ColTowner’s Newsletter

Exposing the #InternationalSyndicate one article at a time.

By The Colonel’s Corner

Read more

QTR’s Fringe Finance

Liberty. Finance. Bullshit.

By Quoth the Raven

Podcast Summary

• Why positive real rates have been draining excess liquidity from the system.

• The AI Capex bubble and the circular nature of the financing in the sector.

• The potential for yield curve control and other policies that would kick the can down the road.

• Why he expects a resolution in the Middle East and Ukraine at some point in the next six months.

• The midterm situation and why it will be ugly for Republicans.

• The current system of crony capitalism and the corruption in D.C.

• Immigration problems and the positive steps by the Trump administration to close the border.

• How the passive bid and the options market has held markets up, and the potential for those dynamics to work in reverse in the future.

• Book Recommendation: The Big Print by Lawrence Lepard.

Podcast Summary

• His 30,000 foot view of markets and the narratives around AI Capex spending.

• Why we could see geopolitical forces prick the bubble instead of something stemming from financial markets.

• His view on the midterms in the US and the political situation in Europe.

• Why the separate bond and currency markets in Europe are going to lead to the fracturing of the EU.

• The last 80 years of relative peace being the exception to the rule, and why we are in the middle of a return to a more chaotic time as far as geopolitics.

• The tension between different generations in the West, and why the promises made to older generations are unsustainable.

• How politics became a career and the corruption around political centers of power.

• The lack of trust in institutions and why they will be rebuilt after the Fourth Turning.

• Insurance, private equity, and private credit as a potential problem for the financial system.

• The hyperfinancialization of the system and how it has created problems for the West.

• Why gold is his preferred asset to protect wealth in the current environment.

• Why investors will start to shift their focus from public markets and the casino towards ownership in private enterprises.

• Book Recommendations: 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life by Bill Eddy, 1873 and Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahmed, Clown Town by Mick Herron & Even This I Get To Experience by Norman Lear.

Podcast Summary

• The Cornell 7 case, the coverage around it, and why he doesn’t blame Jane Doe for the “escape hatch” of making an accusation.

• How social media distorts and shapes the relationships between men and women.

• Female solipsism, and how it impacts the consensus thinking around certain narratives.

• The importance of believing in a higher power.

• Why we could see arranged marriages make a comeback, and how it is hard to put societal guardrails in place in low-trust societies.

• The importance of taking personal actions and working on yourself.

• Men and women’s responsibilities to society and each other, and why men and women are better together than they are apart.

• Book Recommendations: Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu & Brood Of The Witch Queen by Sax Rohmer.

The Honest Poll

Independent polling. No spin, no narrative. Just what voters actually said. People are biased. Polls shouldn't be.

By Mark Mitchell

Podcast Summary

• Why the conservative establishment is losing younger generations and why socialist policies are increasingly popular.

• The concept of patronage and why Republicans only offer empty platitudes.

• How capitalism has turned into corporatism and regulatory capture.

• The demographic shift that is underway, and how it will result in changing attitudes on economic policy, Israel, and the political environment.

• The pros and cons of the changing media and information environment.

• How social media and other factors drive a divide between men and women.

• Why he thinks Americans are ready for the sacrifices it will take to fix the country, and why he’s hopeful that we will see politicians that are straight shooters.

• Economic populism being a driving force behind politics in coming years, on both the right and the left.

• What the polls actually say leading up to the midterms, and why it’s too late for Trump to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

• The potential for an American Caesar, and why we can’t plan for that scenario.

• Book Recommendation: Burn It Down by Rich Baris & Joshua Lisec.

E.M.’s Newsletter

The Eternal War

By E.M. Burlingame

Podcast Summary

• How healthcare has evolved from a patient care delivery system to a business model, where the insurance companies and the providers (often private equity owned) fight over the money.

• Why nobody knows the actual price of procedures or medications.

• Why Jeremy thinks that it’s not fixable without taking it down to the studs, and why the ethical and moral codes would be the foundation if he was starting from scratch.

• How the layers of bureaucracy have led to a massive increase in administrative staff that has made things impossible.

• Why we shouldn’t send everyone to college, and how there is a better way for society to allocate talent.

• The problem with worshipping at the altar of GDP instead of focusing on human flourishing.

• How birth control and SSRIs have altered the brain chemistry and hormone profiles of men and women.

• How women have a different hierarchy than men, and how they are able to maintain networks of relationships.

• The problem with egalitarianism and the blank slate.

• The side effects of doing away with nobility and aristocracy.

• Why things move in cycles and why we won’t know how this cycle turns out for at least another decade.

• Book Recommendations: The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial Of Human Nature by Steven Pinker & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

RONALD DODSON

Markets, Risk, Classical Political Philosophy & Theology

By Ronald Dodson

Podcast Summary

• Bo French and the debate around the University of Texas system and who it is for.

• The problem with establishment conservatives and why they haven’t been able to conserve anything.

• Vivek’s chances in Ohio, and the messages that politicians actually hear.

