Monthly Recap
Palantir's Political Manifesto, Powell's Parting Trap, The Digital Prison, Bessent Wants Your Biometrics, What I Saw in Sicily—and the Food Shock Coming, Data Centers & BlackRock's 401(k) Grab
May was a month of quiet escalation. Hormuz is still effectively closed. Oil inventories are drawing down faster than consensus expected. The Fed is trapped between inflation that won’t come down and an economy that can’t take higher rates. And the people building the AI infrastructure just told you — on camera — that your retirement savings will fund it.
Meanwhile, the surveillance architecture kept expanding. Biometrics for bank accounts in the U.S. Digital ID in the UK. And in New York, a new government category — "anti-tech violent extremists" — designed to pre-label anyone who pushes back on the AI buildout. I wrote about that last one in the final essay below.
Here's everything I published in May — plus one from late April on Palantir's 22-point political manifesto, where a defense contractor that profits from every conflict is publicly calling for a military draft so you can fight the wars it sells into. If you haven't read it, start there:
Palantir Just Told You What's Coming
Palantir just published a 22-point political manifesto on X. From the company’s official account.
Powell Is Leaving. The Money Printer Isn't
$9 trillion in new money under one man's watch. A stealth printing program with no end date. And the man replacing him, Kevin Warsh, just inherited a trap he can't get out of without breaking something.
The Chalkboard and the App—They're Building a Digital Prison Around You
In January, Trump banned the digital dollar — but the infrastructure for programmable money is already being built through the back door.
Bessent Wants Your Biometrics to Bank—That's Just the Beginning
Treasury Secretary Bessent was at a dinner at the Library of Congress last month. And he casually confirmed that an executive order is coming that would require proof of citizenship to hold a bank account. Mind you, he wasn’t talking about just new accounts. This would be retroactive. Every existing customer at every bank in the country.
What I Saw in Sicily—and the Food Shock Already in Motion
I’ve been spending some time in Sicily with the missus and kids this past week. Beautiful part of the world. The food still tastes like food, the lemons still grow wild on the side of the road, and out in the countryside, people still take time with strangers — especially if you make the effort to say at least something in their language. The other day …
What the BlackRock CEO Just Told You—and What Happens If You Object
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said the trillions needed for AI data centers will come from savings accounts, pension accounts, and insurance companies. If you have a 401(k), you're probably already funding it — whether you know it or not. And the same people who spent a decade selling you Net Zero are now building the most energy-intensive infrastructure on the planet.