The Real Global Threat

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

– George Santayana

Amid the rising threat of all out war in the Middle East and a US senator in-country rooting for the Ukraine incursion into Russian territory, today we have new insight into modern global warfare…

Over the years, it has been eye-opening to share the insights Grey Swan founding contributor John Robb has about the military industrial complex, their impact on domestic politics and how influential they are in crafting US foreign policy.

It’s shocking to me every time I talk to him how little citizens know about what our military is up to let alone where the fat checks from our defense budget go…

But that’s just my perspective. I’ll let you make up your own mind. I recommend you listen to the entire Wiggin Sessions we just recorded together. You won’t look at the headlines coming out of the Middle East, Ukraine or the South China Sea the same way again.

John is a former Navy Seal mission architect and boots on-the-ground commander. After retiring from that gig because it was too physically demanding, he turned his intellect to analyzing social media networks for Forrester Research and forecasting their impact while developing counter-terrorist strategies.

His first published work on social media for Forrester came out in 1995 a full decade before Facebook and Google were viable commercial efforts.

His book Brave New War (2007) was a groundbreaking analysis of the post 9-11 military strategy fighting global terror organizations like Al Qeda and Isis. And helped inform military commanders and strategists from all the military branches. The book earned him a role as an adviser to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Through his own private publishing group, Global Guerillas, Mr. Robb has continued developing his insights and informing groups that use his ideas in the financial markets, economic strategies… even marketing, as you’ll find out.

Modern Warfare and The Real Global Threat

Last night, Senator Lindsey Graham made headlines globally cheering the Ukraine army’s novel push into Russian territory.

Likewise, analysts – even in our own Grey Swan network – debated the veracity of claims that Iran is pushing a wider Mid-East war, not least by supporting Houthi, Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists with weapons, safe haven and financing.

The world is a volatile place. Mr. Robb believes that not only is the U.S. military-industrial complex’s desire to control all political events globally a fool’s errand destined to bankrupt the government, but it’s also the driving force behind what could ultimately be the financial ruin of the empire.

The details matter, of course. Specific details on how the Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Red Sea may actually encourage China’s invasion of Taiwan… and how the inevitable could trigger the collapse of the US dollar’s reserve currency status follow:

Watch the video right here.

Read a transcript of the video here.

Today, I’m sharing Part I of our most recent interview. John’s insight is derived from observing the global footprint of the West’s military and how technology through satellites, drones and encrypted communications – and now AI — have evolved to a new phase of modern warfare far surpassing the kinetic frontlines of conflicts in the past.

So it goes,

Addison Wiggin

Founder, Grey Swan Investment Fraternity

P.S. Part I is critical to understanding the forecast John makes in the second half of our Wiggin Session interview. Part II is coming soon … so bone up… and stay tuned!

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

– George Santayana

Amid the rising threat of all out war in the Middle East and a US senator in-country rooting for the Ukraine incursion into Russian territory, today we have new insight into modern global warfare…

It’s shocking to me every time I talk to him how little citizens know about what our military is up to let alone where the fat checks from our defense budget go…

His first published work on social media for Forrester came out in 1995 a full decade before Facebook and Google were viable commercial efforts.

Modern Warfare and The Real Global Threat

Last night, Senator Lindsey Graham made headlines globally cheering the Ukraine army’s novel push into Russian territory.

Watch the video right here.

Read a transcript of the video here.

So it goes,

Addison Wiggin

Founder, Grey Swan Investment Fraternity

P.S. Part I is critical to understanding the forecast John makes in the second half of our Wiggin Session interview. Part II is coming soon … so bone up… and stay tuned!

By then the receipts on my desk had arranged themselves into a sort of chorus. I heard, faintly, another refrain—one from Kentucky. In the first days of the shutdown, Senator Rand Paul stood alone among Republicans and voted against his party’s stopgap, telling interviewers that the numbers “don’t add up” and that he would not sign on to another year that piles $2 trillion onto the debt.

That, I realized, is what the tariff story shares with the broader budget theater: the habit of calling a tax something else, of shifting burdens into the fog and then celebrating the silhouette as victory. Even the vote tally made the point: he was the only Republican “no,” a lonely arithmetic lesson in a crowded room.

Senator Rand Paul, (R. KY), who was the sole Republican to vote against a continuing resolution, seems to care about the actual finances of the government. “I would never vote for a bill that added $2 trillion in national debt,” Paul said in various interviews over the weekend.

The $2 trillion he’s referring to is the lesser of two proposals made by the national parties… and would accrue during this next fiscal year.

Oy.

We liked what Liz Wolfe at Reason wrote on Friday, so we’ll repeat it here: “One of the dirty little secrets of every shutdown is that everything remains mostly fine. Private markets could easily replace many federal functions.”

It’s a strange kind of confidence — one where Wall Street soars while Washington goes dark.

The Liberal Democratic Party victory has sent Japanese stocks soaring, as party President Sanae Takaichi – now set to become Japan’s first female Prime Minister – is a proponent of stimulus spending, and a China hawk. The electoral win is a vote to keep the yen carry trade alive… and well.

The “yen carry trade” is a currency trading strategy. By borrowing Japanese yen at low interest rates and investing in higher-yielding assets, investors have profited from the interest rate differential. Yen carry trades have played a huge role in global liquidity for decades.

Frankly, we’re disappointed — not because of the carry trade but because the crowd got this one so wrong!

Back in the Global Financial Crisis (2008), we recall mass layoffs were driving desperation.

Today, unemployment is relatively low, if climbing.

Affordability is much more of an issue. Food, rent, healthcare, and childcare are all rising faster than wages. Households aren’t jobless; they’re stretched. Job “quits” are at crisis-level lows.

In addition to the top 10% of earners, consumer spending is still strong. Not necessarily because of prosperity, but because households are taking extra shifts, hustling gigs, working late into the night, and using credit cards. The trends hold up demand but hollow out savings.

It’s the quiet form of financial repression. In an era of fiscal dominance, savers see easy returns clipped, workers stretch hours just to stay even, and wealth slips upward into assets while daily life grows harder to afford.

The $2 trillion he’s referring to is the lesser of two proposals made by the national parties… and would accrue during this next fiscal year.

Oy.

It’s a strange kind of confidence — one where Wall Street soars while Washington goes dark.

Frankly, we’re disappointed — not because of the carry trade but because the crowd got this one so wrong!

Back in the Global Financial Crisis (2008), we recall mass layoffs were driving desperation.

Today, unemployment is relatively low, if climbing.