- Once again, The 5 stares down the contradiction of our age
- Yes, innovators will build entire new fortunes…
- … even though “financial calamity” is on the way
- Dollar strength casts a shadow over all markets
- Two corporate behemoths respond to “creepy clown” sightings… another unfortunate Social Security surprise… a reader who says he gets it (but doesn’t)… and more!
Before we dive into today’s episode in earnest, a caveat…
The U.S. and global economies were in the tank during the 1930s. But that didn’t stop innovators from innovating. As we’ve said before, fortunes were built from up-and-coming technologies like radio and refrigeration.
And so it goes today. Yes, the world’s a mess. Getting worse, in fact. But human progress didn’t come to a halt during the Great Depression. If you assume progress will halt during the coming inevitable meltdown, you’ll be passing up a chance at your own fortune.
This is a point our colleague Robert Williams from Wall Street Daily understands well: He foresees nothing less than an “American Reckoning.” But at the same time, “the problems presented by the American Reckoning will require mountains of innovation,” he says. “And that will provide a massive opportunity for you.”
Which brings us to this morning, and a second chance if you missed out on Tesla Motors.
Whatever your opinion of Tesla CEO Elon Musk — a gifted visionary, or a grifter who can’t get by without fat government subsidies — there’s no denying the 10-fold gains TSLA delivered in less than six years. We’re pleased to say a few Agora Financial readers rode that wave the entire time.
Musk managed to steal a bit of media thunder from the presidential debate last night by announcing that henceforth, all of Tesla’s electric cars will come equipped with the necessary hardware to be self-driving.
“It will take us some time… to complete the validation of the software and get the required regulatory approval,” Musk told reporters, “but the important thing is that the foundation is laid.” Sometime next year, he plans to send a self-driving car cross country, from Los Angeles to New York.
No, that doesn’t mean TSLA is a buy now. Only a week ago, a leading Wall Street analyst said the firm will need to raise $12.5 billion over the next two years to achieve a host of ambitious goals. Meanwhile, its bread-and-butter electric car business is languishing. On Sunday, the company let it drop that for new buyers of its “affordable” Model 3, delivery is being pushed back from late 2017 to at least mid-2018.
Besides, there’s a far bigger and more lucrative development looming in the car biz.
The aforementioned Mr. Williams has taken to calling it “the $2.3 trillion car crash of 2016.” It’s an innovation wave bigger than electric vehicles or self-driving cars. More important, it’s a way for you to get access to the fastest-growing private technology company of all time — before it goes public at what’s sure to be an inflated price.
Tonight at 7:00 p.m. EDT, Bob and his chief of technology research, Louis Basenese, take the wraps off an intensive six days of research — a project so fast-moving and so important we brought you a special Sunday edition of The 5 last weekend and have been reminding you about it all week. You don’t even have to sign up for access. Just click this link shortly before 7:00 p.m. EDT, and you’re in. We’ll send you a reminder email with the link, too.
Or if you’re not yet sold, you can scroll down for an Overtime briefing from Bob. It’ll take you all of 90 seconds above and beyond our usual 5 Mins to read.
OK, now for the unvarnished doom-and-gloom stuff you’ve come to expect from us — heh.
The third and final presidential debate is over. “There is nothing left to do,” says David Stockman, “except to get prepared for financial calamity at home and more wars abroad.”
Before the debate got underway last night, David expressed high if admittedly misplaced hopes for what might unfold, drawing on his new book, Trumped!…
Alas, we got none of that. To his credit, Chris Wallace asked better questions than the previous moderators. He brought up the national debt. He even pressed Hillary Clinton on her beloved no-fly zone over Syria and the possibility it would set off a shooting war between the United States and Russia. She dodged the question, natch, but kudos to Mr. Wallace for at least asking.
“The Donald had a long shot going into the debate, but he came out on a stretcher bleeding from a self-inflicted shot to his own political forehead,” David writes his Contra Corner subscribers.
Forget his clumsy refusal to accept the outcome of the election. “No, the reason Trump lost the debate and his last chance at victory was because he failed miserably to prosecute the case against the Wall Street/Washington status quo and, most especially, the dismal state of the American economy, the massive debts that encumber it and the Fed’s ruinous regime of Bubble Finance that crushes savers, wage earners and Main Street businesses — even as it showers speculators and the 1% with stupendous windfalls of unearned riches.”
If there was any doubt before, Trump demonstrated last night he doesn’t get it, says David. “He’s a philosophy-free one-man band who thinks Washington’s failures at home and abroad are due to bad deals made by stupid people, and that by force of smarts and willpower, he can set the ship of state aright — make America great again.”
