š The Story Isn't Weak Jobs. It's Weak Data
Plus: COVID Wasn't Really About a Virus, And More
Today Iām featuring Money Machine Newsletter.
Itās designed to help you become a smarter, independent investor with two things:
Market-beating stocks in a 5-min read. Picked by elite traders. Delivered weekly to your inbox pre-market.
Market, investing, and business insights from insiders and experts outside the mainstream media.
You wonāt find the same watered down stock picks like other services. Nor will you find the same regurgitated mainstream media information here.
Iāll let Money Machine Newsletter take it from hereā¦
This weekās market, investing, and business insights from insiders and experts outside the mainstream media:
Fed policies based on numbers that donāt exist.
Obama said stop, Fauci said wait until heās gone.
China builds high-speed rails, we build high-speed bureaucracy.
Pirates in Egypt arrested to protect profits in America.
And more. Letās get to it!
Top Insights of the Week
1. š The Story Isnāt Weak Jobs. Itās Weak Data
Every month we get a jobs report. Big headlines. Markets react. The Fed makes decisions. Then a month later? Oops, we got it wrongā¦
This past year, 1.2M jobs just disappeared in ārevisions.ā Gone. Poof. Those hot job reports everyone celebrated? They werenāt hot. They were cold, dressed up to look warm.
If any analyst in a job outside Washington screwed up numbers this badly, theyād be gone. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics? They just shrug and call them ārevisions.ā
You canāt run a $32T economy with broken data. Itās like trying to drive with a cracked windshield. Sure, you can see something, but good luck making the right turns. The Fed cuts rates based on this stuff. Your mortgage rate depends on it. Your job might too.
Meanwhile, smart money isnāt waiting around for government reports. Theyāre looking at credit card data. Payroll numbers. Payment processing. Real stuff, happening right now. They have better information than the people making the decisions. Thatās backwards.
We could fix this tomorrow. Companies like ADP, AmEx, Stripeāthey see the real economy every day. Anonymize the data, make it transparent, update it in real time. Instead weāre all flying blind, making trillion-dollar decisions based on numbers that change after the fact.
2. š¦ COVID Wasnāt Really About a Virus
It was about trust. And trust brokeā¦ Officials knew things privately they wouldnāt say publicly. The lab leak? Real. But publicly? They called it conspiracy theory nonsense. Thatās not science. Thatās politics wearing a lab coatā¦
Look at gain-of-function research. They call it āstudying viruses.ā But itās not studyingāitās making viruses worse. Making them spread faster. Hit harder. The idea was to get ready for pandemics. Instead, they caused one.
This wasnāt new to us. We called it out early. Former president Obama paused manipulation of viruses (gain-of-function research). Fauci didnāt agree. He waited for Obamaās term to end and reversed the pause.
Even our best labs have accidents. Dozens every year. Pretending otherwise is just pretendingā¦
Then thereās the money. Pfizer and Moderna put $1.2B into a government foundation. No oversight. Government scientists getting royalty checks they donāt have to disclose. Public safety? Sure. But also private profits.
People arenāt āvaccine hesitantā because they hate science. Theyāre hesitant because they got lied to. Once you lie to people, they stop believing everything else you say. Every rule. Every recommendation. Every shot.
We prepared for the wrong pandemic. We got ready for a virus that spreads. We didnāt get ready for institutions that hide things. Next time wonāt just test our medicine. Itāll test whether anyone trusts the people making decisions. And right now? That trust is gone.
3. šØāāļø Why China Builds and America Argues
China puts engineers in charge. Chinese President Xi Jinpingā background is in engineering (along with his predecessors). America puts lawyers in charge. In the 118th Congress, 30% of House members and 51% of Senators have law degrees. Everything else flows from thereā¦
Engineers build things. They see a problem, they fix it. Need a bridge? Build a bridge. Need rail? Lay track. Need factories? Done. Thatās why China can slap down high-speed rail and EV plants while weāre still arguing about permits.
Lawyers argue things. They see a problem, they debate it. Write rules. Protect rights. File motions. Thatās why weāre great at free speech and terrible at building anything at a fast pace.
Dan Wang nails this in Breakneck. Chinese provinces compete like business units. Build more, get promoted. Simple. Effective. Until it isnāt. Now theyāve got empty cities and ghost towers everywhere. Turns out you can over-build.
Weāve got the opposite problem. We canāt build anything. But almost every project gets sued into oblivion. You can tie up a bridge in court for a decade, but you still canāt drive on it.
Both sides are half-right and half-wrong. China can engineer buildings but not trust. They can build cities but not fix their birth rate disaster. (Funny how that one-child policy backfired.). America can protect rights but not pour concrete. We can debate forever and get in our own way.
What happens when one side learns from the other? When America remembers how to build stuff? When China figures out why rights matter? At the end of the day it all comes down to balance. Right now America is tipped way too far to the law side of things versus getting out of our own way and BUILDING.
1. š“āā ļø The Short Shelf Lives Of Piracy Sites
Streameast, the worldās biggest illegal sports streaming site, was shut down. It drew 1.6B visits last yearāeven NBA star LeBron James was spotted using it. Two operators were arrested in Egypt.
Piracy isnāt gone. Itās whack-a-mole. Kill one site, a dozen more pop up. Demand for free sports streams stays high, especially around NFL and MLB seasons.
This fight isnāt over. If people keep dodging subscriptions, leagues and broadcasters lose billionsāand that cost eventually lands on paying fans.
2. š Meta Is Reviving the Nostalgic āPokeā Feature to Win Back Young Users
Meta is dusting off Facebookās old āpokeā feature. Theyāve added counters, a button, and a page to track who poked who.
Itās a play to win back teens. Only 32% of US teens use Facebook, while TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat dominate.
If it works, pokes could become the new streaks. If not, itās another sign Facebook is aging out while rivals keep the young crowd hooked.
3. š³ āK-Pop Demon Huntersā Is Hunting Down Netflixās Most Popular Films
A korean-inspired animated musical, k-pop demon hunters, just became netflixās most watched film ever ā 236M views in two months, beating Red Noticeās 231M.
The movie isnāt slowing down. Kids are watching it 6ā8 times each, driving steady weekly growth. Netflix also scored its first box office #1 with a sing-along release.
This isnāt just about streaming. Netflix owns the merch rights, is eyeing oscars, and is already planning a sequel. Itās turning one hit into a multi-revenue franchise.
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Best,
Money Machine Newsletter
Nothing in this email is intended to serve as financial advice. Do your own research.
