The ACID Capitalist Podcast

Send us a textThis week, the Acid Capitalist is restored to his spiritual home, Blanc Bleu and boy is The Alchemist on form ! He's dug up some ancient manuscripts from 2007 from the legend, James Dines, the original gold bull. The foolish reject what they see, the wise reject what they think and accept what they see. Except, the Acid Cap is about to do the unpardonable and reject the wisdom that defined his hedge fund career.He's been looking at the Ruble. He refers to it dismissively as the Barney Rubble. The Barney has eliminated all of its losses since the shock of the unexpected military campaign against Ukraine.  Men in Suits are adamant that this marks a profound moment in economic history. That Vlad the Bad is Vlad the Economic genius.The decision to peg to gold, a modern day gold standard, has many in the financial community proclaiming this as the moment Russia defeated the proxy economic war. But more than that, they claim it as a great pivot in history. Where Russia goes, we will follow. Huh??The Acid Cap is having none of this. The screen price of the Barney is paint taping propaganda. It doesn't trade except by invitation. It's the preserve of the monetary authorities in Russia and those shameful nations that continue to dance with the Bear. Russian citizens certainly can't sell their Barneys, foreign nationals still holding Russian assets can't sell the rally and, heck, even Russian exporters must return their dollars to the kleptocracy.A gold standard is feasible in Russia because they've defranchised their citizens but elsewhere, democracies rejected the rigours of gold a century ago. The Wizard of Oz captures this poignantly. In the 19th century it was the elites that determined the outcome of elections. The lion depicts the mighty William Bryan Jennings, the populist presidential candidate who ran 2x and lost. The elites robbed him of his courage...Gold ain’t neutral. It favours the creditor over the debtor, forces the pain on the We, the People. With no vote, the people back then had to take it on the chin. When Treasury Secretart, Mellon, said purge the system of its rottenness in 1929, he was set to crucify the populace on the cross of gold. Thankfully, saner heads prevailed and the system was de-weaponised within 3 years but not before adult unemployment had su⬇️ Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for full episodes ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/HughHendryhttps://hughhendry.substack.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hughhendryofficialhttps://blancbleustbarts.comhttps://www.instagram.com/blancbleuofficial⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a five star review and comment on Apple Podcasts!🧢 Hats & Merch 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter / X📩 Substack👂Listen and 🔥 Subscribe📺 YouTube🎧 ...

Send us a textThe unplugged episode. The Acid Capitalist appears down on his luck this week. Recovering from another bout of dengue fever and yet another evening of rock and roll indulgence, he laments that if only he had found more time to prepare, perhaps the show would have been more spontaneous?  Have no fear, the show is interrupted as the French police arrive to question the Acid Cap, the screen drops to an intermission and  he returns  only to knock out his mic. This is a wild ride. Watch the mayhem unfold.This week, the membership is asked to reflect on the meaning of mysticism, fantasy and the occult. The Achemist, is incredulous that investors might turn to corn as an alternative to dollar reserves to preserve their wealth. An exasperated Chris demands, " who would do such a crazy thing?" Crazy, retorts the Acid Cap? No more crazy than the faith based system that underpins today's fiat money. I believe... believe...I believe. Our financial world is a religious cult collateralised by blind promises; a score card of broken promises.Wealth denominated in paper money. China owns around $3 trillion greenbacks at last count, The attraction seems to rest on a promise to pay the bearer on demand. But scratch further and you uncover a web of deceit and broken promises. A promise not to confiscate your assets, to maintain a civil, enterprising society, a promise to uphold civil liberties, a promise that the state serve We the People, a promise of free movement of labour and capital, a promise not to engage in reckless military adventures overseas. He who casts the first sone? No system is faultless but the dominance and endurance of the dollar as the reserve currency of choice testifies perhaps to fewer broken promises... Coca-Cola jealously guards the secrets of its magic formula. Imagine, instead, if the most successful nation in history were to broadcast its secrets openly to friend or foe? Surely other nations would seek to copy the "sauce" as they sought to emulate if not over take the hedgemon? Despite the transparency, many large economies seem reluctant to steal such a march. Few leaders are willing to let go of their iron-grip control. The Acid Capitalist doubts any command based economy will surpass the USA in our lifetimes.⬇️ Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for full episodes ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/HughHendryhttps://hughhendry.substack.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hughhendryofficialhttps://blancbleustbarts.comhttps://www.instagram.com/blancbleuofficial⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a five star review and comment on Apple Podcasts!🧢 Hats & Merch 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter / X📩 Substack👂Listen and 🔥 Subscribe📺 YouTube🎧 ...

