Love Overhaul & Market

 News ----- News ---------- News --------------- News --------------------- News*

Dear Reader, as you know from our pieces, at times, we refer to our unpublished book that we feel will help America, and possibly the world. You see that we do not clutter our page with ads. Money is a means and not a goal. We seek to make our democracy better. With that said, our founder, John Lipareli has his first book published. He is trying to make a name for himself that can help get his political and economic work a reality. You can buy at Amazon Books. It is called, "The Legend of the Afghan Hound." It is general and family reading. Kids 9 to 15 will love the action adventure as well as pet lovers and history buffs. The sweeping saga begins in ancient Egypt in a time of anxiety and war and ends in Bethlehem with hope and love. Adults will gravitate to the theme of "love in action." By that, I mean the sacrifices that we make. It is a Christmas classic and makes an excellent gift. Please, support his work. Thank you.

Thieves Circle Love

By now you all should be aware of the fraud and corruption that is happening in Minnesota. Of course, the excess police force under ICE is taking the headlines. It seems a cloud of evil is hovering above the state. This is very sad because that shrouds the goodness in the souls of its citizens. The state has many nicknames and they all reflect the beauty within and coming out. The North Star State, aka, the Bread and Butter State or the Land of 10,000 Lakes is known for its kindness and generous benefits to those who choose to move there. The last sentence along with foolish government policies has attracted those who seek to take advantage of that kindness.

Immigration Policy...

...is screwed up! How can we deny Afghan translators who risked their life to help our soldiers and then, when we leave, do not assist them? Yet, we offer unvetted Somali's and we move 100,000 into one state, Minnesota? Keep in mind, that these people are mostly Muslim which is not a reason to deny because the Afghans share a similar belief. However, many Somali's were members of the radical anti-American Al-Shabaab group. These are pirates, terrorists and they do not tolerate other religions. They behead Christians for just being Christian. Our whole immigration policy needs an overhaul from our borders to foreign borders.

That's Not All!

The state had Governor Walz deflect investigations into the rampant fraud with Medicare and other forms of welfare benefits. Their state Attorney General, Keith Ellison released a video, "Scammers think Minnesotans are easy targets. They are wrong." Sound great, but he has not looked into the one leader in fraud. Feeding Out Future has stolen over $9 billion in aid before they got caught. This sadly goes all the way to US Representative Ilhan Omar. Her district is the epicenter of Feeding Our Future. She is a Somali and is leaves one to wonder how she is not associated with the Somali's stealing from all of us? Follow the money...Omar had a net worth of just $50,000 before being elected. Today, her net resources has ballooned to millions. Coincidence? Investigators are too weak in character and personal ambition to check her out. Why, you ask? They fear, if wrong to be labeled a racists. She is black and she adds her religion. She is a muslim and no one wants to be considered racists with religion. She hides with the race card. This is sad for all of us. The bad apples count on our weak regulators.

We admit that we do not know how one gets welfare. Even though many of us were born poor, we would not accept the dole. How come Medicare gives benefits to people before they reach the age of 65? The giveaways are needed, but open to fraud. Evert state system needs an overhaul. I mean the whole country. No one should receive rent assistance, utility assistance, day care and or, receive benefits before the correct age level. The amount of a welfare check should probably be increased, but not a blanket level. Different regions need different amounts. The school lunch program is a must as well as food stamps, but that is it. There are plenty of jobs out there. The fact of life is you have to start your work history from the bottom. I know it is tough, but the evil amongst us forces us to be more diligent. No more online applications. People need to sit before an agent and that agent needs to check and follow up on applicants. This needs to be done repeatedly. State and federal government need to coordinate by visiting homes, schools, jobs and outlets to confirm their creditability. King Charlemagne of France had the right idea. He formed the "missi dominici" (imperial duties). Their mission was to double check the nobles to see that they acted fairly to the peasants. We need a whole new department in each state to double check all recipient's to make sure that the needy receive and the crooked go to jail. Amen!

