JPMorgan Chase announced a sweeping $1.5 trillion, decade-long initiative to finance and invest in industries central to U.S. economic and national security, committing up to $10 billion of its own capital to select American companies, according to reporting by Reuters on Monday.

The bank is the latest to “fall in line” behind President Trump’s continued focus on national security while safeguarding trade and production domestically. 

The plan will channel funds into four core areas — supply chain and manufacturing, defense and aerospace, energy independence, and frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. JPMorgan will expand research through its Center for Geopolitics, hire additional bankers, and form an external advisory council to guide the effort.

“This is a JPMorgan initiative,” Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said, stressing that it is “100% commercial” and not driven by the Trump administration.

Sure Jamie. Wink, wink. 

It’s probably just a coincidence then that the announcement follows rising trade tensions with China and renewed U.S. efforts to secure critical industries such as semiconductors, minerals, and clean energy.

“It has become painfully clear that the U.S. has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing – all of which are essential for our national security,” Dimon said. “Our security is predicated on the strength and resiliency of America’s economy. America needs more speed and investment.”

Reuters reported that Dimon called for policy changes to remove “excessive regulations, bureaucratic delay, partisan gridlock and an education system not aligned to the skills we need,” urging unity in facing the nation’s “immense challenges.” “We need to act now,” he said.

JPMorgan’s “security and resiliency initiative” will include direct equity and venture capital investments in companies building technologies for defense, AI-driven energy systems, semiconductors, and data centers. “Our support of clients in these industries remains unwavering,” Dimon added.

The announcement comes amid growing debate over artificial intelligence and its economic impact. Dimon told the BBC that while AI will “pay off,” much like the early car and television industries, “most people involved in them didn’t do well.”

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

Rising government spending and public debt create economic stagnation and declining living standards. Many citizens believe that the state will give them prosperity and equality. However, the state only makes paper promises by issuing debt, creating a constantly depreciated currency. Taxpayers are constantly expropriated, while the recipients of subsidies become a dependent subclass. Who wins? Bureaucrats.

Deficit spending is not a tool for growth. It erodes prosperity, creates persistent secular stagnation, real wage growth decline, and poor productivity growth.

High public spending and government debt falsely inflate GDP through government outlays while, in most cases, masking a private-sector recession underneath. GDP is easily manipulated by increasing government spending and changing the calculation of GDP deflators.

The state issues debt, a form of currency, and establishes a system that continuously suffocates the productive sector. In effect, GDP and CPI serve as measures of economic strength that obscure the imbalances created by the state; GDP overstates real growth by incorporating government spending financed by debt, while CPI, like the GDP deflator, underestimates the currency’s loss of purchasing power.

Major economies face a hidden real recession for households and small businesses using “robust” headline figures bloated by ever-rising government debt. Every new dollar of debt now generates less than sixty cents of nominal GDP in the U.S. However, when we look at countries like Japan, France, the UK or Germany, the multiplier effect of new government debt is either nonexistent or negative. The consequences are evident: true productive economic expansion is hurt by rising taxes, regulatory burdens, and inflation, which reduce incentives for private investment and innovation.

Statism creates enormous disincentives for productive investment and promotes malinvestment and the constant transfer of wealth from the productive sectors to the government. Governments finance their ever-expanding budgets in privileged conditions, creating a crowding out of the private sector that suffers the consequences of persistent inflation and raising taxes.

Remember that high taxes are not a tool to reduce debt but to justify it.

Despite political messages promoting growth and stability, statism results in low productivity growth, which in turn causes declining real wage growth and diminishing purchasing power as governments overheat economies by issuing more currency than the private sector demands while maintaining unsustainable public accounts. Persistent inflation is the systemic result of chronic government overspending and central bank easing to sustain sovereign debt bubbles.

Ironically, many citizens hail politicians and governments who promise to lower inflation by printing more currency through subsidies and government programmes. Governments promise to solve the problems they create, paving the road to serfdom.

Capitalism and social media do not cause inequality and discontent. Governments create inequality in its most severe form, which arises from political favouritism.

