In every war, it is easy to see the losers, those fighting the war, but on the opposite side there will be winners.

In an article by Simon Romero and Rebecca F Elliot of The New York Times News Service, one of the winners is the country of Guyana. The country is located beside Venezuela in South America.

One of the reasons it is a winner, is ExxonMobil has been drilling offshore and has discovered very large oil fields.

The capital of Guyana is Georgetown, and it is seeing luxury trappings of wealth such as more Ferraris and Lamborghinis creep through traffic, new steakhouses and opulent weddings are the talk of the town.

The country has 1 million people and is estimated to take in more than $6.5 billion in oil revenues and that will increase. Oil production is about 900,000 barrels per day and that is expected to increase to 1.7 million a day by 2030.

Economic growth reached a staggering 33% in the first half of the year, according to government data, making Guyana the fastest growing economies in the world.

Many in Guyana complain that a small elite is amassing fortunes while the rest face rising inflation, rampant corruption, a housing shortage and substandard public services.

The World Bank has noted Guyana’s rise to high-income income status. Annual per capital income stands at $32,000 a year higher than all of its neighboring countries.

The Iran war’s energy shock has revealed a paradox: Guyana produces lots of oil but lacks the infrastructure to turn it into fuels like gasoline and diesel. Reliant on imports, Guyana faces high electricity costs and briefly ran short of fuel this spring.

President Irfaan Ali is trying to do the right thing for its citizens such as legislation requiring foreign energy companies to utilize local businesses and workers; a creation of a sovereign wealth fund with strict limits on what leaders can immediately withdraw (Norway has strict which they actually embraced so the fund is the biggest in the world).

Linking to dividend paying stocks, what is not to like about a market which has rising disposable income, all the other things that come with it. With a population of 1 million, it is not a large market for mass produced goods, but luxury brands will be found in the country. If the country can stick to its rule for the sovereign fund and add infrastructure to benefit the people of the country, businesses will flock to the country because all the necessary supports will be in place. In the meantime, watching how the country develops in the next few years will be interesting.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

If you watch the movie on Roy Kroc called The Founder or read the book about McDonald’s you will know when McDonald’s started it was very inexpensive food, served fast and offered good value. As restaurants were built, Mr. Kroc ensured, who spent his days as a travelling salesman ensured the restrooms were cleaned. It was said that if Mr. Kroc dropped by a store and the washrooms were dirty, the franchise owner could lose their franchise. This was particularly true for parents travelling with kids who stopped at McDonald’s partly for the food and also partly for the washrooms.

Over the years, Ronald McDonald became one of the most recognized characters for children and when they became adults brought their kids to McDonald’s. McDonald’s still offers value, but it is not inexpensive.

In an article from Reuters, McDonald’s rolled out an $8.5 billion franchisee support plan called NEXT. Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski said the winners will be the companies that create more demand and deliver it more efficiently.

NEXT will focus on improving food quality, hospitality, value and innovation.

In the meantime, customer traffic in key markets is flat as long as inflation is elevated. The warning reinforced investor concerns that McDonald’s turnaround could take longer than expected.

McDonald’s missed their estimates for 2nd quarter US sales growth citing execution missteps that hinder efforts to win back lower-income consumers who cut back on dining out.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, we all meet brands at various times, some when they are new, some when they are hot and some when they are old reliable. However, brands change over time, and it is important to analyze the brand that you are buying. Where is the brand now – what are the margins?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

For every company a level of diversification is a very good thing and some companies eventually become global players which means they have operations in every country in the world. The biggest counties tend to have larger operations because of the ability for the population to buy the products. One such global player is Nestle.

In an article by John Revill of Reuters, Swiss based Nestle is one of those global companies wherever you go to a supermarket around the world, you will find their brands. The brands include Nescafe coffee and KitKat and Smarties chocolates, Carnation, Haagen-Daz ice cream, Purina dog and cat food and the list goes on.

After Russia invaded the Ukraine, the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia in a bit to curtail the war. Russia which has 143 million people and has largest oil and gas reserves has been a very desirable country for European companies to do business with and not surprising many European brands could be found and bought in Russia.

