Reading the news today feels less like being informed… It just makes you stupid.

For years, Finnish economists have puzzled over an “unseen brake on growth,” as if the economy were being held back by some mysterious external force. One year, it’s weak purchasing power; the next, it’s misallocated subsidies; every two weeks, it's Russia's fault. The explanations change, but the conclusion stays the same: no one seems willing to call the problem what it is.

Finland’s stagnation isn’t cyclical. It’s structural. Every year, the Finance Ministry promises 1–2% growth. Every year, they quietly revise it down. Last November, the Ministry’s own chief economist admitted they’d have to lower their forecast again – growth might be just 1%, maybe less. “An unknown brake,” he called it. Unknown. As if twenty years of the same pattern isn’t data enough.

The suits always always forecast it wrong. Then they act surprised and start looking for the mystery brake. Every single time.

Now, the same confusion appears in how inflation is discussed. Falling inflation is presented as good news, as if prices themselves were coming down.

They aren’t.

If someone goes from 90 kilos to 120 over the summer and then says he’s only gaining two kilos a month now, nothing has been fixed. He’s still +30 kilos heavier and gaining more. The damage is already done.

Inflation works the same way. When it drops from 8% to 2%, prices don’t fall. They continue to rise, just more slowly. The higher price level is not reversed; it becomes permanent.

What is being presented as “relief” is simply a slowdown in the rate at which things are getting worse. “Inflation only 1.3%!”

And this morning: “Professor: We’re heading into recession – USA’s attack on Iran steamrolled the Finnish economy.”

Ah yes. The Finnish economy was doing great until USA ruined it. Just like it was doing great until Covid ruined it. And before that, until Russia ruined it. There’s always an external villain. Never ever look at a mirror.

The “unseen brake”

The “unseen brake.”

So what is this “unseen brake on growth”?

It isn’t unseen. It’s ignored.

Long-term growth is shaped by one thing: free people allocating capital where they see opportunity. When the state distorts incentives, punishes risk, and redirects capital politically, growth doesn't just slow temporarily → it stagnates.

Calling it a mystery avoids accountability. Statists love mysteries.

Call it what it is. Then ask why there is no growth.

• Increasing war mongering. The seen: defense budgets and NATO commitments. The unseen: every euro spent on military hardware is a euro not invested in productive enterprise, infrastructure, or returned to taxpayers.

• The highest tax rate in the world. The seen: public services funded. The unseen: the businesses never started, the investments never made, the jobs never created, because the reward wasn’t worth the effort.

• Idiotic YEL system that penalizes self-employment from day one The seen: entrepreneurs paying into social security. The unseen: the thousands who looked at YEL obligations and decided employment was safer or left the country entirely.

• Business Finland picking winners with other people’s money The seen: funded projects and press releases. The unseen: the bureaucrat has no skin in the game. When Makea shitty startup burns 20m and dies, the official who approved it faces zero consequences. Private investors would have killed it earlier or never funded it.

• EU regulatory burden accepted without resistance The seen: compliance and harmonization. The unseen: every regulation is a fixed cost that large firms absorb and small firms cannot. Regulation is the moat that protects incumbents from competition.

• Labor laws that make hiring a liability The seen: worker protection. The unseen: the person who never got hired because the employer couldn't afford the risk of not being able to fire them. When letting someone go costs six months of salary and a legal battle, you don't hire in the first place.

• Subsidies keep zombie firms alive, preventing creative destruction The seen: jobs “saved.” The unseen: capital, talent, and resources trapped in failing enterprises instead of flowing to where they would create real value. Industries that should die must die so growing ones can grow.

• Consensus culture that treats market criticism as extremism. The seen: polite discourse and social cohesion. The unseen: a country where suggesting lower taxes makes you a radical, but proposing a new government agency makes you a responsible adult.

• Media that frames every problem as “needs more funding and government” The seen: sympathetic coverage of underfunded programs. The unseen: the question never asked – what if the program itself is the problem? What if more funding means more misallocation?

• No serious political party advocating structural deregulation The seen: political stability. The unseen: a country where every party agrees the state should manage the economy, differing only on which department gets the budget increase.

• Brain drain – skilled people leaving because incentives are better elsewhere The seen: emigration statistics. The unseen: each person who leaves takes with them every company they would have started, every person they would have hired, every product they would have built here.

So what do we do?

I don’t think Finland will reform. Not because it can’t, but because it won’t. Twenty years of stagnation weren’t enough. Covid wasn’t enough. The Russia shock wasn’t enough. Whatever comes next won’t be enough either. Each crisis becomes the new normal, and each time the response is the same: more state, more regulation, more funding for the wrong things.

There’s a deeper problem than policy. It’s cultural.

Finns don’t just tolerate the state. They worship it. Business failing? Industry shrinking? Rent too high? Milk too expensive? The first instinct is always the same: look up and ask, “What will the government do about this?”

Look at any Finnish forum discussing economic problems. The solutions are always the same: new agency, new subsidy, new institute, new committee. Never once: get out of the way.

This isn’t ignorance. Finns are some of the most educated people on the planet. World-class engineers, developers, designers. That’s what makes it worse – it’s not that they can’t think. It’s that they’ve been trained not to think about this. Learned helplessness dressed up as civic responsibility. When every school, every institution, every newspaper has told you since birth that the state is the answer, you stop seeing the bars altogether.

And that’s why nothing will change. You cannot vote your way out of a problem when the voters themselves are the problem. Not because they’re stupid, but because they’ve been educated into dependency. The Finnish school system, world-famous twenty years ago, has coasted on its reputation ever since, producing excellent employees and obedient citizens. It does not produce entrepreneurs, risk-takers, or people who question whether the system itself is broken.

So no, I don’t expect reform. Anyone who suggests less government is immediately labeled selfish, “American,” or simply insane.

What I do expect is a continued slow decline. Comfortable, polite, well-managed decline. The cope is already here: “Well, look at Russia – at least we’re not that bad!”

