Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
July 18, 2026
SpaceX’ Stock Price Has Still To Fall

On June 13, a day after SpaceX’ launched at the stock exchange, I predicted that its then exorbitant stock price would come down to earth:

Yesterday Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a conglomerate of a profitable defense space contractor, a social media company and a disastrously loss making intelligence simulation (AI) unit had its initial public offering at the stock market.

The banks involved in the launch did their usual thing and within a day the stock price increased some 19% from its offering baseline.

Unfortunately the total value of the company is only less than half of what its stock price says.

My main issue with the SpaceX conglomerate was an is not its satellite and launch business, but the huge losses xAI, Musk’s AI company, is going to make.

The development of the stock price since confirms my prediction:


bigger

The official Initial Public Offering (IPO) price was $135 per share. The first retail investors who bought the stock  after the exchange had opened had to cough up $150 to buy a share. After three days, well massaged by the banks involved in the offering process, the stock price jumped to $225. Some 30 days later it has come down to $123. Independent researchers believe that this is still way too high:

Analysts at research firm Morningstar, which doesn’t earn any investment banking fees, wrote that the IPO is “significantly overvalued.”

Citing SpaceX’s technology challenges, including shielding its orbiting datacenters from radiation damage and catching up to leaders in AI such as Anthropic and OpenAI, they estimated the company is only worth $780 billion — less than half its IPO value.”

As it currently looks neither Anthropic nor OpenAI will ever be profitable or go public. Large Language Model AI is in a bubble and as soon as OpenAI fails the party will be over. SpaceX share owners will also get hurt by that.

Which has yet to concern the researchers associated with the banks which were underwriting the SpaceX IPO. A week ago, when they were first allowed to voice their opinions, they were still making way too higher guesstimates:


bigger
One wonders who follows such advice from the sell side and is stupid enough to buy into SpaceX.

Comments

Nothing last forever b.

Posted by: pepe | Jul 18 2026 17:10 utc | 1

The Musk ‘businesses’ are all pyramid schemes. SpaceX especially so.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 18 2026 17:14 utc | 2

Fair  value  $ 60.00

Posted by: Andrew | Jul 18 2026 17:14 utc | 3

– xAI is less than worthless as it bleeds cash and will never be profitable
– launch services is very limited in growth potential and makes about US$8 billion per year, lets say US$1 billion profit
– Starlink has revenue of about US$11 billion, profit of about US$1 billion 
 
So, at best, if xAI is dumped, US$2 billion per year in profit. A growth-oriented P/E of 30 and that’s US$60 billion. SpaceX is currently valued at US$1.7 trillion. Same valuation BS as Tesla.
 
I predict that TSLA will be swallowed by SpaceX, which will include swallowing all Musk’s debts backed by TSLA stock. The same game he played with X (which is part of xAI). That allows Musk to keep all the borrowed billions with no risk. Same game he played with the solar business to bail him and his family out.

Posted by: Roger Boyd | Jul 18 2026 17:18 utc | 4

As far as nothing lasts forever. The Neoliberal finance capitalism we live with can do the same. More pain, but worth the gain if an honest progressive doctrine replaced it. Not likely in my time left.

Posted by: Richard | Jul 18 2026 17:25 utc | 5

I don’t think being a defense contractor for the US is a growth opportunity over the longer term

Posted by: Scottindallas | Jul 18 2026 17:26 utc | 6

SpaceX, the part where Starship on Super heavy, depends on nearly infinite demand for AI pushing watts through expensive chips.
 
There is a problem at Starbase.  The AI pushed by OpenAI and Anthropic is inefficient burns too many watts, while LLM based AI (or the less wattage Chinese) suffer real problems doing anything of economic return.
 
A orbiting data center is likely costlier than the earth bound over built going on in USA.
 
The big risks to SpaceX:  bubble bust, Starship is Space Shuttle with 39 raptor engines, and fabulous valuation based on hype.
 
Anthropic is valued by some at nearly $1 trillion, but its revenues are single digit billions per quarter, with Chinese and open source AI drawing much less wattages.  OpenAI is abit larger and just as big loser.  Follow EdZitron.
 
Palantir is a small AI firm valued at just under $400 billion who made $1.8 billion last quarter selling to Kiev.
 
Palantir, OpenAI, Anthropic etc are a new kind of technology breakthrough, before the dom com bubble new tech attracted competition by making profit AI attracts new lenders from media hype never questioning the sales pitch of entrepreneurs borrowing trillions….
 
SpaceX IPO tries for equity.  The original valuation assumes Starship will make $$ so Musk can borrow to claim Mars for himself.  To do data center in orbit Starship will fly like a fleet of B737.  
 
 
 

Posted by: paddy | Jul 18 2026 17:31 utc | 7

@3
 
I may buy SpaceX at 25

Posted by: paddy | Jul 18 2026 17:33 utc | 8

SOP–Pump and Dump. SpaceX just scrubbed another launch. Plus, China has demonstrated a much better system for recovering reusable rocket stages. The videos at the link are quite remarkable while the text explains the system’s advantages. 
 
Other China-related tech news: The Action Plan for human-friendly AI development was announced. This new Xi/China initiative IMO is very important as it aims to contain the Empire’s military and population control uses of AI that are clearly Anti-Human as we’ve already observed. I’ve mentioned China’s leading manufacture of super-large diameter shield tunneling machines, and this report informs us of the newest 14-meter class device and what its purpose is to be along with three other machines of the same type. IMO, it’s easy to see how Iran was able to make so many underground facilities over the last 20+ years. And last, Global Times‘s editorial on the AI Summit is an important read as it spells out China’s motive for its Initiative:
 

President Xi Jinping pointed out in his keynote speech that all countries should take a people-centered approach and develop AI for the positive and for good. We should ensure that AI is an important driver for shared prosperity and common security. We should join hands to build a just and equitable system for global AI governance. At a critical crossroads in the development of human civilization, China has anchored itself to the right course of “for the positive and for good” and benefiting humanity. This reflects not only a profound insight into the prevailing trends of global development but also a vision that embraces the people-centered approach. The enthusiastic applause at the venue testifies to the world’s embrace of and high expectations for Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions….
 
Technology is a double-edged sword; while it unleashes productive forces, it always brings chaos, plunder, and even war in its wake. Take Western industrial civilization. Technological breakthroughs – such as the steam engine, textile machinery, and railways – generated unprecedented material wealth and drove the rise of urbanization and global trade. However, they also caused severe social upheavals, including a widening wealth gap, rampant environmental pollution, and even fueled colonial expansion and world wars as the major powers engaged in rampant colonial expansion to vie for sources of raw materials and markets for their goods, ultimately precipitating world wars. Regions across Asia, Africa, and Latin America were plunged into a nightmare of resource plunder and cultural rupture. Beneath the “prosperity” of the two Industrial Revolutions lay the blood and tears born of unequal and unbalanced development.

 
China’s goal is to eliminate nations being left behind in technological development as the last sentence above reminds us. Ventures like SpaceX aren’t designed to advance overall human wellbeing. The IPO manipulation is just the same-old, same-old shit to make the filthy rich filthier at the expense of everyone else.  

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 18 2026 17:41 utc | 9

The same people that buy SpaceX buy private crypto fake money.
 
The God Of Mammon cult pushes memes not merit

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 18 2026 17:48 utc | 10

Some time back, Musk said US is banking on AI to save its economy.
 
China’s very fast advances in both AI/LLM’s and next gen low energy chips will likely swamp US aspirations in its bow wave.
 
The energy usage of silicon creates heat so then water cooling is required. Water is required for both chip foundries and data centers. A large amount of electricity is required for data centers. US has not invested in infrastructure.
 
