Some Clear Thinking About America’s “Downgrade”

Notes From the Field By Simon Black Sovereign Man August 7, 2023

Last week, the credit rating agency Fitch downgraded the US national debt.  Predictably, senior officials like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed Fitch’s “flawed assessment was based on outdated data” and that the downgrade was “entirely unwarranted.”

What a joke.

Just consider the US government’s surging interest payments on the national debt — This Fiscal Year (which ends on September 30) the Treasury Department expects to spend a whopping $897 billion just to pay interest on the national debt. That’s up SEVENTY PERCENT over the past three years. It’s an unbelievable turn for the worst.

America Has Less Than A Decade To Turn Itself Around

Notes From the Field By Simon Black June 20, 2023

Well, that didn’t take long.

From the time the US government managed to sign the debt ceiling resolution, it took just thirteen days for the national debt to soar by nearly $600 billion.   At that pace, they added over $500,000 to the national debt every second.  The US national debt has now breached $32 trillion… meaning America’s debt-to-GDP ratio is now 121%. Historically, advanced nations tend to get into trouble when debt-to-GDP reaches around 90%. The US is way past that threshold — but I’ll return to that point in a moment.

The Most Important Companies In The World Are Absurdly Cheap

Notes From the Field By Simon Black   June 19, 2023

1866 was not an auspicious year to start a business in the United States.

America had just been devastated from a five year long civil war-- one of the bloodiest conflicts in US history. Plus the country was in the midst of a severe economic recession.

1866 was also the year that a major investment firm in London went bankrupt, triggering a worldwide financial panic. Capital was scarce. Interest rates were high. And overall business conditions were pretty dismal.

Would You Honestly Hire The Federal Reserve To Manage Your Finances?

June 12, 2023  By Simon Black Sovereign Man

On August 4, 1964, two US Navy destroyers were conducting intelligence patrols in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam, when the task force commander grabbed the radio and reported that they were under attack by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats.

The news traveled very quickly all the way to the Pentagon, and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara briefed President Lyndon Johnson on the situation.

National Humiliation Is Just Another Tuesday Afternoon In America

June 6, 2023  By Simon Black  Sovereign Man

When Sextus Julius Africanus was born in the city of Jerusalem around the year 160 AD, the Roman Empire was still near the peak of its power.  By the time Sextus was born, Antoninus Pius had ruled the empire with a steady hand for more than twenty years; his reign was peaceful and highly effective, and he left behind a strong economy and vast public treasury.

The following year in 161 AD, when Sextus was still just a baby, Marcus Aurelius became emperor and ruled wisely for nineteen years as an assiduous, diligent philosopher king.

America Can't Even Negotiate With Itself Anymore...

Notes From the Field By Simon Black  June 5, 2023

This is really starting to look a lot like ancient Rome

In the late summer of 408 AD, a barbarian army under the command of Alaric, king of the Visigoths, set out on a leisurely march across the Italian countryside towards the city of Rome… so that he could burn it to the ground.

Alaric had been promised money by the Roman government in exchange for a military alliance between Rome and the Visigoths; but just before the money was supposed to have been paid, the Romans canceled the deal.

The Dollar’s International Decline Is Becoming Really Obvious

May 15, 2023  By Simon Black  Sovereign Man.com

On the morning of February 23, 1944, US President Franklin Roosevelt sent an important telegram to two of his key allies overseas-- British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union.   World War II was still raging. And while the allies had seized the upper hand, peace was more than a year away.

Surprisingly, though, Roosevelt didn’t write to his allies to discuss the war. He was already thinking about what the world would look like AFTER the war was over… and in the telegram, Roosevelt invited them to participate in a conference on “postwar economic collaboration”.

These People Are Incapable Of Playing The Long Game

Simon Black   May 10, 2023

On the afternoon of Sunday, June 7, 2020, a 36-year-old Chinese national named Wang Xin was at Los Angeles International Airport waiting to board Air China flight 988 back to his native Tianjin.  Things were tense in the US; Covid-19 was still raging, George Floyd protests were erupting all around the country, and Wang couldn’t wait to get home.

But he never made it. Before boarding his flight, Wang was approached by several men who flashed their badges and identified themselves as US federal agents. Wang was then taken into custody and questioned… and he eventually told the agents the truth.