I have two kids and a business. I choose to build both here, for now. I’ll raise them to think, not to obey. To create, not to beg. For now, I focus on the business, on learning real economics, and on investing. Trying to live as free as possible inside a system designed for obedience. No more torturing myself with news cycles and political clown show.

But there’s a limit. And every new tax, every new subsidy stolen from the productive to feed the parasitic, brings it closer.

When it comes, I’ll leave. No guilt. No apology. I’ll have paid more than my share already. And it’ll be the first honest vote I’ve cast in years.

Sources:

https://yle.fi/a/74-20220459

https://yle.fi/a/74-20220449

https://yle.fi/a/74-20220404

https://mises.org/library/book/economics-one-lesson

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No understanding → no conviction → herd behaviour.

Selling leads to more selling, buying leads to more buying.

Nobody knows the future.

Will AI change the world? Yes

Is AI here to stay? Yes

Will it be a great investment automatically? Not necessarily.

Will it replace jobs? Yes

Will it create new jobs? Yes

Will the same people who lost jobs get the new ones? Maybe

"AI is a scam" or "AI will revolutionize everything." The truth lies somewhere in the middle. AI isn't useless, but it isn't magic either.

How do I use AI

As a generalist, I find AI extremely useful; it is my personal accountant, coach for nutrition, sleep, and training, and my first pass on quarterly results. Do i trust it 100% NO.

I have been investing for +20y as a hobby and running a business for +10y. I know enough to know what questions to ask.

It is simply predicting the next word. Can I replace my accountant with it? Probably yes, but I still need to control what I put in and what comes out.

Trust, accountability, and verification still matter.

For me, AI isn’t a replacement tool - it’s an assistant.

AI doesn't fix the ongoing stupidity in the world.

So what is it?

• AI is leverage

• AI is a tool for people who think

• AI widens the gap between thinkers and consumers

• AI rewards curiosity

It makes good workers more productive and lazy ones louder.

It rewards people who think and exposes people who outsource thinking.

AI doesn't remove thinking; understanding is still the moat. AI changes tools, not principles.

The game is still the same:
Understand what you own.
Ignore the noise.
Buy when others panic, sell when everybody is buying.

People will still chase hype.
Still panic sell.
Still outsource thinking. (People love shortcuts)

That was true before AI.

It will be true after AI.

AI is a filter.

If you can separate signal from noise, it’s insanely powerful. AI is bad at finding signal on its own; you are the prompter, you have to feed the signal.

If you can’t, it just gives you more noise and shit.

Same as the internet. Same as markets.

People keep buying the top and selling the bottom. You want proof? Look at the last 12 months.

Software stocks crashed. Bitcoin crashed from 124k to 64k, and the same crowd is out again. “It’s a ponzi.” “It will die again.” “Buttcoin.”

Funny thing is, they said that at 1k, at 10k, at 16k, at 30k, at 60k. Every cycle, same panic, different price. This is almost a universal law in tech cycles, be it software, AI, or whatever.

First global, private, digital, rules-based monetary system without government interference. Any value? I think so. For everybody? Maybe not.

What you cannot copy is understanding. And without understanding, conviction fails precisely when it is needed most (The Royalty King).

The tools change constantly. The game doesn’t. The real problem was never AI. It’s the same problem it’s always been. Nobody wants to do the boring work of actually understanding what they own.

The real problem was never the tool.

It was always understanding.

And that’s the one thing you still can’t prompt your way to.

Sources:

The Royalty King: https://substack.com/@theroyaltyking/p-188353022

Go sub good shit.

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Selling leads to more selling, especially when markets are priced to perfection and beyond, as they were. I still think the valuations are “quite hefty”.

I much rather buy good businesses at good prices than fomoing to the top, it is always easy to do what everybody else is doing.

Hard to see this business going away anytime soon, not an awesome price to buy in, but decent, I would say. I don’t watch Netflix…

This business has been on my radar before covid, and last year I had to buy the dip. It went up so fast that I had to sell. Hard to see this business going away, will ladder down if needed.

I I’m firmly in the camp that AI is a demand driver for education, not the killer. I genuinely don’t get the people screaming that AI will destroy all work and steal our jobs. Will it take the shit jobs? Yes. Good. Then we do something more productive and better. This is basic economics. Creative destruction. Schumpeter figured this out a century ago.

The sad truth is that 99.9% of people don’t understand basic economics. And the suits and other wankers on Wall Street certainly don’t understand it either. Every technological revolution in history created more jobs than it destroyed, it created different jobs. Jobs that required new skills. And guess what? Someone has to teach those new skills. That’s the entire bull case.

I also have the luxury to take these kinds of bets. Bets that are "good for humanity." Coursera is an awesome platform. It makes people more competent. It brings high-quality education within reach for almost everybody.

We've done well in the clownworld of investing. No worries there. Sleep well at night, holding this one. This has also destroyed a massive amount of value since the IPO in 2021 (Lets not forget this).

Watched this little bit on the sidelines, the numbers are awesome, well, the numbers are still very, very good. Had to add a small position here. The valuation is pretty bonkers at 100 dollars, “grow into the numbers”, but have valuations made any sense past 20 years?

AI-kills-SaaS narrative is imo stupid, they've got it backwards.

Buying great companies at okay prices has been working fantastically, so why not now? Worst-case scenario, we get to buy a great company at great prices.

Yes, we are early with this one. This is a blessing. “Value investors” dream of these opportunities. Very few have the balls to do this. You want the average returns? Go buy index, go buy whatever everybody else is buying. Investing is hard, its fucking hard. I still think this business is good + it has a ton of optionality.

Reminder how it usually goes:

• Buy cheap!

• Wait 12-36 months, the price keeps going lower or staying the same, question your sanity.

• Watch how things are turning around.

• Sell it to the bees who are flying from flower to flower, chasing “the next big thing”. (Sold too early, and question your sanity who the fuck buys this at these crazy prices.)