Artificial creation of currency is never neutral. It disproportionately benefits the first recipient of new money and governments and hurts the last recipients, wages, and deposit savings.

Workers and the middle class cannot protect themselves against the stealth expropriation of the economy. Those with financial means hedge against currency debasement through asset investments, while wage earners and deposit savers suffer the hidden tax of inflation and the erosion of purchasing power.

The hidden costs of public debt are more evident than ever: governments absorb available credit, banks become reluctant to lend to productive private enterprises, genuine investment suffers, and job creation and long-term productivity weaken. Instead of fuelling sustainable growth, government borrowing absorbs capital to bloat the administration machine and promote asset bubbles. Small and medium enterprises face constant penalties while malinvestment thrives.

Keynesian policies promise prosperity through endless spending, and when it does not work, they always say that they did not spend enough. However, the promises of eternal government expansion meet the reality of the economic, fiscal, and inflationary limits, which have already been surpassed in most developed economies. Tax hikes generate diminishing receipt improvements, while productive investment is penalised. Additionally, debt accumulation meets a loss of investor confidence and erosion of currency stability. Thus, with persistent inflation, the purchasing power of the currency deteriorates.

By manipulating interest rates and maintaining elevated public outlays, governments create a stealthy nationalisation of the economy and a slow-motion crisis. This leads to a gradual decline in both purchasing power and living standards.

The solution is to diminish the power of the state, promote sound money, strengthen the private sector, favour entrepreneurship, and make systematic cuts to government spending. Only by refocusing on genuine market-led investment and trimming bureaucratic overhead can economies escape stagnation, restore real wage growth, and revive productivity. Without decisive spending restraint, citizens remain trapped in a vicious cycle of dependency, currency devaluation, and impoverishment.

Rising government spending and public debt do not deliver productive growth. They create stagnation.

While Mark Cuban may be a ‘benevolent pill merchant’ – providing low-income Americans with cheap prescription drugs, the ‘Shark Tank’ billionaire just helped raise $50 million for a Series B round in a Dallas-based financial technology firm that lets people with terrible credit scores tap into the equity in their depreciating used cars at a 30% interest rate – even if it’s not paid off – in which case the entire auto loan is transferred). 

The startup, Yendo Inc., makes it even easier to squeeze blood from that stone. After signing up, the company issues the borrower a credit card – which incurs an additional 3% fee if used at an ATM to pull cash out. 

[Yendo] offers credit cards backed by vehicle equity to help customers get access to credit who may not be able to otherwise due to low FICO scores. The credit card functions like a normal card. Instead of a cash deposit, it’s secured by the value of a person’s car. -Dallas Business Journal

In addition to Cuban – an early investor in the company, Yendo received funding from Spice Expeditions, Autotech Ventures, FPV Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners and Clocktower Technology Ventures. As Dallas Business Journal notes, Spice Expeditions founder Nick Huber will join Yendo’s board, along with Lyft co-founder Logan Green. 

Founded in 2021, the company will use the funding to build an AI-powered digital bank that will decrease onboarding and operating costs – allowing them to focus on “opening doors for underserved Americans.” The company says that there’s more than $4 trillion in “untapped assets held by nonprime Americans.

Last May, the company raised $165 million in new capital – much if it debt, to increase lending through its asset-backed credit cards. Read more about their history here.

Also – for some reason all of Yendo’s advertising shows black people using their lending: 

Mela from Phoenix, AZ “hardly had to leave the couch” to tap into her car’s equity. And apparently one of the highest interest rates on the planet “worked great” for her budget. 

So, basically targeting the people screwed over in the Tricolor collapse. 

h/t Capital.news

*  *  * Last week’s top sellers!

Astaxanthin (super potent natural antioxidant)

ZeroHedge Hat – waxed canvas for your pleasure

ZeroHedge Multitool – Full refund if you’re not happy. Will let you keep it. That confident. 

Male Enhancement – Give her that Falcon Heavy (free bottle of Ultra Testosterone for a limited time)

Countertop RO Filter – been flying off the shelf, probably because we’re undercutting everyone else on price (shh). Will have to raise that soon. 

