\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f NEW PODCAST WITH CHRIS AND BRAD<\/strong><\/h2>\nWe\u2019ve got a new podcast to share with you this week. Chris MacIntosh and our head trader, Brad McFadden, joined Danny over at CapitalCosm for a\u00a0wide-ranging conversation<\/a>\u00a0that hit on everything \u2014 from looming market risks to unexpected opportunities hiding in overlooked corners of the world.<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/capitalistexploits.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-8.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nHere\u2019s a smattering of the topics they covered:<\/p>\n
\n- The two corners of the market where we see the most risk building right now.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Why tuning out the daily market noise is one of the smartest moves an investor can make<\/strong>\u00a0(and the long-term lens we actually use instead).<\/li>\n
- The strange new version of the \u201cAmerican dream\u201d retail investors are re-writing in real time\u00a0<\/strong>(we\u2019re being sarcastic, but it\u2019s a perfect insight into today\u2019s market).<\/li>\n
- Even with a Fed rate cut likely coming this week,\u00a0why we still see rates heading higher\u2026 and what that means for investors and the broader economy.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- The art of beating global markets (while cashing fat dividend checks) by owning \u201cboring\u201d companies hiding in plain sight,\u00a0<\/strong>like an Israeli cigarette maker, a Central Asian bank, and an Argentine real estate play that\u2019s already up 6x since we first got in.<\/li>\n
- And mucho mas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You can listen to the entire conversation on Youtube\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\ud83d\udca5\u00a0THE SOUND OF SOMETHING SNAPPING<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe \u201cmostly peaceful\u201d protests of 2020 were the early warning flare. Last week\u2019s assassination of Charlie Kirk? That might just be the sound of something snapping.<\/p>\n
Tempting as it is to see this as shocking and isolated (and no doubt the MSM will frame it as such), it\u2019s not. Anyone who studies history knows events like this are seldom random. Instead, they are part of deeper cycles where societies break down and rebuild stronger.<\/p>\n
As Chris wrote back in 2020:<\/p>\n
\nDepression, anxiety, and outrage at the political establishment will first manifest in sporadic uncoordinated civil unrest, and then the populace will begin to get organized.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nFolks far smarter than us have reached the same conclusion. Ray Dalio argues the US is already in a \u201ctype of civil war,\u201d with polarization at century-high levels and inequality exploding. As Dalio puts it: the US is no longer functioning as a unified nation.<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/capitalistexploits.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-7.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe numbers make the same point. In 2000, the US national debt was $5 trillion. Today it\u2019s $37 trillion and climbing. And 23 cents of every tax dollar now goes just to cover interest on that debt. It doesn\u2019t matter who the podium donut in the Oval Office is \u2014 the trend is unchanged. Hoping for political salvation at this point is delusion.<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/capitalistexploits.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-6.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThen there\u2019s the growing cultural divide. On one side, the \u201cpry it from my cold dead hands\u201d crowd; on the other, those who think even the military shouldn\u2019t be armed unless guns are ethically sourced and come with a high ESG score.<\/p>\n
These aren\u2019t just policy debates over family dinner. Rather, they are increasingly incompatible worldviews.<\/p>\n
The pattern is hardly new. Nations rise on freedom and productivity, then rot from government overreach, redistribution schemes, and mismanagement. Collapse follows predictable phases: inflation, civil unrest, authoritarianism, secession, breakdown.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s new today, however, is scale. It\u2019s not just America. The entire Western world is staggering under top-heavy governments in late-stage decline. America may simply be the first domino to fall.<\/p>\n
Best case, we have a relatively bloodless breakup. Worst case? Ideological divides spill onto the streets.<\/p>\n
The investment implications?<\/p>\n
\n- Civil unrest has NEVER been deflationary. With fracture comes inflation.<\/li>\n
- Inequality magnifies volatility\u2026 and America has it in spades.<\/li>\n