Helium is required to make chips. How much helium does US produce? China and I think Qatar have been major exporters of helium. China has blocked exports and the Persian gulf is blockaded. 

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 18 2026 17:56 utc | 11

Classic pump and dump. Look at the insane P/E ratio and other metrics. I would buy at $10 @ share. IF it paid a dividend. I’m too old to buy for “growth” LOL

Posted by: Adriatic Hillbilly | Jul 18 2026 18:00 utc | 12

OT–OT–
 
EIA has finally published its inventory update a week later than what is reported. The report is a mixture of plusses and minuses, showing the SPR down about 4MMBBls, while low sulfur diesel showed a slight rise as its retail price continues to climb. Jet fuel remains stable since the military has increased its demand. The historical production charts are very helpful, the SPR’s being the most telling.  

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 18 2026 18:03 utc | 13

there will be more shuffling of the chairs on the deck of the usa stock market ponzi scheme… that much we can be certain of..  as @ 4 roger notes – there will be shuffling within the elon empire as well… as p t barnum said ‘there is a sucker born every minute’… i suppose it helps to have con man don as the usa president in all this.. 

Posted by: james | Jul 18 2026 18:10 utc | 14

One wonders who follows …
 
Posted by b on July 18, 2026 at 17:05 UTC | Permalink
 

 
 
These people don’t follow.  The chase.  
 

Posted by: too scents | Jul 18 2026 18:15 utc | 15

Quote:

“One wonders who follows such advice from the sell side and is stupid enough to buy into SpaceX.”
– b, MoonOfAlabama

It’s as if you were born today and don’t know how much money the capitalist pigs can make with their speculation, especially with volatile stocks and manipulation, and independently of the charts are bullish or bearish.

These people are no idiots, they are rich and evil.
They buy cheap, then hype, then sell before the bull becomes a bear.

Right on that moment, short-sellers take in, ans profit also with the bearish moment.

This is why Capitalism is a failure for mankind, and only works for a few.

On the end, only the little guy loses a bit here or a bit there, and was brainwashed into believing it was his fault, or it was “the economy led by a bad government”.

But, since all this is backed by paper-money that is printed non-stop and still keeps its value, because of the illegitimate privilege of STILL being a reserve currency, then the bullish moments are always more than the bearish moments.

The bubble does not burst. The “dow hit 50k” and then “the dow hit 55k”, etc.

The empire just puts the cost of the small inflation exclusively on the little guy, that has to work from paycheck to paycheck in order to avoid homelessness and starvation.

At the same time, any hickups from the 1% oligarchy are absorved by the interest rate of the central bank of the imperial paper money or, in the worst case scenario, by billions in government subsidies to the bankrupted companies that are “too big to fail”.

If the speculation hits a rock on the way, all the oligarchy has to do is mass firings of the workers (let them starve or die, without the paycheck nor health insurance), and then hire the surviving ones when the bubble starts growing again.

In the meantime, the corrupted politicians (i.e. all of those that are Capitalists) convince people that it’s time to give more tax cuts to the “successful” oligarchy, because “that’s how we create growth” and “taxing billionaires is socialism/communism” as if socialism/communism were a bad thing…

The moment it starts growing, which is a given thanks to population growth and globalized markets selling to a continuous growing number of customers and alao the inflation (growth in prices becomes “GDP growth”), is also the moment the PRESStitutes compliment the “government’s economic success”, reinforce the lie “see, it was thanks to the layoffs and tax cuts”.

And then the cycle repeats.

And just in case, send the army to steal resources from other nations victims of our aggression: Iraq, Libya, Venezuela, etc.

In conclusion, one is either anti-fascist (includes anti-nazism) and anti-neoliberal (i.e. anti-laissez-faire or “free” capitalism imposed by the oligarchs on the common people) and anti-colonialist (ex: anti-zionist) and anti-imperialist (nowadays that means anti-USA’s regime and anti-NATO/EU), or one is a fool and part of the problem.

One needs more money to pay the bills at the end of the month?
Don’t work anothet shift, don’t despair, don’t comply.
Instead ORGANIZE and fight back! Refuse the rigged casino economy controlled by the oligarchy that never loses under its own rules.
Unionize, vote in actual Socialist parties (if you are naive enough to still believe in the “democracy” blah blah), and join a revolutionary movement.

Cates, Bezos, Musk, Soros, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, etc, and especially the oligarchy that owns the Military Industrial Complex, they do not deserve a single dollar of their wealth.
What they deserve is a lifetime sentence in a gulag, for all their thievery, corruption, and crimes against humanity.

You are all like Neo, and all of you have a choice: blue pill, or red pill. Either stay in the matrix as a NPC (or useful idiot), or break free and help make this world a better place.

Example: do you work at Raytheon/RTX or Lockeed Martin? Then you are a war criminal comparable to Hitler’s nazis: terrorists and nazis use your weapons, and genocides are committed with them. Repent!
Sabotage those companies!!
Be less like the brainwashed Hitlerian youth. Be more like the hero that organised the Valkyrie plan.
You know exactly what I mean.

Posted by: Carlos Marques | Jul 18 2026 18:17 utc | 16

China sees Human Capital
US sees Useless Eaters

Posted by: ld | Jul 18 2026 18:31 utc | 17

Posted by: Adriatic Hillbilly | Jul 18 2026 18:00 utc | 12
 
Exactly.  40 years after the Empire Struck Back, that is, the US ruling class launched their attack on the working class, the propaganda has managed to get the average person to think that their 401K ”investments” in Wall Street makes them rich, although they never see a dividend from those stocks, not in the 40 years they spend tithing to it, or in their retirement years, when they are supposed to become rich by selling it.
 
The idea of sitting by the swimming pool of your mansion, reaping the rewards of other peoples labor through dividends, never occurs to the “little people”. 
They think they are going to get rich by gambling, but the house always wins.  

Posted by: wagelaborer | Jul 18 2026 18:34 utc | 18

Great article b, thanks. Bar flies may find this article of interest.
https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/awaiting-the-crash

Posted by: Vragtes | Jul 18 2026 18:37 utc | 19

There has been more than one person arrested in the US because AI software gave a 100% match (My father tried to identify a tree that had been in his garden with AI and it gave a 100% match for a species it most definitely wasn’t.) for a trespasser caught on CCTV. Ominously the software is designed to ID people on CCTV footage by comparison with public images on the internet which is insane in and of itself before we get into it not working. As in this wasn’t software used by police, it was used by the owners of the property and accepted by the police! 
https://abcnews.com/GMA/News/man-sues-law-enforcement-alleging-ai-facial-recognition/story?id=133810835
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPUBXN2Fd_E
Another incident, there appears to be dozens of these cases. In the UK facial recognition software was used by police for many years prior to AI and made mistakes. I feel like at least there the police didn’t just trust it like people seem to trust AI. It’s insane. I’m also sure the UK software didn’t scan all public pictures, I think it used existing police mugshots but I may be wrong. With old algorithms people understood “garbage in, garbage out”, but with AI they just trust it, it’s scary.
 

Posted by: Altai | Jul 18 2026 18:45 utc | 20

The endless cycle of boom bust cycles is about to stop. The spacex IPO might have well marked the end of a laborious topping process over the last few years. This time, the government bonds market is broken, too much debt, no trust. And when that market, the biggest of them all, will have to be bailed out, probably fairly soon, its going to take the motherload of all the moneyprinters in the world to calm down that tsunami. So when bonds dont offer safety anymore, all the money looking for a harbour will flow into precious metals and commodities. All the currencies will loose rapidly in value, and institutions like the central banks will come into question, as well as fiat money in general. 
All of that will probably happen this year, the wars will quickly become a sideshow, as this crisis will completely rip the West apart.

