Zero Hedge

China Conducts Patrol In South China Sea, Accuses Philippines Of Disturbing Regional Peace

China Conducts Patrol In South China Sea, Accuses Philippines Of Disturbing Regional Peace

Authored by Alex Wu via The Epoch Times,

The Chinese regime’s navy conducted patrols in the South China Sea from Feb. 23 to Feb. 26, while the United States, Japan, and the Philippines were holding joint military exercises in international waters.

The Chinese regime criticized the Philippines for “disturbing peace” in the region.

Analysts told The Epoch Times that the standoff in the South China Sea does not necessarily mean that the situation will escalate soon, and the Chinese regime’s rhetoric reflects complicated political considerations.

The United States, the Philippines, and Japan this week conducted joint exercises over the Bashi Channel that separates the Philippines from Taiwan in the South China Sea, according to a statement by the Philippine military on Feb. 27. The drills were aimed at showcasing the forces’ “ability to operate seamlessly together in complex maritime environments,” the Philippine military said.

This was the first time that such joint exercises have been conducted in the Bashi Channel.

The Chinese regime reacted angrily to the joint drills. On Feb. 27, a spokesperson for the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Southern Theatre Command accused the Philippines of “disrupting peace and stability by organizing joint patrols with countries outside the region.”

China conducted a “routine patrol” of the South China Sea from Feb. 23 to Feb. 26, according to the spokesperson.

While China claims sovereignty over the waters, citing the historical nine-dash demarcation line within the South China Sea, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia each claim sovereignty over their exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea. Some of these zones overlap with each other, with communist China’s nine-dash line, and with Taiwan’s 11-dash demarcation.

On July 12, 2016, an international tribunal ruled that the nine-dash demarcation couldn’t be used by the regime in Beijing to make historic claims to the South China Sea, parts of which are claimed by six governments. China rejected the ruling and has continued to assert its sovereignty claims and operations in the South China Sea.

“China has taken strong measures to drive away ships or fishing boats that enter the area, especially Philippine supply ships,” Shen Ming-shih, research fellow at the Division of National Security Research at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times.

“In such disputed areas, disputes should be shelved. It is because of China’s strong expulsion that the United States, Japan, and the Philippines are preparing for the worst-case scenario.”

Some of a total of 220 Chinese vessels are moored at Whitsun Reef, South China Sea on March 7, 2021. Philippine Coast Guard/National Task Force-West Philippine Sea via AP

Judging from the joint drills, it’s clear that the United States and Japan are paying particular attention to security in the South China Sea region, Shen added.

Commenting on the joint U.S.–Japan–Philippines drills conducted over the Bashi Channel, Wang Shiow-wen, an assistant researcher at the Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said, “This may be to test the PLA’s reaction, to see if the PLA has already considered the Bashi Channel and the South China Sea or even the Taiwan Strait as its own.”

As to the PLA’s accusation against the Philippines, she told The Epoch Times: “Why is it that the PLA’s daily harassment of Taiwan under the pretext of ‘exercises and training’ is not considered ‘disturbing peace and stability in the region,’ but other countries’ joint exercises are considered ‘disturbing the regional peace and stability’?”

The PLA spokesperson’s avoidance of directly naming the United States and Japan in its accusation may be laying the groundwork for future joint military exercises between China and Russia, or possibly North Korea, Wang said.

Furthermore, with an April meeting scheduled between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, both sides are currently cultivating a “friendly” atmosphere, making direct criticism inappropriate, she said.

Shen has a similar assessment. “Because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is currently hoping to ease tensions with the United States, and relations between China and Japan have already deteriorated, in order to avoid further complications, the Southern Theater Command only dared to condemn the relatively weaker Philippines in its statement this time.”

Deterrence

As to whether both sides doing military drills and patrols in the South China Sea in the same week might escalate the tension into a conflict, Shen said that “the main policy of the United States is to strengthen the defense capabilities of various countries in the First Island Chain region in order to deter China from easily launching a conflict or war in this region.”

An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, attached to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 14, prepares to land on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on Jan. 15, 2026. Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Cesar Zavala/U.S. Navy

If war becomes unavoidable in the region, the United States should have many ways to participate. “Ultimately, war with the CCP will only be a last resort. Before that, political, economic, and cyber warfare are already underway,” he said.

Regarding the PLA spokesperson’s statement about China’s need to “safeguard China’s territorial sovereignty” and “uphold regional peace and stability,” Wang said that the Chinese regime is actually saying that as long as the United States, Japan, and the Philippines are not taking Chinese territory, the PLA won’t launch a preemptive attack.

Given the current military strength of the CCP, starting a war is not the problem, according to Wang. “The problem lies in how to sustain and end the war,” she said. “The Russia–Ukraine war has entered its fifth year, which should serve as a great warning to the CCP.”

“If the CCP leader Xi Jinping wants to escape his various domestic crises by starting a war, then it can only be said that he himself has determined the fate of the CCP regime,” she said.

A Chinese PLA Navy ship (background L) is seen while an Australian Navy destroyer (R) takes part in a maritime cooperative activity near Scarborough Shoal, on Sept. 3, 2025. Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images

Shen believes that the PLA’s patrol was routine, saying, “I don’t think it’s likely to start a conflict or war right now.”

“I think maintaining internal stability, conducting the CCP’s Fifth Plenary Session effectively, and balancing the power should be the top priorities right now.”

Shen added that when the internal power struggle within the CCP deteriorates or intensifies, “if [the regime] wants to take actions to divert [the] Chinese public’s attention from the domestic to the international, it might target the relatively weaker Philippines or the South China Sea.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 20:55

Watch: Israel Neutralizes Hezbollah Missiles With Game-Changing "Iron Beam"

Watch: Israel Neutralizes Hezbollah Missiles With Game-Changing "Iron Beam"

Hezbollah opened a new front in the broadening U.S.-Israeli war with Iran overnight, launching a barrage of missiles and kamikaze drone swarms at an Israeli military base in northern Israel. 

Footage of one of those missile launches posted on X by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) shows what appears to be some of those Hezbollah missiles prematurely exploding moments after launch. 

IPBC explained that the apparent misfires were due to the "Interception of the Rocket from Lebanon Carried Out Using the "Iron Beam" Laser System." 

We reported last fall that Israel Defense Forces rolled out its new high-powered laser defense system, known as the "Iron Beam."

The laser-based air defense system was developed by Rafael and built to complement the Iron Dome missile defense shield. Instead of launching expensive interceptor missiles, it uses a high-energy laser to destroy short-range threats such as rockets, mortar rounds, and drones.

The footage likely shows the 100 kW-class Iron Beam in action, able to neutralize incoming projectiles for only a few dollars per shot, versus roughly $100,000 for a traditional interceptor rocket.

One of the major problems for U.S. and Israeli forces is that the cost per counter-missile and drone is extraordinarily expensive and uneconomical if the war dragged on for a prolonged period of time.

Related: 

But there is a big caveat, per the Times of Israel: "The main downside of a laser system is that it does not function well in low visibility, including heavy cloud cover or other inclement weather."

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 20:30

Opposition Leader Maria Corina Machado Says She Will Return To Venezuela In Coming Weeks

Opposition Leader Maria Corina Machado Says She Will Return To Venezuela In Coming Weeks

Authored by Victoria Friedman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado said on March 1 that she will return to her country in the coming weeks.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado during an interview with AFP in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 25, 2024. Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images

Machado, 58, did not set a date for her return, but she said in a video posted to X that one of the objectives is to prepare for “a new and resounding electoral victory.”

“I will return to Venezuela in a few weeks. I want to do so, as do hundreds and thousands of Venezuelan exiles around the world,” she said. “We will arrive to embrace one another, to work together to guarantee an orderly and sustainable transition to democracy.”

Then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, were captured in a U.S. military operation on Jan. 3 and taken to the United States, where the pair face drug trafficking-related charges. Both have denied the charges.

Delcy Rodríguez, who has been the interim leader of Venezuela since, said that Machado, who is under investigation in her home country, should have to “answer to Venezuela” for her support of U.S. military action against Caracas.

Shortly after Maduro’s capture, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Venezuela must go through phases of stabilization, economic recovery, and then, finally, a transition of power.

Rubio has not indicated that elections could be held in the short term.

Nobel Prize Winner

In her video, Machado praised U.S. President Donald Trump for his “vision and courage,” having “brought Nicolás Maduro before international justice—international justice that, finally, on Jan. 3, served the people and not the tyrants, serving the sovereignty expressed through the vote.”

“We want to thank the people of the United States, their government, their members of Congress, their judges, and their military men and women who risked their lives for the freedom of Venezuela and for the national security of their country and the security of all the Americas,” she said.

On Oct. 10, 2025, Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work fighting for democracy in Venezuela. She left Venezuela in December 2025 for Oslo, Norway, to receive the award and is currently in the United States.

She later gave her medal to Trump when she met with the U.S. president at the White House on Jan. 15.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado in the Oval Office on Jan. 15, 2026. Daniel Torok/The White House/Reuters

Machado was an opposition presidential candidate but was disqualified from running against Maduro in the 2024 election. He was replaced by Edmundo González.

