America Looks Richer Than Ever. What Happens When The Fed's Asset Bubble Bursts?

Authored by David Stockman via InternationalMan.com,

It is now abundantly obvious that the FOMC and its clumsy rate-pegging and credit printing tools are not remotely fit for purpose.

The real impact is dramatically displayed in the graph below. It shows that after 1987 the growth rate of household assets relative to earned income (i.e. excluding transfer payments) took off like a bat out of hell.

Indeed, as shown in the graph during the heyday of the 1950s through 1987, the nominal value of household assets tracked the growth of earned income almost in lockstep, with the ratio relatively flat through the 37-year period, posting at 5.8X in Q2 1987, up slightly from an average 5.4X ratio during 1950 to 1954, when the US economy moved into its strong post-WWII growth era.

The virtually nonexistent slope of the trend line (solid green below) during that era of unprecedented middle-class prosperity means that had it continued for another 39 years through Q2 2026, the end point ratio today would be just 5.9X, not the actual ratio of 10.0X.

So, yes, the Fed's red-hot printing press did make a whopping difference. To wit, the household and nonprofit sectors today hold the staggering total of $90 trillion more in assets of all types - from owner-occupied residences to cash accounts, bonds and stock portfolios - than would have been the case based on pre-1987 asset-to-income trends.

What this means is that the American household sector did not earn and save its way to the huge gains in assets and net worth reported by the Fed's Flow of Funds data. That is to say, net worth is up from almost $11 trillion to $196 trillion since 1989, but that is not mainly due to savings from the growth of earned income.

As shown, below borrowings helped modestly, rising 5.3% per annum or modestly ahead of the 4.6% per annum growth of personal income ex-transfer payments. But the real catalyst, obviously, was the far faster growth of asset values, which rose at a compound annual rate of 6.1% during the period.

At the end of the day, however, the comparison which says it all is the gap between asset growth at 6.1% per annum and income growth of just 4.6%. In a word, assets grew 35% faster than income over that three and one-half decade period because, well, the Fed inflated them with its red-hot printing presses.

For want of doubt, we show the opposite trend in the household savings data, meaning that the American public has not saved its way to riches since Alan Greenspan discovered the printing presses in the basement of the Eccles Building soon after he took office in the midst of Black Monday's 23% collapse of the Stock Market on October 19, 1987.

The juxtaposition of the savings graph below and asset graph above, in fact, tells you all you need to know. Since 1975, the true household savings rate - measured as personal savings divided by household income less transfer payments (used as the denominator here because the government's 160 million Welfare State beneficiaries save virtually nothing on a net basis) has been plodding steadily lower (dotted red line), from an average of 13.3% of income in 1975 to 6.7% of income at present.

At the same time, the constant dollar level of savings pencils out anemically, indeed. The growth rate (blue lines) in real terms has been just 0.6% per annum since 1975.

So, no, America did not save its way to $196 trillion of net worth after the era of Keynesian monetary central planning commenced in October 1987. The Fed inflated asset prices to a fare-the-well.

Of course, all this inflated net worth is just the half of it. The more onerous dimension lies in who got it or in the distribution. In that regard, the graph below speaks for itself. Since Q1 1989, household net worth has risen by an aggregate of $154 trillion.

As it happened, however, the bottom 50% got 3% of the gain, while the top 1% harvested 32% of the loot. Some earnest commentators are now mystified as to why the hoary doctrine of socialism seems to be making a comeback in certain quarters of American politics.

The geniuses at the Fed, however, should not be confused at all. It's all their handiwork.

In the land of the central bank printing presses, the rich do get richer, indeed, and not because they earned it on an honest free market operating based on sound money.

In fact, the chart above reflects the true failure of Greenspanian central banking. And when the massive inflationary bubbles embodied in this graph above finally do blow sky-high, don't blame it on the free market.

In short, what amounts to free money has been the real culprit all along.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 16:20

Pizza Losing Value War As Cash-Strapped "Proteinmaxxing" Consumers Flock To Chicken

Domino's Pizza shares fell 3% in the early US cash session after the quick-service restaurant chain reported weaker-than-expected same-store sales growth in the US and internationally, despite earnings and revenue that beat Bloomberg Consensus estimates.

US same-store sales rose .3%, below the .72% Bloomberg Consensus estimate. International comparable sales rose only 0.2%, missing expectations of 1.19% growth.

The dismal earnings results lead us to Bloomberg reporter Ann Gehan's note on how budget-conscious consumers and the "proteinmaxxing" trend have shifted consumer tastes from pizza to chicken.

Gehan adds more color:

Pizza chains including Domino's, Papa John's International Inc. and Pizza Hut, now owned by private equity firm LongRange Capital, face an uphill battle as budget-conscious consumers eat out less and, when they do, increasingly favor chicken amid the "proteinmaxxing" trend.

Gehan provided a chart showing pizza QSR chains struggling while chicken-focused QSR chains and Cava report stronger same-store sales growth so far this year.

