Q&A With Jim Rickards

We’re not above preparing for the worst. March 16, 2022 [UNSUBSCRIBE]( | [WEBSITE]( [Altucher Confidential] It’s come to our attention that you might be missing out on extra benefits exclusively for Altucher Confidential subscribers. Check out our website where you can find archives, updates, and everything else included in your subscription. You can access it by [clicking here now](. “Based on everything I’ve learned in the past 40 years, especially my experience working with the United States government, I believe we’re in for big trouble.” [HERO IMAGE] Q&A With Jim Rickards By Chris Campbell Is Amazon Legally Obligated to Pay You? This shocking news could make you $48,000 richer... [Click here for more details.]( First and foremost, we here at ALC are most bullish on innovation and human ingenuity. But… We’re also not above preparing for the worst. As we mentioned yesterday, that’s why we invited Jim Rickards for a quick Q&A about his latest research, Countdown to Crisis. In our circles, Rickards is a man who needs no introduction. But if you’re not familiar with his background… He’s worked with both the Nixon and Reagan administrations, the Federal Reserve, the CIA, and the Pentagon. Time and time again, he’s who Washington turns to in a time of crisis. But now, he’s bypassing D.C. and releasing his intel directly to the American people through our information distribution channels. And we believe all of our readers will be better off for it. ALC: Jim, thanks for being here. We know your time is valuable, so we’ll just cut to the chase. You are quoted saying that America is set to face its biggest crisis yet. One that will almost certainly have a huge impact on every American’s wealth, retirement, and way of life. That’s a bold prediction. Can you explain what this might look like? JIM: Sure. Last August, I wrote that COVID-19 would fade and the economy would recover slowly. Some people thought that meant I was optimistic. Not quite. I also said that we’re in a New Depression. And that the effects of this new depression will be inter-generational. The current crisis is not like 2008 or even 1929. This new depression that emerged in 2020 is the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. I made that prediction before the war in Ukraine, which has only exacerbated all of the things I was concerned about. Second thing is, the response to this war is sucking all of the oxygen out of the global supply chain. This will have a cascading effect. The supply chain is not a big part of the economy. It is the economy. It’s the same thing I told the Pentagon over a decade ago: If you want to use financial weapons, be prepared for the blowback. I can talk more about that in a moment, if you want. Based on everything I’ve learned in the past 40 years, especially my experience working with the United States government, I believe we’re in for big trouble. ALC: Right. Thanks for bringing that up. Since Currency Wars, you’ve published six additional national bestselling books, all of which outline a different facet of this impending crisis. Can you talk more about how your background influenced the way you think about and look at the markets? JIM: Well, I can credit everything I’ve done, all the way back to the ‘70s working with the Nixon Administration. But two things specifically come to mind. For the CIA, I was one of the leaders in their Counter-Terrorism Finance Unit. People think of the CIA and think of James Bond or something like that. No, I wasn’t jumping out of a helicopter with a knife between my teeth, but we were doing a lot in terms of understanding financial warfare. We developed predictive analytics models for counter-terrorism. I quickly realized that these models were also useful for geopolitics. For example, using these models, we figured out before anyone else that Hugo Chavez was selling treasuries and buying gold. That’s pretty valuable information. So I learned a lot during that time. Today, that kind of analysis is a cornerstone of my work and helps me to see around the corner a bit. That’s one example. Second, in late 2009, I was asked by the Pentagon to help design their financial war games. They wanted to stress test the U.S. financial system. So we did it. And again and again, the conclusion was clear. We warned the Pentagon that China and Russia would be accumulating gold and slowly move out of the dollar system. I told them, ‘If you keep using dollar sanctions on your enemies, eventually those countries will get out of the dollar system.’ They couldn’t believe it. To them, the dollar reserve status was invincible. Honestly, I felt like I was in 1913 England, listening to John Bull claim that the sterling would always be the global reserve currency. At the time, Russia had 600 tons of gold. Today, they have 2,300 tons of gold. Now, with the sanctions being thrown at Russia, it is causing them to move huge chunks of their economy out of the dollar system. Not to toot my own horn, but it was all pretty predictable, given the information we had at the time. [Click here for more...]( got just hours to act... [Before the worst news in stock market history...]( Begins to take effect. [Click Here for details from Jim Rickards]( ALC: OK. So, much of what you’ve been writing about for at least a decade is coming to a head. But you haven’t just written about the problems. You’ve also outlined some solutions. When we talk about huge market crashes, most people think of the 2008 financial crisis. Guys like Michael Burry and Steve Eisman got ahead of the curve and made the greatest trades of their lives while everyone else was panicking. Problem is, not everyone can use the same strategies they did to short the market. What can everyday Americans do to protect themselves and profit from what’s coming? JIM: Well, The Big Short is a fine example, but let me give you a more recent one. And then, I’ll tell you what everyday Americans can do. You might remember this… In March 2020, Bill Ackman raised alarm on CNBC: “Hell is coming,” he said. “A tsunami is coming and you can feel it in the air.” When you hear a guy like that say that on national TV, you know he’s already got his position locked and loaded. Turns out, he did. With the spread of COVID in China, he saw massive, unrecognized systemic risk in the markets. So, in February 2020, he bought insurance against corporate bond default in the form of credit default swaps (CDS). People thought he was nuts. Risk of corporate default, the market agreed, was very low. So Ackman was able to buy this default insurance for pennies on the dollar. It ended up being one of the best trades of his career. ALC: As far as I know, ordinary investors can’t buy a CDS trade in a normal brokerage account, right? That’s reserved for the big boys only. So what can everyday Americans do? Jim: Right. Everyday investors can’t replicate this trade in a standard brokerage account. But, there is a way for the average investor to make a similar trade. We’ve already spotted one with 4,400% upside potential for our Countdown to Crisis subscribers. And many more to come. You generally want to get into these plays when conditions are calm… and then sell them for a profit when fear is high. So, our recommendations are very time-sensitive. ALC: Great. Thanks, Jim. That’s all for today. If any of our readers are interested in learning more… and preparing for what’s to come, I’ve dropped a link below: [At this webpage]( Jim outlines a weird pattern that has revealed itself before every major market crash since 1929… (with only two possible exceptions in all of recorded history). And is rearing its head again. Moreover, he’s showing a time-tested way to profit from what Jim believes is just around the corner. [Click here for everything you need to know.]( Until tomorrow, [Chris Campbell] Chris Campbell For Altucher Confidential Stunning New Prediction for 2022 You’re going to want to [see this]( — America’s #1 futurist just came out with a stunning new prediction for what could happen in 2022. And surprise, it’s got nothing to do with Trump. Or trade wars. Or the ongoing gyrations on Wall Street. In fact, this could be your one chance to ignore all that upsetting “fake news”… and get back to the business of getting exceedingly rich instead. [It’s all in the forecast you’ll find at this link — click now.]( Subsribe To My Podcast [The James Altucher Show]( [The James Altucher Website]( [Subscribe With YouTube]( [Subscribe On Messenger]( [Subscribe With iTunes]( [Connected on LinkedIn]( Add AltucherConfidential@email.threefounderspublishing.com to your address book: [Whitelist Us]( Join the conversation! 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