Send us a textMacro Confessions Part XXXII, The Sweeney Alchemist (@writes_sweeney) is worried that the Acid Capitalist (@hendry_hugh), has been detained in Kyiv en route back to his Blessed isle. Recent images reveal a stark concrete bunker. Just where is he this week? He calls upon the aid and inspirational insight of the political economist @MkBlyt, The Tangerine Bishop of Dundee. It's an unforgettable, Scottish ménage-à-trois that will have you reaching for the closed caption service sooner rather than later.Men in finance have a tendency to talk to themselves, to be swallowed up in a grey, prohibitive universe to the exclusion of the rest of us. Not here...the bunker gets the spray can graffiti treatment, bass guitars are played loud and badly by the Acid Cap and with a swinging rhythm by The Bishop.What wanna hedgie can resist the exploration of money by those in the know. The contracts governing the external economic relationships of sovereign nations are revealed for all to see. Myths are exploded. Gold, Bretton Woods and the Eurodollar system are assessed and judged. The boys can see a fourth turning point emerging in this mysterious chess game between continents. But what will replace our dying monetary order? The question is pursued with vigour.Take red pills, get angry, get even...a market based system that seemed set to reset asset values to zero was effectively rescued by a put option, previous generations called it a cross of gold. A system of winners and losers. Where asset values have to be maintained to support the debt, a support system paid for by the serfdom of the working classes.Either divide our monolithic world into smaller pieces that aren't too big to fail or award asset values to the debtors, to those unlucky enough to be unable to afford assets. Rather than have the Fed accumulate $7 ton of useless laundromat tokens via QE, lets distribute economic tokens to the 99%. Thatcher did it with the public assets. All privatised. The public housing stock, returned to the home seekers. Awarding assets to the majority sparked the moribund economies of the 1970s back into life, could it work again?? The Bishop has a proposal...⬇️ Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for full episodes ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/HughHendryhttps://hughhendry.substack.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hughhendryofficialhttps://blancbleustbarts.comhttps://www.instagram.com/blancbleuofficial⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a five star review and comment on Apple Podcasts!🧢 Hats & Merch 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter / X📩 Substack👂Listen and 🔥 Subscribe📺 YouTube🎧 ...

Send us a textMacro Confessions Part XXXI,  a very tired Acid Capitalist, having flown half-way across the globe, joins the The Sweeney Alchemist (@writes_sweeney), in London Town to review the week when risk markets rallied.But first Chris is intrigued by the re-emergence of Adam Newman and his crypto plan to save the planet. We Work for the Planet but really? The idea is rubbished by a sceptical Acid Capitalist as way too many blue pills and not enough red. And the boys start quoting Madonna, "How High can we go". This graced the cover of the Eclectica April 2007 investor letter just 4 months before depositors at the failing bank, Northern Trust, formed orderly British queues to withdraw their savings as the financial world tilted into a devastating crisis.Chris pursues his journalist's curiosity. How are Hedge Funds trading the war? Are they redeeming wealthy Russian clients? Why bid for soccer clubs? And just how many computer screens does a manager need to take on holiday? Twitter is celebrated. Hugh reveals he spends more time scrutinising the platform than traditional newspaper outlets. Did you know that the Russian foreign minister's flight to China was aborted mid way into its journey?But the big news is China. Has China pivoted from its allegiance with Vlad the Mad? Is it the allure of the $85 trillion global economy versus exclusive rights to Russia's imploding $1.7 trillion?  Or was it stark signs of the dreaded economic dominoes starting to crash and set off a chain reaction that could humble the mighty Chinese economy? Is this the real explanation behind the 25% reversal in the oil price?War propaganda, objectivity, dark political arts...just how high can we go? In the week that Bono's peace poem was ridiculed by many, the Acid Capitalists concludes, "Like a thief in the night, see the world by candlelight". No wanna be hedge fund student wants to miss this provocative take on the week's events.⬇️ Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for full episodes ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/HughHendryhttps://hughhendry.substack.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hughhendryofficialhttps://blancbleustbarts.comhttps://www.instagram.com/blancbleuofficial⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a five star review and comment on Apple Podcasts!🧢 Hats & Merch 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter / X📩 Substack👂Listen and 🔥 Subscribe📺 YouTube🎧 ...

