Shooting $2M Missiles at $5,000 Drones. Do the Math - The St. Louis Podcast: Episode #157

The US is shooting $2 million Tomahawk missiles at $5,000 Iranian drones. We've fired more Tomahawks in this war than any military campaign in history. Northrop Grumman is up 6%. Lockheed is up 40% since January. The S&P fell that day. Defense was the only sector that went up.

Meanwhile Pete Hegseth just asked Congress for $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon — up from the $200 billion he floated in March.

Oh, and five of the biggest tech companies are hiding $1.65 trillion in off-balance-sheet debt through special purpose vehicles. More hidden debt than they officially report. Oracle just got downgraded to one notch above junk bond status. Nobody's covering it.

Also the Houthis are back, now targeting the Saudi pipeline — the only relief valve left for global oil markets.


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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome back to another episode of the St. Louis Podcast. As always, my name is Eric Brown. Thank you for tuning in. Off the top of the hour, I just want to ask one question. Was Lindsey Graham gay? And did Russia kill him? Or did Israel kill him? In serious note, um uh continues to be uh uh looking worse across the world, um, even though plenty of people online seem to think that Trump is still like the best president of all time, which at this point I just think are bots. But they're all legitimate people um that say, you know, this he is he is pro-American, and the reason everyone gives is the border. And I'm like, I think that might be the only campaign promise he lived up to, which is try to combat the border. Um, of course, he had a famous saying, no new wars. Meanwhile, Pete Hegzeth, of course, went in front of Congress and asked for one and a half trillion dollars to go to the Pentagon. Uh and of course, he says it is our biggest threat to national security if we don't fund them. Now, of course, the Pentagon, I don't believe, has even had an audit or passed an audit in five years. Um, we can go back and of course, being, you know, a guy that usually doesn't believe the narrative, uh, you know, the part of the Pentagon that got hit in 2001 is questionable. Just go ahead and look that up on Google. It'll say they were doing an investigation at the time. And of course, then after that, all of that money, you know, disappeared. Which the Pentagon is good at doing. Um, and of course, it's our tax dollars, right? So they're asking for essentially you know an extra 500 bill on top of what's already been designated to what Pete Heggseth calls the Department of War. That dude gives me gets pegged vibes for sure. How much he wants just everyone clean shaved, and it's like also he wants everyone on TRT. He just wants everyone, you know what? Doesn't matter. Um, all right, so there's a lot on the docket here today. Uh, I wanted to talk about, you know, we gotta talk about Yemen. We gotta talk about uh, you know, the the price per barrel of oil has now skyrocketed to up over a hundred dollars based on the Baumel Mandev. Now, um, if you guys haven't heard me talk about what's going on with shipping, it's a great YouTube channel. Um started following that YouTube channel years ago when whatever the hell happened ran into the bridge out in Philadelphia or New York or wherever over on the East Coast. Um and of course, he's been talking a lot about the Strait of Four Moose. And now obviously we have the Houthis, uh Yemen causing issues with essentially the only other way uh to get oil and stuff out of that area, because essentially uh Saudi Arabia has been using it as a bypass. The problem becomes now, if that channel is shut down, essentially the only other way to get stuff out is by adding on an extra 30 days uh to everyone's shipping, right? So it'll take an extra 30 days to get to where people need to go with those two avenues shut down. Obviously, that is going to cause major headaches for us, uh, for the world, and stuff will continue to get more expensive. I was just having this argument the other day, um, actually, probably yesterday. You know, of course, it's an older gentleman, right? The economy is great. Okay, the the economy is only great because we are in like the largest AI pyramid scheme of all time. This shit is fake. I'm calling it here right now. And let me tell you this this Yemen situation is going to cause huge issues. Um, you know, inflation spiking should be coming even more expensive.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

