Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Board of Education are following the lead of other major cities and eliminating gifted school programs in the name of achieving greater racial and social “equity.”

Eleven “high-achieving selective-enrollment schools” will be eliminated, according to Chicago Board of Education CEO Pedro Martinez, to reduce “stratification and inequity.” 

As we have previously discussed, major cities with failing public education programs are erasing performance gaps in their schools by decapitating the top performers rather than elevating the performance overall. Other schools have also eliminated or lowered proficiency standards to achieve higher passage rates.According to the Daily Mail, the Board will vote today on the Mayor’s plan with the support of the president. The Chicago Tribune blasted Johnson in an editorial for reneging on a campaign promise not to abolish the selective schools.President Jianan Shi has portrayed gifted programs as just adding stress by allowing some students to achieve higher levels of education.

Shi declared “the goal is […] to change (the) current competition model so that students are not pitted against one another, schools are not pitted against one another.”

Some of these targeted schools are among the nation’s top performers, including Walter Payton College Prep (ranked 10th), Northside College Prep (ranked 37th), and Jones College Prep (ranked 60th). However, these schools only highlight the failure of the system overall.

One can image how thrilled countries like China must be as we decapitate our educational system to bring down both standards and schools to a low median.

As previously discussed, school boards and teacher unions have long treated parents as unwelcome interlopers in their children’s education.

That view was captured in the comment of Iowa school board member Rachel Wall, who said:

“The purpose of a public ed is to not teach kids what the parents want. It is to teach them what society needs them to know. The client is not the parent, but the community.”

State Rep. Lee Snodgrass (D-Wis.) tweeted: 

“If parents want to ‘have a say’ in their child’s education, they should home school or pay for private school tuition out of their family budget.”

Parents who question unpopular policies are often treated as extremists.

Michelle Leete, vice president of training at the Virginia PTA and vice president of communications for the Fairfax County PTA, said parents would not force them to reverse their agenda:

“Let them die. Don’t let these uncomfortable people deter us from our bold march forward.”

I have been a huge supporter of public schools my whole life. While my parents could afford private schools, they helped form a group to keep white families in the public school system in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s. They wanted their kids to be part of a diverse school environment. I also sent my kids to public schools for the same reason. I view our public schools as important parts of our society as we shape future citizens.

Teachers and boards are killing the institution of public education by treating children and parents more like captives than consumers. They are force-feeding social and political priorities, including passes for engaging in approved protests.

As public schools continue to produce abysmal scores, particularly for minority students, board and union officials have called for lowering or suspending proficiency standards or declared meritocracy to be a form of “white supremacy.” Gifted and talented programs are being eliminated in the name of “equity.”

Once parents have a choice, these teachers lose a virtual monopoly over many families, and these districts could lose billions in states like Florida.

Chicago is literally telling families of highly competitive students to leave public education or reduce their expectations. For those who can afford it, they must now look to private or religious schools. Most cannot afford such choices and the state has long been hostile vouchers. Indeed, the state (which has long been dominated by the far-left teachers union) recently became the first state to rollback on vouchers as other states are expanding such programs.

As a proud Chicago native, it is hard to watch what is happening in the city under Johnson and this city council. I still hope that sanity will take hold in the city before they do irreversible damage, but this education plan hastens the decline of one of America’s greatest cities.

By Ven Ram, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist

Not since 2009 have technology stocks had such a wonderful year, but lofty valuations pose headwinds next year.

The Nasdaq 100 basket has surged an eye-popping 53% so far this year, with the gains having accelerated since the start of November thanks to markets front-running the idea policy loosening from the Fed.

If markets had already decoupled from sensible valuations, the melt-up of the past two months means that we are possibly now in bubble territory.

Looked at as a long-duration bond, the fair value of Nasdaq 100 is 12,877, with the assumptions underpinning the analysis laid out below.

As Keynes famously remarked, markets can remain irrational longer than one can remain solvent, so it’s difficult to call for a correction, but there does come a point in any bull run where valuations become so stretched as to resemble a veritable card castle.