Send us a textMacro Confessions Part XXX,  the Acid Capitalist is joined by his trusted lieutenant, @ToStRo and together with The Sweeney Alchemist, they brew a heady mix of Putin Put Downs and attempt re-set the global macro chessboard. Chris busies himself with a meaty cheese burger..Convexity has jumped from our computer screens to the theatre of war. The asymmetry of urban war was well understood by all those not intoxicated by the greed and fear of fascist states. Urban assaults favour the defenders, but like a Bloomberg scenario analysis, convexity has leapt from the city to the surrounding fields and outer limits of the metropole. Anti-tank and anti-aircraft technology supplied liberally to the democracy of the Ukrainian statehood is making this war more asymmetric than any one could ever have hoped for. Putin hasn't lost his marbles. Rather his gangster political system has left him bereft of proper intelligence. State corruption has fostered an almighty state failure in intelligence. It's as though the former KGB has been transformed into mammoth PR agency intent on amplifying the wishes of its only client.Ok, enough war-war. Bretton Woods died in the 1960s. Those that seek to right off the hegemony of the dollar collateral system owing to the escalation in the world's first truly global war are mistaken. Is the world shifting, tilting on its axis? You bet! But not as the apologists and doomsayers would have you imagine. The axis has always been defined by the supposed might of the current  account surplus nations versus the receding power of those nations succumbing to current account deficits. Think again...Channel all your paradoxical thinking. It's been a Wizard of Oz illusion all along. To quote the mighty Wizard, My people have been wearing green glasses so long that most believe this really is the Emerald City. The Acid Capitalist spells it out. Having assets that people crave, that they must own, gives you power. If you can't create enough assets in your own currency that outsiders really want then you never had wealth in the first place. This chimera of wealth is simply the confiscation of other nation's benevolence. The world is changing, hallelujah! The mighty Sampson like China. What should it do? It should revalue its currency higher to⬇️ Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for full episodes ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/HughHendryhttps://hughhendry.substack.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hughhendryofficialhttps://blancbleustbarts.comhttps://www.instagram.com/blancbleuofficial⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a five star review and comment on Apple Podcasts!🧢 Hats & Merch 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter / X📩 Substack👂Listen and 🔥 Subscribe📺 YouTube🎧 ...

Send us a textMacro Confessions Part XXIX,  the Acid Capitalist is mad as hell. Bewildered and traumatised by the human catastrophe in Ukraine, he's left exasperated by sinister political forces seeking to stymie the advance of the European carbon trading platform to advance their own selfish causes. Carbon permit prices have fallen sharply.He mans his pulpit. An uncommon occurrence. Rarely can one say that you can do-good and make money. The Exchange Trading Scheme has pursued truth via the price discovery system. Competing exchanges in America limit speculation, limit truth seeking activities. The result? The precious resource of the depleted ozone layer trades for just a third of the European scheme. Truth is always the victim.But Europe's political class teeter on the brink. States fail when they neglect to replenish their energy supply. Having allowed the region's mighty energy reserves to dwindle to less than five years' worth, the Acid Cap fears the euro will spiral lower. Fight them on the beaches, fight them in the markets...but look after your pennies.Energy? It's still all about energy. Why is OPEC not pumping more oil demands the Chief Disciple, Chris? Because we shouldn't equate oil reserves with brains, snaps Hugh. Warming to his subject, he proclaims that the Dawn of Chaos will wipe out all dollar pegs, even that of the mighty oil sultan. You see, high oil prices are DEATH to price cartels. He elaborates on his thesis.Everyone is asleep. Time to take the red pills, time to wake up and seize the trading opportunities. Every wannabe hedge should take note. There's work to be done. Hugh declares himself an intellectual psychopath, whatever could he mean? But he's not tempted to buy Alibaba, the once mighty Chinese retail platform. For whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. He's not buying.No he's starting a hedge fund cult. He's reeling from Cotard Syndrome. An uncommon malady were the victims believe they've died and gone to hell. It seems an apt metaphor for the last week witnessing the Russian advance on Kiev. Contentious narratives that might form the accepted belief system of the future. Carbon offsets are the blue pills of the dozing masses. Cap and Trade is a red pill means to evade The Matrix and protect the planet's future. The Acid Mast⬇️ Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for full episodes ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/HughHendryhttps://hughhendry.substack.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hughhendryofficialhttps://blancbleustbarts.comhttps://www.instagram.com/blancbleuofficial⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a five star review and comment on Apple Podcasts!🧢 Hats & Merch 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter / X📩 Substack👂Listen and 🔥 Subscribe📺 YouTube🎧 ...

