Less of a “Useful Idiot”

“People are not embracing collectivism because they have accepted bad economics. They are accepting bad economics because they have embraced collectivism.” [Wiggin Sessions] March 04, 2022 Less of a “Useful Idiot” “People are not embracing collectivism because they have accepted bad economics. They are accepting bad economics because they have embraced collectivism.” ― Ayn Rand [Addison Wiggin]Dear Reader, “I love the Sessions and eagerly await the next installment,” says reader Eric V. So far, so good; then he continues: But I don’t think I will be tuning in to hear James Altucher pontificate. The trucker protests in Canada were “outrageous”? Were the two years of lockdowns, economic destruction, suicides, drug addictions, forcing death jabs into citizens’ arms, permanently harming children with death jabs and masks outrageous as well, James? The protests were the rebound effect of people who had been deprived of literally everything for two years by a tyrannical, communist government hell-bent on societal destruction. Eric concludes, “I’ll pass on this Session. I trust your next guest will be less of a useful idiot.” Excuse us as our head goes askew. At no point did James criticize the protestors. He called the Canadian government’s response “outrageous.” To[quote him again]( “it's almost inconceivable that Canada of all countries would essentially declare martial law against its own citizens.” We humbly suggest you misread his comment. WIth that cleared up, we hope Eric will be willing to give our conversation with James a chance. To be fair, some readers did take issue with James’ stance. “I don’t think you should pretend you are an expert on Canadian politics and policies,” says reader Darrell Baker. “A ‘peaceful’ protest would not have kept nearby residents awake every night with honking horns and revving truck engines. Nor would it have forced dozens of local businesses to close their doors for 3 weeks because no-one dared come downtown.” No, we suppose impeding business — like say, crossing the border to the U.S. in carrying a truckload of goods — is the province of the government instead. Another reader, Dwight P. argues, “there was no martial law declared in Canada. No army in the streets of our cities, no curfews and no military checkpoints.” He goes on to say, “Maybe you need to talk to real Canadians before spouting a bunch of BS about us” and “you have let us Canadian subscribers down.” We do, in fact, talk weekly to a friend of ours who grew up in Ottawa, and since the pandemic lockdowns began, has relocated to Mexico City. He’s equally as distraught by the mandates and trucker standoff. Alas, and again, we beseech you, don’t let all this dithering over terminology and opinions distract you from James’ main point. Whether or not you agree with the Canadian government’s actions — or the world’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for that matter — we are witnessing the weaponization of centralized money. “Do as we say, or we’ll take away your ability to buy what you need to live, care for your family, etc.” Sure, it may sound great when that power is used against people you don’t like. But only “useful idiots” would assume they’d never become victims of the same antics. According to James, there are currently only 76 million users on Coinbase, one of the most recognized cryptocurrency trading services. So there’s plenty of room for growth. “People are eager to get involved in it,” James tells me, “and I think you will see a lot more speculation but also a lot more long-term investing.” You’ll get to hear our full conversation tomorrow. Eric, we invite you personally to give James an ear… Also don’t forget to learn how to get [a free copy of James’ Big Book of Crypto, here](. Follow your bliss, [Addison Wiggin] Addison Wiggin Founder, The Wiggin Sessions P.S. After [getting deplatformed yesterday, Russia Today]( moved to Rumble. Binance and Coinbase, the world's two largest cryptocurrency exchanges, have also promised not to unilaterally ban all Russian users. They are only banning their services to targets of economic sanctions, hoping to help ordinary Russians not involved in the invasion. P.P.S. For clarity on today’s missive, a “useful idiot” is a derogatory term for a person who follows a political cause without fully comprehending its goals and who is then cynically used by the cause's leaders. The phrase often is attributed to Vladimir Lenin, but according to this [wikipedia entry]( in 1987 the columnist William Saffire investigated the term in the Library of Congress and couldn’t find any reference to it in Lenin’s work. While taking a poke around ourselves, we did find this revealing Cold War quote from Yuri Bezmenov of the KGB : “[T]he useful idiots, the leftists who idealistically believe in the beauty of the Soviet socialist or Communist or whatever system, when they get disillusioned, they become the worst enemies. That’s why my KGB instructors specifically made the point: never bother with leftists. Forget about these political prostitutes. Aim higher. [...] They serve a purpose only at the stage of destabilization of a nation. For example, your leftists in the United States: all these professors and all these beautiful civil rights defenders. They are instrumental in the process of the subversion only to destabilize a nation. When their job is completed, they are not needed any more. They know too much. Some of them, when they get disillusioned, when they see that Marxist-Leninists come to power — obviously they get offended — they think that they will come to power. That will never happen, of course. They will be lined up against the wall and shot.” With that cheerful thought, enjoy your weekend. The Easiest Way to Add Fine Art to Your Portfolio You can purchase shares in great masterpieces from artists like Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Andy Warhol and more, when you join an exclusive community of art investors with Masterworks. Click [here]( for details. 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