Maria Bartiromo had a very big weekend. The former star of CNBC Financial news is now the host of Mornings with Maria on Fox Business News and Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo on Fox News. On Sunday she had Michael Flynn’s lead attorney Sidney Powell, state that former President Barack Obama was involved in the plot by the Justice Department and FBI to frame Flynn. Then later on the show, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) told Maria that there was no doubt that Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pressured the World Health Organization (WHO) to downplay the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China.
“There’s no question Xi Jinping and senior officials in the Chinese Communist Party were pressuring the WHO all the way back to December to undersell the risk of this virus,” Cotton said. “They knew in China, early on, probably as early as the early days of December, that this virus was both highly contagious among humans and it was very deadly for certain people.”
“They wanted to make sure – they wanted to make sure that this – in addition to saving face, that, once they realized this virus was going to cripple their own economy, that it did not remain limited to China,” Cotton continued. “So, the WHO has some real answers to provide the world about why they bowed to Chinese pressure throughout December and January and turned what could have been a local health emergency in Wuhan into a global pandemic.”
If Cotton is right, the defunding of the W.H.O. by the Trump admistration is not likely to be reversed anytime soon. It also seems that Maria Bartiromo hosts the shows you should be watching.
Do you agree with President Trump pulling U.S. financial support to the W.H.O.? Reply to this email and let us know want you think!
Amazon and Walmart Should Be in Your Portfolios
At a time when the overall economy seems to be sinking, frivolous shopping is one thing that is on the rise. The news is not too surprising since most of us have been on our phones and computers more than ever, due to lock downs. According to MarketWatch, people fortunate enough to have maintained a job and steady income during this time are buying random things like tents for their cats, and gnomes for their gardens.
“Womenswear daily” reports that home exercise equipment purchases have soared, as well as anything to make working from home more comfortable, like quality webcams and comfy chairs.
A Credit Karma study shows that 35% of US adults that were polled say they made impulse purchases to deal with the stress of COVID-19. The study found that millennials are spending a lot on everyday clothing, even though they are not going anywhere.
Economists and Financial Advisors warn that all this frivolous spending could have lasting financial effects. Experts have offered a few tips to avoid making any spending decisions you’ll regret, like setting a strict browsing time so you don’t shop any and every time you’re bored, and waiting 24 hours before following through with any online purchase.
One of the takeaways from this, it that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT), both with diverse product offerings and strong online businesses, should be in every long-term investor’s portfolio.
The Bitcoin Halving
Bitcoin is facing another “halving” and insiders are debating what effect it might have on the cryptocurrency market.
For those of you that don’t know what the halving is, it’s basically a pay cut for bitcoin miners (not really, but sort of). There are so-called “miners” on this network with specialized computing rigs competing to solve complex math problems to validate bitcoin transactions. Whoever wins that race gets rewarded in bitcoin. The halving is when the amount of bitcoins rewarded to those miners is set to get cut in half. This is something that takes place roughly every four years to keep a lid on inflation. The current reward stands at 12.5 bitcoins, or BTC, so that will now be reduced to 6.25 BTC.
The total number of bitcoins that will ever be mined is capped at 21 million. Rewards to bitcoin miners keep halving until they reach zero. Bitcoin bulls say that this scarcity is part of what drives the cryptocurrency’s value and make it a potential “hedge” against currencies that are at risk of devaluation through exsessive printing…like now.
BTC investors will closely watch the reaction of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices to the halving event later in the day. Some believe the event has been mostly priced into markets already, but there are others who think it could boost prices.
The past two halvings led to opposite short-term price movements, according to British bitcoin exchange CoinCorner. Bitcoin climbed 7% one month on from the first halving event in 2012, but slipped 10% a month after the second one in 2016. However, the price rose 944% six months on from the 2012 halving and 38% in the same period in 2016.
Mining has gotten more and more competitive, but these halvings can sometimes thin the herd and lessen that competiton for currently sucessful miners.
Musk and Tesla Could Save Billions by Moving
Elon Musk could save billions of dollars in taxes over time if he moves his company and his home to Nevada or Texas, according to tax accountants. Musk, who is fighting with California and Alameda County over his efforts to reopen the Tesla factory, tweeted threats over the weekend to move the company to Nevada or Texas.
“This is the final straw,” Musk tweeted. “Tesla will move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately.” If Musk moved his primary residence from California, which has the highest income tax rate in the country, he could save hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, in income taxes in the coming years. Texas and Nevada have no income tax.
But accountants to the California wealthy say that Musk would join a growing list of wealthy Californians moving to Nevada and Texas to avoid California’s famously high-income taxes.
Musk’s tax rates have taken on new importance because of his latest compensation program. The package, awarded in 2018, gives him tranches of stock options based on the company hitting certain operating and market-value goals.
According to Tesla’s filings, the package could net him a total of more than $55 billion over time if the company meets a series of targets. The first tranche was triggered last week and is already worth more than $780 million in profits to Musk. Musk will pay income taxes on the profits from stock options when he exercises the options.
California imposes an income tax rates of 13.3% on its highest earners. So if Musk exercised the options while he was a California resident, he would pay $104 million in taxes. If he waits until he moves to Texas or Nevada, he will owe no state income taxes on the sale — effectively saving $104 million. “That’s why you see all these wealthy tech guys moving to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe,” Morris said. “You just have to make sure you don’t go back to California frequently.”
Not to mention his responsibility to shareholders to do exactly what he’s trying to do, which is reopen and start selling cars again.
Lucky Devil Eats
The Lucky Devil Lounge transformed itself into Lucky Devil Eats, which has dancers deliver food, and “Food 2 Go-Go”, a drive-up service where takeout orders come with an in-car experience that includes performances, music and lights under canopies.
After closing in March under stay-at-home orders, owner Shon Boulden decided on 17 March to transform the business. “I was like, ‘OK, well let’s keep the kitchen open,'” he said. “Let’s keep the cooks working at least, and let’s open up the kitchen to food deliveries.”
Almost overnight, Lucky Devil put about a dozen of its employees back to work. They wear masks and gloves and get their temperatures taken each day they’re at work.
“When quarantine shutdowns started happening, I was very anxious about my future and my financial security with my family,” said one dancer, Elle Stranger. “I am the sole caregiver for my small family, but I was lucky. I’ve been really lucky to pivot.”
The operation evolved to include takeout, with dancers entertaining customers as they drive – slowly – through the lounge’s disco-lit car park before getting their food to go. “It feels really, really good to socialize, even from a distance,” Ms Stranger said.
Mr. Bouldon said he wanted to replicate some of the club’s indoor experience without being too lewd.
“There’s no nudity,” Mr Boulden said. “We wanted people to be able to take photos and videos and share this story on their [Instagram] Stories, too, because it’s just going to be a fun thing.”
Lucky Devil is ineligible for federal coronavirus relief because it’s an adult business, he said, but he found a way to keep it going.
“The main service that we’re providing with this food delivery is a little bit of fun, a little bit of hope, and a little bit of just entertainment at our doorstep,” Mr Bouldon said.