10 Weekend Market "Must Reads"

This week I wrote about the latest “woke” fiasco, where Cracker Barrel’s CEO took her company’s brand equity out back and shot it by “modernizing” a brand whose main customers prefer the 1800s and things like Civil War re-enactments to ChatGPT and Tik Tok.

Cracker Barrel's Board Should Fire Its CEO Immediately

I also wrote about one dividend stock I added earlier in the week and a pair trade I was watching heading into the back half of 2025.

Added To One Long Term Dividend Name This Morning

Also this week I posted this incredible critique of the AI bubble by my friend Harris Kupperman, that is well worth reading:

How To Lose $400 Billion In AI: Harris Kupperman

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I wrote about what I thought Trump’s playbook was with muscling the people he doesn’t like out of the Fed:

Trump’s Fed Playbook: Find Dirt, Make Noise

And also wrote about how student debt delinquencies are through the roof after borrowers are being faced with the inconvenient reality of the debt they have taken on:

America Shocked After Learning Debt Must Be Paid Back

This week followed last week where, in a note I put out about a month ago to paid subscribers, I predicted Warren Buffett might consider a stake in UnitedHealth (UNH).

Also, in a note out about 2 weeks ago, after Intel (INTC) sold off 4% on President Trump’s critical comments about its CEO, I said the news was being misread and it could be opportunistic to consider here, because it showed the Trump administration was interested in the name. The stock is up about 25% since then, in just 2 weeks!

And so, after this news and seeing MP Materials surge 360% this year after the Trump Administration took a stake in the rare earth miner, I decided to release a list of the top 75 names that I thought the administration may also consider taking stakes in.

75 Public Companies Trump Could Keep "Close To Home"

Also, President Trump did something no one in recent memory has dared: he federalized the policing of Washington, D.C. That meant 800 National Guard troops, FBI agents doing night patrols, and the city’s police department reporting directly to Attorney General Pam Bondi. The mission was simple — clean up the capital, both its crime problem and its tent cities.

Naturally, some people shrieked about federal overreach. But for anyone who’s walked through D.C. lately without blinders on, the real question is why it took this long to stop the nation’s capital from looking like the set of a dystopian Netflix horror series. Appearances matter — especially when your “front porch” is the White House.

The Art Of The D.C. Clean Up

And speaking of ticking time bombs, crypto just hit a milestone — and not necessarily a good one. With Bitcoin now allowed in 401(k) retirement plans and stablecoins buying up U.S. Treasuries, digital assets are woven tighter into the financial system than ever. That means when crypto tanks — and yes, it will at some point — the damage won’t be contained to bored day traders. It’ll spill into pensions, ETFs, and the broader economy. We’ve seen this movie before in dot-com stocks, in housing, in leveraged buyouts. The asset changes, but the ending doesn’t: someone says “it’s different this time,” and then the floor gives way.

Crypto Will Cause The Next Trillon Dollar Crash

I also dropped one of my most honest conversations in a while with Dan Ferris. We talked market cycles, complacency, and the fact that the system’s incentives are literally designed to mislead you.

QTR With Dan Ferris: The Game Is Rigged & Everyone's Lying. Still.

Here’s what else you may have missed on the blog:

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