[ZH: Nasdaq looks rich on a Price-to-Sales basis too…]

Ironically, not all rallies are made equal, and nowhere is this more evident than with the S&P 500 that has run up more than 23% this year. Despite those gains, at the current level of 4,740, the basket is trading just 2.3% above its fair value of 4,632.

* * *

So why is 12,877 fair value?

Because as Ven Ram explains, that’s what one gets when looking at the technology basket is viewed as a long-duration bond.

The analysis essentially assumes that dividends that accrue from the index will increase at a compounded annual rate of 11.4%, mimicking the growth rate over the past 10 years.

It uses a discount rate of 5% and assumes that the growth rate will slow to 5% beyond a forecast horizon of 30 years

Using a similar analysis, the fair value of the S&P 500 is 4,632, suggesting that brick-and-mortar stocks may be reflecting saner valuations.

[ZH: But the S&P still looks very rich on a Price-to-Sales basis…]

Even so, any further upside in the basket is less than 3% from last week’s closing level.

All told, valuations in technology stocks look stretched. While some enthusiasm toward stocks related to artificial intelligence may be condoned, glaring overvaluations tilt the market toward a correction sooner rather than later.

A top Ukrainian commander has admitted in fresh statements that the national military’s ammunition supplies are running so low that leaders are forced to reassess priorities and operations.

Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said Monday the army is “replanning” its deployments due to artillery shell shortages which persist “across the entire front line” calling the the shortage a “very big problem.”

“There’s a problem with ammunition, especially post-Soviet (shells)—that’s 122mm, 152mm. And today these problems exist across the entire front line,” Tarnavskyi detailed. “The volumes that we have today are not sufficient for us today, given our needs.”

“So, we’re redistributing it. We’re replanning tasks that we had set for ourselves and making them smaller, because we need to provide for them,” he added at a moment the Ukrainians have struggled to make any gains whatsoever. He further admitted this is forcing his troops to have to scale back offensive operations.

The Biden administration has at the same time said it has one funding package left to announce for Ukraine, as authorized funding will run dry Dec. 30.

The negative headlines for Kiev have continued coming in, with a recent New York Times article describing that Ukrainian Marines are on a “suicide mission” in the country’s south as they cross the Dnipro River in an attempt to liberate territory from the Russians: 

There was a faint tremor in the marine’s voice as he recounted the murderous fighting on the east bank of the Dnipro River, where he was wounded recently.

“We were sitting in the water at night and we were shelled by everything,” the marine, Maksym, said. “My comrades were dying in front of my eyes.”

For two months, Ukraine’s Marine Corps has been spearheading an assault across the Dnipro River in the southern region of Kherson to recapture territory from Russian troops. The operation is Ukraine’s latest attempt in its flagging counteroffensive to breach Russian defenses in the south and turn the tide of the war.

Soldiers and marines who have taken part in the river crossings described the offensive as brutalizing and futile, as waves of Ukrainian troops have been struck down on the river banks or in the water, even before they reach the other side.

“It’s not even a fight for survival. It’s a suicide mission,” one soldier characterized. “I did not see anything like this in Bakhmut or Soledar. It’s so wasteful.”

There has of late been significant murmurings and signals that top government and military officials are angry at President Zelensky’s refusal to so much as entertain the idea of peace negotiations with Moscow. Many see the reality of the battlefield situation as headed that way regardless, and complain about the wasted lives.

Too many supporters of Ukraine’s defense have engaged in ad hominem and trying to marginalize reasonable skeptics. It would have been better to engage with skeptics seriously, trying to address their reasonable concerns.

NAFO has hurt Ukraine and NATO more than helped them. https://t.co/maOY4HB6sw

— Elbridge Colby (@ElbridgeColby) December 19, 2023

On Tuesday Russian Defense Minister issued a rare statement seeking to estimate Ukraine’s total losses since the start of the war. He offered the grim figure of a death toll approaching 400,000 Ukrainian troops killed.

While impossible to verify, Shoigu said that “since the start of the special operation, the Ukrainian armed forces’ casualties have exceeded 383,000 service members, killed and wounded, 14,000 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 553 warplanes and 259 helicopters, 8,500 artillery pieces, and multiple launch rocket systems.”