The divergence suggests chicken- and protein-focused meals are capturing a larger share of spending at select US QSR chains. For budget-conscious consumers, the combination of affordability and the "proteinmaxxing" trend may be shifting meal preferences toward chicken. Then again, take a GLP-1 to curb cravings.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 15:50

Useless Without Transmission: DOE Backs $581 Million TVA Grid Expansion

On the same day we asked how much of the grid’s bill is really AI’s, the Department of Energy offered a partial answer.

@TVAnews and @ENERGY are supporting readily-available, affordable energy that powers Tennessee and the nation. @POTUS is lowering costs for over 2 million families and businesses while bringing new innovation and employment to the Volunteer State to the tune of 800 jobs.

— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) October 13, 2026

On Tuesday, DOE said it plans to help the Tennessee Valley Authority fund 84 transmission and distribution projects across eight states to add about 2.5 gigawatts of grid capacity. The award totals roughly $581 million, with $250 million in federal money and $331 million from TVA.

“America’s electric grid cannot become a roadblock to economic growth,” said Katie Jereza, who heads DOE’s Office of Electricity.

Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly went further, blaming “years of misguided energy policies under the previous administration” for leaving the bulk power system “less robust than it should be.”

From $250 Million To $10.5 Billion

The announcement for TVA support from the DOE is alongside the ongoing SPARK program under the GRIP program… If the acronyms are starting to blur together, here is the simple version:

• Tuesday’s award is for $250 million, written to TVA and its local power companies.
• SPARK, DOE’s acronym for “Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades,” is the bigger, nationwide program. It puts $1.9 billion of federal money, plus $3.35 billion in cost share, into 31 projects in 26 states that will reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of existing lines and free up over 23 GW of capacity. TVA’s slice is about $80 million to upgrade roughly 125 miles of lines in Tennessee, Alabama and North Carolina with advanced conductors, adding about 1,900 MW.
• GRIP, the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program, is the even bigger $10.5 billion pot created by the 2021 infrastructure law, and it pays for both SPARK and the new award announced Tuesday afternoon.

Add TVA’s two awards together and it has nearly $741 million in planned grid investment for more than 4,300 MW of added grid capacity.

The Real Bottleneck

As we just covered, the hyperscalers are fighting over how much of the grid’s bill is theirs, with one telling Senate staff that shared upgrades provide a “system benefit which should be shared among all ratepayers.”

Tuesday’s award is that argument in practice, with taxpayers and utility customers splitting the cost of wires everyone uses, on a national grid where, by the senators’ own count, about a third of transmission and half of distribution infrastructure is “near or beyond its useful life.”

You can build all the combined-cycle gas plants, reactors and geothermal wells you want, and line up every data center and electrified factory in the country to buy their output. If the grid can’t carry the power from one to the other, none of it matters.

"there is currently a 3.7-year wait in the US just to get permission to connect to the power grid. Before a single cable is laid or transformer is purchased, AI data centers are stuck in a massive traffic jam." - Goldman it's ok, hyperscalers can just recycle electricity, same way they do revenue

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 28, 2026

PJM has already blatantly exposed where the real problem is, as they cried desperately about a need for emergency power. When Constellation showed up with the Three Mile Island reactor restart, PJM told the once-connected nuclear plant to wait patiently for a few years while they set up the connection.

TVA is about to learn that lesson, at scale. Its new long-term plan suggests the region will need 11 to 32 GW of additional generation by 2040. TVA already has 4,120 MW of new capacity under construction, floated as much as 26 GW of new gas in its June draft, and was picked last December for a $400 million DOE award to deploy a newly-licensed GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor at Clinch River.

Every one of those megawatts still needs a way to actually get transported from supply to demand. No amount of new generation fixes a lack of transmission.

Goldman: Power Is “The Primary Risk”

Goldman has been making the same point all year, and it has singled out Tennessee. In May, the commodities team flagged Tennessee as one of the markets “likely to see constrained data center additions since the market is already critically tight.”

In February, the same team told clients that local opposition to data centers was not the real threat: “Ultimately, we believe power tightness remains the primary risk that could slow the US in the AI race with China.” And Goldman now sees behind-the-meter generation powering a quarter of all data centers by 2030. 

In other words, a quarter of the industry may simply stop waiting for the grid.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 15:35

Dowd: "Investment Bubbles Are A Feature Of Capitalism, Not A Bug"

Authored by Ed Dowd via Ed Dowd's Beyond The Narrative Substack,

On Friday October 9th Bloomberg published an article titled "Jeffries' Chris Wood Sees 'Massive Capital Destruction' in AI." His view is that the most likely long-term outcome of the AI boom is massive capital destruction in the US, with market share shifting to cheaper open-source Chinese models. Wood has mostly got it right in my opinion except for two differences. My first difference is that Chinese models are not the only open-source models available and that western open-source models are closing the gap. Secondly, while his view correctly flags the overbuild and the competitive pressure from lower-cost alternatives what it leaves out is the long history of innovative technology infrastructure bubbles and the reliable pattern that follows them which is:

excitement/mania → overinvestment → financial collapse → distressed assets → recapitalized cheap infrastructure fuels the next economic wave.

