The Cents of Things

07/28/2026

Ron sat down at a diner and the check for two eggs, toast, and coffee came to 43 dollars. He could make the same thing at home for under six bucks. That is the inflation squeeze in one breakfast. Full episode linked in comments.

07/27/2026

The Treasury has borrowed about 155 billion dollars every month this fiscal year and is now paying 24 billion a week just in interest on the debt. Let that sink in. Full episode linked in comments.

07/26/2026

Alphabet posted a strong quarter and the stock still dropped. There was an air pocket under a lot of these names, and the market was reacting to what AI now costs to compete in, not the headline beat. Full episode linked in comments.

07/25/2026

Google reported great earnings...

So why did the stock fall?

This week on Cents of Things, Jeff and Ron explain what's really happening behind the headlines.

We discuss:

✔ Google's AI spending
✔ The Great Rotation
✔ Inflation concerns
✔ Peter Lynch's investing wisdom
✔ Why market leadership may be changing

Watch or listen here:

https://youtu.be/z5svvYV08Lk

Google reported outstanding earnings...…and the stock still fell....

07/23/2026

Here is the ultimate conundrum. The market is near all-time highs while consumer confidence sits lower than it was coming out of the 2009 financial crisis. Full episode linked in comments.

07/22/2026

With the 30 year fixed near 6.64 percent and millions of owners locked into 2.75 percent mortgages, people only move when they have to. That freeze ripples downstream to retailers like Home Depot and Lowe's. Full episode linked in comments.

07/21/2026

Empire State manufacturing was expected at 8.6 and came in at 15.6. The Philly Fed consensus was 14 and it printed 41.4. As Ron put it, you could throw a dart and miss the whole board. Full episode linked in comments.

07/20/2026

A client asked Jeff if it was time to buy SpaceX. At recording it traded at 134.65, below its 135 issue price, and the view was it goes lower before it goes higher. A great company someday is not the same as a good buy today. Full episode linked in comments.

07/20/2026

Every week someone says this is just the dot-com bubble again. It is not, and the reason is simple. Today's leaders make real money, while the dot-com era ran on promises. Full episode linked in comments.

07/19/2026

Up about 225 percent from the COVID bottom sounds enormous, but it is actually one of the smaller runs compared with past speculative bubbles. Context changes the whole picture. Full episode linked in comments.