Via SchiffGold.com,

Peter Schiff recently appeared on Real America with Dan Ball to talk about the state of the US economy. He described it as a disaster and said Bidenomics consists of putting lipstick on a pig.

The administration and its mainstream support network insist the economy is strong.

They often point to the “resilient” American consumer as proof that the economy is plugging along. After all, how can the economy be bad if people keep spending money?

But how have Americans managed to keep up with rising prices?

Peter said people have made ends meet in two ways.

First, you mentioned a few million jobs that have actually been created during the Biden presidency. Well, those jobs went predominantly to people who already had jobs. … Moonlighting is at a record high in America. So, people are paying these higher prices by taking on second and third jobs and giving up their leisure. The other way they’re doing it is by borrowing more money.”

Consumer credit data backs up Peter’s second point. Even with interest rates at over 20%, credit card debt is at record highs. The problem with borrowing is the money eventually has to be paid back and that’s starting to become a problem.

Auto delinquencies are surging. People can’t even afford to make their car payments.”

Meanwhile, saving levels have fallen into the basement.

As prices skyrocketed last year, Americans blew through their savings to make ends meet. Aggregate savings peaked at $2.1 trillion in August 2021. As of June, the San Francisco Fed estimated that aggregate savings had dropped to $190 billion.

In other words, Americans ate away $1.9 trillion in savings in just two years.

The savings are gone. They went for rent. They went for food. They went for insurance and other costs that keep on going up.”

Peter called the US economy “a disaster,” and he said that’s what the Federal Reserve and Jerome Powell just surrendered in the war on inflation.

He knows he can’t raise rates anymore. He needs to prop it up by creating more inflation.”

During the Q&A session after the December FOMC meeting, Powell conceded that the Fed needs to start cutting rates long before the CPI gets to the 2% target.

He said that even in 2026, he expects inflation to be 3%, which is still 50% higher than 2%. But the reason he said he wanted to start cutting in advance is he didn’t want to ‘overshoot,’ meaning he didn’t want inflation to go below 2%. Why not? I mean, Americans could use some relief.”

Peter said the idea that the economy is strong is a myth perpetuated by the government like propaganda.

They’re trying to dumb us down and brainwash everybody into thinking that a weak economy is actually strong.”

Dan rhetorically asked how the pundits on the mainstream financial news networks can sit in front of their audience and lie. Peter said they are a part of the establishment, and they have a vested interest in perpetuating the narrative.

So, that’s what they do. They have a very cozy relationship. These major networks get all these guests coming on from the administration. So, in order to get the guests, they have to give them these softball questions.”

Peter said that’s exactly what Powell is doing.

Powell lied last week when he said that he does things that are in the best interest of the economy and not politicians. Everything he’s doing is political. The economy takes a back seat to reelecting the incumbent party, which is the Democrats, which is Biden. So, everything Powell is doing, the goal is to reelect Biden. Hopefully, the public won’t allow him to achieve that goal.”

Peter said “Bidenomics” is just putting lipstick on a pig.

The public isn’t buying what they’re selling. They should be buying gold, especially now that the Fed has surrendered. Everybody is pretending that the Fed just won the fight against inflation. If you thought inflation was bad now, wait until you see how much worse it’s about to get now that they’ve claimed victory.”

While many on the right see Tucker Carlson as a slam-dunk VP candidate for Donald Trump in 2024, Tucker – who we suspect wants nothing to do with the swamp as he grows his new empire – has different ideas.

“I kind of like Vivek,” the former Fox News host told an audience at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest event, referring to Vivek Ramaswamy. “Everyone beats up on Vivek for being ‘he’s a phony’ and all this stuff.”

“I’ve covered a lot of campaigns going back to 1992 and I’ve noticed this in many candidates and I noticed it in him – the process of running for president and speaking three times a day and having people throw hostile questions in your faces causes you to change – they all change during these campaigns for real, inside,” Carlson continued. “And I feel like Vivek’s positions have gotten much more sincere since the beginning of this.“

“I watch him with Nikki Haley and I’m like this is a guy who’s very offended by her views for real, he’s not attacking her because she’s a woman, he’s attacking her because he actually thinks her views are terrible for the country he lives in and I love that,” Carlson concluded.

