Elon's Space-X Stock Opens Monday At $160.95

 So, there's positive and negative chatter. Negative?  It's not worth the money and over-priced.

My take?  You just don't know where the company will 'march-off-to'.  It might develop into a dozen products/services....each with profit.

If  I had  the cash....I'd buy 40 shares at $6,400 roughly, and sit. End of 2026....it's probably at $300 a share and  be happy with doubling your money.

If you held the stock ten years?   It'd probably reach $4,000 a share ($160,000) minimum.

The one prospect here.....first man on Mars....will not be a Russian or NASA employee.....it'll be a Space-X employee. 

Five Things That AI Over The Next Decade Will Give Us

 1.  Within a couple of years....AI will be used by singles to assess through various questions (probably over 2,000)....where successful relationships can occur.  Your scores, preferences, spending habits, education.....will be matched to the perfect-partner.

I'm not saying it'll fix things....but you will end up with person that best fits your chaos/mess.

2.  AI will start to assess dependability of cars....to the point that some brands will dissolve away (they were developed and marketed.....as CRAP).

AI will start to tell you when each issue starts to decline....getting you into a shop earlier.

3.  AI will start to score teachers/college-instructors....to the point that the crappy ones are dismissed by the 2nd year.

4. A AI-scoring service will start up....giving 'scores'.....to TV journalists....to show 'slant'.  

5.  AI will begin to monitor voting registrations....actual existing people....fake people, and voting patterns. It will assess some US cities with 30-percent 'Casper-voters/non-existent people)......forcing courts to throw out election results entirely.

AOC-Reverse-Index-IQ-Scoring

 This week....AOC said: "Elon is one of the most unintelligent billionaires I've met or seen."

I pause over it, and realized that we need a opposite-approach to IQ.....where ZERO is Elon-range....and '10' is AOC-range.

The lower the score.....the more intelligent you  are.

Five Things That Have Reached A Failure Mode

1.  Car loans for $75,000.

The idiot who decided that cars would be sold at $60k to $90k on the lot....getting banks to agree to a 8-year loan payment plan.....has a mostly failure state in existence. 

2.  A Vegas weekend (3 days)  costing  in the $4k range for a couple.

After Covid....room prices, beverage/food costs....all escalated to such a degree....that it'd be actually half this $4k cost to go off to some Turkish 5-star resort for 10 days.

3.   Mailing a letter to a business establishment 10 miles away....requiring a 600 mile trip.

Once you pop the letter into the box....it has to be picked up and carried to state distribution point, then rerouted back.

4.  Kennedy Center.

Attitude developing....lot of folks suggesting that 'it' fund it's own renovation/repairs....let the fed-dollars just stop.

Look.....the cost of BS-work in DC is such...you would have to charge $500 for crappy seats, and $1,000 for a great seat....for the place to have a income level to pay for stuff.  

This is probably the literal end of the Center.

5.  High-speed rail in California.

Getting obvious....it'll take 70-plus years to build a 700-mile track.  Even if you hire Mexicans....I doubt that you can improve the outcome.

Five Things I Now Believe

 1.  The ongoing level of economic illiteracy....with regular folks and politicians....simply makes matters worse.  In some cases....it's like they never advanced past the 3rd grade.

2.  Some day....the gov't will attempt to tax imaginary/invisible digital game pieces/ponies/swords.

3.  The most important button on a remote control.....is 'MUTE'.

4. Somewhere in the statistical world.....there is a 'number' for 'idiots', and once you discover it.....you will always approach a building or work-place....with the attitude that 1-percent, or 3-percent, or 5-percent of people there....are idiots.  It will forever change you.

5.  Something designed to be a failure....can never be made into a success....no matter how much money or time  you put into it.

Vote Story

 California this week.....some gal...who had worked as a signature collector for ballot initiatives....got dragged into court.

She'd been in the 'job-field'....for at least a decade.

Deal time?  Well....yeah....she basically pleaded guilty to paying homeless people in Los Angeles’ Skid Row....$2 to $3....to register to vote.

Sentencing?  Yet to occur....based on the charge....max is five years in prison.  My guess....depending on how many were paid....it could go pretty light (three months in jail is my guess).

Where her cash 'purse' came from?  Unknown, and it does not appear that they will be asking about that.

Did any of the new registered voters actually vote?  Another unknown.

So each guy/gal....got enough to pay for a McDonald's sausage biscuit and coffee (if you had a discount coupon)?  Yeah.

Jobs Chatter

 I asked Grok (AI) to list the top ten states for new employment in 2026:

Texas (energy, tech, manufacturing, and population-driven demand).

Nevada (tourism, logistics, and business expansion).  

Florida (population influx, tourism, finance).

North Carolina (banking/finance, tech/biotech, and manufacturing).  

Arizona  (semiconductors, tech, aerospace, and migration from higher-cost states).  

Vermont (High ranking in overall employment strength and steady job gains).  

Oklahoma (Energy sector strength and business-friendly environment).  

Idaho (Tech, manufacturing, and population growth driving gains).  

Michigan  (Auto industry recovery, manufacturing, and diversification supporting job additions).  

Virginia (Government contracting, tech, and professional services in the D.C. metro area).

Grok also listed the three bottom states (W-Virginia,  Maine, and New Hampshire).

I'll make three observations:

First,  it used to take three to five years to see a downward/upward job trend....I'd go and suggest we've reached a stage where it's 12 to 18 months to see a trend.

Second, states with a upward trend....means they are collecting income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes. These are states with tax revenue flowing (not stagnant).  

Third, fifteen years ago....I remember the odd Obama quote.....it went along the lines of 'those-jobs-are-gone....you-just-to-accept-that'.