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In today’s newsletter I discuss how $6 diesel prices are just the start, the SEC allows tokenized securities to be traded, Ed Sheeran’s tour is in trouble after making the wrong decision to kick rapper Macklemore of his tour, buying a home just got more expensive, the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act stalled (again) on Capitol Hill, Christian Bale just opened a $22 million dollar foster care village, IMDb has finally opened its database to content creators and I’m signing up, and Nike just unveiled their new Caitlin 1 signature shoe for Caitlin Clark.

Let’s get into it!

The price for a gallon of diesel in the U.S. just crossed $6 dollars! Don’t think that affects you because you drive a car or truck that runs on gasoline? Think again. Boy oh boy does it affect you, and everyone you know. So how did we get here, what does it mean, and where are we heading next? Let’s get into it.

When the War in Iran broke out, and the Strait of Hormuz slowed to a crawl, it ignited a massive supply shock that has been rippling through the world’s economy. The drone attacks on Iran’s neighbors and tankers in the Strait of Hormuz knocked millions of barrels of crude oil off the world’s oil markets, causing Brent crude to soar from around $70 a barrel to $103 today, a 47.14% increase in the last 6+ months.

While less than 3% of passenger vehicles run on diesel, over 75% of all freight that’s transported in the U.S. is done by burning diesel, and the stats of how diesel fuels our transportation infrastructure is astounding:

• Over 14 million commercial trucks travel over 320 billion miles across the U.S., moving 72% of domestic freight.
• Diesel serves as the hidden economic engine behind every physical product on the market, according to energy analyst Patrick De Haan.
• The cost to fill an 18-wheeler has doubled from $900 dollars to $1,800 dollars nearly overnight as a result of the War in Iran.

Every link along the American supply chain adds to the operating costs that inevitably roll downhill until they land on your receipts.

• Long haul tractor trailers burn about 20,000 gallons of fuel annually, meaning independent truckers are now shouldering a yearly fuel bill of $120,000 dollars that used to be closer to $80,000 dollars only a year ago.
• Freight carriers are passing higher diesel prices along to businesses by imposing a $1,500 dollars fuel surcharge on deliveries.
• Family farms are burning 10,000 gallons of diesel on each harvest, costing an extra $25,000 dollars per crop.
• In the U.S., trucks burning diesel transport 83% of all farm goods and 92% of fresh meat and dairy.

Oh, so higher diesel prices at the pump are costing us more at the grocery store and the mall, but businesses are still making tons of money, right? I keep hearing about record profits on Wall Street, so that must mean everything is going great in the economy, right?

That’s a matter of perspective.

Yes, you and I are paying more for nearly everything than we were a year ago. “No more endless wars in the Middle East” turned out to have been a nice campaign slogan, but politicians do what politicians do, which is apparently ignore everything their constituents want, and now the U.S. economy is paying the price. So where do we go from here? Good question!

About a week ago I began hearing that the War in Iran would be over after the midterm elections in November. I’m not sure what the logic is there. Right now the Republican party holds all 3 branches of government, as well as the majority in the Supreme Court, and they haven’t been able to end the War in Iran. Even if the Democrats win back the House they won’t have the power to end a war that was never even declared by Congress; which BTW is the only branch of government that can legally declare a war. So politically speaking, my guess is the War in Iran doesn’t change when the midterm elections have come and gone, regardless of who wins or loses in politics.

What I think will happen is we can expect higher and higher gas and diesel prices at the pump, which will translate into higher and higher prices at the grocery store and literally for everything else that needs to be shipped, you know…because of economics. Oil prices will stay high, and could always go higher, the longer there are hostilities in the Middle East that affect the shipping of oil and commodities such as fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz. Higher oil prices will continue to push up the price we pay at the pump for gas and diesel, and my prediction is we’ll continue to see inflation rise and outpace wage growth into 2027. I wish I could paint a prettier picture, but the price of oil is the whole game here, and until we have peace in the Middle East, the rest of the world should probably get used to spending a whole heck of a lot more for diesel and pretty much everything else.

The SEC just unveiled a 5-year innovation exemption that authorizes tokenized securities exchanges to allow permissioned trading of tokenized stocks though automated market makers and liquidity pools. In other words, trading exchanges like Robinhood can now wrap a stock in a crypto wrapper and allow users to trade it 24/7/365.

I see nothing at all that could go wrong here! (sarcasm)

By now you’ve probably heard about the fallout from Ed Sheeran’s decision to kick rapper Macklemore off his tour, all because Robert Kraft, owner of Gillette Stadium where his New England Patriots football team plays, threatened to not allow Ed Sheeran concerts to take place at his stadium, as well as other stadiums whose owners Robert Kraft reached out to, if Macklemore remained on Ed Sheeran's tour.

Why did all this happen?

On September 4, while opening for Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Macklemore said “Free Palestine”, and a rich old white guy lost his mind. To be clear Macklemore’s comments were not anti-Jewish - they were about preaching peace for everyone worldwide. You can hear for yourself, and make up your own mind instead of the media telling you what you should think.

Ed Sheeran was faced with a tough decision, and in my opinion he chose poorly. He kicked Macklemore off the tour, and the reaction was instantaneous. All of Ed Sheeran’s other opening acts on his tour quit, including Finneas O'Connell (brother of Billie Eilish), Lukas Graham, and Aaron Rowe. Then Ed Sheeran’s own live back band Beoga quit. So now Ed Sheeran is on tour, alone, without any other acts, because he didn’t stand up to Robert Kraft and endorse Macklemore’s message of peace and a free Palestine.