If this were easy, everybody would do it.

(My thesis can also be completely wrong; we all fuck up sometimes!)

Well, now it is “cheap” again at the 2021 top price, pretty funny how we came back there. I even wrote a bear case since it felt so much like a top at 120k, well, here we are again! Good to get humbled, good to stack sats again.

Nothing changed. The thesis never changed. Sound money is sound money.

Honorable mentions

Small caps from Finland: Canatu (I did very well with ASML from the 2025 dips, lets do some home country next). I don’t like Finish IT at all, but GOFORE at this price is a no-brainer even for me… Also added plenty of companies to my watchlist, like Reddit -50% in a few weeks, under 100, this starts to look pretty good, perhaps.

From November 2025 post:

Oil and gas are the most hated asset class right now, which is exactly why I’m buying. Small bet, long horizon: Xtrackers MSCI World Energy. Set it and forget it for 5+ years.

I continue to DCA, it has done well!

What to do now?

Keep your head cool, but don’t let your brain freeze. Cycle coming to an end? Feels more like 1996-1997 than the end of the world. Is it stupid? Yes, but is it super hyper-stupid? Not yet?

Still, this decade has a lot of similarities with the 70s in my opinion. Do I secretly hope the rally I anticipate is just a dead cat bounce and that we enter a 2-5-year bear market? YES. What are the odds? Pretty low.

We wish for the return of common-sense economics, less money printing, less government, more freedom, and more free trade…

But wishing doesn’t make money. Doing the uncomfortable thing does.

It’s not supposed to be easy. That’s the whole point…

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30.1.2026 | YUBICO | SEK 66,50 | 52w high SEK 267,00 | 52w low SEK 66,06

🟢 Trust standard · Recurring revenue · Manufacturing moat · Regulation · Optionality

🔴 Niche · Big tech competition · Transition struggling · Management · “Good enough” threat

What the fuck is Yubico? I was bored at my desk, looked at my keys, saw an old sturdy Yubikey, and checked what was happening with the company. I like the product. Perfect solution (for me). Here’s more: (YouTube link)

I'm here to ramble investment ideas and not teach how to do security, so we ramble. What makes Yubico a good investment candidate? We can DREAM!

This is where the “growth investoors” puke and capitulate, it is beautiful we love this! Business is still the same. “Transition” mode now. Will the subscription model continue to grow? We need to monitor this.

Still solid business.

• "Customers buy once, don't return for years" → Subscription

  

• Once you're in with Yubico, you are locked in.

• Manufacturing Fortress. Own facilities in Sweden AND USA - no China

• Have cash

• Profitable, growing, dominant market position…

Worst-case scenario? If growth disappoints… They remain a profitable niche security vendor.

What makes this bet so beautiful is that Yubico has many different paths and narratives it can take. In this clownworld market, narratives are everything. Look at this shit:

Look at this shit: Cloudflare went to toilet and skyrocketed in few days back? “AI AGENTS!” Just one of the examples.

Cloudflare is also a big fan of YubiKeys, and all gigabrains are pretty much fans of this.

Worth noting: "smart people love this product" rarely translates to "good investment." Keep that in mind.

Let’s dream a few Narratives:

• AI agents need hardware trust anchors

• EU digital ID mandates are coming

• Deepfakes make physical auth the only unfakeable layer

• From hardware vendor → identity infrastructure

• “Prove you’re human” = tap your key

A stupid physical key? That’s the point.

Cloudflare was just a CDN. Palantir was just weird government software. Nvidia made gaming chips. Things get re-rated when the story changes.

What if the stupid YubiKey becomes critical internet infrastructure?

Yubico 90s pitch:

The stock trades like a niche hardware vendor. The opportunity is core identity infrastructure for the AI + digital ID era.

✅ The world is moving from passwords → passkeys → hardware trust

• Phishing attacks up 150% yearly over six years

• AI now writes better phishing emails than humans do

• Attackers using agentic AI to bypass traditional MFA in real-time

✅ They helped build the standard everyone is adopting

Yubico wasn’t just early—they helped create FIDO/WebAuthn. Third-party validation consistently ranks hardware keys as the highest level of authentication security.

✅ Quietly becoming a recurring revenue story

Keys are “buy once.” But they’re shifting to YubiKey-as-a-Service. Lower cost of entry, value captured over multiple years. The mix is what to watch.

✅ Manufacturing and trust moat

These are security roots of trust, not cheap gadgets. Yubico designs the hardware, firmware, and secure elements. Manufactured in Sweden and the US. Not China.

✅ Optionality is massive

Login security is just the start. Digital identity wallets, EU regulatory push, AI-driven fraud - all increase the value of proving you’re human with a physical credential. If that layer standardizes around passkeys + hardware assurance, Yubico sits at the root.

🚩 Hardware keys remain niche

Best solution, but people choose easy over secure. Software wins by default most of the time.

🚩 Competition is existential

Yubico doesn’t own the identity stack. They’re a small component inside ecosystems controlled by Google, Microsoft, and Apple.

🚩 Subscription transition is struggling

Enterprise sales cycles stretching to 12-18 months. Q3 bookings missed on “delayed large deals.” (Deals are dying). 200+ new hires are burning cash with no immediate revenue impact.

🚩 Management looks lost

New CEO. Consumer strategy is weak. Investor presentations feel like they don’t fully understand their own value prop.

🚩 “Good enough” can be fatal

Apple, Google, and Microsoft are pushing device-synced passkeys - frictionless, free, and baked into phones and laptops. For most users and many enterprises, that’s good enough.

+ Bonus 🚩 Dollar continues to weaken… Currency headwind

• Majority of the revenue in Dollars → Reports SEK

• Weaknes → More weaknes… Add this currency doomloop to this mix, and we are not even close to the bottom.

At SEK 66, you’re not paying for perfection. You’re buying a profitable business with multiple paths to becoming critical infrastructure for our AI-agent-infested future.