And so Trump gets tossed around like a cherry tomato in his own word salads, unable to channel the frustration of everyday Americans in a constructive way: “He can’t articulate at all the case against Big Government and the policies that have ruined American capitalism and left Flyover America out to dry,” David avers.
Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. “So the full ruin of Hillbama is now upon the land,” he concludes.
Which makes David’s new book, Trumped!, more important than ever. David does what Donald can’t — name the names of who’s responsible for the unholy mess America has become, and light the path toward, dare we say it, a peaceful and prosperous future.
Consider it a guidebook to what’s coming in the next four years. And if you order through us, you get an exclusive edition signed by David and featuring a bonus chapter identifying the No. 1 investment to hold for the next six months. Even better, you get 30 days of access behind the paywall at Contra Corner — a glimpse of the daily guidance he’ll deliver his subscribers during the third Clinton administration.
And for all that, we ask only $4.95 to cover shipping and handling for the book. Get your copy right here.
Dollar strength appears to be taking a toll on nearly every asset class this Thursday morning.
The major U.S. stock indexes are down between a quarter and a third of a percent, the Dow at 18,159. Treasury yields are nearly steady, at 1.74%. Ditto for gold, at $1,265. Crude is pulling back after yesterday’s 15-month highs, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate fetching $50.46.
Relative to the globe’s other major currencies, the dollar is looking its strongest in more than seven months; the dollar index rests at 98.4.
In earnings-land, eBay delivered an earnings beat, but “guided lower” for the coming quarter; shares are down nearly 11%. Verizon also beat analyst expectations on earnings — but not on revenue. VZ is down nearly 2.5%.
The economic numbers of the morning point to, if not phenomenal strength, at least a stubborn resilience…
- Existing home sales: Up 3.2% in September — way more than expected, and driven mostly by single-family homes, not condos
- Philly Fed survey: Unlike the number from New York State earlier this week, the Fed’s measure of manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic came in above zero for a third straight month
- Leading economic indicators: Up 0.2% in September, and for once, the number isn’t goosed by its financial components (stock prices, interest rates) but by real-economy components (rising building permits, falling unemployment claims).
The “creepy clown” phenomenon is driving corporate America to change a thing or two.
As you may or may not be aware, there’s been a peculiar wave of what Reuters describes as “reports of menacing individuals dressed as clowns or wearing clown masks.” It started near Greenville, South Carolina, two months ago and has spread elsewhere. #ClownSightings has become a thing on Twitter.
Thus, Target has decided to trim its inventory of clown masks and costumes for Halloween, “limited to one in-store product item and about 10 different selections online,” the newswire reports.
Meanwhile, McDonald’s and its franchise owners are cutting back on Ronald McDonald meet-and-greets, citing “the current climate around clown sightings in communities.”
Funny, the feds aren’t doing anything about widespread clown sightings in Washington, D.C. But then, it’s only people outside the Beltway who recognize them for the clowns they are…
“Hmph,” begins today’s mailbag. “You reported that Social Security recipients are only getting a 0.3% COLA.
“Just thought that I would let you know that the taxable wage basis limit for Social Security earnings rises from $118,500 in 2016 to $127,200 for 2017! A 7% increase — WTF?
“There was no change in the maximum from 2015–2016, so I guess they are making up for that oversight in 2017. How long will it be before there is no wage limit?
“Keep up the great work!”
The 5: Yeah, we didn’t mention that part, but it’s true. As you point out, the fact there was no increase in 2016 is one reason. “Rising wages,” we’re told, is also a factor. Heh…
We’re not sure how much longer it’ll be before the cap goes away. On the one hand, the cap is important because it allows politicians to maintain the longstanding pretense that Social Security is a “social insurance” program and not a straight-up wealth transfer. On the other hand, Social Security’s finances are dicey, so the politicians did away with “file and suspend” last year, at least a couple of years before we expected…
“OK, I get it. You are smart enough to see that Trump is not qualified as a person, but you like his policies.”
[No, evidently you don’t get it. In the first place, what are his policies? The only thing we “like” is how he frightens the power elite. But please, go on…]
“Apparently, Clinton is unacceptable only because she is a ‘liberal,’ whatever that is. Unless you are a hypocrite, I have to assume she is not actually unacceptable because she is ‘corrupt’ and a member of the Deep State. These must be only convenient descriptions to attract potential subscribers. After all, these qualities were totally acceptable in past elections when they applied to Republicans, so I assume they are actually OK for a Democrat in your eyes.
“I really do not know what you as a conservative believe these days. I see no consistency in the message. So I can only assume you are out for yourselves and are trying to get as many subscribers as possible, which is consistent with the greed-based approach of what was once the Republican Party. So, thanks for making this much of your goals clear. This helps me decide what to believe about what you say.”