So let's get into it.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Amran, of course, is asking uh for a rate case with the Missouri PSC in June 2026, seeking an additional 343 billion, or excuse me, 343 million in additional annual electric base rate revenue. This is roughly an additional $13 per month for the average residential customer at 1,000 kilowatt hours. Now, this would take effect uh the middle of next year after an 11-month PSC review. The staff will inspect the company books and facilities. The 2025 rate case already added about $14 a month. That was a 12% hike netting $355 million. They had asked for 15%. An earlier increase took effect in 2023, worth about $140 million. Now, the net effect is about $30 a month additionally across two years. Amhern earned $76 million in quarter one, 2026, up from $42 million in quarter one, 2025. Someone's doing well. Now, the company says, of course, data centers aren't driving this. The company's own filings say data centers are driving everything. There's uh now we got Rob Dixon here, the VP of regulatory and legislative affairs, Amon, Missouri. There's never a good time to ask to adjust electric rates, but it's necessary to maintain the grid so that we can continue to provide reliable power for our customers. This request reflects the infrastructure investments that we've already made and that are already serving our customers. Now, Dixon has flatly said that data center development is not what's causing the utility to raise prices. Now, of course, let's hold that against the record. Americ plans to increase generation capacity 50% in four years, largely in response to anticipated AI dentist data center usage. Testany from Stephen Willis, Director of Regulatory Affairs, projects electric sales up more than 60% in the next five years from large load customers. Now, large load customers, of course, are the mothers of those that want this. They're adding 400 megawatts across three energy centers by the end of 2026. About 70,000 homes worth. They asked that information about the forthcoming data center customers remain confidential while the rate case is decided. They signed confidential contracts with multiple big data centers earlier this year, should be illegal. Now, of course, Amran, being Amran, has a defense. Under Missouri Senate Bill 4, described as one of the strictest data law centers in the nation, large load customers must sign agreements, pay imported power costs during construction, and accept a higher base rate. Amaron claims committed data center customers will deliver $21 million in base rate savings over 10 years. About $11 million a year for everyone else. How is that going to affect all of the bills that I just said have gone up $30 a month over the last two years? Now we also have Jeff Mark, Chief Economist Missouri Office of Public Counsel. Data centers have already raised the cost of service for electrical utilities through socialized transmission cost, volatile wholesale markets, and increased costs for generation, transmission and distribution, investments driven by unprecedented demand. Not directly assigning and collecting costs from data centers for generation. They alone need and want will raise electric bills in Missouri. Now, of course, families across Missouri, this is Senator Josh Hawley writing a letter to Amhern CEO last year. Families across Missouri are struggling to pay their bills. But I am concerned Amhern is seeking dramatic rate increases in order to supply massive data centers and industrial users. Recent reporting indicates that Amhern cut electricity to thousands of Missouri households in September while simultaneously pursuing lucrative arrangements with corporate users. This is why Amoron. Alderman denied a pause on data centers as developers readied new project applications. Of course, we know that the Alderman and the mayor herself seem to be uh very pro-data centers. Now, Amher told the board of Alderman's Public Infrastructure and Utilities Committee that the Armory Data Center wouldn't raise bills, just pollution. Now, the just pollution, of course, was my add-in. All right. What do you guys think? Do you guys sick of paying higher and higher Amhern bills? I know I see people complaining on social media fairly consistently about their Amhern bills. And not to go ahead and uh, you know, plug one of our sponsors here on the podcast. But I will say right now, when it's hot out, if your rates, you know, if you're paying a lot of electricity usage, and of course on Amhern you can see if your AC is taking up a lot of that usage, it may be due to the fact that you don't have insulation or enough insulation or air sealing or ventilation in your attic. So you know what you could do is you go to West County Insulation and reach out to the boys at West County Insulation. Side note. So what does it mean that a regulated monopoly? Now, of course, Ameron is a monopoly. It's not like we have the option to go buy power from anyone else. Uh gets to keep its biggest customers secret from the people forced to buy from it. There's you you can't switch, right? Obviously, we can't switch. There's no competitor. Confidentiality in a competitive market is a business decision. In a monopoly, it's something else. Amorn says SB4 makes the data centers pay their fair share. Who wrote SB4? Who testified for it? The $11 million a year in claim savings for other customers versus $343 million in new revenue or asked for, put those two next to each other and let it sit. What the hell does that even mean? How are we only going to get $11 million in year savings with $343 million in new revenue? This does not make sense. Holy and the Office of Public Counsel are roughly saying the same things. Listen, you