DINARRECAPS8 4/13/26 DINARRECAPS8 4/13/26

Central Banks Are Hoarding Gold. Governments are Starting to Hoard People.

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black / Sovereign Man April 13, 2026

A few months sago, the German government quietly passed a law requiring men between the ages of 17 and 45 to obtain permission before leaving the country for more than three months. It wasn't announced in a press conference. It wasn't debated on the front page of any newspaper. It was buried in a routine update to the country's military service law, tucked in alongside provisions about registration systems and NATO readiness targets.

DINARRECAPS8 4/9/26 DINARRECAPS8 4/9/26

Two Weeks to Stop the Spread of War

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black/Sovereign Man) April 8, 2026

On August 15, 1945, after two of their cities had been obliterated by the world's first nuclear weapons, the people of Japan heard the voice of their young Emperor for the first time ever.

Hirohito went on what was a relatively new communications medium at the time—the radio— and gave one of the most bizarre speeches in all of human history, in which he told his subjects that "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage."

DINARRECAPS8 4/2/26 DINARRECAPS8 4/2/26

Phone Service for 94,000 Dead People, and Other Things Congress Won't Cut

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) April 1, 2026

Earlier this year, the House DOGE Subcommittee pulled spending records from the Department of Transportation and discovered that the agency had spent $55 million on office furniture over the past few years. That’s about $1,000 per employee, which might not sound so crazy, until you realize that this was during a period when only 9% of DOT employees were actually showing up to the office.

DINARRECAPS8 3/25/26 DINARRECAPS8 3/25/26

What If This Is All Part Of The Plan?

Notes From the Field BY James Hickman (Simon Black) March 24 2026

You don’t have to look very hard these days to see widespread criticism of the conflict in Iran.

Obviously, there are the usual suspects like the New York Times and Washington Post who have called it “folly” and “rotten”. But plenty of voices on the right have joined in the criticism as well.

DINARRECAPS8 3/19/26 DINARRECAPS8 3/19/26

Ever Wonder Where $7 TRILLION Goes? So Does the Government

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) March 17, 2026

On March 10, a nonpartisan Washington think tank called the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget published a report called: "Break Glass: A Plan for the Next Economic Shock."

It points out that the United States has never entered an economic downturn as indebted as it is today— meaning there is essentially zero fiscal space to respond to the next crisis. When the financial crisis hit in 2008, national debt stood at roughly 35% of GDP. By the time it was over, debt had ballooned to about 70%.

Then, when COVID hit in 2020, debt was already at 80% of GDP. By the time that was over, it had surged past 100%.

DINARRECAPS8 3/12/26 DINARRECAPS8 3/12/26

Why I have doubts about the supposed “next Global Financial Crisis”

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) March 11, 2026

It was the early 2000s, and poor Monty was down on his luck.

An aging, out-of-work game hunter and security guard, Monty had been unemployed for quite some time. Fortunately, he was getting by, but living off the generosity of a family in southern California who had taken him in. Without them Monty would have almost certainly been living on the street.

But things started to change for Monty on a fateful day when his host family received a letter in the mail from a local bank-- addressed to Monty. They eagerly ripped open the letter to find that the bank had pre-approved old Monty for a substantial line of credit!

DINARRECAPS8 3/7/26 DINARRECAPS8 3/7/26

The Precipice

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) March 2, 2026

“OK, so now I just want a bunker,” a close friend of mine texted over the weekend. And I get it. Fear, apprehension, unease… these are completely normal feelings right now.

Google Trends shows that searches for “WW3” and “nuclear war” spiked over the weekend. Similar hashtags on social media (#WW3, etc.) also surged.

It doesn’t help that much of the legacy media has been stoking these fears, as they almost always do.

DINARRECAPS8 3/2/26 DINARRECAPS8 3/2/26

Any Takers For The Taliban’s New Investment Visa?

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) February 23, 2026

Just imagine how tranquil your retirement could be in... sunny Afghanistan! You could wake up in the morning to the pleasant sound of celebratory gunfire... then artfully dodge landmines left behind by not one, but two different superpower invasions on your way to witness the day’s beheading.

You could cap off the afternoon spelunking through mountain caves where you might bump into actual jihadists, then end the day with a stroll through a war-torn city’s desperate poverty.

DINARRECAPS8 2/26/26 DINARRECAPS8 2/26/26

The 92% Tax Rate That Nobody Ever Paid

The 92% Tax Rate That Nobody Ever Paid

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) February 26, 2026

In 1954, Frank Sinatra was on top of the world. He'd just won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in From Here to Eternity — a comeback role that rescued his career after years of decline and a voice hemorrhage that nearly ended it all.

Hollywood was paying him handsomely again. But there was a problem. The top marginal income tax rate was 92%, and Sinatra was about to watch most of his comeback earnings disappear before a single penny ever hit his bank account.

DINARRECAPS8 2/25/26 DINARRECAPS8 2/25/26

The Luddites Were Wrong In 1811 The AI Doomsayers Will Be Wrong Today

The Luddites Were Wrong In 1811. The AI Doomsayers Will Be Wrong Today

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) Sovereign Man February 24, 2026

In 1779, in a textile workshop in the English village of Anstey, a young apprentice named Ned Ludd was put to work on a knitting machine — one of the large mechanical frames that wove thread into stockings. He was too slow. His master had him whipped for it.

So Ned grabbed a hammer and smashed the machine to pieces

DINARRECAPS8 2/16/26 DINARRECAPS8 2/16/26

Another “Temporary” Spending Bill That Still Costs Americans 93 Years Later

Another “Temporary” Spending Bill That Still Costs Americans 93 Years Later

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) February 16, 2026

In January 1933, a farmer named Wallace Kramp was about to lose everything. A lender in Wood County, Ohio was foreclosing on his farm over an $800 mortgage he couldn't pay.

Kramp wasn't a bad farmer. It was actually the government’s fault: during World War I, the US government had urged farmers to plant as much as they could to feed the troops and war-torn Europe.

DINARRECAPS8 2/14/26 DINARRECAPS8 2/14/26

Why Firing 9% of the Federal Workforce Didn't Move the Needle

Why Firing 9% of the Federal Workforce Didn't Move the Needle

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) February 13, 2026

In January 2025, the federal government employed about 3 million people. By November, that number had fallen by roughly 270,000 workers — a reduction of about 9%. According to the Cato Institute, that was the largest peacetime federal workforce reduction EVER.

More than 150,000 employees took the "Fork in the Road" buyout offer to resign or retire. Tens of thousands more were laid off outright. Entire offices were emptied. Agencies that had been growing for decades shrank to staffing levels not seen since 2014. And yet, despite historic federal layoffs, government spending went UP last year.

DINARRECAPS8 2/12/26 DINARRECAPS8 2/12/26

It’s Crazy That India is More Fiscally Responsible Than America

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) February 12, 2026

Remember when Pete Buttigieg, as Secretary of Transportation, was handed over a TRILLION dollars by Congress to spend improving America’s infrastructure?

“The main thing I’m thinking about,” he said, “is how do we make sure we take all this money— you know it’s $1.2 trillion— and actually deliver $1.2 trillion dollars worth of value. . .”

Ah yes, the classic investment strategy— shoot for a 0% return on investment.