On April 1, 2022, Kelly King started his monthly posts with "No fooling: You can be HAPPY even in the middle of challenging conditions." His 4 steps: choose to be happy, know your purpose, keep a growth mindset, and help others. google.com/url?q=linkedin.co… (Catch-up post 1 of 53.)

We’ve reached a point where any mix of solutions to our nation’s economic problems is going to involve the wealthiest Americans contributing more. nytimes.com/2025/12/19/opini…

After this administration, we can pass a law making it illegal for the President and his family to raise a billion dollars, or any dollars, selling crypto investments. Or paintings, book deals, insider trades etc. Just pay politicians more and incent honest people.

What happens to intrafi valuation if this passes?

In a panic, perception > reality. Without deposit insurance reform, this will happen again. Yes, you benefit from being private but a functioning capital market system is necessary to facilitate to the growth of the sector and the economy. I do know what I am talking about here.

What I am saying is that in a panic people shoot first and ask questions later - many publicly traded banks made the same case you make but still saw their valuations eviscerated with many yet to recover - capital has left the small bank sector and won't come back without reform

It is evident to me that despite the rhetoric in DC we are still in a "rich get richer" mindset where the largest banks will attract the most capital, enabling them to spend the most money and enabling them to hoover up the most market share

Isn’t it amazing how the only company (@IntraFi) in America who benefits from keeping FDIC limits low is the loudest cheerleader for today’s testimony from @JillCastilla. It almost seems like she’s trying to keep their business intact I’m sure I don’t even have to look to see IntraFi is a big donor of yours, do I @RepFrenchHill?

A banker at a small, inefficient private bank is pressing @RepFrenchHill not to increase deposit insurance, because banking is built on trust. True - customers trust the mega banks, and businesses convert their underinsured business deposit to $JPM…

Final thought as Intrafi cheers on this banker - banks don’t get started anymore. Fintechs and private funds do. Why is that? And her bank is “trusted” but barely earns its cost of capital. US Banks are slowly dying off under the current regime.

It’s called “The Wall Street Journal” and not “The Main Street Journal” for a reason: the @WSJ Editorial Board has a built-in bias towards big banks. That bias was on full display this month in an editorial that shrugged off the damage Dodd-Frank has inflicted on small and mid-sized banks. In a response to the Board, @SenatorHagerty and I explain how raising the FDIC limit to capture business and payroll accounts could pave the way for a community bank comeback. wsj.com/opinion/how-to-make-…

Banks have couple hundred million in exposure to recent issues. NDFIs, a couple billion. But sure, let’s blame banks @business

Is $APP going to be this cycle’s Enron?

Will $APP be this cycle’s Enron?

As promised yesterday, today we'll be taking a look at Carvana's prime auto receivables trust 2025-P3. Unlike non-prime (N), prime (P) packaged loans consist of borrowers with higher FICO scores. Here are the key points: - An average car is around $25,000 (slightly more expensive compared to $23,000 in sub-prime package) - Average interest is 13% (significantly better than 21% sub-prime) - LTV (loan-to-value) is 95, meaning the lender is financing 95% of car's value - Loan duration is 72 months (6 years, same as with sub-prime) - average FICO score is 702 Majority of the loans come from Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and Arizona. I'm pointing this out because we will take a look at Carvana's competitors soon. So far, I have to say that I see nothing proprietary in Carvana's business model of selling used cars for an average price of ($25k prime, $23k sub-prime) for typical interest rates (13% prime, 21% sub-prime) on typical loan durations (6 years), with LTV of near 100. To quote an article from Wall Street Journal from 2021, Carvana's success is based on used-car loans. If market values $CVNA more than 12x $KMX, you'd think that Carvana has a significant competitive advantage over Carmax in how the do used-car loans. Over the coming days, we will look at auto receivable trusts of Carmax (at 52-week lows) and Tricolor (now bankrupt). Stay tuned.