Grawfunkin

Student of All Markets.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@sultanmeghji Yes, I like this one better myself. This is what most Americans big bold, lots of room and fronts seats like a first class airline seat. With Chevy flopping on their 6.2 L engines that blow up in 5k miles, I would think the market would be wide open now.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@parmado_ @profplum99 Ai, 😂, so easy to spot the Europeans that just can’t stand this argument.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@KobeissiLetter Well, that’s a start. Yet, when white collar Americans start loosing their jobs, it’s going to take a lot more than this to get voters on their side, since most Americans can car less about their Ai dreams. The masses only use it for search replacement or meme maker.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

Then you have to start of the Two Headed Godzilla episode. One Godzilla (Takaichi) is breathing fire with ¥122 trillion budgets and ¥22.9 trillion in deficit bonds, trying to stimulate growth and win elections. The other Godzilla (BOJ Governor Ueda) is raising rates to 0.75% and tapering bond purchases, trying to contain inflation and restore policy credibility. The city getting trampled is the JGB market—yields rocketing to 27-year highs as investors realize this ends badly.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@WallStJesus Nice SALE sign! CME raises margin requirements again?

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@NoLimitGains Exactly, been in this for the last 20 years, we have crossed the Rubicon, just take one look at 401K structured funds, (the Lack of real assets In them) Look at BOA chart of Gold/PM retirement holdings, Financial illiteracy is by design. Look at the rent seeking behavior.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

Strategic Timing
The CME announcing this on December 26 (day after Christmas) for December 29 implementation gave traders minimal time to respond during a holiday weekend with thin liquidity. This amplifies the volatility and creates the exact whipsaw action we see now. It's worth noting this is the same playbook used in 2011 when five margin hikes in nine days broke the silver rally.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

The CME has raised margins multiple times recently: from $20,000 to $22,000 on December 12, and now to $25,000 effective December 29. These are real actions designed to cool speculation and protect clearinghouses and they announced the margin increase to $25,000 on December 26, 2025 (Friday), effective December 29, 2025. This timing is significant - the announcement came right after silver hit new highs and during the holiday period when trading volume is typically thin. It represents the second margin hike in just two weeks, following the December 12 increase from $20,000 to $22,000. 🧐 Post more Margin or close your position.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

We could do the same, if the installation model is changed. I often wondered why every time I wanted to buy solar the seller always wanted to base the price off of my current utility bill. If I said no give me the cost plus pricing, meaning cost of equipment and cost of installation. They would hang up on me. Hmm ask grok why that is.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

Agreed perplexity is hands down the best for search IMO. David Blundin mentioned Perplexity Comet on moonshots as one of the best tool for deep research. He was right. I’m testing the Enterprise Pro, I can’t believe what I’m able to do with it and I’m finding my tricks every day to make my process more accurate and faster, this will allow me to add more volume with the same head count.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@RihardJarc https://t.co/niEQYHboyp
Not to mention, we don't have enough skilled labor. This is the true bottleneck.

[The Real Mike Rowe @mikeroweworks]

My first two words on this particular Sunday morning were "Hallelujah!” followed by, “Amen!”

I was not in church when I uttered them. I was at my kitchen table, watching the CEO of the most valuable company in the world say precisely what mikeroweWORKS has been espousing for the last sixteen years. In other words, this is what I look like before coffee, when I find myself in violent agreement with a multi-billionaire.

If you haven’t already heard, a massive challenge is upon us. With regard to artificial intelligence and the energy we need to feed it, America will either change its current direction, or get left far, far behind. I know this because I run a modest foundation that has been arguing for decades that the portion of our workforce most often described as “the skilled trades,” will become the most essential component of our economy, our independence, and our collective future.

Well, the future is here.

Obviously, I didn’t know that the race to dominate artificial intelligence would be the thing that finally galvanized the folks at the grown-up table. When I founded mikeroweWORKS in 2008, I figured it would be a new commitment to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure that would necessitate a collective push to reinvigorate the trades. That need is still pressing, but I never imagined the most urgent cry for more welders and electricians would be ushered in by the need for more data centers. Back then, I didn’t even know what a data center was. But today, here we are. Data centers are headline news, because they are – as Jensen Huang says - AI factories. And if we want to remain competitive with China, we need to build thousands of them. Now. And presently, we simply don’t have the workforce to do it.

I’ll be discussing all of this next Tuesday in Pittsburgh, at the Energy and Innovation Summit, which is turning out to be a pretty high-profile event. https://t.co/kikptD2Ddg looks like I’ll be joining a panel of elected officials, including the President, and dozens of well-known CEO’s to discuss Pennsylvania’s role in the energy renascence. A lot of money is being invested in Pennsylvania, (a LOT), and my message to those writing the checks will be no different than it’s been since we launched mikeroweWORKS:

"Set some of that money aside to make a more persuasive case for the work itself. The skilled trades need better PR, and they need it on a national level. The country needs to see thousands of examples - real world examples - of men and women who have prospered as a result of learning a skill that's in demand."

I first made this point to President Obama in an open letter to The White House in 2009, shortly after he promised 3 million “shovel-ready” jobs in his Highway Infrastructure Act. https://t.co/EfgyUOX7m6 I was rooting for the President back then, and offered to use Dirty Jobs and mikeroweWORKS as vehicles to help promote his initiative. I did so because I was skeptical that people would line up to take those jobs simply because they were "created."