Send us a textMacro Confessions Part XXVIII, projecting forward from the macro year 2007. Chris finds a Hank Moody like Acid Capitalist holed up in his friends' beautiful villa in St Barts. staring wistfully at the surf. The unthinkable has happened, Russian tanks have broken ranks and are moving in on Kiev.Risk becomes philosophical. The Dice Man declares that if you can't think then you have no soul, for a soul is something subject to reflection. Little thinking seems apparent in this modern outbreak of war within the central theatre of Europe and so emotions will determine the landscape of European markets. The boys begin with a push back on the comments from Shell's trading desk. They claim that speculators are pushing energy prices up to levels that will impact harmfully on ordinary citizens. Pas de tout claims Hugh. It is the long awaited entrance of price discovery that reveals the lamentable record of Europe's leaders. No foresight, no courage has bequeathed a  generation with an acute shortage of local energy sources and no infra-structure to link with democratic suppliers. Fight them on the beaches, fight them in the markets...Gas? It's still all about gas. The High Priest presents a detailed look behind the futures market for energy and the perils of trading commodity futures. He concludes that the blip in energy prices is most unlikely to prove transitory but will be levitated for much longer to encourage better political energy sourcing and to accelerate much needed energy infra structure.When will the macro reset end? Hugh estimates that one has to keep an eye on mean reversion in the zeitgeist stocks of Apple and Meta. Are times changing? It does look like a return to a time of chaos. The 1970s had an energy crisis, the Russians ignored sovereign niceties and invaded another country and gold? Gold went to the moon. It bares close attention.Tune in or miss out.⬇️ Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for full episodes ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/HughHendryhttps://hughhendry.substack.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hughhendryofficialhttps://blancbleustbarts.comhttps://www.instagram.com/blancbleuofficial⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a five star review and comment on Apple Podcasts!🧢 Hats & Merch 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter / X📩 Substack👂Listen and 🔥 Subscribe📺 YouTube🎧 ...

Send us a textMacro Confessions Part XXVII, projecting forward from the macro year 2006. Chris finds a dishevelled Acid Capitalist holed up in his cement bunker in St Barts. The initial salvos find the boys reminiscing about the Fight Club, The UNIBomber, Nirvana and bereaving the passing of Agent 007 as one of their own.Hugh picks up the pace, sharing how he bought the chip company AMD and shorted its larger, more successful competitor, Intel simply because he thought the pattern reminiscent of the gold price's resurgence.  Oh Gosh, Oh Gosh I'm Juliette Binoche whispers a wistful Hugh as he confesses to inherent flaws in his trade, but the Dice Man vows never to stop throwing.The child like wonders of curiosity, Hugh was always asking why the sky was blue? However, he's still furious about environmentalists seeking to prevent all new permitting and exploration for hydrocarbons. Such anarchy is driving energy prices higher. Europe's profound lack of resources is seeing governments subsidizing household energy bills. Could this be the fabled "helicopter money"? Will persistently higher and higher oil prices create permanent and rising  cash subsidies. Is this how inflation finally emerges?A liberty Gas Pipeline from the US to Europe? The boys ask, would this not be a more elegant solution to confronting Russia's bear hug on the European energy market; better than NATO raising defence spending by $100 bn ? The Acid Shamen levitates with excitement at the notion of what a Europe with a cheap source of energy could achieve for the world.Gas? Chris couldn't let the opportunity pass without asking about the 2006 hedge fund disaster, Amaranth's $6bn implosion, one of the largest ever. Hugh confesses that he too was long nat gas, just not that long!! Why? Because the price of oil had exceeded $40 per barrel for the first time in 25 years. Hugh explains the perils or opportunities from trading commodity futures curves, beware contangos at the short end. Gas prices rise from $1 to $6 per btu and yet you lose 80% trading futures. The boys explain why.And finally, the Acid Capitalist reveals his new macro trade.Tune in or lose out. ⬇️ Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for full episodes ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/HughHendryhttps://hughhendry.substack.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hughhendryofficialhttps://blancbleustbarts.comhttps://www.instagram.com/blancbleuofficial⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a five star review and comment on Apple Podcasts!🧢 Hats & Merch 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter / X📩 Substack👂Listen and 🔥 Subscribe📺 YouTube🎧 ...

