Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 138

Debt Spiral, Treasury Market Stress, and a New Financial Order

International Man: In your view, what role does the Treasury market play in global finance, and how significant is it to the current financial system?

Doug Casey: It’s only important because it exists—but it shouldn’t exist. People think that the Treasury market is part of the cosmic firmament, but there once was a time when the US government had little or no debt outstanding, and the world got by fine without it.

It’s not a question of how significant it is so much as when the time bomb that it...

Why Western Governments Are Beating the Drums for Wars

The only parts of American, German, British, French, and Italian industry that are booming right now, are their armaments manufacturers — the companies that sell far more to governments than to consumers, and that therefore boom while the economy busts. These are the companies that need to control the Government in order to control their biggest market (which IS the Government), and so their controlling owners, the billionaires who control their boards, need to control the influencers of the pub...

Political Slavery in Our Times

In 1977, East Germany ransomed hundreds of its leading intellectuals and artists to West Germany, partly because it did not wish to endure public criticism by its own citizens during an International Rights Conference. In spite of the human sale, there was no general revulsion against the East German government in the international community. The East German regime was considered by many social scientists to have more legitimacy than the West German government because of its more expansive socia...

Are the Peace Deals Real?

Some Russian journalists, such as the astute Ekaterina Blinova, are wondering about the reality of the Ukraine “peace negotiations.”  Trump’s promised peace in 24 hours has been replaced with Trump sending more weapons to Ukraine and more threats to the Kremlin.  Journalist Blinova notes that two US Patriot air defense systems, one from Israel, are on the way to Ukraine along with US $310 million for support of the US F-16s sent to Ukraine, and another $50 million in arms.  How, Blinova asks, is...

The Papacy and the ‘Sacrifice of the Intellect’

Not long ago, Cardinal Gerhard Müller made some comments during an interview in The Times of London which caught my attention. They echo sentiments he has repeated before but which now, with the conclave to elect a new pope upon us, struck me. “‘No Catholic is obliged to obey doctrine that is wrong,’ he said, adding: ‘Catholicism is not about blindly obeying the Pope without respecting holy scriptures, tradition and the doctrine of the Church.’”

I mention these statements because I find them to ...

Concerning the Validity of the Coming Conclave

Or: the Sacrament of the Present Moment allows us to become holy today by means of abandonment to divine Providence.

God Wills or Permits All Things

Last year I made a resolution on Byzantine New Year to try to work on the spirituality of the “sacrament of the moment.” My predominant fault is pride, and my problem is that I become too abstract in my intellect. This abstraction divorces me from reality so that I make an idol out of my ideas. This prevents me from focusing on God’s will in the pre...

Gatsby Meets Nietzsche on the Train to Town

“Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.” – T.S. Eliot, The Four Quartets

“You can’t repeat the past,” says Nick Carraway to Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, which was published one hundred years ago this spring.

Gatsby responds incredulously, “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”

This often quoted exchange is typicall...

Thoughts About the Golden Age

When President Trump promised us a Golden Age, I admit I was skeptical. I knew that there had to be a period of adjustment after the pedal-to-the-metal spending and the ornicide — bird-killing — of wind farms in the Biden years. And when Trump announced his tariffs on April 2, 2025 and the stock market tanked, I got worried. The Guardian was right there with the Narrative:

Trump’s promised ‘golden age’ for the US economy is off to a chaotic start

The Guardian sneered at Trump’s tweet: “Our Count...

Martial Law Disguised as Law and Order: The Oldest Trick in the Authoritarian Playbook

“A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.”—James Madison

We are being frog-marched into tyranny at the end of a loaded gun. Or rather, hundreds of thousands of loaded guns.

Let’s not mince words: President Trump’s April 28 executive order is the oldest trick in the authoritarian playbook: martial law masquerading as law and order.

Officially titled “Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect In...

Meet The Think Tanks Behind MAGA’s New Free Speech Crackdown

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump—and many of his most prominent right-wing supporters—are directly linked to some of the most radically pro-war, pro-Israel organizations in the country. These connections form a sprawling web of lobbying groups, tech billionaires, and media figures who consistently promote Israeli interests above those of ordinary Americans.

Why has the pro-Trump right suddenly pivoted from branding itself as a bastion of free speech to openly supporting censorsh...