Gary Mersham

🚨 BREAKING: MAJOR SIGNAL FROM INSIDE IRAN A political declaration has just emerged from Arab tribes in Iran’s Khuzestan province — the country’s most important oil-producing region. In the statement they make several striking points: • They reject the Islamic Republic and call for the complete removal of the regime • They demand a secular democratic government based on human rights • They stress that Khuzestan is an inseparable part of Iran • They call for unity among all Iranian ethnic groups including Kurds, Azeris and Baluch • They express support for Reza Pahlavi as a unifying national figure for a future transition Khuzestan is not just another province. It is the heart of Iran’s oil industry and one of the most strategically important regions in the country. When voices from inside that region begin calling openly for a democratic future beyond the Islamic Republic, it signals something much bigger: The cracks inside the regime’s foundations may be widening.

This is the EV flippening. Electric vehicles now fill up roughly as fast as gas. The new BYD chargers add 400km of range in just five minutes.

Wow, everything really is downstream of housing affordability. This paper (long but very interesting, recommended reading) makes a compelling case that our housing crisis helps explain the rise of the degen economy and the shape of Gen Z culture. What happens when young people stop believing they’ll ever own a home? They save less, consume more, work less, and take bigger risks. Their rate of consumption jumps 5-7%, work effort drops 1.5-2.5%, and risk-taking spikes 6-10%. People born in the 1990s will retire with home ownership rates ~10 points lower than their parents. Many of them mentally check out of ever owning housing... and those that do end up with ~30% less wealth at retirement. When the dream of home-ownership dies, people spend more and look for quick ways to make money... that mechanism explains so much of the last decade: meme stocks, altcoins, levered bitcoin treasury plays, SPACs- anything with lottery-like upside becomes more appealing once the safe, slow path of home equity disappears. Expectations drive behavior, and when home ownership stops feeling attainable, people live differently... and those shifts ripple across the whole economy. so... lets build more housing so we can restore the wealth ladder for the next generation!