After Maduro claimed victory, protests erupted, which triggered widespread repression by the state. The opposition claimed that it had evidence that González was the rightful winner. González was deemed the victor by the United States.

Maduro and his wife are being held in U.S. custody. In their first court appearance in New York City on Jan. 5, they were charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess those items.

Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, pleaded not guilty.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 20:05

California Strikes Out: Major League Pitcher Turns Down Padres $40 Million Offer Due To State Taxes

California Strikes Out: Major League Pitcher Turns Down Padres $40 Million Offer Due To State Taxes

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

This week, “there is no joy in Mudville” – the mighty Padres have struck out.

The California Padres thought that they had secured Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly with an offer of $40 million for just two years.

The Diamondbacks were offering that payout over three years, but Kelly took the Diamondbacks.

The reason?

California’s ruinous tax burden is fueling an exodus of wealthy taxpayers and businesses from the state.

It is the latest example of how Democrats have reversed the Gold Rush with a long line of U-Hauls heading to more responsible states.

Explaining his decision, the pitcher told the media that “I don’t think it’s any secret on how much money you get taken out of your pocket when you go to California.”

With the calls for billionaire taxes and attacks on the wealthy as “not paying their fair share,” Democrats and unions have doubled down on their “eat the rich” rhetoric. The problem is that wealth, like the wealthy, is mobile. Both are leaving, and the current estimate stands at a possible $2 trillion fleeing the state over the last year. California continues to lead the nation in the loss of citizens to other states.

In the meantime, Democrats are continuing their high-spending pattern under Gov. Gavin Newsom from boondoggle projects to reparations to bloated union pension agreements.

With California’s 13% tax rate on income above $1 million, players view California as illusory in terms of elite contracts. What the team giveth, the state taketh away. That does not include the higher collateral taxes and costs, including gasoline costs (which are also the highest in the nation).

It appears that the high-spending, high-taxing policies are not just benefiting red states but also their baseball teams. As a Cubs fan, I would be delighted except for the fact that Chicago and Illinois are also in the hands of Democrats pursuing the same disastrous policies.

The irony is that Texas and Florida could end up not only with more jobs but better baseball players.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 19:15

Bitcoin: Worthless Speculative Asset Or A True Monetary Alternative?

Bitcoin: Worthless Speculative Asset Or A True Monetary Alternative?

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

The recent correction in Bitcoin has created a familiar debate. Is it a worthless speculative asset or a true monetary alternative? At $67,000, the price may be volatile, but it is hardly worthless. 

Bitcoin may be both a warning and an opportunity. It remains a strong hedge against the destruction of fiat money and financial repression for many citizens in the world, but it is also a volatile asset that can damage investors who believe its price can only rise. 

For many investors, the recent correction in bitcoin is a concern. However, this is only if we look at bitcoin in US dollars, euros or world reserve currencies.

For citizens all over the world, from Cuba to Iran, suffering the elevated inflation and currency demolition created by their governments, bitcoin is certainly a haven.

The huge growth in bitcoin’s price over the past few years shows that many investors have lost faith in fiat currencies and the solvency of states that are getting more in debt. 

Bitcoin and gold are showing that purchasing power is going down in a way that official CPI inflation measures aim to hide. Global money supply is rising faster than nominal GDP, and governments are reliant on deficits and financial repression. 

Bitcoin is a teenager that is slowly becoming a digital, decentralised, and nonforfeitable asset for many savers. It makes it harder for governments and central banks to steal wealth through inflation.

Bitcoin adoption outpaces expectations

This doesn’t mean that Bitcoin is going to take over the US dollar as a reserve currency or immediately become an alternative to fiat currencies in the world.

It can’t supply the liquidity, depth, and network effects of the main reserve currency, and it can’t totally replace fiat currency in everyday economic activities.

However, Bitcoin has become, like gold, a limit on predatory fiscal policy and a visible example of the results of monetary disorder since it is outside the control of politics and bureaucracy.

Bitcoin is more like a tech startup than a regular currency when you look at its price. However, many state currencies are more volatile than Bitcoin and have lost all their purchasing power. 

For an asset to be money, it must be a reserve of value, a generalised means of payment and a unit of measure. Dozens of state-issued currencies globally fulfil none of those criteria. Furthermore, money does not need to be issued by a state. That is simply a political construct.

Volatility is typical of what I call a teenager start-up currency. Some people can say that it has gone up a lot more than its current fundamentals or that it is still very inexpensive compared to its prospective market, depending on the assumptions they make of global adoption.

However, it is undeniable that bitcoin adoption today is much larger than what most predicted, both for transactions and as a reserve of value.

Investors need to keep in mind, though, that bitcoin is still very volatile and has significant execution risk. Understanding these challenges and how they work is essential, and the best thing to do is not to “chase the wave” but to look at it with a long-term view.

At the centre of the quest for independent money

The rise of spot Bitcoin ETFs has changed the way the market perceives Bitcoin risk by letting both institutions and individuals buy and sell it through regulated vehicles.

Inflows into ETFs have soared in the past two years, with major funds like BlackRock and Fidelity adding it into portfolios. 

In recent weeks we have seen substantial net withdrawals from many US spot Bitcoin ETFs, driven by overleveraged bets. Investors should not confuse the positive factors of an ETF with a promise of stability or guaranteed price increases.

Cleaning leveraged ETF bets is a positive in the long run but may create short-term volatility. For short-term investors, adding excessive volatility with leverage is a recipe for disaster.

A 10% drop in a day can wipe away 30% of capital, and a significant price drop added to substantial margin calls can kill a position even if the long-term trend is good.

Margin calls, forced liquidations, and automated risk systems are symptoms of an excess of leveraged bets but also an opportunity to clean up the buyer base.

If you use Bitcoin as a hedge against the destruction of money instead of a speculative asset, you would be staying away from leveraged products.

Bitcoin is not yet a total substitute for equities, productive assets, or gold within a cohesive wealth preservation plan; rather, it is a complementary asset. 

In a world where central bank balance sheets are getting bigger, government debt rises and the threat of digital currencies that may be used for monitoring and control is growing, keeping a small amount of decentralised, nonforfeitable assets makes sense, not as a fashion.

The most important thing is to think of Bitcoin as just another way to protect yourself, along with stocks in real businesses, real assets, and precious metals. 

The main recommendations for investors are to never use leverage on an asset that is so volatile, size positions based on extreme drawdowns and know that price corrections caused by ETF flows or liquidations do not change the long-term adoption pattern. 

If governments keep eroding the value of fiat money and making it harder for people to be financially independent, investors will look for ways to protect their wealth. Bitcoin may be young, but it remains at the centre of the quest for independent money, with all its risks and possibilities.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 17:40

Court Rules For WaPo Reporter In Major Win For Press In National Security Case

Court Rules For WaPo Reporter In Major Win For Press In National Security Case

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

There was an important ruling last week by Magistrate Judge William B. Porter of the Eastern District of Virginia in favor of the press regarding the handling of files and materials taken in a search of the home of a Washington Post reporter.

Judge Porter ruled against the Trump Administration in what he called an “unsupervised, wholesale” search of the files of Hannah Natanson, who covers the federal government for The Post.

Instead, the court itself will conduct the review in camera.

In his opinion, Judge Porter chastized the Trump Administration for searching Natanson’s home without additional protections for the journalist’s interests in privileged sources. This has been a long-standing objection of the press to the Justice Department, which maintains that its own “filter teams” can review the files and materials relevant to their investigation and then hand them over to prosecution teams.

The Justice Department was investigating a Maryland government contractor, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, who has been indicted on charges of transmitting and retaining classified national defense information.

Judge Porter chastized the government for failing to mention a 1980 law, the Privacy Protection Act, in seeking a search warrant of Ms. Natanson’s home. The PPA mandates that a search for reporting materials “shall be unlawful” unless there is probable cause that the reporter committed certain crimes to which the materials relate. In a prior hearing, Judge Porter asked pointedly, “How could you miss it? How could you think it doesn’t apply?”

Judge Porter ruled that “[a]llowing the government’s filter team to search a reporter’s work product — most of which consists of unrelated information from confidential sources — is the equivalent of leaving the government’s fox in charge of The Washington Post’s henhouse.”

The court indicated that the search was too broad and was insufficiently protective of the journalistic interests in the case, noting that the government has a “legitimate interest in only an infinitesimal fraction of the data it has seized.”

The court said it would issue new guidelines for reviewing the material. It is a significant victory for the press.

Here is the opinion: IN THE MATTER OF THE SEARCH OF THE REAL PROPERTY AND PREMISES OF HANNAH NATANSON

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 17:00

"Severely Curbed": Gold Shipments Through Dubai Stalled In Wake Of Strikes On Iran

"Severely Curbed": Gold Shipments Through Dubai Stalled In Wake Of Strikes On Iran

Gold shipments through Dubai are set to stall for several days after airlines suspended flights amid U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s response, according to three industry sources and Reuters.