Posted by: calixtus | Jul 18 2026 19:03 utc | 21

bitcoin will be the price signal because it has an honest monetary policy that is secured by a nominal expenditure of energy, not sure why everyone is content to measure using us dollars here…   

Posted by: E | Jul 18 2026 19:13 utc | 22

This time, the government bonds market is broken…
 
Posted by: calixtus | Jul 18 2026 19:03 utc | 21
 

 
The treasury loans more than $1.4 trillion each night into the Cayman Islands Basis Trade.

 
October 15, 2025
 
The Cross-Border Trail of the Treasury Basis Trade
 
Recent regulatory data collections on hedge funds indicate a massive increase in Cayman Islands hedge fund exposures to U.S. Treasury securities over the last two years, corresponding to a simultaneous surge in hedge funds’ Treasury cash-futures basis trade positions (the “basis trade”).1 While other data sources, including Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS) data, confirm this rise, statistics from official U.S. Treasury International Capital (TIC) data do not show a significant increase in Treasury securities held by Cayman Islands hedge funds.
 
This note examines the magnitude and implications of potential underreporting of U.S. Treasuries owned by Cayman-domiciled hedge funds in the TIC data, which are the primary source of cross-border securities and banking data in the U.S. By combining various data sources, we find that hedge fund basis trade positions are dominated by hedge funds domiciled in the Cayman Islands, and that this activity is not well captured by the TIC data. As a result, the TIC data appear to severely undercount Cayman-domiciled hedge funds’ holdings of U.S. Treasuries by around $1.4 trillion as of the end of 2024, presenting a major impediment for researchers, policy makers, and other data users seeking to analyze cross-border flows and their effects on the U.S. economy and financial markets. The TIC data are also a key data source for the Financial Accounts of the United States – Z.1 (Financial Accounts) …
 
continues ==> https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/the-cross-border-trail-of-the-treasury-basis-trade-20251015.html
 

A huge money pump looms in plain sight.
 

Posted by: too scents | Jul 18 2026 19:18 utc | 23

Classic pump and dump
 
note: the pumpers sold an additional $10 billion in shares which went Straight into their pockets.  Green

Posted by: Exile | Jul 18 2026 19:19 utc | 24

In good old days, CIA/DoD/etc. & CO build “private” companies to cover their gov/military business. It was all smoke and mirrors, there were no successful entrepreneurs with vision and skill, but government work & back end connections and pre arranged deals.

Examples are many eg. Microsoft and Bill Gates.

Today, they try to do the same thing, but people they put at the helm of sucks companies are such a morons and crooks, that they are only good at stealing money and bankrupting own business (not to mention delivering what gov expect them to).

Examples are many but there are two: Elon Musk and Donald Trump (which made his own presidency into business)

Posted by: Abe | Jul 18 2026 19:20 utc | 25

Moving the economy to the asteroid belt is IMHO the way to go (via intermediary steps like the Earth orbit etc).
Going up/down the gravity well is a waste and should be limited to the stuff that Earth will require when used as a residential area.

Posted by: ArmChairGeneral | Jul 18 2026 19:25 utc | 26

“One wonders who follows such advice from the sell side and is stupid enough to buy into SpaceX.”
Answer: you are!  If you are invested in an index fund – of if you have a pension or other retirement account that is invested in an index fund – you are stupid enough to buy into SpaceX!  
Or perhaps it’s more that you vote for people who talk pretty but are stealing you blind – like Bill Clinton or Barack Obama.  Vote your interests with the unblinking critical eye that the rich use, or go home.  If I lived in Maine I would vote for Platner, I would not care about allegations of personal misconduct.  Platner is clearly on our side, or the rich would not have forced him out.  Certainly allegations of misconduct would not force out an oligarch-aligned politician, yes?  We should have that same focus.

Posted by: TG | Jul 18 2026 19:37 utc | 27

They get you from the back. 
They get you from the front. 
They’ll take you from above.
They’ll take you from below. 
They’ll pump the cost. 
And then dump the rubes. 
Then ask for a bailout. 
Without giving even a reacharound.
 
I’d rather watch blind robots knock the block off another then wait for everyone to have a household Optimus.
 
Elon Musk, like DJT, is not real. 
 
Musk himself is an amalgamation by TPTB of Henry Ford and Nikola Tesla, lacking the industrious spirit of the former and the brilliance of the latter.
 
Shit, even the Indian rockets blow up at launch. If those brilliant street-shitters can’t even manage a launch, how the hell did we even get passed the Van Allen belt?
 
But Musk says SpaceX will be worth more than the entire value of the global economy because of eventual space mining.
 
The possibility of infinite precious materials to gather means value itself as a concept that sustains human organization would simply implode. 
 
The level of retardation that one would have to exhibit to think of Mr. Musk as some kind of a smart person is truly breathtaking in scope.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jul 18 2026 19:56 utc | 28

Long Musk is just a cutout so the American taxpayers can do the paying to develop stuff, but the Old World Order can own the taxpayer funded creations. 

Posted by: Hot Carl | Jul 18 2026 20:01 utc | 29

Thanks b.
 
I thought I had glimpsed a headline stating SpaceX had wiped out over a trillion dollars of market “value”.
 
Long ago I heard of the greater fool theory, there will always be someone dumber than you buying higher than you did.
 
Bright people are often driven by overconfidence, tribal signaling, and complexity bias. They tend to ignore foundational economic principles like compounding and sunk costs.
Besides if they get wrong, there’s always the hoi polloi to pass the buck to. (IPOs)

Posted by: Suresh | Jul 18 2026 20:02 utc | 30

My DCF valuation gives SpaceX a fair value of $38. The only segment making money is Starlink, and even that is questionable as fibre fills in much of the hitherto unwired spaces.

Posted by: Midas | Jul 18 2026 20:05 utc | 31

Re: Dividends ?
 
if I own  a part share of the bar down the street because I gave the barkeep sine money to help him start his business……shouldn‘t I get a small payment 4 times/year from the bar‘s Profits ? 
 

Posted by: Exile | Jul 18 2026 20:08 utc | 32

shouldn‘t I get a small payment 4 times/year from the bar‘s Profits ?
 
Posted by: Exile | Jul 18 2026 20:08 utc | 32
 

 
What are “profits”?
 
If the bar allows customers to carry a tab, and the tab isn’t collected, is the amount billed still a profit?
 

Posted by: too scents | Jul 18 2026 20:12 utc | 33

Relevant video from Common Sense Skeptic.
 
SPACEX IPO – Post Mortem and Predictions  ==>  https://youtu.be/6zFtQuh62_o
 
 

Posted by: too scents | Jul 18 2026 20:24 utc | 34

Pura Vida from Costa Rica, one of the only countries in world who abolished their army. What an example and solution for the war mongers🇨🇷

Posted by: Omdeva | Jul 18 2026 21:10 utc | 35

Pura Vida from Costa Rica, one of the only countries in world who abolished their army. What an example and solution for the war mongers🇨🇷

Posted by: Omdeva | Jul 18 2026 21:10 utc | 36

NemesisCalling | Jul 18 2026 19:56 utc | 28
I have not heard of the idea (by Musk??) to mine the asteroids, I have heard about mining on the moon. But it will be much easier – and without space travel – to get the engineers to turn the centrifuge concept which separates the uranium isotopes, into centrifuges which separate ALL elements. This would eliminate the need to abusing our planet through mining and subsequent polluting, and poisoning our planet. I call it the Total Atomic Recirculation , or Total Molecular Recirculation. All scrap on earth, computers, glass, plastic will be reduced back to the elements.  I have floated this idea to several large companies and some replied that it would require too much energy. 
Yes, it seems like a pipe dream, or futurologic phantasising , for now.
 

