In today’s newsletter I discuss how inflation is moving higher, the U.S. trade deficit hit $105.6 billion and tariffs aren’t working (but you already knew that!), Steven Spielberg is stepping back into the world of “Transformers”, Larry Ellison is so rich that he’s buying homes near his properties for his staff to live so they can have a shorter commute, Elizabeth Banks has a new movie coming out, and the trailer for DreamQuil just dropped and it creeps me out, Paramount will now be renamed Skydance, Tony Romo might not be losing the remaining $72 million dollars on his CBS contract NFL commentary contract after they fired him for drunk driving, and some politicians think they're changing the name “Artificial intelligence” to “Super Intelligence” - good luck with that!

Let’s get into it!

The official story from the powers that be is that the cost of living is under control. They’re telling us that grocery prices and overall costs are "all coming down now," but the economic data doesn’t lie. So what’s the truth? Let’s get into it.

On September 27, 2026, politicians tried to gaslight us saying that food, groceries, and other consumer goods have decreased significantly and "come way down" since the current administration took office. No one believes that, because they trust their own eyes and ears, and that mumbo jumbo coming out of Washington doesn’t line up with what they’re seeing and hearing. The economic reality is that overall consumer prices have risen roughly 4.3%, and grocery prices have increased about 3.4%, while gas prices are up around 47.65% on average nationwide since the start of the War in Iran. And don’t even get me started on my one vice in life. Coffee prices have risen by 13.1% on average worldwide, and you can taste that price increase in every cup of coffee you buy or brew at home.

If you look beneath the surface of the polished and ginned-up government data, and believe the current stock market optimism with a skeptical eye, the cost of living is increasing faster than your paycheck can keep pace with. The issue we’re all dealing with is the insane, and I don’t use that word loosely, disconnect between the corporate balance sheets from publicly traded companies with trillion-dollar valuations and the everyday experiences of working families like yours and mine. We’re hearing in the news that the economy is expanding at a faster rate than ever before because of the unprecedented investments that companies are making, such as the AI data center buildouts by FAANG or MANGOS companies including Meta/Facebook, Apple, Anthropic, Alphabet/Google, Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, OpenAI, and SpaceX.

But if you peel back the layers and take a closer look at the economy, you can begin to see that it’s top heavy. Corporate profits are hitting record highs, but the job market has slowed down and job growth is barely keeping up with new workers entering the workforce. We’re facing a relentless, seemingly never-ending debt fueled corporate investment boom that is distorting our economic landscape. Beyond-generous tax breaks from the One Big Beautiful Bill have resulted in billionaires doubling down on their companies’ borrowing and investments in AI computing infrastructure, data centers, and manufacturing, which should all be a good thing for the economy in the long run as long as the music doesn’t stop and the U.S. doesn’t go into a recession as a result of runaway inflation and the cost of never-ending wars.

Morgan Stanley recently issued a tech industry forecast projecting that total global debt issuance tied directly to AI data center expansion will reach approximately $570 billion dollars by the end of 2026. Goldman Sachs is estimating that AI debt will surpass $578 billion dollars by the end of this year. And how do you think these tech conglomerates are affording all these shiny new AI data centers? With debt, of course!

Hyperscalers, including primarily Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle, have all issued corporate bonds to finance their aggressive buildout of AI data centers at a record pace. In 2026, those same companies issued a record $132 billion dollars in investment-grade bonds with interest rates ranging between from 6.5% to 7.5%. They’re using those funds to build out their AI infrastructure, which includes specialized cloud capacity, fiber optic networks, and upgrades to the power grid. In some cases, these companies are just building their own powerplants, like in the case of Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI's Colossus 1 AI data center, which runs 220,000 Nvidia GPUs. They built their own powerplant using 35 portable off-grid gas turbines to generate the 150 megawatts of electricity that the data center complex needs to run 24/7/365.

This tech company AI spending spree is happening at the exact same time that the federal government’s debt just surpassed $40 trillion dollars, and is growing at a rate of $7.47 million dollars every single minute, which adds up to $10.75 billion dollars a day. At that rate, the national debt can be expected to increase by $1 trillion dollars every 93 days, or $3.92 trillion dollars in the next year, which would make our national debt $43.92 trillion dollars by this time a year from now in 2027.

WoW! If that economic reality doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what will.

You don’t think our nation’s debt affects you? Think again!

The inevitable consequence of all this borrowing by the federal government is the spike in long-term interest rates we’re all living with in this economy. The 10-year bond currently has a yield of 5.28%, which is its highest level since 2002. This rate trickles down to all consumers, causing the interest rate you pay to buy a new home to rise to 7.28% for an average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Need to finance a new car? Be prepared to shell out for a car loan with an annual percentage rate between 6.35% and 7.0%.