Tucker Carlson: “I kind of like Vivek.” pic.twitter.com/kVPIV2Z9c5

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 19, 2023

Carlson sat down with Ramaswamy in October, where the two discussed how best to avoid World War 3.

According to Ramaswamy, America needs to “remember the mistakes we have made in our own past, in the last 20 to 25 years after 911,” adding “How did we end up in $6 trillion plus of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of American lives that we won’t get back.”

“Part of how we ended up there was in the era after 9/11, you remember it,” he continued. “The tolerance for debate was very limited. Shut up. Sit down and do as you’re told. Go along with the plan.”

Ep. 31 How to avoid World War III pic.twitter.com/kdzoMxOt3B

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) October 19, 2023

According to Ramaswamy, the “elephant in the room” is the West’s lack of clearly defined objectives – without which there could be chaos.

“This a time to have a clearly defined objective. Instead we get histrionics from the likes of Lindsay Graham, or Nikki Haley or Mike Pence, offering histrionics at a time when we could use actual strategy,” he continued – to which Tucker replied: “Isn’t it amazing to get a moral lecture from people who’ve so diminished our country, and who are responsible for the deaths of so many Americans, lecturing you, from some high horse.

Ramaswamy continued: “What’s a better alternative to the plan as it currently exists, which is a non-plan, an invasion of Gaza without a clear objective?” he said, adding “We seem to analyze the mosquitoes on the elephant’s tail without talking about the actual elephant.”

So, to avoid WW3, Israel – and the West as a whole, need to clearly define a plan that will minimize a broader regional conflict.

As Modernity News notes, sources close to the former president said a Trump-Carlson ticket was being heavily pushed by Melania Trump, who believes Carlson would be “a powerful onstage extension of her husband.”

But for Tucker, it’s looking like Vivek all the way. (h/t Modernity.news)

The Biden administration’s southern border crisis worsens by the day. New figures from Fox News field reporter Bill Melugin show US Customs and Border Protection encounters on the border in the last 24 hours have smashed a new record high. 

“Per CBP sources, there were more than 12,600 migrants encountered at the southern border in the last 24 hours, the highest single day total ever recorded,” Melugin wrote in a post on ‘free speech’ platform X. 

JUST IN – US border agents are calling this the “worst day we’ve ever seen” in terms of illegal border crossings. – Fox

pic.twitter.com/6kzJaU4jNj

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) December 19, 2023

He continued:

“The true number is *significantly* higher because there are thousands still waiting to be processed in Eagle Pass and they do not count in the numbers until they are put into the computers. The official numbers yesterday include over 11,000 Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal immigrants and more than 1,600 migrants encountered at CBP ports of entry. This breaks the record of 12,000 encounters that was set just two weeks ago.”

BREAKING: Per CBP sources, there were more than 12,600 migrants encountered at the southern border in the last 24 hours, the highest single day total ever recorded. The true number is *significantly* higher because there are thousands still waiting to be processed in Eagle Pass…

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) December 19, 2023

Melugin posted images showing Eagle Pass, Texas, “is completely overrun with mass illegal crossings.” 

NEW: As Eagle Pass, TX is completely overrun with mass illegal crossings, so too, is Border Patrol’s Tucson, AZ sector, which saw over 3,000 known illegal crossings yesterday. This is the scene in Lukeville, AZ this morning where hundreds from around the globe crossed illegally. pic.twitter.com/dvWBYd0NV5

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) December 19, 2023

A video posted by the journo shows a staging area near the border with thousands of illegal migrants. 

BREAKING: Video from a contact on the ground in Eagle Pass, TX right now shows a mass of thousands of migrants waiting to be processed by Border Patrol after they crossed illegally today. I’ve spent hundreds of days there over the last 2+ years and I’ve never seen it like this. pic.twitter.com/JPNYY7sPxI

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) December 19, 2023

“This admin is allowing the border patrol to be pushed to a breaking point..CBP sources on the ground..say this is an unmitigated disaster,” US Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. wrote on X. 

.@GriffJenkins: “..this admin is allowing the border patrol to be pushed to a breaking point..CBP sources on the ground..say this is an unmitigated disaster.”

