The Wiggin Sessions

There are many people that are involved in developing technologies that think that all technology is good and will always lead to a better future.But is that true? 

My guest today is John Robb, author of Brave New War and owner and principal analyst for the monthly The Global Guerrillas Report and host of Global Guerrillas. On this episode of The Wiggin Sessions, John joins me to share how disruptive events are impacting change across the globe and how the rise of network swarming through social channels is escalating change and not always in a good way. We talk about how social media escalated the Russian invasion of Ukraine on a global level and brought it up to the edge of a nuclear engagement.

Listen in to understand why “the global village isn't the problem, it's the global villagers,” and how the settings of the technological artifact will be the thing that determines our future—if we get it right, the future is going to be amazing, if we don’t it will control us.

Key Takeaways

John shares what network swarming is and how his book, Brave New War is still making waves

How network swarming escalated the Russian invasion of Ukraine making it into a war of survival

John offers his insight into the pilfering of individual identities and the human characteristics of the network that are not at all human

How the printing press was the catalyst for war as we know it today

How collective decision-making limits individual idea-expression (and oversteps everything from human rights to politics to the Constitution)

What John calls the permit crisis and how feeding the power of the network is hollowing out our values, and stripping our rights 

John’s advice to individuals on living within the network, securing your digital rights, and challenging the Terms of Service trumps the Constitution status quo

Connect with John Robb

John Robb on Twitter 

Global Guerrillas

Connect with Addison Wiggin

Consilience Financial

Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on—

Facebook @thewigginsessions

Instagram @thewigginsessions

Twitter @WigginSessions

Resources  

The Global Guerrillas Report

Brave New War

The Insurgent Advantage by David Brooks in The New York Times

The Long Night is Coming on Global Guerrillas

Marshall McLuhan’s Tetrad of Media Effects

With the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, fiscal spending out of control, and 40-year inflationary highs, you ought to see that reflected in the CRB.

Why? This week I'm joined by James West, Publisher, Editor, and CEO of the Midas Letter, the digital business channel for early-stage investors where James covers technology, crypto, battery metals, and alternative medicines.On this episode of The Wiggin Sessions, James shares the real reason for the supply chain shortages, how lithium and other electric car components are disrupting market trends, and what’s up with gold and silver prices. Plus, he’ll even walk us through the real reason Vladimir Putin is so insistent on taking over Ukraine.

Listen in to understand the Commodity Research Bureau (CRB) Index and its history of acting as an indicator of impending financial mayhem. We look at how it can be used to trace the financial crisis of 2008 and how the current CRB is screaming that we are on the brink of a major financial correction, one that might make 2008 look like a cakewalk.

Key Takeaways

Where James believes the long-term investment opportunities are How monetary and price inflation can be traced via the CRB Index

Why the history of the CRB Index indicates we are headed into a financial storm

The real reason Vladimir Putin is so insistent on taking over Ukraine 

How individual investors can get involved in investment trends like lithium without the riskWhy the financial system is manipulated to be sure that gold does not make the US dollar look bad

What the CRB Index predicts for gold and silver pricesWhy it’s getting harder and harder for investors to make money without getting fleeced 

What James tells anybody who asks him what they should invest in 

Connect with James West 

Midas Letter Live 

James West's Midas Letter on Twitter 

Connect with Addison Wiggin

Consilience Financial

Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on—

Facebook @thewigginsessions

Instagram @thewigginsessions

Twitter @WigginSessions

Resources  

The Lords Of Easy Money

"Christopher Leonard—Are the Federal Reserve's Interest Rate Increases Too Little, Too Late?" on The Wiggin Sessions

Plunge Protection Team

Thomson Reuters 

Albemarle

"Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) CEO Jonathan Evans Interview" on the Midas Letter

We're now in month two of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We know that the Western narrative is dominant in the mainstream press. We also know the first casualty of war is the truth—right? So, what is the most important thing the American Public is missing about the war?

Scott Horton is the Director of The Libertarian Institute and the Editorial Director of Antiwar.com

He’s also a Ron Paul Libertarian and has done over 5000 interviews almost all on foreign policy since 2003. Scott is the author of Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan and Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism. He also has a podcast called The Scott Horton Show.On this episode of the Wiggin Sessions, Scott and I dive into the history behind the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including an examination of Putin's motives for war. We'll also dig deep into the quest to expand NATO under the Clinton administration.Listen in as Scott brings to light a lot of things you probably haven’t heard before, including what he thinks is the greatest treason in the history of our country or even the world.