Because gold is typically transported by air for security and insurance reasons, the cancellations are expected to sharply limit physical flows.

Reuters writes that Dubai is a key supplier to Switzerland, Hong Kong and India. Sources said the broader impact on global supply will depend on how long the disruption lasts. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

Gold futures jumped 3% on Monday morning prior to the cash open in New York. The record high stands at $5,594.82, set on January 29.

Despite the shipping disruption, traders said major financial hubs — including China, India, New York, London and Zurich — remain operational, and market activity on Monday is expected to be driven mainly by financial flows rather than physical supply.

Elsewhere in the world of precious metals, on COMEX, gold delivery volume for February matched what was seen in December.

Despite being below the big months over the last year (Feb/Apr/Oct 2025), the delivery volume was still very strong on an overall historical basis. Inventory heading into March looked sufficient, but it'll be interesting to see how that landscape has shifted now in the wake of the new geopolitical turmoil.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 16:40

We Want One Solution, But One Solution Can't Solve Our Polycrisis

We Want One Solution, But One Solution Can't Solve Our Polycrisis

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via Substack,

Whatever the problem, our minds seek one solution--preferably a simple one--to escape the trackless wilderness of complex, inter-connected problems. Problem-solving boils down to identifying the key problem and finding a fix that’s easy to understand and straightforward to apply.

Our minds rebel when confronted with polycrisis, a knotted mess of inter-connected problems, and so we apply solutions we already have in hand. As I explained in previous Musings, this leads us to modify our description of the problem so it aligns with the solution we already know.

This approach cannot actually solve the problem, but claiming we have a solution in hand is a highly attractive expediency for those tasked with solving problems, i.e. the leadership elites. It’s equally attractive to the rest of us, as we all want to banish uncertainty and anxiety with a quick painless fix.

Let’s start with the one solution many favor: fix the money, fix the world: if we reinstate sound money, that will fix the world. The proposed solution is easy to understand and straightforward to apply: gold (or bitcoin) is the only legal tender, so paper and digital money will be replaced by gold coins (or bitcoin equivalents).

The impetus for proposing this solution is self-evident: creating money out of thin air or by issuing credit-money that accrues interest is intrinsically self-liquidating, and so the status quo monetary system will run to failure (fiscal-financial-economic crisis) unless we change course.

I have often written that “if we don’t change the way money is created and distributed, we’ve changed nothing,“ because the current monetary system creates money at the top of the wealth-power pyramid and distributes it to the top.

The sum “trickling down” to the bottom 90% is losing purchasing power as prices rise, and so we’re seeking a monetary system that 1) reverses the “trickling” from “down” to “up” and 2) preserves the purchasing power of the bottom 90%’s labor, which is the “capital” they “own.”

The problem with the “gold is the only money” solution is it only fixes one problem: governments inflating away the value of their currency. In a corrupt society, it doesn’t eliminate corruption; it just means corruption will be transacted in gold or bitcoin.

It doesn’t reverse the “trickle” of money from its source from capital to labor/work, it favors capital enriching itself just as much as the current fiat system.

Like all such one-size-fits-all solutions, it also creates problems that are glossed over by its promoters, as everything is connected in ways that are not always visible at first blush.

Let’s break it down to its most basic dynamics.

In a “gold is the only money” economy, ten people each deposit one gold coin in a bank to earn interest on their money. The bank holds two coins in reserve to redeem depositors’ withdrawals, and loans the other eight coins to a new business seeking to expand.

Without the loan, the bank has no income to pay interest on the cash deposits. Without the loan, the enterprise doesn’t have the capital to expand. It’s win-win-win: depositors earn interest, the bank skims a profit for its owners and the enterprise now has the capital needed to expand.

So far so good, but...

Since economies expand and contract cyclically, a downturn occurs, and people spend less as a response to rising risk: revenues drop, workers are laid off and defaults / bankruptcies start rising.

Reducing-risk prudence leads four depositors to demand their coin back, and since the bank only has two coins in reserve, it calls the loan it made to the enterprise. The business has suffered in the downturn and can’t pay back the loan. The bank seizes the business and auctions its assets. Since valuations have fallen in the downturn, the assets only fetch two coins.

The bank now has four coins but the number of depositors demanding their coin back has risen to six. The bank fails, six depositors lose their money, and the enterprise is bankrupt.

This is precisely what happened in “sound money” 19th century America: hundreds of banks failed, depositors and borrowers were wiped out. The risk of panics triggering loans being called, assets being sold off at fire-sale prices, banks failing and depositors being wiped out are all intrinsic risks in this arrangement.

OK, so here’s the fix to panics: the government guarantees all depositors will get their gold coin back should a private bank fail. But the government doesn’t have enough gold to back up every deposit nationally; it too only has a reserve. Once the panic spreads nationally, the government’s reserves of gold coins are soon depleted.

This is the problem with “gold is the only money:” enterprises need capital to expand / launch, depositors seek a return on their capital, banks provide an institutional layer to manage these credit contracts.

After seeing other depositors lose their money, people no longer trust either banks or the government, and gold coins are withdrawn from circulation (stored at home) as a prudent measure. Credit--always limited to what banks had on deposit--becomes ever scarcer, crippling the real-world economy, as enterprises starved of capital have no way to expand.

OK, so here’s the fix: let’s let the government issue paper money “backed by gold.” So the Treasury issues $5,000 (the current global price of an ounce of gold) of currency for every ounce of gold it holds. But without a mechanism to keep currency and the market value of the gold aligned, then the Treasury can over time issue $50,000 of currency for each ounce held in the vault. The “backed by gold” claim is an artifice.

There’s another problem: gold, silver, oil, etc. are all commodities whose priced is “discovered” in global markets, so their value as measured in goods and services fluctuates beyond the control of any government.

As the global economy enters a boom cycle, gold rises to $10,000 an ounce, and the Treasury issues an additional $5,000 per ounce in currency. But when the boom turns to bust and the market value of gold returns to $5,000 per ounce, does the Treasury withdraw half the currency from circulation? No. The “backed by gold” currency has depreciated by half.

As I have often pointed out, “backed by gold” is illusory unless each unit of currency can be converted to gold coins on demand. Anything short of this is a duplicitous artifice.

Here’s another problem: the economy is expanding smartly, but the Treasury’s stash of gold isn’t expanding to match the increase of demand, as the government’s gold mines aren’t yielding much new gold. And since it’s costly to extract and refine the gold, the government spends most of the new gold paying to operate the mine.

The supply of gold coins is limited, and so money is scarce. People revert to barter or start using scrip or credit paper to transact business.

This is precisely what happened in the Medieval trade fairs: gold and silver were scarce, and as economic activity expanded, there weren’t enough coins to grease the expanding universe of transactions and productive enterprises.

The point here is using only precious metals as money comes with its own restrictions and risks. This is why economies augmented “sound money” in the first place. Using a commodity--which is subject to the same price discovery of supply and demand as any other commodity--is intrinsically problematic.

Basing a currency on a basket of commodities ends up facing the same problem: as the global price of the commodities fluctuates, so does the value of the currency, opening the door to distorting arbitrage and financial panics.

You see the other problem: the wealthy who have accumulated gold and silver are the lenders, and the commoners who only have their labor to sell / invest are the borrowers. There is risk on both sides of this equation, but over time those collecting interest will get richer and borrowers will be wiped out by a panic or downturn.

The wealth “trickles up,” and if the wealthy don’t lend their wealth to new enterprises, the economy stagnates. If banks don’t exist due to social trust being limited, then lending is restricted and the economy stagnates.

As a general rule, labor needs some working capital to turn work into a productive enterprise or other assets. So when entrepreneurial commoners sought to expand production in the “sound money” 1200s to 1400s, since they had little gold/silver or access to credit, they reverted to letters of credit and bills of exchange--forms of “paper money” that enabled transactions that would have otherwise never occurred.

As always, I recommend Braudel’s trilogy for those interested in gaining a more comprehensive understanding of money and the development of capitalism:

The Structures of Everyday Life: Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century Volume 1

The Wheels of Commerce: Civilization & Capitalism 15th-18th Century, Vol. 2

The Perspective of the World: Civilization & Capitalism, 15th - 18th Century Volume 3

I covered these topics in my books Money and Work Unchained and A Radically Beneficial World, in which I explain why attempting to make one form of money do all the work we need money to do is doomed by the intrinsic limits of each form of money.

Money that excels at being a “store of value” fails in an expansive capitalist economy as a “means of exchange” for all the reasons outlined above, and all the fixes to this create additional problems, as outlined above.

This is why the Chinese introduced paper money: it wasn’t to rip off commoners via inflation, it was the necessary means of greasing local commerce in an economy without credit and scarce precious-metal coinage, much of which was in the hands of the wealthy as it was an excellent “store of value.”

Every fix that’s easy to understand and straightforward to apply has similar limits that generate inherent problems which cannot be resolved with easy fixes, as those fixes generate another set of problems.

