The Great NATO Caper

President Trump made it to the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, in spite of an “electrical problem” forcing Air Force One to return to Andrews Air Force Base here in Maryland one hour into the flight.

One item we’re confident the President will drill his European counterparts on while at the World Economic Forum in Davos is how they’ve benefited from having the U.S. as a defense partner:

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Eurozone spending on social programs far exceeds its defence spending (Source: Ifo Institute)

Social spending in Europe has roughly doubled in the past 30 years. But only in 2025 has defense spending returned to levels last seen when the Berlin Wall was still standing.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent estimated on NBC’s Meet the Press over the weekend that the US has spent 22 trillion dollars on its commitment to NATO. Or, roughly two-thirds of the U.S.’s $38 trillion in national debt.

With the administration’s push for “Complete and Total control” (Truth Social) of Greenland, we don’t expect the attendees in Davos to offer much of a mange tak, merci, danke or muchas gracias to the US delegation. The status quo has worked just fine for them since 1990.

~ Addison

P.S. We’ve got another Grey Swan Live! two-fer for you this week:

First up, it’s a tale of two “M’s” … Mamdani vs. Milei. If you listen to Milei’s address to the WEF in 2024 and Mamdani’s inaugural address from this year, you’ll be blown away.

They both are in sharp contrast to Trump’s foreign policy and approach to state capitalism.

This week, we called up Joel Bowman — our “man on the scene” in Buenos Aires since before President Milei got elected.

We’ll get his take on Milei and Mamdani and a primer on Investing At the End of the World.

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Then on Friday — because it’s not just about what we trade, but how we trade — we’re hosting a special presentation on how to stop overpaying the IRS in 2026.

Our guest Nick Buhelos is going to walk us through simple steps on how you can:

Unlock 250+ deductions you currently can’t access.
Apply trading losses to other income (W2, 1099, even your spouse’s).
Shield your personal finances from trading risk.

Stay tuned for more details on how to join us Friday at 1 p.m. ET.

If you have requests for new guests you’d like to see join us for Grey Swan Live!, or have any questions for our guests, send them here.

One item we’re confident the President will drill his European counterparts on while at the World Economic Forum in Davos is how they’ve benefited from having the U.S. as a defense partner:

Turn Your Images On

Eurozone spending on social programs far exceeds its defence spending (Source: Ifo Institute)

Social spending in Europe has roughly doubled in the past 30 years. But only in 2025 has defense spending returned to levels last seen when the Berlin Wall was still standing.

~ Addison

P.S. We’ve got another Grey Swan Live! two-fer for you this week:

First up, it’s a tale of two “M’s” … Mamdani vs. Milei. If you listen to Milei’s address to the WEF in 2024 and Mamdani’s inaugural address from this year, you’ll be blown away.

They both are in sharp contrast to Trump’s foreign policy and approach to state capitalism.

This week, we called up Joel Bowman — our “man on the scene” in Buenos Aires since before President Milei got elected.

We’ll get his take on Milei and Mamdani and a primer on Investing At the End of the World.

Turn Your Images On

Then on Friday — because it’s not just about what we trade, but how we trade — we’re hosting a special presentation on how to stop overpaying the IRS in 2026.

Our guest Nick Buhelos is going to walk us through simple steps on how you can:

Unlock 250+ deductions you currently can’t access.
Apply trading losses to other income (W2, 1099, even your spouse’s).
Shield your personal finances from trading risk.

Stay tuned for more details on how to join us Friday at 1 p.m. ET.

If you have requests for new guests you’d like to see join us for Grey Swan Live!, or have any questions for our guests, send them here.

Trump boarded Air Force One this morning for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It’s been one year to the day since his second inauguration. At this year’s summit — already set to break attendance records with 65 heads of state and over 850 global CEOs — Greenland is top of the agenda.

“We’re going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not,” Trump told reporters earlier this month.

Greenland sits at the confluence of North America, Europe, and the Arctic.

As the polar ice melts, new shipping lanes open between Asia and Europe — cutting weeks off traditional routes and escalating the race for Arctic dominance.

Secretary of State William H. Seward, the same Seward who bought Alaska from Russia, first advocated for purchasing Greenland in 1867. Again, in 1946, president Harry Truman made a formal, but secret, offer of $100 million in gold to Denmark which Copenhagen declined.

Mining stocks amplify everything. First Majestic went from losing money to 45% margins without building anything new. They just held the line on costs while silver did the heavy lifting.

That cuts both ways. If silver drops hard, margins compress just as fast. Same leverage, opposite direction.

The miners with the lowest costs and cleanest balance sheets will hold up best in a pullback and capture the most upside if the deficit keeps grinding.

Economists at Goldman Sachs said this morning they expect core inflation to finish the year around 2% even while GDP rises at a “surprisingly strong” 2.5% clip.

In our view, their inflation forecast is optimistic. Their GDP call? Modest.

The last time we pumped this much liquidity into the system — 2020 through 2022—the result was a manic asset bubble, runaway inflation, and an epic hangover at the Fed.

Goldman’s optimism has triggered a fresh round of bullish bets: cyclical stocks are rallying, “dispersion” in the S&P 500 is spiking, and the Fed is expected to cut interest rates twice before Jerome Powell gets kicked out of Washington at the end of his term on May 15.