Yubico reports 2025 full-year results February 12, 2026. I’ll be back with the numbers and more bullshit.

Start small, experiment with what works for you. This might look a bit intimidating, but start small! I am also not some “I know it all” Jacket to the fucking teeth monk who is smart and wins all the time. I am quite the opposite, but we try to get better little by little!

The morning routine

Wake up.

Read 5-15 minutes something “philosophical” and grounding, e.g., Marcus Aurelius meditations (1). This grounds me, soothes me, no need to check phone, fuck that phone. I also do my HRV test with Polar strap here (5min).

5-5-5-30sec. 5-lunges - 5-squats - 5-pushups - 30s lunge (2), just to wake up that body!

Bike to work 15-25min. (Weekends no)

Go bike with trainer 45-75min. (Weekends no)

Morning words 750 (3). Start small, maybe with 250, work your way to 500 and to 750, it will take time. This is my morning brain dump. I write whatever shit I have in mind. Sometimes there is nothing, and sometimes there is a lot. The goal here is just to write; sometimes it is meditative, sometimes something else. This has helped me massively. I will never give up this habit.

Bend 5min (4). Simple morning routine just to shake things up!

Meditation. 8+10 min. 8min intention meditation (what I want) and 10min free non-guided meditation (5).

Ready to hustle! After this routine, the day is easier to conquer. How the fuck does this wanker have so much time?! Well, I go to bed at 20:00, and I wake up at 04:00, so that’s how.

I used to be one of those wankers who watch some stupid Netflix or play video games after 21:00, “now it is my time,” and wonder how I am tired all day and annoyed? You want to survive the day or win the day?

Exercising, working out & GYM

I used to be quite a heavy gym-goer; I loved lifting shit and pushing myself. It was my meditation and a place to vent all the shit out after the day.

I am 40 years old. I need to train smarter! Be that witty grey fox, listen to my body, and get in shape slowly but surely. I track my HRV every morning (6). I want to do things other than just lift weights. After lifting, my nervous system is fried, and HRV is red for days. I was sick more often, and I was tired all the time… I dropped the gym for now and have been doing a simple calisthenics routine 2x a week instead.

+ Less injuries?! There is no day off from bodyache if you lift hard…

+ My “balance was shit,” now it is getting better!

+ Its fun to try new things.

At 40+, I prefer functional readiness, injury avoidance, and lifelong physical resilience, Calisthenics > GYM… For now!

Cardio is also one of my weaknesses, since I focused so much on lifting. I now bike every morning with Swift (a new hobby I started in 2025). 5 months in, let’s see where this takes us.

Monday 45-60min swift workout (moderate sweetspot/tempo)

Tuesday 45min ez ride with robopacer + calisthenics after work (30-40min)

Wednesday 45-60min ez ride.

Thursday 45min ez ride + calisthenics after work (30-40min)

Friday VO2 max day! Fun day!

If HRV doesn’t cooperate, only ez rides and 1 set of calisthenics or rest! Respect HRV. I shifted from “training hard” to training repeatably. I enjoy this!

Food

My biggest weakness at the moment. Since I move quite a lot, I have given myself the luxury to eat a lot… I go to the lunch place and eat all kinds of shit from the buffet. I used to measure everything and eat very strictly. Prepping the food took so much time… Well, only 30-45min everyday, so not that much. I am at 92,5kg, 178cm long, so yes, I am a little bit “fat.” It got up there last summer when i had my first holiday in +10 years! So well done!

Well, the good news is that the weight has stayed the same for the last 6months, so with a little bit of discipline, I could drop some weight. Again i need to be a lot smarter here at 40+ if I cut a lot → sick and recovery is very bad. I still order the majority of my food straight from the producers and eat clean! I should still cut to like 15-20% bodyfat. No point for me to push anymore under 15% or are there any benefits?

Dropping News and Social media.

The daily news outlets I used to read here in Finland: Yle.fi, Hs. fi, Is. fi, Il. fi, are all shit, so shit, but for many years I tortured myself. Idiotic takes, idiotic “experts”, these are so shit, but yet every day I clicked on these. I was addicted to the rage over how shit the “news” was.

Please give me a noteworthy article that teaches you something, not one that makes you furious? Maybe at HS.fi we can find a few if we go back more than +10years.

Same with X, I was a “heavy user” scrolling etc, but yeah its 99% just shit.

The biggest problem with the X and “News” is that they feel like the most productive, high-value actions when you have nothing else to do. We get these microbreaks all the time, and we go to our phone (9)… They give nothing and doesnt provide any value.

After 1 month, I take a look at X feed or the hs.fi? It is hard to comprehend how retarded and full of shit they are. I just can’t fathom it.

I know it is hard to get out of the loop, trust me, I was so addicted to this shit. Once you realise it is just stealing your time, making you rage, and giving you zero value, staying off from it has never been easier.

Start with digital detox days. Sunday? Then add Saturday. Slowly and surely, it will grow from there. Pick up the phone/go to the computer, go check “news”? WTF? No?

Well want to still “check” something? I recommend Kagi news and newsletters; just look at the headings and react very stoically (10). I don't need to read a reaction piece by some idiot or idiot-expert; journalism has died. I still write here at substack and read occasionally. If I also have to check “social media,” I use Nostr. It is a bit weird, but it's ok. 5 minutes a day is more than enough, no algorithm to make you addicted!

Meditation

I have been doing this for 3+ years, and it has helped me a lot.

+ Better awareness and focus

+ Self-discipline

+ Discovering new things about me

+ I don’t lose my nerves so easily

+ Clarity

+ Better “visualization” skills?

It is one of the hardest things in the world to sit down and just focus on your breath. It is hard. I have tried to shill meditation to friends and family, and usually I just get strange looks, “this fucker has finally lost it all”. I seriously have zero idea why meditation is such a huge “turn off”, maybe it is the image of some hippie sitting in a garden in zen mode and fear that you become “lazy”. I have become laser-focused, 10x more efficient mofo, big thanks to this practice.