So to end corruption, we impose more laws, more oversight, and stiffer penalties. But as recent revelations have shown, changing the rules of governance, adding transparency laws and boosting penalties did not stop corruption from seeping into every nook and cranny of America’s ruling elites.

As Lao Tzu observed, “The more laws and restrictions there are, the poorer people become. The more rules and regulations, the more thieves and robbers.“ Corruption isn’t reduced by adding more laws, it’s reduced by changing the incentives and what society accepts or deems unacceptable.

Adding more laws to be skirted by elites doesn’t change anything; only the withdrawal of The Mandate of Heaven can disempower elites serving their own interests with absolute impunity.

Here are other examples of “this one solution will fix the world.”

If there’s “plenty of energy, that fixes the world.“ But if inequality has reached extremes, having lots of energy for the wealthiest few to enjoy isn’t going to solve inequality, or the social disorder it generates.

Or this solution: AI will fix the world. Since AI is owned and controlled by the ruling elites, it will do nothing but entrench the extremes of inequality that are destabilizing the social, political and economic realms.

Or this: technology will fix all our problems. Putting data centers owned by our corporate overlords into orbit fixes nothing.

The point I endeavored to make in my Revolution Trilogy--The Mythology of Progress, Ultra-Processed Life and Investing in Revolution --is that all these conventional solutions are self-serving artifice, expedient illusions that relieve our anxiety but at the cost of leaving problems unaddressed while layering on more problems.

There are no monetary or technological fixes to moral decay and the corruption of ruling elites. Stable social orders--from tribes to empires--are successful because their ruling elites have a reciprocal relationship with the commoners who sustain the entire system. Each class has its own duties and responsibilities to the other classes.

Records from the Roman Empire’s rule in Egypt show that much of the ruling elite’s time was spent responding to pleas for assistance from the subservient classes and resolving administrative / managerial issues.

When ruling elites renounce reciprocity to serve their own interests with absolute impunity, then the social order soon reaches the “let them eat brioche” phase where society fragments. If redress (i.e. rebalancing) is suppressed, then retribution comes to the fore: the Mandate of Heaven is lost and chaos ensues.

In either case, the only way to reconnect reciprocity / rebalance a fatally imbalanced system is a social revolution that is neither political or economic per se but which transforms both the political and economic realms by changing what’s acceptable and what’s no longer acceptable.

Polycrisis can’t be untangled with simple top-down, one-size-fits-all solutions or by modifying the definition of the problem so some painless fix can be touted as a solution. These illusory fixes only make the problems worse.

The more productive approach is to decentralize control and capital so more flexible, adaptive units can experiment with solutions: households, communities, cities, counties, locally based enterprises and regions.

The entire Waste Is Growth Landfill Economy mindset must be replaced with new incentives based on a new understanding that artifice is not a replacement for authenticity, and monetizing what is most valuable destroys it.

Adapt or die sounds harsh, but if real adaptation is required, then illusory fixes, self-serving elites and expedient redefinitions of the problem will only accelerate the unraveling and the reckoning.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 16:20

Hormuz Paralyzed: Another Tanker Hit, Floating Parking Lot Of Ships Swells

Hormuz Paralyzed: Another Tanker Hit, Floating Parking Lot Of Ships Swells

Update (1555ET):

The latest Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel-tracking data, via Bloomberg, shows that tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has been paralyzed, with only a few tankers still transiting the critical maritime energy chokepoint.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement on X that IRGC naval power has been severely degraded after U.S. forces and their allies eliminated eleven warships.

That may explain why Brent crude futures have not been able to sustain $80 per barrel, as traders appear to assess that the IRGC's loss of warships would make any attempt to mount a blockade short-lived, especially given U.S. naval power in the region.

Late U.S. cash session, UBS analyst Jonathan Garber told clients that "Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander said the Strait of Hormuz is closed and they will set any ship on fire that tries to pass through, Reuters reports, citing Iranian media. WTI crude oil is now up more than 7% following the headlines."

BBG Headlines:

  • IRGC ADVISER SAYS WON'T LET OIL LEAVE REGION: IRAN STATE TV

However, the loss of IRGC naval power should not lead investors to discount the regime's asymmetric capabilities, such as using missiles and drones to target tankers in the narrow waterway.

That risk appeared to materialize late in the U.S. cash session, when reports emerged that two IRGC drones struck the oil tanker Athen Nova.

Rapidan Energy Group analyst Fernando Ferreira noted:

The US-Israeli offensive has shifted Tehran's calculus from deterrence to regime survival.

Iran cannot contest US control of the Gulf in a conventional fight, but it does not need to. Its strategy has always centered on denial, using drones, missiles, and mines to raise the cost of commercial transit through Hormuz.

Even if the IRGC Navy takes heavy losses, the core threat remains. Drone and missile attacks can still disrupt shipping and rattle energy markets. 

With that said, the critical maritime chokepoint responsible for 20% of global seaborne oil flows now appears likely to remain disrupted indefinitely.

*   *   * 

FGE NexantECA Chairman Emeritus Fereidun Fesharaki told Bloomberg TV on Monday morning that any attempt by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to choke off the critical Strait of Hormuz using warships, drones, and missiles would likely be short-lived, as the regime's naval capability is too weak to sustain a blockade against U.S., British, and French naval forces.

"It's just a fear factor," Fesharaki said earlier on Bloomberg TV, following his prediction one week earlier on Bloomberg TV: "I don't think the U.S. has a choice but to go to war. It is very hard for me to see a scenario in which they would simply avoid this, turn the ships around, and go home." Fesharaki has tracked the market for decades.

Fesharaki said this morning, "The Revolutionary Guard navy is a minor force compared with what the American navy, the British, and the French can bring in."

Fesharaki's comments about the duration of the war mirrored President Trump's remarks to The Daily Mail on Sunday, in which he said Operation Epic Fury would last about four weeks. He also described the IRGC as a "paper tiger."

On Sunday, Trump announced that nine Iranian naval ships had been sunk in the operation.

"I have just been informed that we have destroyed and sunk nine Iranian naval ships, some of them relatively large and important," Trump wrote in a post on X, adding that Iran's naval headquarters has been "largely destroyed" in a different attack.

"We are going after the rest — they will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea, also!" Trump wrote.

Rapidan Energy Group analyst Fernando Ferreira provided more insight on the Strait:

Iran understands that threatening traffic through Hormuz is its most credible asymmetric lever. Even limited interference can raise oil prices and impose immediate economic costs on the U.S. and its partners, increasing pressure on Washington to de-escalate.

We expect at least moderate disruptions to Gulf oil flows in the coming days, with the risk tilted toward something more severe if tensions escalate further.

As of Monday morning, Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel-tracking data via Bloomberg shows that tanker activity in the critical maritime energy chokepoint has mostly frozen, with limited transits.

Related:

Goldman analyst Adam Crook told clients over the weekend that any prolonged disruption of the Strait could push Brent crude prices toward $100/bbl. Currently, Brent crude futures trade around $79 as of 0900 ET.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 15:55

US Vigilant Against Possible Domestic Attacks Amid Iran War: Hegseth

US Vigilant Against Possible Domestic Attacks Amid Iran War: Hegseth

Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times,

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says the Trump administration is monitoring for any sleeper cell activity in the United States.

Hegseth’s March 2 comments came after questions about a possible attack on the homeland in response to the strikes on Iran.

“We’re ready for that,” the secretary told reporters at the Pentagon.

“We’ve seen these types of folks before, and the American people can rest assured that we’re vigilant.”

Hegseth was also questioned about the March 1 shooting that took place in Austin, Texas, that resulted in multiple casualties.

According to reports from Austin Police, an armed man opened fire outside a bar, killing two and wounding 14 others.

FBI official Alex Doran told reporters that the shooter’s motivation had not been established. Evidence found on the individual and in his vehicle, however, suggests a “potential nexus to terrorism,” but “it’s still too early to make a determination,” he said.

When questioned about the attack over the weekend, Hegseth said that the event “does not change [Operation Epic Fury] at all.”

The operation in Iran is not slowing down, with Pentagon officials saying that additional U.S. forces will continue to flow into the Middle East.

The strikes on Iran have been termed “major combat operations,” and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine says hundreds of land and sea missions have been launched in Operation Epic Fury.

Caine offered a briefing alongside Hegseth, saying the U.S. military’s mission is to “protect and defend ourselves, and together with our regional partners, prevent Iran from the ability to project power outside of its borders.”

Hegseth and Caine emphasized the preparation that went into the recent military strike, saying the operation in Iran was the result of months, even years, of planning.

However, according to the general, the mission is not yet complete.

“We expect to take additional losses, and as always, we will work to minimize U.S. losses,” Caine added.

“The effort continues to scale,” Caine said, going on to describe the equipment used and extended efforts to take out Iranian weapons systems.