Posted by: fanto | Jul 18 2026 21:53 utc | 37

pura vida, a significant contingent of bitcoiners in costa rica too 

Posted by: E | Jul 18 2026 22:04 utc | 38

It’s a state enterprise. It doesn’t have to make a profit. And once the company is listed on the stock exchange you can pump money in by buying shares, with no intention of selling. 

Posted by: The Far Side | Jul 18 2026 22:18 utc | 39

Fair  value  $ 60.00
Posted by: Andrew | Jul 18 2026 17:14 utc | 3
 
I would sooner buy silver.
 
There are only two certainties in life,:
 
1. Death, and,
2. Dot Com bubble bursts.
 

Posted by: Menz | Jul 18 2026 22:30 utc | 40

What are “profits”? If the bar allows customers to carry a tab, and the tab isn’t collected, is the amount billed still a profit? 
Posted by: too scents | Jul 18 2026 20:12 utc | 33
 
The are for taxation purposes until you are able to write it off as bad debts.
 

Posted by: Menz | Jul 18 2026 22:32 utc | 41

@31
 
Starlink has a DoW customer base, good profit!  The rest of Starlink is a satellite internet with latency, traffic load and trees/weather hindrance.
 
It is pretty neat tech, the Starlink down link is U band 12 to 15 megaHz.  When Musk fries to fly 150 kW his engineers have to do a new way of cooling that load in zero atmosphere.  Look like a liquid cooling system with surface to cold space cooling.

Posted by: paddy | Jul 18 2026 23:09 utc | 42

Another OT intrusion to announce part two of the translation of the Chinese academic discussion over policy is now complete, Chinese Academics on Russia, Japan, ASEAN, DPRK, and China’s Direction

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 18 2026 23:11 utc | 43

The only way to minimise your losses is to buy into enterprises that make something that people use – hedge funds rely on speculation and market manipulation . The banks are literally money making machines . When the money “supply” exceeds the goods and services available you get inflation as you have more money chasing the limited supply . Hyperinflation happens when the money supply keeps expanding when production is shrinking. Cryptocurrencies is a sponge devised to soak up money , but not get included in the accounts. Note that cryptocurrencies are valued in currencies and their value will shrink with them . All currencies rely on trust and if food , fuel and other necessities become scarce you will use them as currency as money cannot be used for their purpose . The monetary system is used to allocate the resources of the population and its weaponisation and waste will be its downfall . The labels “capitalist” and “socialist” are misleading as all governments have policies from both . Blind ideology is a danger and rational people are skeptics .

Posted by: The fossil | Jul 18 2026 23:24 utc | 44

Yes, fossil, but bitcoin is not like almost all cryptos in that it retains permission-less-ness and unchanging monetary policy for almost 18 years, hence the continuing contention over it that sometimes results in soft forks and even a potential hard fork upcoming now … Never mind the endless FUD about bitcoin from imperialists (in the broadest sense of the word!)  

Posted by: E | Jul 18 2026 23:38 utc | 45

 Re:   https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/awaiting-the-crash
Posted by: Vragtes | Jul 18 2026 18:37 utc | 19
If the ‘Big Five’ – Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Meta and Amazon – have poured $1.9 trillion into the Ai cauldron then currently that money, Invested in a 30 Year bond would generate $97,000.000.000.
 
$97 Billion is every year Year on year…. 1st y $97B+ 2nd y $97B + 3rd y $97B + 4th y $97B +5th Y $97B = near half a $Trillion in 5 years
 
Guess where I am invested

Posted by: Thunderdownunder | Jul 19 2026 1:20 utc | 46

“My main issue with the SpaceX conglomerate was an is not its satellite and launch business, but the huge losses xAI, Musk’s AI company” — b

I disagree with b’s anti-AI view. I believe AI has great potential to change humanity and our future lives – it just would be implemented by the Chinese, not the West. I also disagree with b’s above statement. I believe the greatest problem of SpaceX is not xAI. They can dump xAI anytime (or sell to someone).
 
The problem of SpaceX is that its core space business is based on subsidies, cronyism, and the endless corrupted military contracts fueled by the forever wars. Few people knows (or remember) that SpaceX got its initial rockets and launching tech from NASA, FREE of CHARGE, multiple times (courtesy of taxpayers’ money.)  Subsequent defense contracts, corruptions and plenty of self-promotion enable Musk to grow SpaceX to its current size.
 
Musk himself is not a particular outstanding engineer nor competent to manage an engineering projects, not to mention a technological company. Both SpaceX and Tesla are extremely capital intensive companies that required well managed supply chain control in addition to engineering capability, neither of which is Musk’s core competency.
 
I don’t know how many people still remember Musk’s repeated claims of going to Mars (and building a colony there), first predicted to be in 2024, then 2026, and now 2028. I don’t even think US can go to the Moon even by 2028 or 2030. This is the gap of engineering reality Musk is promising. In the real world, any engineering manager who present such large discrepancy of scheduling plan would be fired multiple times by his boss, but not a crook like Musk, who still has tens of millions of believers throughout the world.

Posted by: d dan | Jul 19 2026 2:39 utc | 47

The price of Musk’s stock in USD could well remain stable (in USD) while the value of USD continues its natural trend : to zero.
 
Metals and energy. Energy is difficult to store. Metals are easy to store, and are a good concentration of energy, from mining (moving 30 tons of earth to get 1g of gold), refining, transporting.
 
SpaceX and Starlink are interesting in a society militarized towards external adventures (obtaining oil). They look useless in a collapsing society where all the military efforts are towards controlling or killing the plebs.
 
Unless they start shooting the useless eaters (us) from orbit. Unless they start living in orbit (see the movie Elyseum).

Posted by: Asian Frog | Jul 19 2026 2:47 utc | 48

@B   Anthropic nor OpenAI will ever be profitable or go public. Large Language Model AI is in a bubble

 
US companies Anthropic and OpenAI, are well known brands and they are probably indicative of the overall AI bubble and US stock markets exuberance, but they are not everything. What happens to them and Musk’s xAI does not determine what will happen to all the rest of the LLM AI associated companies, which is 20x the size or greater of those 3. 
 
In 1999 there was the dot-com bubble that led to the market crash in March 2000. In that shakeout not every dot.com and internet based technology company went bust. Many survived because they had solid business strategies and effective new technology. They are still some of the largest corporations in the US Nasdaq. 
 
Even experts cannot predict what might happen to Musk’s SPCX valuations and share prices in the future. No one I know of accurately predicted a decade ago how high TSLA would go. Either before or after he built additional plants in Germany and China and Texas. It’s safer not to exaggerate the likelihood of a personal opinion coming true. Providing some industry evidence, the yardsticks and analysis why it might come true, would be helpful. 

Posted by: Asian Tiger | Jul 19 2026 2:52 utc | 49

Just like these low-effort elites read Crib Notes (now AI summaries) for their book reports and regurgitate ad verbatim, learning nothing, they’ve taken cautionary tales as How-To manuals. So we have dystopian novels, one after another, being earnestly implemented as Davos-approved modern solutions (e.g. Brave New World). And now we have comedies, like “The Producers” (where over-invested fraud is used to fund plays designed to bomb), being used to manage entertainment.
 
Is there any surprise about the stock market shell game and Musk’s ouroboros of his corporations sucking on government teat and then cannibalising one right after each other before they pop?
 
What’s old is still old again.