In regard to the AI bubble, I believe we are currently in the overinvestment phase with cracks emerging. Let us look at some historical examples to illustrate the pattern and see if we can glean what the future of this current bubble might look like.

The US Railroad Bubble

In the decades after the Civil War, railroads became the transformative technology of the era. Capital, much of it European, flooded in. Between the late 1860s and early 1870s, tens of thousands of miles of track were laid, often into sparsely settled or unprofitable territory. Speculative financing, land grants, and the expectation of endless growth created a classic mania. Early projects showed strong returns, which attracted more money into later, riskier lines built far ahead of demand. When financing dried up, highlighted by the failure of Jay Cooke's bank in marketing Northern Pacific bonds, the Panic of 1873 followed. More than 100 railroads went bankrupt in the ensuing years, banks failed, and investors were wiped out. The depression lasted years. Yet the physical tracks remained. The surviving and reorganized network became the backbone of American industrial expansion, enabling efficient movement of goods, people, and capital that powered decades of growth. The overbuilt infrastructure, once distressed and recapitalized, proved far more valuable to the broader economy than the paper losses suggested.

The 1920s Utility Bubble

The 1920s electrification boom followed a similar script. Central-station utilities expanded rapidly, and holding companies consolidated regional systems into large, leveraged empires. Electricity generation and revenues grew dramatically as the technology moved from novelty to infrastructure. Utility stocks soared and became a major part of the market. Holding companies facilitated access to capital and technical expertise, but the structures were opaque, and capacity was built aggressively. The 1929 crash and subsequent Depression exposed the leverage and accounting. Samuel Insull's empire collapsed in spectacular fashion, and the Dow Jones Utilities Average plunged. Reforms including the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 broke up the largest structures and shifted the industry toward regulated regional monopolies. What remained was a vastly expanded electrical grid and generation capacity. Widespread electrification transformed industry, homes, and productivity for the rest of the century. The bust was painful for equity and debt holders; the long-term economic payoff from cheap, abundant power was enormous.

The Dotcom Bubble

The most recent and directly analogous example is the late 1990s telecom fiber buildout during the Dotcom era. Carriers and infrastructure firms poured hundreds of billions into fiber-optic networks, switches, and related equipment, largely financed with debt and encouraged by forecasts of internet traffic doubling every few months. Capacity vastly exceeded near-term demand. After the bubble burst, market values collapsed, many telecoms went bankrupt, and bandwidth prices fell sharply. A large portion of the newly laid fiber sat "dark" or unlit. Through bankruptcies and recapitalizations, that physical infrastructure was acquired at deep discounts, often pennies on the dollar. The resulting cheap broadband made business models viable that would have been prohibitively expensive otherwise. Google, YouTube, Facebook, Apple's smartphone ecosystem, Netflix, software-as-a-service, and cloud services all scaled on that excess capacity. Without the overbuilding and subsequent distress, Web 2.0 as we know it does not happen at the same speed or cost. The capital destruction was real but the residual infrastructure seeded the next wave of growth.

AI Bubble (Yes it is a bubble!)

I believe we are now in the AI infrastructure equivalent of the overinvestment phase. Massive capital is flowing into data centers, chips, power, and related equipment. The sheer scale of spending is turning advanced AI models into a commodity faster than many equity and debt investors appear to appreciate. Chinese open-source models are already applying downward pricing pressure, consistent with the Jefferies view. Cracks are visible. In my Substack piece "Wall Street's AI Capex Party...It's 2 AM & The Bar Is About to Close!", the signals included stalled private credit funding for the buildout, cracking enterprise demand as promised productivity gains fail to materialize at scale, looming power constraints that are becoming the binding limit rather than chip supply, and open-source pricing pressure that compresses margins.

Additional recent indicators from public commentary reinforce this: circular deals in which AI companies run negative free cash flow and rely on debt investors to keep purchasing chips at elevated prices; recent analyses showing major players cannot cover contracted compute commitments under realistic revenue assumptions; and narrative shifts such as space based data centers that paper over terrestrial grid and power bottlenecks. Growth rates implied by current valuations look vulnerable once the second derivative of funding and utilization slows. It is not a question of not if the bubble bursts but when it bursts.

Credit Markets Always End Infrastructure Buildouts

Debt and credit have been central to every one of these infrastructure buildouts. In the railroad boom, bonds financed the majority of the expansion, often more than three-quarters of the capital. When those markets stopped absorbing new bond issues (e.g. Jay Cooke & Co. could no longer place Northern Pacific bonds) the credit system seized up. Then bank runs followed, the New York Stock Exchange closed for ten days, and within two years roughly a third of outstanding railroad bonds had stopped paying interest. The equity markets lagged in this period...credit markets ended the railroad party abruptly.

The 1920s utility expansion followed the same pattern on a different scale. Samuel Insull's holding company pyramid relied on layers of debt and bank loans secured by the securities of the operating companies themselves (financial engineering). Once revenues softened and the banks refused to roll the notes in 1932, the structure collapsed into receivership. In this period the equity markets led the credit markets first with the 1929 crash then credit followed later.