Now comes the economics of Ed Sheeran’s decision. He can continue his tour, and probably save some money by not paying the musical acts that quit, although I’m guessing they have contracts that have stipulations that they be paid no matter what, but that’s for the lawyers to decide - oh and you better believe there will be lawsuits.

Or Ed Sheeran could cancel his tour.

If Ed Sheeran were to cancel the remaining 17 scheduled tour dates at 10 different major stadiums, then he’d be losing out on between $4-$5 million dollars that he earns from each performance, which could add up between $68-$85 million dollars.

Sure, Ed Sheeran can afford to take that kind of financial hit, seeing as how his net worth is estimated to be around $400 million dollars. You know who can’t afford to lose their jobs? All the production crew members, stagehands, and all the local hourly stadium staff that could go without a paycheck if Ed Sheeran is now forced to cancel his tour.

Would Robert Kraft have gone through on his threat to cancel Ed Sheeran’s concerts at Gillette Stadium, and get all his billionaire friends who own the other stadiums on Ed Sheeran’s tour to also cancel his performances? Maybe, but they would have been opening themselves up to millions of dollars in lawsuits and years of courtroom battles that would reek of collusion and the stifling of free speech. But I don’t think it would have come to that if Ed Sheeran had stood up for Macklemore’s right to free speech. I guess we’ll never know. And now Ed Sheeran will pay the financial price for his lack of a backbone.

Buying a home just got more expensive, if that was even possible. The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate just hit 7.2%. If you’ve been feeling like the economy is getting worse, you’re not wrong. To put this in perspective the rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage rate in September 2025) was 6.26%.

For a new homebuyer taking out a standard loan of $250,000 dollars, this rate increase will now add $140 dollars to their monthly principal and interest payments, costing them an extra $1,680 dollars a year in borrowing costs.

This jump in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate comes as inflation continues to rise, and the Federal Reserve, under the “leadership” of Kevin Warsh just voted to raise the benchmark federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a target range between 3.75% and 4%. That means higher borrowing costs for homebuyers, with rates only headed up from here.

In a shocking surprise that no one saw coming (sarcasm) the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act stalled on Capitol Hill after a procedural vote fell short by a 49 to 50 margin, missing the necessary 60 votes required to send the bill toward a final chamber vote. Thanks to lobbying by the banking industry they were able to prevent the CLARITY Act from moving forward…for now.

The CLARITY Act the roles between the SEC and the CFTC, and would clarify and establish clear disclosure criteria for network tokens classified as ancillary assets. Proponents of the CLARITY Act want to extend federal registration guidelines across decentralized finance protocols. Opponents of the CLARITY ACT, including Democrats, want to see stricter ironclad ethics enforcement, specifically in regards to President Donald Trump’s involvement with crypto currency as recently reported making more than $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related earnings during his first year back in office. The banking industry wants assurances that crypto stablecoins won’t be able to pay interest or yield to customers, which would erode the monopoly they have over banking.

In the end it is consumers and businesses that lose by preventing the CLARITY Act from becoming law, and now the United State’s leading role in the crypto industry will be further eroded and weakened as other countries pass crypto-friendly regulations. Businesses will always move to where regulations are clear, and with them follows funding and the human and intellectual capital that has made the crypto industry successful. Do better lawmakers!

Christian Bale just proved why he’s one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors. He just opened a $22 million dollar foster care village in Palmdale, California, on 4.7 acres of land that he bought for $1.7 million dollars, and where he built 11,000 square feet of housing featuring (12) 3-bedroom fully furnished homes that can house up to 6 children with 2 full time foster parents.

Christian Bale teamed up with Dr. Eric Esrailian, and Sibi Bale to co-found Together California after nearly 18 years of planning. The village opened in September 2026 with a ribbon cutting, with Christian Bale saying "It's our job to turn their heartbreak and their pain into love and hope and a sense of future."

Together California was funded by Christian Bale, with $9 million dollars raised through the Austrian American Council West, which is a non-profit organization that seeks to build friendship and understanding between the people of Austria and the United States. They are a big supporter of foster care in order to support vulnerable children and families.

Christian Bale’s net worth is estimated to be around $120 million dollars, and his movies have brought in $5.8 billion dollars worldwide at the box office.

I think we can all agree we need a whole lot more Christian Bales in the world!

Amazon-owned IMDb has finally opened its database to content creators without requiring traditional film or television credits. They’ve added Digital Creator to their directory of over 500 professions. Under the title of Digital Creator they’ve added 6 dedicated sub-professions including streamer, vlogger, video essayist, video creator, gaming creator, and influencer (which I will argue till the day I die shouldn’t be a real thing).

So guess who’s going to be creating a profile on IMDb now? 😉

Nike just unveiled the new Caitlin 1 signature shoe for Caitlin Clark, and they come with a price tag of $140 dollars. Nike also dropped an 18 piece Caitlin Clark apparel line as a part of her 8-year, $28 million dollar endorsement contract. The sneaker rollout comes as Nike is trying to turn this financial situation around after net income dropped to $3.1 billion dollars from $3.2 billion dollars during the timeframe of 20023 to 2025, while gross margin slipped from 43.5% to 42.7% during the same timeframe. Earnings per share contracted from $3.23 dollars in 2023 to $2.16 dollars in 2025, which has resulted in Nike’s shares being down more than 8 percent to touch a 12 year low.

Nike’s shares hit a 12-year low in August 2026, when the stock dropped roughly 4% to close at $39.09, which is the first time in over a decade that Nike’s shares have been under $40. Today Nike’s share price is around $36.38, so it appears their slide down the financial leader board continues.

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The Business Behind The News is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.