The Debt Ceiling Is Lifted.... Will The Degenerate Economy Slow?

Good morning everyone.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

I have a busy week here in Phoenix. This weekend I head to Nashville to speak at my friend Ben Hunt’s conference at Vanderbilt. I will be in NYC again the following week.

Onward…

It sounds like the government has come to an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Yay. My guess is this is a ‘sell the news’ event at some point this week, but I have no trade on.

As part of the debt ceiling deal, the ‘yoots’ will have to start paying back their student debt. My friend Ben says this:

The ‘degenerate economy’ has been in full swing since COVID. Checks in the mail, weekly options on Robinhood, meme stocks, work from home, parlays on Draftkings may all slow down to this ‘functional’ tax as Ben calls it.

Time will tell if this slows the ‘degenerate economy'‘. I doubt it.

I thought iPhones might kill casinos but Vegas is having a banner year. Blackjack players lost nearly $1 billion to casinos in Vegas last year --the second-highest loss on record after 2007 --Nevada Gaming Control Board…

According to @morganhousel in The Psychology of Money

“Americans spend more on lottery tickets than movies, video games, music, sporting events and books combined. And who buys them? Mostly poor people.”

I am not endorsing this part of the economy, just pointing it out.

Have a great Tuesday.