In the telecom fiber boom, carriers raised hundreds of billions in bonds and used vendor financing and circular deals to keep the buildout going. Credit markets ultimately marked the end of the buildout but equities peaked in March of 2000 before credit. Credit spreads later widened sharply in 2001 and 2002, defaults clustered in the sector for years, and bondholders recovered roughly twenty cents on the dollar in many cases. When lenders stopped funding incremental capacity, the overinvestment phase ended and the financial collapse began.

The same dynamic is now visible in the AI buildout, where private credit has stalled, circular debt structures are proliferating, off balance sheet financing is growing and early signs of stress are appearing in CCC junk credit markets. Whether equity markets lead or lag this cycle remains to be seen but the case could be made that given the tremendous amount of passive equity investing the discounting mechanism of equity could lag and credit leads this time.

Bottom Line

Innovative technology capex cycles repeat themselves because human nature has not changed. Mania and excitement give way to overinvestment, which produces financial collapse and distressed assets. Those assets then become the cheap foundation for the next economic wave. Those who believe in cycles and a constant human nature may want to protect themselves accordingly and reduce exposure in the AI complex where risk-reward no longer makes sense. Then when the bust does arrive watch for the opportunities that emerge from the ashes where durable longer-term value will be created.

Bubbles are a feature of capitalism, not a bug. They destroy capital in the short run and, through the process of overbuilding and recapitalization, often leave behind the physical and technical foundation for longer-term productivity gains. The pattern is consistent throughout history...though the timing and severity may vary. The long-term outcome for the economy is usually more favorable than the peak-to-trough equity charts imply and a net positive over time.

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 15:20

ZeroHedge Debate: Sankey Predicts 2028 Oil Futures Will Feel The Pain Soon

The damage inflicted on global energy infrastructure during the Iran war could have consequences lasting well beyond the conflict itself, according to veteran energy analysts Paul Sankey and Arjun Murti, who joined Erik Townsend for last night’s ZeroHedge Debate.

An oil tanker unloads crude oil at a crude oil terminal in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, China July 4, 2018. Picture taken July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer/ File Photo

Sankey predicted that 2028 crude futures will see large moves upward as markets adapt to the reality that refinery capacity will not recover anytime soon.

Townsend fears that not only will 2028 prices rise… but that the globe may face a decades-long shortage of refined oil products, a risk he thinks people are not taking seriously. Murti meanwhile, in light of these realities, thinks “cash is king” for those weary of volatility.

Below were some highlights from the discussion though we highly recommend the full conversation for those who missed it live:

Could Refinery Damage Take A Decade To Repair?

"If you kept blowing refineries up around the world, you'd get to the point where we just don't have enough refining capacity to run the planet, period."

So what if the conflict drags on for years? Townsend asked:

"How far does this have to go before we get to the point where we look back on $60 crack spreads and say those are the good old days before we got to $200 crack spreads?” Crack spread being the difference in the price of crude and the consumable refined products.

"If the Iran conflict goes to five years and it's punctuated by blowing up a lot of refineries, both in the Middle East and in Russia, how long do we go before the world has a problem that cannot be recovered for a full decade 'cause that's how long it takes to build new refineries?"

Sankey said that we might already be there… "The short answer is it's going to take an awful long time to recover from this, I'm afraid to say."

"Back in Q1 results, Valero said that I think the line was [...] for every day out, we need a week to recover.” 

https://t.co/Ni1hBUkTXv

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) October 14, 2026

Playing Oil's Volatility: 'Cash Is King'

Murti argued companies and investors should resist becoming too greedy.

"Our call has been geopolitical super volatility is here to stay. And that means generally high but volatile prices. You gotta be prepared for the pullbacks that will happen."

With oil around $100 per barrel and refining margins elevated, Murti expects companies to face pressure from investors demanding larger payouts.

"There's a real strategic value to companies having cash on their balance sheet. We have generally stressed fortress balance sheets as a mindset in a deeply cyclical, volatile business."

Murti pointed to the industry's recurring downturns: 2015, the COVID collapse in 2020, and oil's retreat from $120 in 2022 toward $50 in 2025.

"Every five years we're having some notion of a pullback. We can't predict the next one will be 2027 or 2030, but there's a real strategic value to these publicly traded companies, especially in the oil value chain, to actually hoard some cash… Cash is king."

https://t.co/W3DB0pgRfN

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) October 14, 2026

Check out the full discussion below, on the ZeroHedge Youtube channel, or listen on Spotify.

Can The Gulf Be Repaired? Paul Sankey, Arjun Murti, and Erik Townsend https://t.co/RRIMna9Z1A

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 13, 2026

* * *

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 15:05

CVS To Pay $315 Million Over Claims It Filled Unlawful Opioid Prescriptions

Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times,

CVS Pharmacy Inc. and related entities agreed Tuesday to pay $315 million to resolve Justice Department allegations that the company illegally filled opioid and other controlled-substance prescriptions and billed many of them to Medicare and other federal health programs.

