They Finally Figured Out How To Lower Inflation!
They Finally Figured Out How To Lower Inflation!
By Simon Black January 24, 2023
We all know that inflation has been well above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2% for nearly two years now. It peaked at over 9% last June and has remained stubbornly high since then. But it seems like the bureaucrats have finally found a way to reduce inflation.
No, it has nothing to do with reducing regulations, cutting taxes, and re-embracing capitalism. The bold solution that our courageous policymakers have come up with is to change the way inflation is calculated.
The Future of Banking: When Will We No Longer Need Cash?
The Future of Banking: When Will We No Longer Need Cash?
Andrew Lisa Tue, January 24, 2023
In 1950, Americans could pay for dinner at a restaurant even if they left their money at home for the first time in history. That was the year Diners Club introduced the world’s first credit card.
More than 70 years later, the cashless society that’s been promised since then still hasn’t materialized. Despite direct deposit, BNPL, Apple Pay, Venmo, cryptocurrency and the rest, green paper rectangles with pictures of dead presidents still have a home in our wallets.’
What Does This Look Like 10 Years From Now?
What Does This Look Like 10 Years From Now?
Simon Black January 23, 2023
On March 2, 1629, after years of escalating tensions with his own government, King Charles I of England dissolved parliament and ordered all the politicians to go home.
He was only in the fourth year of his reign, but Charles was already a very unpopular king. One of his worst habits was frequently abusing his power and taking unilateral executive actions-- raising taxes or passing new regulations-- which would ordinarily require the approval of parliament.
But Charles hated going through parliament, and he routinely found ways to bypass them; often he would creatively interpret obscure passages of ancient laws as justification to do whatever he wanted.
The Easiest 833x Return You Will Ever Make
The Easiest 833x Return You Will Ever Make
January 16, 2023 Simon Black, Founder Sovereign Research & Advisory
At precisely 8:13PM eastern time on the evening of October 28, 2003, a lonely 19-year old schoolboy took to the Internet to complain about the latest love interest who had left him dejected and angry.
“Jessica,” he wrote to the precisely zero people who paid attention to his LiveJournal blog, “is a bitch. I need to think of something to take my mind off her. I need to think of something to occupy my mind. Easy enough, now I just need an idea.”
These Historical Parallels Are Really Spooky
These Historical Parallels Are Really Spooky
Simon Black, Founder Sovereign Research & Advisory January 13, 2023
By the third century AD, it was hard to imagine Rome being in worse condition. Historians literally refer to this period in Roman history as the Crisis of the Third Century. And it was brutal.
Roman citizens couldn’t believe what they were experiencing... it was incomprehensible to them that their fatherland had become so weakened.
Inflation was running rampant. The Empire was stuck in a quagmire of foreign wars and had suffered some humiliating defeats.
Why It’s Time To Be Optimistic About The Future
Why It’s Time To Be Optimistic About The Future
January 9, 2023 Simon Black, Founder Sovereign Research & Advisory Group
Around 23,000 years ago on the southwestern shores of the Sea of Galilee, a small paleolithic tribe of hunter-gatherers made an incredible discovery that would forever alter the course of human history.
They realized that, instead of relying on fishing, hunting, and foraging for edible plants, they could actually grow their own food, right out of the ground. We know this happened because archaeologists have uncovered roughly 90,000 seeds from the site-- including different species of barley, various nuts (almonds, pistachios) and fruits (raspberries, figs). More strikingly, the remains of several small dwellings have been excavated. And a number of stone tools were found on the site, including a grinding stone and several flint blades and sickles.
This Family Escaped… Because They Had A Second Passport
This Family Escaped… Because They Had A Second Passport
Notes From the Field By Simon Black Janury 2, 2023
On November 26, 1927, a 47-year old Austrian naval officer stood at the altar of the Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg to marry his young, 22-year old bride. His name was Commander Georg Ritter von Trapp; and hers-- Maria. They were the couple who would become famous from the 1965 movie The Sound of Music, a popular musical which was loosely based on their true story.
A $0.25 TRILLION Monthly Deficit? What Could Possibly Go Wrong??
A $0.25 TRILLION Monthly Deficit? What Could Possibly Go Wrong??
Simon Black December 13, 2022
On the fifth of April in the year 1853, a diplomat from the United Kingdom with the most quintessentially British name — Stratford Canning — arrived by boat to Constantinople and immediately took an emergency meeting with Sultan Abdulmejid of the Ottoman Empire.
After decades of relative peace, Europe was once again on the brink of war. Russia was a rising power at the time, and, eager to flex its muscles, Russia threatened to invade the Ottoman Empire over completely ridiculous reasons.
The Coming Bonanza in Distressed Debt
The Coming Bonanza in Distressed Debt
December 12, 2022 Simon Black & Sovereign Research & Advisory Group
On the morning of June 20, 1783, the Continental Congress of the United States was just starting its daily session at Independence Hall in Philadelphia when the building was suddenly mobbed by hundreds of angry people.
It turned out the protesters were soldiers who had fought in the American Revolution. And they wanted their money.
Based on a True Story
Based on a True Story
Notes From the Field By Simon Black November 11, 2022
More than 3,000 years ago, between the 12th and 13th centuries BC, the legendary king of Ithaca, Odysseus, set sail from the ancient city of Troy to begin the journey home.
The stories of the Trojan War, and of Odysseus’s voyage home, have been passed down to us in the form of epic poetry from Homer. Most of it is pure fiction. But like modern film, TV, and ‘true crime’ podcasts that abuse dramatic license to entertain their audiences, Homer’s epics may in fact be “based on a true story”.
Three Global Cities Where You Can Still Beat Inflation
Three Global Cities Where You Can Still Beat Inflation
Notes From the Field By Simon Black November 8, 2022
Inflation is undoubtedly one of the biggest stories of our time.
It’s a story of abject failure — of how the ‘experts’ who have been entrusted to pull the giant levers of the economy were asleep at the wheel. The ‘experts’ failed to anticipate how their irresponsible spree of spending and monetary expansion would create inflation. They failed to notice it. They failed to do anything about it in a timely manner.
And now that central bankers have switched to this new HAIR ON FIRE, ULTRA-PANICKY monetary policy, they’re failing to instill even a modicum of confidence in the future.