Market

We stated in previous pieces that we feel a downturn would occur in mid-February. Last week, the S&P 500 fell below its 100-day moving average. The Bulls showed that they are still in control as the market rebounded up. However, Nasdaq ($COMPQ) is still weak. Small caps are the first to fall in a downturn. Money moves to large caps until everyone rushes into the express elevator going down. Some are moving. They might see a sign along the way to the elevator. The Hindenburg Omen flashed again last week.

Our call might be too early, but indicators like the Shiller CAPE Ration is way too high at 39. It usually sits between 12 and 24 with 17 being the long-term average. There are other aspects. Firms like Nvidia support firms that are connected to it in one way or another. This makes pricing too high and susceptible to corrections. Like contagion hitting banks, these interconnected stock share buying can have a similar effect.

Did You Know...

...that economic growth comes from disasters? A stat revealed that 36% of our GDP comes from climate damage with restoration. Think about that? If nature was calm, our economy would lose 36% of GDP. 

Lastly

US loan delinquency is at its highest since 2017, but if continues, could test the lows of 2010? Our total credit card debt hit $1.28 trillion. Last week we asked, "What would the jobs report reveal?" The government claims 130,000 new jobs and that caused unemployment to drop to 4.3%. We do not BELIEVE! We informed you that you need 150,000 to move one tick. We know that firms laid off 108,000 in January. This is a lie with corruption written all over it. The BLS will quietly revise this report like they did on jobs for 2025. Their new report showed a revised number. Jobs were down by ONE MILLION for the year. All the crooks are not just stealing benefits, they work in all agencies. With that said, we offer in deference to Jesse Jackson's mantra, "Keep hope alive!" We extend our best wishes to our Asian and Pacific Rim nations who observe the lunar New Year. So, Happy New Year! ...Peace.

Dow 50G; Jobs -50G+

 News ----- News ---------- News --------------- News --------------------- News*

Dear Reader, as you know from our pieces, at times, we refer to our unpublished book that we feel will help America, and possibly the world. You see that we do not clutter our page with ads. Money is a means and not a goal. We seek to make our democracy better. With that said, our founder, John Lipareli has his first book published. He is trying to make a name for himself that can help get his political and economic work a reality. You can  buy at Amazon Books. It is called, "The Legend of the Afghan Hound." It is general and family reading. Kids 9 to 15 will love the action adventure as well as pet lovers and history buffs. The sweeping saga begins in ancient Egypt in a time of anxiety and war and ends in Bethlehem with hope and love. Adults will be attracted by the theme of "love in action." By that I mean the sacrifices that we make. It is a Christmas classic and makes an excellent gift. Please, support his work. Thank you.

New Records

There are certain numbers that ring. When James Glassman and Kevin Hassett published their book, "Dow 36,000" in 1999, the Dow ended that year at 11,453. The books number had a ring. Last Friday, the final bell for the US stock market closed above 50,115. This is a big ring. I'm sure that someone who seeks a name for himself will seek to publish a work with the Dow at 100,000. Then, I see that Charles Kadlec did just that with the prediction to reach the mark by 2020. He needs to get his eyes checked.

We see the market as very volatile. The earnings season saw the big names spending for data centers and AI. The hopes for a big pay is very far down the road. To us, this means big investment money will lose patience. They will rotate into something more stable until they see some factual results in the data centers and AI. Ted Oakley of Oxbow Advisors agrees with us. He calls this moment a "sobering up phase" by Wall Street. He also adds that the consumer is stretched out. This will hurt big purchases like homes, cars and vacations. This aspect will hit the bottom line to companies in those fields. We add a point that we see every time we go to the grocery store. Food keeps going up in price. Inflation is still around, big time. If you recall in our outlook for the year, we stated the market would continue its rally into mid-February. When you connect the dots of jobs with unemployment, our call looks very good. Before we get into the stats and figures, we remind you what Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics, "Mass layoffs are the last firewall between recession and no recession." 

We hate to say this, but the US could face higher than 4.4% unemployment and another bout of inflation. Reality points to this double whammy even if the government reports say otherwise.