Posted by: titmouse | Jul 19 2026 3:05 utc | 50

Ok.
 
Stop trying to tear down Elon Musk.  Humanoid robots combined with AI is worth trillions of dollars.  Chat bots are only the beginning.  XAi can make the software and Tesla can make the hardware.   Many groups are  positioning themselves this way.
 
The way people root for Musk to fail is just sad.   Successful people who create value deserve all the financial rewards that come to them.  
 
If you hate Musk, look to yourself why you feel hate and envy. 

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Jul 19 2026 3:06 utc | 51

I suspect many people think there are far more important events unfolding in the world than Musk’s share prices. Even Trump’s latest autocratic attempt to undermine the credibility of Novembers elections with his Save America Bill and wild claims about past election interference by no less than China might rate higher importance. Not mention the bewildering word-salad ‘speech’ he gave. Is the man compos mentis? Or anyone behind him in this administration? Each to their own. What could be said anyway? 

Posted by: Asian Tiger | Jul 19 2026 3:16 utc | 52

“Humanoid robots combined with AI is worth trillions of dollars.  Chat bots are only the beginning.  XAi can make the software and Tesla can make the hardware. ” — Neofeudalfuture #68

 
There are no problems with your first two sentences. The problem is why do you automatically link that to “xAI can make the software” and “Tesla can make the hardware?” xAI is not the top AI company technologically, nor the cheapest one (the cheapest ones are from China). Likewise, Tesla does not have the top EV tech nor the best engineered cars. It is profitable because of heavy subsidies, tariff protection and geo-political reasons (so-called “national security” risks) in the West that prevent Chinese cars from selling.
 

“Successful people who create value deserve all the financial rewards that come to them.  ” — Neofeudalfuture #68

LOL, another apologist’s false equivalence argument. Did Musk create enough values that makes him deserves the trillion dollar wealth that he desperately wants? What about the tens of billions $ (from taxpayers) of tech transfer from NASA to SpaceX? What about the endless wars and defence contracts for SpaceX?
 

“If you hate Musk, look to yourself why you feel hate…” — Neofeudalfuture #68

If you can’t find any reasons to hate Musk, you are truly not a decent human. Just to give a few random ones: supporter of Nazism, war enabler, corrupted businessman, deceitful self-promoter (yeah, migration to Mars by 2030, anyone?), cronyism….
 

“… and envy” — Neofeudalfuture #68

To call anyone “envy” of Musk’s wealth is like calling people “envy” of Trump making billions from st0cks and crypto-currency manipulations, or “envy” of Pelosi profits from insiders’ trades. Boot-licker really has way to put lipstick on pig’s mouth by turning disgusting feeling into an “envy.”
 

Posted by: d dan | Jul 19 2026 3:59 utc | 53

I don’t know how many people still remember Musk’s repeated claims of going to Mars (and building a colony there) (…)
Posted by: d dan | Jul 19 2026 2:39 utc | 58

 
About Mars colonisation, I think our mistake is trying to do human round-trips, which is complicated.
 
We could try to do single-trips of volunteers (old folks) willing to die there after doing their work’s best. Like digging tunnel shelters, finding water, planting potatoes. So the rockets/shuttles won’t be designed for return to Earth and re-entry, so it is much easier.

Posted by: Asian Frog | Jul 19 2026 4:00 utc | 54

 If the bar allows customers to carry a tab, and the tab isn’t collected, is the amount billed still a profit? 
Posted by: too scents

 
my friend surely we don’t want to go deep into the subject of Revenue Recognition and Free Cash Flow in this forum, do we ? 🤣

Posted by: Exile | Jul 19 2026 4:17 utc | 55

It is still trading at 84 x SALES!    
During the dotcom bubble days, Sun Microsystems was trading at 10 x sales, and that was considered truly insane.  Most companies would have the ratio between 0.75 and 3.0 and in extreme cases, 5.0 or so.   

Posted by: whirlaway | Jul 19 2026 4:26 utc | 56

Look like a liquid cooling system with surface to cold space cooling.
Posted by: paddy | Jul 18 2026 23:09 utc | 42
 
**************
 
Do you detect a problem with your suggestion? The ‘space’ to which you refer is not a gap, it’s a vacuum. Clearly, conduction and convection are ineffective in this environment. Radiation? Even black body radiation, using a surface with high emissivity, Stefan’s Law (proportional to T^4) is not very efficient at the temperatures from which you are trying to reject heat.
 
Sharpen your pencil, and go back to the drawing board!

Posted by: General Factotum | Jul 19 2026 4:43 utc | 57

Asian Frog | Jul 19 2026 4:00 utc | 84
 
Nuclear propulsion. Russia is now going ahead with the nuclear tug for transporting cargo’s to the moon in China’s lunar project. A manned research station on the moon. Russia is also the leader in lightweight hi power nuclear reactors. These can also be used to provide energy at the lunar base.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 19 2026 5:45 utc | 58

Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 19 2026 5:57 utc | 100
 
Wisco is certainly off his meds today. Just a matter of waiting for b to come back on duty and sweep out the garbage.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 19 2026 6:00 utc | 59

@ Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 19 2026 5:57 utc | 100 and Peter who are giving b more work to do….why?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 19 2026 6:24 utc | 60

@b: well this was a thorough cleanup if there ever was one! Thanks!

Posted by: Chrissie | Jul 19 2026 6:30 utc | 61

The relentless march of automation has severed our connection to the crafts that once sustained our communities.
 
Posted by: screeching is useless | Jul 19 2026 4:50 utc | 93
 
I dunno … I bought a 3D printer a few weeks back and I’m finding there’s a lot of craft to it, but also it replaces a workshop of tools which most people can’t afford, don’t have space for and anyway don’t know how to use … it replaces that with a bit of software and some trial and error. I’m getting much better pieces made than I ever could do with basic hand tools and I just can’t really achieve the full CNC lathe, mill, high precision marking tools which you would need to do it otherwise.
 
I would say that modern technology has taken the Elite Crafts down a peg, but really what it has done is democratisation of crafts and put high quality workmanship into the hands of more people. I’m sure that’s annoying to some, but fine by me. Besides, you can’t really put the genie back into the lamp on these issues. If you try to ban an industry first there’s pushback, then it goes black market on you. They have tried to ban many things and none of them went away.

Posted by: Tel | Jul 19 2026 8:10 utc | 62

At the IPO I said I will buy SpaceX when it’s $20-$25. I have no financial background, that number comes from pattern recognition and historic IPO’s. That doesn’t mean the value can’t reach $200 like banks predict, but before that we must go to $25 first. As a long term investment this will be good, but currently overvalued. 

Posted by: Isidoor | Jul 19 2026 9:26 utc | 63

@Tel | Jul 19 2026 8:10 utc | 63
What about steel. Are there any 3D items that can work steel?

Posted by: petergrfstrm | Jul 19 2026 9:53 utc | 64

One wonders who follows such advice from the sell side and is stupid enough to buy into SpaceX
Probably the buy side of those sell side companies – and institutional investors buying their research

Posted by: moadbar | Jul 19 2026 10:57 utc | 65

petergrfstrm | Jul 19 2026 9:53 utc | 65
 
There are printers that print metal parts. I don’t know much about them. I assume some special alloys are used.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 19 2026 11:18 utc | 66

Peter AU1 | Jul 19 2026 5:45 utc | 58
 
Nuclear propulsion, NASA is not too (?) far behind, but likely smaller!
 
“NASA will launch Space Reactor-1 Freedom, the first spacecraft to use a nuclear fission reactor for propulsion beyond Earth orbit.
Targeting launch in late 2028, the mission will showcase American nuclear power”.  The mission will be small robotics.
 
