We have things to say about America’s Space Force plane, but first… 

Rare Earth Minerals Stock 

Recent head-turning headlines included news that the Pentagon is about to acquire $400 million of preferred stock in MP Materials, an entity that owns the only operational rare earth mine in the U.S. at Mountain Pass, California (and which, as Fact Pack readers know, is about 60 miles southwest of Las Vegas). 

Source: Google Maps As of 7/14/25 

Rare earths are used in key components in a variety of military weapons systems, including the large magnets used in F-35 warplanes, drones and submarines. The purchase will make the U.S. Defense Department MP Materials’ largest shareholder and will enable the firm to begin building a second manufacturing facility in 2028 — in an undisclosed location we presume will not be far from its rare earths mine — the company announced last Thursday. 

As of 2023, the U.S. was dependent on foreign countries for rare earths — including China, which accounted for approximately 70 percent of such imports, per the U.S. Geological Survey.  

(Related: In 2022, Lockheed Martin publicized that a magnet in the F-35′s Honeywell-made turbomachine — an engine component that provides power to its engine-mounted starter/generator — was made with a cobalt and samarium alloy that came from China.) 

The Pentagon deal includes an agreement to buy 100 percent of the neodymium-praseodymium oxide (the compound used to manufacture the permanent magnets) made at the new facility for 10 years at a minimum price of $110 per kilogram. Financing will cheerfully be provided by JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. 

Read more at CNBC. 

X-37B 

As most Fact Pack readers likely know, President Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ includes a $1 billion line item for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) X-37B military spacecraft program. (We are taking wagers on the likelihood there is a connection between the budget for the space plane and the Defense Department investment mentioned in above.) 

Little is known about the classified Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) program or the plane, which completed its seventh mission when it landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California after 434 days in orbit on March 7, 2025, as reported by Space Insider and other news sites. 

X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility just after touching down on Nov. 12, 2022. Image credit: U.S. Space Force Staff Sgt. Adam Shanks 

Mission number seven was delayed twice — once because of bad weather, and again by a ground equipment issue — before liftoff from Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Dec. 28, 2023. (For those not keeping track, the event was SpaceX’s 97th launch of 2023.) 

Earth as seen in the X-37B’s first on-orbit photo released on February 20, 2025. Image credit: U.S. Space Force 

Boeing and the U.S. Space Force released a statement in October 2024 announcing that the X-37B would soon begin testing “aerobraking” maneuvers while descending toward Earth, and released a video of a successful test soon after. The press release noted that the space plane was designed to “safely dispose of the service module components in accordance with recognized standards for space debris mitigation.” 

FanDuel Sale 

After Boyd Gaming’s announcement last Thursday that it agreed to sell its 5 percent ownership stake in FanDuel for close to $1.76 billion, analysts said the entry of online betting giants in Nevada remains far off, at best. 

FanDuel and DraftKings account for a combined 71 percent of all sports wagers in the U.S., but those bets were all placed outside of the Silver State, as was noted by gaming reporter Howard Stutz at The Nevada Independent. The companies haven’t set up in Nevada because gaming regulations require customers to register in-person at a casino for mobile sports betting accounts.  

Industry analysts and participants alike have projected wagers could top $39 billion by 2030. Advertising has helped: 

As of 1/15/25 

FanDuel and DraftKings were founded in 2009 and 2011 respectively as daily fantasy sports websites operating “on the fringes” because a U.S. federal statute prohibited running sportsbooks outside of Nevada. The gamble was that the growing gaming hub New Jersey would challenge the law of the land — and so it did, in 2018 when the Supreme Court ruled that each state could regulate wagering on its own terms. 

Gassed 

Posted without comment: 

As of 7/14/25 

Cheapest gas in Nevada, via gasbuddy.com: 

Screen shot of prices from gasbuddy.com as of 11:30 a.m. on 7/14/25 

Ultrafast Trains 

France’s high-speed rail network is already among the most advanced transportation systems in Europe. It carries more than 122 million annual passengers across the nation at lightning-quick speeds, and France will soon add a new, state-of-the-art fleet of ultrafast trains (in 2026).  

Interesting note: The Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) is the name of the state-owned railway company of France. It first entered service from Paris to Lyon on September 22, 1982, completing the 250-mile journey in just two hours — half the time that it previously took. 

French TGV trains are also known for setting records: On April 3, 2007, the nation’s LGV Est model hit speeds of 357.2 miles per hour, setting a world speed record for a wheeled passenger train on steel rails. 

World’s Longest Flights 

In 1941, in the nascent days of aviation, a typical plane-enabled trip from Los Angeles to Boston took more than 15 hours — and required 12 refueling stops along the way. 