“I am proud today, as I am every day, to stand as a member of America’s Joint Force. There is no mission too complex, no distance too great, and no adversary too determined for the men and women who wear our nation’s uniform.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 15:40

NYC Pakistan-Owned Hotel Took $146M For Illegals But Owes $13M In Taxes

NYC Pakistan-Owned Hotel Took $146M For Illegals But Owes $13M In Taxes

Authored by Luis Cornelio via HeadlineUSA,

The Pakistani government owes New York City taxpayers millions in unpaid taxes despite making nearly $150 million through the Roosevelt Hotel by housing illegal aliens. 

The Roosevelt Hotel, owned by Pakistani International Airlines, a quasi-state entity, has $13.6 million in overdue property taxes and nearly $1 million in unpaid water bills, according to the New York Post. 

The hotel became a hub for illegal aliens after then-New York City Mayor Eric Adams entered contracts allowing hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens to live on the premises. 

According to the Post, the Roosevelt Hotel processed more than 173,000 of the 232,000 illegal aliens in the city.  

Taxpayers paid a total of $146.6 million, or $202 per room each night, for roughly 2,600 illegal aliens each night from May 2023 through June 2025. 

Among those staying at the formerly luxury hotel was Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan gang member serving a life sentence without parole for the murder of nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia. 

The unpaid property taxes stem from a payment agreement with the city’s Department of Finance in September 2023, which required the hotel to pay $573,361 on Jan. 2. But as noted by the Post, that half-a-million-dollar bill again went unpaid, as did the $3.9 million half-year installment. 

But New Yorkers expecting those bills to be paid could be out of luck. 

The hotel recently entered a deal with the federal government to redevelop the landmark property, which could allow the Pakistani government to avoid future taxes. 

According to the Post, the arrangement might trigger a federal tax exemption, as the U.S. Department of State often asks city governments to grant exemptions when foreign governments purchase U.S. properties. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Finance said the agency has not “received” such a request but warned that prior charges “must still be paid.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 15:00

Only The 38th Largest Oil Spike Since 1990

Only The 38th Largest Oil Spike Since 1990

Today’s CoTD from DB's Jim Reid shows the daily price of oil back to 1990. When he published the report, oil (+8.4%) was tracking to be the 38th biggest daily gain over this 36-year period. The graph annotates the clusters where we have seen larger moves.

So even though it’s a big move, to get into the top 20, 10 and 5 it would need to be up +9.6%, +13.6% and +13.9% respectively.

There were huge moves around the GFC and Covid-19 turmoil, whilst the Gulf War in 1990-91 also saw several double-digit gains.

Incidentally, since Jim published his chart of the day, oil has sold off more, and at last check it was up just 5.7% on the day, erasing its kneejerk spike by more than half.

Going forward, Reid says that much will depend on the Strait of Hormuz.

It seems it’s not officially closed but passage through it would be hazardous at the moment with self-imposed restrictions from virtually all that normally travel through it.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 14:20

AI 'Vibe Coding' Could Put Ethereum Roadmap Ahead Of Schedule: Vitalik Buterin

AI 'Vibe Coding' Could Put Ethereum Roadmap Ahead Of Schedule: Vitalik Buterin

Authored by Martin Young via CoinTelegraph.com,

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says an experiment that used artificial intelligence to prototype the blockchain’s roadmap out to 2030 in just a few weeks could have lessons for developers. 

“This is quite an impressive experiment. Vibe-coding the entire 2030 roadmap within weeks,” Buterin posted to X on Saturday after a developer made a bet with Buterin in February that one person could use AI to code a reference implementation of the blockchain’s roadmap.

Buterin added that AI is “massively accelerating coding” and that people “should be open to the possibility that the Ethereum roadmap will finish much faster than people expect, at a much higher standard of security than people expect.”

Vibe coding is where AI creates the code for an application, allowing developers to quickly create software. The practice has become more popular as AI models have improved at coding; however, some warn that AI-generated code can be insecure.

ETH2030 architecture stack. Source: YQ

Buterin says AI code would have “critical bugs”

Buterin said that there were “massive caveats” to using AI, as the speed at which the code was written means it “almost certainly has lots of critical bugs, and probably in some cases ‘stub’ versions of a thing where the AI did not even try making the full version.”

“But six months ago, even this was far outside the realm of possibility, and what matters is where the trend is going,” he added.

Buterin cautioned that, instead of focusing on speed, more emphasis should be placed on security. 

“The right way to use it is to take half the gains from AI in speed, and half the gains in security: generate more test-cases, formally verify everything, make more multi-implementations of things.”

He said that he was personally excited about the possibility that bug-free code, “long considered an idealistic delusion,” will finally become first possible and “then a basic expectation.”

Buterin has been active commenting on the recently released roadmap from the Ethereum Foundation, “Strawmap,” which outlines all upgrades planned for the next four years. 

He has previously proposed plans to make Ethereum quantum-resistant and on Sunday said that account abstraction, or smart accounts, would “happen within a year.” 

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 14:00

Construction Spending On Data Centers, Factories, Powerplants, And Office Buildings: Boom, Bust, And In Between

Construction Spending On Data Centers, Factories, Powerplants, And Office Buildings: Boom, Bust, And In Between

Authored by Wolf Richter via Wolf Street,

Construction spending on data centers in 2025 exploded by 32% from the prior year, by over 100% in two years, and by 344% from 2020, to $41 billion, according to the Census Bureau on Friday. Spending on construction costs of data centers used to be buried in office construction and was minimal compared to office construction. But more recently, the Census Bureau split out data-center construction spending going back to 2014.

Construction costs of data centers are only a relatively small portion of the immense amounts spent on AI infrastructure, most of which goes into electronic and electrical equipment, from AI servers to power generation equipment. Construction spending on data centers does not include the costs of the servers and racks but does include the cooling systems in the building and other built-in electrical equipment.

It takes years from the decision to build a data center to the data center being actually operational. And the massive amounts of capital expenditures announced by AI-related Corporate America in 2025 and the plans for 2026 haven’t yet shown up in the construction costs.

The amounts of capital expenditures being thrown around for 2026 are fantastical. Five companies alone – Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, and Oracle – have announced plans for $700 billion in capital expenditures for 2026, largely for AI-related projects. And how will they get this cash next year?

So this construction boom is not slowing down, unless tripped up by further the shortages of all kinds, such as power from the grid, power generators when there is no grid power, electrical equipment, electricians, specialized labor, etc.

Inflation for construction costs for nonresidential buildings jumped by 1.1% in January from December, according to the Producer Price Index (PPI) for nonresidential construction, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday (it was hot all around). Year-over-year, the nonresidential construction PPI was up by 2.8%, almost all of which occurred over the past four months.

From January 2021 through December 2022, over those two years, prices had exploded by 34%. From the beginning of 2023 to mid-2025, prices flattened out. But they’re now taking off again.

Over the years 2021-2025, the PPI for nonresidential construction rose by 41%. With spending on data center construction up by 344% over the same period, the red-hot construction spending boom is not a result of inflation – but of the AI investment mania.

Construction spending on manufacturing plants has soared coming out of the pandemic. In 2025, at $220 billion, it was up by 192% from 2020.

This $220 billion in 2025 is over five times the amount spent on data centers ($41 billion).

The production equipment in the plant, such as the industrial robots, is not part of the construction costs. And they’re much more costly than the building itself.

Though still running at a red-hot pace, construction spending on factories has backed off from the spike in 2024, possibly as construction resources have been pulled away by the boom in data center construction, and amid reports of bottlenecks, shortages of skilled labor, and ICE hauling off workers from construction sites.

After decades of globalization, there is now a widespread rethink underway about production in the US.

These factories will all be highly automated to where manual labor is only a relatively small part of the product costs. Every year, year after year, decade after decade, automation improves, and companies try to cut their labor costs by expanding automation.

Within factory construction, spending on factories for computers, electronic, and electrical equipment exploded by 1,300% since 2020, from $9 billion in 2020 to $104 billion in 2025. This includes semiconductor plants and plants that build electrical equipment for the AI infrastructure boom.

Powerplant construction is a highly regulated process in terms of permitting and approvals, and it takes years from the decision to build a power plant to having a functional power plant hooked to the grid.

In 2025, a record $158 billion was spent on building power plants, up by 34% from 2020.

Electricity prices have soared by 41% over the past five years as demand for electricity has surged, after being roughly flat for 14 years. This increase in demand was largely driven by the new data centers.

But utilities and power generators are leery of spending billions of dollars on generation and distribution capacity for data centers that might never work out after the AI investment mania fizzles, which would turn these investments into stranded assets.

This leeriness is fed by the many hedge funds with ag land that want a utility to commit billions of dollars to run a high-voltage powerline to it, and possibly build a power plant to supply it with power, so that the hedge fund can then sell the ag land at a huge profit as data-center ready to some hyperscaler. If that deal doesn’t happen, the utility ends up with an expensive stranded asset.

Office building construction has taken a massive hit after it became clear that office landlords were getting into serious trouble as demand for office space collapsed during the pandemic. Countless landlords defaulted on their office mortgages, and numerous buildings were seized by lenders and sold in foreclosure sales for cents on the dollar. The going rate for office building transactions is now at discounts of 30% to 70% from pre-pandemic prices. The delinquency rate for office CMBS spiked to record 12.3% in January. And there are efforts underway in expensive markets to convert office towers into residential towers, while smaller office buildings get torn down and replaced with housing. Office CRE has been in a depression since 2022.