Key Takeaways

Why Scott believes the Americans want to prolong this war

Scott walks us through George H. W. Bush's promise not to expand NATO East 

What Bill Clinton did to pulverize the Russian economy and the direct consequence of the Clinton years

What Biden has done to ratchet up the New Cold War between the United States and Russia

Scott’s take on the role of the World Economic Forum in egging on the current administration

Why the Western world is in denial about Putin and why he’s the perfect boogeyman

Why the democrats still aren’t over their fear of Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia

How giving up on facts and settling for opinions has led to Americans missing out on the truth

Connect with Scott Horton

Scott Horton

Scott on Twitter

Antiwar.com

Connect with Addison Wiggin

Consilience Financial

Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on—

Facebook @thewigginsessions

Instagram @thewigginsessions

Twitter @WigginSessions

Resources  

The Scott Horton Show

The Libertarian Institute

Antiwar.com

Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan

Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism

Justin Raimondo 

Alan Bock

04/19/99 David Thibodeau on Surviving the Waco Massacre

The Budapest Memorandum

Biden’s Stand on Ukraine Is a Wider Test of U.S. Credibility Abroad

THE PUTIN INTERVIEWS

John Mearsheimer

Richard Hananiah

We’re currently facing 40-year inflation highs. The Fed has raised interest rates with promises of four or five increases this year. Can they tame the inflation beast without tanking the stock market and further eroding the economy? Or is it too late? 

Christopher Leonard is a business journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and Bloomberg Businessweek. He's a New York Times bestselling author for his books, The Meat Racket and Kochland which won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award given by the Nieman Foundation and the Columbia University School of Journalism. On this episode of The Wiggin Sessions, Christopher joins me to share his insight on the impact of preserving such low federal interest rates for so long.

Christopher discusses why the Powell led Fed has failed to normalize interest rates, and how the mission creep of the Federal Reserve has led us further away from a stable economy and deeper into the trenches of the highest inflation we’ve seen in 40 years. 

Listen in to understand why it is the Federal Reserve’s policies more than broken supply chains, the pandemic, or Vladimir Putin that has led to our broken American economy. 

Key Takeaways

What made Christopher investigate the meat industry and the Koch brothers for his booksHow a 2016 interview with a financial trader led to his investigation of the Federal Reserve and his book, The Lords of Easy Money

Why the seduction of printing money looks so good to consumers but is so dangerous 

The philosophy that led to the great low-interest rates and excessive money printing experiment

What Christopher thinks is the most critical element of the Powell led Federal Reserve What caused the short circuit of the market in 2018 that led to the Powel Pivot

Who has more power, the President of the United States or the Fed Chairman 

How the Federal Reserve caused the greatest transfer of wealth, and income inequality in human history

Why the Fed is currently struggling to find a solution to inflation that won’t further erode the economy

Christopher explains why he is driven to put the facts of these systems in the hands of the average reader

Connect with Christopher Leonard

Christopher Leonard 

Christopher on Twitter

Connect with Addison Wiggin

Consilience Financial

Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on—

Facebook @thewigginsessions

Instagram @thewigginsessions

Twitter @WigginSessions

Resources 

The Lords of Easy Money

The Meat Racket

Kochland

The J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards

I.O.U.S.A.

Federal Reserve System

Money Creation

FOMC 

Ben Bernanke 

Quantitative Easing

Janet Yellen 

Jerome Powell

The Powell Pivot

Why the Fed Keeps Getting It Wrong by James Rickards

Alan Greenspan

Paul A. Volcker 

Arthur burns

Nexis® 

William Jennings Bryan

Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO)

Mohamed A. El-Erian

Bethany McLean

James Grant 

Was the financial war against Russia over before it even began? My guest this week thinks so. 

Sean Ring is a writer, trainer, EdTech startup CEO, teacher, and Editor of The Rude Awakening.  Sean has lived and traveled in East Asia for many years, and he has a unique take on China's view of the West's response to Russia and the invasion of Ukraine.On this episode of The Wiggin Sessions, Sean joins me to discuss China's view of the US's financial war and why the US can't act alone. Sean discusses how sanctions against Russia are speeding up China's plans to dominate the global economy and how they might replace the U.S. dollar's dominance of the Middle Eastern market, plus the ramifications therein. 

Listen in to understand the war from Russia’s point of view and what Halford Mackinder’s “Heartland Theory” of the World-Island has to do with why the Russia Ukrainian conflict is raging right now. 

