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If you've ever used online shopping as a means to alleviate boredom, then I have a new trend for you. Well, maybe more of a nicotine patch. A spate of websites like FakeHaul, FoodNeverComes, and ImaginAirEMULATE online shopping. You can put that fancy briefcase or huge sushi dinner in your cart, order it, and even watch the shipping times… but nothing will ever come. The point: get a dopamine rush of buying something new without losing funds. You'll even get a receipt with money or calories saved.
Coming up:
- Why Pokémon's latest set is dropping in value
- How cemeteries price their plots
- Why one energy expert thinks the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve might not be needed at all
News We're Watching
1) Greenland stocks surge on hopium
What To Know: Greenland Energy Company has spiked 273% in the past month. Greenland Mines Ltd has risen 53% and the list goes on. Investors are showing confidence in Greenland's rare earth minerals after the U.S. restructured its 1951 defense agreement with Denmark. Investors hope it'll pay dividends for rare earths which provide elements for various modern technologies from cars to robotics and wind turbines. What DOES the restructured deal mean? Essentially, an increased U.S. military presence in Greenland.
Why It Matters: The White House' official statement doesn't say anything specifically about rare earth minerals. No discussion of mining permits or offtake rights, nothing. And yet, even USA Rare Earth (which has no assets in Greenland) saw an 8% stock pop right after the news. Investment website Seeking Alpha's Rob Williams sees the rally around Greenland-related stocks as being about investor expectations. More U.S. presence could mean more funding, permitting help and political support for Greenland's industry. Importantly, the announcement also said NO U.S. adversary could, "make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval."
2) People are allegedly pulling KNIVES over Pokémon cards - Kotaku
What To Know: Pokémon put out a new set of cards to celebrate three decades since the franchise began. And of course, resellers (aka scalpers) are MOBBING retail spots to relieve them of their stock. The hope is to find anything of value and resell it. People are racing to get in line (literally). One guy allegedly pulled a knife over a disagreement about jumping the line. Here's the weird part: resale value for cards in this Pokémon set are dropping hard.
What is going on: In Slack, producer Corey Bridges wrote, "It's only been a week and a bunch of cards are down 90% in value. By December you could probably buy all the cards from this set for not a lot of money."
This is because it's the largest print of any Pokémon set to date, according to videogame website Kotaku. They're just not releasing all that stock at once, it's a rollout.
Making it worse (for resellers), it's significantly easier to actually get your hands on the most valuable full-art cards (as pictured below). Usually, it's like gambling. In one pack, you'd get a full-art card 1 out of every 100 times, now it's only 1 out of every 18. As a result, cards like Mew ex that might've been pricey in a different set have dropped in value ~96% since pre-release. My heart BLEEDS for resellers.
It's worth noting the larger Pokémon resale market seems… fine? A single card, the 2004 Torchic, sold for $2.7 million at an auction a few weeks ago. It looks like vintage cards are maintaining value while modern ones are a little less sticky.
We've covered Pokémon's weird trading market before. You can check out that episode here.
Today's Indicator
Can Venezuelan oil keep US gas prices in check?
If you HAVEN'T listened: The U.S. has a back-up reserve of oil that it's been using during the Iran War. The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has been around since the 1970s, post Arab oil embargo. Lately, it's served as a way to keep prices down as the global oil supply has dried up with *difficulty* in the Strait of Hormuz, let's say. But the SPR's volume has been ticking ever lower as Trump keeps promising to refill it "right to the top." The administration's new strategy: Venezuelan oil. Will that work?
If you HAVE listened: You probably heard our expert Joseph Majkut, director of the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. One compelling point from him that didn't make it into the episode… the U.S. has become SUCH a major producer of oil and gas that, "even though we are looking at a tank that is running less than half in terms of its total potential volume, there may be less need for a full SPR over time. That's something that Congress and the President need to sort of decide."
Joseph acknowledges that the current administration still relies on the SPR. But that, in time, being a large energy producer should lessen the need for a back-up reserve.
REST OF THE WEEK
- Will Congress save or sack the Hemp-THC industry?
- The used car market is broken
- Trump has been busy in the stock market
Listener Mailbag
Listener Anna Squires Levine sent in a question from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Question: Do cemeteries revenue-manage their plots? If so, how sophisticated is the back end? Is there an airline-pricing equivalent like Sabre for cemeteries?
Answer: Never have I ever looked up the price of a cemetery plot. But just to get us all on the same page, the least expensive single plot at the very famous Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY would cost at least $21,000. The same would cost $750 in Boaz, Ala.
Before we get into revenue-management, where do prices actually come from? John Bolton, the President of the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association, says the value of the land is one of the biggest factors. Then you have to consider salaries, property tax, profit and uniquely long-term operating expenses.
" You have that perpetuity of taking care of that land, you know, forever," John said.
But to our listener Anna's question - do prices change with demand in a real-time way as they do with buying an airplane ticket? The answer: no.
" I don't know of anybody that elevates prices, you know, more than two times a year, and I've been doing this for 38 years," John said.
He says it's typically annual, and price changes will correspond to increased expenses like property taxes or wages going up. So is there a revenue-management system? Sort of! It depends! Some cemeteries will move up prices, typically annually, but it's not software doing it. So there's no Sabre-for-cemeteries ruling how prices are handed out, as with airlines.
It could depend on supply, tracked in some cases by inventory management software, but there's no industry standard for that either. It comes down to individual businesses how it's handled.
In Our Spare Time
Senior Supervising Editor Kate Concannon watched the new Oasis documentary
As the Indicator team knows by now, I LOVE live music and spend much of my spare time going to concerts, gigs, festivals, every chance I can get. I have so many favourite bands - including IMHO the ultimate '90s rock band - Oasis. Like many of their fans, it's not just the brilliant songwriting, the Liam 'pose' (the fans will know), I also feel a deep connection to the two brothers behind the band - Liam and Noel Gallagher. Yep - I know - they're a little feisty, (especially Liam) but they grew up like me, part of a working class Irish community in a struggling UK post-industrial town.
As you may remember, the brothers parted ways very publicly and acrimoniously in 2009. During the reunion tour last year all of the ticketholders, including me, were crossing our fingers that they wouldn't split up again before we got to see them!
So, did the movie portray a successful tour and happy reconciliation? Let's just say I left the movie humming my favorite songs and believing in the power of music, forgiveness and the love of family… Plus really, really hoping I score tickets for their 2027 tour. I'm officially in the lottery. First choice: Vegas. Wish me luck!
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This newsletter was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez edited by Kate Concannon.
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