Last week’s issue was devoted entirely to the topic of “happiness.” I’m sure that pissed off a lot of readers. I can’t say I blame them. All this happiness stuff is embarrassing. And, as I mentioned in that issue’s “Just the Facts” section, it’s contagious.
I’m going to make up for it today. Nothing but bad news and views.
Starting with my take on “the Epstein thing.”
What Is Trump Afraid Of?
I’ve been thinking about the Epstein thing – about Bondi’s announcement last week that, no, it turns out that Epstein wasn’t murdered, that he really did hang himself from a horizontal bar in his cage that was 18 inches above the floor, and that, no, as it turns out, that whole Epstein list, the one containing dozens of prominent pedophiles that feasted on pre-pubescent pretties at Epstein Island, that doesn’t exist. It was all a silly conspiracy theory promoted by… well, we promoted it, but anyway, never mind.
That was hard to swallow.
But what made things worse for me was when Trump scolded the Republicans who had been trying to open up the files, accusing them of being sissy boys and chiding them for not reporting on real news, like all the things he’s done in the past five months – the things I wrote about in the July 4 issue.
Bondi was obviously being loyal, doing what she’d been told to do. But the only person that could tell Bondi to make such a fool of herself would have been Trump. And that’s what I’ve been thinking about: Why, when Fox News’s Rachel Campos-Duffy asked Trump, “Would you declassify the Epstein files?” he said, “Yeah, yeah, I would.”
If you look at this clip, you’ll see how Campos-Duffy cleverly set up her questions. And you’ll notice a hesitation in how Trump responded to the one about the Epstein files, compared to the quick and certain way he responded to the same questions about JFK and Martin Luther King.
I could see this as an indication that, at the time, since he didn’t know what was in the Epstein files, he might have been worried that there was material there that would implicate him. And it’s possible that, once the file became available to him after Jan. 20, Bondi or someone else in the Justice Department did find incriminating evidence against him.
But I can’t quite believe that because, first of all, I don’t believe Trump is a pedophile. And if that’s true, then the files do not contain proof of his having sex with a pre-pubescent teenager. And even if there is incriminating information about him in the files, although Trump would not want it to be released, I don’t think he would have abruptly and unilaterally tried to not just shut down the investigation, but try the “old news” narrative.
So I’ve been asking myself: If fear of being exposed as a pedophile is not the reason for Trump’s reaction, what else could be behind it?
Last week, I read a transcript of a conversation between Doug Casey and Matt Smith where they addressed this question. They agreed that Trump and his team would not risk the damage this reversal will (and has already) caused for Trump if it were a play to profit from it somehow. The damage would be too great. The more likely explanation is fear. Somehow, somewhere along the investigation, Trump’s investigators got scared. And then Trump got scared, too.
What could be that scary?
I’m studying that now. I’ll give you my answer in the next issue.
And Then There’s This…
After my disappointment with Trump’s decisions re the Epstein files, I felt obliged to mention this as a piece of news.
On Friday, Venezuela released 10 jailed Americans, as well as agreeing to accept scores of migrants the Trump administration dumped in El Salvador after President Maduro refused to let them back into Venezuela – reportedly because he knew that most of them were incarcerated criminals that were permitted to get out of jail if they took advantage of Biden’s policy of giving Venezuelans a free pass over the southern border and into the US.
So it was a win-win for Trump and his State Department. How Maduro was persuaded to make the deal has not been explained yet, but I’m guessing it had something to do with tariffs.
“Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement in which he thanked El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
You can read the details here.
Don’t Buy That Hotel on Ventura Boulevard!
Hotel owners in LA are up in arms, I’m reading, because of the city’s new $30-an-hour minimum wage. The LA city council voted to boost the wage for workers in hotels with 60 or more rooms to $30 by 2028. It’s not something I’ve thought about much, but it doesn’t take much thinking to realize that a big part of the expense of running hotel is the cost of all the people cleaning the bathrooms, changing the linens, and replacing light bulbs.
According to Nigel, hotel occupancy in LA is currently at 74.9%, which, also according to Nigel, is in the “healthy” range. But because the cost of everything in LA is so high, the profitability of the city’s hotels has been poor for many years.
Speaking to a WSJ reporter, Jon Bortz, CEO of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, said, “We would love to sell our LA hotels. But nobody wants to buy them.”
Another Celebrity and Another Nazi Salute?
A hugely popular right-wing Croation singer and tens of thousands of his fans performed a pro-Nazi WWII salute during a massive concert in Zagreb, according to the Associated Press. His name is Marko Perkovic, and one of his most popular songs, which ignited the salute fest, begins with what the AP says is called the “For the homeland – Ready!” salute, which was used by Croatia’s Nazi-era puppet Ustasha regime that ran concentration camps at the time.
Information Publishers: Heed This Advice or Die!
I once co-authored a book about multi-channel marketing, even though, at the time, I didn’t completely believe in it. I did it because I was asked to by a colleague who was into the idea, and so I thought, “What’s the harm?”
