Confucius reminds us that the cautious man builds his house upon stone; Kim, it seems, has chosen to build his upon warheads. When the wise man wishes to never be invaded, he need not study virtue — only enrichment.

In another wonderful news for the American economy, which is thriving so vigorously that total bankruptcy filings rose 7% year-over-year in May, individual filings climbed 8%, and small-business filings leapt a triumphant 36% — a clear sign that entrepreneurs are merely "resetting financially," the way one resets a building by setting it on fire. Naturally this has nothing to do with the impact of the little excursion taken in the Middle East to support the Tel Aviv theocracy. Fear not, though — experts assure us this is merely the "calm before the storm" before the next wave of big filings, and the government is heroically riding to the rescue by offering bigger loans so businesses can borrow even more money they can't repay.

https://www.bankruptcywatch.com/statistics/2026-week-21-bankruptcy-report

Everyone with a modicum of wisdom knows that when the neighbour's house is on fire, the wise merchant sells more buckets. China's exports leapt over 19% in May and imports soared past 27%, swelling the trade surplus to $105.4 billion — its fattest since January — as the world's hunger for artificial intelligence enriched the workshop that builds its tools.

Semiconductor sales exploded 111% to $36 billion, the swiftest since 2013, though the superior man notes with a raised eyebrow that in volume the chips rose a mere 2% — for it was not more grain that filled the granary, but a tenfold price upon each kernel. So fierce is the AI famine that South Korea sold over 200% more chips into China, even as American restrictions still bar the finest machines — proof that he who is denied the loom may yet grow rich reselling thread. Yet beneath the banquet, two Chinas dine apart: high-tech factories feast while the maker of clothes and toys watches sales shrink 4% and 7%, and the citizen, asked to spend, keeps his coins in his sleeve as car sales at home fell 22% for a sixth straight month.

A surplus built on the world's mania is a feast cooked on a neighbour's fire — splendid, until the wind turns.

The Macro Butler was back on The Time Compass Show with Bud Leiser!

We break down why the world is approaching a major inflection point in the price of everything REAL: 🥇 Gold, 🥈 Silver, 🛢 Oil, and critical commodities.

As wars intensify, shortages spread, and governments drown in debt, the next crisis may not be in stocks—it may be in the bond market itself.

Discover why a sovereign debt crisis could send the U.S. dollar soaring against other fiat currencies while simultaneously collapsing against the assets and resources people actually need to survive an era of Trump Stagflation.

📈 The biggest opportunities of the decade are forming.

📉 The biggest risks are hiding in plain sight.

🎥 Don’t miss this one.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/interview-with-time-compass-show-0b8

With Season 2 of the Epic F**k Up underway, the Treasury of the Empire sold $58 billion of 3-year notes at a yield of 4.192%, the highest since February and up sharply from 3.965% in May. The auction tailed by 0.3 basis points for a second consecutive month, suggesting bond investors are demanding a little more compensation before funding Washington’s latest deficit-financed adventures.

Despite endless warnings about fiscal doom, the auction internals were surprisingly robust. The bid-to-cover ratio climbed to 2.65 from 2.54 in May and above the recent average, while indirect bidders happily absorbed 63.7% of the issue and direct bidders took another 21.0%. Dealers were left holding just 15.3%, down from 16.9% last month. Apparently, investors remain more than willing to finance the Empire’s expanding deficits—as long as the Treasury keeps offering ever more generous yields for the privilege.

Overall, it was a largely forgettable auction with unremarkable metrics. Demand remained sufficient to clear the issue, but not strong enough to inspire confidence. For now, investors continue treating U.S. Treasuries as the world's risk-free asset, even as deficits, debt issuance, inflation risks, and geopolitical tensions steadily erode that assumption. At some point, many may discover that the asset once considered safest has quietly become one of the most vulnerable.

🚨 The Biggest Lie in Finance? 🚨

Everyone is celebrating a "strong" U.S. dollar.
But what if the dollar is only rising against other failing fiat currencies... while losing purchasing power against gold, silver, oil, food, and everything you actually need?