Send us a textMacro Confessions Part XXVI (somewhere in the future) This week the camera never lies. Hugh is trotting out responses under cross-examination from Chris. Bridgewater, Ray Dallio, Is he the greatest hedge fund manager ever? He's certainly made more money than anyone else...And then, Hugh goes freestyle. You can literally see the moment when the Acid Capitalist forms a new idea in his head. You can share that light bulb moment. Be in the room as Hugh brings down absurdity to try save the planet.No new Hedge Fund wannabee can afford to miss this journey from the past to the present. Our resident Time Lord reveals his trippy macro insights and explains why his own endorsement of EU carbon trading permits from last year may now be bearing fruit.This week, Hugh aims his sights against Extinction Rebellion. Just what purpose does it serve? It feels more like fin de siècle, Dadaism than a logical plan to reduce carbon emissions. He snorts, it's more like the great generational swindle. Kids seeking to make a difference should spend their money buying closed end mutual funds designed to permanently reduce the number of available pollution permits. Stick it to the guy, we should buy the permits before the polluters. It's totally absurd...They wince as they consider the zero tolerance for new oil field exploration. 6.5 billion people on the planet consume 3 barrels of oil per person per year. We consume 13. Are they to live in poverty, denied our lifestyle? Or will oil demand double before 2050? What to do, pleads Chris? Corner the market for permits, drive the pollution cost higher demands Hugh. And get smarter, use renewable energy to fuel oil and gas exploration. Don't ban oil, that's suicide, find lower carbon oil instead. Only by being smart can we avoid oblivion.And NFTs, vouchers, permits. nothing is considered out of bounds. Hugh proposes a radical idea to enfranchise all of us. Distribute pollution NFTs to every household for free. Then start issuing fewer and fewer of them and demand that households pay for their own carbon footprint with such vouchers. Those that pollute less will own more vouchers and accrue a very valuable asset. Use crypto technology to spread ownership of the planet's problem, to create the love-cult 2050 with smart people solving the world's greatest pro⬇️ Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for full episodes ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/HughHendryhttps://hughhendry.substack.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hughhendryofficialhttps://blancbleustbarts.comhttps://www.instagram.com/blancbleuofficial⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a five star review and comment on Apple Podcasts!🧢 Hats & Merch 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter / X📩 Substack👂Listen and 🔥 Subscribe📺 YouTube🎧 ...

Send us a textMacro Confessions Part XXV (APRIL,2012) This week Hugh felt a movement in the time-expanse of the financial universe. In a land far, far away, an elderly, wise man of his acquaintance, his Master and Macro overlord bore testimony to a prophecy of bad tidings.Despite their evident excitement, the boys compose themselves and set about deciphering the godfather of macro, George Soros, and his latest missives delivered in a face-off challenge to China's President Xi. No new Hedge Fund wannabee can afford to miss this journey from the past to the present day where the Time Lord reveals his trippy macro insights and explains why his own apocalyptic warnings from 12 years ago may now be bearing fruit.This week, in the high stakes game of international trade, they ask, is China the nation that reneged? Does history repeat? Has the Chinese property market mimicked the unstable rise of the DJI in the 1920s? Will there be blood? They wince as they consider the ramifications and ponder how best to start a mania.Regrets for being 10 years early? Perhaps, admits a frank Hugh, if only he had used the Chinese zodiac. Can the world save China, asks Chris? Hugh compares it to the gripping finale of The Squid Game. The curious tale of the Brazilian Icarus, Eike Batista, is revealed as well as the Soros Open Society. Just why do America's right revere Vlad the Blunderer? And will the rubble's gold backing protect the expansive Putin's flank? Not bloody likely! Snorts a dismissive Acid Capitalist.In probably the best of the series, Hugh takes us from the Gold Standard to Bretton Woods and now the last days of the EuroDollar Standard. A China reset will likely usher in the end of the dollar hegemony, how will nations reconfigure after the great crash?Chris continues to spin his wheel...Can you dare miss this special issue..?⬇️ Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for full episodes ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/HughHendryhttps://hughhendry.substack.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hughhendryofficialhttps://blancbleustbarts.comhttps://www.instagram.com/blancbleuofficial⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a five star review and comment on Apple Podcasts!🧢 Hats & Merch 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter / X📩 Substack👂Listen and 🔥 Subscribe📺 YouTube🎧 ...