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

What did Donald Trump do differently to obtain at least temporary calm in the Middle East compared to the failed efforts of past administrations, foreign powers, and the United Nations?

Let us count ten different approaches.

1. Trump curtailed a considerable amount of Iranian oil income and its dispersal. He stopped, for the near future, the Iranian effort to build a bomb. Trump also allowed Israel to destroy Tehran’s air defenses, humiliate it militarily, and eliminate many of its top military officers and nuclear physicists. Thus, Israel’s half-century-long worries about Iranian nukes were addressed. At the same time, its stature as a military power soared to an all-time high—even if it became more isolated politically. Israel became more confident but also more sensitive to past, current, and future American military and political support—or pressure.

2. Trump allowed Netanyahu to destroy Hamas, cripple Hezbollah, and retaliate at will against the Houthis. That liberation led to general dejection among Israel’s enemies and a resurgence in Netanyahu’s own political fortunes. And that rise of Israel and the collapse of the Iranian terrorist network—the “ring of fire”— explain the greater chances for a ceasefire and possibly a peace. Trump allowed no daylight between Israel and the U.S., which, under the Biden administration, may have sent the wrong signals to Hamas prior to October 7.

So there is now no terrorist Palestinian leader, such as a Yasser Arafat or an all-powerful Hamas killer, to sandbag negotiations. Instead, Trump involved a number of self-interested surrogate Arab officials who have the money and influence to rebuild Gaza and restore calm on their own terms. Trump and Israel are not just negotiating from positions of historic strength, but they have also empowered the reasonable Arab nations to have honor and clout in Middle East negotiations in an unprecedented fashion.

3. Trump also leveraged all his benefactions to Israel by pressuring it to agree to a ceasefire.

Even the optics of a strong Israeli leader conceding to Trump that there would be no annexation of the West Bank gave the U.S. credibility in the Arab world as an honest broker and yet paradoxically helped Israel’s global reputation—as well as Netanyahu’s—as a more flexible negotiator.

4. Trump used the Abraham Accords and his much-maligned tariffs, along with expanding or curtailing commercial access into U.S. markets, to pressure—or persuade—the Gulf and moderate Arab states to ensure funding for Gaza reconstruction and the continued political weakening of Hamas. There is a sense in the Middle East, as elsewhere, that when it comes to new technologies such as AI, robotics, genetic engineering, and cryptocurrencies, the U.S. will remain the global leader, and thus a nation to court and please.

5. Trump, in carrot-and-stick fashion, promised a defense protection pact with Qatar—the proverbial untrusted wild card of the Middle East.

But his new quid pro quo “protectorate” also implied reining in Qatar if it should resume its customary double-dealing that so infuriates its neighbors and increasingly enrages the West. The Israeli attack on Hamas leadership in Qatar, and the signal Israel could strike again at will, terrified Qatar and drove it to seek protection in—new dependency on—the U.S.

6. Trump dealt with enemies, allies, and neutrals from a position of strength, comparative advantage, and national ascendance, unlike the appeasing and anemic Biden years or the apologetics of Obama. The successful complex bombing of the Iranian nuclear facilities and the past elimination of terrorist Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and ISIS founder and thug Bakr al-Baghdadi ensured Trump was seen as more serious than either Obama or Biden ever were.

The Arab world and Israel also understood that there are no alternatives to Trump. Russia’s Syrian outpost is gone. Moscow is bogged down in a forever war in Ukraine and under sanctions. It is no longer a force in the Middle East.

Trump has confronted China and exposed its economic vulnerabilities, ensuring that the Arabs saw no outside power comparable to the U.S.

Chinese and Russian allies, like the Iranian theocracy and the former Assad dynasty in Syria, were also shown over the last year to be shrill, impotent, losing clients. At home, restoring the U.S. border, strengthening NATO, rebooting the U.S. military, fast-tracking energy development, and cracking down on crime fed the impression of an American renaissance rather than the continued Obama-Biden-managed decline.

