All This Fuss About A Fiat Dollar Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com, Throughout the First World, and, particularly in the US, there is an increasing consciousness that fiat currency, far from being the solution to economic problems, is, in fact, a cause of them. There are even those who, over the years, have predicted that the continued massive creation of fiat dollars may well lead to price controls, destruction […]

What Would A Bank Run Look Like Today? Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times, The movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) features what is today the most famous bank run. It’s film and fiction, yes, but fits with a scenario that has been common for centuries. When the movie came out, the bank runs of 1930–1932 were very much in people’s memory. For older people, they remember the Panic of 1907. Before that, there […]

One Reason This Energy Shock Is Not Like The One 15-Years Ago Arend Kapteyn, the global head of economics and strategy research and chief economist at UBS, told clients that one key reason the current Middle East conflict-driven energy shock “is not like 2011-2014” will be the absence of a comparable response from the shale patch, suggesting consumers are more likely to bear the brunt of the pain.  Kapteyn noted that, on an […]

Costa Rica’s President Cuts Off Diplomatic Ties With Cuban Regime Authored by Kimberlyh Hayek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves revealed Wednesday that his government has ceased recognizing the legitimacy of Cuba’s communist regime and ordered the Cuban embassy in San José to close. The Costa Rican embassy in Havana, Cuba, on March 18, 2026. Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images In a press […]

Netanyahu Declares Iran’s Nuclear Program & Missile Production “Destroyed” – Denies Israel Influenced Trump Summary Netanyahu: Iran can no longer enrich Uranium; missile production destroyed; says Israel acted alone against Pars oil field; claims Trump was not influenced by Israel to go to war. F-35 stealth jet takes on Iranian fire, emergency landing: CNN Trump dials up threat, seeking leverage, denies approving […]

US LNG Export Terminals “Running Near Maximum” As MidEast Energy Infra Descends Into Chaos The attacks on upstream oil/gas assets across the Middle East this week sparked turmoil across global energy markets.  Israel set off the chain reaction with its attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field on Wednesday morning, followed by Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Qatar’s LNG plant, Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea export hub, and other targets across […]

Leaks Allege Drones Spotted Over Base Where Rubio, Hegseth Live Unidentified drones were allegedly detected above the Washington Army base where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth live, according to three insiders who leaked the information to the Washington Post. Officials were unable to determine where they originated, two of the leakers said.  Multiple drones were allegedly spotted […]

Some US Airports Face Possible Closure If Government Shutdown Prolongs: TSA Official Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, Some U.S. airports may be forced to close down if lawmakers fail to reach a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and end the partial government shutdown, a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official said on March 17. Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl told Fox […]

Another 2008 Analog: Goldman, JPM Offering Hedge Funds Ways To Short Private Credit The big story last week, a narrative which we may have inadvertently started, was the recurring comparison across various sellside desks (and quite a few buysiders) of the current double crisis (private credit as an analog to the subprime crisis of 2007/2008 coupled with soaring oil prices which peaked at just below $150 in the summer of 2008 before […]

US Energy Sec Confirms No Plans For Oil Or Gas Export Bans Update (1335ET): US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has confirmed, through a statement he posted on X that the US will not be baning oil or gas exports… Thanks to @POTUS, the United States is the world’s top oil and natural gas producer. We are also the largest natural gas exporter and a top oil exporter. To be clear, the Trump administration has no plan to […]

Kent Tells Tucker: ‘Imminent Threat’ Was From Israel, Not Iran; Ordered To Halt Charlie Kirk Investigation Joe Kent, former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center who was President Trump’s principal counterterrorism advisor, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show to explain his side of the story after stepping down from the administration. Kent announced his resignation Tuesday, citing his opposition to the ongoing U.S. […]

China Buys Gold For 16th Straight Month, Wall Street Sells As Retail Loads The Bullion Boat For the 16th month in a row, China bought gold into reserves in February even as bullion prices hovered near record highs. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) added another 30,000 troy ounces last month, lifting official reserves to approximately 2,309 metric tonnes (74.22 million ounces), valued at $388 billion. This represents roughly 9-10% […]

Senate Again Rejects Effort to Restrict Trump’s Iran War Powers Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, The U.S. Senate on Tuesday once again rejected a motion to discharge S.J. Res. 118, a joint resolution to withdraw American armed forces from military actions in Iran sans Congressional approval. The motion was shot down in a 47–53 vote. The measure, introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), is an attempt to invoke […]

