To The Moon

My Investing Muse (31Aug2026)

Layoffs, closures and Delinquencies

Technology job cuts in 2026 have already exceeded the full-year 2025 total, as companies shift budgets toward artificial intelligence and a narrower set of core products.Apple eliminated more than 200 positions: roughly 100 in Vision Pro, including a near shutdown of the gaming team and a smaller immersive-video unit, and about 100 in Siri and Intelligent Systems Experience as the assistant is rebuilt on a new AI architecture. LinkedIn is closing its Tel Aviv R&D center and cutting nearly all of its approximately 50 staff, a move disclosed earlier in August. TikTok cut 75 Bellevue roles, mainly engineers, data scientists, and TikTok Shop staff, after an earlier reduction of 250 jobs in Nashville. Oracle has instructed managers to identify double-digit percentage cuts on selected teams ahead of a fiscal second-quarter reset around early September.Netflix shut Night School Studio in Los Angeles and Moonloot in Helsinki and reduced other games roles to concentrate on kids, party, narrative, and mainstream titles. Zillow cut just over 500 jobs—about 7 percent of its workforce, not 5 percent—on 4 August despite profitable growth. Etsy let go of about 220 employees, or 12 percent of staff, mostly in product and engineering, to flatten management. Lufthansa began a first phase of up to 550 administrative full-time cuts at its core airline and group functions, part of a plan to remove about 4,000 office jobs by 2030.The pattern across tech, media, marketplaces, and aviation is the same: cost discipline and AI-led priority shifts, not a single demand shock. - Grok and Gemini

When Ice, Code and Midterms Collide

Late August 2026 feels crowded. A glacier-and-rock collapse on the Nepal–Tibet border sent a debris flood down the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli system, killing hundreds and leaving thousands missing. Early reports blamed a magnitude-4.4 earthquake; later analysis showed the collapse itself produced the shaking. New high-altitude lakes now sit above the same valleys—an immediate hit to people, roads, hydropower and Himalayan tourism.

Imaged dated 22 August 2026 from Robert Speta Facebook

In the Philippines, stacked storms and a strong southwest monsoon have left dozens dead and millions affected. These sit inside a strengthening El Niño expected to peak late in 2026 and shape the Southern Hemisphere spring and summer. El Niño is not the cause of every fire or flood. It is a multiplier for rainfall, crops and the chance that one shock arrives before the last is counted.

A run of large earthquakes from the Philippines and Japan to Indonesia and northern South America has revived Ring of Fire talk. 2026 is not clearly above the long-run rate of major quakes. It is a year in which big events have been visible and consecutive—enough to matter for insurance, ports and energy.

The same week, the AI growth story is being restated in public. Bill Gates argued the transition could be the greatest equaliser or the worst source of injustice, and that governments lack a plan. OpenAI and Anthropic are in the IPO queue after confidential filings, with valuations discussed near a trillion dollars. AI capex still props growth forecasts. It also now includes energy demand, data-integrity risk and the chance listings meet a market that has already priced perfection.

The United States heads into November midterms with presidential approval near second-term lows. A House loss is widely expected; the Senate is closer. Impeachment talk if both chambers flip is politics, not a pricing rule. Divided government and weak approval are: noisier budgets and less room for clean fiscal surprises.

The implication is simple. Watch food and energy logistics, shipping chokepoints, power for data centres, and the assumption that AI can underwrite everything else. Smaller risk and closer reading of actual budgets are the rational response when several slow systems start moving at once.

Financial Strategy and Outlook

Let us spend within our means, invest only what we can afford to lose, and avoid leverage. Let us review our current holdings and divest from businesses losing their competitive advantages. Additionally, I will consider adding both hedging strategies and defensive positions to our portfolio to mitigate risk.

As we move forward, it is crucial to conduct thorough due diligence before assuming any new responsibilities.

Wishing everyone a successful week ahead.

@TigerStars

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