The average consumer credit card interest rate has now reached a mindbogglingly crushing rate of 22.15%, while consumer credit card balances have exceeded $1.1 trillion dollars as families just like mine are charging everything to their credit cards just to cover their basic living expenses. Like always, working families are paying the price for the federal government’s runaway spending and historically high national debt.

The story they’ve been telling us about inflation is just that, a made up story. Inflation isn’t going down. It’s actually rising. You don’t need to be an economist to know that. Just fill up your gas tank or go to the grocery store. Use your own eyes. Question what you’re hearing and ask yourself if that jibes with what you’re seeing in your daily life. Is it more expensive today to provide food, clothing, and shelter to your family? Trust your instincts. You’re not wrong. Inflation is real, and it’s only growing.

The U.S. trade deficit hit $105.6 billion in data released by the Commerce Department on reflecting trade figures for the month of August 2026. This is the widest trade deficit since before President Donald Trump’s tariffs were enacted in 2025.

So I guess tariffs aren’t actually helping narrow the trade deficit. Good to know! I wish there had been someone who could have predicted that. Oh yea, there was!

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said in an Interview on Bloomberg Television's Wall Street Week with David Westin on February 1, 2024 that “tariffs don't eliminate trade deficits unless they get so high as to basically make trade impossible."

Steven Spielberg is stepping back into the world of “Transformers” to play a more active role creatively as Paramount gets ready to make the 8th live-action movie in the franchise. No word yet on if Michael Bay will also return as a producer or director, as the new movie doesn’t yet have a director attached to it. The “Transformers” franchise has grossed $5.4 billion dollars worldwide, according to Wikipedia.

Apparently, we've got to the point of the store where anyone, anywhere, can just rebrand commonly used terms whenever they want. On Tuesday, September 29th, 2026 President Donald Trump decided that all of the United States federal government would now use the term “Super Intelligence” instead of “Artificial intelligence.”

“Coincidentally”, because apparently there's nothing shady to see here, there was a huge spike in registrations ahead of the announcement for the .SI domain name which the country of Slovakia owns

I would never be so controversial as to insinuate that there was any insider buying, but the timing sure does look suspicious.

At the same meeting President Donald Trump met with a number of heads of AI companies, because you're not about to get me to say the term “super intelligence” with a straight face. At the meeting the CEOs of OpenAI, Anthropic, meta, and Nvidia who all apparently signed a ‘morally binding’ agreement to help police AI, or whatever that means.

How one person can rename a $2.56 trillion dollar industry all by themselves and expect the whole world to go along is beyond me, but hey that's 2026 for you!

No word yet on if Sam Altman has agreed to rename openai to OpenSI.

Not content to just own dozens of mega mansions across the United States, now Larry Ellison is buying homes near his properties for his staff to live so they have a shorter commute. You can’t even make this up. Talk about job benefits.

Today Larry Ellison’s real estate empire is worth an estimated at $2.9 billion, and includes estates, private islands, and his own personal Hawaiian resort. An exact count of homes and properties he owns in nearly impossible due to his use of off-market purchases, LLC to hide his ownership, and properties he’s bought for his staff as a business expense, but here’s my best shot at cataloging Larry Ellison’s real estate holdings:

Elizabeth Banks has a new movie coming out, and the trailer for DreamQuil just dropped. It’s a doozy. So strange. When I first watched it I thought it looked like a normal, if not boring movie, but then it just kept getting stranger as it went. I’m not into horror movies, and I know some would debate if this even qualifies, but it has enough supernatural in it to scare me, so I’m gonna pass, but just from the trailer it looks like Elizabeth Banks could win an Oscar from her performance!

Now that Paramount has acquired Warner Bros. Discovery and the transaction has closed as of Tuesday, October 8th, 2026, the new merged company will officially be renamed Skydance. But fret not my readers, Paramount and Warner Bros will continue to live on as their own distinct studio, which have 35 movies between them both scheduled for release in 2027.

I know a lot of people are worried about this merger, but if it results in more movies and quality programming from these iconic studios then I'm all for it. If anything, it might save me some money since I'll no longer have to subscribe to both streaming services, and will now be able to get them under one app. Although I'm guessing the price of the app isn't going to be cheap.

File this under “F@ck around and find out.” If you drink, and drive, you get fired from your NFL commentary job, and potentially lose out on the remaining $72 million dollars on your contract.

Or did he?

Rumors are swirling that Tony Romo has been negotiating his exit package to go slowly, instead of a long drawn out public legal fight with CBS. Word on the street is he could “get anywhere from half to two-thirds of the money — $36 million to $48 million.” according to a story on NBC Sports.

I have mixed feelings on this, and like I always say “It’s complicated. First off, he drank and drove, and we should all be responsible for our actions. End of story. On the other hand, he’s one of the best and most entertaining color commentary NFL broadcasters in the business, and games are so much more exciting to watch when he’s in the booth.

At the end of the day I’m guessing he’ll make out great financially, and it’s the fans that will lose out. Oh yea, and his family for all the drama he’s put them through.

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