Start with just 5-10 minutes, preferably with some guided meditation, pick whatever you like! It will be hard, and you will feel clueless. Go to the gym for the first time, yeah, zero clue how to use the weights and machines, no wonder so many just try it out once and never try again (11).

Work-life balance

I already did hustle 12h a day for years; it is totally fine. Also totally fine to do a little bit less. I used to run the business the wrong way, 100% everything depended on me, and it must go the other way.

Success can be other things than just revenue, profit margin, and what is the number you get when you do exit?

Running a business is very, very hard; not many can do it. Treat it more like a game / fun puzzle to solve, as I did with investing (just a hobby), no need to be so serious. It is 10x more fun this way, and hopefully the results will be too! No need to stress or lose sleep over this (we can start over, and it is more than ok).

No alcohol and Sleep

I am still alcohol free 4 years already! Feels good! One major part it has helped with is that sleep is better and more regular.

I go on the weekends too, sleeping at 20:00, yeah, go to the bar with friends and sneak home at 4am? Well next week is fucked up. Never say never, if my relationship with alcohol were better, why not? Is it beneficial to “reset” properly once in a while? Maybe yes. For me, living without alcohol works wonders at the moment.

The night stack: Because sleep becomes a contact sport at +40y old.

• Glycine, 2 magnesium pills, L-theanine, and Ashwagandha. Evening meal 19:00

• 10-min night bend routine to wind down.

• 10-min 4-7-8 breathing.

• Read book in bed → Fall asleep

• Get a weighted blanket and get your room dark!

I used to be one of those guys who slept only 4-6 hours, “sleeping is for losers.” I operate 5x better when sleeping GOOD 7-9h!

Reading and being curious

Since dropping the news and social media, my reading has increased. I also replaced podcasts with audiobooks. Keep books around you everywhere! I have a Kobo at work, a Kobo at home, and books scattered everywhere. That 5-20min downtime? Just read for fuck sake! “Oh, let's open X.” No, we read the actual book! Currently, I’m in a small oil quest (Oil has been such a hated asset class, so I got interested) and, for fun, started reading some books on it. The king of oil → The Titan → Now reading The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power.

I also read and study Austrian economics for 25 minutes a day, for my enjoyment (currently reading Rothbard).

Taking notes / writing more

I have also started a small habit of journaling more, writing down ideas and plans, and carrying a small notebook. This is also good since dropping the social media and news, there are still those small microbreaks, “Wtf I do now?” Well, try writing something or reading? Good to also do just nothing!

Writing by hand is also more beautiful and feels better. Is it me writing here, or Grammarly/computer?

No debt / Bitcoin / Frugality / Minimalist

Be it meditation, no alcohol or whatever… Why shill low time preference? I am just so fucking tired of “financialization of everything” tap out! I refuse this.

The world wants you in debt, distracted, and dependent. Opt out.

Of course, I continue to ramble about Bitcoin and investing. Bitcoiners need to stop preaching and start living. Show the way. Be the proof. Stack sats, but also stack health, stack time, stack peace of mind. That's the real flex.

Wrap-up

That’s it for now. This is my 2025 blueprint - not a finished product, just what I am doing at the moment. I’ll revisit this in 2027 and see what stuck, what changed, and what new shit I picked up along the way.

Yes, I know, this reads like some ego maniac’s “look at me” self-help post. But I’m not here to preach or pretend I’ve got it figured out. These have helped me! Or maybe I'm just a 40-year-old wanker on a bike at 5 am, convincing myself I'm winning. Either way, I feel better. That's enough.

The books / Resources

(1) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19776547-essentialism

• Good book, worth your time, easy to read, less is more!

(2) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/212806718-the-5-types-of-wealth

• This reads like my consultant friends made a self-help book with ChatGPT, still, there are good sources, and you will get something out of it, even if it is a bit annoying. I would still recommend this, especially if you haven't read much of “self-help”, it’s a ok place to start.

(3) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6659434-the-artist-s-way-every-day

• I only just started to read this book… I have been doing the Morning Words 750 for a few years, and I love it.

(4) https://bend.com/

• Very good zero bullshit bend app, I use it every day. Morning bend! Afternoon desk stretches! Warm up before a workout! Nigh bend! Awesome app!

(5) https://www.calm.com/ and https://www.highermind.com/meditate/

(6) https://www.polar.com/en/guide/heart-rate-variability-hrv

(7) https://www.hevyapp.com/ Good app to track and create workouts!

(8) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70916744-the-warrior-poet-way

• Helpful book.

(9) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40672036-digital-minimalism

(10) https://news.kagi.com/world/latest and also https://ground.news/ https://nostr.com/

(11) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56688463-how-to-train-your-mind

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38085805-practical-meditation

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58040483-mindful-self-discipline

• I would start with “How to train your mind” and “Practical Mediation and then venture from Mindfull self dicipline (one of the best self-help books)

The Russell Walter Chudstack

Chesterton's Microscope

You’ve all heard of Chesterton’s Fence. It’s one of those eponymous principles that people like to invoke, like Occam’s Razor, the Lindy Effect, or Parkinson’s Law. But have you heard of Chesterton’s Microscope…

Read more

3 months ago · 127 likes · 29 comments · Russell Walter

LOL, I’ve been doing this for 3-4 years already. Journaling on the internet.

Seems like I was pretty bearish last year and wished for a wipeout. Didn’t happen. 2026 will be more of the same as 2025, hard to see it any other way.

Sound economics? Who cares. Trump or Biden, Finland or the EU, does it matter? 98% of my friends still believe the government does something good. They vote, for fuck’s sake.

I don’t care. I don’t need to convert anybody. Focusing on myself is 10x easier.

My mission: make myself immune to government idiocy. We don’t have to file for bankruptcy if our country does.

The focus:

• Grow my bags.

• Grow my business. I thrive despite high taxes and regulation. If not for money, then for the bragging rights. Fuck you.

• Be a good man. Raise good kids.