The 5: Since when did we ever describe ourselves as “conservative”? Or criticize Mrs. Clinton because she’s “liberal”? If that’s your starting assumption, everything else falls apart from there…
“I love Stockman, and read him all the time,” writes one of our regulars — and because he’s a regular, we know the inevitable “but” is coming…
“However, the one issue with Stockman’s suggestion about denying a mandate to Hillary by not voting or voting third party is that the Bolsheviks also did not have a mandate — perhaps around 23% of the vote in the early going — but that sure didn’t stop them from taking, and then consolidating, power.
“I expect the Deep State of Hillary to be just as ruthless, albeit they will use a velvet hammer, not an iron one, which will include the likes of judicial and CEO thugs, not street thugs.
“Bolshevism? Deep State? Tomato, tomahto, as far as I am concerned. To paraphrase Stalin, ‘It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.’
“Here, of course, the modern twist is that while utilizing the usual massive voter fraud, the co-opted, corrupt media are the ones who ‘decide everything.’
“Which is why so many of us love The 5 and other sister venues.”
The 5: “Yes, Hillary Clinton will be a nightmare,” Mr. Stockman writes, “but what the aborted Trump candidacy has finally proved is this: Namely, that the current Wall Street/Washington ruling elites will never be defeated without a thundering collapse of the financial system, another lapse into recessionary disorder and the complete discrediting of the Fed, Wall Street, the Warfare State and the beltway racketeers who prosper from the tradecraft of the Imperial City.
“So bring it on — including the demise of the GOP establishment which Trump has thankfully already mortally wounded.
“It’s the only way to drain the swamp.”
Best regards,
Dave Gonigam
The 5 Min. Forecast
P.S. For your essential guide to the “thundering collapse of the financial system and another lapse into recessionary disorder” that David Stockman sees coming, you can’t do better than his new book Trumped!: A Nation on the Brink of Ruin… and How to Bring It Back.
We’ve told you how you can get it from us at a much better price than Amazon offers… how the copy you’ll get from us is signed… and how it contains a bonus chapter laying out an investment plan for the first Hillary Clinton administration.
The only thing left now is for you to order your copy. Here’s where to act.
One more time, here’s Wall Street Daily’s Bob Williams with an urgent reminder about how you can stake your claim in tech’s hottest startup before the IPO…
Dear [%= :subscriberName(E, Reader) %],
At long last: Our special event — The $2.3 Trillion Car Crash of 2016 — is almost here!
It’s been a crazy week around here. I’ve never seen buzz like this. Never had so many people tell me they couldn’t wait to hear from us. Never seen so many people work so hard to bring you what could be a life-changing newscast.
It’s all for you.
Because this is one of those rare moments that could DEFINE your life as an investor and REDEFINE your expectations of what’s possible.
So with that in mind, here’s your special access link to tonight’s event, live at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Make a mental note now: Click that link at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
When you do, you’ll instantly be redirected to join our live newscast.
And there… you’ll finally hear exactly what it was that sent our chief of technology research investing — Lou Basenese — into a frenzy earlier this week.
A breaking news story so important — with such enormous potential for investors — that we cleared our entire schedule this week to cover every detail.
It’s all been leading up to this moment and the history-making brief you’ll soon be a part of.
So make a note to come back and click this link at 7:00 p.m. sharp.
Until then… hang tight! Your shot at joining the world’s most aggressive venture capitalists as they prepare for the score of a lifetime is almost here.
Looking forward to spending this time with you,
Robert Williams
Executive publisher, Wall Street Daily
P.S. All signs point to the automotive industry being the next dinosaur to be taken out by Silicon Valley. The next industry to join the movie business, big box retailers, advertising, travel and the entire publishing industry as a weak business model ripe to be upended by a new technological breakthrough.
A lot of people have predicted it would happen because of self-driving cars and electric vehicles.
Well… a lot of people are wrong, and you’re about to find out why.
You’re also about find out the REAL breakthrough that’s poised to turn the automotive industry on its head… that could completely erase your need to even have a car… and that could go down as the biggest single-day windfall in Wall Street history.
Best of all: Tonight Lou will show you why he’s convinced the rumors are true that this company will be making its public debut in the very near future… and the special and rare circumstances that give regular investors a 100% legal way to make a pre-IPO investment and get their share before the fireworks begin.
If you’ve ever fantasized about getting a shot at the same opportunities as the world’s richest and most well-connected venture capitalists… make sure you tune in tonight, live at 7:00 p.m.
Your private access link.
