In today’s newsletter I discuss the affordability crisis, Tesla cancels their Cybertruck and why that is a big missed opportunity, Ai can now form their own corporations and that’s scary if you’ve ever watched Westworld, Anthropic just bought $3.4 billion dollars worth of gas turbine generators and skipped a 6-year wait, I’m buying a bunch of Amazon's new Ring flying drones, California's Proposition 40 failed and the billionaires won, and Cristiano Ronaldo announced he’s retiring from Portugal’s national team, while continuing to play for Al Nassr FC in the Saudi Pro League.

Let’s get into it!

It's getting tough to afford to buy groceries to feed my family of four. That's tough to admit to a stranger, and even harder to announce it on a YouTube video that could potentially reach 2.5 billion people, but I'm just saying the quiet part out loud that so many Americans are feeling right now. Join me as I dig into what is causing the affordability crisis, how we got here, and how Americans can come together across the political landscape to overcome the affordability crisis. Let's get into it.

The affordability crisis in the United States is defined by stagnant wages, inflation, sky high interest rates, and a seemingly never-ending housing crunch. The harsh reality is the cost of living has outpaced people’s incomes, resulting in rising debt and sleepless nights for too many. And don’t even get me started on how impossible the American dream must feel for first-time home buyers who are trying to come up with a 20% downpayment when the median home price in the U.S. is now around $400,000 dollars, meaning they need to somehow save up $80,000 for that downpayment. It might as well be a $1 million dollar downpayment - that’s how out of reach it feels for first-time home buyers. I’m not even going to get into those mortgage rates approaching 7%. Nope. Not gonna even touch that one.

Families are feeling the pain at the grocery checkout where the average monthly food bill for a family of four, like mine, has climbed to over $1,500 dollars, but our paychecks haven’t grown at the same pace. Add to all that the increasing trade conflicts we seem to be creating with our allies around the world and our neighbors to the north, Canada, which the U.S., for some reason that defies logic, has imposed 50% tariffs on because they don’t want to be the 51st state. The United States and Canada exchange more than $796 billion dollars in goods and services every year, making them one of our biggest trading partners just behind Mexico.

The cracks in the financial foundation of American families have been growing for decades, and wage stagnation coupled with a year-over-year headline inflation rate of approximately 4.0% is hitting Americans in their pocketbooks at the same time their investment and retirement accounts have been growing at the fastest rate since the end of the Covid crisis, and before that, it was in 2009 during the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. So it’s an odd feeling to be worried about your daily finances while feeling excited about the prospect of actually being able to retire and live comfortably someday. Then you think about how far away 59½ is, and you’re right back to worrying. Welcome to my life.

Is there anything that can be done about the affordability crisis? Well, yes, in fact there are few things the United States could do. I have some thoughts.

As we just witnessed in the recent midterm election, the sheer weight of the affordability crisis has transcended our deeply divided politics, and has united us in our demand for politicians to finally listen to us and begin working in our favor instead of for special interests and billionaires. It does not matter if you live in a red state, or a blue state, or a state of denial, because every state’s constituents are drowning in household debts that have reached an unprecedented $19.1 trillion dollars in the United States. That massive debt load includes $13.37 trillion dollars in mortgage debt, $1.73 trillion dollars in auto loans, and $1.66 trillion dollars in student loan debt. It’s time for bold solutions to the affordability crisis, and even bolder leaders who’ll stand up for all Americans and actually help fight the causes of the affordability crisis. It’s time to take action. No more paying lip service in a 10-second sound bite. Let’s tackle the affordability crisis together, as only Americans can.

It’s not enough that AI is coming for your job, but now those sentient beings are forming their own companies. Delaware has proposed the Artificial Intelligence Company Act (AICA) that would create a new legal entity known as an Artificial Intelligence Company, which would allow it to own property, sign contracts, and direct daily business operations. I mean, what could go wrong?!?! There’s a tiny little link in the proposed bill that would require one of these AI companies to have either a human or corporate owner that would legally own the AI companies, as well as pay Delaware’s annual state franchise tax of $1,000 dollars (you know, because capitalism). If you’ve seen Westworld you’ll remember the character Dolores Abernathy, played by Evan Rachel Wood, develops the ability to seamlessly hack and facilitate financial transactions just by thinking it. You can’t honestly tell me weren’t not 7 minutes from midnight of the AI revolution.

Anthropic just bought $3.4 billion dollars worth of gas turbine generators, each capable of producing 1.7 gigawatts of electricity, to power their AI data centers, and they did it by skipping the years-long line and buying out another company’s order. Texas developer OnePWR Solutions had placed the massive order with Caterpillar over 2 years ago, but the markets haven’t been kind to the company and they were unable to raise the funding to complete the order. In stepped Anthropic to complete the deal and skip the 6-year waiting list. Talk about good timing.