Today in Eagle Pass:
🔓CBP outnumbered 200-1
🔓5,300 in custody
🔓4,500 being transported/processed
🔓260% over capacity pic.twitter.com/PXOlhXpvE8

— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) December 19, 2023

New shocking stats and a video of Eagle Pass being overrun came right after CBP halted freight train activity on two railway bridges connecting Texas and Mexico. 

If it weren’t for Elon Musk’s X, leftist corporate media outlets and the Biden administration would have covered up the worsening border crisis via a mass censorship campaign. This is why Democrats are freaking out because they no longer have control of the news cycle narrative. 

By Maartje Wijffelaars, Senior Economist at Rabobank

Rerouting

Yesterday, BP and Norway’s Equinor ASA joined the slew of vessel owners that have paused transit through the Red Sea, and hence the Suez Canal. Some have already taken a detour around the Cape of Good Hope, lengthening travel time by some 8 to 15 days, while others are waiting for further instructions and/or military protection. By Sunday, 55 ships had yet rerouted since Houthi’s haijacked the Galaxy Leader at 19 November, while 2128 vessels had passed through the Suez Canal, according to the managing director of the Suez Canal Authority. Some 78 are said to be awaiting instructions. Given that 12% of global trade runs through the canal, a back of the envelope calculation suggests that disruptions to date concern less than 1% of global trade.

Still, the longer it takes and the more companies start avoiding the transit, the greater the disruptions. Given the possible magnitude, on a global scale countries are talking to join forces to protect vessels sailing the red see and to find a way to stop the Houthi attacks. The US has already sent warships to intercept attacks and a coalition of countries has now agreed to jointly carry out patrols. Yet it is unclear to what extent they will actually be able to guarantee a safe transit. If anything the risk of a new round of cost-push induced inflation has increased substantially. Inflation surprises back in 2021-22 have been associated with supply-chain disruptions, with the IMF arguing that those shocks added around 1% to global core inflation. We, at the time, estimated the cumulative impact of inflation surprises at around 3%-points for the Eurozone. Although the current situation isn’t directly comparable, the recent past does underscore that this could potentially affect inflation.

Indeed, while rerouting implies shipping companies save high Suez transit fees, rerouting comes with significant costs for container ships due to the lengthening of the journey and higher fuel needs. Meanwhile, insurance costs for travel over the Red Sea have increased almost tenfold since the Houthi attacks began, according to Bloomberg. Finally, given that rerouting would increase the number of days a commercial vessel or fuel tanker is unavailable, it lowers global available capacity, which should also put upward pressure on freight prices – at a time when drought at the Panama Canal has already pushed up prices for especially bulk transport.

That said, oversupply in the container market following the large increase in the number of ships in the aftermath of the pandemic combined with weak demand acts as a softener, for now. The composite container freight benchmark rate has come of its recent low and increased by over 10% over the past weeks. But it is still cheaper than during most of the year and 6 to 7 times as cheap as during the pandemic.

Turning to energy, recent developments have not yet impacted crude supply, but has pushed prices a bit given the risks highlighted above. 4.5% of global crude oil, 9% of refined products, and 8% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers transit through the Suez Canal. Brent oil futures increased yesterday by 1.8% to USD 78,12 per barrel. This is also clearly higher than its recent low of around USD 73 a week ago, but still substantially below its post-conflict peak of USD 92 mid-October. Meanwhile, the TTF gas price one-month ahead, rose yesterday after weeks of decline, but has come down again already in this morning’s session. Weak demand combined with ample supply is keeping a lid on prices, it outweighs the impact of risks of severe supply disruptions, for now. That said, volatility is back up and there is some upside risk to prices as the first LNG tankers are now rerouting around the Cape.

It is clear that supply chain disruptions add upward risks to the inflation outlook.