7. Trump was entirely transactional. Unlike the Biden administration, he did not libel the Saudis, or demonize Netanyahu, or take seriously any of the past proverbial empty “peace plans” of a corrupt UN or of terrified Europeans. He had no sooner destroyed Iran’s nuclear capability than he allowed a ceremonial but innocuous “hit” on a U.S. base in Qatar and then declared he wanted to “make Iran great again.” For someone who is supposedly mercurial, holds grudges, and is reckless, Trump was careful to treat all the major parties with deference and a clean slate and offered them trade and military deals rather than diplomatese and platitudes.

8. Europe went from sandbagging Trump in 2017 to 2021 to calling him “daddy” once they realized that only Trump could save Ukraine and, by extension, Europe from Putin. The result was not an anti-American Europe trying to intrude into the Middle East negotiations or ankle-biting the U.S. To the degree that Europeans save face, it is by symbolically recognizing a Palestinian state, but not materially altering realities on the ground in Gaza.

For the most part, there is now a calmer Europe, relieved that Iran was denuclearized and the Palestinian terrorists in the Middle East might no longer trigger unrest among Europe’s own restive and unassimilated Muslim populations.

9. At this 11th hour, Hamas was reminded that it has no real alternatives—as the rubble of Gaza attests. Trump signaled to Israel that it could and can still go medieval on Hamas and its remnants should they resume terrorism.

Otherwise, Gaza remains a bombed-out wreck. Qatar will be pressured to kick out its conniving Hamas billionaires. The result is a stark choice: any Hamas attempt to rebuild its terrorist networks will ensure that it—and everything around it—will be moonscaped. Trump made it clear there are now no more sacred cows in the Middle East, no more safe spaces, and no more off-limits targets—juxtaposed to numerous win-win incentives that can lead to prosperity and security.

10. The Middle East was not seen as a one-off U.S. peace effort—as is usually the case. Instead, it was envisioned as a continuation of a series of prior successful Trump-led ceasefires between Rwanda and Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, India and Pakistan, Kosovo and Serbia, Cambodia and Thailand, and Egypt and Ethiopia. The Israelis and the Palestinians saw Trump’s success elsewhere and may have felt from such momentum that the same might be possible in Gaza.

And if the ceasefire holds, or at least reduces the violence, global attention will next turn to Ukraine.

Expectations in and outside the Middle East will rise that if there can be quiet in war-torn Gaza, then that momentum might lead to progress toward peace on the Ukrainian border as well.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Authored by Micah Zimmerman via BitcoinMagazine.com,

People close to Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance better known as ‘CZ,’ say discussions are intensifying inside the Trump White House over whether to issue a presidential pardon for the embattled crypto executive, according to reporting from Charles Gasparino, a Senior Correspondent at FOX Business. 

Zhao, once among the most influential figures in the digital asset world, served time following a plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2023 that included a money-laundering conviction and $4.3 billion in fines for Binance. 

But according to several sources familiar with the matter, many within Trump’s inner circle now view the case as politically motivated — a hallmark of what they describe as the Biden administration’s broader crackdown on crypto.

Zhao remains Binance’s largest individual shareholder, and a pardon could clear the way for his formal return to the exchange, which he founded in 2017 and grew into the world’s largest Bitcoin and crypto trading platform.

Speculation of a Trump pardon has been looming for most of this year, but the decision is reportedly coming soon.

CZ background

Zhao’s 2023 conviction marked one of the most high-profile cases in the government’s campaign against major exchanges. 

U.S. prosecutors accused Binance of allowing illicit transactions with sanctioned entities and failing to implement proper anti-money-laundering controls. CZ pleaded guilty, stepped down as CEO, and paid a personal fine of $50 million.

Zhao served a four-month prison sentence. He was sentenced in April 2024 and released in September 2024, after spending time in a low-security federal prison in California and then a halfway house.

Despite this, even critics of Binance have questioned whether the criminal charges were proportionate. Trump’s team reportedly sees Zhao’s situation as an opportunity to demonstrate a “new era” of crypto policy — one that favors innovation over punishment.