In a way, it seems surprising that anyone would still spend good money on office buildings, but it’s the old office towers that are in trouble, while the latest and greatest office towers see more demand from the flight to quality that high vacancy rates made possible.

So spending on office construction (not including data centers) dropped further in 2025, to $49 billion, the lowest since 2015, and down by 32% from the peak in 2020.

Some of this spending is for buildings that were planned years ago and that are being completed now. For example, JP Morgan’s $3-billion tower at 270 Park Avenue in Manhattan was announced in 2018, was formally topped off in November 2023, and had its grand opening in October 2025.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 13:20

SaaS: Is There Opportunity In The Destruction?

SaaS: Is There Opportunity In The Destruction?

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

A specter is haunting Wall Street - the specter of the “SaaSpocalypse.” Since the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) peaked on September 19, 2025, it has fallen roughly 30%. For context, the broad technology indexes like XLK and QQQ are essentially flat over the same period, and the semiconductor ETF (SMH) is up 30%. Between mid-January and mid-February 2026 alone, approximately one trillion dollars was wiped from the collective value of software stocks, with the S&P North American Software Index posting its worst monthly decline since the 2008 financial crisis.

The catalyst was a series of AI product launches, most notably Anthropic’s Claude Cowork tool and OpenAI’s enterprise agent, Frontier, demonstrating that AI agents can now handle complex knowledge work autonomously. The market’s interpretation was simple. If AI agents can replicate what enterprise software does, then enterprise software is finished. That is the narrative that has taken hold in recent weeks. The consequence has been brutal. Workday is down 35% year-to-date. Adobe has shed 26%. Salesforce, 25%. Atlassian plunged 35% in a single week. Even Microsoft, the ultimate blue chip, fell by more than 10%.

The thesis is straightforward enough. Generative AI can now write code, automate workflows, and rapidly and cheaply create customized applications. Therefore, if enterprises can build their own “disposable software,” micro-apps tailored to specific workflows, instead of paying bloated subscription fees, then the traditional per-seat SaaS pricing model is dead. Potentially worse is that AI lowers barriers to entry, enabling more competitors to quickly replicate existing software. Such would compress margins and weaken the moats that once protected large software firms.

It is a compelling narrative. The question investors must answer is whether it is true.

Will AI Actually Kill Software Stocks? Not So Fast

Like most market narratives, the SaaSpocalypse contains some truth, a great deal of speculation, and several outright falsehoods. The most important rebuttal is that the value of enterprise software has never resided solely in its code. Enterprise software encodes institutional architecture. That architecture is the deep domain knowledge, compliance frameworks, workflow logic, and years of organizational customization that companies depend on to function. Think about it this way. If you are a medium to large enterprise dependent on data to service customers, maintain workflows, and fulfill orders, are you going to trust something that AI created that is potentially unreliable or error-ridden? Or, are you more likely to rely on software with deep local context, reliable outputs, and that has been rigorously tested and debugged over years of application use?

“Add deep workflow embedding to the mix and the picture becomes clearer still. When a SaaS platform is the system of record inside core banking, hospital EHRs, or government case management, replacement isn’t a technical decision, it’s an organisational trauma. Staff retraining, data migration, permission re-architecture, and regulatory re-certification make a rip-and-replace approach impractical, even when a cheaper AI-built alternative exists on paper.” – LiveWire

Furthermore, the underlying data does not support the skepticism either. Gartner’s February 2026 forecast projects worldwide software spending will grow 14.7% in 2026 to more than $1.4 trillion, accelerating from 11.5% growth in 2025. That represents roughly $180 billion in net new software spending in a single year. Global SaaS spending specifically is projected to rise from $318 billion in 2025 to $576 billion by 2029, according to Forrester. The reality is that enterprises are not abandoning software; they are spending more on it. As Mark Gardner recently noted:

“However, this sell-off is analytically lazy. And it’s being driven, at least in part, by the very technology it fears hallucinating on its own research. We believe the difference this time is that investors have the opportunity to look through the noise and identify the SaaS businesses where the structural moats are not just intact, they’re actually widening.

It was also fascinating to listen to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff in CRM’s latest quarterly earnings report. He specifically addressed the panic, invoking the term “SaaSpocalypse” at least 6 times. His point was blunt: this is not Salesforce’s first existential scare, and AI is making their products more valuable, not less. The company introduced a new metric, agentic work units, designed to capture the output-driven value of its AI-enabled platform. More importantly, Gartner’s own analysts note that GenAI features are now ubiquitous across enterprise software and are increasingly costly. In other words, the cost of software is going up precisely because of AI, not in spite of it. There is a meaningful difference between a technology that changes how software works and one that makes software unnecessary.

Survivors and Thrivers: Which SaaS Companies Have the Strongest Moats

If the SaaSpocalypse narrative proves to be more panic than prophecy, the critical task becomes identifying which companies will emerge stronger. Forrester’s research provides a useful framework: horizontal point-solution vendors with low switching costs and weak enterprise integration face genuine existential risk. But vertical- or domain-specific SaaS vendors, those addressing complex industries like healthcare, manufacturing, or financial services, or those controlling unique proprietary data, have a substantially greater chance of survival and even growth.

Furthermore, even before the “SaaSpocalypse” began, the revaluation of these companies was already well underway, and current prices are nowhere near the 2021 froth levels.

Therefore, as investors, we need to think about “separating the wheat from the chaff.” While valuations and fundamentals are important, the key will be finding the companies best positioned in the market. Those companies share several characteristics.

  • First, platform-scale incumbents that serve as systems of record, Salesforce, Microsoft, Oracle, and ServiceNow, possess deep integration into enterprise workflows that cannot easily be replicated by a general-purpose AI agent. These companies are rapidly embedding AI agents alongside their existing deterministic processes, particularly for regulated industries.

  • Second, cybersecurity firms like Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike occupy a category where AI is additive rather than substitutive. As enterprises deploy more AI systems, the attack surface expands.

  • Third, data infrastructure and vertical SaaS companies that sit at the foundation of AI workloads or control proprietary domain data benefit directly from the same trend punishing commodity application vendors.

The table below highlights eight companies across four categories whose reported metrics most closely align with the characteristics that separate durable SaaS businesses from vulnerable ones.

So, where do you start your process?

Investor Playbook: Metrics That Matter and How to Position

For investors, the current dislocation presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

The biggest challenge is overcoming the “fear of loss.” Loss-avoidance is an emotional behavior that impedes our ability to “buy low,” as we fear prices will keep falling indefinitely. However, logic and fundamentals quickly refute that concern. However, it is a “barrier to entry” that keeps investors sidelined when prices decline, even as opportunities increase.

The statistical evidence of overshoot is significant. As Michael Lebowitz noted last week, the price ratio between IGV and XLK has diverged by nearly four standard deviations from historical norms over the past 100 days.

Based on the five-year relationship, either XLK is 10% overpriced, or IGV is 10% underpriced. When statistical relationships stretch this far, mean reversion eventually follows—though we caution that in environments where narratives are this powerful, divergences can persist longer than models suggest.

With this in mind, we suggest that doing your homework rather than listening to narratives is where the opportunity lies. Therefore, the right approach is to be surgical, rather than thematic. Rather than buying the entire beaten-down sector via IGV, which is okay if you only seek “average” returns, we think focusing on individual company fundamentals will yield better results. Therefore, here are a few metrics you can use to separate genuine AI beneficiaries from vulnerable incumbents. These metrics include:

  • Price-To-Earnings Growth (PEG): Measures the current price of the shares relative to their expected growth rate of earnings in the future. PEG ratios of 1 or less are considered to be cheap valuations.

  • Net Revenue Retention (NRR): Measures whether existing customers are spending more over time. Companies maintaining NRR above 120% demonstrate that AI features are expanding wallet share rather than cannibalizing it.

  • Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO): Measures whether forward demand is accelerating or decelerating, cutting through the noise of quarterly revenue.

  • Free cash flow margins: Reveals whether companies can fund their AI transformation internally or must dilute shareholders to compete.

  • AI attach rates: Measures the percentage of customers adopting AI-powered product tiers. It provides a real-time indicator of whether the AI transition is generating revenue or merely generating press releases.

A sustained SaaS recovery, as EBC Financial Group’s analysis notes, will likely require at least two of three conditions:

  • More accommodative financial conditions,

  • Enhanced earnings visibility, and/or

  • A shift in the narrative from viewing AI as a threat to recognizing its monetization potential.

We think the latter two are the most likely.

For now, investors should remain cautiously positioned. Make small bets, manage your risk exposure, and give yourself plenty of time. The recognition of value often takes longer than logic would suggest, particularly when negative momentum is strong.