In other news, yesterday European Council President Charles Michel announced that EU leaders will convene on an emergency summit on 1 February to agree over the bloc’s budget and financial support for Ukraine. Last week, the EU postponed the vote on a four-year EUR 50bn aid package for Ukraine until January due to Hungarian objections. The package was supposed to be agreed during an EU summit on December 14-15, showing that the release of previously frozen EU support fund worth EUR10bn to Hungary have not been sufficient to persuade Hungary to lift its veto. The pay-out of another EUR 30bn is being upheld since last year – due to backsliding on judicial and anti-corruption reforms -, and Orban has stated it would not support more funds flowing to Ukraine until all frozen funds have been transferred. The major question is whether the EU will give in. Withholding support to Ukraine would play into the hands of Russia, especially now US support also hinges in the balance and at least is being delayed. Yet giving in to Orbán’s alleged blackmail would clearly display EU governance weaknesses. A suggested work around could be that all EU countries bundle funds outside the EU budget, as such a mechanism would not require the approval of Hungary.

Finally, as expected, the BOJ has not hiked its negative overnight policy rate, as it waits for more confirmation that wage growth is indeed set to solidly push inflation higher. Governor Kazuo Ueda acknowledges that the the probability of a virtuous cycle between wages and inflation is “gradually increasing”. Yet he wants more confirmation that higher wages indeed spread to prices, before lifting the world’s last negative policy rate. Indeed, even though negotiated wages increased most in 30 years this year, there is no guarantee just yet that higher wage rises will also be paid to the majority of ununionized Japanese workers, argues our FX Strategist Jane Foley in a note published yesterday.

If anything, it is very clear that the BoJ deems it more costly to pre-emptively exit from accommodative policy than to act late. Still, given that the odds are currently favouring further policy normalisation next year, while other G10 central banks are likely to cut rates, we expect the JPY to have a better year in 2024. We have revised down our 12-month USD/JPY forecast to 135 from 140.

A wild video from the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires shows a parked Aerolineas Argentinas Boeing B737-700 aircraft spun around by powerful winds on Sunday. 

Argentina’s meteorological service said winds on Sunday were more than 93 mph. The incident occurred at the Buenos Aires Jorge Newbery International Airport – about a mile from the capital. 

Aviation blog Simple Flying first reported the wild storm and damage the 737 sustained during the incident: 

The video posted by Journalist Andrews Abreu on X, formerly known as Twitter, showcases strong winds catching a parked Aerolineas Argentinas Boeing 737-700 and seeing the aircraft spinning. The aircraft then crashed into ground equipment, including airstairs and a ground power unit, and sustained damage— the extent to which the aircraft was damaged is unknown. Nevertheless, Aerolineas Argentinas canceled the aircraft’s next flight, a scheduled service between AEP and Mendoza Governor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ).

Here’s the video:

The ground crew apparently forgot to tie down the aircraft before the storm approached. Whoops! 

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

Technology companies are bragging that they have created AI girlfriends which can engage in “immersive” NSFW live chats where users can indulge their “intense fantasies.”

Yes, really.

Profiles of AI models on porn subscription websites such as OnlyFans are exploding, with some creators making upwards of $20,000 a month from simps paying to interact with women who simply aren’t real.

Will Monage, the co-founder of Fanvue, said AI creators now make up 15 per cent of revenue on his platform, with that figure only increasing month by month.

Candy.ai, developed by EverAI Limited, invites users to “create a rich and immersion-oriented AI girlfriend simulator” that offers “thrilling, intimate experiences on-demand.”

The company even offers “anime-style girlfriends” so users can “have an anime chat AI waifu chatbot,” while they can also individually tailor their AI girlfriend before engaging in “intense fantasies and deep conversations.”

Another company, Muah AI, touts its product as “the best, unrestricted NSFW AI Chatbot of 2024.”

“Ditching the norms, Muah AI operates with no filters, offering an NSFW experience that’s as real as it gets,” the company brags.

One step removed from having imaginary sex with a woman on the other end of a premium cost phone line, users can now literally pay to have imaginary voice sex with a bunch of computer code.

Wow, how “deep”!

“Engage in conversations that are not just surface-level but delve deep into topics with sophistication and empathy,” the company asserts, seemingly unaware of how ludicrously contradictory that statement is.

AI girlfriends are being promoted on the basis that they “help with loneliness and depression,” although critics have warned that they are actually destroying real relationships and worsening a male loneliness epidemic that now records more than 60 percent of young men (ages 18-30) as single.