Key Takeaways

How Sean's history of living and traveling in East Asia informs his perspective on China's view of the West

Why the sanctions against self-sufficient Russia are only going to backfire and make them more powerful

Sean’s insight into China's perspective on the war, and how the Russian sanctions could cause the emergence of non-dependence on the US dollar

Sean looks at the countries that refuse to impose sanctions and the Russian isolation fairy tale 

Why we will see a Balkanization of the world economy

What Sean thinks is China’s biggest risk

Sean explains Russia’s view of the war and why the Russia Ukrainian conflict is raging right now

Sean gives an insight into what we don't get from the Western media

The impending depreciation of the US dollar and why inflation is here to stay

Connect with Sean Ring

Sean Ring

Subscribe to The Rude Awakening

Sean on LinkedIn

Connect with Addison Wiggin

Consilience Financial

Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on—

Facebook @thewigginsessions

Instagram @thewigginsessions

Twitter @WigginSessions

Resources 

Klaus Schwab

Mark Carney

Byron King—The Danger in Weaponizing the US Dollar EP48

Martin Anderson—When and Why Wars are Needed EP49

'Got Rubles?' by Sean Ring in The Rude Awakening

Jim Rickards at The Daily Reckoning

'Russia Built Parallel Payments System That Escaped Western Sanctions' in The Wall Street Journal

'The Usual Suspects Are Pushing War with Russia' in Mises Wire

Dmitry Orlov

Peter Thiel

Halford Mackinder

John Mearsheimer

‘Biden Saves Ukraine From Russia—by the Inch' in The Wall Street Journal

Olaf Scholz

The Budapest Memorandum

Taiwan Relations Act

Jim Rogers

Victoria Nuland Testimony On Biolabs In Ukraine

Bill Bonner

The World Economic Forum

Was a Russian invasion of Ukraine predictable as far back as 2013? Ask-Socrates, a global economic and political environment analysis platform designed to identify changes in international capital flows in global markets, predicted Ukraine was going to be the place where everything starts. Last week, at a conference of the Business Roundtable, President Biden said that we are headed into a new world order. But is this war part of a bigger plan by the European globalists to bring about The Great Reset?On this episode of The Wiggin Sessions, I’m joined by Martin Armstrong, the founder of Ask-Socrates and Armstrong Economics. Martin is internationally recognized as an economist with over 40 years of experience monitoring and forecasting market behavior. I brought on Martin on the show today to help us unpack the President's point of view and delve deeper into the global catalyst of the events in Ukraine. Martin shares his insight into when and why wars are needed and why the European globalists need this particular war. He’ll break down the factors in the competing propaganda of the media, the Western liberal order and the autocrats in the east.Plus, he’ll share what to focus on to thrive during the geopolitical mayhem we’re experiencing right now and the currency transition to come.  Key Takeaways

How Martin’s technology was created to be the opposite of what we think of as AI

Why the European globalists need this war

The off the charts corrupt connections between President Zelensky and Hunter Biden

What Ask-Socrates said in 2013 and what happened in 2014 

How intentionally poking the bear is endangering the Ukrainian people

Why Martin believes Zelensky might be taking orders from somebody other than his own people.

Martin’s take on what Putin’s really talking about when he says they’re fighting against Nazis in the Ukraine

How annexing the Russian ethnic groups in Ukraine back to Russia could draw a ceasefire

How the propaganda machine is on the verge of creating even bigger problems than Putin

Why Martin thinks this catalyst will soon create two world economic systems

Why the current administration is preparing for the new economic system instead of focusing on saving the dollar

Martin’s advice for investors to transition to assets that will survive a transition to a new currency

Connect with Martin Armstrong

Ask-Socrates

Armstrong Economics

Armstrong Economics on Twitter

Connect with Addison Wiggin

Consilience Financial

Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on—

Facebook @thewigginsessions

Instagram @thewigginsessions

Twitter @WigginSessions

Resources 

Klaus Schwab

The Great Reset

Bretton Woods

Gulf of Tonkin incident

The Prince of Savoy

Neoconservatism

President Zelensky Addressed Parliament in Italy

The Alternative World Order, The Economist

In imposing sanctions on Russia, we're weaponizing the US dollar.

But most weapons in a war get blown up. 

Are we, in effect, destroying our monetary system? And are our efforts to isolate Russia from the global economy giving us the results we want?

Byron King is a Harvard-trained geologist and a former aide to the US Chief of Naval Operations. He also happens to be our resident go-to source for military insights and a regular contributor at Bonner Private Research, covering energy, precious metals and the economy.

On this episode of The Wiggin Sessions, Byron joins me to share his insight on Russia's motive for invading Ukraine, explaining how NATO evolved after the Cold War and why a reset of the 'defensive alliance' is long overdue.

 Byron discusses how sanctions against Russia are disrupting global commodities markets and describes America's 'theory of victory' on weaponizing the US dollar--and why it's unlikely to succeed.

