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 Pat Buchanan offers an updated and concise view on what Pat labels “Trumpism.”
Pat believes, “Whatever becomes of Trump the candidate, i.e., economic and foreign policy nationalism, appears ascendant.”
Mr. Buchanan cites the following Trump points on pivotal issues:
- He speaks of Mexico, China, and Japan as tough rivals, not “trade partners,” smart antagonists who need to face tough American negotiators who will kick their butts.
- Foreign regimes are freeloading off the U.S. defense budget and U.S. military.
- Why aren’t rich Germans in the vanguard in the Ukraine crisis?
- Why do South Koreans, with an economy 40 times that of the North and a population twice as large, need U.S. troops on the DMZ?
- He has called Vladimir Putin a Russian patriot and nationalist with whom we can talk.
- He has not joined the Republican herd that says it will cancel the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump seems on track here on all points. Complete details as to how Mr. Trump would work through each of these sticky wickets, as yet, have not been made available. It will be at this stage that Mr. Trump either continues to build on his compelling lead over rival presidential candidates or disappears from the field of play as the blowhard his opposition likes to portray.
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Early last June here’s how I led off a special three-part Intelligence Report series to subscribers: “In recent issues my goal has been to work especially hard at providing you intelligence that will keep you safe and dividend-centric during what I consider the inevitable coming meltdown.”
Meltdown? Absolutely baked in to the cake as I write to you, and becoming more of a deep medium term concern for me as time passes.
The Fed’s robbing Peter (you and Dick Young) to benefit Paul (international bankers and Wall Street charlatans) program continues to create a clogged financial toilet. Junk stocks and strato-priced non-dividend-payers are screaming, while the type of stocks investors want for a safe and comfortable retirement languish out of favor-an occurrence to be expected in the late bubble stage of any bull market, especially today’s.
Automated trading systems (featuring no human input), day traders, momentum mavens, and craps enthusiasts of all stripes are engaged in a full-blown, tail- chasing, ring around the rosy circus. It’s financial musical chairs. When the music cranks off-hopefully not because of an EMP-related demolition of part of America’s electrical grid-the gang above will be switched instantaneously into reverse hyper-drive as bids disappear and stock prices crater.
One month later in Intelligence Report I continued, “Sends a chill down your spine, does it not? Who wouldn’t rather just forget all about such agony? Well the even worse news is that more of the same is on the way.”
I then advised, “Remember my rule of four P’s—Protect, Preserve, Patience, and Perspective. If you religiously stick to these words, you will rarely, if ever, get into a financial bind.”
In my most recent issue of Intelligence Report, I reminded investors of The Prudent Man Rule stemming from the 1830 Massachusetts court formulation Harvard College v. Amory. The Prudent Man Rule directs trustees “to observe how men of prudence, discretion and intelligence manage their affairs, not in regard to speculation, but in regard to the permanent disposition of their funds, considering the probable income, as well as safety of the capital invested.”
Since I started our family investment management firm in 1989, I have opened under the assumption that The Prudent Man Rule to this day carries as much weight as it did in 1830. Common sense and prudence just don’t go out of style-ever.
I kicked off my special three part series by introducing a three-sector investment portfolio aimed at allowing investors to ride out the financial market turmoil I envision ahead with maximum comfort and security. I labeled the portfolio the Maximizers.
Well, over the last three-day financial markets rout, my Maximizers operated as I expected, with only a decline of 0.9%, while the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ each declined by nearly 10%.
The negative backdrop that has created the environment for the recent three-day mini-crash has not improved. In coming issues of Intelligence Report, I will analyze the winners and losers from the horrific 2014/2015 oil price crash as well as on the geopolitical and investment front. I also will expand my ongoing analysis of the environment for gold and why I have been a substantial buyer in my own account in recent weeks.
All in all in the next few years, there will be as many opportunities ahead as there are sinkholes. The job, of course, is to constantly stay on the safe side of the road.
 
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 In his chapter “Global Revolution, The Manifesto of the Revolutionary Alliance,” Alexander Dugin, Russian writer, political commentator and advisor to Vladimir Putin, lays out his frightening and threatening view of the future.
(The) oligarchy has devalued not only labor, but also the capital connected to the market fundamentals, which has been secured through financial rent. All other economic forces are held in bondage to this impersonal, transitional, ultra-liberal elite. Regardless of how we feel about capitalism, it is clear now that it is not going through another crisis, but that entire system stands on the verge of total collapse.
An economic model is required, an alternative to the system of speculative financial capitalism that exists today. Alternatives can be seen in “real industrial capitalism,” in Islamic economics, in socialism, in Green projects, and in systems that are linked to actual production. We must search for completely new economic mechanisms, including new forms of energy, labor organization, and so on. The economy of a normal world will not be the same as that which exists today.
The new revolution should be geared to the radical overthrow of the global oligarchy and the destruction of the world’s elite, and toward dismantling the entire world system associated with it.
Destroying the heart of the beast will liberate all peoples and societies from the parasitic vampire of global oligarchy.
In Part III of Decent into Chaos, I will examine Dugin’s call for “The Fall of the West—the United States as a Country of Absolute Evil.”
