Under the Radar

Welcome to This Week’s Leyendecker View

Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous or honest.
– Maya Angelou

THINKING OUT LOUD

Under the Radar

In recent weeks, I’ve learned of a couple of really world changing companies.

One is Montana Technologies, a company I’ve been fortunate enough to have as a client. The other, Ohalo, I stumbled across in a podcast.

Montana Technologies is an effort to radically change the energy demands of our HVAC systems. One of the biggest functions of an HVAC system is to reduce the humidity in the area it serves. The lower the humidity, the more comfortable the temperature. And the lower the humidity, the easier it is to heat and cool the air.

Montana Technologies has created a dehumidifier technology that, when integrated into an HVAC system, can reduce the electricity needs of the system by up to 75%.

Did you get that?  It can reduce the electricity needs of an HVAC system by up to 75%.

Can you imagine the reduction in electricity demand if HVAC systems the world over are able to reduce their electricity needs by 75%? That would be world changing.

On a recent All-In episode, co-host David Friedberg revealed the details of Ohalo Genetics, the company for which he is CEO. Ohalo’s scientists have developed an agriculture technology that can significantly increase all manner of crop production per acre.

With the technology, yields could increase by 50% and maybe even more. Not only can this genetic engineering technology give us bigger yields, but it can also give us better tasting fruit and vegetables. It can also design plants capable of growing in climates not presently hospitable to agriculture.

Did you get that? It can increase crop yields by 50% or more. It can create better tasting fruits and vegetables. And it can design plants to grow in otherwise inhospitable climates.

Significantly reducing the need for electricity to heat and cool our environments and significantly increasing not just the productivity of agriculture but also the taste of its harvest? These are world changing technologies.

These are just two technologies little old me has stumbled across. What’s even more wonderful to consider is that there are likely thousands more efforts underway across the globe that will soon make life more affordable, healthier and more fulfilling.

Amid the horrors of war, apocalyptic climate narratives and the election distraction, remember that there are pioneers among us, drowning out the noise, toiling quietly within the free market, not clamoring for attention or praise but simply working to solve big problems and, hopefully, provide us all a better future.

THE ECONOMIC VIEW

Revised Q1 GDP growth
Suggests we’re in a soft landing

Fiscal stimulus will lead to stagflation
Says JPM CEO Jamie Dimon.

Consumer confidence rises
As the stock market rises?
Tepid Treasury demand causes market to fall
Will consumer confidence now fall?

Credit card and auto debt delinquencies are rising
Mortgage loan delinquencies, too
But there are signs of improvement

INFLATION, DEFLATION, OR BOTH?

Home insurance costs clobber consumers
Yet it’s poorly represented in inflation data.

Inflation accelerates in Australia
Is the same coming our way?

Is a price war coming in fast food?
They better get customers back, quick.

THE LABOR VIEW

Want a $500K-a-year job?
Start working at Walmart.

Landing a new job
Is mostly about who you know

Men want money, women want balance
But don’t we need them to be “equal”?!

MEANWHILE IN EUROPE

European gas demand keeps dropping
Like their economy, maybe?

France’s Macron goes populist.
It’s time to “buy European”

ECB is ready to cut interest rates
They need the stimulus.

THE GLOBAL GAME

Kim Jung Un launches an attack.
Balloons drop excrement on South Korea

Lots of Mexican politicians are murdered
Who really runs this country?

South Africa’s ruling party needs votes.
So they promise free stuff if re-elected
Doesn’t look like it’s working

THE UKRAINE FIRE

Ukraine can strike into Russia
With French arms, says President Macron.
US suggests same with our arms
Can they destroy this Russian drone plant?
Is Western aid too little, too late?

US opens new munitions factory
Here come more artillery shells.

Russia’s using more Iranian drone bombs
Bad guys help each other out.

THE GAZA FIRE

Israel secures Gaza-Egypt border
Gaza war to last until end of the year
The UN court be damned.

The UN court gives Israel orders
Israel remains defiant

US’s $320MM floating pier
Looks like a wasted money disaster
They’ve decided to shut it down
Your tax dollars at work.

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE

NATO’s Eastern flank is highly vulnerable
Will solar panels and wind turbines help?

Russia to build a nuclear power plant
In Uzbekistan
And in Uganda
And in Burkina Faso
They recently completed one in Turkey
They may be building one in Nigeria?
Sanctions be damned!

Iran’s bomb-grade uranium stock grows
But Biden doesn’t want Iran confronted

FINANCE

Healthcare prices have ballooned.
You can thank private equity

Goldman raises $20B+ for private credit
Jamie Dimon issues private credit warning.
There “could be hell to pay”

US high-grade borrowers at risk
Higher rates bite good balance sheets.

REAL ESTATE

Adjustable rate mortgages about to reset
Uh oh, spaghetti-os!
Foreclosures on the rise in TX and FL
Pending home sales at 4-year low

Want to do an office deal?
Chicago is offering sweet terms

The super hot real estate market
Is technology data centers

TECHNOLOGY

This agtech will change the world
Tech isn’t just about computers.

China’s iPhone sales rebound
After Apple cuts the price.

Global energy demand set to skyrocket
Technology is an energy hog.
AI’s energy needs are insatiable
US slows down coal plant retirements

THE CHAT ON AI

Is the AI hype just hype?
Are they overselling AI?

