Evergiven, Underdogs & Freedom
Of Chokepoints and Chaos
Double, double toil and trouble
Suez burn, and chokepoints bubble.
Joe Biden gave his first ‘press’ conference after waiting longer than any President in modern history, and the results were a meandering farce of pre-scripted questions with pre-selected ‘journalists’ - or about what was expected. If this is the best he can do after being shot up with all types of mental performance enhancing drugs, we’re in trouble. It’s hardly surprising that Russia, China and other adversaries are licking their lips. Betting shops have Biden at +400 to be the nominee in 2024, a jaw-dropping number and the first time a sitting President has been a resounding underdog for a second term right after his election. That means if you bet $100, you can win $400 if Biden is the nominee. Even the crappiest of teams facing Randy Johnson in his heyday weren’t more than a +200 underdog. Gives you an idea what everyone knows and assumes, but is left unsaid by the media - the shot clock is almost up on this guy.
Just two men, a bulldozer and the fate of global commerce.
The biggest issue of the week was something that we’ve mentioned several times already here at Sovereign Sunday - that the disruption in supply chains and shipping lanes from Covid and other factors is having a giant impact on global commerce and is an exposed underbelly for bad actors.
That informational edge finally leaked into the mainstream when a giant container ship got stuck in the world’s busiest shipping lane and blocked the Suez canal causing more than $10 Billion a day in lost commerce and delays.
While the Suez incident was likely an accident, the follow on spate of cyberattacks on other shipping companies shows that there is no shortage of bad actors who are looking to capitalize on the chaos and weaken the Western order. Since the Canal is mostly used by US/EU/LatAm goods and firms, gun to head it’s not unlikely that the PRC is the one behind the cyber mischief, seeking to capitalize on an unfortunate ‘accident’, much like they did with the ‘accidental’ release of Sars-Cov2 last year from a Wuhan lab.
For a deep dive into supply chain issues and the critical chokepoints of world trade, here’s a thread from Huntsman, one of the best supply chain logistics experts out there.
The TLDR version is that for over 40 years, Americans and rest of the world were the beneficiaries of two spectacular trends that enabled the free flow of goods and global commerce. The first was relatively free global trade, and the second was the greatest seafaring force in world history - the US Navy - ensuring the oceans and shipping lanes were were kept free from bad acting nations and groups.
The United States created the Pax Americana free trade order at the end of World War II in order to contain and crush the Soviets. In essence, it used the currency of providing global security and trade access to purchase cooperation from its allies, so it could battle Soviet Russia the way it wanted (i.e. the Americans bribed allies to fight the Cold War with them).
But when the Berlin Wall fell, the Americans never bothered to update the system. They kept granting all the security and trade goodies yet never sent the bill to the countries benefiting from our largesse under this lopsided “deal.”
While the net effect was a massive boom in global trade, sadly it was middle and lower class America that bore the brunt of ‘free trade’ as homegrown jobs and manufacturing were shipped overseas, decimating local plants and employment prospects for non-knowledge workers. Additionally, America’s long terms finances and tax rates were brutalized as a thank you for bearing the brunt of an annual military budget that was more than the rest of the world's nations combined.
President Trump was the first American leader to push back on these twin pillars of the postwar global economic order. First, he asked Europe and other allies to contribute to their own defense and second, he rewrote American trade deals like NAFTA and demanded that China and other nations open up their markets to the US (kinda hard to call it ‘free trade’ when it only flows one way...).
Right now, corporate multinationals and the old guard are fighting to reverse that trend and return to a world where China and US investor/capital class benefits at the expense of American labor and manufacturing.
The truth is that trade is a national security issue. As Covid laid bare, four decades of deliberate outsourcing means America lacks the manufacturing to produce adequate PPE, and critical pharmaceutical APIs, chips and electronics. A concerted policy of America First is needed to bring back key manufacturing, commodities and materials onshore.
We've also voluntarily given up the energy independence we achieved under Trump, a gross mistake.
While China plans for decades ahead not only for internal prosperity and dominance, but externally with their and Belt and Road Initiative, we currently have a President and political system that hasn't produced anything favorable for the overwhelming majority of Americans in over 4 decades.
Yet we shouldn’t despair. In complex systems like our economy/society, centralized command politics is only one of the decreasingly important means in which countries and their citizens organize, act and allocate resources. Despite the glaring failures of our political system, technology and the quasi-free markets are in the process of rerouting and restructuring much of how our society works and aligns.
However, while technology on it’s own is effective at increasing efficiency and rerouting around many of the political (and growing social) chokepoints, it also has devastating implications for the growing labor/capital mismatch and income inequality that has been a very unfortunate and troubling side effect of the great migration from the industrial age to the information age. As the speed and rate of acceleration picks up as we go from the Knowledge Age to the Digital Age, those with tech knowledge and capital can leverage those skills further exacerbating the knowledge and capital gap between them and the rest of the population.
On the upside, a smart and focused effort on American independence and innovation can usher in a new age of prosperity after the current Great Conflict ends. 3d printers and smart manufacturing can help offset our dependence on China.
Breakthroughs in materials science, energy storage and computing are also the unsung heroes in this journey back towards personal and Western independence.
Bitcoin, DeFi and the second layer technologies built on top of the world's most secure chain can also help fundamentally complement and enhance much of the current financial infrastructure.
Right now, we have a shitshow of crony capitalists, woke Marxists and autocratic technophiles in charge. Fortunately, there is still a large and dedicated contingency of good people with ample military and technological training who believe in personal autonomy and freedom. They are actively working toward a future of freedom and empowerment when the current system crumbles or migrates to a more sane, productive, and equitable society.
