“Alright, pay attention because this is how legends are made.”
Support The Capitalist, become a paid subscriber today:
Hot takes from the C-Suite corner office,
not financial advice!
Ninth Circuit just called prediction markets what they are: sports bets
Walmart settles the DOJ opioid case and the stock barely shrugs
Affirm surges as $4.09 gas turns shoppers into installment addicts
Together with Kalshi
Capitalist Insider: Wall Street said 2040. Musk said SpaceX hits $3.5 trillion in 2033
Hello Capitalist Insiders!
Ninth Circuit just called prediction markets what they are: sports bets
The Ninth Circuit just smashed the prediction-market costume. Sports event contracts are not swaps, they are sports bets, and Nevada can treat them that way. That slams the Third Circuit’s April ruling that handed the CFTC the sandbox. Circuit split. SCOTUS is now the referee. DraftKings jumped 7% because the Street smelled blood.
• Winners? DraftKings and Flutter, up 7% and more than 6%. State gaming boards just got a federal blessing. Licensed books get air while the lawyers feast.
• Losers? Kalshi, Crypto.com, and Robinhood. Their “it’s a derivative, officer” pitch just got laughed out of San Francisco. Forty-four states are circling the rake.
• Next? The petition goes to the Supreme Court. Years of fog. Platforms keep running where they can. States keep issuing shutdown orders. Valuation haircuts incoming.
Don’t confuse a legal costume with a business. If your volume is football tickets, you are a bookie wearing a CFTC mask. The market already voted: DKNG and FLUT ripped higher on the ruling. The house wins when Washington and the states fight over the juice. Trade the split. Don’t marry the narrative.
Odds surge on Tesla merging with SpaceX before 2028
The odds of Tesla merging with SpaceX before 2028 have surged according to the latest data from Kalshi.
Elon’s Mega Corp: Elon Musk, fresh off the back of the SpaceX IPO has been rumored to be debating the move.
A Pattern Emerging: Prior to the SpaceX IPO several of Musk’s ventures were brought in under the SpaceX umbrella. This included the satellite internet division Starlink and the xAI division which runs the AI model Grok.
Do you think Tesla will be acquired by SpaceX?
Get $25 in credit on Kalshi after you sign up using our code “brawl” or by using our link.
Walmart settles the DOJ opioid case and the stock barely shrugs
Walmart just settled the Justice Department’s 2020 opioid lawsuit and hid the check. That’s the tell. If the number was lethal, Bentonville would still be in court. Shares rose 0.5% because this was mop-up, not a body blow. They already paid $3.1 billion to states and cities in 2022. The federal leftover just got swept off the 10-K.
• Winners? Walmart. Cloud off the balance sheet, pharmacies keep running, and a 0.5% pop says the Street already priced the pain.
• Losers? The 905,000 dead from 1999 to 2025 and a DOJ that wanted billions in penalties then took a secret handshake.
• Next? The dollar figure leaks within weeks. Other chains study the template. The epidemic is now a legal product, not a Sunday sermon.
When the biggest retailer on earth settles and the stock yawns up half a percent, the real trial already happened in 2022. This was the federal afterparty. Capitalists settle when fighting’s option value goes negative. Walmart did the math. Lawyers got paid. America still has a pharmacy problem. Trade the stock, not the eulogy. Its a brutal reality.
The Capitalist is a reader-supported publication, we exist for you, because of you!
Affirm surges as $4.09 gas turns shoppers into installment addicts
Max Levchin just showed you the inflation trade live. Affirm printed Q4 revenue of $1.17 billion against a $1.11 billion LSEG number, GMV hit $14.1 billion versus $13.39 billion, and fiscal Q1 guidance of $1.19 billion to $1.22 billion beat the $1.16 billion Street print. The stock surged. Gas sits at $4.09. Broke people budget. Affirm collects.
• Winners? Affirm and Levchin. Sticky 3.7% inflation is their customer-acquisition machine. Households stretching $4.09 gas across installments are the inventory.
• Losers? The U.S. consumer eating $4.09 gas, still far above pre-Iran-war levels. Card networks losing the “budgeting” customer straight to Buy Now Pay Later.
• Next? Warsh’s September Fed meeting. If prices stay sticky, Affirm keeps printing. If the pump cracks, that “budgeting” bid cools fast.
Levchin said the quiet part: when inflation bites, demand for his product goes up. That is not a health report. That is a toll booth on American weakness. Ride AFRM while $4 gas and 3.7% inflation keep the installment machine humming. Do not confuse their beat with a healthy shopper. Parasites love a squeeze.
Gen Z just pawned the 401(k) to the sportsbook
Betterment surveyed 1,000 investors and 52% of Gen Z, born 1997 to 2007, already yanked money meant for investing and fed it to a sportsbook. A quarter of them think a parlay is a retirement plan. The vig is $110 to win $100. The stock market compounded around 10% for a century. These kids are torching the engine.
• Winners? DraftKings, FanDuel, and every book skimming the juice. Platforms are harvesting a generation that treats gambling like an asset class.
• Losers? Gen Z’s future net worth. I already called this long-term suicide for compounding in “Gen Z torches their American dream by abandoning marriage forever.”
• Next? Delinquency and bankruptcies keep climbing, exactly as the New York Fed already mapped. The books keep the rake. The kids keep the debt.
I told you these kids were committing long-term suicide for compounding. Here is the receipt. 52% redirected investment money. Sports bettors already miss bills at a 25% clip and 30% take on debt. Ten grand in the index becomes $452,000 in 40 years. A Sunday ticket becomes a bar story. The house cashes it.
Regarding sports betting, why can’t we come clean about the role this is playing in the annual expansion of the post season college football playoff system?
The latest proposal being floated is 24 teams/12 games with multiple roads to get in. Mo money mo money.
Here is why I don’t like it. Football is a heavy impact sport. Micro injuries add up. By the time a worthy team is within sight of the championship, there will be season ending/career ending injuries that would not have happened without that cumulative injury and fatigue factor. By enlarging the playoff field, fans will likely be cheated of games where the best teams would finally have met.
It’s time to call out what is really happening and think about the good of the game and those who play it.