- Defense, firearms, and security all thrive \u2014 not out of preference, but necessity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Back in mid-2020, we recommended a basket of gun stocks in the\u00a0Insider<\/em><\/a>\u00a0portfolio, then closed the positions two years later. Not because our thesis on America\u2019s growing divide had changed (quite the opposite), but simply because better bargains were elsewhere.<\/p>\nAfter last week\u2019s events, maybe we sold those stocks a little too soon.<\/p>\n
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nHere\u2019s a smattering of the topics they covered:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The two corners of the market where we see the most risk building right now.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Why tuning out the daily market noise is one of the smartest moves an investor can make<\/strong>\u00a0(and the long-term lens we actually use instead).<\/li>\n
- The strange new version of the \u201cAmerican dream\u201d retail investors are re-writing in real time\u00a0<\/strong>(we\u2019re being sarcastic, but it\u2019s a perfect insight into today\u2019s market).<\/li>\n
- Even with a Fed rate cut likely coming this week,\u00a0why we still see rates heading higher\u2026 and what that means for investors and the broader economy.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- The art of beating global markets (while cashing fat dividend checks) by owning \u201cboring\u201d companies hiding in plain sight,\u00a0<\/strong>like an Israeli cigarette maker, a Central Asian bank, and an Argentine real estate play that\u2019s already up 6x since we first got in.<\/li>\n
- And mucho mas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You can listen to the entire conversation on Youtube\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udca5\u00a0THE SOUND OF SOMETHING SNAPPING<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The \u201cmostly peaceful\u201d protests of 2020 were the early warning flare. Last week\u2019s assassination of Charlie Kirk? That might just be the sound of something snapping.<\/p>\n
Tempting as it is to see this as shocking and isolated (and no doubt the MSM will frame it as such), it\u2019s not. Anyone who studies history knows events like this are seldom random. Instead, they are part of deeper cycles where societies break down and rebuild stronger.<\/p>\n
As Chris wrote back in 2020:<\/p>\n
\n
Depression, anxiety, and outrage at the political establishment will first manifest in sporadic uncoordinated civil unrest, and then the populace will begin to get organized.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Folks far smarter than us have reached the same conclusion. Ray Dalio argues the US is already in a \u201ctype of civil war,\u201d with polarization at century-high levels and inequality exploding. As Dalio puts it: the US is no longer functioning as a unified nation.<\/p>\n
\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe numbers make the same point. In 2000, the US national debt was $5 trillion. Today it\u2019s $37 trillion and climbing. And 23 cents of every tax dollar now goes just to cover interest on that debt. It doesn\u2019t matter who the podium donut in the Oval Office is \u2014 the trend is unchanged. Hoping for political salvation at this point is delusion.<\/p>\n
\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThen there\u2019s the growing cultural divide. On one side, the \u201cpry it from my cold dead hands\u201d crowd; on the other, those who think even the military shouldn\u2019t be armed unless guns are ethically sourced and come with a high ESG score.<\/p>\n
These aren\u2019t just policy debates over family dinner. Rather, they are increasingly incompatible worldviews.<\/p>\n
The pattern is hardly new. Nations rise on freedom and productivity, then rot from government overreach, redistribution schemes, and mismanagement. Collapse follows predictable phases: inflation, civil unrest, authoritarianism, secession, breakdown.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s new today, however, is scale. It\u2019s not just America. The entire Western world is staggering under top-heavy governments in late-stage decline. America may simply be the first domino to fall.<\/p>\n
Best case, we have a relatively bloodless breakup. Worst case? Ideological divides spill onto the streets.<\/p>\n
The investment implications?<\/p>\n
- \n
- Civil unrest has NEVER been deflationary. With fracture comes inflation.<\/li>\n
- Inequality magnifies volatility\u2026 and America has it in spades.<\/li>\n
- Defense, firearms, and security all thrive \u2014 not out of preference, but necessity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Back in mid-2020, we recommended a basket of gun stocks in the\u00a0Insider<\/em><\/a>\u00a0portfolio, then closed the positions two years later. Not because our thesis on America\u2019s growing divide had changed (quite the opposite), but simply because better bargains were elsewhere.<\/p>\n
After last week\u2019s events, maybe we sold those stocks a little too soon.<\/p>\n
- Why tuning out the daily market noise is one of the smartest moves an investor can make<\/strong>\u00a0(and the long-term lens we actually use instead).<\/li>\n
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