YOUGHAL, IRELAND – When we left you on Friday, the excitement was building. Dogecoin was moving up… up… up… for a 14,000% gain so far this year.
Fans expected Tesla CEO Elon Musk – heretofore Dogecoin’s biggest enthusiast – to mention the crypto coin on nationwide TV when he hosted Saturday Night Live, which would take it even higher.
Mr. Musk moves markets. He only has to whisper the name of a stock and it doubles or triples.
In January, a tweet in which he said to “Use Signal” was followed by a 11,700% increase in the price of Signal Advance, a healthcare company he had never heard of. (Elon was referring to a messaging app called Signal.)
In another famous incident, also in January, Elon tweeted “Gamestonk!!” (stonk is a hip, ironic way of referring to stocks). The stock of GameStop went up 157% in after-hours trading.
As for cryptos, Elon can send any of them “to the moon.”
Gone Short
Adding to the dramatic tension, on Saturday, just hours before SNL went on the air, one of Dogecoin’s biggest supporters turned against it. “We’ve gone short,” signaled Barry Silbert. Here’s MarketWatch:
Barry Silbert, a power player in the digital-asset sector, said he’s betting against dogecoin and is urging investors in one of the hottest trades in 2021 to convert their doge holdings into bitcoin.
The missive from Silbert comes as the chief executive of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX and one of dogecoin’s most vocal champions, Elon Musk, is set to guest host NBC’s late night comedy sketch show “Saturday Night Live.”
Remember the old Wall Street advice: Buy the rumor. Sell the news.
Well, when Elon made his SNL appearance, look what happened. From CNBC:
As Elon Musk – the self-proclaimed “Dogefather” – made his “Saturday Night Live” debut, the price of dogecoin fell off a cliff.
The meme-inspired cryptocurrency fell as much as 29.5%, dropping to 49 cents at one point. Musk mentioned dogecoin in his opening monologue and on “Weekend Update,” SNL’s satirical news show. In a Q&A with hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost, Musk called himself the “Dogefather,” said dogecoin was a “hustle,” and howled, “To the moon,” a catchphrase popular among doge enthusiasts intent on driving the value of the cryptocurrency to one dollar.
All in good fun.
Wealth Killers
Meanwhile… the hustle over at the Federal Reserve would be more fun, too, if they weren’t destroying the country.
Yes, as we pointed out last week, the Fed has turned investors – both public and private – into active shooters.
In the private sector, they’re wasting their ammunition firing away at the Doge… NFTs… SPACs… Tesla… MicroStrategy… GameStop… celebrity sneakers, and other attractive nuisances.
And in the public sector, they’re spending trillions on “investments” that are nothing more than boondoggles, bamboozles, and bribes.
Together, they’re whacking real investment in real businesses that satisfy real customers and add real wealth to the society.
And here, we offer a single sentence to explain the decline and fall of civilizations: The more time, energy, and resources you spend on things that don’t matter, the less you have available for those that do.
So when the Robinhood traders are chasing after the Doge, they’re not learning electrical engineering, building houses, or investing in companies that add useful products and services.
Likewise, when the feds announce new programs to redirect $4 trillion down their favorite rabbit holes, they’re going to waste a big part of the nation’s wealth.
And if trigger-happy “investors” get word of any slowdown in money-printing… public or private… they’ll go on a rampage.
Nail in the Coffin
Last Tuesday, Janet Yellen told The Atlantic magazine that interest rates may have to go up:
It may be that interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make sure our economy doesn’t overheat.
Within seconds, Janet was back down on the ground as the shooters opened fire. Here’s Business Insider:
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen caused a minor freak-out on Wall Street on Tuesday when she raised the prospect that the Federal Reserve might have to hike interest rates to tame inflation in the wake of a large increase in government spending.
Yet Yellen rapidly rowed back her comments, saying at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO council summit later in the day: “I don’t think there’s going to be an inflationary problem.”
Then, on Friday, came further bad news for the real economy… and good news for the “investors.” The latest jobs report came up… uh oh… 734,000 jobs short. Business Insider again:
The country’s count of nonfarm payrolls grew by 266,000 last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday. The median estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a payroll gain of 1 million. The April jump marks a fourth consecutive month of payroll increases but the smallest since September.
Also, March’s gain was significantly revised downward to 770,000 from 916,000, further eroding the recently bullish outlook toward the labor market’s recovery.
The missing jobs put a “nail in the coffin” for the U.S. dollar, says Wells Fargo’s Erik Nelson. It shows the recovery is failing… and guarantees more money-printing.
But at least Elon and his merry pranksters are enjoying the dollar’s wake. This morning comes news that he’ll fund his mission to the moon with – what else? – Dogecoin!
Onward Elon! Onward stonks! Onward cryptos!
To the moooonn!!
Regards,
 |
Bill
Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [email protected].