• Live inside to outside. News is shit. Social media is shit. When did your local news teach you something new? A few weeks’ break did the trick for me. Try it. Open X or the news and ask: Does this bring any value to my life?

“But you’re writing here!” Yes. Writing makes me better. Journaling is good. Maybe the ideas here are shit, but shit sometimes brews into something good.

CHYNA - Not completely fucked

This still holds from the 2025 piece:

Why China might not be completely fucked:

• Still #2 economy globally

• Manufacturing dominance

• Trump wants deals, not war

• Policy tools remain (yes, throwing money at problems doesn’t solve everything)

• Tech sector still innovating

Alibaba was the shill, and it will continue to be my shill for 2026.

Policy tools remain, i.e EZ MONEY ✅

China gave zero fucks about stockholders for decades. Will it change? Is 5-15 P/E normal? Or 30-40 P/E? Think about it.

Wish you had a time machine to buy Microsoft or Google in 2015? Well, here it is. Or just another value trap?

Yubico

What the fuck is Yubico? I was bored at my desk, looked at my keys, saw an old sturdy Yubikey, and checked what was happening with the company. I like the product. Perfect solution (for me). Here’s more: (YouTube link)

Apparently, it IPO’d in 2024. Classic IPO chart. Smart money waits and buys when everyone forgets about it, at lower prices.

Is hardware authentication the solution? How the fuck do I know? I like the product, I like the company, I like the stock. Solid business, and if the subscription model grows, this thing prints.

DYOR bags loaded. Will study further. The only negative was management, but they’re changing the CEO now, so that is good. Bullish.

Bitcoin miners…

Do I like buying Bitcoin miners? Fuck no. Just focus on the craft and stack sats! But as a gambler, this is too good to ignore. This is extreme financial jujutsu.

Would I recommend this to my normie friends? Never.

Pure speculation. A call option on Bitcoin with a free ticket on the “AI pivot” narrative. Easy 3x or -50%? If you cannot stomach permanent capital loss, stay away.

Bitcoin

86k? Short-term undervalued, long-term definitely undervalued. Hard to imagine a future where demand for a neutral monetary network fumbles. Clown world needs an exit.

Finnish stocks

Finnish stocks have been decent recently. I live in Finland, I run my business in Finland. Not worth going overweight, but some companies are very solid. I have followed some of these for over 20 years. I buy these products and use their services, through my business and personally. Boring businesses are pretty nice to own. My current favorites:

Olvi, Terveystalo, NoHo, Nokian Renkaat, UPM.

Not expecting much, but no need to be 24/7 online.

The degen play

This is degen heaven right now. Wild swings, narratives flipping weekly. Trump announces something stupid, markets panic, back to normal by Friday.

But here’s my problem: 24/7 online, watching charts, reading shit substacks that probably cause cancer (like this one), sitting in discord channels throwing shit at the wall with other degens... I can’t be in the trenches anymore.

Am I giving up or leveling up? Honestly, I don’t know. This is a wonderful time to be degen, don’t get me wrong. I’m just not sure I’m that guy anymore.

2026: The only predictions that matter

Here’s my real 2026 plan. Not market predictions.

What I can control:

• Calm, confident, creative.

• Grow the business. Thrive despite the bullshit.

• Grow the bags. Keep it boring.

• Live frugally. The less you need, the less they own you.

• Raise good kids. The only long-term investment that actually matters.

• Stay off the news. Stay off the algorithms. Live inside to outside. Less online, more offline.

Let's open this at the end of 2026 and have a few good smirks.

Stay humble and stack sats and quality business.

It is very hard to be disciplined. Now, especially when even dinosaur companies like Nokia go up 65% in a month. As a Finn, I have followed this company my entire life. From world domination to near death to... whatever this is. When Nokia is pumping, you know we’re in the “everyone’s a genius” phase of the cycle.

Keep your head cool, but don’t let it freeze.

Sometimes the best play is just to do nothing! Currently, I just play around with different scenarios, less social media, less news, read more, and think more.

The AI clown rally was spot on:

The conviction was not there; I knew that the clown rally would come, and what assets would rally the hardest. It was challenging in late 2022 and early 2023 to imagine that Nvidia would become a $ 5 trillion company. Well, 10 trillion does not look so ridiculous now.

Go with the flow, be a clown. Everybody knows it is a bubble, even Sam Altman says it is a bubble, but who cares?

I like to build scenarios in my head like this: “Clown rally from AI hype.” Now I have to start wondering where the top is and what is the perfect setup is to slay the sheep.

The setup:

• Concentration.

  • NVIDIA is almost 10% of the S&P 500

  • The top 5 companies are 28%

• Passive investing.

  • These are really cool. I have accounts at almost all the platforms, and these are nice because you automatically invest in low-cost ETFs.

    → No risk management. Passive investing on autopilot: “Just DCA into SPY and retire in 10 years, bro”

• Social media screams that passive investing in the S&P 500 is bulletproof. (Yes in the long… People will panic, though, eventually.)

• Everyone’s a genius in a bull market

The bears will be humbled again. Markets don’t crash when everyone expects it - that’s why 2023 rallied, despite doomers predicting an apocalypse. The market ≠ the economy. Crashes need panic, liquidity crisis, or earnings collapse.

Burry’s shorting NVIDIA and Palantir now. X is screaming “Big Short 2.0!” But remember: he went “Big Short” in 2005 and waited three years bleeding capital.

There’s minimal EV+ in gambling here. Time to read, think, live frugally, and position for what comes after the music stops. The clowns always get slaughtered last.

AI

Well, well, everybody gets humbled eventually. Whether in the market or in life, you will be humbled.

What a douchebag.

Latest crying that they need government-backed loans… Too big to fail?

What i know about AI.

AI deflates everything except the energy bill. Energy is all that matters.

