Freedom Is Like Inflation: You Lose 2-3% Every Year
Freedom Is Like Inflation: You Lose 2-3% Every Year
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) March 13, 2025
My grandfather was born on April 19, 1915 in a dirty, one-room shack in the town of Bonham, Texas. Given the era, they had no electricity and no running water. And the family considered themselves fortunate that both mother and baby survived childbirth.
Pretty much everyone in the area was a farm laborer; they worked long, hard days in the unforgiving Texas heat trying to beckon life from ungenerous soil. But it was a living-- one that my grandfather joined at an early age.
Is the US Headed Toward Recession?
Is the US Headed Toward Recession? [Podcast]
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) March 11, 2025
By the late 1920s, the US economy was booming and had advantages that most of the world did not yet enjoy. Manufacturing in America was extremely competitive due to mass electrification powering factories. Farmers had traded out horses and mules for trucks and tractors.
US productivity was surging.
Can Tariffs Replace the Income Tax? We Did the Math
Can Tariffs Replace the Income Tax? We Did the Math
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) March 10, 2025
It was the dead of night on March 22, 1929 somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico near the port of New Orleans, and the Canadian schooner I’m Alone was waiting to offload its illegal rum.
Prohibition had been in effect in the United States for nearly a decade at that point, which meant that the production, sale, transport, and distribution of any “intoxicating liquors” carried severe criminal penalties.
But prohibition didn’t end alcohol consumption. Americans still imbibed in secret thanks to a vast network of speakeasies, bootleggers, rum-runners, and moonshine distilleries. The black market thrived
The Controlled Demolition of the US Dollar’s Reserve Status
The Controlled Demolition of the US Dollar’s Reserve Status [Podcast]
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) March 5, 2025
Even during the darkest moments of the Biden administration—the shameful withdrawal from Afghanistan, 9% inflation, bureaucrats hell-bent on destroying the economy—I still said America’s problems were fixable.
But I didn’t see any hope in the previous administration or a prospective Kamala administration to fix things and only expected them to grow worse.
The Latest Bad Premise Could Be a Disaster for the US Dollar
The Latest Bad Premise Could Be a Disaster for the US Dollar
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) February 27, 2025
On October 20, 2022, Liz Truss resigned as UK prime minister after just 44 days in office—the shortest tenure in British history.
She was brought down not by a no-confidence vote or a party coup, but by a full-scale bond market rebellion.
Her government’s proposed mini-budget, featuring sweeping tax cuts, triggered a historic sell-off in UK government bonds (gilts), sending yields soaring and the pound crashing.
This Might Actually Work: America’s Golden Visa
This Might Actually Work: America’s Golden Visa
Notes From the Fiefld By James Hickman (Simon Black) March 4, 2025
In 2012, Puerto Rico was in the depths of a nearly decade-long recession and looming debt crisis.
The island had lost about 10% of its population— mostly young, educated professionals, i.e., the most lucrative members of its tax base.
So politicians did something radical: they established incredibly attractive tax incentives in order to attract new residents. Among others, the incentives provide a 4% corporate tax rate to approved businesses, and a 0% tax rate on investment income.
Get Ready to Pay
Get Ready to Pay for Paris Hilton’s New House [Podcast]
Noteds From the Field by James Hickman (Simon Black) January 14, 2025
In 1913, 24-year-old Charlie Chaplin arrived in Los Angeles, drawn by an offer from Keystone Film Company. Coming from a poverty-stricken childhood in London and a successful vaudeville career, Chaplin found in Los Angeles a place of limitless potential.
The city was largely undeveloped, surrounded by orange groves, open fields and dirt roads where coyotes still roamed. But it offered the perfect backdrop for the burgeoning film industry— mountains, oceans, deserts— and a chance to escape the constraints of traditional theater.
The US Government Has To Sell $28 Trillion Of Debt In The Next 4 Years
The US Government Has To Sell $28 Trillion Of Debt In The Next 4 Years
Notes From the Field BY James Hickman ( Simon Black ) February 19, 2025
Last summer, the Federal Reserve wanted you to believe that inflation was a thing of the past.
Sure, just about every category of consumer goods had increased in price. Electricity rates had increased 5% year over year. Rent and housing costs were up 5%. Hospital care had become 6% more expensive. Food prices were up. Fuel prices were up. Auto insurance had risen by a whopping 18.6%.
Yet, bizarrely, the overall inflation average was just 2.9%. And based on that number alone, the Federal Reserve had all but declared victory against inflation
Is This the Biggest Heist of All Time?
Is This the Biggest Heist of All Time?
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) February 11, 2025
We recently received a question from a reader asking for my thoughts on crypto.
He said we’ve been talking about gold a lot lately, the gold price, and how the price could go a lot higher. Shouldn’t we hold the same views on crypto, given everything that has happened with Bitcoin over the last year or so?
We ended up doing a whole podcast about this today, We talk a lot about gold, and a lot about crypto. To clarify, I’m not anti-crypto. In fact, I brought Bitcoin to our audience’s attention back in 2013, when the price was under $100. But there are some differences to gold.
With Gold At an All Time High
With Gold At an All Time High, This Gold Company is Still Insanely Cheap
Notes From The Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) February 10, 2025
And almost on cue, gold is at another all time high today and rapidly closing in on $3,000 per troy ounce.
It’s not hard to understand why.
We’ve been talking about this for quite some time— foreign governments, central banks, and even some large foreign corporations now are trading their dollars for gold. And that’s going to have some unfortunate, negative consequences for the US.
The “Wait and See” Phase for Gold is Over
The “Wait and See” Phase for Gold is Over
Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black) February 6, 2025
In the year 1025, the Byzantine Empire stood at the height of its final golden age.
Basil II had just died, leaving behind a vast and wealthy empire stretching from Southern Italy to Armenia. At the heart of its economy was the solidus, a gold coin that had served as the bedrock of Mediterranean trade for centuries. Merchants from Venice to Baghdad had so much confidence in its purity that the solidus became the primary currency for international trade as far away as China.
And this ‘reserve currency’ status allowed Byzantium to project economic power far beyond its borders.