Nuclear has potential to get to Mars in 60 days?
 
If SpaceX is still around Musk will probably get license from NASA for large Mars missions.

Posted by: paddy | Jul 19 2026 11:29 utc | 67

I listened to guys like b or fefe (big German tech blogger) expecting the AI bubble to pop any day and therefore not investing in Nvidia, AMD, Samsung, Kioxia, WD, Seagate, SK Hynix, … I also skipped Bitcoin, could have mined it myself or buy for single digits.
 
Well, turns out there are many many more dumb people willing to throw their money at it and I shouldn’t have listened to the intelligent crowd. Now I still need to work, instead of enjoying a drink at the beach.

Posted by: Ali | Jul 19 2026 12:17 utc | 68

Talking of false gods I’ll post this here as the open threads aren’t open yet. 
 
It’s a Sunday. Let’s have a sermon.
 
10 goals! Oh what a laugh the few watching had!
The final tonight will be fun to watch.
 
What to write about then? How about the new born godking Burnham of England being installed like a Christ? Another Blairite false ziosatanichildmuncher.
 
I’m inspired by the post:
 
Re : Posted by: Carlos Marques | Jul 18 2026 18:17 utc | 16
“Be less like the brainwashed Hitlerian youth. Be more like the hero that organised the Valkyrie plan.
You know exactly what I mean.”
 
Right on Carlos! Now we talking.
At the back end of the C20th as neofascist neoliberal colonialism under the guise of ‘globalism’ – went full tilt with the baby and bathwater of the Trente glorious being ditched.
 
Under the neofuehrers Raygun/Thatcher and their monetarist god bollocks – As they turned on the fiat money printer to full and selling off all public assets to hedge funds.
 
 
There was a large majority of us yoof who objected – while our younger brothers and sisters were deprived of that post war consensus. That housed, educated and provided sufficient security.
The landed gentry – some of them –  has been reduced by paying inheritance taxes; stately homes were falling into disrepair.
Others – the real aristo Ziolords had of course built themselves moats of ‘off shore trusts’ the old bastards – many who have NEVER paid taxes throughout their near thousand year after the ‘purchase’ of Britain and imperialism through colonialism. Using European settlers whether they wanted it or not.
 
The Old Bastards have clawed back ALL of the security and affordable lives the majority had demanded as part of the postwar social contract.
 
By the end the the century – within 20 years – we had 4 legs good /2 legs better – NuLabour incorporated pigs sharing the same donors as the two legged Tories. And a thirty year world war raging.
 
That now stands at yet another abyss of defeat. Expecting, nay demanding that the Russkies/Chinese/Persians attack! So they can run n behind a new iron curtain and retain a whole hemisphere for 10% of humanity!
 
Their greatest success, as Maggie Milk Snatcher frankeinstein monster created by her Ziolords- famously quipped when Tony ‘Miranda’ Blair invited her back to No 10 when he was crowned by Mordorch.
 
The sick sycophancy. A decade after she had been defenestrated by her own Tories for having gone mad as a hatter rogue, as she believed she was as great as the image they had built her in!
 
That pantomime pendulum two party is playing out with Arch Blairite Burnham being crowned as kind of England just as Bozo the clown was. The new Blair/Thatcher Punch and Judy operators. The same show. The same cold vomit.
 
Are we doomed?
 
Well yes of course we are.
 
The sooner the better! Come ‘ye friendly bombs’ as it were!
After all everyone bought into the Narratives:-
public and private money being the same;
public goods and services being inferior to private oligarchs.
Housing having to be an investment not affordable homes; indeed a feverish dream that everyone could be like the landed gentry and live happily ever after on rents from buy-to-let homes instead of letting local authorities provide descent housing as they had done from tve 40’s to the 70’s.
 
Everything has to be ‘sexy’; credit cards and 110% mortgages at multiple income multiples were like personal magic golden egg laying geese for everyone!
 
They could own the privatised public services they defacto already owned through the privatisation giveaways for every person ! For a few weeks until they were hoovered up by the Bankers.
Sold the benefits of breaking up utilities into dozens of regional companies as some fake ‘choice’.  Now where is all that’choice’? It was fools gold.
All these decades of assets built with public funds were handed ultimately to the Dynastic Bankers, who collect endless rents from us – don’t upgrade and modernise but let run down until they will be nationalised again for public funds to rebuild. A rinse and repeat planned a century ahead! Because our generations are not supposed to retain memories of our forefathers.
All the multiple choices now reduced by buyers who have monopolised them- providing a never ending ‘income’ o tge foreign offshore funds who don’t even pay taxes here.
Back to their favourite Victorian era of Haves/Have Nots.
Back to servitude for the masses who will own nothing and have to be happy!
 
the return of Upstairs /Downstairs , Few/Many, ‘good ole days’. We can expect the Black and white minsteral shows.
 
Also prostitutes, Molly houses again. What else is OnlyFans? For our grandkids to be raped by syphilitic aristocrat buyers.
is it full on dystopia? Is all lost?
 
That depends on who buts the latest Narratives.
 
pootin/Xi/Ayatollah BAD : Collective Waste GOOD
 
Neo religious gods and goddesses of Tech and cultural pop fairytales Good : public goods and service bad!
 
The loadsamoney lies that we were sold have been pulled like a rug from under our feet !
You can’t have buy-to-let properties because you have to pay income tax on all the rent now!
You can’t transfer to your kids because you must pay capital gain or inheritance taxes!
Most people wouldn’t even know what an offshore fund was let alone have the means to set it up …’legally’  lol
 
It was a con and most people don’t want to admit they were suckers.
 
their grandkids are now doomed – they can’t afford homes of their own to purchase as we were able to in our twenties and thirties with a SINGLE salary and raise a family and have a vacation – be it in holiday camps or Costa hell holes!
 
They can’t get affordable social housing. They don’t have amenities and parks. No free education!
No affordable public services
Not even the highest quality of medical care free at the point of need/use for EVERYONE.
Insurance is just another rent for the poor.
 
The only way open to a return to some semblance of the Trente Glorious is to – sacrifice your grandchildren in some foreign invasions for the benefit of the Ziolords as they continue to wet dream their world conquest and a thousand year empire!
Then they might reward some survivors.
 
We did have agency.
We did attack apartheid through bds, through protests.
we did oppose the new nukes that threatened the Cold War balance.
We did actually refuse to be turned into their rent paying serfs, by rejecting their reckless rush to impose a Poll Tax !
 
That madhatter Maggie tried to impose – bringing her down and I suppose giving us the false new pendulum god the Bliarats  and Mandelsson, now revealed as the worldwide Epstein Classes; their corrupt Ziofascism gone mainstream in the daily genocide in Gaza- and their Last Great Imperial project – A Greater Isn’tReal; another failed attempt at taking Russia and EurAsia and Africa again!
There is hope if the kids see our naked arsed ZioLord worshipping kings as being just more wormtongues.
Stealing from our kids.
Making them disposable slaves.
Making soothing noises without real choices.
As they don’t want to risk another Corbynite moment.
A Hobsons choice of fake Burning Ham.
 
There can be hope if we can Burn Burnham the crowned PM without any election! Internal or general.
 
Not even one demand by the Opposition! I’m fficial or other.
who needs a real opposition when all your ducks are in a row! It’s why the Fartrage brand is being my stood down; why Fake Tommy has not being promoted for a few months.
it’s War footing time. Ship building. Conscription is mooted across the whole of Europe! A century after the Never Again and Greatest Generation bullshit. When the Red Armies came and dismantled the fascists and then left!
Unless we riot (which they will blame on poootin and antisemitism) draggin people from their homes to the camps – for being commies! For being antizionist. Anti fascists!
 