A decision could come before year’s end, but Trump’s attention is divided between foreign policy flashpoints — including conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and renewed trade tensions with China — and that clemency discussions often take longer than expected, according to Gasparino.

For now, the crypto world is watching closely.

A Trump pardon for CZ would mark not only a personal vindication for Zhao, but also be somewhat of a political statement: Trump signaling that the world’s most powerful government is truly open for Bitcoin business.

On a historic day, Hamas has released all remaining Israeli hostages following two years of war. Twenty in total have been released, with an initial seven handed over in the first wave, followed by 13 more. Twenty-eight additional deceased captives are expected being returned, though there are reports that only four of the deceased have been transferred back to Israel at this point.

In return, 250 Palestinian prisoners serving long and life sentences are now being released from Israeli prisons as part of the first phase of the US-brokered deal. Additionally, over 1,700 Palestinians being held without charge are to be released.

Israeli media observed that many of the hostages, some of whom haven’t been so much as photographed in two years, are looking noticeably thin, and they were also forced to wear a quasi-military uniform as they were set free. Several videos have already featured teary-eyed reunions of hostages with their parents, families, and loved ones.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the freedom of all the remaining hostages in speech before the Knesset, also vowing to keep the peace. “Mr. President, you are committed to this peace. I am committed to this peace. And together, Mr. President, we will achieve this peace,” he said. He declared today “marks the end of two years of war.”

President Trump, having touched down on Air Force One in Tel Aviv hours before, also addressed parliament in Jerusalem, and was thanked by Netanyahu for his “pivotal leadership in putting forward a proposal that got the backing of almost the entire world.”

He said Trump’s ceasefire plan “brings all our hostages home” and “ends the war by achieving all our objectives” and also “opens the door to an historic expansion of peace in our region and beyond our region.” That Netanyahu has publicly proclaimed the end of the war is a crucial development as there has been much speculation on this point, and whether Israel’s military will actually withdraw.

With Trump seated beside him, Netanyahu said, “This is your first visit to Israel since you recognized Jerusalem as our capital and moved the embassy here. Thank you for recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.” He then claimed, “Thank you for standing up to the lies against Israel in the United Nations.”

President Trump took to the podium, and receiving a standing ovation, proclaimed, “This is not only the end of a war. This is the end of the age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God.”

Hostages are welcomed home by thousands of Israelis after two painful years in Hamas captivity

One of the most historic and emotional moments in the history of Israel 🇮🇱

Hostages are welcomed home by thousands of Israelis after two painful years in Hamas captivity 🎗 pic.twitter.com/h0hqRQ1JyA

— REAL JEW (@THEREALJEW613) October 13, 2025

“It’s the start of a grand concord and lasting harmony for Israel, and all the nations of what will soon be a truly magnificent region,” he stated. “I believe that, so strongly. This is the “historic dawn of a new Middle East.”

There was a moment of a disruption in parliament soon after Trump began:

Trump’s Knesset speech was protested by Arab MP Ayman Odeh and Communist MP Ofer Cassif with placards reading ‘genocide’; Odeh and Cassif were forcibly removed from the plenary session. pic.twitter.com/EPcIuVWmBv

— Levent Kemal (@leventkemaI) October 13, 2025

After two “harrowing” years, “the guns are silent,” Trump continued, adding that the region is now “at peace” and he expressed hope that this will be the case “for eternity.”

At one point the president heaped praise on US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump son-in law and adviser Jared Kushner, who is said to have helped broker the ceasefire deal.

Some families have received bad news, however:

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum says only four of the 28 bodies of dead hostages will be returned to Israel today, calling it a “blatant breach” of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

There has not been an announcement on the identities of the four, and there has been no confirmation from Israeli authorities on the number of bodies expected today.

Several families of dead hostages were told by Israeli authorities yesterday that their loved ones’ bodies would not be returned today or tomorrow, and that Israel would spare no effort to locate and return them.

