Ukraine is Attempting to Impact the Midterm Elections by Attacking Russian Oil Refineries. Credit Stress is Exploding in the AI Industry.
Podcasts > Your Personal Bank with Ferenc Toth
Monday, October 26, 2026
California charges $1.47 per gallon in gas taxes and fees. Texas charges 38 cents. Why would voting for Democrats (or not voting for Republicans because you are upset with gas prices) reduce prices at the pump?
Ukraine is attempting to impact the midterm elections by attacking Russian refineries. Russia supplies much of the world's diesel. High gas prices likely affect Republicans and Trump negatively. Ukraine is hoping the Democrats regain control of the House and restart funding their war.
The Democrats recently released a "Trumpflation Tracker". It shows inflation cost the average household $3,388 over the first 20 months of Trump's second term. The tracker failed to share that inflation cost the average household $31,321 over Biden's four years. This is over 4X higher inflation cost per month!
Many people are upset because they thought prices would come down when Trump took office.
There are only two viable options to reduce prices.
1. Severe recession
2. Reduce number of people in the US
- Trump has closed the border.
- Legal immigration has been cut in half.
- 3+ million illegals have left voluntarily or deported.
- SNAP (food stamps) have been cut by nearly 7 million.
- HUD requires citizenship or eligible status for Section 8 government housing.
- The Trump administration is investigating and prosecuting fraud.
These actions will reduce overall prices.
When the Berlin Wall fell, no one ran from the capitalist side to the communist side. Remember this when you vote.
Credit stress is exploding in the AI industry. Credit default swaps are insurance against bond failure issued by companies. Higher risk increases spreads.
Coreweave credit default swaps are predicting a 63% chance their bonds will fail within 5 years. Oracle insurance costs have had a record increase. Amazon, Google, Meta, and Nvidia have increased insurance costs.
Record levels of borrowing to build data centers is colliding with concerns if AI will generate sufficient returns to recoup the borrowing costs.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, recommended investors reduce their US stocks. They cited AI volatility and higher interest rates.
This is the "Golden Era" of fixed assets. This is the best time in 40+ years to invest in index annuities, index universal life, and high cash value whole life.
Related Episodes
Why the Market is Rising While Your Portfolio Value is Declining
Monday, October 26
