Pedro Vargas Martinez

BREAKING: President Trump says the US Navy is lifting its "blockade" of the Strait of Hormuz and he is meeting in the Situation Room to make a "final determination" on the Iran deal.

"Extraordinarily high skilled jobs are being automated by agentic AI," per Citadel's Ken Griffin.

It's official: Canada has unexpectedly entered a technical recession for the first time since the pandemic lockdowns in 2020. Real GDP in Canada fell -0.1% in Q1 2026 following a -1.0% contraction in Q4 2025. This marks two-straight quarters of GDP contraction for the first time in six years. Economists had expected Q1 GDP growth of +1.5%, yet the economy suddenly contracted. The weak GDP data coincides with a weak job market as well, as the Canadian economy is likely to remain under pressure amid ongoing US tariffs. Meanwhile, the household saving rate fell to 3.5%, reaching its lowest level since the Q1 2024 as spending rose faster than incomes. Canada is facing a major economic slowdown.

The Panic of 1907 is the most brazen financial coup in American history: a calculated assault on the nation's monetary system orchestrated by J.P. Morgan himself. J.P. Morgan engineered the entire catastrophe for his own benefit. The collapse of the Knickerbocker Trust Company in October 1907 sent depositors racing to withdraw their money from banks across New York. Morgan had advance knowledge of Knickerbocker's copper speculation losses and chose exactly when to pull the trigger on public confidence. Watch how the dominoes fell. Morgan controlled the flow of information about which banks were "sound" and which weren't. He decided which institutions received emergency loans and which died. When the Trust Company of America faced runs, Morgan theatrically examined their books for hours before announcing they deserved saving. The performance was calculated: create maximum panic, then position yourself as the savior. Charles Barney, Knickerbocker's president, killed himself rather than face the disgrace. Morgan played puppet master while the human cost mounted. The endgame was always a central bank. Morgan had watched European central banks coordinate responses to financial crises and wanted that power centralized in America. He needed public demand for it first. Nothing creates demand for government intervention like a crisis that private actors supposedly can't handle. Conveniently, only Morgan had the resources to stem the panic he had created. He forced the Treasury Secretary to deposit federal funds in his chosen banks. He personally decided which financial institutions lived or died. Congress took the bait perfectly. The Aldrich-Vreeland Act passed in 1908, creating the National Monetary Commission that would design the Federal Reserve System. Morgan's associates staffed the commission. They had their central bank blueprint ready before the panic even ended. The Federal Reserve Act passed in 1913, giving Wall Street exactly what it wanted: socialized losses and privatized gains, with the government's money printer backing their plays.

Trump: "We don't need oil. We don't need the strait. We don't need anything."

Global Central Bank Update: -South Africa hiked rates for the first time in 3 years, 25 bps move up to 7.00%.

🚨Alert: President Trump orders that US Southern Command prepare for drone strikes against Narco terrorist targets across Mexico, including leaders, drug manufacturing facilities and storage, as well as Cartel militia forces, the largest private militia in the world!!

You work extra hours, save your money, and watch the taxman take his cut through income taxes. Fair enough, you think. But then the government comes back for seconds when you try to grow that already-taxed money through investments. Capital gains taxes represent the purest form of economic double-dipping. The money you invest comes from income that already ran through the IRS meat grinder. When you buy Apple stock with your after-tax dollars and sell it three years later for a profit, the government treats that gain like fresh income ripe for taxation. Your profit exists only because you delayed consumption and took on risk with money already taxed once. Think about what actually happens when you invest. You take money that could buy groceries or vacations today and loan it to productive enterprises. Those companies use your capital to build factories, hire workers, and create value. The "gain" you earn reflects the real economic growth your patience and risk-taking helped generate. Taxing that gain punishes the very behavior that drives prosperity: saving and investment over immediate consumption. The absurdity becomes crystal clear when you consider inflation. Say you buy $10,000 worth of stock in 2020 and sell it for $12,000 in 2024. After 20% inflation, your "gain" barely maintains purchasing power. Yet your revenue service will cheerfully tax you on that phantom $2,000 profit. You actually lost money in real terms, but you still owe capital gains tax. Capital gains taxes are legalized theft that destroys the incentive structure capitalism depends on. Every dollar extracted through capital gains taxes represents resources diverted from productive investment into government consumption. The economy grows when people save and invest; it stagnates when politicians punish thrift and reward spending. Not to mention that if they want to share in the spoils when you invest successfully, they should also absorb their share of the risk when you lose money.

US Economic Growth is slowing...

🇲🇽Gato Negro LNG just cleared its federal environmental permit in Mexico. One step closer to FID on another US gas export route to Asia. ASEA Mexico's energy and environment regulator has granted the permit for the Gato Negro Manzanillo LNG project on Mexico's Pacific coast. Environmental permitting is a critical gating item for FID. It's now done. Why the Pacific coast location matters? Manzanillo loads directly into Pacific shipping lanes shorter routes to Japan, South Korea, and China than Gulf Coast terminals routing around South America or through Panama. As Asian LNG demand recovers and Europe competes for Atlantic supply, a Pacific-facing Mexican terminal becomes a structural advantage. US Haynesville and Permian gas flows south through Mexico, liquefies at the Pacific coast, and loads for Asia bypassing the Atlantic entirely. New Fortress, Sempra, and now Gato Negro are all racing to build this corridor. The environmental permit puts Gato Negro in the race for FID. The Pacific Mexico LNG corridor is now one of the most strategically important new supply routes being built right now. The link for the full analysis is in the comments 👇

Brazilian inflation-linked bonds offer much higher real yields than those of other emerging markets.

This is stunning. Personal savings rate April 2025: 5.5% Personal savings rate April 2026: 2.6% That's a sharp plunge. It underscores how squeezed Americans are right now with higher prices and incomes not keeping up. Maybe you can explain some of this away by Baby Boomers retiring, but not all of it.

"Microsoft, $MSFT, AI chief gives 18 months for all white-collar work to be automated by AI," per FORTUNE.

Achieving more than most administrations do in 8 years. 🇺🇸 12th Cabinet Meeting highlights: 💊Prescription drug prices plummeting 🏠Rents falling 📈Business investment +10.4% in Q1 🌍Strength on world stage 🔍Tens of billions in fraud exposed RESULTS. With more on the way.🔥