know, uh the data, you know, obviously everyone's upset about, you know, for the most part, not everyone. Um a large majority of people do not want these AI data centers being built. And for the obvious reasons uh that we already continue to see if you open your eyes and look at actual reporting on places that are directly around these AI data centers that have been built, you know, it's not just the water. Uh, you know, it's not just the electricity cost, it's the pollution itself. It's the noise, it's ruining the habitat, it's animals no longer going around that area. And of course, besides, you know, the effects that you see, it's the long-term effects. Why do we want AI data centers? The whole goal of these companies, Claude, you know, Anthropic, um, you know, Sam Altman's uh, you know, open AI, and you could go and listen to these people say it, then they want them, you know, they want these programs to take people's jobs. I don't know about you, but I'm not pro-AI taking a person's job. Especially when it comes to tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, millions of people jobs, which is of course what these companies want. So, what is there to be pro-AI data center for? Uh, for your shit posting of memes and videos that you want to make. I'm being honest here. What do we need it for? We don't need more than we have right now. And, you know, we'll we'll get into uh some news stories that have broke over the last you know week or two. Um specifically about Google Oracle uh and off the book debt. Now, we have uh Act One. Now, February 20th of this year, the Supreme Court ruled 63 in Learning Resources Inc. versus Trump that the IEEE PA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. Now, of course, the reason I am bringing this up is to yeah, you know, really at the end of the day, I think we all realize now, or at least if you think about it for like longer than like five seconds, um that tariffs are a tax on who? The average person, the average American. The American, we as the consumers are paying for the tariffs. Now, of course, we've we've heard over the last what month or two that uh, you know, companies are getting money back from these tariffs, but the companies themselves charge the tariffs to us as the customers. So, how the fuck do I get my money back for tariffs that I had to pay for products that I was buying? We don't. We won't and we don't. So fuck these tariffs. They don't make any sense. It makes shit more. It's literally another funnel, like most funnels that we've talked about on this podcast over the last, you know, two, three years now, is it's a funnel for the rich. Why? Because they can impose tariffs. The tariff cost gets passed off to the customer, the company doesn't pay it. The government then writes them a check for tariffs, they pocket that check. Do the math. Chief Justice Roberts applied the major questions doctrine, an expansion of economic and political authority. This vast requires a clear, explicit mandate from Congress. The power to tax is Article I. It belongs to the Congress. Now, what we have is obviously the case began in 2025 as a challenge to the reciprocal tariffs. Who we actually talked about the beginning of last year when this started, it wasn't that reciprocal. And trafficking tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. Which the administration justified as emergencies under the fentanyl crisis. Isn't that also why we went after Maduro and now apparently we can't even hold him in court? So what are we gonna do about him? And we can't even hold him for court from a bill that was passed by the U.S. Congress. If you want to know about it, go do your research, Google it. So section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. This is a provision written for balance of payments emergencies invoked for the first time in history. We have a 10% global import surcharge effective February 24, 2026. Statutory ceiling of 15% max rate, 150 days. Extension requires an act of Congress. The president can't do it alone. This expires Friday, July 24th. AKA tomorrow night. No extension bill has been introduced. Uh uh effective U.S. terror uh tariff rates falls from roughly 13% to 7.2% when it lapses. The budget lab at Yale pegged a rate at about 11% in April, the highest since 1943. Separately, the Court of International Trade struck down the surcharge May 7th, finding the administration exceeded its Section 122 authority. The court reasoned Section 122 requires identifying balance of payments and deficits by specific metrics, Congress contemplated in 1974. The Federal Circuit Court uh stated that the ruling of CPB kept collecting during appeal. Now, same posture the IEEE PA tariffs were in before they were struck down, and 166 billion became refundable. Now we have uh Canada 50% on Canadian goods. This is July 20th. This is three proclamations made under section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Uh, the White House fact sheet lists products ranging from wine to hockey sticks to cement. Also, dairy, alcohol, plastics, holiday decor. Applies regardless of whether goods originate under USMCA. Excludes energy, fish, critical minerals, and goods already under Section 232. Now, this is effective August 19th after a 30-day negotiation window. Section 338 is a never used retaliatory power, allowing up to 50% on countries that discriminate against U.S. commerce, and it requires no investigation. It can be invoked instantly. Um, if you do a little bit of research on our trade with Canada, um for the most part, we you know, obviously up until maybe the last year or so, our trade used to benefit both countries. And if you want to figure that out, just type in how did trade between Canada and the US