The Lonely Realist
Political & Financial Commentary

The Lonely Realist is a bridge across the partisan gap, raising questions and making pointed observations about politics, economics, international relations and the markets. Its goal is to raise awareness and inspire thought on controversial issues that impact America and Americans, highlighting issues that should be, but rarely are, the focus of bipartisan discussion.


In seeking to promote dialogue, The Lonely Realist is not an advocate of conclusions or remedies. To the extent perceived biases leak into these pages, as they sometimes do, please ignore them. They are inadvertent missteps. 

  • “The canaries have stopped singing.” – Cassandra “The canaries are nervously pacing their cages.” – The Lonely Realist Cassandra’s warnings in prior TLRs presaged today’s widely-held conclusion that the global economy has passed a tipping point. The failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse, First...

  • “SVB’s excessive duration risk punched a government bailout ticket.” – The Lonely Realist The recent failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) spotlights fatal flaws in America’s banking system. America’s bankers (as well as its uninsured savers) are being rewarded rather than punished for mismanaging their...

  • “Arming proxies to fight for America’s national interests is a sound military and political strategy.” – The Lonely Realist An often-overlooked proxy war heralded America’s emergence as global hegemon. The year was 1939 and the proxy warrior was the British Empire. Great Britain had lost...

Subscribe to The Lonely Realist


More by TLR

The Fabulous Federal Reserve*

America’s economy has been on a roll since the Great Recession of 2009. GDP has been on a steady rise with average annual increases in excess of 2{29ea29b64b10057f61377b2c087cd5b7537a0cd24da4295a308b0bf589469f35}. It has yet to record even a single negative quarter. Job creation has exceeded projections with the

Read More »

A Delicate Balancing Act; More Turkey Anyone?*

A Delicate Balancing Act The NY Times on May 21st published an editorial entitled “Charity Won’t Solve Student Debt” the title of which spotlighted the student loan debt debacle crisis. Total student loan debt now stands at $1.56 trillion with more than 44 million Americans

Read More »

The Fracturing US Dollar

Goldman Sachs issued a stern warning on July 28, 2020: There now are “[r]eal concerns around the longevity of the US Dollar as a reserve currency,” noting that “expanded balance sheets and [America’s] vast money creation spur debasement fears.” Are those fears warranted? Is the

Read More »

Subscribe to The Lonely Realist

One email, once per week. Unsubscribe anytime.

William (Bill) Natbony is The Lonely Realist, its author and originator. The opinions expressed in TLR are solely Bill’s opinions, have not been edited or reviewed, and do not reflect the views or opinions or any other person.