You are a free subscriber to Me and the Money Printer. To upgrade to paid and receive the daily Capital Wave Report - which features our Red-Green market signals, subscribe here. Airline Miracles and Other Things I ThinkToday's newsletter is brought to you by the "Letter K" as in K Shaped Recovery...
Dear Fellow Traveler: It’s a modern miracle… A person boards a Southwest plane in Baltimore in December... It’s a full flight… and they need help to board the plane. So, given Southwest’s policy… they ask for a wheelchair to board the plane. BWI employees wheel the person down. They board… early… and get a seat - in open boarding - in the first few rows… an aisle seat… a window seat (but never a middle seat.) Then… the rest of the passengers board. They take off… toward Florida. Maybe Fort Myers. Maybe Miami. As the plane approaches the airport, the stewardess addresses the passengers over the loudspeaker. She explains that if the person needs wheelchair assistance back up the ramp (to the same people - maybe a dozen of them - who all got taken down the ramp for open seating) they will need to wait for everyone else to get off first. And suddenly, like the hand of God had reached through the windows and anointed their arthritic knees or bad backs… they no longer need assistance. As if they are Mary Lou Retton as Tiny Tim at the end of Scrooge… t
They discard their wheelchairs and crutches and get off the plane first… free of pain… It’s a story I wrote about regularly while taxiing between Maryland and Florida while working for a few Baltimore publishers. It was hilarious… to the point that it felt like a miracle flight… I called it “A Religious Revival Aboard Southwest Flight 2578…”
Seems, I was early to the observation… The “Jetway Jesus” story went national this week when the Wall Street Journal. The headline…
This WSJ story explains the long lines as more people demand wheelchairs to board flights. The Southwest employees know exactly which airports are likely to see these types of lines and “miracle” events… And this is now such a national problem that it’s leading to flight delays, disgruntled employees, and changes in airline policies. How dare Americans game the stupid system that Southwest set up and didn’t bother to war-game for? This is just another example of “incentives.” If you give people the incentive to game a system, they will take it. It seems that people are pushing for reform on this… But here’s the thing… the second they try to change these rules, the lawyers will show up to preserve the status quo and threaten the airlines involved. Thing I Think, No. 2: We’ve Fixed NothingThis thought is brought to you by the Letter K… Americans aren’t reacting to inflation anymore. They’re reacting to price levels. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey shows “current conditions” at the worst level in 47 years. This is brutal. That’s worse than 1987, 9/11, the GFC, or COVID. And we’d be facing a similar market selloff and liquidity event if it weren’t for the Fed pumping half a trillion into the system over the next year. This is insane given that stocks are near record highs and inflation expectations are falling. But it makes sense if you stop treating inflation as a rate and start treating it as a permanent reset. Prices went up fast, then stopped rising as quickly. Economists call that “improvement.” Households say “nothing got cheaper.” Wages never reset. Housing prices never reset. Insurance costs didn’t reset. Food prices didn’t reset. All because of the policy. The Fed and the government didn’t allow it to… And now, we have this massive K-shaped recovery where asset holders get bailed out… and everyone is under pressure. This is how people making six figures feel poor… Credit costs went up… And the system tried to put more people into debt. So even with stable prices, daily life feels tighter than during past crises when prices eventually fell or stimulus cushioned the blow. Consumers aren’t scared of what’s coming. They’re angry about what already happened and never got undone. That’s why sentiment can collapse while markets cheer. Asset holders live in flows. Households live in levels. And levels never came back down. History should remember… Bernanke… Yellen… Powell… But it’ll blame Trump… Trump… Trump… Americans, once again, don’t understand how the system actually works. Thing I Think, No. 3: This is Your Solution to that K-ShapeI launched Postcards from the Edge of the World to explicitly discuss how the financial system extracts more and more from you each day. That K-shaped economy… that’s largely based on transfer payments that you don’t even see… Now is the time to take action. I’ve unlocked Volume 2 for readers to preview, get a free pick, and see what I’m trying to achieve with this letter. I don’t want this to be just about making money, but also about how to opt out of many of these legal extraction methods and empower yourself. It’s not that complicated. And the stories are everywhere… I’ll never run out of ideas and opportunities… Our first two investments have focused on the energy