The biggest clowns

Finnish hospital can’t afford free coffee for volunteers. No Mother’s Day cake budget for grannies. But somehow we find billions for weapons to Ukraine. The saddest part? Finns still believe these clowns. Four years of being wrong about everything, but politicians never admit mistakes: they double down and call you a “Russian bot” for noticing.

The COVID playbook recycled: Fear, warmongering, “we need 5% GDP for defense!” Against what? Russia that’s supposedly collapsing in two weeks? Or Russia that’s taking over the world? Pick a narrative. Don’t dare use common sense in Europe, that’s “Russian propaganda” now.

Russia is a shithole, sure. But Europe is speedrunning to become an even bigger one. We’re destroying wealth and common sense with virtue-signaling policies while our hospitals can’t afford coffee. Wasn’t on my bingo card that Europe would out-shithole Russia through pure bureaucratic incompetence.

War has always been the state’s favorite tool to exploit the productive classes. Same playbook, different century.

Will Europeans ever find their balls? Or just keep voting for more of the same while wondering why everything gets worse?

Bitcoin:

Good read:

The phygolocigal price target for many of the OG Bitcoiners is this 100k. The market was not even mature enough to make an exit, now casually swapping to $ 9 billion? (Galaxy sale) Price staying boringly around 100k? Yeah this grind in 100k has lasted long and might continue. Will the Bitcoin price go under 100k if there is a stock market crash? Well yeah, but -80% from here? I still keep stacking, this is the most undervalued asset out there. Everybody is so bearish for Bitcoin, so big surprise in 2026? Well, I will hold this fucker +10y.

I see it more and more, people adopting frugality while paradoxically gambling on stocks, they don’t get it yet. Forced into the S&P 500 casino because our money is debasing.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin sits there as the ultimate savings account, the simplest idea: money that can’t be printed. Focus on your craft, raise good kids, save your sats, and ignore the noise. It used to be that simple (gold coins). Why can’t it be again? The simplest idea is usually the best investment. The simplest idea is usually the best savings strategy.

Yet here we are with “Bitcoiners” crying that the price is only $100,000 per coin. Ridiculous.

True Bitcoiners serve mankind by fixing the money, the exact opposite of cash flow maximizers extracting their pound of flesh. Value investors worship at the altar of cash flow, analyzing “moats” while ignoring the societal rot their companies profit from (the majority of businesses nowadays). They dismiss Bitcoin for having no cash flow, completely missing the point. Bitcoin’s value isn’t in extracting rent from society, it’s in giving society incorruptible money. That’s the service. That’s the mission.

Fix the money, fix the world.

Commodities and hard assets, etc.

Monetary reset eras make hard assets the stars (1970s).

Are stablecoins a monetary reset? No. They are just an extension of the dollar. As an Eurocuck, I welcome these; they are a gateway out if the EU goes deeper into even more socialist policies (Bitcoin is the best).

These are still pro-centralization tools. Governments will control the onramp and offramp 100%. Degens can still be degens in their sandbox…

It’s a weapon to make the dollar even more dominant, not a revolution.

Why bet on commodities and hard assets?

Financial assets continue to perform very well. Stablecoins thrive under new regulation.

→ More dollars. Financial assets win. Commodities & Bitcoin do well.

China? Russia? EU? Competing settlement blocks emerge, increasing the risk of the next reset.

→ Financial assets suffer. Commodities & Bitcoin win.

Financial repression and debasement continue.

→ All assets rise, but people lose even more. Commodities & Bitcoin win.

Uranium & Nuclear Power.

Europe was halfway there in the 70s-80s with the solution: nuclear power. Then we got scared and stupid. Now we’re trying to run datacenters on wind and prayers. You can’t decarbonize AND maintain 24/7 power without nuclear

Common sense always wins in the end. Don't lose hope; the same will happen here. (Yes, it can take a very long time)

→ Uranium should be a good bet. (Has already had a pretty good run, but can run even more.)

OIL/Energy

We keep dreaming, and we should dream, but one fact is also thatt go away. I’t go away. I would argue that with all the AI etc “green transition” we need oil, gas ENERGY more than ever.

I know literally nothing about this industry.

Oil and gas are the most hated asset class right now, which is exactly why I’m buying. Small bet, long horizon: Xtrackers MSCI World Energy. Set it and forget it for 5+ years.

Good companies

Never bad to own pieces of excellent businesses that will thrive regardless of which monetary experiment we’re running. The simplest is usually the best, own quality and let time work.

Sources:

https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-third-path/

Well, well, I thought the top was when Palantards started making merch at $35. Finding tops is 10x harder than bottoms. The whole system is built on “buy the dip.” No point fighting it.

Since 2022, I’ve had this feeling that everybody just wants to make it. Get the fuck you bags, then let the world blow up. Ride off into the sunset, preferably alone.

The moral hazard from the early 2000s? We bailed out the banks in 2008. Then we printed through COVID. Now? The system’s rigged so deep that “buying the dip” isn’t a strategy anymore, it’s a fucking guarantee. The Fed put. The Treasury put. The “too big to fail” put.

Every crash gets rescued faster than the last. Every bubble inflates bigger. The lesson? Get reckless, get rewarded. Play it safe, get left behind. This isn’t capitalism, it’s a casino where the house always bails out the high rollers.

This is why I want to believe in Bitcoin. Not because of the tech. Not because of “digital gold” narratives. But because it’s the only exit from a system that’s evolved from moral hazard into something far more sinister: a game where the rules guarantee you lose if you play honestly.

Tariff tantrums 2.0 seems like it is the end of the world again here! S&P500 is down 1-2% and now it is over.

Started to write this on Friday afternoon, and already there is some relief on the trade tension between China and the USA during the weekend… We’re back…

The Flash crash 10.10.2025

Over $20 billion liquidated. The biggest bloodbath the casino’s seen in a while.

No crying in the casino.

Get greedy = lose

Try to get rich fast = lose

It’s always the same. Play accordingly. There’s a reason why there’s Bitcoin, and the rest are called shitcoins.