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About to turn 68, Hillary’s biggest “diversity” brag is about being white, female and on the political scene for a quarter of a century, Yes, there is plenty to be upset about with the Republican candidates, but is this really the face of the Democrats? There is no one under a “certain” age and no one of any ethnic background. Yikes. As Victor Davis Hanson writes in NRO, they are like “the Founding Fathers—the old-white-guy elites from the Eastern Seaboard who governed a mostly white country.”
Read more here from Mr. Hanson, who describes the monotonous sameness of the Democratic contenders, all who come from a narrow geographical corridor—Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia, and D.C.—as “multifaceted and eerie.”
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  Every year, around this time, I look forward to digging into my copy of the
Football Outsiders Almanac. I’ve already found some cool nuggets of intelligence in this year’s edition that I plan on using for my fantasy football team.
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Today’s presidential candidates, in large measure, are trotting out the old failed and forlorn message of the original Defense Planning Guidance (DPG) drafted by Paul Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby, and Zalmay Khalilzad back in late 1992.
This document, as described in The Strategist
, “spelled out how the United States should behave if it wanted to dominate the rest of the world. It specified that the United States needed to be prepared to proceed independently in case its European allies, other partners, and international organizations were unwilling to go along with its initiatives, and it argued that no other country should be allowed to match the United States militarily, economically, or politically, and that none should be encouraged to try. This idea—that the United States was supposed to be the indispensable nation, one capable of shaping the world in its image—not only would turn out to constitute the foundation for the Clinton administration’s foreign policy but also, for all intents and purposes, would subsequently serve as the basis of George W. Bush’s foreign policy.”
Well, sadly, Americans know how that all worked out!
There is a better way to make America safer, more prosperous and freer.
The home for such realism is the Cato Institute, of which Debbie and I have been benefactors for many years. The specific plan for action I propose is outlined in a 2010 Policy Analysis authored by Cato scholars Benjamin H. Friedman and Chris Preble, entitled Budgetary Savings from Military Restraint. In the spirit of full disclosure, Chris is a friend of mine.
Ok then, let’s take a look at some realism. The authors kick off with, “The United States needs a defense budget worthy of its name, one that protects Americans rather than wasting vast sums embroiling us in controversies remote from our interests. This paper outlines such a defense strategy and the substantial cuts in military spending that it allows. That strategy discourages the occupation of failing states and indefinite commitments to defend healthy ones. With fewer missions, the military can shrink its force structure — reducing personnel, the weapons and vehicles procured for them, and operational costs. The resulting force would be more elite, less strained, and far less expensive. By avoiding needless military conflict and protecting our prosperity, these changes would make Americans more secure.”
In coming installments of Defenseless in America, I will flesh out the authors’ message and the belief that the United States confuses what it wants from its military—which is global primacy or hegemony—with what it needs—which is safety.
Related video:
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The Seattle City Council has overstepped its authority in passing a “gun violence tax” on firearms and ammunition sales. The NRA is suing the city. “The ordinance serves only as a piece of propaganda, because the ordinance’s mandates are legally unenforceable,” according to the lawsuit. “The state of Washington has the exclusive right to regulate the sale of firearms in Washington, and cities may not enact local laws or regulations related to the sale of firearms.” Read more on Seattle’s propaganda nonsense here.
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As is commonly known, all wines are enhanced by good stemware. If you are looking for a gift for a wine lover in your life or for yourself, look no further than Zalto stemware. Each glass is created from a single piece of mouth-blown glass from the lip of the bowl to the base of the stem. These lead-free glasses are the epitome of thinness and delicacy, almost too delicate to hold. Yet they are dishwasher safe and reportedly quite durable. (After multiple washings, ours are still intact.)
The Zalto Universal works for reds, whites and even champagne. Manufactured in Austria, the curves of the bowls are tilted at 24, 48 and 72 degrees, which, according to Zalto literature, happens to be the tilt angles of the Earth and “accentuates complexity and finesse.” Dick and I have been field-testing ours for about a week and can report that it is a delight to drink wine from them, tilt angles notwithstanding. Expensive? Rather, but it’s a form-meets-function ethereal experience you’ll thoroughly enjoy.
Cheers!
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 Niskanen Center’s Matt Fay unmasks the National Defense Panel (NDP). Matt explains that while the NDP “has a veneer of bipartisanship, it is stacked with hawks from both parties—including its supporting staff.”
From the Army War College’s Christopher Bolan: “[A]ll of these members reflect the elite intellectual consensus that American interests can only be served by the preservation of U.S. global military hegemony. Hence, their recommendation for additional investments in American military might was not a result of serious deliberation and analysis, but rather a preordained conclusion.”
And where do Republican presidential candidates and war hawks Marco Rubio, Scott Walker and Chris Christie turn for ammo on enlarging the military? Matt Fay, citing Politico Pro Defense newsletter as his source, explains that the answer is NDP.
For an opposing view (one that I share) on the concept of U.S. global military hegemony, read Defenseless in America, Part I featuring analysis from the Cato Institute’s Benjamin H. Friedman and Chris Preble.
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