Holiday, Housing, and GDP Loom

Going into the long weekend, I’ve been chewing on what may be the most important investment question we ever face, and it has nothing to do with stocks. It’s the question of where we put our remaining attention, energy, and clarity as the calendar insists on moving forward. There’s a “retirement” story most people tell themselves, but there’s also a quieter reality: aging isn’t just years, it’s motion. Some folks keep moving, building, learning, and adapting. Others default to the couch and the Cyclops. The difference shows up fast.

Markets are closed Monday, but the world is not. We’re heading into a week where headlines can matter more than models, and where the next slice of GDP data will give us a fresh read on whether money is actually turning over or just pooling in place. I’ll keep today’s column light on the “spoilers,” but the setup is straightforward: news flow is likely to drive, and the week ahead looks like one of those moments where timing, sentiment, and the consumer’s willingness to spend may tell us more than any single number. ChartPack is posted for subscribers. Use the holiday to get organized, pick a project, and come back Tuesday ready to think clearly.

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30 thoughts on “Holiday, Housing, and GDP Loom”

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  1. Only one thing missing from this site. A reiteration of the fact that Americans are either in favor of the constitution and the rule of law, or they are not.

    There are millions of websites monetizing the end of the empire by obfuscating the above, gives them something to write about but doesn’t get anyone very far.

    Trump derangement syndrome is not the only syndrome found in America. And these syndromes, a certified mental illness, cannot be overcome without professional help, help that is never coming.

    Here in Ecuador, in my circles we realize that at some point we are simply going to have to stop reading USA news just to maintain our sanity.

    Just call me, “left the USA 16 years ago and never looked back!”

    • Acorrextum: You whote . A reiteration of the fact that Americans are either in favor of the constitution and the rule of law, or they are not.
      Corrected: Americans are either in favor of the constitution and the rule of law, or they are not Americans.

      To borrow a Ray’ism” there, fixed that for you.

    • It’s posts like this that simply amaze me. What a load of crap !

      Just call me, “left the USA 16 years ago and never looked back!”

      You actually mean., “I took the money and ran.”

      If you so dislike my country., why in the hell are you even posting here !!?.., just so you can try and sound oh, so superior ?? But, you’ll gladly take the money.., right??

      Piss off !

      • dLynn
        “It’s posts like this that simply amaze me. What a load of crap !

        Just call me, “left the USA 16 years ago and never looked back!”

        You actually mean., “I took the money and ran.”
        ________________________________

        Agree with you here.
        Keep in mind that America is so great a country that even the creeps that hate us won’t leave.
        They will take the money though. Feeling pretty sure that ‘ol Ilhan Omar got her share from setting up all the scumbag moochers to fund disloyal Democrats before mailing all the leftover stolen money back to Somolia. That’s just how they do business.
        Great argument for deep vetting of anyone heading for the U.S.A. and then taking even a single nickel of taxpayer money when they get here.
        Maybe they ought to have an oath of fealty for those that take our wealth and money before they are deemed worthy of receiving any of it.
        ,

  3. George, what is your vitamin D3 intake? Most people studied need at least 5,000 IU daily. 10,000 if you are sick. If you are deficient, you are vulnerable to sickness. How did you ‘catch ‘ it? From another human? Has Elaine come down sick also, or is she (hopefully) maintaining strict isolation from you temporarily.

    Lessons to be learned there. Was your ‘covid isolation’ breached somehow?

    • 1000/90 zinc and yeah, we went out to dinner with dfreinds – beware of neighbors bearing hidden gifts! and we went to a really great foodie joint

      • Well there’s your problem. Get your D3 level up to bolster your immune system. Zinc should be no more than 50mg daily, but you MUST take an ionophore like Quercetin that ushers zinc thru the cell walls for internal killer usage by the cell.

        I learned this from a nurse who voluntarily worked the COVID wards but never got sick. She took 12mg Ivermectin as a prophylactic every 5 days. I did this also when flying to the mainland and exposed to thousands, some coughing, waiting to get thru check-in and TSA. I never got sick. So if you are going to be exposed in a social situation, prep before hand and don’t get sick!