Since the sanctions, Russian has tightened control over foreign-owned assets. A 2023 decree signed by President Putin gives Moscow the power to place assets from countries it deems “unfriendly” under temporary administration.

Moscow has used the law to raise cash through forced sales, exit taxes and discounts while rewarding Kremlin-backed insiders.

French supermarket Auchan saw its 230 stores and online business in Russia transferred to L.E.V. Management. The group had 30,000 employees.

Nestle has 6 factories in Russia producing coffee, pet-care and infant formula products. The company had 7,000 employees and generated $2.4 billion in sales. Fortunately for Nestle, Russia is between 1 and 2% of their total global sales.

Governments make decisions and companies have to react to the decisions, do they stay, cut back, hope for the best, try to stay neutral, work with the government, given the time and resources needed to restart the business if the political situation changes. None of the above have easy answers, for they have multiple options and only times says what is the best answer.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Most people have heard about VW cars, starting with the classic VW Beetle. Corporately VW is owned by Porsche and includes brands such as Audi, Skoda and Seat. If you are in Germany, it is hard not to see a VW product, and with its classic German engineering, the carmaker is a major player in the two biggest car markets of the world – the US and China.

In an article from Reuters, the world’s second largest car maker is being hit by a perfect storm. Its Porsche division wrote off $16 billion. In the US, the administration has imposed tariffs or increased prices on imported vehicles. In China, the EV push by the Chinese government, as well as every year Chinese brands are better, means the demand for foreign luxury brands is falling. The Porsche division posted a profit margin of 1.1% in 2025.

The issue with Porsche compounds the problem with VW as that division recently announced it was cutting 50,000 jobs, simplify its structure and likely plant closures.

New midterm assumptions for Porsche, of which VW owns 75.4%, led to write downs of $9.6 billion.

Finance chief Arno Antlitz wrote a memo which said we have no time to lose, citing a 20% contraction in China, which is the world’s largest car market.

VW group had expected profit margins of 4 to 5.5% margins, now believes a good year will be 1% profit margin.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when we see change in the world, things can change quickly even though the companies are seemingly doing the correct thing. VW was the world’s second largest car maker and things were going well from the plants to executive suite, now VW will still sell a lot of vehicles it just that profit margins are very thin and not expecting to rise in the near term. The good news if you own shares directly, there is hope for the company, the bad news is the world’s biggest car market (China) is going rapidly to EVs and VW is not a major player. It has the ability to buy into a Chinese EV company or there will be mergers in the future, your capital is safe, the company will be different.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

One of the things most people learn is there is most of life has some sort of balance or moderation is a key. It is not perfect for everyone, but for the average person things done in moderation is the path forward. Sometimes when a government comes into power, they know what they do not want, but they do not know what they do want.

In an article by Matthew Daly of the Associated Press, the EPA is repealing rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas. The agency noted it will remove costs of $300 billion and help unleash American energy.

EPA Chief Lee Zeldin, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are hosting a G20 ministerial meeting on energy abundance in Houston.

The rollbacks are meant to fulfill President Trump’s repeated pledge to unleash American energy and make it easier for utilities to supply electricity for homes and businesses including AI data centers.

Environmental and public health groups called the rollbacks dangerous and vowed to challenge the rules in court.

Coal, gas and oil-fired power plants are responsible for 1/4 of the nation’s climate pollution. The other concern is health, no one dies right away because pollution rules are relaxed, but over time people in the vicinity of the power plant will see health related concerns go up and soon there will be an increase in cancer deaths. One of the first issues will be a rise in pregnancies complications, because the body cannot adjust to the pollution changes.

Past President Biden had made fighting climate change part of his presidency; President Trump is doing the opposite.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, many portfolios will contain utility stocks because if an area remains stable or is growing, it will need more electricity or demand remains strong. In addition, regulators tend to increase prices to ensure more capacity is available for the residents and businesses of the area. Good demand and ability to increase prices and lower fixed costs, that is music to dividend stocks. How the electricity is generated is a different issue.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

We often think about creative solutions for the companies we are involved with, but we often overlook one of the most creative sectors in the economy – organized crime. One aspect of organized crime is the police determine the group’s patterns and then disrupts organized crime, which is good for the rest of us. Organized crime has to be creative and find other solutions. It helps if the crime group has the resources or the money to be as creative as possible.

