Dear Fellow Expat:While driving back from New York City, I read the news about the Libertarian Party. The party somehow nominated a former Democrat and donor to Barack Obama, who also supported vaccine mandates. Image via Garret Baldwin My wife and I discussed it… and I noted that the 2024 clown car is now officially full, and now everyone would vote. Then silence… only to then hear…“I vote that we get a cat,” Amelia called from the backseat.Let’s dive into our thoughts of the day… No. 1 – Building a NationHow wild it is since the Florida Republic began on paper. I stated the following in the second article ever written under this banner.

In the Florida Republic, the President would serve for five years and have a maximum of 20 years as President. Now, before you get all worried about dictators, let me explain how this works:

Every five years, we have an election. The night before the election, we put the Republican in a boat off the coast of Captiva and the Democrat in a boat out in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. This is important for social distancing. We hold a Zoom call that is broadcast into every residence in the Florida Republic. We ask the two candidates how they would lead if they were able to serve four terms as leaders.

After whatever they offer in the form of a nonsensical answer, we ignore them, cut the power to the boat, and let them drift to the Tampico and Ponta Delgada, respectively.

Having jettisoned our two most politically ambitious people for good, we then allow an English Bulldog to serve the remainder of the victor’s term. In the Republic of Florida, the pursuit of political power is highly discouraged. We will repeat this process over and over, let people who ignore the Great Civic Documents of the Florida Republic foolishly run for office, and then hold a party after we let these people adrift.

Same energy for 2024. No. 2 – So Long, Bill WaltonIt was sad to hear that NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton passed away. I always found his NBA commentary to be some of the best on television… largely because he was a color commentator who seemed to not focus on basketball.He once compared NBA player Boris Diaw (who?) to Beethoven… and called John Stockton one of the greatest marvels in Western Civilization…And then there’s just the quotes:

The latter was from when UCLA and Georgia Tech played in China, and a UCLA player got busted for shoplifting. That trip was utterly insane. During the exhibition game, Walton was the commentator and kept saying the word “Alibaba” repeatedly at random points during the broadcast. I’ve never seen or watched any game like that, and I still laugh out loud when I think of it.The man was one of a kind. No. 3 – The Difference Between China and AmericaThe United States has only deployed eight new charging stations despite spending about $7.5 billion… Mayor Pete couldn’t explain why… and just started rambling on CBS over the weekend that we’d have 500,000 new charging stations by 2030 – of course, failing to take into account all of the copper that thieves will steal and make tons of them inoperable.Meanwhile, this chart has been circulating social media, with fans of choo choo trains like Pete wondering why America can’t create its own high-speed rail network.  There’s a reason why the charger station issue is the same as the train issue.One nation doesn’t share John Locke’s view on property rights. And the other does.I don’t think I need to explain this… No. 4 – Maybe We Shouldn’t Do ThisWhoever runs United Wholesale Mortgage should be called before Congress tomorrow. The company plans to give any new first-time home buyer a “second-lien loan of up to $15,000, in the form of down-payment assistance, for 3% of the home’s purchase price.”That money won’t carry interest… and won’t have a monthly payment.A person who doesn’t have $15,000 should NOT BE BUYING A HOUSE.And this is just another steroid for a market that lacks supply…Unreal. No. 5 – Russia Warns On AmericaWith the U.S. National Debt at $35 trillion, the rational warnings aren’t coming out of Washington… In fact… this is a real tweet from Janet Yellen, who has added $1 trillion to the U.S. debt every 100 days. So, who’s making sense…Do I really need to go out to… checks notes… Moscow?Andrey Costin is the CEO of Russia’s largest bank. This week, he noted that if the U.S. dollar had not already been the reserve currency, it would have likely collapsed.Here are his thoughts:

“I am thoroughly convinced that America is inevitably headed for a serious economic crisis. The amount of debt currently held by the US today has reached inconceivable, astronomical levels. And the dollar’s monopoly on the global stage is the only thing enabling the Americans to maintain such a level of debt. If the Chinese or the Arabs took their money out of the US, a complete collapse would ensue for the financial sector and the government.”

I cannot believe we’re not having a real conversation about the U.S. national debt, the massive fiscal cliff we’re facing, and the inevitable end of the dollar system.For now, I continue to argue the following: Buy assets with three qualities.They’re liquid (they can be traded quickly), in high demand, and scarce.I stress the third.The Hedge of Tomorrow report we wrote in February has proven true in its thesis. Stocks, gold, silver, and Bitcoin remain proper hedges against a depreciating currency.More By This Author:Postcards: Don’t Move To Portugal What Isn’t The Fed “Breaking?”Reuters, Musk, And Emotions