BREAKING: Hamas releases all surviving 20 Israeli hostages after two years in captivity. pic.twitter.com/M5CAPe3nQE

— TaraBull (@TaraBull808) October 13, 2025

Another key moment in the speech was when Trump said “Bibi would call me so many times” asking for weapons – “so many that Israel became strong and powerful… that’s what led to peace.”

Interestingly, a number of people in the audience were observed wearing MAGA-style hats that read “Trump The Peace President.”

*  *  *

Buy a serious, high-flow Reverse Osmosis water system with two-year supply of filters. Ships free within 24 hours. 30-day returns, no questions asked. Fills your cup in seconds with low 1:3 wastewater ratio. 

Authored by Tuomas Malinen via gnseconomics.com,

On Friday, the largest market liquidation in crypto-market history occurred after President Trump posted on social media, threatening China with 100% tariffs.

Some investors lost their whole portfolio before Mr. President reversed course with a social media entry downplaying the risks.

Those who lost their life savings in yet another crypto-carnage could blame President Trump, and you would be correct, partially. Yet, this figure presents the primary reason we’re here.

Figure 1. The balance sheet of the Bank of Japan, European Central Bank, Federal Reserve and the People’s Bank of China as a share of gross domestic product of the world. Source: GnS Economics, BoJ, ECB, Fed, PBoC, IMF

I have not really cared to update the graph anymore, but due to the asset roll-off of the Federal Reserve, the share has most likely dropped a bit (see the share that includes all major central banks). That is also not the main point here, but what happened before 2021.

Figure 2. Total assets of the Federal Reserve. Source: St. Louis Fed.

For a very long time, the assets (securities) held by the central banks grew modestly. Unless there was a crisis, the assets usually were below 10% of GDP. Not anymore.

The monetary meddling of the central banks after the GFC led to a massive increase in the money in circulation. This is the most update data on M2 money (“broad money”) in circulation in the world.1 I’ve added a few key policy actions to clarify the message conveyed by the graph.

Figure 3. M2 money as a share of GDP in the world. Source: GnS Economics, IMF.

After the dismantling of the Bretton Woods system, where currencies were pegged to the U.S. dollar, which was pegged to gold, between 1971 and 1976, the amount of money has grown rapidly. The first “Fed easing” shown in the figure refers to the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates after the shock delivered by Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, which was enacted to curb the runaway inflation caused by the oil shocks of the 1980s. Interest rates in the U.S. reached their peak in the vicinity of 20% in June 1981, after which they were cut to under 10% in two years.

The Dot-com bubble, its implosion, and the lowering of the interest rates from 6.5% to less than 2% in just a year by Fed Chair Alan Greenspan delivered another impulse to the supply of money. However, the major turn came in the Great Financial Crisis and the quantitative easing (securities purchase programs) launched after. They transformed central banks into active participants not only in money creation, a traditionally exclusive role for commercial banks, but also in the markets. I have detailed the (detrimental) effects of these policies in two Epoch Times articles (this and this).

However, the most significant shock came in the spring of 2020. From my Epoch Times piece:

In March 2020, the coronavirus outbreak was freaking out the markets, and on March 16, 2020, they crashed. The volatility index reached 82.69, the highest on record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged by 2997 points, or 12.9 percent—the worst point drop on record.

On the 16th, the New York Fed announced that it will add $500 billion in the over-night loans to repo-market. On the 17th, the Fed announced that it would use $1 trillion to mob up corporate paper from issuers. On the 18th, the European Central Bank announced that it would buy 750 billion euros worth of bonds and securities. On the 19th, the Fed announced that it would create lending facility to money market mutual funds. On March 25, 2020, interest rates of short-term corporate debt surged to 2.43 percent above the federal-funds rate, the over-night lending rate of the Fed, which led the central bank to issue a program targeted at the corporate markets.

At the end of May 2020, the Fed backstopped “repo” and U.S. Treasury markets, intervened in corporate commercial-paper and municipal bond markets and short-term money-markets, and bought corporate bond ETFs, including some speculative-grade, or “junk,” corporate debt. It also launched its “Main Street Lending” program, where it provided loans to middle-market businesses. Alas, come June 2020, the Fed had become the financial markets of the United States. The bailout operations enacted by Greenspan had reached the point where the fears that the creation of the Fed would ‘socialize’ the economy had materialized.

