At the moment, the real estate sector is active to provide data centers to power the AI revolution that has started. This is a good thing but the US has a problem, and the problem is an aging infrastructure and aging power transmission lines, but maybe China can help.

In an article by Keith Bradsher of the New York Times News Service, in China the longest ultrahigh voltage power line stretches more than 3,219 kilometers or the equivalent of transmitting electricity from Idaho to New York.

The power line starts in a remote desert in northwest China where vast arrays of solar panels and wind turbines generate electricity on a monumental scale. The line goes southeast, follows an ancient river between the mountains and reaches the Shanghai area home to electric car and robot manufacturers.

China has 41 other lines crossing the country. Each is capable of carrying more electricity than any utility transmission line in the US. Why? the line is more efficient that those in the US.

China is leading the world in producing clean energy, but most of it the sunny, windy western and northern regions. 90% of the people of China live near the ocean or in the east.

Many of China’s ultrahigh voltage lines use direct current technology, which allows them to carry electricity long distances with barely any transmission losses.

In addition to the vast solar and wind components of electricity generation, China is the world’s largest of coal to generate electricity.

China already consumes 2 X as much electricity as the US.

China can build faster because of its top-down industrial planning, government control of information and intolerance for public dissent.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if you are a dividend investor, you like utility companies and one of the reasons is their ability to persuade the electricity regulators to raise rates to meet the demands of new infrastructure and keep profits coming. China has different utility technology, and which has concerns, but not losing electricity in the generation is a big benefit. In your search of new technology, what is the world adopting, that could lead to more profits?

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

You often heard invest in something you know. One of the ways that manifest itself is to examine what do you buy and who are the companies behind the things you buy. Unless you feel you are an exception, chances are reasonably high other people buy similar things. Then you do your homework to narrow down your field and invest in the best of the breed. A number of years ago, you would have looked at your computer and which company makes the computer work – many people would have seen the advertising logo – Intel inside.

In an article by Tripp Mickle of the New York Times News Service, for a time investing in Intel was an easy win, but then things happened which made the stock go sideways and from an investment point of view lost opportunity, however things maybe changing.

Outside of Phoenix, Arizonia Intel has spent $20 billion on a 4-story manufacturing plant that it hopes will turn its future around. The plant known as a Fab 52 is designed to make more powerful and efficient computer chips. The process uses the tools from ASML, a Dutch manufacturer of lithography machines. to manufacture cutting edge semi-conductors in the US.

10 to 20 years ago, Intel was the number one place to be for computer chips, but it fell behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) after it failed to develop ASML technology. Intel was dropped by Apple and missed the mobile phone computer chips.

Since then, a number of CEOs have come and gone, the latest is Lip-Bu Tan. He agreed to the Trump’s administration of $8.9 billion investment in treasury shares for 10% of the business. The administration then released the funds from the Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act.

Intel is trying to go back to the time it was the leader in new technology. There is no guarantee but if Intel can persuade others in the tech industry that the process works better than TSMC, they are off to the races.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, most of us are fascinated and interested in new technology, we think it can change the world for better and make money at the same time. There are always a number of ways to play the new technology – the makers or the users. Sometimes one is better than the others, but if you invest in the makers, part of the process of your homework is to ensure the company stays at the forefront of new technology the marketplace is adopting and using.

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

All governments make decisions and then the policies are rolled out, people elect governments to make decisions. Then people decide if the decision is good for them and that is where unintended consequences happen. In the case of President Trump, he decided the US needs tariffs. For the past 60 plus years the world has said we would all not want very few tariffs, but President Trump decided on a reset. Prices are up because of the tariffs, but in 2 years maybe they will fall. One of the unintended consequence is on the farm belt.

In an article by Nathan Vanderklippe of the Globe and Mail, the reporter interviewed Elliot Uphoff who has a family farm of 2,000 acres with his father in Shelbyville, Illinois for the past century. The last time the Trump administration sent him a check, he bought a mini excavator to fix drainage issues.

The big crop is soybeans and 60% are sold to foreign buyers with the largest China. In the trade war tariff, the US has not yet made a single sale from this year’s soybean crop to China. China has bought soybeans from Brazil and Argentina.