Remember though, technology is no panacea. The dark side of tech is it's amplification and leverage capabilities. So never has an evil, tyranny of the minority had so much capability and control over the population. Either tech will be reigned in, harnessed and used for the good of mankind, or it's easy to see a future (umm, present) surveillance slave state metastasizing.
Fortunately, my ancestors and friends come from a long line of proud warriors and freedom fighters. Whether we fight, rope-a-dope, or secede to return once the corrupt house of cards crumbles, I have faith the light wins in the end. Apropos this Passover and Easter.
I’m thrilled to announce that Sovereign Sunday will now be distributed to over 300 prisons throughout the country through Michael Santos and his Prison Professor Youtube show.
To my people on the inside, let me offer a simple two-fold message. This too shall pass, and prepare now for what’s next. Whether your exit date is in 6 months or 6 years, the work you put in now will define whether you will be successful on the outside. Feed and test your mind as well as your body. Inhale the good books, magazines, courses and people you have access to. Never again will you have this amount of time to study. Find someone you're down with that has a skillset you're curious about and talk to them.
I know this is more difficult the higher the security level, but you can always control what you read or watch. Turn off the garbage or walk away. Read and re-read the books that have withstood the test of time. Get a real world PhD inside.
Prison is the closest thing to legal slavery our nations still has. It's a barbaric relic from an earlier era. Speaking of slaves, today is the 2nd day of Passover, and Sunday is Easter.
Perhaps it’s because I'm one of the few in my circle who has had their freedom and liberty, abruptly and unjustly ripped from them...
That I feel it so deeply and have been so outspoken and adamant…
Not only about the madness of the lockdowns…
But also about the devastating financial and psychological effects on both children and adults, present and future.
Thank you and amen to my friend Jon Loew for crafting the passage below:
During the holiday of Passover, Jews celebrate their liberation from 500 years of slavery in Egypt.
We are taught to remind ourselves that "once we were slaves," and to appreciate our freedom as it is so easy to lose.
Jesus of Nazareth's "last supper" was actual a Passover Dinner, as he visited Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday.
As we ALL got a taste of what it was like to lose some of our freedoms - all while having Netflix, Uber Eats, air conditioning, etc - I think it's important that we ALL remember that we were ALL once somebody's slaves.
And the life of a slave is hell on earth.
Whether in the American south, or on the shores of the Nile in Egypt, or in North Africa today - people were born and died without knowing what freedom felt like.
Cherish it, fight for it, and don't give up so easily what so many dreamed to taste. Happy Passover, Happy Easter, and Happy Freedom.
No matter how hard they try to pass off propaganda as 'science'...
Or corrupt news #gaslighting as journalism…
They will never win as long as there are good people willing to #HoldThePass and speak the truth.
I'm optimistic and committed to ensuring that #ThisTooShallPass…
And that sanity, decency and freedom will once again reign over our blessed country.
My friend Steve Weatherford is running a FREE, 2 day virtual event called the CEO of Your Life on Monday and Tuesday alongside a lineup of some of the most impressive speakers and coaches out there like Ed Mylett and Jesse Itzler. For more information, click this link and I’ll see you there.
Articles I’m Reading…
*The Mormon church’s secret $100B investment fund had a better quarter than Goldman or Stevie.
*Fellowship and the Next Evolution of Social Media. Aligned communities continue to be one of my biggest themes and talking points this year.
*New York marijuana legalization. Don’t underestimate the impact, or the second order effects.
*Hedge Fund Alpha Chase Coleman did a deep dive on 20 years of blowout performance at Tiger Global and shared his strategies for getting in early on the next Amazon.
*Wily Woo’s latest on Chain Analysis and buying the BTC dip.
*Combat droids to dominate future battlefields.
*The end of America - Naomi Wolf.
*Two very good clearinghouses for sanity during the Covid Hysteria. Both for well written articles and a collection of vetted, peer-reviewed studies covering the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 lockdown measures on areas such as mental health, education, and inequality.
*Obama still going strong now into his 5th year heading the Shadow Government
*Dubai, Singapore and Switzerland roll out the red carpets, while in America we chase innovation away.
*Open letter from the UAE to Tom Friedman: Being a card carrying member of the elite and NYT means you can be dead wrong for 3 decades and still have a job and a reputation (see Paul Krugman or Jennifer Rubin). Liberals gobble his nonsense up, but thankfully these know-nothing elites have been stripped bare recently and are dying the slow, humiliating, train-wreck professional death they so deserve.
Top 1% found to not be reporting about 20% of their income, and it’s even higher in the top 0.1%. Mixed feelings about including this one as it’s obviously propaganda for tax increases and financial war on the 1%. Mark my words - the US will implement a consumption tax or VAT in the coming decade as technology makes it easier to evade the Taxman, and as people lose faith in a financial system that prints endlessly.
What I’m Listening to…
A Billionaires guide to healing your mind and extending your life - Christian Angermayer
Pomp and Lex Fridman talk crypto, money, time and memes.
Bizarre and amazing. Perhaps originally intended as satire, now anthem-worthy.
What I’m Watching…
Two of the more original thinkers out there shoot the shit for 90 minutes.
Twitter Octagon
Parting Words…
From the movie Aliens, and one of the first, real feminists I ever saw:
Ripley: I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Burke: Hold on a second. This installation has a substantial dollar value attached to it.
Ripley: They can bill me.
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