No matter how good Nvidia’s results are tomorrow night — and they will be good — they won’t matter.
Nvidia’s stock has fallen in the last five days. Ditto for other data center companies, like TSM, Dell, GEV, SNDK and Micron.
t
Communities al over the U.S. have made data centers a hot issue for the upcoming mid-terms. Two important governors — of Texas and New York — have halted data center construction.
Others — in Pennsylvania, Utah, Ohio and Louisiana — are pausing them and adding new rules.
Every politician is aware that embracing data center full-on is not good for being elected in the mid-terms.
Gemini reports: Anti-data center demonstrations have surged across the United States in 2026, with over 140 protests staged across 42 states as local communities push back against the massive resource demands of new artificial intelligence facilities.
Google data center demonstrations You’ll find photos of protests:
Objections center on skyrocketing electricity costs and potential water shortages. Texas Governor Greg Abbott says data centers deserve the backlash they’re getting: ‘They basically dug their own grave.”
On Wall Street the concern is that paying demand for AI won’t make the billions invested in data center worth the immense investment. Paying is the operative word. There’s plenty of free demand from school kids to people simply having fun with what AI can do. The Gee Whiz phenomenon.
I pay for AI — but no one will get rich on the few hundred dollars a year I’m spending. I use it for investment research — like how do Donor Advised Funds work and cost — and how to fix things — like our Generac generator, and our Shark vacuum cleaner. I also ask it for why certain stocks rose and fell. And maybe which stocks or ETFs look interesting.
I’m fearful that the erstwhile heady emotion with AI investment stocks is dying.
Suddenly, I’m also seriously afraid of the Trump Administration’s “management.” Up till now I have figured that my stocks would escape the Administration’s gross management incompetence. Now I’m no longer sure. It seems that Trump’s modus operandi is to break things and replace them with something much better. The better deal.
But that strategy is not working. Trump actually said “We don’t need Canada.” Now 90,000 people will lose their jobs, says one estimate.
We ripped up a functioning agreement with Iran that was keeping them out of nuke biz. We started a war in search of a better deal. But we can’t win the Iran War or solve it. The world is far worse off with the Strait closed (maybe permanently) and us lacking the armaments (or the will) to open it.
My big fear is that Trump has replaced heads of so many important Federal government agencies — like Defense (now called War), Health and Human Services, many inspector generals, ICE, and all the new dumb rules, e.g.
HUD has also imposed new compliance obligations on landlords and public housing authorities. Since mid-December 2025, the agency has required recipients to submit detailed information on tenants’ citizenship and immigration documentation. HUD reaffirmed the requirement in a Jan. 23, 2026, notice that gave recipients 30 days to comply.
Appointing a Fox news host to run Defense (aka War) is mind-blowing, viz Iran and now this:
The Outage: Shortly after departing Roswell, New Mexico, the pilots informed air traffic control that they had completely lost GPS navigation. The U.S. military was actively conducting a planned GPS-denial exercise at the nearby White Sands Missile Range.
They’d forgotten to tell the medevac pilots. Just as they forgot recently to tell Washington National Airport that the president was approaching in a helicopter. Which caused a loss of a brief loss of minimum required separation from a plane that was taking off. Close and harrowing.
Dumb and careless.
Magical thinking.
North Korea is sending arms, ammunition, and military equipment to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine.
Trump told reporters recently that he gets along well with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and that he plans to meet with Kim later this year. Trump said his positive relationship with Kim is “a very good thing” and suggested that Kim could be managed as long as “we have a smart president.”
Would I buy stock in a company whose CEO said such nonsense?
Am I not happy? Will my unhappiness translate into a rout on Wall Street. Many people are worried.
I’m posting this blog at 7:20 AM Tuesday August 25, 2026.
Futures are showing a big bounce coming today.
Two things are clear:
+ Cash makes sense. Enough not to worry about next 12 months expenses.
+ Some holdings outside tech make sense, viz JNJ, GLD, JPM, LLY, LNG, MNST, MPC, RTX, VLO,
Best of the last few weeks
My son, Michael and I did a Backroads biking trip in Normandy and Brittany, France.
Guess what we got to visit?
We actually schlepped to the top of it.
The monks who built and ran the place financed it by selling indulgences (“Get out hell” cards) to the nobility and anyone who had lots of money. They even had a special Reception Room for the nobility.
Selling indulgences got immensely mor profitable with the invention of the printing press. They no longer had to be hand written.
In the old days if you wanted to visit Mont-Staint-Michel, you had to wait for low-tide and walk across the sand, with its pockets of quick sand.
If you got stuck, they’d send out the cavlary. on foot.
Now with new technology they have this thing:
In the age of AI, the French, god bless them, have gone one step further. They built a bridge to the island, and set up shuttle buses. Which are free.
It’s not a particularly interesting place to visit. All the furnishings and artwork have been stripped. There are lots of bare walls and many daunting steep steps.
I wish I had all the answers.
This morning’s headline: Trump urges world leaders to join his economic war against Iran.”
Good luck with that one.
Measles are exploding, as Washington’s vaccine recommendations ebb. More dumbness.
See you soon. — Harry Newton