Why do we see it being tried out in Ukraine. These natzio thugs will be deployed across Europe doing the same to us. That’s why.
There is hope if we are prepared to take the blows in our own streets and cities. If we resist being divided and sent to fight their never ending shapshifter dynastic wars.
 
Amen.
 

Posted by: DunGroanin | Jul 19 2026 12:36 utc | 69

You are clearly a stock market genius. Don’t ask us for any more contributions, you can make a lot of money trading stocks. 

Posted by: Jamie_NYC | Jul 19 2026 12:36 utc | 70

The Musk ‘businesses’ are all pyramid schemes. SpaceX especially so.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 18 2026 17:14 utc | 2
 
Exactly. Who remembers the vacuum train project anymore? Or the tunnels in Vegas? Or the solar roof? The difference is that Spacex was created to destroy Nasa, transfer state stuff to a private company that Trump and others control. Basically he now has his own army and he can attack anything he likes bypassing any laws and has his own private police, the ICE, against local infidels.
Elon is designed by the Trump scheme of “business”. The gpu shortage appeared during Trump the first and was as fake as the current ram and ssd shortage during Trump the second. I’m sure the idea is to control planet’s access to technology and resources (like Venezuela, shipping routes, trade control etc) and the sad monkeys in Brics are in the same game or simply too stupid to survive another 100 years.
The 4x-5x price jump in ram is not real, the existing parts sit unused and all future preordered for 5 years by Elon and a few other clowns but the data centers haven’t even been built because they don’t have the power sources they require (hello ZNPP; to be transferred to US according to Trump’s peace plans and yesterday he bombed an Iranian npp site under construction). 
Trump’s main source of profit, according to his own published documents, is not a real business but his crypto manipulation. Now imagine his share of others’ crypto scams that he allows since the law has to be bent, it’s basically illegal in US. Makes the “10% for the big guy” look like kindergarten games.
The question now is what will be transferred to private in the near future in order to allow the first royal family of America to appear. Food and agriculture is already controlled in US by island-friend Bill, so that ain’t it. I’m thinking, since he always repeats or doubles down, another medical adventure is coming.

Posted by: rk | Jul 19 2026 12:39 utc | 71

Well, turns out there are many many more dumb people willing to throw their money at it and I shouldn’t have listened to the intelligent crowd. Now I still need to work, instead of enjoying a drink at the beach.

 
That’s a relevant observation. If we can formalize it some people may profit in the future. Something like this: stock market trends (flows) with irrational inflection points exhibit a momentum distribution (a viscosity of sorts) dependent on broker intelligence. The latter may be gauged or guessed when coalmine canaries appear in fringe sources – it’s still time to buy then; more so if the source is high intelligence.

Posted by: persiflo | Jul 19 2026 12:42 utc | 72

Neofeudalfuture | Jul 19 2026 3:06 utc | 51
*** Successful people who create value deserve all the financial rewards that come to them.  ***
 
But what “value” and according to what / whose “values”?

Posted by: Cynic | Jul 19 2026 12:43 utc | 73

There are printers that print metal parts. I don’t know much about them. I assume some special alloys are used.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 19 2026 11:18 utc | 66
 
*****************
 
Almost any type of metal can be used: Tool steel, Stainless steel, Titanium and Aluminium and Nickel alloys, Copper, Cobalt-chrome, and precious metals such as gold, silver, and platinum. Copper is a bit tricky because of its reflectivity, but green lasers (rather than infra-red) have lower reflectivity from copper.
 
Hobby devices are limited, and metal purity is usually around 30-40%, but industrial processes using Direct Metal Laser Sintering, or Selective Laser Melting, uses fine metal powders or wires. The powders can incorporated in a plastic or wax medium which is removed chemically and the finished part is sintered in a furnace. With direct powder formulations, an infrared laser melts the metal. A ‘true metal’ 3D-printed object is typically 99.5% to 99.9% pure metal, which matches or exceeds the chemical specification of standard engineering alloys. An added bonus is that a printed part is ‘finished’ – as in no further machining is required – valuable for surfaces/contours that are difficult or impossible to machine, particularly useful for one-off, or low production runs.

Posted by: General Factotum | Jul 19 2026 13:42 utc | 74

Well, turns out there are many many more dumb people willing to throw their money at it and I shouldn’t have listened to the intelligent crowd. Now I still need to work, instead of enjoying a drink at the beach.
Posted by: Ali | Jul 19 2026 12:17 utc | 68
 
*********
 
Every cloud has a silver lining. You will have avoided skin cancer and melanoma and cirrhosis of the liver. And you will probably still be able to drink water when the ‘dumb people’ have lost their shirts…

Posted by: General Factotum | Jul 19 2026 13:48 utc | 75

… bitcoin is not like almost all cryptos in that it retains permission-less-ness and unchanging monetary policy for almost 18 years…
 
Posted by: E | Jul 18 2026 23:38 utc | 45

 
Q: Has any government ever confiscated bitcoin wallets?
 
A: Yes, governments have confiscated Bitcoin wallets containing hundreds of thousands of BTC, with the U.S. government seizing nearly 130,000 BTC (worth approximately $15 billion) in the largest forfeiture action in history. Authorities typically gain control by obtaining private keys through search warrants, cloud storage subpoenas, or cooperation with centralized exchanges, rather than technically “breaking” the blockchain.
 
Major Confiscation Cases: The U.S. Department of Justice recovered 94,000 BTC from the 2016 Bitfinex hack by locating an encrypted file with private keys in a suspect’s cloud storage, marking the largest financial seizure in its history. In 2013, the FBI confiscated approximately 144,000 BTC from the Silk Road dark web marketplace and its operator Ross Ulbricht. Additionally, Australian police seized over 24,500 BTC in 2013 from a drug trafficking suspect by physically confiscating the computer hosting the wallet files.

Posted by: Fool Me Twice | Jul 19 2026 14:36 utc | 76

So awesome the planet will burn down before Musk’s delusions (= US) or China’s delusions or Russia’s delusions come to fruition.
 
No one can make or cares to make a fucking battery that works.
 
But we will have next gen nuclear reactors everywhere, even taking us to Mars.
 
The industrial nightmare is about to explode the globe. And we dream, not of fresh air, but more nukes.
 
Truly these are head pieces filled with straw scribbling their dreams from inside death’s dream kingdom.
 
Who doesn’t believe the capitalist delusion that more technology, and more complicated technology, will solve the devastation capitalism has inflicted on the world? Narcissus can’t see himself in the toxic floodwaters cuz he’s too busy listening to the Echo of his own muskrat George Jetson fantasies.
 
A dumb song from some stupid Jew based on a book by a Catholic, all about Bronze Age death cults and their despoiling the world.
 
Leonard Nimoy – the ballad of bilbo baggins
 
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QuQbus0xfhk&pp=ygUTbmltb3kgYmlsYm8gYmFnZ2luc9IHCQmZCwGHKiGM7w%3D%3D
 

Posted by: Duck n cover | Jul 19 2026 14:36 utc | 77

Musk has the same rule of success of Trump and Thiel and Karp and Bezos and all the rest:
 
Never appear publicly in an adversarial context.
 
Can anyone show evidence that Elon Musk has any more of a clue what he is talking about than Trump does? On ANY subject? Can Elon Musk even count to ten?

