The Real Fed Chairman
Posted September 17, 2026
By Sean Ring
I got the Fed call wrong because I was watching the wrong Fed. The Federal Open Market Committee doesn’t meet in Washington 8 times a year. It trades every day. By the time Kevin Warsh raised rates Wednesday, the bond market had already made the decision for him.
The Untied Kingdom
Posted September 16, 2026
By Sean Ring
Breaking up is easy when it’s only about flags, parliaments, and national pride. It gets harder when somebody asks who owns the debt, who funds the deficits, and what currency everyone plans to use on Monday morning.
The Great AI Alibi
Posted September 15, 2026
By Byron King
For years, Silicon Valley told investors there was no price too high for artificial intelligence. Spend the trillion. Build the data centers. Buy the chips. Drain the grid. Now, suddenly, the same crowd wants to slow down — for humanity’s sake, naturally. Funny how existential caution arrived just as the bills came due.
A Tribute to Washington
Posted September 14, 2026
By Sean Ring
Rome collected tribute from its protectorates. Washington prefers LNG contracts, tariffs, and factories. Different empire, same arrangement.
The Bypass Bullseye
Posted September 11, 2026
By Sean Ring
Saudi Arabia built the East-West Pipeline to escape the Strait of Hormuz. But once Hormuz closed, the bypass became indispensable. And anything indispensable eventually becomes a target.
Marked to Market, Marked to Myth
Posted September 10, 2026
By Sean Ring
Pete Hegseth and Scott Bessent are both fighting battles that are going badly. But only one man has the luxury of arguing about the score. The Pentagon runs on politics and narrative. The Treasury runs on prices. And prices are becoming very inconvenient for Bessent.
The Blue Collar Bull
Posted September 09, 2026
By Sean Ring
For decades, the surest trade in the labor market was long college degrees and short manual work. That trade is reversing. And like most crowded trades, the people caught on the wrong side are discovering that yesterday’s prestige offers no protection.
The Sea Keeps Honest Books
Posted September 08, 2026
By Byron King
The media saw bad meals aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. The sea saw something else entirely: too many missions, too few ships, and 35 years of neglected American naval power.
The Book Guillotine
Posted September 07, 2026
By Sean Ring
Jeff Bezos built Amazon by selling books. Thirty-two years later, his company is buying old ones by the thousand, chopping off their spines, scanning their pages, and throwing what remains in the trash.
The Palace of Fiscal Dominance
Posted September 04, 2026
By Sean Ring
I went to Avignon expecting medieval architecture. Instead, I found one of the clearest explanations of fiscal dominance ever built.