Back then, our industry – the digital information industry – was in the middle of 10 years of explosive growth. Our own businesses were growing like crazy and doing so by focusing more than 80% of our marketing resources on just one channel – placing short ads on various social media platforms and subscribing potential buyers into our various digital daily newsletters. We were doing so well using just one marketing channel that I thought: “Why waste time experimenting with other approaches?”
I think I was right then, which is corroborated by the fact that we are still, almost 25 years later, doing 90% of our business on the same channel and we are still delivering almost all of our content via the medium we’ve always used: text.
And I think I’m right now, because I am following what other online publishers are doing and I can see a trend that looks like the future: multi-channel and multi-media marketing and publishing.
Our audience, as old as many of them may be, are becoming more and more accustomed to getting their news and their opinions from social media – which means visually. And I’ve been noticing that some of the information publishers – the ones with the largest file sizes – are expanding their reach by testing other marketing channels, such as video sales letters, and audio-based news services, and free memberships in various single-focused communities.
It’s not just one or two. It’s a portion of the market that is growing fast. These advertisers are enjoying response rates that are equal to or better than what we were getting through our one channel during its heyday.
One of the reasons for this change must be the growing sophistication of the technology required to translate one market channel into others. I know marketers that are producing successful campaigns in two or three channels simultaneously by creating the advertising copy in Word format and then having it translated into video, audio, and even live programming.
That explains why the trend is happening so quickly. But what’s even more important is to realize that the technology alone isn’t enough to stir up this amount of change. It must be due to a generally expanding use of media, which has brought in millions of new prospects and buyers through new and sometimes even unconventional channels.
I’ve been trying to persuade my larger clients (who could easily be doing so) to begin putting out their successful marketing on as many channels as possible. So far, no one is listening. I want to remind them that every one of those information publishers who ignored our success when we were growing so quickly at the beginning of the century are now out of business.
David Stockman: Sell Your Stocks Now!
Every seven or eight years, I read something that challenges the comfort I have in how my stock portfolio is structured. And sometimes, after talking to Dominick, my broker, and some of the stock analysts I trust, I make a decision that alters to some degree the amount of money I have in stocks as compared to how much I have in other asset classes.
I’m going through that thought process now after reading essays written and published in the last several weeks by Alex Green, Bill Bonner, Porter Stansberry, and David Stockman, to name a few.
All of them have serious concerns about the growing and now-gigantic US debt, which broke through the $37 trillion barrier last month.
One of those essays – “Sell the Bonds, Sell the Stocks: Demolition Donald Can’t Save Us!” by David Stockman (published on July 3) – articulates not just the debt problem, but several other ugly facts about the US investing environment that, as a group, have left me wondering if I should make some changes.
As Stockman points out, besides the federal debt, the US economy is burdened by corporate debt and personal debt, the whole of which is more than $100 trillion.
The last time I wrote about this I said that there are only three ways an economy can respond to debt at this level: a massive depression, sustained stagflation, or a period of abnormally large growth. In either of the first two cases, the middle class effectively absorbs the debt by getting poorer. In the third case, everyone gets richer, including the government, because the larger GDP results in larger tax revenues, even if the tax rates are lower.
Trump and those on his fiscal and monetary team are hoping for the third option. They are hoping that the tax cuts the Big Beautiful Bill preserved as well as the new ones it created will stimulate significant growth in the coming several years. I’m going to hope so too. We all should.
But Stockman, and all the other guys I listen to on this subject (see above), don’t think that’s going to happen.
If they are right, Stockman’s prediction of continued stagflation is the next best outcome and the most likely one. There are ways to preserve and even grow wealth during stagflation, but the ones I like best are direct investments, not stocks.
But the stock market is overvalued. Way overvalued from my conservative investing perspective. The S&P 500 is trading now at 30 times earnings! That, in my opinion, is almost double what it should be. My approach to stocks has always been buy-and-hold. But now I’m thinking about lightening the portion of my assets that are in stocks. Or maybe even getting out of stocks entirely.
I’m going to talk to Dominick about my concerns and see what he has to say. I’m going to tell him that I’m feeling like I should be happy with the gains I’ve made with stocks since we started the Legacy Portfolio, and particularly since we brought in some of the tech businesses he liked. And I’m going to tell him that I’d be quite comfortable getting a guaranteed 5% ROI for the next several years while the market sorts itself out.
I’ll let you know what I’m going to do next week.
Hint: The cat is the economy; the goat is me.
Answer: This is how I feel about my stock investments right now.
How much do you know about babies?
Take the quiz here.
My Score: As a grandfather of six children, from one- to nine-years-old, I was expecting to do well on this quiz, and I did, answering 13 out of 15 correctly.
Interesting: The answer to one of the questions I got wrong. Here it is…
It’s no wonder babies can’t eat very much during their first week of life. At birth, a baby’s stomach is around the size of a marble. They can only drink about 1 tablespoon at a time. By day three, their stomach has grown to the size of a walnut and they can drink about 1 ounce of liquid. Around day 10, a baby’s stomach is the size of a golf ball. By then, they can drink about 1.5 to 2 ounces during feeding time.
From MM: Have you heard of infinite banking?