The SaaSpocalypse makes for dramatic headlines, but the idea that AI agents will simply devour enterprise software whole ignores both the data and the institutional complexity of the businesses being disrupted. The real risk for investors is not that they are too slow to sell their SaaS holdings. It is that they eventually get stampeded by market panic into undervaluing companies whose competitive positions are, in many cases, strengthening.

Discipline, not panic, is the appropriate response.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 12:40

What's Igniting Today's U.S. Antimony Spike? Potential Catalysts

What's Igniting Today's U.S. Antimony Spike? Potential Catalysts

United States Antimony Corp. shares are surging in the early U.S. cash session as geopolitical risk around U.S.-China relations is set to deteriorate, with Beijing's condemnation of the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran raising the likelihood that President Trump's upcoming trip to Beijing could be a bust.

The deterioration in Sino-U.S. relations was evident overnight, with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi calling for an immediate ceasefire in Trump's Operation Epic Fury against Iran, which risks wider regional conflict.

Wang told Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on a phone call that the "blatant killing of a sovereign leader" and the incitement of regime change were "unacceptable." This phone call was based on reporting from China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

The killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro have created growing uncertainty around President Trump's three-day trip to China later this month.

"I worry the U.S. side might use Iran, if it's going poorly, to delay the trip," a foreign business executive tracking meeting preparations told CNBC.

The executive added, "I think the risk [of the trip falling apart] is on the U.S. side more than the Chinese side."

The likely deterioration in Sino-U.S. relations increases the risk of a new round of Chinese restrictions on critical-mineral and rare-earth exports targeting the U.S.

Let's not forget that Trump has effectively shuttered cheap oil flows from Venezuela and Iran to China (read here). Beijing is infuriated.

Attention has shifted to UAMY's strategic value as North America's only operator of antimony smelting capacity. This creates a unique position for the company if imports from Asia are curbed.  

Shares are up more than 13% in the U.S. cash session.

Another potential catalyst (market-based): 

Related:

Beyond the risk of rare earth metals becoming a major focal point between Beijing and Washington (again), UAMY may also be rising, as antimony is a critical rare earth used in military production, especially in ammunition and other defense-related materials, as the sheer amount of air-delivered munitions used by U.S. and Israeli forces only suggests weapons production in the U.S. will have to ramp.

Read the report here. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 12:20

US Government Seizes Over $580 Million In Crypto Linked To Southeast Asian Scams

US Government Seizes Over $580 Million In Crypto Linked To Southeast Asian Scams

Authored by Micah Zimmerman via Bitcoin Magazine,

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said federal authorities have frozen and seized more than $580 million in cryptocurrency tied to Southeast Asian scam networks, marking a major escalation in the government’s campaign against cross-border crypto fraud.

The funds were restrained through the Justice Department’s Scam Center Strike Force, a task force formed in November to target cryptocurrency investment and confidence schemes linked to Chinese transnational criminal organizations. 

Officials said the groups use social media platforms and text messaging to target U.S. victims and siphon billions of dollars each year. Recent estimates place annual losses to Americans near $10 billion.

“In only three months, we have made significant progress, freezing, seizing, and forfeiting cryptocurrency worth more than $578 million from these criminals,” Pirro said in a statement. She said her office will seek forfeiture through the courts and aims to return funds to victims.

Authorities describe the schemes as “pig butchering” operations, in which fraudsters build relationships with victims before steering them into fraudulent crypto investments. Victims are persuaded to purchase legitimate digital assets and then transfer them to counterfeit trading platforms controlled by the scam networks.

The operations often run out of secured compounds in parts of Southeast Asia, including Burma, Cambodia, and Laos. U.S. officials said some workers inside the compounds are trafficking victims who are forced to carry out scams under threat of violence. In certain areas, revenue generated from scam activity accounts for a large share of local economic output.

The Strike Force is focused on identifying senior figures within the criminal networks, including organizers and money launderers who move proceeds through blockchain transactions and shell accounts. Investigators are tracing funds across exchanges and wallets to disrupt cash-out points and freeze assets before they are dispersed.

The initiative brings together the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and several Justice Department divisions, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit. U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Rhode Island and the Western District of Washington are also participating.

The Justice Department said the Strike Force will continue targeting infrastructure, financial channels, and leadership structures tied to the fraud networks.

Crypto crime hit $154 Billion last year

Data from Chainalysis shows illicit crypto addresses received at least $154 billion in 2025, a 162% year-over-year increase, with sanctioned entities driving much of the surge. Nation-states including Russia, Iran, and North Korea played an outsized role, leveraging blockchain infrastructure for sanctions evasion, money laundering, and large-scale thefts.

Stablecoins accounted for 84% of illicit transaction volume, the report said. 

The report also highlights the expansion of Chinese money laundering networks offering “laundering-as-a-service” and other full-stack illicit infrastructure. Although illicit activity still represents less than 1% of total crypto volume, the scale and geopolitical dimension of the activity pose rising risks for regulators, law enforcement, and national security.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 12:00

Rep. Ted Lieu Spreads Bizarre Conspiracy In Congressional Hearing

Rep. Ted Lieu Spreads Bizarre Conspiracy In Congressional Hearing

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Years ago, Rep. Ted Lieu (D., Cal.) demanded that “Facebook should do more internally to regulate fake news and point out fake news.”

This week, he finally made his case for such private censorship. Lieu went full conspiracy theorist during a congressional hearing this week, leaving many gobsmacked. Lieu’s rave about the alleged murder of a child made the National Inquirer look like the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

In an age of rage, Lieu knows that you must go louder and bigger to be heard above the mob. Facts are no passé and Lieu is known for sensational claims like claiming that “Trump is broke.”

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Epstein files, Lieu won the race to the bottom with his colleagues in making outrageous, unsupported claims. It was a moment reminiscent of the recent face-planting by Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Cal.) in disclosing the names of powerful men shielded by the Administration in the scandal. (Four had no connection to Epstein).

He suggested that Trump not only abused a minor, but that she was later bumped off to keep her from speaking. What Lieu does not inform the public is that his blockbuster disclosure was based on the unverified account of an anonymous man, who worked as a limo driver in 1995.

The bizarre account claimed the driver picked up Trump and overheard him on the phone with someone called “Jeffrey” and made references to “abusing some girl.” The driver said that he wanted to pull over and “hurt him”.

Driver Dan Ferree has self-identified as the source referenced by Lieu.

Ferree reportedly has posted hundreds of politically anti-Trump and extreme memes to his Facebook account, including a recent image of Trump in what appears to be a casket. He has also reportedly claimed that he was stalked by Trump associates.

In a defamation case, Ferree would be difficult to pass off as a credible source for a publication. The use of such sources is a familiar tactic in Washington. During the Chandra Levy scandal, politicians and pundits piled on Rep. Gary Condit (D., Cal.) as the presumptive murderer of the congressional intern. The source cited by Vanity Fair’s Dominick Dunne turned out to be a “horse whisperer” in Dubai who said that he had heard Condit arranged for her murder. (Condit was later cleared in the case).

Ferree is only marginally better than a horse whisperer as a source of Lieu. Ferree told the FBI that he met a young girl who told him she had been raped by Trump and Epstein at a “fancy hotel.” He claimed that the young girl was later found with her head “blown off.” He said that, while the officers at the scene thought it was murder, the coroner later ruled it a suicide. There was no proof of such a case.

It appears that Lieu knew or suspected that the source of the allegation was unhinged or unreliable because he later re-posted only two of the three pages of the statement to the FBI. The third page included other bizarre claims about the Oklahoma City Bombing and a drunk Hillary Clinton.

Lieu decided it was best to withhold the third page and the details of a raving, drunken Hillary Clinton and an effort to frame an innocent man for the Oklahoma bombing. It seems that he was not aggrieved that the FBI did not investigate that part of Ferree’s allegations.

Nevertheless, at an earlier event, Lieu declared:

“Why are Republicans so interested in Bill and Hillary Clinton? It’s because they’re trying to distract from the fact that Donald Trump is in the Epstein files thousands and thousands of times. In those files, there’s highly disturbing allegations of Donald Trump raping children, of Donald Trump threatening to kill children.”

What is striking is how so many politicians supporting the crackdown on disinformation on the right are purveyors of such disinformation. From the Russian conspiracy hoax to the flogging of migrants by Border agents, members and the media have regularly spread false accounts with impunity. It is not considered disinformation if it appears on BlueSky or MS NOW.

The intentional omission of the third page of the allegation puts this disinformation effort in a particularly menacing light. This was not some hair-triggered posting that failed to research the underlying story. This was a knowing effort to later re-post the sensational allegation while removing a third of the document that undermined the credibility of the source.

Indeed, while questioning why the FBI (including during the Biden Administration) failed to pursue this allegation, Lieu left out the part indicating that the source was utterly unreliable.

As an impeachment manager, Lieu condemned Trump over his “exhortations [and] the President’s sustained disinformation. We’ve seen a president stoking fears amidst these crises.” He demanded that Trump be removed from office based on that allegation of disinformation and inflammatory rhetoric.