Listen in to understand why an economic recession is inevitable and get Byron's take on what happens if the US dollar loses its reserve currency status. 

Key Takeaways

Byron's history in the Navy and how it informs his perspective on NATO

Bryon's insight around Russia's motive for invading Ukraine

Russia's perspective that America did not win the Cold War

What Byron makes of Zelensky's call to reset our political institutions to protect Ukraine

How NATO evolved after the Cold War and why a 'defensive alliance with no defense' is problematic

How sanctions against Russia are disrupting commodities markets and impacting ordinary citizens of Russia, Europe and the US

America's 'theory of victory' on weaponizing the US dollar (and why it's unlikely to succeed)

Evidence that the US dollar could lose its reserve currency status

How a country's monetary system has power as a derivative of its military power and vice versa

How Byron thinks about the potential for a crypto SDR

How we need rare earths to build the electronics we rely on and the consequences of our anti-mining policy

Why a recession is inevitable and how it will lead to a 'resurgence of adultism'

Connect with Byron King

Byron at Bonner Private Research 

Byron on Twitter

Connect with Addison Wiggin

Consilience Financial

Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on—

Facebook @thewigginsessions

Instagram @thewigginsessions

Twitter @WigginSessions

Resources 

5-Minute Forecast

President Zelensky’s Address to Congress

Agora Financial

Klaus Schwab

Mark Carney

Jim Rickards at The Daily Reckoning

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

Yom Kippur War

‘Saudi Arabia Considers Accepting Yuan Instead of Dollars for Chinese Oil Sales’ in The Wall Street Journal

Trilogy Metals

Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis by William Bonner and Addison Wiggin

The Demise of the Dollar... And Why It’s Even Better for Your Investments by Addison Wiggin

Bretton Woods

Jim Rickards on Special Drawing Rights

Pete Buttigieg on 60 Minutes

Mainstream, Keynesian economists have a hard time understanding Bitcoin. 

But if you use Austrian economics as a framework, the significance of Bitcoin as a replacement for the traditional monetary system becomes very clear. 

Saifedean Ammous is the bestselling author of The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking, a groundbreaking study of the economics of Bitcoin. 

Saifedean is considered a pioneer in explaining Bitcoin’s value proposition as the hardest money in history and the only alternative to central banks.

On this episode of the Wiggin Sessions, Saifedean joins me to discuss his books The Bitcoin Standard and The Fiat Standard, describing the nuances of Bitcoin that inspired him to create these works.

Saifedean explains why he approaches Bitcoin from an Austrian perspective and how money’s ability to resist debasement is what makes it valuable.

Listen in as Saifedean shares his thoughts on President Biden’s executive order to study cryptocurrency risk and the future of decentralized banking.

Key Takeaways

Saifedean’s background and why he wrote The Bitcoin Standard followed by The Fiat Standard

Why Saifedean approached his Bitcoin research with the Austrian economics perspective

The differences between Austrian economics and Keynesian economics

Why Saifedean argues that money’s ability to resist debasement is what makes it valuable

How the world ended up on the gold standard and why expanding the money supply is not a good idea

Why Bitcoin will be the only escape mechanism to the digital dollar which will be a control tool for the managers of the fiat system

President Biden’s executive order to study cryptocurrency risk and Saifedean’s perspective on the future of cryptocurrency

Why Bitcoin is the only way to escape central banks

Why the total number of bitcoin is capped at 21 million and what will happen to its value when it is done being mined

How governments have used technology to create propaganda to alleviate the impacts of inflation

Connect with Saifedean Ammous

Saifedean’s Website

Saifedean on Facebook

Saifedean on Instagram

Saifedean on LinkedIn

Saifedean on Twitter

Saifedean on Youtube

Connect with Addison Wiggin

Consilience Financial

Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on—

Facebook @thewigginsessions

Instagram @thewigginsessions

Twitter @WigginSessions

Resources

5-Minute Forecast

The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous

The Fiat Standard: The Debt Slavery Alternative to Human Civilization by Saifedean Ammous

Mises Institute

Russia Today, the English-language news agency funded by the Kremlin, was recently deplatformed for spreading propaganda around the invasion of Ukraine. 

So, how does a media entrepreneur think about shutting a news outlet like RT out of Western markets? When is deplatforming justified? When is it dangerous?  

And how do we come to understand the biases of the media we consume? 

Demetri Kofinas, host of the Hidden Forces podcast, returns to the Wiggin Sessions to discuss the deplatforming of Russia Today for covering the invasion of Ukraine and share some of his experiences working at the network in the early 2010s.

