One of My Readers Called Me Anti-American

We start here today with a letter that landed in El Jefe’s inbox recently:

I have subscribed to your Field Notes as they appeared to be interesting and factual; however, the more I read and look at them… the tendencies to “Doom and Gloom” for the readers seem to be subtle and constant.

Many of the opinions and comments in your field notes have hard left tendencies and why not say it, tend to want to “railroad” the readers to your unique perspective.

I would appreciate it if the opinions and facts were less politically inclined and not so hard on the United States of America. Let’s face it… you might not live here but you are American and regardless of who is at the White House, we should respect the officials we elect.”

I felt compelled to address some of the issues raised, because I understand where this reader is coming from—though that direction is wrong. (I love hearing any and all feedback from my readers, so drop me a line if you want to get in on the conversation: mailbag@globalintelligenceletter.com).

We’ll start with “doom and gloom.”

I’m neither doomy nor gloomy—I’m actually quite the upbeat and optimistic person.

But I am also a “disappointed realist” when it comes to America’s direction and the US dollar.

First, this is not a Trump thing, as the “hard left tendencies” implies.

This is an all-encompassing modern American political and societal hangup that goes back to Reagan.

I won’t dive into all of that here, but Ronald Reagan set America on the wrong path. His policies started America down the road to the extreme debts we have today. He broke unions, leading directly to America’s struggling modern-day middle class.

And the Supreme Court justices that he and the Bush duo appointed are responsible for some of the most egregiously awful judicial rulings in American history that have destroyed—literally destroyed—the middle class.

What reads like doom and gloom is simply frustration with what America has devolved into because of the political class.

And because of what America has devolved into, the rest of the world is taking notice and reacting to that, leading to ramifications for American savers and investors.

I am a closet historian, and my Field Notes columns spill a lot of digital pixels connecting all the dots I see going back deep into history to make sense of where we are today and why, and where those dots likely lead us from here.

My overriding goal is to help steer my readers to what I think will be an island of safety in certain assets.

To do that, I have to explain where the problems lie and why they exist. Some of that is doomy and gloomy, out of necessity, but that’s a function of what American politicians and society have created. It’s not a function of how I see life and the world.

Here’s the analogy: If the weatherman pops up on TV with an emergency broadcast every day for three months to warn you of yet another major tornado ripping through Oklahoma during a particularly active tornado season, is he filling the airwaves with doom and gloom… or is he just warning his viewers of what’s coming?

I’m El Jefe the Weatherman.

Moving on to… hard left.

Definitely not me. 1,000% not me.

As I have written many times in Field Notes over the years, I am Deep Purple. I am socially liberal and fiscally conservative… which, apparently, makes up roughly 25% of America, assuming Gallup polling is accurate.

I am absolutely not hard left, even in the most expansive sense of that term. I actually think the hard left is as much to blame for America’s problems today as is the far right. Both sides need to sit down, shut up, and let the grown-ups run the country.

I understand that some of what I write comes across as left-leaning, but that is a function of the current presidential administration. It makes too many “own goals” with some spectacularly idiotic policies that misread American (and presidential) strength—to the detriment of the American people.

But that doesn’t mean I was a fan of Biden or Obama or whoever, or the policies they pushed.

I dislike most politicians—save for an extremely tiny few—and if the next administration is as boneheaded as this one, I’ll have the same words to share, regardless of the red or blue jersey they’re wearing.

Finally, I am not trying to railroad my readers to my point of view.

I am a columnist. My primary purpose is to share my opinion on the matters that affect my readers’ wallets, paychecks, brokerage accounts, and nest eggs.

Yes, I offer factual information on everything I write, but those facts are colored by what I see in the US and globally, and by the social and financial history I am deeply familiar with. I will never be a cheerleader for America just because I’m an American.

As I have written many, many times, I love my country, and I love what she once stood for. I love the America I grew up in—the `70s through the end of the `90s. That was an amazing time to be an American.

But I’m not going to cheerlead the decline of the empire just because I grew up there. That’s a disservice that harms my readers. I am going to be honest with them about what I see and why. If I always write, as so many others do, that the US dollar is king of the hill and I’m dismissive about the Chinese yuan and the rise of all the alternative non-dollar architecture popping up globally, am I helping anyone?

No.

I’m blowing pretty smoke up my readers’ backsides, yet in the end they get hurt when reality emerges, the dollar sinks, and inflation rips apart their wallets.

Better to be the “doom and gloom” guy who tells you the truth about what’s happening and why and how it impacts you.

It’s just me doing my job from the perspective of an American sadly disappointed at what America has allowed itself to become under the guidance of politicians who only care about the next election and running roughshod over the rest of the world.

That is not going to end well for America.

But it will end well for my readers who realize I’m just trying to lead them through the darkness ahead.