Fast forward to an advisory to “Make sure you’re cozy onboard, because you could be on the plane for more than 19 hours,” offered by the Daily Passport writers who highlighted the seven longest flights in the world based on distance traveled, as of 2025. 

The world’s longest flight is offered by Singapore Airlines: a direct route from Singapore to New York’s JFK Airport. The route is 2 miles longer than the second longest flight, also provided by Singapore Airlines: a nonstop trek to/from Newark, New Jersey. 

Australian carrier Qantas is poised to break the longest flight record in 2026 with its planned “Project Sunrise” service connecting Sydney with London and New York. Flight times will exceed 20 hours. 

Tennis 

For those who were glued to Wimbledon, we provide this interesting factoid: 

By the early 1970s, many television networks had made the transition from broadcasting in black and white to color, and an increasing number of households were upgrading their TV sets. The new tech offered a more entertaining experience — and led to an innovation in sports. 

In 1972, neon-yellow tennis balls as we know them today were introduced to make them more visible on color TV sets. The vibrant hue was selected after a study conducted by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) found that the bright shade of yellow — known officially as “optic yellow” — made it easier for viewers at home to follow the action on their screens.  

Credit: gorodenkoff/ iStock via HistoryFacts.com 

Historically, tennis balls had been either white or black (depending on the color of the courts), but when broadcast in color, white balls were more difficult to track. 

State of the Global Workplace 

Employee engagement across the world declined from 23 percent in 2023 to 21 percent in 2024, according to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace report. 

Defined as the degree of loyalty and emotional commitment workers have toward their organization and its mission and measured by 11 Gallup metrics, global employee engagement and self-reported well-being rose from 12 percent in the decade from 2009 to 19 percent in 2018.  

Engagement by managers saw the sharpest decline in Gallup’s 2024 study, falling from 30 percent in 2023 to 27 percent in 2024. The subset of female manager engagement decreased by seven points. One of the key (but not surprising) findings was that if managers are disengaged, their teams tend to be, too: 70 percent of team engagement is attributable to the manager.  

As of 2024 

The decrease in engagement in 2024 over the prior year was estimated by Gallup to cost the world economy $438 billion in productivity. A fully engaged global workforce would add approximately 9.6 trillion in productivity, a 9 percent increase in global GDP, according to Gallup. 

Gallup’s 11th global employee engagement meta-analysis — the largest study of its kind — examines decades of employee engagement and performance data from more than 100,000 teams to evaluate the connection between employee engagement and 11 key business outcomes. 

As of 2024 

Gallup’s 25-year trend lines for the United States (green), the world at large (blue), and “best-practice” organizations (blue dotted), show the U.S. with much higher engagement numbers — 70 percent or higher since 2015:

 As of 2024 

Gallup’s general findings are that organizations — regardless of country of origin, industry, or social culture — that focus growth strategies on training, developing, and retaining great managers achieve higher productivity, sales, and profits. 

South Pole 

Our internet travels this week included discovering the existence of the Antarctic Fire Department (AFD). It has more than 50 employees and serves three U.S.-run research stations including McMurdo Station, which hosts a peak population of more than 1,200 people in the summer season (October to March). 

McMurdo’s infrastructure includes about 85 buildings including laboratories, dormitories, a power plant, a water distillation plant, a wharf, assorted stores and warehouses, a science support center, and a few bars. Dispatchers field about 350 emergency calls yearly, mostly involving small fires, odor complaints, and hazardous materials. 

Notably, a routine duty at AFD is spraying every incoming flight with a deicing foam that also can put out engine fires and stop dripping oil. Though it may seem counterintuitive to think of fire hazards in the coldest place on earth, the dry climate and fierce winds create an environment where small flames can quickly grow into larger ones. 

The first recorded fire in Antarctica happened during the 1898-1900 British Antarctic Expedition when a candle set fire to a mattress in the middle of the night, and for a few harrowing moments threatened to burn down the hut that housed the entire expedition. 

If you’ve been thinking of quitting your job, AFD is hiring. (Deployments last between three and 13 months, and each shift lasts 24 hours.) 

Big Heart, Long Legs 

Exact numbers vary depending on factors such as body size and sex, but we end this week’s edition of your favorite newsletter by noting that the average giraffe heart weighs approximately 25 pounds — roughly 40 times more than the 10-ounce heart of a human adult.  

Giraffe hearts can pump 16 gallons of blood per minute, which is more than 10 times greater than the 1.5 gallons that flow through a human heart in that same time frame. In addition, a giraffe heart measures 2 feet long, nearly five times a human’s 5-inch heart. 

On the Horizon

Data & Dialogue About the Economy



The Fact Pack is a monthly business e-report co-authored by Mike PeQueen of Hightower Las Vegas and John Restrepo of RCG Economics, which combines important metrics relevant to business decision makers and financial commentary on the current issues facing the economy.

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