Related = A Wall St. economist stated that we were in a "hidden recession." He adds that it ended last April. We called it a "Stealth Recession," and we called it three years ago. We also said that the stock market is no longer attached to what or how our economy is doing. The government tries to keep this connection. Market up means the economy is up. Yet, no one can afford the basic breakfast of OJ, eggs, toast and coffee?

Unemployment...

...claims rose to 231,000. I can't wait to to what the BLS says what unemployment rate is? It ticked up last month. It takes 150,000 to move a tick. When you connect the dots of layoffs with this aspect of spending by the big tech names for data centers and AI, it is like a drunken sailor on leave for the first time in a year. Google is set to spend $180 billion. Meta plans call for up to $72 billion and Oracle has already planning to put $50 billion to work. The market hit ORCL from $340 down to $142. We expect the same for chips and high tech. The big indicator, $King Dollar fell, but rebounded. However, it is still below the last support level as it sits at 97 last Friday.

Announced Layoffs

The total number of announced layoffs by employers is 108,435. Here is a small list.

Amazon announce 14,000 and now, adds another 16,000.                                                                          Master Card is dropping 4% of its global force.                                                                                            Charter Communication laying off 1,200.                                                                                                    Target dropping 1,000.                                                                                                                                  Paramount/Skydance (merger talks) is making the book look better. It is losing 1,000 people.                  UPS has two levels. Help is losing 34,000 and staff is losing another 14,000.                                            Novo Nordisk is laying off 9,000 globally.                                                                                                    Hewlett-Packard losing 4,000 hi-tech people. They are not alone.                                                              Meta is cutting 600 high paying tech workers.                                                                                              More coming...Oh yeah, don't forget the 4,200 federal employees and the numbers begin to build. 

Relared = 7/11 is closing 500 stores and Sach's Fifth Avenue is filing for bankruptcy.                                Sad Note: The Pittsburgh Gazette is going to its last print this May after 240 years. Very, very sad for the voice of freedom with our press. 

Try to enjoy the Super Bowl with friends and family. It is our undeclared holiday. Go Niners! Peace.

New Fed and 10 Surprises

 News ----- News ---------- News --------------- News -------------------- News*

Dear Reader, as you know from our pieces, at times, we refer to our unpublished book that we feel will help America, and possibly the world. You see that we do not clutter our page with ads. Money is a means and not a goal. We seek to make our democracy better. With that said, our founder, John Lipareli has his first book published. He is trying to make a name for himself that can help get his political and economic work a reality. You can buy at Amazon Books. It is called, "The Legend of the Afghan Hound." It is general and family reading. Kids 9 to 15 will love the action adventure as well as pet lovers and history buffs. The sweeping saga begins in ancient Egypt in a time of anxiety and war and ends in Bethlehem with hope and love. Adults will be attracted by the theme of "love in action." By that I mean the sacrifices that we make. It is a Christmas classic and makes an excellent gift. Please, support his work. Thank you.

New Fed Chair

The big news last week was not that the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, but that President Trump showed Chairman Powell the door. He named Kevin Warsh as the next chairperson. On the same day the precious metals began their decline. On last Friday, the descent continued, but neither gold nor silver approached their 50-day moving average. What the media failed to mention was the tech and AI stocks also fell. In fact, the market corrected so much that it almost wiped out the months gain.  

With that said, the market showed a positive month and the January Barometer was up. There was no Santa Claus rally, but the first five trading days of the new year was positive. The market registered gains in 2 of the 3 indicators. As for the metals, Marsh is considered a hawk on inflation. We saw the decline as an attack by the fiat gang. We mentioned this point in our last piece. Goldman called for gold to hit $5400. No one saw it happening in one day. Maybe the target price was the signal for the attack? Speculation is just an opinion like we all have a butt crack. 

Anyway, we turn our attention to Mr. Marsh. He stated in the past that inflation is due to money printing. He declared that tariffs are a one-time mark up. We disagree on the latter. We agree on tariffs. We just disagree on the application of the tariffs. We stated that tariffs need to address one important industry. We cannot correct overnight the decades of errors. You go one step at a time. In 2010, Warsh gave a speech on the Fed's Independence. He backs the concept. This may have caused him being named the chairperson when Trump became president? President Trump chose Powell. Now, the president says that was a mistake. President Trump has stated that he wants 3% target for inflation and rates at 3% would make a neutral point. When we look at how the Fed has operated recently, this could be a tough target. Nevertheless, this number could emerge as the new Fed target?