use to be beneficial for both countries. Um, now roughly 166 billion in collected duties became refundable after the ruling. About 330,000 importers across 53 million entries. Some estimates run to 182 billion. Refunds go only to the importer of record or the licensed customs broker who paid, not the consumer who paid the higher shelf price, the tariff passed through to you. The refund is not. Refunds are not automatic. Importers must file through whatever portal. Who cares? The big thing is as consumers, we're getting fucked yet again. Now, the first Trump term, there was a formal public exemption process. Companies filed hundreds of thousands of applications because they were public, academics could analyze them. They found the public political donors to Republicans were more likely to be granted exceptions. This round, no such transparency. The White House simply released a list of over a thousand exempted products. It could be corruption, but it could just as easily be incompetence. To be honest, this was such a hurried mess. I'm not sure who got into the White House to talk to folks about the list. Autos, uh the auto um uh excuse me, the American Automotive Policy Council, 3 million plus raise in 2023. Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Navartis, JJ, $387 million in 2024 alone. American Petroleum Institute, Exxon Chevron, Conical, $127 million since. 1998. Semiconductor Industry Association 1.6 million since 2024. Semiconductor and electronics exemptions benefited Apple and Nvidia directly. One business rep with White House ties on why most firms got nowhere. There's only one person that can really author authorize the exemption, and that's the president. So pay up, baby. Lobbyists expected carve out work to intensify, not fade after the Supreme Court ruling. Fighting tariffs has been one of K Street's biggest growth businesses of the term. A tariff is a consumption tax. It doesn't care what you earn, it hits the guy buying a washing machine harder as a share of income than the guy buying a yacht. This is the same reason you should be no on state income tax and why, you know, increasing sales tax hits, you know, the average and the poor in this country significantly worse than obviously those that are wealthy. Congress has the taxing power. Congress didn't vote on any of this. The cost was the refund story, is the cleanest illustration. The cost was distributed to 340 million people. The relief is being distributed to a few hundred thousand importers, and mostly to the largest ones.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Disgrace.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Obviously, Secretary of War Pete Hexeth was there. And this was supporting Trump's June 24th supplemental budget request. Total supplemental package, $87.6 billion. To the War Department, over three quarters, $67 billion. Of that readiness pay equipment forward forces is $20 billion. What the war has actually cost since late February, $37.5 billion. Now, of course, you know, this is the numbers being given to us by Pete Hegzith. Uh, you know, a lot of people estimate that the real number is closer to $100 billion at this point. And of course, based on what's been happening over the last week or so, um, I continue, you know, obviously that cost is going to continue to skyrocket. Now, the ward budget request for year 2027 is $1.5 trillion. What he floated in March was $200 billion. Now the remainder of the package goes to agricultural assistance, international health, the diplomatic security, and domestic infrastructure. Has Hexeth framed the supplemental as a part of not in addition to the one and a half trillion. No floor vote schedule has been finalized. So he's asking for 67.1 billion to cover a war that has cost 37.5 billion. Now, I would suggest uh some people go and look at clips of this. Uh you won now, Pete Heggs said uh, you know, in March of 19th of this year, as far as 200 billion goes, I think that number could move. Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys. Sounds like a CIA director. You won't show any political courage to actually fund our department because you have Trump derangement syndrome, said Hegeth to senators on July 21st. I think this. All right, continuing on. Replenishing stockpiles. So replenishment is a purchase order. Replenishing stockpiles sounds like restocking a pantry. It's a press it's a procurement event with named beneficiaries. There's been over 850 tomahawk missiles fired. CSIS says Tomax are being used in this war more than in any other military campaign in history. In warned replenishing inventory after this campaign will take time and creates near risk for the United States. Each cost two two to three and a half million dollars. Now, of course, the problem being is that we're shooting tomahawk missiles at $5,000 drones. Now, of course, do the math. We can't keep doing that. We can't be shooting, you know, millions of dollars at a drone that cost Iran or any of these other countries, you know, five, ten thousand bucks. Obviously, that's not gonna work out well for guess who's pocketbook, ours as the taxpayers. Now, of course, who makes all the money off of this? Northrop Grumman's gonna do great. They were up six percent. RTX uh Raytheon Collins Pratt Whitney up four and a half percent, Lockheed Martin up 3.3%, Boeing up two. Now, the estimated combined shareholder gain in that session was close to $30 billion. The SP fell that day. Defense was the only sector that raised. This is all it's all a scam. People know I'm sure there was a bunch of money placed on polymarket and calls she and these other you know apps, and I'm sure people made out with some money.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

