Markets, Manipulation, and Silver-Stacking

The Crowdsourcing Of Cutting Waste & Fraud Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times, The Trump administration came into office with a pledge to uproot waste, fraud, and abuse within the government’s system of transfer payments. Leading the charge would be Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). They began their work early on with earnest and passion, starting inauguration evening, with many long days and nights of data crunching and number slinging, under the assumption that auditing government would be similar to auditing a private company. DOGE quickly found...

Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Lower In Recent Months, Preliminary Data Show Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The effectiveness of vaccines against influenza dropped during the 2025–2026 virus season, officials said on March 12, about two months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stopped recommending flu vaccination for all children. An influenza vaccine in a doctor's office in Coral Gables, Fla., on Sept. 15, 2025. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Vaccine effectiveness for late 2025 and early 2026 against outpatient visits and hospitalization was pegged at 14 percent to...

2025 New Home Sales Highest Since 2021 US New Home Sales dipped 1.7% MoM in December (after a 15.5% MoM surge in November)... ...but ended the year at 745k - the highest SAAR since 2021... "New" home sales have notably decoupled from "used" home sales in the last few years as homebuilders incentivize buyers (reducing margins) and lower prices (reducing revenues)... Lower mortgage rates support modest further improvements in sales... Will this be Trump's lead on housing affordability? Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 10:24