So, yes, you lost your money, partly because of the reckless tweeting of President Trump, but mostly because central banks have become active players in the economy, printing massive amounts of money, destroying the risk-and-reward relationship.

This is how enormous bubbles form, and they will eventually burst.

The main takeaway from the above is that central banks will, most likely, uphold the bubble by any means necessary, because if they did not, their credibility would be shattered.

While many market commentators are currently (still) celebrating the rally, it would not take long for them to identify the true culprits behind the “exuberance,” that is, the central banks.

The outcome would, (again) most likely be the end of the modern central banks, and while I would welcome such a development, many are very afraid of what it would imply (more on that later).

GnS Economics Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Shares of the LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr surged around midday in New York after a Semafor report, citing company insiders, said they are “discussing taking the company private after a stock slide forced its owners into a precarious personal financial position.”

The report says the two controlling shareholders, Raymond Zage and James Lu, are in talks to secure debt financing from Fortress Investment Group to buy out Grindr.

Before the Semafor’s report was published, the dating app company had a market capitalization of about $2.4 billion. 

Here’s more about the potential buyout deal:

Zage and Lu have discussed a buyout price of around $15 a share, some of the people said, cautioning that number could change. A deal at that price would value the company at around $3 billion.

Before the report hit the wires, shares were down 30.5% year-to-date. Afterward, the stock jumped 16%.

It’s important to note that the float is 32.5% short, equivalent to about 10.5 million shares, with 5.3 days to cover.

More from Semafor:

Any deal would likely carry national-security implications. Grindr was originally owned by a Chinese firm, which sold it in 2020 after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States raised concerns about sensitive personal data — which could be used in blackmail attempts — being accessed by Beijing. Zage, a US expat who is now a Singaporean national, surpassed 50% ownership of Grindr just last month through stock buybacks. Lu is a Chinese-born US citizen, according to the South China Morning Post.

Taking Grindr private could arrest a stock slide that appears to have little to do with the company’s financial performance: Profits were up 25% in the second quarter from a year ago, but the stock has fallen more than 20% since late September. Grindr went public in 2022 through a blank-check company.

Corporate filings show that Zage and Lu, who together owned more than 60% of Grindr’s shares as of June, had pledged nearly all of their stock for personal loans. That lender, the people said, is SeaTown Holdings, a unit of Temasek, which seized the shares last week after the loans became undercollateralized.

Short squeeze?

ASP Isotopes, a name we pointed out to our subscribers about one week ago, is up more than 13% this morning after it issued a business update that highlights how well-positioned it is across both technology and medical applications.

ASP announced its largest-ever supply contract for enriched silicon-28 and a strategic acquisition of a U.S.-based radiopharmacy — two moves that deepen its exposure to the fast-growing quantum computing and nuclear medicine markets.

LEU just hit $400.

For those looking for a cheap uranium enrichment alternative, we told subs 1 week ago to go long ASPI. It’s starting to move. https://t.co/i1t7vf3bdl

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 10, 2025

This morning the company said it “entered into a supply contract with a U.S.-based customer for enriched silicon-28, with deliveries expected during Q1 2026,” calling it “the Company’s largest silicon-28 contract to date.”

Enriched silicon-28 is a critical material for quantum computing and advanced semiconductor architectures. As the company explained, “By removing the nuclear spin noise present in natural silicon, enriched silicon-28 provides a pristine environment for qubits, dramatically improving coherence times and overall device performance.” This makes the material foundational for scalable, fault-tolerant quantum processors — the building blocks of the quantum computing revolution.

Chief Commercial Officer Viktor Petkov emphasized the growing demand: “This significant customer order for silicon-28 underscores how our Electronic Gases strategy is gaining real traction across multiple end markets. Enriched silicon is emerging as a cornerstone material not only for quantum computing but also for high-precision semiconductor and photonics applications. Our goal is to become the world’s most reliable supplier of enriched silane and other isotopically pure gases — a foundation for the technologies driving the next industrial revolution.”