In an article by Sarah Morland and Daniel Becerril of Reuters, high in the lush green mountains of Central Mexico, next to sparsely travelled gravel road, few people had reason to go near where the loud, mechanical whirring of a clandestine cryptocurrency farm.

What led to the police to the ramshackle building, was not the noise, but the vast amounts of electricity needed to run the operation. The levels needed was well above the needs of the small communities in the Sierra Norte region of Puebla state.

In Puebla, authorities discovered 300 GPUs and 8 satellite antennae.

Drug cartels appear to have reached a new level of sophistication, said David Saucedo, a Mexican based security analyst. Such an operation requires technical expertise and backing from a well-financed group.

As more people and institutions worldwide adopt virtual currency, most within the confines of the law. Latin American cartels are increasing the use of money transfers and mining operations to launder money.

The cost of mining one bitcoin is nearly $45,000. Current prices are $72,000 or profit is to be made. However, if they were stealing the electricity, the main costs of the operation would be well – nothing.

Three other similar crypto farms were found last year in the vicinity of the nearby hydroelectric dam in northern Puebla. Local authorities said they are collaborating with nearby states to investigate the possibility of more hidden operations.

Similar raids have taken place in Brazil, the US, and Southeast Asia, including a major bitcoin mining operations in Thailand that spanned 5 provinces.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when money is to be made on a consistent basis, innovation and creativity plays an important role. While we hope that your investments do it legally, cartels have to be even more innovation and creative because what they do is illegal and the police are trying to stop it. In business, it is possible for a legal company to buy another legal company to gain talent, innovation and creativity. It is possible to see creativity in all sorts of areas.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

If you think about Saudi Arabia, the geography is the country is bordered by 2 waterways – the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Most of the action and where people live is near the Persian Gulf. Given the war between Iran and the US, the Persian Gulf goes through the Strait of Hormuz is slowed down or stopped, but generally very few ships go through the Strait. Fortunately for Saudi Arabia, they have a pipeline going to the Red Sea and can sell oil to the rest of the world.

In an article by Alex Lawler and Dmitry Zhdannikov of Reuters, while there is alternative to the Red Sea, it is not as safe as everyone expected. At the Red Sea, Houthi fighters in Yemen have been fighting the government backed by Saudi Arabia. The fighters have taken an island that influences shipping traffic in the Red Sea. The Houthi fighters have used drones to attack the east-west Saudi pipelines.

Saudi Arabia will run out of oil stocks for exports leading up to 4% of global supply, Saudi oil buyers and traders said.

In business, having alternatives is a great and for the past 6 months, the pipeline running through the desert across the Arabian Peninsula has spared Saudi Arabia from the brunt of the impact of war which has crippled exports from its neighbors. The end of the pipeline is the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea.

At the end of the pipeline, you often you see large metal storage tanks, Yanbu storage capacity stands at 35 million barrels, with Ain Sukhna storing 18 million and Sidi Kerir storing 20 million.

According to IEA, which coordinates Western energy policies, believes world oil supply will decline by 5.7 milllion b/d or 6%.

Saudi Arabia told OPEC that its oil production had dropped to just 6.2 million b/d in August from 10.9 million b/d in February before the start of the war.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, every business spends time thinking about alternatives. The alternatives can be about supply lines or the alternatives to what the product or service is, but alternatives are extremely important for investors to know about, what are they?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Most of us are enthralled by technology, it provides us with potentially better outcomes and sometimes are lives are better with it. Technology comes with downfalls, if we spend a great deal of time with technology you are not spending a great amount of time with interacting with people. However, most of us believe with technology we are better off.

In an article by Stephen Nellis and Kenrick Cai of Reuters, Apple launched the Duo, a folding $1,999 iPhone. For Apple they are expecting their design and promises of data privacy will let it leap ahead of rivals who have been selling folding phones for years.(you likely have heard or seen the Flip).

The Duo could shake up a category long dominated by Samsung and Chinese companies such as Huawei, whose devices have struggled to move beyond a niche market. Will Apple make Duo mainstream?

