Ed Elson

Look at the fact that our GDP has grown.

Look at the fact that our, quote, economy is roaring like never before.

And then, as you kind of point out, not acknowledging that the reason that is happening is because AI is adding a full half percentage point to GDP growth right now, because America is essentially becoming a giant bet on AI.

The reason that we're probably going to see some more

growth in the next year is, as you say, because of this unbelievable deficit spending, which is going to reach $2 trillion next year.

That's a level that we've only reached during recessions and during pandemics.

So the underlying situation and picture isn't great.

And he's asking us to believe it is great.

But the most important point is the one you brought up in the previous section, which is that you look at the stock price.

We are underperforming every major index, every major international market right now by a pretty significant margin.

When you look at last year where, yes, the S&P rose 16%, which was good, but you look at the all-country world index minus the U.S., which rose 29%, which is almost double the return of the U.S.,

And then the big question was, is this going to continue in 2026, or was all of the juice squeezed out of that trade in 2025?

It is continuing.

Year-to-date, S&P is flat.

Year-to-date, MSCI World minus USA Index is up 10%.

So all of these other stock markets, I mean, they are outperforming.

And you can get up there on the stage and you can say, look at the stock market, we're doing well.

But as we all know, all of this stuff is relative.

When you compare us to the rest of the world, we're actually not doing so well, which is surprising because you would think that if we own all of the AI companies, which we do,

Why aren't things going well?