Record High Debt = Record High Gold Price

Record High Debt = Record High Gold Price

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)  November 11, 2025

Barrick Mining Corporation—one of the world’s largest and most established gold producers—just reported its third quarter earnings yesterday— and it was an absolute blowout.

The company reported third quarter profit of $1.3 billion, nearly triple last year’s Q3 earnings.

And for the first nine months of 2025, Earnings per Share is up a whopping 132% over the same period last year. Free Cash Flow is up an astonishing 176%.

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Podcast: These three Central Banks are SELLING Gold

Podcast: These three Central Banks are SELLING Gold

Notes From the Field By  James Hickman (Simon Black)  November 12, 2025

We sincerely hope the House of Representatives can pull itself together and get the government back open this week.

Not because we love federal bureaucracy—but because this shutdown is embarrassing, and it continues to chip away at the rapidly declining confidence that foreign governments and central banks have in the United States.

This matters. Foreign governments and central banks collectively own $10+ trillion of US government bonds and other agency securities.

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Economics, sovereign man DINARRECAPS8 Economics, sovereign man DINARRECAPS8

The Debt Has Increased By HALF A TRILLION Since The Shutdown Began

The Debt Has Increased By HALF A TRILLION Since The Shutdown Began

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)   November 10, 2025

By the autumn of 1648, England had been embroiled in a chaotic and bloody civil war for more than six years.   Extreme ideological tensions in England had been building for decades over freedom of religion, plus the balance of power within government.

 King Charles was wildly unpopular. And a majority of politicians in parliament saw it as their sole mission to resist him. Many believed adamantly that parliament should rule over the king and ultimately dictate all laws in England.

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Economics, Gold and Silver, sovereign man DINARRECAPS8 Economics, Gold and Silver, sovereign man DINARRECAPS8

Stagflation Is Back—And the Fed Is Asleep at the Wheel

Stagflation Is Back—And the Fed Is Asleep at the Wheel

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)    October 29, 2025

Protestant firebrand and political activist Hugh Latimer must have known he was risking his life when he stepped into the pulpit at St. Paul’s Cross on January 12, 1549.  His sermon that Sunday morning was hardly religious in nature. Rather, Latimer publicly expressed the view-- the deep, deep frustration-- that nearly all Englishmen were feeling at the time, but everyone was too afraid to say out loud.

Inflation was killing them. And it was the government’s fault.

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Economics, sovereign man DINARRECAPS8 Economics, sovereign man DINARRECAPS8

Podcast: Is it War? On Rumors That China Just Took Out Two US Military Aircraft

Podcast: Is it War? On Rumors That China Just Took Out Two US Military Aircraft

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)  October 28, 2025

There was a popular legend from medieval Venice about an impoverished orphan from the island of Torcello.   The boy came to Venice at a young age, found a job, and worked tirelessly and energetically-- enough to impress some of the city’s wealthy patricians. 

 Eventually the boy-- now a young man-- had built up enough credibility that some local noblemen entered into a commenda contract with him, i.e. a sort of proto-limited partnership. The idea was that the investors would finance a trade voyage (and stay comfortably at home in Venice), while the young man would risk life and limb on the high seas. 

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Let’s Take a Quick Pause and Look Back at History

Let’s Take a Quick Pause and Look Back at History

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)  October 23, 2025

In light of this week’s roller-coaster gold ride, I thought it would be useful to turn once again back to the lessons of history and revisit what we discussed recently about the 1970s.

Foreign governments and central banks around the world had been becoming increasingly concerned about the US government’s outrageous fiscal deficits as early as the mid-1960s.

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What If Gold Crashes To $3,000 Per Ounce?

What If Gold Crashes To $3,000 Per Ounce?

Notes From the Field by James Hickman (Simon Black)  October 16, 2025

A little over a month ago, in early September, after careful analysis and detailed study, my team and I reached an important conclusion. And we started telling our audience almost immediately.

Gold had just crossed $3,500 per ounce, silver had just crossed $40, and many gold and silver mining companies had experienced astonishing gains.

 Of course none of this came as a surprise to our readers. We’ve been saying for the past few years that gold in particular was going to go much higher, specifically because foreign governments and central banks were buying up gold by the metric ton as a way to diversify their strategic reserves away from the US dollar.

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Economics, sovereign man DINARRECAPS8 Economics, sovereign man DINARRECAPS8

There Was Once A Time When Congress Cared About Literally Every Penny—

There Was Once A Time When Congress Cared About Literally Every Penny—

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)  October 13, 2025

As the clock struck midnight on July 1, 1848, Ohio Congressman Samuel Vinton probably started having a minor panic attack.   Viton was Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, the Congressional body that, at least at the time, was responsible for all taxation and spending appropriations. Anything that got spent-- or didn’t get spent-- was Vinton’s domain.

The United States was just coming out of a war in the year 1848-- the Mexican War, in which the US invaded Mexico and wound up with 525,000 square miles of new territory as a result.

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Podcast: Even at $4,000 Gold the Miners Are Ridiculously Cheap

Podcast: Even at $4,000 Gold the Miners Are Ridiculously Cheap

Notes From ther Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)  October 8, 2025

Yesterday we wrote that with gold topping $4,000, it’s time to step back and look at the big picture—and the fundamentals haven’t changed.

Foreign governments and central banks hold about $10 trillion in US denominated reserves. But for years they’ve been trading this paper for gold— because it is their only realistic alternative.

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$4,000 Gold: Is It Time To Sell?

$4,000 Gold: Is It Time To Sell?

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)  October 7, 2025

You’d think Charles de Gaulle would have been a little bit more grateful to America.

 As head of the Free French Forces during World War II, de Gaulle was essentially a leader in exile, and he had to base himself in England for the majority of the war after the Nazis took Paris.

 It was only because of the sacrifices made by American troops-- and exceptional generosity from US general Dwight Eisenhower-- that de Gaulle was allowed to enter Paris on August 25, 1944.

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Shutdown Or Not, Government Dysfunction = Higher Gold Prices

Shutdown Or Not, Government Dysfunction = Higher Gold Prices

Notes From the Field By James Hickman (Simon Black)  September 30, 2025

All eyes are on Washington to see if the government shuts down when the clock strikes midnight tonight.

Funny thing is, most people aren’t really going to care—because all of the “essential” services will keep running. (Which makes you wonder: why do non-essential government services exist on the taxpayer’s dime in the first place?)

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