The Duo is sized and shaped like a passport with rounded edges. It opens into a horizontal, 19 cm screen that can be viewed vertically. When open, it is Apple’s thinnest phone.

For Apple, the iPhone had revenues of $209.6 billion or about half of Apple’s sales in the recent fiscal year.

New Apple CEO John Ternus believes existing foldables ae awkward and poorly suitable for common tasks such as scrolling and video viewing, saying the Duo was designed to deliver an iPad-like experience in a pocket-sized device.

Francisco Jeronimo, VP for data and analytics devices, at IDC EMEA said Apple showed up years after everyone else, yet it walks in and sets the rules. Apple entered the foldable market and in one keynote, set the price and standard every rival will now be measured against.

The real fight is China where Huawei owns 80% of the foldable market.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, we all love technology, but equally important it has to be sold or someone besides loving it wants to buy it and consistently buy it. Apple has a reputation that its products are very easy to use and look great, perhaps they are the best company to change a niche market to mainstream market. If that happens all the Duos that Apple can produce will be sold or will it be the best foldable in a niche market?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

The Republicans held a midterm convention, but many of the analysts said who was going to watch it? because it was the start of the NFL season. If you examine the top 10 highest rating TV shows – most are football related. Football on TV or streaming drives a great number of people to watch it. If you cannot watch the game, the next morning highlights are available. How does a team make money?

A You Tube channel called firstteamfootball did an analysis and it breaks down it a number of parts:

All teams in the NFL belong to a National Revenue Pool or money from national advertising is pooled or shared or the billionaire team owners are involved in a socialist enterprise. In 2026, before the ball is snapped, all teams receive a check for the league for $346 million per club. The revenue sharing ensures all clubs no matter the city size should be competitive or On Any Given Sunday … (a football movie staring Al Pacino).

The National Revenue Pool receives advertising money from the ABC, CBS and NBC. They also receive money from streaming services such as Amazon Prime for Thursday night football and they paid $11 billion for 11 years. Then Amazon Prime has Black Friday games which allows them to integrate shopping into watching the game. Netflix paid $150 million for Christmas double headers to advertise their next season and sell ads.

Local revenue – 34% of ticket sales is shared with the league, luxury suites are not shared. A typical game seat is $150 which a luxury box can easily rent out for $25,000 a game. Premium seating is less than 20% capacity but over 50% of local revenues.

The building of the stadium is partially offset by local taxes (typically on hotels) and tax-free municipal bonds. The average new stadium, the owner pays 25% of the costs. That 73% of the costs translated to $33 billion. In addition, for the new stadiums, the owners add an entertainment area where there are clubs and hotels and gathering spots for fans without tickets. (it can be fun, but you have to stand for the game and it is much less expensive than going in). The average fan buys $42 worth of food and drinks per person. It can easily add up to between $778 to $1500 for a family of four.

If you go to a game often times you see many people wearing the team jersey. How the money flow is depends on where you buy. If you buy online (managed by Fanatics) it goes to revenue sharing. If you buy at the stadium (17% of sales), it is local money. This means and implies different strategies to capture the spending.

The licensed apparel market is estimated to be in the $3.5 billion in revenue. The gross profit margin will be 50 to 60%. It is also important to note companies such as Nike and Fanatics pay up front fees, plus a 12-15% royalty deal. The money goes in the National Revenue Pool.

Advertising revenue is expected to grow at 8% this year and that includes the official partner status. Microsoft co-pilot is the official AI software of the league. The naming of the stadium is between $20 and $30 million per team per year.

The biggest new source of revenue is online gambling which is estimated to be $120 billion a year and the NFL partnered with two companies FanDuel and Draft Kings.

If the team wins the championship what typically happens is high demand for season tickets; more local sponsorship money and a higher valuation of the team.

There are other factors such as player salaries caps, rookie salary numbers, if a team spends too much money they get penalized in order to make the league competitive.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the product or service is what keeps consumers coming back to use the product or service, but it is helpful to know how your companies make money. It that way, as you watch how the company performs you know what to look for. To continuing doing your homework.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.