Demetri explains how he predicted the conflict in Ukraine back in December and describes his recent conversation around the latest developments in the war with CrowdStrike Cofounder Dmitri Alperovitch.

Listen in for Demetri’s insight on the driver of value for future money and why Americans may be psychologically unprepared for simultaneous economic and geopolitical crises. 

Key Takeaways

Demetri’s background working for Russia Today and why he chose to leave the network

Demetri’s perspective on Russia Today’s intentions and ideology while he was there in 2011

The deplatforming of Russia Today due to their coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Demetri’s thoughts on the Ukraine invasion and how he was able to predict it back in December 2021

How cancellations and deplatforming affect Demetri’s views on the current state of affairs as a media entrepreneur

Demetri’s conversation about Russia invading Ukraine with the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of CrowdStrike Dmitri Alperovitch

Demetri’s insights on the future of the US dollar, cryptocurrencies, and what the driver of value will be for future money

Why Americans may be psychologically unprepared for potential economic and geopolitical crises

Connect with Demetri Kofinas

Hidden Forces Podcast

Demetri on Twitter

Demetri on LinkedIn

Connect with Addison Wiggin

Consilience Financial

Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on—

Facebook @thewigginsessions

Instagram @thewigginsessions

Twitter @WigginSessions

Resources

5-Minute Forecast

Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia by Joshua Yaffa

Hidden Forces Episode 235: Russia-Ukraine War & Risks of NATO-Russia Escalation - Dmitri Alperovitch

Hidden Forces Episode 236: Economic Warfare and the Weaponization of the US Dollar - Julia Friedlander

Demetri Kofinas on Wiggin Sessions EP034

It’s easy to oversimplify the conflict in Ukraine and America’s response to it: Russians are bad. Sanctions are good.

But would your perspective be different if you had traveled extensively in that part of the world? Or if you knew exactly how those sanctions might impact your ability to access the commodities you need?

My globetrotting friend Joel Bowman is a libertarian writer, thinker and cryptocurrency enthusiast. He is also a repeat offender here on The Wiggin Sessions. 

Joel is a regular contributor to Bonner Private Research, recently penning two thought-provoking editorials on the conflict in Ukraine, inflation and weaponized money, ‘Death in the Afternoon’ and ‘Stairway to Hell.’ 

On this episode of The Wiggin Sessions, Joel joins me to describe his experience traveling in Moldova and Ukraine in 2018, sharing his informed take on the media’s mass propaganda around the Russian invasion. 

 Joel discusses the real reason for the inflation of commodities in the US, explaining why we can’t blame it all on Putin and how sanctions on Russia will impact the American economy moving forward.

Listen in to understand how Argentines have adapted to an inflation rate of 50% and hear Joel’s concern that central bankers might leverage negative sentiment toward Putin to ban crypto.

Key Takeaways

Joel’s travels through the separatist region of Transnistria on the western border of Ukraine

Joel’s take on the mass propaganda around the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the media’s oversimplified, black-and-white view of the conflict

How being de-platformed has become a tool of 21st century warfare

How sanctions imposed by Western corporations affect people in Belarus and Russia who have nothing to do with Putin or Lukashenko

The real reason for the inflation of commodities (and why we can’t blame it all on Putin)

How government sanctions on Russia will impact the US economy

How the people of Argentina have adapted to an inflation rate of 50% and the rising black market for alternatives to pesos in Argentina

What makes a global currency war a real possibility and why investors are looking at Bitcoin as a safe alternative to fiat money

Joel’s fear that central bankers might leverage the negative sentiment toward Putin to ban crypto

Why it’s usually a good bet to invest in things that China bans

Why Joel foresees short-term pain for crypto but is bullish on blockchain in the long term

How the energy required for Bitcoin produces a fraction of the carbon footprint of Pornhub

Connect with Joel Bowman

Joel on Twitter

Joel at Bonner Private Research

‘Death in the Afternoon’

‘Stairway to Hell’

Morris, Alive by Joel Bowman

Connect with Addison Wiggin

Consilience Financial

Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on—

Facebook @thewigginsessions

Instagram @thewigginsessions

Twitter @WigginSessions

Resources

5-Minute Forecast

Joel Bowman on The Wiggin Sessions EP035 

Dan Denning, Anya Leonard & Joel Bowman on The Wiggin Sessions EP013 

Classical Wisdom

Demetri Kofinas

‘Here Comes $7 Gas’

Brian Maher in The Daily Reckoning

Byron King

‘How to Ruin Your Economy, Like Argentina’

Adam Sharp

Jim Rickards

HIVE Blockchain Technologies

Mark Moss on The Wiggin Sessions EP030