The sum settles claims that the company illegally filled such prescriptions from Oct. 17, 2013, through Dec. 2, 2025.

The government alleged CVS knowingly filled prescriptions that lacked a legitimate medical purpose, were not valid, or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice.

Those included dangerous and excessive quantities of opioids, early refills, and "trinity" combinations of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant.

CVS also allegedly filled prescriptions from "pill mill" prescribers while ignoring red flags. Many of these claims were later reimbursed by federal programs.

"Not only does this settlement hold bad actors accountable for their fraudulent activities, but Americans are safer because of it," Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement. "Today's settlement is a significant milestone in the Justice Department's efforts to combat the opioid epidemic by cracking down on pharmacies who unlawfully fulfill prescriptions for controlled substances."

According to the complaint, corporate policies kept pharmacists from warning one another about problem prescribers.

Beyond the payment, CVS entered a memorandum of agreement with the DEA.

It requires a hotline for employees and the public to report suspected illegal dispensing, proactive monitoring of pharmacy patterns, and a process to evaluate prescribers suspected of illegal practices.

The settlement agreement says: "The claims asserted against CVS ... are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability."

The settlement also resolves a False Claims Act whistleblower suit filed in 2019 by former CVS employee Hillary Estright of Tennessee. The amount awarded in that case hasn't yet been determined.

CVS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The DOJ unsealed the complaint against CVS in December 2024.

In April 2025, the DOJ announced that Walgreens agreed to pay up to $350 million to settle allegations that it knowingly filled millions of unlawful opioid and other controlled-substance prescriptions and submitted false claims to federal health programs.

The settlement resolved claims that Walgreens violated both the Controlled Substances Act and the False Claims Act from 2012 through 2023.

Individual states have also taken legal action against CVS.

In May 2023, Nevada reached a settlement with CVS Pharmacy worth nearly $152 million over the company's role in the opioid epidemic.

In March 2022, Florida reached more than $878 million in settlements with CVS Health Corp. and three drug companies to resolve claims and avert a trial over their roles in fueling an opioid epidemic in the state. CVS was responsible for $484 million of that total.

CVS Health Corp. is the parent company of CVS Pharmacy.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 14:50

Former Gang Leader Sentenced To 40 Years To Life In Tupac Shakur Murder

Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times,

A former gang leader was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison on Tuesday for his part in the 1996 death of rapper Tupac Shakur.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, faced the potential of life without the possibility of parole after he was convicted of orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed the hip-hop star.

A five-time convicted felon at the time of Shakur's death, Davis was arrested in 2023 for Shakur's murder and has said on multiple occasions he will appeal his conviction.

Before the sentence was handed down on Oct. 13, prosecutors argued against the minimum sentence, telling Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny in Nevada that Shakur's murder was a "uniquely painful situation."

Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, while in the passenger seat of an SUV driven by record executive Marion "Suge" Knight.

The murder was left unsolved for decades, and despite Davis's conviction, there are still questions about who might have actually pulled the trigger on the shot that killed the 25-year-old rapper.

Authorities long stated they believed Davis was involved in Shakur's killing, but for decades hadn't had enough evidence to take to trial in the previously cold case.

However, Davis went public with his story, including a memoir, recorded conversations, and media appearances, much of which was used against him at trial.

Davis's conviction was for masterminding the attack, which was said to have been in retaliation for Shakur allegedly beating Davis's nephew inside the MGM Grand casino hours earlier on the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996.

Shakur, who lived in Los Angeles, was associated with an area street gang, the Mob Piru, which was also connected to Shakur's music label, Death Row Records.

Davis and his nephew were affiliated with another Los Angeles gang, the South Side Compton Crips, which was known to be a rival gang.

Both groups were in Las Vegas to see a heavyweight boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon on the night of the altercation between Davis's nephew and Shakur.

After the brawl between the men and other individuals known to be part of both gangs, Davis, his nephew, and two others took a vehicle to look for Shakur and Knight to settle the score, according to court records.

Davis has maintained that one of the others in the vehicle shot into the car carrying Knight and Shakur while in traffic.

Shakur's half-sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, spoke about the impact of her brother's death, saying he was "born an icon." She recalled her brother's care toward her and her siblings, calling him the "father figure" in their home.

Sekyiwa Shakur said her brother was paying the bills and buying food for 17 different families at the time of his death. She said her brother's death "for a long time, crippled" many of those in her family, especially those in the car procession who saw the shooting.

In her tearful description of her brother, she said he put his life on the line, fed those who were hungry, and was "gentle and kind to women and children."

She went on, saying, "I do believe that when you take a life like that, you deserve every minute ... of the maximum amount of punishment, time to sit down and contemplate what you've done to this world."

While authorities never accused Davis of actually pulling the trigger, Nevada law allows participants in a crime to be charged with murder.

The jury deliberated for three hours before handing down the guilty verdict.