I'm sure there was puts or calls made on stocks.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Lockheed was already up nearly 40% since the start of this year. Insane. RTX hit an all-time high of $660, or excuse me, $676.70. They have a market cap of $267 billion. Love that. Northrop's stock has risen 60% since March of 2023. Uh Boeing's percent of revenue from the Department of Defense is 30 to 40 percent. RTX is 30 to 40 percent. Lockheed Martin is 74%, Booz Allen Hamilton, 98%. Lockheed Martin takes in more tax dollars annually than the entire U.S. State Department. These are not private companies in any meaningful sense. They're publicly funded with privately distributed profits, which is the exact arrangement everyone calls socialism when it's a bus system. Again, socialism for the rich. Less than a week after the strikes, executives from RTX and Lockheed were scheduled to meet with Trump to discuss the nations nation's diminishing munition stockpiles. Trump publicly insisted U.S. munitions reserves have never been higher or better.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Does anybody believe this shit anymore? Why are we all believing this?

SPEAKER_00 30:10

A quarter of the U.S. stockpile of precision middle missile interceptors were reportedly depleted in 12 days of the Israel Iran fighting last summer. A subsequent White House meeting with the CEOs of RTX, Lockheed Boeing, North of Grumman, BA Systems, Lee Harris Missile Solutions, and Honeywell Aerospace produced agreement to quadruple production of what Trump called exquisite class weaponry. You know, something along the lines of you know, uh, like a weekend where one, you know, one weekend of a three-year war. Everyone was like, you're crazy, this is gonna be over. Really? It just got worse. Obviously, uh, today or yesterday, we had the Houthis claim their first attack on commercial ships in month, two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea hit with missiles and drones. This opens up a new front in the U.S.-Iran war. UK MTO reported tanker master saying the ship was struck southwest of Al-Shaqik on the western Saudi coast. Now, Tuesday, the Joint Maritime Information Center. This is a maritime security uh body led by the U.S. Navy, warned that sources close to the group stated that the Houthis have completed preparations to attack shipping, including the deployment of missiles and drones near Bob El Mandab. Uh this week, the Houthis declared a maritime embargo of Saudi Arabia. Several tankers carrying Saudi cargo turned around before reaching the strait, right? This isn't just oil and things, it's also cargo. So the reason that Saudis are targeted is Saudis have been diverting millions of barrels a day through the pipeline to a Red Sea export terminal. This has been the crucial relief valve for the global crude market during this war. The Houthis are aiming directly at the relief valve. A dozen ships have been attacked in and around Hormuz since July 6th. Fed two deaths and dozen more injured. So we'll see where that goes. Okay. Let's talk about the National Defense Authorization Act, shall we?