President Trump has said some of the money collected in tariffs, rather than going to pay the debt or about $16 billion trade aid bailout of farmers.

Around Decatur, the central Illinois city which refers itself as Soy City, farmers would rather have the market instead of government check, according to Tim Stock, EVP of the Macon County Farm Bureau.

Across the US, we are going to lose farms this year, guaranteed.

China’s half to soybean prices has not sent prices plummeting. An Illinois farmer can sell a bushel of soybeans today for nearly the exact same price as this time last year.

The reason, US farmers are harvesting less soybeans, the lowest since 2007. They grew more corn.

Michael Langemeier, the director of the Center for Commercial Agriculture at Purdue University where he is a professor of agricultural economics, said if China does start buying, prices would be 10% higher.

Matt Furr, who farms 4,500 acres with his family, has purchased only 10% of the futures contract he would normally buy to lock in an advance price for his crop. He is hoping better prices arise in spring or early summer. Similar to all farmers, they would rather work, but they will take the money if offered.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, most of these companies are large enough that there are plenty of government incentives to help them make decisions. Ideally the decision is made first and the government just adds to the returns, but all companies are dependent on government policies. Hopefully the companies you own investments in expects government money to be part of their analysis.

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

Since President Trump has been in office, he has signed executive orders aimed at boosting coal production and cutting off grants for solar and wind projects. Perhaps he wants every child to have a lump of coal in their Christmas stocking. In the rest of the world, change is happening.

In an article by Susanna Twidale of Reuters, renewable energy sources generated more electricity than coal globally for the first time in the first half of 2025. The growth of large solar farms in India and China help make the transition according to the think tank Ember.

Renewable, such as wind and sold supplied 5,072 terawatts hours (TWh) while coal supplied 4,896.

Global electricity demand increased 2.6%.

China, the world’ s largest electricity consumer, reduced fossil fuels by 2% and increased its solar and wind production by 43% and 16% respectively. (one of the largest solar farms is in Tibet covering 610 square kilometers – the size of Chicago)

India increased the use of power by solar and wind by 29% and 31% respectively, while coal and oil fell by 3.1%.

In the US coal generation rose by 17%.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, solar and wind are essentially utilities which means there is a high capital cost, but then long-term investment returns (personally my solar panels pay for the taxes and water consumption of the house). In all places in the world, the sun shines on a daily basis, some more than others, it makes sense to capitalize of the sun rays. As more and more solar panels go up, the cost to put them up goes down and the return goes up and that is a good investment. It would be same idea for computers or laptops.

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

This year more than others, the price of gold has gone up for normally it takes 5 to 10 years before the price went from $3,00 to $4,000. When a commodity increases in price similar to gold the market leaders make more money, the secondary companies or junior companies have viable companies because at $4,000 most mines can actually make money. All around the world there are gold mines, most do not make money, because the process to get gold out of the earth has not changed a great deal in centuries. That means where gold mines are located, there will be arsenic pools which separate the gold from the earth. Would you like an arsenic pool in your backyard? hopefully no, but you like to see the gold.

In an article by Joe Rennison of the New York Times News Service, investors, money managers and central banks have been buying gold this year.

Gold is often seen as a haven during times of turmoil, is having its best year since 1979, when the prices surged over 100% during a period of high inflation, a depreciating dollar and a geopolitical crisis in the Middle East (the price of oil went up).

Gold has attracted buyers because other traditional havens such as the dollar and US government bonds, have lost some of their allure. The Federal Reserve will likely cut interest rates again, and the dollar has slumped 10%. Larger deficits in Washington have cast a cloud over America’s creditworthiness.

Ryan McIntyre, a senior managing partner at Sprott, an investment firm that specializes in precious metals, said uncertainty has largely driven the rally in gold.

Goldman Sachs noted exchange traded funds that buy gold have purchased over 100 metric tonnes of the precious metal in September. Analysts were expecting gold to reach $4,300 by year end.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in all industries there are multiple methods to find safety in dealing with increased prices of commodities. The senior companies often pay dividends, there are companies that specialize in the industry, because unlike 1979 shortly afterwords the price of gold fell to a level, you needed to own for 10 years to make your money back. If you want to diversify your holdings, always do your homework to find the best in the breed.

