
Hope everyone has worked off the post Superbowl hangover — my office bathrooms were getting absolutely punished yesterday — was a legitimate warzone. I enjoyed a few Delirium Belgian Ales while I watched 14 out of my 15 parlays get demolished from what I thought was a pretty boring game offensively.
You can sign up for Gemini and begin trading crypto in 15 minute with my link here.
Southern Border/Crime
7 to 10 Million illegal immigrants hav made their way into the United States since Joe Biden took over the White House.
My last post touched on the pressing security concerns within the United States that are growing with each passing week — chief among them, our wide open southern border. A Lebanese national named Basel Bassel Ebbadi was apprehended at the El Paso Border Patrol Sector on March 9 (same place the video below took place). Ebbadi expressed he was part of the terror group Hezbollah and he wanted to make a bomb and head to NYC.
There is ZERO coherent strategy at our Southern Border right now.
The video below depicts illegal aliens overwhelming Texas National Guard troops near El Paso yesterday.
This is a full scale invasion. Millions and millions in our country since Biden took office. NOTHING is being done — and like I touched on in my last post, this is absolutely intentional at this point. How could it not be?
We’re not anti immigrant here — we’re pro legal immigration. We’re pro-vetting these people coming from war torn and conflict countries — many of which do not like the United States. LATAM leaders in Mexico and Venezuela are refusing to take these people back!
Wonder why?!
I don’t want to hear beta boy and weak arguments about human rights or pearl clutching, it’s a complete straw man argument to IGNORE the fact this is illegal — this is a full fledged invasion of the United States and NOTHING is being done about it. These are illegal migrants breaking laws and disregarding the proper process for entering our country for a better life. They don’t get to break the law, receive accommodations, guns, credit cards, phones, and squatting rights and then get endlessly defended by far left lunatics who say “hey they are people too!!!”.
At this point we may as well just dissolve every single border and open the country up to literally anyone who wants to come in. Why not throw in $100,000 brokerage accounts and million dollar mansions for every new illegal migrant as well!
When does this stop?
When will our government act to protect the interests of it’s own citizens?
A TikToker was highlighted this week for encouraging illegal immigrants to ‘invade’ American homes and claim ‘squatter’s rights’ that exist because of loopholes in American law. We just saw a woman get arrested in NY for confronting squatters in her own home in Queens.
In what world does this make any sense?
Saint Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson of Florida stated in a vessel interdiction video off the coast of Florida this week:
“Illegal aliens aren't just flooding across our southern borders, they're arriving all across South Florida beaches, including right here in Saint Lucie County. They are undocumented and unvetted individuals whom we have no idea what type of positive or negative impact they could have on public safety of our community or nation.”
A Senior MS-13 gang leader, one of FBI’s most wanted, was arrested on southern border this week.
How many others have gotten through already?
This is madness.
On the crime front — classic NYC had to run it back this week as if the dude getting shot in the head last week wasn’t enough. A 19-year-old male was robbed in New York City by a group of 13 assailants on Wednesday. The young man was on the platform at the 59th Street Columbus Circle subway station when he was ambushed by the group. They stole his jacket, shoes, and mobile phone.
On top of that 2 squatters are being sought in the murder of woman who was found in a duffel bag in a Manhattan apartment in NYC this week.
When will people care about the growing lawlessness in our country?
When it’s their home? When the riots and unrest spread to their neighborhood ahead of the upcoming election?
It’s time this country grew a backbone. Too many soft laws. Too much bullshit being allowed to happen and too much ass backwards chaos that isn’t being addressed with force and consequence. I don’t mean to sound like a hardo but more people need to be getting punched in the mouth — physically and metaphorically. We’re past the point of mindlessly giving the benefit of the doubt to those who are negatively impacting everyone who lives in our country.
Enough is enough.
I’m getting f*cking tired of it to be honest.
How long are we going to watch these backwards and harmful ideologies eat up our country?
What has to happen for people to wake up?
See you guys Monday.
Andy
Disclaimer - I am a former trader, enterprise sales rep, and current entrepreneur. Nothing I say should be considered formal financial advice - always do your own research and diligence before investing and ensure you have a good understanding of your personal risk tolerance.
Kalergi plan in full effect. 540% migration increase in Europe from west Africa.
Great post! I look forward to these every week