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Shall we?

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Republicans voted 209 to seven in favor. Democrats voted 205 to six against. One independent voted yes. The six Democrats that voted yes are Henry Cooler, Don Davis, Jared Golden, Vincent Gonzalez, Adam Gray, and Marie Glusencamp Perez. Now, I would assume that Henry Koller.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

A pack of money.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Okay. So they spent two million to support him during his fiercely contested 2022 primary runoff election. So there you go. Introduced by uh Representative Mike Rogers. He's a Republican from Alabama. And anybody that voted for this should be hung for treason. And I I, you know, of course I'm not threatening these people. This is this is all a joke here. Uh, but fuck these guys. The vote was far more partisan than the NDAA historically is. Is it? Was it that partisan? I mean, it seems like pretty much all Democrats voted against and all Republicans voted for. The annual defense um bill normally draws broad bipartisan support because it's considered must pass. The White House had issued, uh has not issued a formal statement of administration policy before the vote. No endorsement, no veto threat. Now the NDAA authorizes it does not appropriate. Congress still has to fund these programs separately, but it sets policy just like you always talk about. You give them, you know, you give them an inch, they take a foot. Uh it sets policy, procurement priorities, personal rules, personnel rules, and relationships with foreign defense partners. You know what it establishes? The United States Israel Defense Technology Corporation Initiative. Fuck you.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

How about fuck you? No. We don't want this.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

Um, it directs uh the Secretary of Defense to designate a Pentagon executive agent to run. I'm raising my I'm volunteering. It covers missile defense, counter drone systems, cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, and quantum technology. It requires the Pentagon to develop an uh implementation plan, coordinate with Israel, Israeli defense officials, and report to congressional defense committees. The executive agent coordinates bilateral research, development, testing, evaluations, and industrial cooperation. Uh originally numbered section 224, it renumbered during the process. If you cite older coverage on Sanders Post, that's why the numbers differ. Now, this traces back to the bipartisan uh United States Israel Futures Act. Now, section 622 is also still in the bill. And of course, it would expand and enhance intelligence sharing with Israel and limit restrictions on such cooperation. This is insane. Uh 750 million for the program, 500 million in uh missile defense. Bro, let them defend themselves. Uh 100 million to counter unmanned systems, 100 million to subterranean operations, 50 million to emerging technology. It must just be nice just to pick some fucking numbers. 100 million, 100 million. The bill also extends the War Reserve Stockpile Authority Israel. The U.S. munitions stockpile physically located in Israel that Israel can draw from. Why don't they just bomb that? Why don't they just take out that thing? It's probably well underground or something, I would assume. Now, APAC publicly applauded the inclusion of the Defense Technology Corporation initiative and called the package a set of key provisions that strengthened the U.S. Israel Defense Partnership. Uh Representative Roe Connor tried to strike the provision during armed services markup. The committee rejected it. Connor teamed with uh Representative Thomas Massey and resubmitted the amendment to the House Rules Committee. The rules committee blocked it. No debate, no separate vote. The amendment never reached the floor. The rules governing debate passed 214 to 211. Three vote margin to prevent the House from voting on the most uh contested provision in the bill. Massey and Kana voted against the final bill. What more do we need to talk about there? We need to go in the specifics of this.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