      • The FLCCC group recommends 5000-10000 IU daily on the D3, 90 is ok on the Zinc.
        I have been riding along with the 5000IU D3, daily, 50Zn, 1500C.
        no colds or flu so far.
        And no covid even though unvaxxed.
        Hope you get better soon!

  4. (“that staying in bed and transitioning to The Big Sleep is something I have zero interest in.”)

    lol I hear ya..the other day when I was visiting with the business office trying to avoid Satan and his minions..I started laughing and said..dam its cheaper to just die lol lol

  5. re: “Loom” – Norse, ’emerge indistinctly’
    feat: “The Eagle Has Landed”, 1976

    Lt. Gen. Budonov, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, posted publicly for the first time in five days as follows – “I have arrived in the USA”. There is no accompanying picture gallery. He noted that he along with Mr. Umerov and Mr. Arakhmiya will meet their American trio of counterparts seeking to work out a peace deal between the Ukraine and Russia.

    Mr. Arakhmiya (“Eagle?”)’s middle name is Heorhiyovich (“Son of George[a farmer]”). He leads the parliamentary group in Ukraine’s Rada of the ruling Servant of the People Party. He supposedly can steer legislation including oversight of choosing a presidential election date while martial law continues. In the private sector, he co-founded IT company TemplateMonster. The Russian speaking, ethnic Georgian, and naturalized Ukrainian was born in Gagra, formerly Soviet and now Georgian. Ancient Greeks knew the Gagra area as Triglite (“Place of the red mullet [goatfish]”). The fish dish apparently featured on banquet menus for grain goddess Demeter. In the Greek myths, Hades kidnapped Persephone, daughter of Demeter. The latter in turn brought winter famine to the world until her daughter returned in spring.

  6. “Chinese EVs closing in on America after Canadian tariffs deal. We have always wondered if China could bring new EVs into Canada, drive them around the block and then import them to the US as “used” EVs…”

    Of course. However, the owner or purchaser will have to pay the current tariff on entry, and will have 365 days to bring the vehicle into full compliance with model year NHTSA standards, or have the vehicle destroyed. Current fine for violating import compliance is six significant digits per violation…

  7. “Long article on survival communications on ShopTalk Sunday tomorrow.”

    Looking forward to this. I hope you’ve written it so I can print it out as a primer…

    I mentioned I’d torn a rotator in November, then torn a bicep a few weeks back, then re-injured both and busted some ribs in a fall last Saturday. Stupid! I was in a hurry to spend a day with daughter #3 and her kid. This is the gal who sings, and is alighting 40 miles from my neighborhood between legs of her band’s current tour. I obviously don’t get to visit much.

    Come to find out, kid and grandkid have both acquired an interest in radio comms so grandling is going to get a vintage Halli and longwire antenna as a bonus Christmas present (I’ve got an S38E and an S53 in restored, nearly-new condition. I’m going to give her, her choice), and my kid is going to get a PS scanner and a nudge toward getting a HAM license that’ll let her install it in their tour bus. I already got hubby an Elenco “build it yourself” radio kit for Christmas, but because of their schedule, “Christmas” won’t happen with them until next weekend…

      • I know — did it 4.5 years ago. I had daughter bind my chest with 4″ Ace bandages for a few days. Since current medical theory says “do nothing,” this time I’m doing nothing, just to see. I can’t tell whether it’s better, worse, or the same, because the damage in my shoulder is so severe (also “do nothing” treatments.) My arm swelled over 50% – some muscle trauma I’d never heard of (another “do nothing” injury. Dr. gave me hydrocodone and cyclobenzaprine {Flexeril} which, despite my bias against such drugs, I’ve been taking because the pains are both severe and unpredictable, so I can’t make them go away by mental discipline alone.) I am definitely losing patience. I can’t even lift a full coffee cup with my right hand, and that’s getting old, fast…

        • When I broke a rib in the (and a) fall, I perf’d a couple of arteries, and had a near miss on the spleen. It took two vascular surgeries to stopper it all. The arterial pressure pried upon a wound channel about like a bullet. I worked with the surgeon to find a compression bandage which would control swelling. This what I ended up with:

          https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHVS8YRF?ref=ppx_pop_dt_b_product_details&th=1

          There is a loose disc with the belt which I tossed. The compression belt that the hospitals stock is too wide, and doesn’t work all that well. I wore this belt during daylight hours for several weeks after I got home. Didn’t sleep in it.