US-Japan Announce $40 Billion Nuclear Deal; Trump Cracks Awkward Pearl Harbor Joke Update (1226ET): President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced a roughly $40 billion collaboration to build advanced small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in the United States. The project, involving U.S.-based GE Vernova Inc. and Japan-based Hitachi Ltd., targets sites in Tennessee and Alabama. Officials described it as […]

Iran Oil Exports Soar As Bessent Floats Unsanctioning Iranian Oil Already-At-Sea If the unstated intention of the Iran war was to give far more leverage to Russia, and – paradoxically – to Iran, by legitimizing their sanctioned oil exports in a world suddenly starved of energy, then mission accomplished. Just days after the US “temporarily” lifted sanctions on Russian oil stored on sanctioned tankers, Secretary Scott Bessent said […]

BABA Shares Crash Most In Six Months As Net Income Plunge Overshadows AI Progress Alibaba ADRs suffered their sharpest drop in six months during the US cash session after quarterly results revealed a massive tumble in net income and sluggish top-line growth, overshadowing yet another quarter of triple-digit expansion across its cloud and AI businesses. Third-quarter results showed that Alibaba’s core retail business remained […]

CBS News Investigation Uncovers Massive Medicare Hospice Fraud In L.A. County Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness, An investigation by CBS News has discovered massive Medicare fraud at more than 700 out of 1,800 licensed hospice providers in Los Angeles County. The scam utilizes stolen Medicare numbers to fraudulently enroll healthy seniors in hospice with fake terminal diagnoses, billing Medicare an average of […]

MMT Vs Austrian Economics: Deficits, War, & Markets The Keynesian-Austrian debate has raged for over a century. Questions of deficits, taxes, money printing, and their impact on inflation are at the center of the disagreement. War breaking out in the Middle East means we will see more of these three inputs, so how will they show up as inflation: in assets, consumer goods, everywhere? Tonight, two opposing economists will […]

Another Depraved Leftist: Many Such Cases… Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, An Oregon high school principal placed on leave for celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk has been sentenced to five years in prison for possession of child abuse material. Jeremy P. Williams, former head of Rainier Junior-Senior High School, now joins a disturbing list of leftists in education and politics whose public […]

US New Home Sales Collapse By Most In 13 Years In January Despite falling mortgage rates, analysts expected December’s drop in new home sales to accelerate in January… and accelerate they did… crashing a stunning 17.6% MoM (-2.7% MoM exp) – the biggest MoM drop since July 2013. This huge MoM drop dragged sales down 11.3% YoY – the worst slide in three years… Source: Bloomberg This huge drop dragged the new home sales SAAR […]

Escalate To Immolate? By Michael Every of Rabobank Escalate To Immolate? It takes a pretty big development to push the BOC, the FOMC, and the upcoming BOJ, BOE, and ECB meetings off the financial front pages – but yesterday’s and this morning’s news does in some eyes and headlines.  We’ve warned the Iran War would ‘escalate to de-escalate’, and crucial regional desalination plants had briefly looked to become targets. […]

Trump Eyes Boots On The Ground Along Hormuz Shoreline Several reports this week into Thursday say the Trump administration is quietly weighing a major escalation – potentially deploying thousands of additional troops to the Middle East as the White House struggles to map out an end game in Iran, according to Reuters. Interestingly, the Reuters report doesn’t include the phrase that Trump strongly campaigned against: ‘boots on the […]

Euro, Bunds Slide After ECB Warns Of Stagflation The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged, warning that the war in Iran could shift its expectations for inflation and the economy. The deposit rate was left at 2% on Thursday – as predicted by all analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Officials said that leaves them well positioned, reiterating in a statement that they’ll act one meeting at a time. “The war in the […]

Ukraine Peace Talks Are Suspended, Likely Indefinitely, Thanks To The Iran War Since the opening of Trump’s Operation Epic Fury and America’s escalating war in Iran, now soon to reach three weeks, Moscow and Kiev have several times confirmed there’s been a pause in peace talks. The last instance the three parties met was in February in Geneva, soon before the Iran conflict began. Days into US-Israeli Iran operations, a new round […]

Civil Rights Icon Cesar Chavez’s Family, Officials React To Sexual Assault Accusations Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times, The family of Cesar Chavez said they were devastated by allegations of sexual abuse that surfaced against the American civil rights icon in a report published March 18, as officials began canceling celebrations and holidays in honor of him. “This is deeply painful for our family,” the Chavez […]