The actual shooter was never identified by law enforcement, and all three other men in the vehicle with Davis on the night of Shakur's death have since died.

The rapper was struck by four bullets and died in the hospital six days later. Knight suffered only minor injuries and is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for an unrelated voluntary manslaughter conviction.

Davis acknowledged in his book, "Compton Street Legend," that he was a suspect in the murders of Shakur and rival rapper Christopher Wallace.

Wallace, who was known as the Notorious B.I.G., with New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment, was killed in Los Angeles in a March 1997 shooting long suspected to be in retaliation for Shakur's killing.

Wallace's murder is still unsolved.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 14:20

Trump Touts Taiwan-Alaska LNG Deal Offering Decades Of Conflict-Free Supply Beyond Hormuz

The Gulf area conflict is rewiring global energy supply chains, with Taiwan turning to Alaska for long-term, conflict-free liquefied natural gas supplies. 

President Trump touted the latest development on Truth Social, saying Taiwan had agreed to purchase 30% of a planned Alaska LNG project's output for two decades and invest an additional $4.4 billion. Taipei, however, said binding terms remain under negotiation.

"I was just in Alaska launching the largest Energy Infrastructure Project in Alaska History: The Alaska LNG Project. This 50 Billion Dollar Infrastructure Investment from The Republic of Korea is part of their Trade and Investment Deal with me," Trump wrote on Truth Social around lunchtime in New York.

The president continued, "I am also announcing today that my Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, has secured an Offtake Commitment from Taiwan of between 70 to 80 Billion Dollars for Alaska LNG. That is 30% of the Pipeline for the next 20 years."

"On top of that, Taiwan has also agreed to invest 4.4 Billion Dollars in Equity into the Project, because this is now a U.S. Federal Government Project, with all necessary permits secured, and all necessary authorizations delivered, and ready to go," he added.

Bloomberg reported that Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs plans to buy 6 million tons of LNG annually and participate in the Alaska LNG project.

State-owned CPC Corp. previously signed a nonbinding letter of intent to consider investing. Deliveries could begin as early as 2032 if development proceeds on schedule, the ministry said.

Earlier this month, Trump announced a $54 billion South Korean investment in the project, but Seoul subsequently said participation would depend on commercial viability.

Alaska LNG is a proposed development that would transport natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the state's southern coast, supplying Alaskan customers and exporting LNG to Asia.

For both countries, LNG shipped from Alaska would cross the Pacific without passing through the disrupted Strait of Hormuz, helping them diversify supplies away from that maritime chokepoint. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 14:05

Hillary Clinton Launches Political Podcast Ahead Of Midterm Elections

Authored by AG News Staff via American Greatness,

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is returning to the political spotlight with a new podcast alongside former CNN host Kara Swisher, just weeks before the November midterm elections.

Clinton, the Democrats' unsuccessful 2016 presidential nominee, announced Tuesday that she will co-host "High Stakes," a political podcast produced by Vox Media that will focus on issues leading up to the Nov. 3 elections.

The program will be distributed through the existing feed of Swisher's "On" podcast and is expected to run through Election Day.

"On Nov. 3, every seat in the House is on the ballot, along with 35 Senate seats and 36 governors," Clinton said in an announcement video. "What you pay for groceries, rent and healthcare is on the line. So I'm teaming up with Kara Swisher to dig into the issues that matter most before the country heads to the polls."

The partnership developed after Clinton and Swisher met at the Washington home of David Bradley, the former owner of The Atlantic, in the affluent Kalorama neighborhood.

The two tested the idea in August when Clinton temporarily replaced Scott Galloway, Swisher's regular co-host on the "Pivot" podcast.

Swisher told The New York Times that she hopes the program will reveal a different side of the longtime Democratic political figure.

"There's a thing about the secretary, where it's like, 'Oh, if you knew her in the room, she's so funny,'" Swisher said. "We're going to try to show you that room."

Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff expressed confidence in the venture despite the challenges of attracting audiences to political podcasts.

Clinton's latest media project comes as Democrats prepare for a closely watched midterm election that will determine control of Congress and numerous governorships.

The former first lady also said Democratic candidates have approached her about campaigning and providing political assistance.

Clinton suggested the podcast could continue beyond Election Day if it attracts sufficient interest.

Addressing disagreements within her party, Clinton defended internal debate among Democrats.

"One of the things people try to do is split the Democratic Party, and that's fine," Clinton said. "It's fine to have differences, and it's fine to argue. Nobody's afraid of the argument."

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 13:50

Today July 19 2013 Here is the news conference by Governor Rick Snyder and emergency manager Kevyn Orr explaining why they claimed bankruptcy.

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S310...
Rochester, N.Y. -- She says she had no warning that someone was going to search her car after she left to catch her flight. So the woman contacted News10NBC.

We found out it happened to her because she valet parked her car. Those are the only cars that get inspected.

So if security feels it is necessary to search some cars in the name of safety, why not search all of them?