Fed Dilemma

Last year the Fed purchased 84% of all T-bills to finance the economy and back government debt. With $10 trillion coming due in 2026 in maturing bonds, the Fed needs lower interest rates to keep the national debt from ballooning. The conundrum is that lower rates makes the dollar fall in value and that makes inflation surface. If reports show inflation picking up, Marsh may raise rates. If he does, he will feel the president's anger. This tells us the rally in the metals is far from over.

10 Surprises

Every year the Bank of America publishes a list that they call "10 surprises" for the new year. This bank is more honest about the economy and metals than the fiat masters, JP Morgan and Goldman. Here is a look.

1) US growth could surge in 2026.                                                                                                                2) China will allow their currency to strenghten. (3) This will help global economics. (4) However, this      aspect could cause the US dollar to be reevaluated.                                                                                5) Market indexes will get a mix of stock leaders beside the mega caps.                                                      6) Energy, defense, infrastructure gain traction.                                                                                            7) England wins the FIFA World Cup.                                                                                                          8) Gold will rise another 17%.                                                                                                                      9) Global ETF assets grow fast to $24 trillion in value.                                                                                10) Money flows to emerging debt markets in fix income assets...Peace        

Odds and Ends: January 2026

News ----- News ---------- News --------------- News -------------------- News*

Dear Reader, as you know from our pieces, at times we refer to our unpublished book that we feel will help America, and possibly the world. You see that we do not clutter our page with ads. Money is a means and not a goal. We seek to make life better. With that said, our founder, John Lipareli has his first book published - to make a name for himself that could help get his political and economic work a reality. You can buy at Amazon Books. It is called, "The Legend of the Afghan Hound." It is general and family reading. Kids 9 to 15 will love the action adventure as well as pet lovers and history buffs. The sweeping saga begins in ancient Egypt in a time of anxiety and war and ends in Bethlehem with hope and love. Adults will be attracted by the theme of "love in action." By that I mean the sacrifices that we make. It is a Christmas classic and makes an excellent gift. Please, support his work. Thank you.  

Just One Month

Yes. That is how long it took for our precious metals outlook to reach its target as well as the three miners that we recommended. Yay! Hey, if you made some dough, please spend $12 to buy the founders book. Thank you. With that said, we have an ALERT!

Goldman Sachs & JP Morgan have announced that they see the rally in gold hitting $5400. They also are recommending to their investors to buy the precious metals. There is a reason for the backers of fiat to change face. Why, you ask? They are taking big losses because they are the chief short sellers. They know that TD Bank just covered its silver short, but only after losing $600,000. We believe that an attack will happen. We figure after they see their clients buying and the rally continuing, at some point, they will advise their clients to sell and even short. At the same time, they will sell and short. They are covering their behind with their clients. This is the type of people that they are. Nevertheless, market forces are behind the rally. The dollar broke a long time channel line last Friday. It fell below 98 and it is pointing to 96. News: It fell below 96 on Tuesday. The rate cuts is not the only reason. Our national deficit hit 100% of GDP last week. This is a line in the sand. If debt keeps rising at the current pace, a financial crisis will definitely come and that would crush the dollar.

In a related aspect, Bank of America even forecast gold hitting $6,000 by spring. One strong aspect is what Goldman noticed. They see new buyers of gold like the stablecoin firm, Tether. They are the largest gold backed coin. They purchased 27 tons of gold in the fourth quarter and 26 tons of gold in the third quarter. In fact, they are among the top 30 holders of the metal. They have more gold than Greece, Qatar and Australia. This puts a new floor in gold at $4200 and soon, $5,000. We also see silver pushing $125. This will only raise the price of the three miners that we suggested. One last data on silver. Did you know that solar uses 200 million ounces of silver annually? Industrial demand for the metal in 2024 was 680 million ounces. Miners have not increased production in the last 25 years. Recycle has covered the shortfall, but that supply is shrinking. In addition, China, the second largest exporter has restricted exports. Higher prices are coming. 