I mean do your research.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

Uh last thing I want to discuss. Going back to AI and the stock market being fake, uh, there was a uh a NICA Asia study. This was published uh July 22nd that Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle carry approximately $1.65 trillion in offsheet obligations tied to AI infrastructure, data center leases, GPU supply constraints, and special purpose vehicles. That exceeds the $1.35 trillion, those same five companies officially report as debt. Uh, this has grown roughly eightfold since 2022. So Oracle, this is the extreme case. Obviously, they got downgraded to a triple B minus rating, which is one above junk bond. Um uh roughly 273 billion off balance sheet, up more than 2900% in four years. Like I said, SP downgraded Oracle to a triple B minus on July 9th of this year, explicitly citing leverage from AI commitments, including about $260 billion in future lease obligations. Oracle's total lead load, excuse me, approaches 111 billion, even on the narrow earlier count, including vehicles. Meta has roughly $420 billion, nearly triple its transparent debt. Oracle's exposure exists because it leases compute to OpenAI, partnering with builders and financiers, including Cruz, Vantage, Related Digital, Blue Out, each data center owned by a separate SPV, which is a special purpose vehicle. Now, the trick works like this: they create a special purpose vehicle that owns the physical assets, excuse me, the land, the buildings, the power infrastructure, and the chips themselves. Now, the institutional investors, Pimco, BlackRock, Apollo, Blue Out Capital, plus banks like JP Morgan provide debt and equity to the special purpose vehicle. The tech company signs a long-term lease for capacity. It books lease payments, not borrowing. The debt never appears on the parents' balance sheet. Credit rating protected, leverage ratios clean. So for example, Meta's Hyperion in Louisiana. It's an SPV named Beignet Investor, created by, or excuse me, created with Blue Al Capital. $27 billion in loans from Pimpco, BlackRock, Apollo, and others, plus $3 billion in equity from Blue Al. None of the debt appeared on Meta's balance sheets, which allowed Meta to raise another $30 billion in corporate bonds the following month. Meta owns about 20% of the vehicle and provided a residential value guarantee and may have to compensate investors if it projects it falls below agreed levels at the lease's end. Meta is paying roughly $6.5 billion in extra financing costs for the privilege of keeping $27 billion off its books. That's the price of appearance, baby. Now this should be breaking news, right? This should be everywhere. Um stay, you know, stocks should be reacting accordingly, but I haven't heard many people talking about this. Oracle Meta, XAI, and Core Weave moved over 120 billion this way. Oracle 66 billion, Meta 30 billion, XAI 20 billion, Core Weave 2.5 billion. UBS states that tech companies have borrowed roughly 450 billion from private funds by early 2025, 100 billion more than the previous 12 months. So rookie numbers. Enron's crime wasn't having special purpose vehicles. Enron's crime was hiding them. Now, of course, in a typical real estate lease, the building retains its value. But semiconductors, the core of AI data centers, depreciate rapidly due to the fast pace of technological advancement. AI servers have replacement cycles far shorter than the bonds funding them, which run five to twenty years. This is all a grift. It's a grift uh for stock, uh, for wealth, and for also probably mass surveillance as well. Excuse me. I think that's all we got for today. I think that's it. Um, I have no good news to talk about. Next week we're gonna have a um Tommy Holstein on the podcast. Now he used to work with us at Vi Media, and he is running for uh, I believe the third war or third congressional district for Congress. Uh, so we're gonna talk to him next week. That should be interesting. Looking forward to that. And hopefully we can get some people into positions of politics uh that actually care, that actually give a shit, that want what is better for, you know, essentially 99% of the population uh here in the United States, instead of only caring about uh, you know, the riches in this country, or let's just say the boomers. So that is all the time we have for today. Please like, review, subscribe, leave a comment. We appreciate everyone's support. Also, as always, support the companies that support us. Uh, I talked about during the podcast, West County Insulation, Google Insulation Company St. Louis will show up. Um, you know, they'll give you a free consultation, they'll go up in your attic. You know, you don't want to go up there right now. I'm sure it's it's hot as hell. So let the guys go up there, they'll take photos, they'll walk you through if you do need something. Um, you can again visit them at wountyinsulation.com. As always, if you need a podcast, if you need it recorded, if you need a studio built out, if you just need some editing help, if you need distribution, if you need marketing, the guys here at Half Coast Studios can help you out there. Just go to HalfCoastudios.com or Google Podcast Studios St. Louis. They'll show up number one and they'll show up number one. Why? Because they have the best damn marketing company on the planet behind them. Vi Media, V I E Media. Uh, you can visit them at Vi.media or just type in Vi Media on Google. Check them out. All right, that's all we got for today. We'll see you next week. Bye bye.