Laurie Iacuzza walked to her waiting car at the Greater Rochester International Airport after returning from a trip and that's when she found it -- a notice saying her car was inspected after she left for her flight. She said, “I was furious. They never mentioned it to me when I booked the valet or when I picked up the car or when I dropped it off.”

Henry Kissinger actually publicly stated that those who oppose the New World Order are "terrorists".

Henry Kissinger in a speech given in Istanbul, Turkey on May 31, 2007, while the Bilderberg conference was simultaneously underway, just a few miles down the road.

"In the Middle East, we live in a different world. The nations do not represent historic entities in the same sense that European nations did. Turkey of course does, and Iran in a considerable extent does. But in the region in between, the borders were drawn by the victors of World War I on the basis largely of what would facilitate their influence. So therefore, the identities of these countries, and of their borders, can be challenged more easily."

"What we in America call terrorists are really groups of people that reject the international system, and they're trying to regroup it to a radical Islamic fundamentalists kind."

Detroit has become the largest city in Unites States history to file for bankruptcy after decades of decline and mismanagement rendered the city insolvent. Michigan's governor, Rick Snyder, said on Thursday that there was no other option to tackle the city's $18.5bn of debts. Al Jazeera's Caroline Malone reports.

Detroit has become the largest city in Unites States history to file for bankruptcy after decades of decline and mismanagement rendered the city insolvent.William Black, a professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri, talks to Al Jazeera about Detroit filing bankruptcy.

7/18/13 - Anti-government activist Adam Kokesh, who is currently jailed on drug charges and is facing a firearms charge in D.C., says he will someday run for President on a platform of abolishing the federal government. Since July 9th, 31-year old Adam Kokesh has been incarcerated in a cell in the Fairfax County jail which measures seven by seven-and-a-half feet.

On Independence Day, Kokesh had a colleague record a video of the pro-gun activist loading a shotgun on D.C.'s Freedom Plaza. The District has strict gun control laws that generally forbid the carrying of firearms. U.S. Park Police and D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department opened an investigation.

Several days later, U.S. Park Police used a flash grenade when their SWAT team served a search warrant at Kokesh's home in Herndon, Va. Kokesh was arrested when officers said they found hallucinogenic mushrooms at the house.

In an exclusive jailhouse interview, Adam Kokesh denies any connection to the drugs. Here is part of the transcript of that interview with Kokesh: "If they found a stash of magic mushrooms in my house, they were not mine. ANY IDEA WHOSE THEY WERE, OR WHY THEY WERE IN YOUR HOUSE? I'm pretty confident that, whether or not they found anything, the full paper bags that [U.S. Park Police] brought into my house would insure that they had charges to bring against me. ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT THOSE DRUGS WERE PLANTED? Yes."

Kokesh, who has been arrested several times before by U.S. Park Police, says that agency has a "vendetta" against him, but he believes the evidence in the drug case is weak.

Federal officers have now filed a weapons charge against Kokesh for wielding the shotgun in D.C. on the Fourth of July. Here's more of the interview: "WAS IT A REAL SHOTGUN AND WERE THEY REAL SHELLS GOING INTO IT? Yes. ON THE VIDEO YOU POSTED? Yes. YOU DID KNOW THAT WAS ILLEGAL IN D.C.? It's called civil disobedience."

Adam Kokesh believes the Second Amendment to the Constitution will provide him a successful defense against the D.C. gun charge.

The former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq plans to someday bring his anti-government views before voters. "ARE YOU RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT? Yes sir, in 2020 on the platform of: orderly dissolution of the United States government. WHY IS THAT A GOOD IDEA? Why is having a federal government a good idea at this point?"

Adam Kokesh believes the U.S. military is more harmful than helpful to American security, and the government -- as a whole -- has burdened its citizenry with debt.

Adam Kokesh is 70% disabled from his term of military service. He says he lives only on that money.

His supporters, through their website, adamvstheman.com, are asking supporters to send money for bail and send money so a private attorney can be hired. Kokesh is currently being represented by a public defender.

Kokesh remains in custody in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, and, if he is freed on bond, he faces extradition to D.C. to face the gun charge.

July 18, 2013 - Bill O'Reilly Interviews Donald Trump on Economy, China, and Obamacare



Trump would be a hell of a lot better president then Obama, at least he is willing to do what needs to be done instead of creating some BS healthcare system .He's a businessman, he knows how to make deals, he will get tough on China (even if he has ties made in China in which I don't think he knew or maybe he thought we're a screwed country so why not just sell them to stupid people who will only buy them anyway), I don't believe what they say about his net worth (in which they say isn't worth much). Trump has a big fat heart inside I believe it.

Here it comes Detroit about to be largest Bankrupt City .The city of Detroit files for Chapter 9 federal bankruptcy protection, making the automobile capital and onetime music powerhouse the country's largest-ever municipal bankruptcy case. WSJ Global Autos Editor Joe White reports.


This news really ruined Obama's golf game today ... ya America is crumbling apart , but we have 15,000 Russian soldiers to help fix it I hear!!

Steve Keen Exposes Financial Fallacies and Debates the Mortgage Debt Jubilee!


