Back in the Saddle … sort of
I took a few days off this week, so Monday and Tuesday I didn’t hear any news, I didn’t watch the stock market, I didn’t watch any sports. I was about as out of touch as you can get. I did spend time with some of my kids and that was great!
I think I did push a little hard though, because as the day progressed on the 4 hour drive home I got sicker and sicker. So I may have to miss another day or two of the stock market while I stay in bed to recover. It’s 7:30 in the morning on Wednesday and I am going to try real hard to hear what Kevin Warsh has to say about interest rates.
I’ve heard people saying that they give a 90% chance that the FED will raise the interest rates to try to get inflation down, since the job market seems to be ok for the time being. I have my doubts though. The president put him in that position to lower interest rates But it’s not his fault, since Warsh didn’t start the war in Iran, or start this trade war with Canada along with the other Tariffs being employed. I’m sure that Warsh wants to make the president happy but in truth it’s really not his decision. He has to listen to the committee. Still, he may push for a “no change” vote to see what happens.
He had set up new task forces among the committee and we have no idea yet what the results of that will be. I hope there will some spark of good news there, so we’ll have to listen to his comments very carefully.
AI in Politics
I’ve been watching some of the political advertisements and I notice that many ads say things like “don’t vote for that person because they want to build data centers!” Public opinion of data centers recently has become a big issue. The expectation is that our power and water bills will climb when the data center moves in. Does this mean that if a new neighbor moves into the house next door and lights his house up like a Christmas tree day and night, that my electric bill goes up?
I do agree that these sprawling buildings take up too much land that could be put to better use like farming which I think we need more of. The over use of water from our low resources right now seems like a waste too. But these politicians demonizing the data centers could end up making any growth in AI and thus AI stocks more difficult.
I like Tech
Tech has been a large part of my life, and I was always looking for ways to use tech advances to improve my company, and my life. That’s why my portfolio leans a bit heavy on Tech. I’m not the only one. It seems that most of the index funds lean that way too. I think that tech needs to grow, but the way that our politics has turned it into a competition among countries is just wrong. They keep saying that we have to win the AI race but the way I see it, there isn’t any real finish line. It’s just constant growth.
The War
We cannot forget that a lot of the trouble we have is because of the “conflict” in the Middle East. Everyone is trying to destroy everyone else’s economy rather than trying to improve their own. I don’t know what is happening but I know that Saudi Arabia has lost a pipeline to the red sea for their oil. Another bottleneck. I will have to catch up later when I am feeling better.