Trade Deficit

It was only $29.4 billlion last month. It was the smallest since 2009. We like the decline, but we take little joy in the math. The deficit equates to over $350 billion yearly. The real positive is a target. We need to cut $30 billion a month and then, we reach nuetral. Sadly, we read that almost 1,000 US firms are filing lawsuits against the tariffs. As usual, they put profits ahead of the best interests for America, its citizens and workers. 

Bank of Ireland

released a report that has some worries in it. They see two aspects that put certain banks at risk. The first is transition risk. These are loans tied to buildings and construction being built in extreme weather locations. These banks have not worked to reduce their carbon footprint in policy. The second risk is the physical risk in liquidity. Because they have so much debt in this area, their book value will not match the assets after say a flood or other climate disaster. In a related aspect...

Davos

did not talk about climate change at their forum. Why, you ask? President Trump asked this as a favor to attend. 

Batteries & Electricity

Brazil is holding its first auction to use batteries as a backup to the electrical grid. China is the front runner. Why, you ask? Because they have invested $35 billion already in Brazil in their grid. However, the battle is not over. Tesla and a Brazilian firm, Petrolas are bidding too. We will know the answer in March. In the US, President Trump is pushing Northeast and Mid-West utilities to build new power plants with auctions. He wants the builders of data centers to back the auction.

Fed

has its meeting end today. The concensus is no rate change. Trump will not be happy. In the future world of the Fed, President Trump will appoint his chosen and this person will first appear in the June meeting. 

Speaking of June

There will be a FIFA World Cup game in Seattle there that month. The city is adding 116 rail miles. The transit lines are to help the crowds. What is so special about that, you ask? Well, Seattle has many waterways and a lake that makes travel a little slow. They have designed a water bridge to cut time and move people. I'd like to see it and ride over the water. A nice way to go to a game... Peace. 

Add to the Stew

 News ------ News ---------- News --------------- News -------------------- News*

Dear Reader, as you know from our pieces, at times we refer to our unpublished book that we feel will help America, and possibly the world. You see that we do not clutter our page with ads. Money is a means and not a goal. We seek to make life better. With that said, our founder, John Lipareli has his first book published - to make a name for himself that could help get his political and economic work a reality. You can buy at Amazon Books. It is called, "The Legend of the Afghan Hound." It is general and family reading. Kids 9 to 15 will love the action adventure as well as pet lovers and history buffs. The sweeping saga begins in ancient Egypt in a time of anxiety and war and ends in Bethlehem with hope and love. Adults will be attracted by the theme of "love in action." By that I mean the sacrifices that we make for each other. It is a Christmas classic and makes an excellent gift. Please, support his work. Thank you. 

Market Recipe

The Bulls love cheap money. It is the spoon that stirs the stew. They want their ingredients known. This is to say, no volatility. Finally, the meat of government spending and regulations that support their investments.

President Trump has conducted his time to make them happy while he tries to balance government spending to keep the deficits manageable. We stated we believe in tariffs, but in an intelligent way. You put extremely high tariffs on selected sectors; not a one size fits all. Our deficits took years. They cannot be corrected overnight. If our political parties were more for us, they would work together no matter who is in office. They aren't. The long view is how to address tariffs and our deficit. 

One Ingredient

Anyway, the news by the president with chips and trade with Taiwan is encouraging. Their leading chip firm, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) is amazing when you realize that their new chip is 1/1000 the size of a human hair. How does anyone make something so small and yet, so powerful. Is this the real reason why China wants to control the island? The costs are very high. They make a ton of money. However, they put a lot of it back into research and their product. They estimate that they will spend between $52 and $56 billion this year. That is a billion with a capital "B." It is no wonder that competition in this field is so difficult. The costs are through the roof. 

