Hello C3 Family!

Weekly Rant - Solving Generations of Economic Sin

The number one question I get asked when speaking about the ills of the stock market and predatory lending is essentially this..."How will stuff get done?"

This is an important question. For all the bad that secondary market investing, and predatory lending does, it has created a means for getting needed medicine produced, businesses started, and homes bought. Now of course us as Christians cannot use an illicit means to produce a good end. Plus, I have argued extensively that the bad being produced far outweighs any perceived good. Nevertheless, the question is one that needs to be answered. 

My simple one-word answer is CHARITY. If our society needs a new medication, then we should donate to that cause and promote that cause without expecting something in return. If we want to start a business or purchase a home, then we should go to friends, family, and our community for assistance while also working our tails off to accomplish our goal. Because going to the financial intuitions who have become the gatekeepers of getting things done are the main reason that buying homes and starting businesses have become so overpriced in the first place. GenZers can barely afford eggs much less homes, and that $17 Trillion in consumer debt is not going away anytime soon in our current economic system.

We have spent generations building up our current economic sins. It will take generations to solve these economic sins. We need to focus on the treasure in Heaven by building Christian communities, Christian families, and Christian businesses here on earth. This will help us build up resilience to the current economic system and paint a path forward that is both spiritually and financially healthier than our current predicament.

The current generations that run the world may not be able to detangle themselves from stock market investing and predatory lending. We may have no choice but to fund needed medical research and infrastructure through our current systems. BUT if we start laying the groundwork now for these systems to fall then perhaps better mechanisms can be put in place for future generations and our grandkids and great grandkids can operate in a better system with a better state of mind that is more like the Gift Economy of the Kingdom of God. 

Is it that hard to imagine people funding research and production that the world actually needs out of charity and not just a profit motive?

Top Stories

• Interest Rates should be cut today. Everyone on WallStreet and most of the country are eagerly awaiting. The majority are hoping for a 0.5% cut. But a 0.25% cut is more likely. Cuts are expected to take place throughout the remainder of the year and prospective homebuyers have the most to gain with mortgage rates already dipping in the anticipation. 

• Sports Betting is going international with Flutter, the company behind FanDuel, making a $2.6B purchase of Italian betting app Snaitech which also owns the majority stake in NSX Group, a large Brazilian Gambling Operator. 

• Stocks have been mixed this week but expect a bump when those interest rate cuts come.

• Anyone notice how steady BTC has been holding over the past few weeks. the ebbs and flows are getting less dramatic, but that may change come election time.

• Legal experts are split almost 50/50 on whether TikTok will be allowed to stay in the US. It is a very tricky case on both sides. First amendment arguments vs the health of the nation arguments. I for one am convinced it should be banned after my wife's little sister subjected me to torture by showing me videos, she thought were hilarious. I know every young generation has been stupid, but this generation is different in that they get to broadcast their stupidity to the world.

• Consulting firm McKinsey just released data that says women are still lagging behind men in manager and corporate leadership roles. Though women do occupy more positions in corporate America then they did in 2015. If you read the study and the stories surrounding it, you would think this is a tragedy akin to the attack on Israel by Hamas last year. No one even thinks to ask the question...Do women want to have corporate jobs like men? Or better yet, should a healthy society even encourage women to have the same roles as men?

• More problems for Boeing as they now face worker strikes as well as safety concerns. The airplane making giant will struggle immensely to recover if the strike does not end quickly.

• Instagram is making all accounts with users under the age of 16 private with restrictions like allowing their parents to see who their teens are messaging. Unfortunately, the workarounds to this are too easy. All a teen needs to do is upload a phony ID or have an older sibling or friend take a video selfie. Instagram made this change to try and appease Politian's and parents who are becoming increasingly worried about sexual predators and bad influences on social media. Why not try and just not give your children smart phones?!?! 

• Amazon says no more work from home gigs for its corporate staff. 

• Trump has doubled down on his promise to cut energy bills by 50% for Americans if elected. This is actually a possibility if we start drilling again in US owned territory. Becoming energy independent, which analysts say is possible would be a huge deal for American bank accounts.

• Fox news is at stake. The media corporation that Rupert Murdoch built is set to be inherited in equal parts by Ruperts 4 children. However, Rupert wants his eldest son to inherit all of Fox Media because he holds similar conservative views as Rupert himself. In contrast Ruperts youngest son recently endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Fox news currently gets 267% more views than CN per night and 77% more than MSNBC. the legal battle to alter the already established will and trust will be messy.

• Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison became the second richest person in the world on Monday for a full day as the software company's stock surged. Elon Musk still is the richest and Jeff Bezos was moved to number three before retaking the number two spot when Oracle stock fell after the surge leveled off.