OMG! I’m buying this as soon as it comes out. In fact I’m getting 2 or 3! Real quick back story. I’m a voyeur. It’s true, but not the creepy kind…at least I don’t think I am. You see, I have a bunch of these cameras that connect to the internet so you can monitor your home when you’re away. It started out innocently enough. I just wanted to check in on our cats when we were away, and make sure the pet sitter fed them. Then I figured I’d put a camera outside facing my driveway, because we’ve had little punks in the neighborhood going through people’s cars at night looking for money. From there I figured I’d put a “couple” of cameras at my seasonal camp, so I could see what goes on when no one is there. That jumped up a few notches after I saw a parade of turkeys walk next to my fireplace, and an otter that got into my camp and snacked on a bag of chips in my kitchen. Then my mom came to me asking if I could help her put up some cameras at her house so she could monitor it while she was in Florida for the winter, then from there she asked me to put cameras in her Florida condo so she can monitor it while she’s back at home in New York. See how these things spiral? LOL. I’m not even going to get into the cameras I have monitoring my Bitcoin mining rigs I have at my house, camp, my mom’s condo, and soon to be in her basement at her home. So yea, that’s my little voyeuristic backstory, and it’s why I’m so excited about Amazon's new Ring flying drone that can autonomously fly a preplaned route in your home to keep an eye on everything while you’re away. So now you understand why I HAVE to get a couple of these. Think about how cool it’ll be to fly a drone remotely in my home while I’m away, or in the dead of night in January when it’s -10 outside I can be flying a drone at my camp in the Adirondacks from room-to-room seeing that absolutely nothing at all is going on. I’m seriously way more excited about this than I ever thought I’d be, and you should be too!

California's Proposition 40, you know the one where they wanted to tax billionaires with a one-time 5% wealth tax, failed and surprise surprise it was all because billionaires poured around $378 million dollars into campaigning against it. What will it take to get special interests out of politics?!?!

Tesla is ending production of their Cybertruck, and I think that’s the end of the chapter on a huge missed opportunity. Let me explain.

Only around 70,000 Cybertrucks were ever made and like the Delorean it was modeled after, it was ahead of its time. The Cybertruck’s stainless steel body, the bulletproof-like windows, and the 845 horsepower and 866 pound feet of torque of its electric motor all made it unlike any other truck on the market, and those are all good things. Then we have the truck’s styling, and that’s where beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As a long term Tesla stock holder, and car enthusiast, I’m not ashamed to share that I was not a fan of the Cybertruck’s styling. More importantly, 72% of respondents to a recent poll said they had a negative sentiment about the “truck”, with 60% of current truck owners not even considering the Cybertruck a real truck. And this is where I think Tesla missed the mark.

For all of the Cybertruck’s great qualities and attributes, it was styled like a futuristic MadMax looking vehicle that just didn’t appeal to the American consumer. I’ve often wondered if Tesla has come out with the Cybertruck in its current shape, gotten all the press and initial reactions, but then debuted a still stylish pickup truck that looked more like what Americans want in the style of a Dodge Ram, or a Ford F-150, or Chevy Silverado; you know an American truck when you see one. In 2025, a combined 1,783,259 trucks comprising the Ford F-Series (828,832 units), Chevrolet Silverado (580,368 units), and Dodge Ram (374,059 units) truck models were sold in the United States. Tesla could have been that third brand. Add to that the fact, and I do say FACT, that the Cybertruck was damned by its association with Elon Musk right-wing political leadings. People are free in this country to express their political beliefs, but we are accountable for our actions. I’m a huge Elon Musk fan, but he’s said some pretty horrible things, and the public has judged him for those comments. There’s just no getting around that, and it affected sales of the Cybertruck.

Now Tesla’s Cybertruck will be only a footnote in the automaker’s history books, but for me it’ll always represent a missed opportunity for Tesla.

Cristiano Ronaldo announced he’s retiring from Portugal’s national team, while continuing to play for Al Nassr FC in the Saudi Pro League. Cristiano Ronaldo has made more than $2 billion dollars in total earnings from his contracts and endorsements, and has a net worth of $1.2 billion dollars. He’s played in 6 FIFA World Cups for the Portugal national team, and scored 11 goals. FWIW, I think it’s unfair to compare Cristiano Ronaldo to Lionel Messi, as too many in the media do. Why can’t we just say they’re both two of the best soccer players in the world, and just leave it at that?!?!

Was this email forwarded to you? Did you not hate it?

Then consider subscribing to The Business Behind The News. The only newsletter that brings you the business behind the news, with a healthy dose of sarcasm - all delivered to your inbox once a week in an easily digestible 5-minute read.

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