“While on vacation, I met a broker for what’s nicknamed ‘a Rich Man’s Roth’ (a.k.a., infinite banking). I suspect you know all about this? Would getting into something like this be a future millionaire move? I’d love your opinion.”
My Response: Yes, I know something about infinite banking. In fact, when I was publishing The Wealth Club (from 2000 to 2010), one of my colleagues, a serious student of wealth building, introduced me and my readership to that way of investing.
Infinite banking is a financial strategy that uses whole life insurance to provide a regular, basically guaranteed, ROI on the money you invest, with the added benefit of allowing you to use much of the cash you’ve invested as a personal “bank” to give yourself loans.
I was skeptical of it at first because I had never heard about it. And it seemed odd to me that I wouldn’t have been introduced to it, considering that, by that time, I’d been in the investment publishing world for more than 20 years. So I did some research, including contacting some of the smartest financial analysts I knew, and none of them told me anything about it that turned me off.
The reason I didn’t open an account, therefore, was not because I thought there was anything wrong with infinite banking. Rather, it was because I was quite certain I could earn a good deal more than the guaranteed 5% by putting my money in other assets, which were, IMHO, just as safe.
From TM re new ways to build muscle
“Have you heard of Retatrutide yet? It’s the 3rd GLP iteration (currently in Phase 3 trials). Semaglutide first (single agonist). Then Tirzepatide (dual GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonist). Then the new one Reta (triple GIP, GLP-1 and glucagon agonist).
“You can get it in the gray market at some of the research peptide places. Probably past your comfort level, but I’ve tried it this year and it has really helped. Same food noise reduction but a couple more added things.
“What about TRT (testosterone replacement therapy)? Maybe you mentioned your views in a past post, but this has been a game changer for me. My bloodwork showed my testosterone levels at 160 (basement bottom levels). So I got on a small therapeutic dose.
“I was so against it at first thinking it was cheating. Or only for roid monkey body builders. But so many men are deficient. It has helped me shed fat and add some nice muscle on three days a week of weight training. Not to mention huge cognitive benefits (motivation, drive, ambition, clarity). After six months of clean eating and three days a week working out (three days of cardio), I’m in the best shape of my life.
“The cool thing is you don’t even have to inject it. (That’s a deal breaker for many.) They have HRT cream base you can rub on your balls (what I do). There is even a pill now that bypasses the liver (Kyzatrex) that is just as effective.
“Last tip to pass along: I’ve supplemented with essential amino acid powder. I had no clue but EAAs are basically just pure raw protein in its simplest most broken-down form. (Steak, eggs, chicken, etc., once digested and fully broken down, are EAAs.) So this is just straight protein to your muscles. Fascinating interview with Dr Minkoff here on it all if you haven’t stumbled across these yet.
“With you wanting to double protein from 80 to 160 grams, this would be a super-easy way to help you hit your protein goals.”
A Note to Readers: First of all (and I’m saying this for all the readers out there who don’t know me), when it comes to putting foreign substances in my body, such as swallowing pills or taking shots, my instinct is negative. I grew up feeling, as many people do, that any substance that was not both natural and also familiar to me should be avoided. I was one of those people who wouldn’t take aspirin for a headache.
About 20 years ago, however, I got into the health publishing business. Our publications were anti-drug and pro-natural. Over the ensuing years, I had the chance to read thousands of pages about what is wrong with surgery and drugs, and how you can deal with health problems naturally.
Thanks to that, I’m no longer fearful to take pills, and even the occasional injection – so long as I have done the research and am confident that the treatment is safe and might be effective.
The questions above were sent in by someone I’ve known for many years, someone who used to write for me on health topics (among others), and I know he shares my concerns with safety and legitimate research. So my response to him, which follows, is founded on a high degree of trust and confidence.
My Response: No, I have not heard of Retatrutide – but considering the success you’ve had with it, I will definitely look into it.
In answer to your second question, I have been taking testosterone in cream form for about 15 years, and I’m glad I got on it. I took it first – and this is not all that uncommon – as a way of combatting the psychotic effects of “male menopause” – i.e., chronic and sometimes severe depression. During a bout of research that I was doing for natural strength enhancement products, I read several studies indicating that it was not only good for retaining lean muscle mass, it was effective in counteracting other old-guy problems, such as sex drive, sperm count, muscle mass, energy levels, and, yes, depression!
I had my blood tested and discovered my testosterone level, which had been in and around 1,000 nanograms since I turned 30, had dropped to 160, which is below even the 300 nanogram minimum level for sedentary men of my age.
I went to a doctor/friend who specialized in male health and, after seeing my results, he recommended that I begin with natural testosterone in cream form. Within one week of taking it, my mood improved considerably – and so, given the other benefits I listed above, I decided to keep taking it. These days, my level ranges between 700 and 800 – not what it once was, but plenty high enough to keep me, from both a mental health and a physical fitness perspective, feeling like and performing as the man I was in my 50s.
Flash Concert
I’ve watched dozens of concerts like this on YouTube. They are not spontaneous. They are choreographed. But the audience is always surprised and happy to see them unfold. As am I.
(Oops! Sorry about that. I forgot the theme of this issue. Let me correct that. They make me feel a little less miserable!)