Nvidia was once on the rocks.
An 84-year-old man saved them

We shouldn’t trust AI search engines
Is AI going to destroy the internet?

OUR GOOD FRIEND, FAILURE

CA mandated $25 an hour for healthcare workers.
Now they’re backtracking

Our wonderful free speech
Is being used to brainwash Americans

Biden let in millions of illegals.
Our schools can’t handle the load

THE NEXT NORMAL

Colleges will now pay athletes
With your money

Were you ever a pinball wizard?
You’ve got another chance!!!

Wine is now whining.
Production and consumption are down

THE WAR ON CARBON

Last summer was hottest in 2,000 years
Why was it hotter 2,000 years ago?

Russia tests first local fracking job
They want to wean off the West.

The next oil & gas boom
Looks to be global offshore
Brazil’s Petrobras capex goes big
Greece wants to grow O&G production
Algeria is growing O&G production
Tanzania joins the crowd
China is unlocking their gas reserves
Notice any pattern here?

THE ENERGY TRANSITION

Designer of the world’s largest skyscraper
Thinks buildings can become batteries

Saudi Arabia goes big on solar
Proof that carbon is an earth killer?

A US solar breakthrough
Could help us compete with China.

THE EV DREAM

China’s EVs face another problem in the US.
The data they collect goes to China

Toyota announces alternative fuel engine
They are the true auto innovators.

BYD announces new hybrid
With a 1,300-mile range.
Stellantis will soon have a $25K EV Jeep
How about it, US automakers?

THE CHINA SYNDROME

Xi making friends in the Middle East
Trading tech for oil.

China puts on export controls
Keeping their technology to themselves.

China way ahead in industrial policy
Can autocracy defeat a free market?

THE WASHING-TONE

Biden broadens Chinese tariffs
They will surely understand, right?

Washington to empower extremist groups
Via “environmental justice” grants

THE ELECTION DISTRACTION

Donald Trump is convicted
Maybe we all need to watch Civil War.

With an election around the corner, Biden…
Makes sure gas prices are low
More student loans are forgiven
Green voters get support
Black voters don’t have to give up menthol
Pot gets closer to legalization
And US jobs are saved from China
Yet Biden’s approval rating keeps sinking

RFK Jr.’s path to the debates
How much fun would this be?

MAKING A BETTER YOU

Between earth and sky
Healing in the rainforest.
Gardening can also be good for you

Tossing and turning in bed?
Here’s what to do

The five-hour rule
Do one solid hour of no work a day.

HOW ABOUT A BREAK

NOAA predicts bad hurricanes this season
Aren’t all hurricanes bad?

Feeling like the world is upside down?
Consider reading this book published in 1841

Our sun has about 7 billion years left
Can humans last even 7 million years?

PLANNING A VACATION?

Have strong dollar, will travel
Time to see the world.

You can visit Japan on a budget
After a long flight and jet lag.

The world’s best party cities
In case you’re young and rich.

SONG OF THE WEEK

Global radio station of the week…
Tromsø, Norway
A postcard around every corner.

Who remembers The Isley Brothers?
“This Old Heart of Mine”

How about the Rod Stewart version?
“This Old Heart of Mine”

CASTING AROUND THE PODS

The All-In besties interview Sam Altman
Subdued Sam reflects on our future.

VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

Hitman trailer.
Richard Linklater scores again.

The Song Remains the Same
Led Zeppelin’s 1973 movie.

Welcome to Hokkaido
Meet Japan’s snow capital.

FROM THE HEADHUNTER’S KITCHEN

It got a Michelin star.
And it’s just a taqueria

With summer fun
You need good potato salad

The weather is getting hot.
Time for gazpacho

THE RANDOMS

Is the new private credit gold rush giant institutional investors’ attempts to save their previous private illiquid investments from default? Is private credit the new way to mend, extend and pretend?

I have a house in a rural town not far from Austin, a town not yet caught in the Austin suburban boom. Here, the 7-11 gets consistent business. Yesterday, I asked the manager how this year’s business compares to last year’s. He said overall sales are down 7%, and alcohol sales are down 10%. I asked him why this may be the case. People have run out of the free money we  got during Covid, he said.

An MIT economist suggests AI is going to restore jobs that automation and globalization killed. MIT employs this person, really?

China’s state-owned media rationalizes cracking down on luxury influencers: “Once materialism starts spreading, it can have a bad influence on teenagers.” I can understand that.

The WSJ had an article last week suggesting that AI is driving the next industrial revolution. Hmmm…next industrial revolution? If you listen to this week’s podcast with Sam Altman, he gives zero evidence about a new industrial revolution. Is AI overhyped?

For those who worry about the deep state: Senate AI group punts on regulation but says government needs billions more in funding to use AI. Good old government. It always needs more money to save you from something.

The UN court has ordered Israel to stop the war in Gaza. Let’s see if I got this straight…

Hamas hit Israel with an offensive strike. Israel is now trying to defeat a mortal enemy.

Russia hit Ukraine with an offensive strike. There’s been no call from the UN to arrest Putin or to stop that war.

Whatcha think?

Who found it refreshing when the Kansas City Chiefs kicker said that “marriage and motherhood are more important than work to most women”? Reminds me of something we posted a couple of weeks ago…

Motherhood sucks until you’re a mother.

One thing I’m pretty certain of. When someone is in love, they care little about the weather.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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The Wind Is Your Friend
May 17, 2024