Why America Can't Have Nice Things
In a post last week, I wrote that amid all the rage at Tucker Carlson's reporting from Moscow, none of his critics had bothered to explain why America can't have nice things, like Moscow's clean and safe subways.
Why Can't America Have Nice Things?
— Portfolio Armor (@PortfolioArmor) February 16, 2024
Tucker Carlson's critics can't seem to answer this simple question. https://t.co/DJXpfyWfSn
It looks like I spoke too soon. One Tucker critic (a longtime one at that), Jon Stewart, has bothered to explain why America can't have nice things. You can hear him say it himself in the clip from his Daily Show in the X post below, but in a nutshell, Jon Stewart argues that our squalor is the price of freedom.
Jon Stewart unironically tells Tucker Carlson that the reason why the US can’t have clean functioning subways or cheap grocery prices like they do in Moscow is “the literal price of freedom” pic.twitter.com/tFQorEhLPW
— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) February 20, 2024
As you can imagine, this generated some heated responses. Some pointed out that Moscow isn't the only city with clean and safe subways--democratic Tokyo has them too.
Tokyo is unfree fascist society too? https://t.co/u9v3wLhnrr
— Bronze Age Pervert (@bronzeagemantis) February 20, 2024
Others suggested that Stewart's concept of "freedom" really only applies to America's criminal class.
Jon Stewart’s “freedom” just walked out with $51k of Gucci. pic.twitter.com/JUQutyfPN5
— David Pinsen (@dpinsen) February 20, 2024
Still others pointed out that Jon Stewart's sanctimonious act has gotten stale.
"The old Jon Stewart, but not funny and even more sanctimonious." https://t.co/gFNExgfFsA pic.twitter.com/uR4oTS9P2e
— Lomez (@L0m3z) February 20, 2024
And perhaps most devastatingly, Helen Andrews noted that Jon Stewart (and other American pundits attacking Tucker Carlson for showing Moscow's nice amenities) were deceiving themselves like Russian communists did during the Cold War, to avoid admitting their lower living standards.
Calling social decay "the literal price of freedom" is a self-deception to make us accept declining living standards—the same way Russians during the Cold War knew the U.S. had better stores but told themselves it's OK because Soviet wealth goes into industrialization & Sputnik. https://t.co/79juU8bOjG
— Helen Andrews (@herandrews) February 20, 2024
In Case You Missed It
In our trade alert yesterday, we posted four bullish trades and one bearish trade on companies reporting earnings after the close today or before the open tomorrow. You may be able to get better entries on some of them today, given the recent market action.
We also have three trades teed up for later today on companies reporting earnings after the close tomorrow or before the open on Friday. If you're subscribed to our trading Substack/occasional email list, check your inbox this afternoon; if not, feel free to subscribe below.
Wednesday Evening Update
One of our four bullish trades in yesterday's trade alert was on Nvidia:
Bullish Trade #4
The stock is Nvidia (NVDA 0.37%↑), and our trade is a vertical spread expiring on February 23rd, buying the $715 strike calls and selling the $720 strike calls for a net debit of $2.10. The max gain on 2 contracts is $580, the max loss is $420, and the break even is with NVDA at $717.10. This trade filled at $2.10. Note: the stock has dropped since I placed his trade—currently, it’s at around $685. If I were placing a trade on it now, I’d try buying the $685 calls and selling the $690 calls.
It's currently trading at $734.50 (the max gain on the trades above is with NVDA above $720 and $690, respectively.
If You Want To Stay In Touch
You can scan for optimal hedges for individual securities, find our current top ten names, and create hedged portfolios on our website. You can also follow Portfolio Armor on Twitter here, or become a free subscriber to our trading Substack using the link below (we're using that for our occasional emails now).