Another Spice

President Trump is calling for banks to lower their credit card interest rates, especially on late fees. The 10% cap is more than enough profit, but these greedy, greasy cooks always want more. Immediately, they claim that they help poor people and they cannot afford to offer them credit with a 10% cap rate. LIARS! The banking industry made $762 billion in profits from credit cards. They just want their profits. Meanwhile, the president also wants lower mortgage rates. He knows if the interest rate fell to 5%, there will be a lot of homes sold. We don't care if people will say this is for his ego claims about the best economy. Home ownership makes for better communities and standard of living.

Recipe Book

Some cooks refer to cook books. We are disturbed about one survey revealed last week about our stew. The report stated that 60% of corporations are preparing to lay off workers in 2026. The reason is the cook book recommends AI to finish the meal. Automation is taking the cook's job. Blackrock isn't waiting. They announced 1% or 1,000 pink slips. Large US banks continue to close branch banking locations. Chase is closing 66. TD is shutting down 51.  Wells Fargo is laying off 5,000. More to come?

Bottom line: We close our cook book and let the stew simmer. We do not see any trouble until mid-February. Peace.

Other Worries

 News ------ News ---------- News --------------- News --------------------- News*

Dear Reader, as you know from our pieces, at times we refer to our unpublished book that we feel will help America, and possibly the world. You see that we do not clutter our page with ads. Money is a means and not a goal. We seek to make life better. With that said, our founder, John Lipareli has his first book published - to make a name for himself that could help get his political and economic work a reality. You can buy at Amazon Books. It is called, "The Legend of the Afghan Hound." It is general and family reading. Kids 9 to 15 will love the action adventure as well as pet lovers and history buffs. The sweeping saga begins in ancient Egypt in a time of anxiety and war and ends in Bethlehem with hope and love. Adults will be attracted by the theme of "love in action." By that I mean the sacrifices that we make for each other. It is a Christmas classic and makes an excellent gift. Please, support his work. Thank you. 

Present Market

Bank earnings this week to begin the quarterly reports. We expect no "cockroaches." They will probably push the indexes to new record highs. The Santa Rally was neutralized, but the first five trading days was bullish for the January Barometer. With that said, we see other worries because there are other "bugs" beside roaches. 

James Grant...

...a trusted, long-time analyst with a news letter (Grant's Interest Rate Observor) sees a crisis brewing. It is not in banking, but a connected sector, Life Insurance. He says that since we have been in a yield chasing market, insurers have entered into the Private Credit and Private Equity sectors to the tune of $1.7 trillion. This includes "junk" rated issues. He points out that the Repo Rates which have spiked due to recent events to which the $700 million dollar man, Jamie Dimon calls cockroaches. Many of these investments lack true price and evaluation discovery. He relates our current positive economy to the aspect that we grow our financial deficits at 7% on a yearly basis. We go into debt at 7% to gain a 2% growth rate? Idiots! He adds that Fed rate cuts only make the big picture more difficult. He sees the parabolic spending in AI could end up like a Tower of Babel (He used the Pyramids of Egypt). Finally, he says insurers are capitalized for future returns and do not take into account future adversity. Their investments are not risk free and one problem (bug) could cause contagion. This is similar to banks buying each other's issues. They are good until they are not.

Big Money is...

...seeing a risk with the gap between short and long term interest rates. This gets extra juice because of the constant inverted yields. In addition, regional data says that 32 states are in or approaching a recession. Remember we informed you of the report by Mark Zandi, the chief economists at Moody's Analytrics that 22 states are already in a recession, a few months back. The numbers are getting worse. These points maybe the shortage in words, but it is the most dangerous in consequences.

Then, There is Social Security

It has not been addressed for 43 years. At that time, social security was last changed and for the worst. The Republicans lowered the tax on income for social security. This gave the fund less revenue. It was "termed" a benefit for workers. What it did was give lower income workers more take home pay, but those same workers as well as the rest of us, now need a secure retirement from the social security agency. To put that into perspective, this is 69 million and an additional 7 plus million getting SSI. The fund could become insolvent by 2033?