In addition to its quantum-related progress, the company announced its first U.S. acquisition in nuclear medicine — the purchase of an independent radiopharmacy in Florida to complement and expand PET Labs, its South African radiopharmaceutical operation. The acquisition is “expected to be accretive to 2026 revenues, EBITDA and EPS,” and marks PET Labs’ first step beyond South Africa. The Florida facility currently offers SPECT services, with PET Labs planning to add PET services by 2027 to expand diagnostic capabilities and revenue.

ASP’s proprietary Aerodynamic Separation Process (ASP Technology) allows it to enrich both light and heavy isotopes, giving it reach across multiple critical trillion-dollar markets. The company is targeting demand “for isotopes such as Silicon-28, which will enable quantum computing, and Molybdenum-100, Molybdenum-98, Zinc-68, Ytterbium-176, and Nickel-64 for new, emerging healthcare applications, as well as Chlorine-37, Lithium-6, and Uranium-235 for green energy applications.”

As global supply chains for strategic materials tighten, ASP Isotopes’ position at the intersection of advanced computing, nuclear medicine, and clean energy could make it one of the most strategically valuable small-cap names in the sector.

ASPI remains one of our favorite names in the nuclear space — and a company we believe stands to benefit meaningfully from two of the most powerful macro themes ahead: the Trump administration’s stated interest in taking stakes in key U.S. commodity and energy suppliers, and the AI boom’s insatiable need for power, which we think will increasingly have to come from nuclear.

“Hey, I have an idea Mr President: Why don’t you give him a pardon? Give him a pardon, come on,” Trump said, pointing at Netanyahu during his big Monday speech before the Knesset in Jerusalem, upon the historic release of all remaining Israeli hostages by Hamas.

Trump stated: “By the way, that was not in the speech, you probably know.” He said this as pro-Netanyahu lawmakers gave Trump a long standing ovation, which actually happened more than once during and after the somewhat lengthy address. When Trump talked about the idea of a pardon, Knesset members shouted: “Bibi! Bibi!”

Pointing at Herzog, President Trump said: “But I happen to like this gentleman over here, and it just seems to make so much sense.”

That’s when he called Netanyahu “one of the greatest” wartime leaders, adding: “And cigars and Champagne, who the hell cares?”

The Netanyahu trial goes back to 2019, and over the years Trump has at times called the whole saga “politically motivated” and asserted that the prime minister been through a “Horror Show”.

The trial focuses on three corruption cases – including charges of fraud and breach of trust, as well as charges of bribery. The allegations range from illegally receiving expensive gifts based on political favors, to quid pro quo agreements with some Israeli media sources for more favorable coverage, to authorizing telecom-related regulatory decisions to benefit friends and allies.

The opposition in Israel has long accused Netanyahu of seeking prolong the war in Gaza for the sake of his own political survival – all while living a lavish lifestyle. 

As for Trump’s reference to “cigars and Champagne” during his Monday speech, Newsweek reviews of the pending case that–

Evidence submitted includes recordings, text messages, and police documents. Notably, testimony from key figures including Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan has brought to light extravagant gifts allegedly given to Netanyahu and his wife, including Champagne and cigars.

Trump calls on the Israeli President to pardon Netanyahu:

“Cigars and champagne – who the hell cares about it?”

Netanyahu is standing trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, including allegedly accepting 700,000 shekels (approx. $210,000) worth of luxury goods in bribes. pic.twitter.com/iN9wqkSWut

— Adam Schwarz (@AdamJSchwarz) October 13, 2025

Trump was thanked by Netanyahu during the Knesset proceedings for his “pivotal leadership in putting forward a proposal that got the backing of almost the entire world.”

He said of Trump’s ceasefire plan that it “brings all our hostages home” and “ends the war by achieving all our objectives” and it also “opens the door to an historic expansion of peace in our region and beyond our region.”