"I don't understand gold." Yes, that's what our beloved Fed Chairman actually told Congress today. Maybe that's why Germany wants 300 tonnes of it back. That would be gold the Fed is holding on its behalf. We have just one word for you Finance Minister Schaeuble: tungsten. But don't worry, Chairman Bernanke assured the S&P 500 -- now at all time highs -- that the monetary QE stimulus will continue until the economy can stand on its own feet. Such anthropomorphization is quite quaint for an econometrician, isn't it? We debunk the likes of Bernanke and talk about the mortgage jubilee with economist Steve Keen.

And, Jamie Dimon can't seem to find a chair that isn't the hot seat. JP Morgan is about to shell out a few hundred million in a settlement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. That would be for allegedly manipulating energy markets in California, Enron style. Barclays already settled for $435 million. And a similar settlement for JP Morgan would amount to -- well just one sixtieth -- of its $26 billion in revenues reported last Friday. No word yet on how much it actually profited from allegedly bilking Americans.

Finally, subprime is back. The Consumer Financial Protection Board just strengthened mortgage underwriting standards. But if you don't fall under the new rules, don't worry. Because the guy who helped write the rules at the CFPB just went private -- and started a company that will service the very market his old regulatory body now excludes. And, yes, they're even providing interest-only financing -- because that worked so well in 2008. You can't make this stuff up! Perianne breaks down the boom-bust cycle.

Unorthodox ufologist Norio Hayakawa presented his views and research on UFOs, clandestine government activities, and the mysterious Dulce, New Mexico area, rumored to house an underground base. The state of New Mexico itself has been a hotbed of paranormal and UFO activity going back to 1947, he reported. Starting with the Roswell Incident, "the year 1947 was the beginning of a conditioning of belief systems...carefully orchestrated for future events," he commented.

He believes the Roswell crash was staged "by an unknown intelligence" in collusion with an elite part of the US government. UFOs are neither flying nor objects, but rather part of an intelligence that co-exists with us and has the ability to materialize, he explained.

Hayakawa was one of the first to bring Project Bluebeam to public attention in his 1995 documentary video Secrets of Dreamland, which suggested that a covert government would have sufficient technology to artificially simulate a UFO threat in order to bring about a forced global unity.

Regarding Dulce, he has not found direct physical evidence for an underground base there, yet, there have been many strange reports and sightings in the area which encompasses the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. "I think there's a reality on another level that we may not be able to see with our physical eyes" and a base could exist at Dulce in a non-physical realm, he shared.

Biography:

Norio Hayakawa calls himself an unorthodox ufologist and activist. He has spent almost 10 years specifically investigating Area 51 in Nevada. He says that there is much more to Area 51 than just superficial facts made public about this well-known base. In 1990 he also began to investigate the strange goings-on at Dulce, New Mexico. After more than 45 years of researching the UFO phenomenon, he says that a conditioning of belief systems have been orchestrated since 1947 by a manipulative force that is preparing mankind for a near future mysterious scenario. The ingrained and "altered" realities behind both Area 51 and Dulce will play a role in that scenario. In March of 2009 he organized the first-ever Underground Base conference in Dulce, New Mexico.

Wikipedia
The term shadow government (also cryptocracy) besides its party political meaning can also refer to what is sometimes called "the secret government" or "the invisible government," an idea based on the notion that real and actual political power does not reside with publicly elected representatives (for example the United States Congress (or the Cabinet of the United Kingdom) but with private individuals who are exercising power behind the scenes beyond the scrutiny of democratic institutions. According to this belief the official elected government is in reality subservient to the shadow government who are the true executive power.

Conspiracy-oriented literature postulates the existence of a secret government who are the true power behind the apparent government. Examples of such literature include works by Dan Smoot, William Guy Carr, Jim Marrs, Carroll Quigley, Gary Allen, Des Griffin, David Icke, Michael A. Hoffman II and John Coleman. Some of these authors believe members of the secret government may represent or be agents for groups such as the Council on Foreign Relations, The Royal Institute for International Affairs, The Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, CIA and MI6 in co-operation with international banks and financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Bank for International Settlements. Also popularizing the idea was the hit US television show, The X-Files.

In his novel Coningsby, Benjamin Disraeli stated that "The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes". One definition of a shadow government is a "secret government within the government". This secret government is the "real" government that controls the legitimate and visible government's agenda. The network of people constituting this secret government are bound by some common agenda known only to each other and/or the people they represent. The agenda may be that of a secret society who have infiltrated the government (examples include Freemasons, Skull and Bones men or Illuminatists). In this case the agenda of the network is known only to those members who are bound by an oath of secrecy.

The shadow government is also considered by popular authors[who?] to be behind black budget projects and covert operations.

One of the most popular conspiracy theories about a shadow government is the notion of a "Zionist Occupation Government

Travelers on their way to Britain might want to leave their phones at home after it was revealed they could be seized and browsed through by police. And amazingly it's totally legal, as Tesa Arcilla reports.


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