The fund is hurting for revenue. It takes 60 votes in the Senate to make a change. The problem, as we at Evolution see, is this. The Democrats will ask for "concessions" for their vote. They want the subsidies for the ACA. We stated years ago that President Obama let his ego sign that poor bill. We were for First Payer or nothing. Did you know that the bill forces you to get medical insurance? If you don't, you are in violation of the law. No one says what the penalty will be. The ego Democrats keep this a secret and that is why they push for the subsidies. 

Bottom Line: These worries point to the lack of real leadership by our two governing political paties. Both of our two political parties are corrupt. They answer only to lobbyists and connected people. We are for a new political party. We call it the "Liberty Party." It only has this on its platform: Protect the American worker and family. Cut military spending, especially foreign bases which are in over 100 locations. Use that money to make our nation better with our neigborhoods, schools and infrastructure. Return our economy so it has social mobility with our workers getting a liveable wage. Peace.  

2cd Opinion: Outlook 2026

News ----- News ----------- News --------------- News --------------------- News*

Dear Reader, as you know from our pieces, at times we refer to our unpublished book that we feel will help America, and possibly the world. You see that we do not clutter our page with ads. Money is a means and not a goal. We seek to make life better. With that said, our founder, John Lipareli has his first book published - to make a name for himself that could help get his political and economic work a reality. You can buy at Amazon Books. It is called, "The Legend of the Afghan Hound." It is general and family reading. Kids 9 to 15 will love the action adventure as well as pet lovers and history buffs. The sweeping saga begins in ancient Egypt in a time of anxiety and war and ends in Bethlehem with hope and love. Adults will be attracted by the theme of "love in action." By that I mean the sacrifices that we make for each other. It is a Christmas classic and makes an excellent gift. Please, support his work. Thank you. 

Concensus Outlook 2026

Yahoo Finance ran an article where they cited every Wall St. analyst. They all see an up-market in 2026. We expressed our worries, but the charts agree with Wall St. Since that publication, the geo-political landscape took a dramatic change with the US taking the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Madero prisoner. 

One would think that news of this magnitude will shake-up the market. It won't. However, the ramifications could change the decade, depending on how one looks at the timeline. 

Russia attacking Ukraine in 2022 put all Western nations on notice. Israel's verbal conflicts with anti-Israel parties ended in open conflict in Gaza in 2023. China announces that Taiwan is her territory. They begin military maneuvers in 2024 around the island and continue today. This is too many geo-political conflicts. Any one of them could lead into another world war. Consider: Russia continues its fight to conquer Ukraine. Guerrilla warfare could develop in the Middle East. China attacks Taiwan? 

Even if none of those dreaded outcomes come into play, the termoil in Venezuela will be an ongoing affair. First, the trial of Madero or maybe he is assassinated? That is not the dangerous part. Within the nation, the drug cartels have money, weapons and power. Civil war is not out of the question? This could spill over into the neighboring nations. South America could become like the Middle East. This is not good for the world or for peace. Making money from the market will mean nothing if we live in fear of retaliation, terrorists and constant war. This is a very dangerous moment for everyone.

Meanwhile

We know from history that the trouble with Venezuela and the other conflicts in the world do not effect Wall St. When President Kennedy was assassinated, nothing changed. Nothing will change again because of the Madero situation. With that said, consider this fact about the S&P 500. In 2023, it rose 24%. In 2024, it continued another 23%. In 2025, it climbed another 16%. Nothing goes straight up. We stated that although we agree with the positive market outlook, we tempered our opinion to mid-February. 

Originally, we were going to provide an in depth outlook from two big Wall St. firms, Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab. The concensus of the two is this: Small caps will benefit from the Federal Reserve rate cuts. Money will continue to flow into AI. The only worry is possible job losses. China will continue to lead the world in innovations. They have more patents than the US. No one fears defaults. We see this as a red flag. Bifurcation will continue with the K-style economy. We stated in previous pieces that Wall Street no longer represents the US economy. Our nation continues to shrink the middle-class with little social mobility. We are becoming a two-tier class system (wealthy and poor). Not good. We pray that our negative fears will not happen and world governments take a time-out. They step back and let things cool down. Maybe the meme of John Lennon resurfaces, "All we are saying, is give peace a chance..."  ...Peace.