          I am mostly over the rib injury, and make back now hurts worse than the rest, which is the usual SNAFU. I am supposed to start back with exercise this weekend, if it isn’t too cold or wet.

  8. I found a posting today on You Tube by “John the Asian Guy”. I believe that he is the ” Real Deal” that a host of AI sites are copying and reposting (with AI and modifications for fear and shock value).
    The primary subject of his website is the ongoing escalation of price and availability in the physical silver market in contrast with paper silver contracts used manipulate and supress the spot price of silver by flooding the market with “short orders” by large banks and hedge funds.
    But, in the posting linked below he has expanded his view to cover the emergence of “World War 3” as a war by multiple parties to sequester a pool of limited resources to provide accessability to the raw materials to maintain the existance and growth of nation states (America, Europe, and the BRICS nations).
    I think he does a pretty good job in his overview.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m3MJv_ViiTg&pp=0gcJCTIBo7VqN5tD
    73

  9. Just a quick thought ,
    a lot of you talk like Minnesota is all one mindset.
    If you look at voting records , Minn. is extremely similar to the USA.
    Very Dem in major cities and very Rep elsewhere.
    I would guess Oregon , Washington and many other States are the same.
    Geographically probably 80% Red , 20% Blue.
    Even the Twin Cities is close to evenly split but the Democrats have
    controlled the State politically forever.
    I have NEVER denied how corrupted and screwed up my State is but so
    is the Federal govt. and with a whole lot more firepower.
    Whores to the Left of me and Whores to the Right.

    • Ray- Either that, or drop the priced down below $3 an ounce. So, how were the gold reserves verified, and how is it going to be transported ?
      I looked at the All day Astronomy channel- it looks like 99.9% grad-student and grant fishing BS.

    • re: 4² Psyche; U+1CEC9 ?
      feat: Numbers 14:19, utc

      Ray,
      A butterfly flaps its soular (sp.) arrays? Thank you for tuning in an AE35-like antenna zip signal whose Discovery mission #14 is currently on course towards waystation Mars prior switching of tracks for a Jupiter-direction trajectory.

      A Space X Falcon Heavy rocket launched at 1419 UTC Friday, October 13, 2023 with NASA’s Psyche satellite payload aboard. The JPL NASA website informs that enroute Mars gravity assist is scheduled for this coming May with arrival at 16 Psyche orbit in August, 2029. No planned landings on the asteroid appear in the public document.

      Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasperis born in Bugnara is credited with discovery of 16 Psyche in 1853. Bugnara may be named after an ancient Roman altar in the town’s church. Prior to Christianity the altar had allegedly served as a platform for a Roman goddess of grain and agriculture, Ceres. She is a sibling of Jupiter and her Greek equivalent is Demeter.

      The astronomer’s Italian given name Annibale descends via Latin and Greek from the Phoenician Haaniba’al (“Favored by the Lord [Ba’al]”) of ‘elephants in the Alps’ fame. His surname de (“son of”) Gasparis may point to one of the three Magi with a Persian nomenclature, Kaspar (en:”Jasper”), meaning “treasurer/wiseman”.

      Asteroid 16 Psyche inspired an 8 minute short film which was released on January 17, 2025. Two people value art works in preparation for “mining” the treasure trove. I can’t find a trailer of it on YouTube. The writer and director is Ganaël (heb:”Protected by God”) Dumreicher (at.de.: “from the deep/shadowed realm”). Here is a link to his website pointing out the film’s description and engagement at Deichtorhallen (“Levee Gate Halls”), a post-1980 art museum in Hamburg:

      https://ganaeldumreicher.com/psyche-16/

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