Lieu knew that in our post-truth political environment, it really does not matter if an allegation is untrue. He is feeding a rage addiction among voters who ache for a steady stream of such outrageous claims. He is part of a trend that I have called the “new Jacobins” in Rage and the Republic, establishment figures who are pandering to the mob in seeking to ride the wave of rage back into power.

It was not long ago that Democrats and the media tore into members suggesting that the Clintons were involved in the suicide of key aide Vince Foster. The difference is that there was an actual body in that base. Lieu shows little concern over spreading a conspiracy theory based on an unestablished death raised by a driver who coupled his allegations with other wild claims about Hillary Clinton and the Oklahoma bombing.

It has long been accepted that “politics ain’t beanbag,” but Lieu shows that it is now simply bonkers.

Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the author of the New York Times bestselling “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 11:20

European Gas Prices Soar 50% After Qatar Shuts World's Largest LNG Export Plant

European Gas Prices Soar 50% After Qatar Shuts World's Largest LNG Export Plant

In its scenario analysis of how the Iran war could impact energy markets, Goldman laid out a section dedicated to nat gas, and specifically LNG, which like oil, is one of the commodities that is especially reliant on prompt passage through he Straits of Hormuz to reach its destination. 

Specifically, unlike oil which Goldman calculated had already priced in substantial war risk premium, "European gas (TTF) and spot LNG (JKM) prices have embedded little-to-no risk premium until this past Friday" and so, the bank saw "significant upside risk to prices from a potential sustained disruption of LNG supply through the Strait of Hormuz. In a scenario where flows halt for one month, we think it is likely that TTF and JKM could approach 74 EUR/MWh ($25/mmBtu) -- 130% above current levels -- a threshold that triggered large natural gas demand responses during the 2022 European energy crisis."

Below we excerpt the key sections from the must read report (especially to European energy traders as we will discuss in a bit).

Q10. How much risk premium has been embedded in European gas prices?

Differently from oil, we believe that until this past Friday, European natural gas prices had embedded little-to-no risk premium associated with Iran-related geopolitical risks. Specifically, TTF has been pricing in the bottom half of our estimated hard-coal-to-gas (C2G) switching range for the past month, modestly below our 36 EUR/MWh March 2026 TTF forecast (Exhibit 11). Once accounting for the recent sell off in carbon emission prices to below the 80 EUR/t embedded in our TTF price forecast, worth 2.0-2.5 EUR/MWh in gas-equivalent terms, prompt gas prices are still largely in line with our view that TTF needs to be in this C2G switching range to help manage NW European gas storage to above 80% full by end-Oct26, given that current inventory levels remain well below average. That remains our view, and we maintain our 34 EUR/MWh balance-of-the-year TTF price forecast.

Q11. What are the risks to global gas prices from this weekend’s developments in the Middle East?

We see significant upside risk to European gas and global LNG prices. The most significant impact to global gas markets would come from a potential disruption of the approximately 80 mtpa (302 mcm/d or 11 Bcf/d, 19% of global LNG supply) of LNG that typically flow through the Strait of Hormuz (Exhibit 2), which could potentially arise from an escalation of the ongoing conflict. 

Specifically, in a scenario where LNG flows through the Strait are fully halted for one month, we estimate a resulting tightening of NW European gas storage equivalent to 8% of capacity. Our fuel switching models suggest that European gas prices would need to maximize both switching into hard coal and into oil products by pricing at or above distillate fuel price levels for over three and a half months to offset it. At current oil prices this would imply TTF essentially doubling to 62 EUR/MWh[10] ($21/mmBtu). Given that oil prices would also likely rally in this scenario, it is likely that TTF could approach the 74 EUR/MWh ($25/mmBtu) threshold that triggered large natural gas demand responses during the 2022 European energy crisis.

A hypothetical longer disruption of natural gas supply transit through the Strait of Hormuz lasting more than two months would likely lift European natural gas prices above 100 EUR/MWh ($35/mmBtu) to trigger more significant global gas demand destruction given the increased difficulty for the market to fully offset such a tightening shock ahead of the next winter.

See "Goldman's Commodity Desk Lays Out The Oil Price Scenarios From Iran War" for more details).

Well, for once Goldman's commodity research desk was spot on... and very quickly at that, because just one day later, TTF shot up as much as 50%, sparking chaos across Europe's energy markets in a deja vu moment of the start of the Ukraine war 4 years ago. Dutch front-month futures, Europe’s gas benchmark, traded 46% higher at €46.77 a megawatt-hour by 2:31 p.m. in Amsterdam. That’s the highest level since February 2025.

Qatar’s Defense Ministry said said earlier that two drones launched from Iran had struck facilities in the country, although there were no casualties.

The catalyst behind today's sharp move is not the full closure of Hormuz, which Iran still claims is passable despite occasional ships in its vicinity randomly catching fire, but because early on Monday, Qatar Energy shut down liquefied natural gas production at the world’s largest export facility after it was targeted in an Iranian drone attack.

QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan plant covers about a fifth of global LNG supply and the unprecedented halt now threatens energy security worldwide. 

In kneejerk response, European benchmark gas futures jumped the most since the energy crisis in 2022, while tankers had already largely stopped transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global fuel shipments. Needless to say, one direct hit on an LNG ship and the fireworks would be historic. 

“The threat to security of supply is here and now,” said Simone Tagliapietra, an analyst at Bruegel. “The extent of it will depend on the duration of the shutdown, but we are now into a new scenario.”

The good news, if only for the US, is that as Goldman notes, there is "limited upside risk to US natural gas prices."

Bloomberg notes that while Asian countries buy most of the LNG shipped from the Middle East, a disruption will increase competition for alternative supplies pushing up prices worldwide, including in Europe.

European gas prices are also rallying as storage inventories are unusually low, and the region needs to import large volumes of LNG this summer to refill them ahead of next winter. While the intraday surge is the biggest since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine four years ago, benchmark prices are only at a one-year high because regional supplies haven’t been directly disrupted and traders are still assessing how long the conflict will last.

As we discussed yesterday, the key question for traders is how long the disruption will last: the longer, the higher prices will rise.  Even if the US boosts LNG production, it’s unlikely to be enough to offset supply from Qatar in the near-term. QatarEnergy is scheduled to start its Golden Pass expansion project in the US in the coming weeks but the facility won’t be at full capacity until next year. 

Gas trade disruptions in the Middle East could also eventually raise spot LNG demand from Turkey, according to BloombergNEF, as it imports pipeline fuel from Iran. 

Late on Sunday, Trump said the bombing campaign against Iran could last for weeks; The conflict continues to deepen, with blasts heard across Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as states intercepted Iranian missiles launched in response to US-Israeli strikes.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 11:02

Target Cuts Synthetic Colors From Beloved Breakfast Food

Target Cuts Synthetic Colors From Beloved Breakfast Food

Authored by Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell via The Daily Signal,

The Make America Healthy Again movement has made its mark on one of America’s largest retailers.

Dr. Marty Makary, FDA commissioner. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Target announced Friday that every cereal it sells, including national brands, must exclude synthetic colors by the end of May.

Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon told The Daily Signal the move will “support healthier options for American families.”

“We’re encouraged to see companies listening to parents and taking voluntary steps to clean up ingredients in the foods they sell,” Nixon said. “Secretary Kennedy has been clear that families deserve transparency and the ability to make informed choices about what they’re feeding their children.”

Target is one of the first national retailers to remove synthetic colors across an entire grocery category. Food companies General Mills and Kraft Heinz have agreed to remove artificial colors from products in the United States by 2027, but Target has instituted a faster timeline.

“It’s great to see Target take the lead on the MAHA front with food dyes,” said Jay Richards, at the Heritage Foundation.

“This is a clear response to market signals from not only federal action but to consumers, who are waking up to the weird stuff in so much of our food. Let’s hope Target’s competitors get the message as well.”

This comes after the Food and Drug Administration came under fire for reportedly retreating from plans to ban artificial food dyes, a key goal of the MAHA movement.

The FDA announced in early February that food companies would be able to label their products as containing “no artificial colors” as long as they don’t use petroleum-based dyes.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary pushed back on the report as “amusing fake news.”

“The FDA is moving full steam ahead,” he said.(se

In an interview with The Daily Signal on Dec. 9, Makary said he has seen a “tremendous amount of support in the food industry for our action to call for the removal of all nine petroleum-based food dyes from the U.S. food supply.”

He said he’s saying an awareness about the dangers of food dyes that America has not seen before.

“We again have to listen to parents; we have to listen to the American people,” he said.

“And when they say that they have seen their kids engage in aggressive behavior or attention deficit disorder behavior, they remove all petroleum-based food dyes completely from that food supply and the kids’ behavior improves or changes, and then a year down the road they’re reintroduced to the petroleum-based food dyes and the behavior regresses—those are data points.”

“We’ve got a randomized controlled trial of artificial petroleum-based dyes, and it did not—it was not favorable,” Makary continued.

“It suggested that it’s involved in behavioral disorders in children, specifically ADHD. So we want to create awareness.”

The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/02/2026 - 10:30

Pages