“These young men are lonely, and it is having real consequences. They are choosing AI girlfriends over real women, meaning they don’t have relationships with real women, don’t marry them and then don’t have and raise babies with them,” writes Liberty Vittert.

“America desperately needs people to have more babies, but all the signs are pointing toward fewer relationships, fewer marriages and fewer babies. There have been 600,000 fewer births in 2023 in the U.S. relative to 15 years ago. The number of children per woman has decreased by more than 50 percent in the last 60 years.”

Google Trends data showed that there was a 2,400% increase in search interest for AI girlfriends last year, with that number only likely to soar as more companies offer such products.

A recent survey found that a record number of 40-year-old Americans have never been married, with the majority being men.

The growth of AI girlfriends and the acceleration of the technology becoming more sophisticated, combined with the hellscape that is hypergamy-driven dating apps, is likely to see that figure only increase as people shun any form of genuine commitment in an increasingly atomized world.

A Record Number Of American 40-Year-Olds Have Never Been Married https://t.co/DViCVeA8f8

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 17, 2023

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch.

While crypto markets have historically been dominated by unregulated trading venues and retail investor activity, Goldman Sachs’ Crypto team note that 2023 has shown just how much the market structure and participation have evolved and become institutionalized.

Following 2022’s ‘events’ – including the Terra-UST depeg and a string of high-profile bankruptcies – this year, we saw a growth of regulated, centrally-cleared derivative venues including Coinbase Derivatives, Cboe, Eurex, GFO-X, AsiaNext or 24Exchange, and a recovery of those ‘event’-driven losses…

Source: Bloomberg

The institutionalization of the market was most evident in the derivatives market. 

CME saw a consistent increase in BTC and ETH futures and options trading, and in Q4 has become the top BTC futures exchange by open interest.

While the first 9 months of the year saw BTC & ETH Open Interest flat, October price action brought along interest from institutional investors, who took the opportunity to position themselves for a potential spot BTC ETF approval and/or hedge exposure via derivatives, bringing the daily BTC OI to over $4bn…

Source: Goldman Sachs, CoinMetrics

And while we saw the interest in BTC futures in Q4 skyrocket, ETH futures trading continued to lag all through 2023, with ETH futures volumes market representing ~20-50% of BTC futures market.

Goldman adds that they have also witnessed growth across institutional-grade spot venues including EDX Markets (Citadel/Virtu), Elwood, Fusion Digital Assets (TP ICAP/Fidelity) and increased engagement across asset managers and custodians including Fidelity, BONY or BlackRock (adding that anecdotally, their client base has also shown an increased interest to face regulated entities and venues).

But while 2023 was the year of ETF anticipation, 2024 looks set to be the year that it actually occurs.

The market expectation for a potential spot BTC ETF approval was also reflected in inflows into existing ETPs & futures ETFs, especially in Q4’23, when we saw the total net inflows of $1.9bn, a stark contrast to Q2-Q3 which was characterized by lackluster investor appetite.

As the CEO of Grayscale Investments, Michael Sonnenshein, told CNBC this week,  a spot Bitcoin ETF could “unlock” around “$30 trillion worth of advised wealth.”

“When we look ahead to the hopeful approval for spot Bitcoin ETFs, it really is going to unlock the opportunity to a part of the investment community that for better or worse has been locked out for the opportunity to participate in having Bitcoin exposure in their portfolio,” Sonnenshein said.

“We’re really taking about the advised market here in the US. Which is today, about $30 trillion worth of advised wealth that we hope the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, the up-listing of GBTC, will allow for that opportunity and for those investors to partake in it as well.“

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Grayscale CEO tells CNBC a spot #Bitcoin ETF would “unlock” #BTC for about “$30 trillion worth of advised wealth.” pic.twitter.com/yaM1riX9FI

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) December 18, 2023

Despite the SEC pushing back its decision on several Ether ETFs to May 2024, Bloomberg’s James Seyffart notes that the last few days have seen amendments made to several Bitcoin Spot ETFs, and along with fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, they believe the SEC could make its final approval decision as early as Jan 10th 2024.