On Friday I had Dave Collum back on the podcast to rant about the state of the world and everything that has been going on lately. It’s been too long since I had him on the podcast and it was fun to chat with him about the situation in the Middle East, the competition between factions going on in the Trump administration, and the structural problems with financial markets. We were able to mix in some optimism on a couple topics despite all of the crap that is flying around lately, but for anyone interested in the intersection of current events, conspiracies, and markets, this one is for you. You can find Dave on Twitter (and under his desk, as he likes to say).

Podcast Summary

* The Joe Kent departure and his podcast with Tucker Carlson and how it shows some of the competing factions inside the Trump administration.

* The legitimacy issues that our institutions are facing.

* How social media accelerates narrative changes, the divisions in society, and identity politics.

* The various psyops and conspiracies, including if Netanyahu and other prominent Israeli leadership are actually dead, and how the shelf life of conspiracies is getting shorter and shorter.

* Why he thinks we have already crossed the Rubicon in Iran and Israel as far as causing serious problems for energy markets and supply chains.

* How targeting desalination plants could lead to a collapse very quickly.

* The potential for US boots on the ground, and why it makes sense to prepare and stockpile food and other things with some of the supply chain problems we could see.

* The structural problems with the hyperfinancialization of the economy and markets, private equity and private credit, and other things that need to be fixed.

* How the US needs to significantly change the economic system and incentives, and why he thinks things need to wash out first.

* The economic distortions that have happened over the last several decades.

* Why real estate needs to get cheaper by price instead of trying to manipulate affordability by lowering rates.

* His thoughts on the precious metals selloff and where there might be opportunities.

* The technological changes coming for the financial system and how we have been resisting creative destruction.

* Book Recommendation: Rage In The Republic by Jonathan Turley

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