Roger Boyd

ROGER BOYD—The richer a person is the greater his or her wealth is linked to stock and bond prices. The vast majority of the wealth of the richest people in the world is linked to stock prices; e.g. Musk, Ellison, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Page, Brin, Arnault, Ballmer, Huang. In recent years, US nominal growth has been averaging about 5%. The mix between actual growth and inflation may be questionable given all the games played by US state statisticians to reduce reported inflation, but that does not affect the rate of nominal growth. Slow growing countries such as Germany have been rescued by higher inflation in recent years, keeping nominal growth at 5% or above. Looking forward both actual growth and inflation may be much lower, in Germany at perhaps 2%.

ROGER BOYD—China is fundamentally reassessing its relationship with Israel, seeing Israel as the Western tool being utilized to undermine BRINCISTAN that it is. China has banned new investment in Israel, and is removing all Israeli (and other Western) software from state offices, while also enforcing strict export regulations around the export of dual-use items to Israel.

ROGER BOYD—In 2025, Fiat sold 533,726 cars (+3%) in Brazil and 74,004 in Argentina (+64%) for a total of 607,730 out of a total of 888,456. Of the other markets, Italy was flat at 143,789, Turkey down 25% at 71,251, Germany down 30% at 21,397, France down 37% at 20,287, Spain down 35% at 9,785, and the UK down 41% at 8,764. In December 2025, Fiat sold just 149 cars in the UK; down 83% y-o-y. Fiat is dying in Europe and Turkey, with 68% of its sales in the growing South American market which is served by the completely standalone South American unit. The production of passenger cars in Italy in 2025, which includes other brands such as Abarth, Alfa Romeo and Lancia, fell 24.5% y-o-y to only 213,706; less than in 1955. The death of Fiat in Europe will be the death of mass car manufacturing in Italy.

ROGER BOYD—Well it is that time of year when we look forward to the new year in front of us and ask what it will bring. We have the curse that “we live in interesting times” as the West wrestles with its inability to hold back the growth and development of China and to subjugate Russia and Iran and the rising Asia that they encompass. I would like to say Eurasia, but Europe has chosen the US vassal path of decline rather than the Eurasian path of growth and renewal. Below, I have tried to capture the most important trends.

ROGER BOYD—Ever since Chavez was elected in 1998, the United States and the corrupt comprador Venezuelan economic elites have waged a never-ending campaign to overthrow a government elected, and re-elected, and re-elected by the people of Venezuela in elections deemed by foreign observers to be a fair reflection of the will of the people.