International Man: It seems like a growing number of young people have concluded that saving, working hard, and investing prudently won’t get them anywhere. So they’re turning to sports betting, meme stocks, crypto speculation, and lottery-style trades. Is this simply bad judgment, or is it a rational response to a broken […]
Lookie here… The United Arab Emirates recently announced it would quit OPEC after nearly six decades, striking a major blow to the oil cartel and to Saudi Arabia, its unofficial leader. Let’s be clear, the UAE didn’t leave OPEC. They were bought out. You may recall that this event was […]
“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.” — Ernest Hemingway Thanks to the fiat currency system, governments at war can tap into a […]
The way I see it, the US has two unappealing choices: President Trump can choose option #2, but it would be widely perceived as a defeat. International relations scholar John Mearsheimer put it best: “Most of them say that President Trump should quickly declare victory and withdraw from the war. […]
International Man: Governments learned during COVID that populations will tolerate extraordinary restrictions if they’re sold as an emergency. Could an energy crisis become the next excuse for lockdown-style controls? Doug Casey: We’re looking at something much worse than another lockdown, as bad as that was. The big question is whether we’re now […]
Air power alone is not going to secure Hormuz or remove the Iranian government. Their command-and-control structure is a decentralized mosaic governed by preapproved wartime protocols, with a backup plan for every leader, including three to seven predesignated successors. Air power could not even dislodge the much smaller and poorer […]
International Man: Tax Day just passed on April 15th. What does it say about a society when productive people must spend part of every spring calculating how much tribute they owe the State? Doug Casey: It’s said that nothing is certain except death and taxes. But let’s reserve a conversation about the […]
Kind of scary, isn’t it? But wait, there is more, as they say in cheap commercials selling steak knives. Have you ever heard of super phosphate? Oh, the mere mention of it reminds me of the good old days on the farm in New Zealand all those years ago. Spreading […]
International Man: Iran is already turning the Strait of Hormuz into a geopolitical toll booth—restricting traffic, charging transit fees, and shutting out the US and its allies. If this continues, what happens to oil, trade, and the global economy, and is there anything the US military can do about it? Doug […]
Crassus was one of the richest and most powerful men in Rome. He rose to the top alongside Julius Caesar and Pompey as part of the First Triumvirate, an informal three-man alliance that dominated Roman politics even though it was not an official office. Crassus wanted military glory to match […]