“Filling three million shovel-ready jobs,” I wrote, “will be a lot easier if people feel enthused about the prospect of picking up a shovel. Investment alone, won’t create that kind of enthusiasm.”

The White House did not respond to my offer.

Understandably, most presidents do not seek the advice of marginally famous cable television hosts best known for crawling through sewers. But it’s worth remembering that the unemployment rate back then was over 10%. Millions of people were newly unemployed, and I think the former President assumed that creating three million shovel-ready jobs would translate to three million people going back to work. But that’s not what happened. Because back then, even with record high unemployment, there were 2.3 million open jobs, most of which did not require a four-year degree. Nobody wanted to talk about that. Today, that number is more like 7.6 million. Nobody wants to talk about it now, either.

This is why I'm going to Pittsburgh. Just as I was rooting for President Obama in 2009, I’m rooting for President Trump today. I hope he succeeds in reinvigorating our industrial base and reshoring our manufacturing capabilities, and I want to offer my support. But if he does succeed, we’re talking about millions new jobs in manufacturing alone. And currently, there are over 400,000 jobs in that sector that are currently open, begging the obvious question...
If we can’t fill the openings we have, how will we fill the one’s we’re about to create?

That’s the question I’ll pose in Pittsburgh.

I’ll let you know if anyone has an answer.

Mike

PS. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this change is truly upon us, and I've had a front row seat. Over the last six months, mikeroweWORKS been flooded with inquiries to collaborate on various recruitment initiatives and multiple industries. I mean, flooded. Not a week goes by that I don't hear from an industry leader who has come to the realization that they’ve gone as far as they can go without more skilled labor. Panic, is not too strong a word. The Maritime Industrial Base for instance, is currently tasked with delivering three nuclear powered submarines to the Navy every year for the next decade, and looking to hire 140,000 tradespeople. 140,000!!!

“Do you know where they are?” they asked me. “We’ve looked everywhere.”
“Yes,” I said. “I know where they are. They’re in the 8th grade.”

I’ve had similar calls with the automotive industry, who needs 80,000 technicians and collision repair workers. Every single home service company is hiring – from foundation repair to roofing. The energy industry is looking for hundreds of thousands of skilled workers, and so too is the construction industry. A few weeks ago, at something called The Aspen Ideas Festival, I heard Larry Fink, the CEO of Blackrock, say we’re short 500,000 electricians. A few months before that, at an Energy Conference in Newport, I heard Governor Rick Perry describe the race to build data centers and catch up to China with all things AI as nothing short of a “modern-day Manhattan Project.”

I think he's right.

Part of the problem is an aging demographic. For every five skilled workers who retire, two replace them. That’s why we need to engage with eighth graders today. Maybe even before that. We have to make a persuasive case for these jobs to the next generation, and just as importantly, to their parents. That won’t solve the immediate problem, but this is marathon, not a sprint, and these jobs need to be magnified and amplified at an early age. The more immediate problem is the labor force participation rate.

As we speak, millions of able-bodied Americans - for all sorts of reasons - are not working and not looking for work. According to economist Nick Eberstadt, that number is close to 7 million able-bodied men. https://t.co/vDmVeDbtI3 I’m not sure what to do about that, but it’s a colossal problem that needs to be addressed.

On the positive side, our last round of work ethic scholarships generated unparalleled interest. This year, mikeroweWORKSwill award $5 million to help train the next generation of skilled workers. That's ten times the number of qualified applicants we got this time a year ago. The needle is moving, and I believe we can move it a lot further, with a little help from the companies most incentivized to see the trades reinvigorated.

Should be a lively conversation in The Keystone State…

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@RnaudBertrand Very well said! There is absolutely, no reason for China to side with the EU on this War. Russia has vast amounts of natural resources to trade with China what does the EU have to even offer?

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@ChrisCamillo I think you may have something here. Does anyone believe the Israel 12 Day war would have stopped if they had endless supply of Iron-Dome rockets that need China REE to be built? Trump even told a Ukrainian reporter the Patriot rockets are very hard to get right now.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@ChrisCamillo Dam right, scared of falling behind. With his cash war chest he has he would be stupid not to spend to gain a talent edge.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@WatcherGuru This means China will start dumping more US Treasuries since that's the US pain point. They better get the SLR rule changed fast. Get your🍿 - Market Panic Next week.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

Liquidity Flood Gates - Open Says Bessent

By addressing the SLR's constraints, the Treasury could help banks free up balance sheet capacity, enabling them to provide more repo financing and support market-making activities. This would benefit basis trade players by ensuring they can continue to operate without facing sudden deleveraging pressures or liquidity crunches.

https://t.co/GcJR99poT2

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@LukeGromen Just another fear and greed index of sorts. If you don't feel good about your money you are not in the mood to be buying that's for sure.

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@jvisserlabs This dog needs a bone badly, and this is a good bone!

[Grawfunkin @robicr80]

@defense_civil25 GOOD TRY - The post cites “Expressen,” a Swedish tabloid newspaper, as the source for the claim. While Expressen is a legitimate news outlet, tabloids can sometimes prioritize sensationalism over rigorous fact-checking, especially on breaking or politically charged stories.