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

All industries face some sort of disruption, somebody or some company always figures a method to offer cheaper way. In the airline industry it was the discount airlines.

In an article by Nira Chokshi of the New York Times News Service, discount airlines reshaped the US aviation industry by offering cheap fares and charging extra for pretty much every service imaginable. And they made a lot of money doing it.

Now those same companies known as ultralow-low carriers are in trouble. The companies expanded rapidly, now they are struggling to manage rising costs and to compete with one another and giants like Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Holding Inc which co-opted the strategies that make them so successful.

Spirit Airlines is seeking bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than a year. Other discount operators such as Frontier Group Holdings Inc are in better shape but not profitable.

Dan Akins, an economist with Flightpath Economics, an aviation consulting firm, noted the mainline carriers have effectively figured out how to compete.

No-frills carriers have been flying for decades under the simple principles: fly planes full and often, cot costs as much as possible, offer low fares but charge for extras.

Spirit reported annual profits from 2007 to 2020. Other airlines that came around were Frontier, Sun Country Airlines, Breeze Airways, Avelo Airlines, and Allegiant Air.

American Airlines Group Inc, Delta and United adopted some budget airline tactics. Pretty much every US airline now charges fees for checked bags, seat selection and other services.

The airlines started selling basic economy tickets that cost less but have more restrictions.

At the major airports, the largest airlines have the best gates which means there are fewer gates for the discount airlines or fewer flights.

As they grew, the discount carriers brought larger planes and began flying to bigger airports, putting them in more direct competition with the big airlines and other budget carriers. According to Cirium, an aviation data firm, Spirit and Frontier each doubled their share of all US flights.

Despite their rapid rise, ultra-low carriers account for 11% of the seats on domestic flights. American, Delta, United and Southwest control nearly 79%.

One of the methods the big airlines make billions of dollars in annual revenue from credit cards.

Allegiant flies on more than 575 routes, about 75% of which are not served by another revenue. It also earns revenue from its airline credit card and by selling travel packages that include hotel rooms, ground transportation and other services. The airline is sharply focused on the preferences of leisure travelers, who are its target customers.

Sun Country, a small carrier, has reported profits in each of the past few years. Sun primarily connects its home base of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to other destination, but the airline earns 20% of its revenue from charter flights and half as much from operating cargo flights for Amazon.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, every industry has disruption and then the established companies have to respond. Sometimes they adopt the same tactics, sometimes they consolidate through use of larger resources, and usually it takes time before profits can be made consistently. As your investments see disruption, understand it will take time to respond and to see if their strategy works.

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

If you think about the way cities in North America have developed over the years, the constant for most is you need a vehicle to get around. It is always possible not to have a vehicle, and millions do, but it so much easier if you a vehicle. If you do not have a vehicle, transit is available but often times it is oriented to bringing people downtown and in many cities, to go across town you need to go downtown first. If you have a vehicle, everything is much easier.

In an article by Nathan Gomes and Nora Eckert of Reuters, US auto sales are expected to rise about 6% for the 3rd quarter. The number is surprising strong pace despite tariffs and other uncertainties. This is on top of healthy US sales gains for July to September period, GM and Ford were up to 8% and Toyota was up 14%.

Market research firm Cox Automotive expects US new vehicle sales to be about 4.4 million for July-September compared to 3.9 million in the same period of last year.

Duncan Aldred, President of GM North American business, said consumers seem less concerned about tariffs and potential price hikes than they were a few months ago.

I think stability, clarity and the lack of that massive price rise that people feared is total driving the market.

Demand for mid-size crossovers and pickup trucks has remained strong in September, Cox Auto said in a report. GM is expected to hold on to its top spot during the quarter, followed by Toyota and Ford.

JD Power noted the average retail price for new vehicles in September was expected to touch $45,795 up $1,310 from last year.