required to power AI data centers and on non-traditional gold and silver investments to address dollar debasement. Now, we turn our attention to one of the great long-term investments of the last 2,000 years. It’s not gold, it’s not silver… and it’s not agriculture. It’s something more important… Tomorrow, we unveil another important fund for investors to profit… as we continue our exploration of historical examples of the extraction model… And next week… on Dec. 27, we’ll turn abroad to a long-term fund with a double-digit yield and very little exposure to the U.S. dollar. If cross-border flows start to turn back toward Asia, then we will be prepared… If you’re not a member of this new letter… please consider subscribing right here… We’ve made a great offer before we raise prices in 2026… Thing I Think No. 4: There is an Optimal Seat on Southwest…We started our conversation on Southwest… It’s interesting because, as I deal with my back right now, I have used the pre-board before due to flights to see specialists when traveling from Florida to Baltimore (the opposite flight of the traditional Jetway Jesus experiences…
I’d never sit upfront… My preferred seat… because I really needed a specific seat for how I needed to sit with my back locked up… It’s not upfront… so I never get the evil eyes of the passengers who board in Zone A. My preferred seat: Behind the exit row (that can’t recline)… on the right side… window… over the wing. In a flight that wasn’t sold out… that middle seat also usually was empty. But I really had a system. I’m glad I don’t have to fly that way anymore… Thing I Think No. 5: And Finally… Get Ready for Big CallsS&P 500 predictions are mostly theater. Every December, Wall Street parades point forecasts like they’re acts of insight. One number. One path. One false sense of precision. That’s not investing. That’s storytelling. Scenarios are the work. Last year, instead of predictions, I ran a scenario analysis on the S&P 500. I had five broad ranges. No hero calls—no false certainty. Four of the five scenarios hit, spanning roughly 4,850 to over 7,100… and we still might hit the 7,100 best-case. That’s what mattered. It told us how to position, when to press, and when to step aside. Markets don’t move in straight lines. They move through regimes. Scenarios respect that. Predictions pretend it doesn’t exist. That’s also why, at the end of this month, I’ll walk through how I’m thinking about 2026 in video form. No long write-up… but a serious outlook for 2026 with a deep dive into liquidity shifts… challenges around Repo… expectations for sectors… And much more. Not with a single target, but with the setups that matter. And on January 1, we’ll publish our core portfolio for subscribers using the Graham, Altman, and Piotroski models. We’ll talk about quality, value, and momentum… This is a portfolio and trading strategy that beats the S&P 500 when properly managed… It’s how we found SkyWest (SKYW), a stock that went up over 600% in three years. Plus… a walk through - a deep dive on momentum - and how to use our signals. We’ve avoided every major selloff since going live after COVID by refusing to marry forecasts. If you want to own durable businesses and trade momentum when it’s there, join us now. 30% off. Daily updates on momentum, insider buying, and risk management. Predictions feel good. Preparation pays. Let’s stay prepared… And stay positive, Garrett Baldwin About Me and the Money Printer Me and the Money Printer is a daily publication covering the financial markets through three critical equations. We track liquidity (money in the financial system), momentum (where money is moving in the system), and insider buying (where Smart Money at companies is moving their money). Combining these elements with a deep understanding of central banking and how the global system works has allowed us to navigate financial cycles and boost our probability of success as investors and traders. This insight is based on roughly 17 years of intensive academic work at four universities, extensive collaboration with market experts, and the joy of trial and error in research. You can take a free look at our worldview and thesis right here. Disclaimer Nothing in this email should be considered personalized financial advice. While we may answer your general customer questions, we are not licensed under securities laws to guide your investment situation. Do not consider any communication between you and Florida Republic employees as financial advice. The communication in this letter is for information and educational purposes unless otherwise strictly worded as a recommendation. Model portfolios are tracked to showcase a variety of academic, fundamental, and technical tools, and insight is provided to help readers gain knowledge and experience. Readers should not trade if they cannot handle a loss and should not trade more than they can afford to lose. There are large amounts of risk in the equity markets. Consider consulting with a professional before making decisions with your money.
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