• Why a blue Caesar is unlikely, and why he’s worried about an “infrared Caesar”.

• Why we could be watching the early stages of World War III.

• The shift towards a multipolar world order, and how changes in technology have dramatically reduced the power projection of aircraft carriers.

• Europe’s predicament if Russia, China, and Iran group up.

• How rates and inflation impact the average American.

• Why you couldn’t get the US population to buy into a draft.

• The setup for the midterms, and why he’s watching to see if Trump can pull a rabbit out of the hat over the next month.

• Book Recommendation: After The Flight 93 Election by Michael Anton & Memorabilia by Xenophon.

Podcast Summary

• How we switched the financial system to favor passive investing two decades ago.

• How a market cap weighted bond index favors bonds trading at a premium vs. bonds trading at a discount, and how it makes them pro-cyclical to interest rates.

• 3x levered ETFs, and why it’s important to understand the endogenous flow and the volatility drag associated with levered ETFs.

• The changes from a defined benefit system to a defined contribution system in the 1970s, along with the Pension Protection Act in 2006, and how it contributed to the wealth concentration and lower cost of capital for the largest companies.

• Why the path out for younger generations is political change.

• The affordability of real estate and what it means for younger generations and the ability to have kids.

• The importance of investing in technology, and why he thinks we will see lab-grown food become more ubiquitous.

• Why the political system is probably headed for authoritarianism, and why generational turnover is going to lead to political change.

• Book Recommendations: The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov.

The Path Forward

Operationalizing Adversity

Podcast Summary

• The situation in the Middle East, how it connects with Ukraine, and how diesel and jet fuel factor into the calculus.

• Why he thinks Trump’s recent move with Greenland is a strategic one.

• The continued focus of the American empire on the Western Hemisphere, and how Cuba and Panama are countries to watch moving forward.

• Why the Oreshnik missile is a game changer.

• Why Poland is the country to watch in Europe, and how Canada is signaling as far as their ties to Europe.

• The current state of the Fourth Turning, and why we will see systems be rebuilt and fail again before being rebuilt the right way.

• Changes on the horizon over the next decade for the medical and pharmaceutical industries.

• The return to community, spirituality, and the grassroots health movement.

• How the US and previous empires have all used drugs and human trafficking to feed their economies.

• AI and the potential for a small business boom, and how the current players are trying to create their own regulatory capture mechanism.

• The importance of understanding history.

• Book Recommendations: The Pentagon’s Brain by Annie Jacobsen & Pawns In The Game by William Carr.

Podcast Summary

• His thoughts on the recent Fed decision, and how diesel and other inputs are going to flow into inflation.

• The roots of different Middle Eastern conflicts over the last several decades.

• The AI companies and the recent talk about needing regulation, and how it could lead to a cartel.

• Data centers and the different sources of the pushback against the AI buildout.

• How many parts of our markets are parasitic and disconnected from reality as far as valuations.

• Why the US should have a strategic metals reserve.

• His opinion that on premises AI and open source models.

• The insanity of Effective Altruism, and how it skews the worldview of some of the tech leaders.

• Why he isn’t worried about LLMs, but is worried about the potential for organoid systems and an accretive AI.

• How the US has an economic system that has evolved to regulatory capitalism in certain sectors.

• Book Recommendation: Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut.

The American Tribune

The American Tribune Substack: Covering the Stories the Mainstream Media Won't

Podcast Summary

• The recent media circus around comments about the University of Texas football game this weekend.

• The difference between the conservatives at the state level and how some states are far worse than others.

• His view on the disconnect between capital and a geographic area and the people that live there.

• The potential for great houses and family dynasties to make a comeback in coming decades.

• The impact of the welfare state and how it distorts incentives.

• Why economies of scale make sense in certain sectors, and the sectors of the economy that have seen regulatory capture.

• Why neuroticism is a problem in younger generations, and how social media plays a huge role in stoking the divide between men and women.

• His optimism on the future of the country and how things could change over the next several years in the US.

• The insanity of the medical insurance industry and how it’s another sector with regulatory capture.

• Book Recommendation: The British Way of War by Andrew Lambert.

Mine Print Hash

A podcast and research bulletin on geopolitics, technology, and markets through the lens of competing monetary systems—mining, printing, and hashing as the forces that shape which empires rise and fall.

By Matt Dines

Podcast Summary

• His experience in at the G20 Financial Summit and how it represents the sovereign equivalent of a business conference.

• How the global trade franchise pairs the movement of real goods with financial transactions across the world.

• The distortions in the media environment and training in pattern recognition to build a framework to view the world and markets.

• Avoiding the steady stream of doomer takes and the importance of seeing the world as it actually is.

• Changes in the financial system and the bond market.

• The hyperfinancialization of the US, in real estate to gambling, and why it is obviously a dead end.

• Book Recommendations: The Prize by Daniel Yergin, Gold and Iron by Fritz Stern & Empire of Silver by Jin Xu.