📈 Stronger Dollar
📈 Higher Gold
📈 Higher Oil
📈 Higher Cost of Living

Something doesn't add up.

⚠️ Most investors are looking in the wrong direction.
 
Learn to Earn with The Macro Butler Financial Academy: https://themacrobutler.com/financial-academy/

The Ministry of Allies has announced a startling discovery: the friend you arm, fund, and defend may also be reading your mail. The Pentagon has solemnly raised its counterintelligence threat level on the Zionist Holy Land to the highest tier — a revelation roughly as fresh as Jonathan Pollard's 1987 conviction for stealing massive quantities of classified intelligence, or the NSA reportedly catching Israeli officials discussing how to bend U.S. policy. Every nation spies — China, Russia, Britain, France, and the United States upon allies and adversaries alike; this is not the secret. The doublethink is that Washington sounds the alarm about Israeli espionage at the precise moment Congress votes for ever-deeper integration with the same ally — warning of a threat while embracing it tighter.

https://www.military.com/pentagon-raises-israeli-spy-threat-as-ndaa-seeks-deeper-defense-ties

As in Rome, competing factions and foreign entanglements have overwhelmed any coherent national purpose, leaving a government reactive rather than strategic — a state that, as the article warns, no longer knows where its own interests begin and end.  

A nation that cannot tell friend from spy has already lost the war that matters — the one for its own mind.

In Eurostan, the Ministry of Freedom has unveiled its latest gift to liberty: a cage. Ursula The Witch has announced the EU's first-ever "full third-country ban" on certain crypto-asset services, packaged inside a sanctions measure against Russia — and the citizen is invited to read the headline, nod, and move along. He should not. What Brussels actually claimed is the authority to prohibit crypto relationships involving entities beyond its own borders whenever it decides they undermine its sanctions regime — today Russia, tomorrow any country, platform, or network outside its political objectives. The timing wears no disguise: France's debt has passed €3.3 trillion, Italy's exceeds €3 trillion, and chronic deficits meet aging populations and stagnant growth in mathematics that simply does not work.

https://x.com/RippleXrpie/status/2064319330951503930/video/1

War is sanctions, freedom is reporting, and the road from regulation to confiscation is shorter than anyone is told. When the state declares war on the exit, it has already decided you are not meant to leave.

China just discovered the economist's version of a split personality: the factory gate is having a party while the cash register weeps. The Iran war duly lifted producer prices — headline PPI sprinted to 3.9% in May from 2.8% in April, led by mining gate prices leaping 15.8% and materials up 9.2% — yet none of this excitement reached the consumer, where CPI sat stubbornly at 1.2%, core inflation actually eased to 1.1%, and the prices of clothes, toys, and consumer goods quietly kept falling. The dirty secret is that the inflation China does have is essentially imported in a barrel: strip out gasoline (up a heroic 23.5%) and travel, and headline CPI would have managed a limp 0.5%, while food prices fell 1.7% and the citizen kept his wallet firmly shut.

But here's the bit that should make shareholders spill their tea: the spread between core CPI and core PPI has now been negative for a second straight month to its skinniest since March 2021 — the last time China was busy locking itself indoors and treating its own stock market to a spectacular derating.

In nutshell, in China, as the margin between what you make and what you sell evaporates, the economy isn't running hot — it's just running a fever.

🚨 THE DOLLAR: KING OR PEASANT? 🚨

Everyone is celebrating the king dollar.

Meanwhile:
🥇 Gold is rising.
🥈 Silver is rising.
🛢 Oil is rising.
🍔 Food is rising.

If your currency is gaining value, why does everything you actually need cost more?
The real battle isn't Dollar vs. Euro.
It's Fiat Currency vs. Real Assets.

Most investors won't understand the difference until it's too late.

🎯 Watch this video and discover why the next wealth transfer may belong to those holding real assets, not paper promises.

Learn to Earn what the mainstream media insights won't tell you.
https://themacrobutler.com/financial-academy/