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Daily Missive

Full Speed Ahead

Loading ...Bill Bonner

January 14, 2025 • 3 minute, 15 second read


debtDOGE

Full Speed Ahead

Bill Bonner writing from Baltimore, Maryland

We came back from snowy Ireland to snow covered Maryland.

And this morning, we sit in front of the fire, and take a break from our customary rigorous analysis and air-tight logic to make some guesses.

As reported last week, the Musk/Ramaswamy DOGE group has already admitted that it can’t really eliminate the deficit. Not even half of it.

But it only took just a little math to see that coming, not a lot of guesswork. They would have to cut into the muscle of the Pentagon and into the guts of the transfer payments (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) to really make much of a difference.

They aren’t going to do that because the politicians are in control, not the ‘efficiency’ guys. Politicos get power for themselves by spending money, not saving it. So, it was inevitable that Musk would fall out with the MAGA crowd.

Steve Bannon was on the case over the weekend. New York Post:

Days after fawning over what tech magnate Elon Musk’s deep pockets could do for the MAGA movement, Steve Bannon went berserk on the world’s richest man and vowed to limit his White House influence. Bannon, 71, who hosts the “War Room” podcast and has a penchant for plotting all-out brass-knuckled political warfare, suggested Musk “should go back to South Africa” and decried his stance on H1-B visas.

A bit more guessy is our hypothesis that the Trump phenomenon doesn’t mark a real break with the past… but merely an acceleration in the rate of degeneration. More spending. More debt. More blatant corruption. More foreign adventures. More inflation… and so forth.

The press confuses the issue. It says Trump represents the ‘extreme right’ as opposed to the mainstream ‘enlightened liberals.’ In the minds of many, the Trump win represents a whole new thing… a new era in US politics.

And in some ways it does. But not the important ones.

Perhaps less in practice than in theory, traditional party politics pitted the ‘progressives’ against the ‘conservatives.’ The improvers — a role played by the democrats — wanted to use the strong arm of the feds to build a better world. Spend, spend, spend… for better schools, welfare for the poor, make the world safe for democracy, save the planet — you name it.

The role played by conservative republicans was avuncular… dragging their feet to slow them down… and using the Constitution to impose restraints.

But over time, the wily old Republican uncles realized that they could use the government’s ‘free’ money to buy votes and gain power too. And now, is there a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties?

Both spend trillions they don’t have, knowing that it will lead to higher prices for their own voters… Both approved the invasion of Iraq… and the attack on Libya… and the bombs and cash that get sent to the Ukraine and Israel (much of which comes back to the US firepower industry… where a portion of it is then spent to guarantee more spending).

Where they disagree is not on the direction of the ship, but the color of carpet and the wine served at the captain’s table. Like married couples, they argue over the details…and often duck real differences. But it didn’t matter what song they played in the bar…when the icy water rushed through the corridors, the Titanic was doomed.

Bush, Obama, Trump I, Biden — none departed from the Big Empire course. And now Trump II is promising even more glorious expansion — to Greenland, Mexico, Canada… and perhaps teaming up with Mr. Musk… to the stars!

We’re all passengers on this ship, whether we like it or not. Where will we end up? East, West, South or North? The best guess is that it will go down.

More to come…

Regards,

Bill Bonner


Palmer Luckey: I Saw the Future of War. Now It’s Up to Us to Prepare for It

September 30, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

Like me, you can make the choice to put your technological talents to work for the mission of protecting your country.

You are your country’s finest engineers, technologists, and researchers. There is no secret arsenal. There is nobody else. It’s just you. So answer the call. Dare to build. And never yield in the defense of your country and its freedoms.

Palmer Luckey: I Saw the Future of War. Now It’s Up to Us to Prepare for It
Shutdown Theatre

September 30, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

Today’s market news is relatively simple. Premium butter is noise.  Gold’s surge is a signal. History offers the rhyme: in the 1930s, Roosevelt revalued gold higher to recapitalize the system. Investors are now front-running the possibility of similar moves.

Shutdown Theatre
America’s Trillion-Dollar Reserve

September 30, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

As is our forecast for a terrifying bull market. Gold is just one asset of many rising during the Trump era grand realignment of the geopolitical and global monetary systems.

We’ll concede to gold’s critics that it’s an inert metal that just sits there, generating no income. But, as such, it’s also the perfect barometer for the health of the fiat monetary system.

Judging by gold’s massive rally the past few years – and the fact that it’s outperformed the S&P 500 century-to-date, sometimes being in the right place and doing nothing is the right move.

America’s Trillion-Dollar Reserve
A Brief History of America’s Extreme Ideological Divide

September 29, 2025 • James Hickman

Irresponsible, runaway spending combined with an ever-expanding regulatory state that strangles the private economy, is an unprecedented challenge.

Unlike the nation’s deep ideological divide whose cycle has repeated over and over again throughout the last 250 years, America is in uncharted and dangerous territory when it comes to its $37+ trillion national debt.

The culture war and ideological divide will eventually heal. The economic challenge, on the other hand, will take serious work, tough decisions, and difficult sacrifices.

Sadly, none of that seems to be in the cards right now. And that’s setting the country up for some serious consequences down the road.

A Brief History of America’s Extreme Ideological Divide