On a podcast, Steve Eisman talked with Lakshmi Ganapathi from Unicus Research, said 69% of consumers are paycheck to paycheck with 25% of those using the Buy Now, Pay Later to buy groceries. The problem for consumers is the companies that offer it are using AI to monitor credit habits are lowering credit limits in real time and declining credit. Ms. Ganapathi said, in when payments were received during COVID, government sent money and people’s credit increased, partly because student loans were not being paid. That has changed and student loans need to be repaid. The average car payment is $1,000 a month over an 84-month term. Banks do not want cars so only 30% of cars that could be reposed are reposed, the other 70% are extension loans. People are buying older cars for less than $10,000 but higher maintenance costs come with it. The big companies can produce cars to deliver them to dealers but who is buying?

Recently read a story, those who have over $30 million in assets, are keeping the luxury markets alive and humming.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the automobile companies used to drive the economy, but the US economy has diversified, however vehicles remain both ingrained in the psyche of the average American and important to the economy. Increasing auto sales is good news, but one has to examine if repossessions are up, because if people fall behind on their payments, the car will be repossessed. Often times, one loves to be optimistic, but wonder why the glass would be half full?

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

If you shop in the supermarket, at the front of the store are magazines and many of them feature Hollywood stars. Many go to the movies, watch movies and the magazines are a staple for customers. The reality is more money is spent on gaming than people going to Hollywood. Although more males game then females, anyone who does game is passionate about the game they play, the console they play with, and the list goes on. There is a reason Microsoft owns Xbox and acquired Activision Blizzard.

In an article from the Associated Press, the largest-ever buyout funded by private equity firms is with Electronic Arts from a public company to a private company for $55 billion including debt. The companies involved are Silver Lake Partners, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF and Affinity Partners. The private equity partnership is offering $210 a share.

Silver Lake Partners is co-headed by Egon Durban who has been looking at EA for years, teamed up with Jared Kushner of Affinity Partners who made the deal happen. PIF already owns 9.9% of EA. Among the many investments PIF has is a minority investor of Nintendo.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the use of private equity is expected to increase and some of that will be take public companies private. If you own a profit-making company, then at some level private equity is interested particularly if the returns are good for dividends but not dramatic for growth that private equity wants to see. It is another good reason to own profit making companies.

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

When the industrial revolution started work was plentiful, the majority of the population lived on farms and moved to urban areas to work in factories. The industrial revolution produced jobs and most of them paid more than what the people were making on the farm. New industries developed and the industrial revolution was on going and expanding across the UK and around the world. The new revolution is going to be a little different.

In an article by Meaghan Tobin and Keith Bradsher of the New York Times News Service, China is making and installing factory robots at a far greater pace than any other country, with the US a distant third. China already dominants global manufacturing.

There were 2 million robots working in Chinese factories according to a report related by the International Federation of Robotics, a non-profit trade group for making industrial robots. Last year more than 300,000 new robots last year, the US installed 34,000.

The government has used public capital and policy directives to spur Chinese companies to spur Chinese companies to become leaders in robotics.

As technology helps factories become more efficient, some are making do with fewer workers and altering the role of others.

China’s drive for factory automation has been a key part of achieving its position as the world’s largest manufacturing powerhouse. At the start of this year, factories in China were making nearly 1/3 of all manufactured good worldwide, more than the US, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Britian combined.

Until last year, China installed more imported robots than domestically made ones. But last year, nearly 3/5’s of the robots installed in China were also made in the country.

In 2015, Beijing made it a top priority for China to become globally competitive in robotics as part of its Made in China 2025 campaign to import fewer advanced manufactured goods. To do this, industries received almost unlimited access to state-controlled banks at low interest rates as well as help in buying foreign competitors, direct infusions of government money and other assistance. In 2021, the government issued a detailed national strategy for expanded deployment of robots.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, it many companies the eco system that develops becomes the defining nature of the company. The eco system develops because the parent company has the resources to allow companies to develop for the long term with relatively low cost of funding. It takes a great deal of money and effort to dislodge the dominance, although it is possible. Those barriers are what you are investing in and expecting they will remain for the foreseeable future.

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