Posted by: Duck n cover | Jul 19 2026 14:43 utc | 78

“Sooner or later a crash is coming, and it may be terrific.”
             — Roger Babson (September 5th, 1929)

Posted by: Bam_Man | Jul 19 2026 14:46 utc | 79

“Sooner or later a crash is coming, and it may be terrific.”             — Roger Babson (September 5th, 1929)
 
Posted by: Bam_Man | Jul 19 2026 14:46 utc | 79

 
Yep, that was the refrain back in 2008… 2014… etc.  In 1929, there were no pension funds and passive index funds to prop up the market.  No Greenspan or Bernanke to fire up the printing presses on demand.  I managed to time both of those dips and did better than okay.  But sold the tech shares way too soon after 2014.
 
b has never been on my trusted list for investment advice.

Posted by: Fool Me Twice | Jul 19 2026 15:35 utc | 80

Fool me twice, that is because keeping a bitcoin password secret is pure evil, not at all like when a financial or digital or gov institution tells you to keep a password secret 🙂 

Posted by: E | Jul 19 2026 15:43 utc | 81

Furthermore, there is a whole “industry” of chain analysis that attempts to ascribe u t x o s to specific persons or entities… Would this be necessary for TPTB if the technology were not inherently permission-less ?

Posted by: E | Jul 19 2026 15:53 utc | 82

Of course, i accept your point that passwords can be tortured out of people… 

Posted by: E | Jul 19 2026 16:09 utc | 83

… And that the internet and devices are the wild west and remain vulnerable to exploits, engineered or otherwise  

Posted by: E | Jul 19 2026 16:12 utc | 84

Can anyone show evidence that Elon Musk has any more of a clue what he is talking about than Trump does? On ANY subject? 

 
Elon found a box of 1950s Popular Mechanics, read them cover-to-cover a few times, and thats the extent of his Technical Knowledge. 

Posted by: Exile | Jul 19 2026 16:21 utc | 85

Fuck so-called SpaceX, fuck the USA ……  been watching before kick-off World Cup final, and now the shite at half time ….. one lousy alleged country that’s a totally toxic menace to everywhere. Not only in theft and mass-murder, not only in the rottenest economic ‘ideology’ ever concocted …. but in its sheer, absolute cultural wrecking. If the only other option is the world to all be forced into something like the USA, then better it all ends in a huge nuclear war as soon as possible.
Death to the USA!

Posted by: Cynic | Jul 19 2026 20:18 utc | 86

If you hate Musk, look to yourself why you feel hate and envy. 
 
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Jul 19 2026 3:06 utc | 51
 
Elon is not special, look to yourself why you defend such a lying shitbag grifter leeching off the taxpayers.  I hate all grifters and their retarded defenders equally.

Posted by: Screwdriver | Jul 19 2026 21:26 utc | 87

You neglected to mention the biggest elephant in the room. The float. There is a calendar of the future dilutions to come. You should look it up. It will help your argument.
 
But honestly, you must understand. Those same bankster will pump it up again and dump it as well. Also understand, no one is buying this stock because of the fundamentals. People are not investing, and those that went into this stock thinking they can turn a few dollars have already left and the Johnny come lately are stuck. This tells you the ludicrous state of financialization in the US. 

Posted by: Unsafe Data | Jul 20 2026 3:59 utc | 88

I remember reading somewhere (I lost the source) that if you look at the figures the business case for SpaceX depends on almost everyone on this planet using internet via Starlink. 
That seems a rather weak base. Maybe that is why Musk thinks up new ideas such as space based AI farms.

Posted by: Wim | Jul 20 2026 11:37 utc | 89

A worthwhile final addendum to this thread
 
TAX THE RICH UNTIL IT HURTS
 
“They Lied!” Gary Stevenson vs Piers Morgan on Elon Musk & The Rich     
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7v8m55aLF8  
 
Nails it in in 8 minutes

Posted by: Asian Tiger | Jul 20 2026 11:54 utc | 90

Anthropic will be the next google
MoA, I disagree w/your pessimism about Anthropic’s AI business model.  It works and corporations love it despite the fact that we are still learning the right way to use it.  It does a bangup job in parsing large complex code bases, being able to generate new code, and more importantly explain what it did to the programmers who are using it.  Even IF you don’t trust the generated code, it is a wonderful way to get a handle on explaining code that someone else wrote.  Many programmers leave or are so overloaded that I feel guilty using too much of their time.  Of course, I don’t blindly trust it but it helps me get a good start.  I even used claude to parse our yaml files to figure out the correct REST API syntax.  I was so glad that I didn’t have to dig through them myself.
I’m calling it the ‘next google’ because the first AI company that goes public with the most market share will ‘win’.  There have been many search engines post google but google dominating market share at the beginning was a big boost to its continued dominance.
Claude charges a subscription to corps who want bug analysis, code generation, and better cross knowledgebase searches.  As a developer, I found google search indispensable aid about 10yrs ago, now I wouldn’t even consider using google search vs claude (or even chatGPT).
I agree w/your opinion about Musk’s prospects.  I wouldn’t touch SpaceX w/a 10 ft pole.

Posted by: Christian J Chuba | Jul 20 2026 14:20 utc | 91

I feel that the rain makers have learned to harness “the bubble” – the tweentieth and now twenty-first century have been a series of bubble ( perhaps since the South Seas Trading Co. bubble more like it). We see these bubbles as teaching the need for caution, but for some the lesson has been 1) How to generate bubbles and 2) Knowing when to get in and when to exit. And the bubble machine has generated a lot of financial activity and thereby substantial economic activity and (dare I say) development. So stop worrying and learn to love the bubble.
 
As z/h used to advise: On a long enough timeline, the survival rate of anything is zero.

Posted by: jared | Jul 20 2026 21:50 utc | 92

Value is a passe concept.

Posted by: jared | Jul 20 2026 21:55 utc | 93

The proplems with talking about value in regard to the modern stock market are: 1) We are talking about buying and selling pieces of (virtual) paper which which entitle the bearor to essentially nothing and 2) The price of that piece of paper is highly susceptible to manipulation – techniques to influence demand and even perception of value.
 
So to argue about value of sich a thing is rediculous and to argue that something lacks value while its price is rising… is a losing argument.
 

Posted by: jared | Jul 20 2026 22:11 utc | 94

Yeah..  it needs to drop alot. Once it gets low buy as much as you can. The Alien psyops will be a great artificial boom for SpaceX. Just got to get in before they play that scam. 

Posted by: Goldhoarder | Jul 21 2026 15:29 utc | 95

Posted by: Goldhoarder | Jul 21 2026 15:29 utc | 95
 
If you follow some of the US congress insider trading channels on X, there are committee members buying SpaceX shares. It has led to speculation that government contracts for SpaceX are incoming.

Posted by: unimperator | Jul 21 2026 15:49 utc | 96

?? Kalshi prediction  SPCX < 50 before Oct 31

Posted by: NoEasyAnswers | Jul 21 2026 17:26 utc | 97

@96
 
Starlink has become outsourced military satcom, good margins with no need to perform.  Otherwise, Starlink is satellite WiFi with coverage in empire war zones.  Using Falcon is verticle integration, with NASA certification.
 
The insiders are in on a new multi year with excellent margins.
 

Posted by: paddy | Jul 21 2026 17:31 utc | 98

In the late 1970’s Space Shuttle had a great future, heavy lift, big volume, reusable…..
 
It turned out there was no big market for heavy lift.
 
The big market for Starship:  9000 satellites per GW compute on orbit, permanent stations on Moon, and Mars mineral rights.
 
Given an Amazon AWS data center was bombed by IRGC, maybe orbital data center is survivable.
 
Each satellite is 4400 pounds, same as newest Starlink.
 
The other risk is data centers not needed with Chinese and open source AI.

Posted by: paddy | Jul 21 2026 17:38 utc | 99