On the 26th of February in the year 1401, an English priest named William Sawtrey was hauled before his Archbishop to learn whether he would live or die. Sawtrey wasn’t a witch or satanist, or even a criminal. He was, however, an early leader in a breakaway religion known as Lollardism, which both the Church and the English government viewed as a major threat. The Lollards followed the basic plotline of Christianity. But they criticized the heavy taxes that people paid to the Church, and they questioned the ways in which the Church spent its riches. More importantly, the Lollards believed in the separation of church and state. They also strongly opposed war and preached that all Christians should live in peace. Those last points were enough for the English government to treat the Lollards
On the evening of March 5, 1770, a thirteen year old boy named Edward Garrick deliberately provoked a British soldier who was on guard duty outside the Boston Custom House. It was a dumb thing to do. Like a lot of teenagers, Garrick didn’t think before running his mouth. He even poked the soldier in the chest with his finger... until the soldier ultimately struck him in the head with a musket. Now, Boston at the time was a hotbed of revolutionary spirit. Whereas today, people in the northeast seem to be happy to pay outrageous tax rates to incompetent politicians, back in the late 1700s they were ready to go to war over unfair taxation. So when that British soldier struck Edward Garrick, an angry mob quickly formed at the scene. By nightfall the soldier had been reinforced by several armed
1866 was not an auspicious year to start a business in the United States. America had just been devastated from a five year long civil war-- one of the bloodiest conflicts in US history. Plus the country was in the midst of a severe economic recession. 1866 was also the year that a major investment firm in London went bankrupt, triggering a worldwide financial panic. Capital was scarce. Interest rates were high. And overall business conditions were pretty dismal. But despite such obvious challenges, 36-year old Hiram Bond Everest of Rochester, New York still saw tremendous opportunity in the burgeoning oil sector, and he started a business called Vacuum Oil Company. Oil was primarily used for lighting in kerosene lamps at the time. But Everest, a former science teacher, conducted extensive
On Friday morning July 23, 1982, news broke around the world that a consortium of Japanese companies was acquiring Rouge Steel… which until that point had been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Ford Motor Corporation. It was unthinkable: the Japanese were buying up an American steel company??!? But it was just one of the first of many, many more acquisitions to come. Within a few years, Japanese companies and investors had bought up large chunks of prime US real estate, major companies, and just about any US asset they could get their hands on. Sony bought the iconic Columbia Pictures (which had recently released cinematic gems like Ghostbusters and The Karate Kid). Japan’s Bridgestone Corp. snapped up the legendary Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. Mitsubishi bought 51% of the world famous R
On August 4, 1964, two US Navy destroyers were conducting intelligence patrols in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam, when the task force commander grabbed the radio and reported that they were under attack by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats. The news traveled very quickly all the way to the Pentagon, and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara briefed President Lyndon Johnson on the situation. They demanded retaliation. And only a few days later, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution… which essentially authorized full blown military conflict in Vietnam. The only problem, of course, is that the supposed August 4th attack in the Gulf of Tonkin never actually happened. McNamara himself admitted decades later that the attack was made up, and a declassified report from the Nati
You see, the subsidies from the Defense Production Act are worth $10,000 or more per car. Manufacturers are desperate to get their hands on those subsidies. Because noncompliant manufacturers will have to charge $10,000 more for the same car. Whichever manufacturer is the first to produce a 100% Made-in-the-USA EV will dominate the entire market. And there’s simply no way that U.S. car manufacturers that don’t qualify for the credits can stay alive. So there’s nothing they won’t do to get their hands on U.S.-mined lithium. Now, that includes outright purchasing lithium mines to keep competitors from snatching them up first. For example, General Motors has invested $650 million to develop a mine in Nevada. It’s literal vertical integration—and it’s making lithium mines the hottest
The United States used to have a strong grip on the global lithium supply. In 1996, the U.S. produced over a quarter of the world’s lithium. A quarter century later, it’s at less than 1%. The grand total of lithium mines producing in the U.S. now? One. The actual production number is so embarrassing it’s withheld on U.S. Geological Survey reports. Meanwhile, lithium has transitioned from barely-used metal to vital energy component. But it’s estimated that the solitary Silver Lake mine, located in Nevada, produces enough lithium for about 80,000 EVs. That’s less than 1% of what the U.S. will need by 2030—for EVs alone. And that doesn’t even include the demand from utility-scale battery storage to make the switch to renewables. In other words, Silver Lake is a puddle. The Unite
The country that controls the global refined lithium supply will be the superpower of the 21st century. And it’s only a matter of time before that country emerges. Right now, 96% of lithium is mined in just four countries: Australia, Chile, Argentina, and China. But that’s deceptive. Because the countries that have the lithium don’t necessarily own the lithium. You see, China is never content with its own resources. And it is rapidly moving to corner the global lithium market—in a bid to become the only powerful electro-state in the world. To get there, China has systematically steamrolled its way into the other three major lithium mining countries. The second-largest lithium reserve in the world, located in Australia, is underwritten by Ganfeng Lithium, a Chinese company. Greenbushes, the
When Sextus Julius Africanus was born in the city of Jerusalem around the year 160 AD, the Roman Empire was still near the peak of its power. By the time Sextus was born, Antoninus Pius had ruled the empire with a steady hand for more than twenty years; his reign was peaceful and highly effective, and he left behind a strong economy and vast public treasury. The following year in 161 AD, when Sextus was still just a baby, Marcus Aurelius became emperor and ruled wisely for nineteen years as an assiduous, diligent philosopher king. Sextus was a young man just starting to make his way in the world when Marcus Aurelius passed away in 180 AD. And this is when things really started to unravel in Rome. Marcus Aurelius was followed by his complete dirt bag of a son, Commodus (who was probably eve
In the late summer of 408 AD, a barbarian army under the command of Alaric, king of the Visigoths, set out on a leisurely march across the Italian countryside towards the city of Rome… so that he could burn it to the ground. Alaric had been promised money by the Roman government in exchange for a military alliance between Rome and the Visigoths; but just before the money was supposed to have been paid, the Romans canceled the deal. Talk about a bonehead move. Alaric was a decorated warrior at the head of a powerful army. And the Western Roman Empire, by comparison, was barely even functional anymore. The government was bankrupt, the currency was a joke, the economy was in the dumps, the military was weak, the borders were nonexistent… and there was no sense of unity in Roman society. So it