“China’s advantages in the production and refinement of rare earth elements are significant.” – The Lonely Realist TLR this week received a number of emails disagreeing with TLR's assertion in last week's commentary that China’s virtual monopoly over rare earth elements – that is, its 70% share...
“ETFs and rare earths (and even soyabeans) are economic weapons.” – The Lonely Realist An ETF is a public investment fund that trades on stock exchanges in the same way as a single stock (and with more liquidity than a mutual fund). An exchange traded fund...
“We are witnessing de-dollarization. Are we nearing a finale?” – The Lonely Realist A Dollar is “fiat currency,” a piece of paper. It has no intrinsic value. People believe in it because they have faith in America's economic and foreign policies, its judicial system, its Constitution,...
[TLR IS TRAVELING AND APOLOGIZES FOR ANY REPETITIONS IN THE FOLLOWING:] “‘Due Process’ has made America great. More engineers (and fewer lawyers) could make it even greater.” – The Lonely Realist America’s government is run by lawyers…, at least it seems that way. America’s founding fathers were...
Almost all comments on TLR's September 14th commentary, “The End of Ukraine,” can be summarized as “How much did Putin pay you to write this piece?” Those comments should be contrasted with Niall Ferguson's “I’ve Seen the Future of War. Europe Isn’t Ready for It” in...
[TLR IS TRAVELING AND ON WEDNESDAY RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING LETTER FROM CASSANDRA:] “A recession (along with increasing inflation) is fast-approaching.” – Cassandra Dear Mr. Realist: Allow me to return to the conversation you and I shared several months ago. The developing weaknesses in the U.S. economy that I...