So what is this? Start of a bear market or just a healthy flush before we rip higher? The rational mind says this takes time; it is ”crypto winter.” Again, people go to zero, animal spirits need months to crawl back to the casino…

But fuck rationality. It’s been profitable to buy these massive liquidation candles. So I bought more SOL and Bitcoin. Why not?

The flash crash reveals how scammy these markets really are. Some big group front-ran this policy news hard. Look at prediction markets, free money for insiders today. The little guy? Exit liquidity, as always.

If you’re gambling with this shit: Buy spot and fuck off. No leverage. No futures. No “20x long because trust me bro.”

It’s just money. The best gamblers feel alive when they blow up. You don’t die because numbers on a screen went to zero. Yeah, you might stress so bad you shit water, your asshole’s bloodied up, you can’t sleep, all you can do is cry your eyes out and puke your guts out.

It’s ok. It only lasts 3-4 days. Then it gets better. It always gets better.

The Trades

My piece on the last great trade wars.

The AMD trade: Well sold too early… The latest result looked shit, and it was hard to see how “The second best” narrative could have sparked, but yeah, now it is in full swing with the OpenAI deal. Let it rip, not touching this one anymore.

Cloudflare is also generous; if this ever goes under 100, it’s a buy. Keep it simple.

You need to know something to go in when everyone’s panicking. Buy low, sell high. It’s 10x easier to buy now and feel like a genius than it was in the panic.

But what to do now?

Keep your head cool. Don’t let your brain freeze.

There are still bargains out there. We bet as long as the market keeps giving opportunities.

No point sitting here guessing whether this is GFC 2.0 or DotCom 2.0. Could be either. Could be neither. Could be something entirely new and fucked up.

What I do know: The great debasement continues. I’ve hammered this since my first post. It’s not stopping, it’s accelerating. More printing. More bailouts. More moral hazard 2.0.

So what’s the play? Own things that can’t be printed. Own businesses that generate cash. Stack Bitcoin.

Good businesses

Always good to buy good businesses at low prices. NOVO had the peak and is now at the bottom? Will it make money in the next 5 years? Yeah! Will it moon? I don’t know. If the bubble bursts or we have the GFC, is this comfy hold? For me, yes. If the AI mania plays like the dotcom bubble, then you want to own “good businesses”. People, at least for a while, start to larp Warren Buffett again and buy “good businesses”.

Part of the healthcare trade. Boring. Profitable. Government-backed cash flow machine.

Stumbled on this one. Idk what the fuck they do exactly, but the shills have early Palantir vibes, so fuck it, let it run.

In markets like this, you buy first and DYOR later. Trust your intuition. I’ve missed too many 10x plays since 2023 because I was “too lazy to buy” or told myself “I’ll do it tomorrow.” Tomorrow never comes.

On these gambling bets? Buy the ticket, then decide whether you want to ride the ride. The research can wait. The entry can’t.

You’ll be wrong sometimes. That’s fine. But missing a 10-bagger because you wanted to “study it more” feels way worse than losing on a bad bet. It's best to buy the ticket, study the case, and bet more! (Or sell).

CHYNA

Already 3x from the bottom, but if we’re bullish on anything, we have to be even more bullish on China. The valuations are ridiculously cheap vs MURICA.

Alibaba at $400bn market cap? Could this be the first Chinese company to hit $1 trillion?

The communist party gives zero fucks about shareholders - but does this change in the long run? Will the average Chinese person start owning stocks? China’s monetary policy is very easy now, so no point fighting it.

The suits (institutions) and normies are still too scared of China. They always buy the top from emerging markets, remember that. Remember when Alibaba was over $300 in 2020? “The smartest trade”? Yeah, how’d that work out?

Yes, there are huge risks. It’s called an emerging market for a reason. Look at shitcoins vs Bitcoin.

In the last “great trade war” 5 months ago, BABA went under $100. Now $120-130? Or 160$? I’m a dip buyer here. I still like the stock. Sitting around guessing what Trump will say next isn’t helpful. This is a good business, so we bet on it.

Why is China buying more gold? Trump also said China is preparing for something...

I remember watching Russia during COVID: “Oh wow, they’re getting their inflation under control.” “Look, they’re getting rid of debt.” “Looks investable.” Well, easy to see how that turned out in hindsight...

Yeah, I don’t think China is starting a war or anything. They’re preparing for something. Who knows. But good businesses in China are still good businesses

SOLANA

Yeah crypto… I have been a little bit bearish for crypto, why trade crypto when Bonds trade like stocks? Stocks trade like crypto? So why bother?

But Solana is still the best “crypto” out there. It’s 10x from the 2022 lows, but can it run more? Why not? ETH is still 5x bigger. If the madness continues, Solana can melt faces.

The bull case:

• USA going extra loose on crypto regulation vs the Biden era

• SOL ETFs coming?

• Treasury companies (bullshit Ponzi scams, yes I own a few of these too)

• SOL had actual bid strength: dropped only to $170 while other shitcoins literally went to $0.001

These wipeouts reveal what’s pure shit and what can run higher. Solana showed at least some “strength”. That matters.

Bitcoin

Ah, the suits can scream again that Bitcoin is just a stupid leverage bet on Nasdaq, backed by nothing.

→ This should make you more bullish.

Gold is running hard and will continue to run hard. Bitcoin will eventually catch up. Bitcoin is the best asset on the planet.

Look at all the charts I posted above. Stocks, bonds, currencies - it’s all just shit. Manipulated. Front-run. Rigged for insiders.

Can you make fuck you red and green balls on your chart? 99% can’t and never will.

Why?

Because they don’t understand the game. They chase narratives. They buy high, sell low. They panic when suits tell them to panic. They FOMO when everyone’s already in. They chase the number. What is your number??? You’re still a slave to the system, just with a nicer cage with this mentality.

Bitcoin doesn’t give a fuck about any of this. It just exists. Can’t be printed. Can’t be bailed out. It can’t be controlled by central banks playing god with interest rates.

Stack sats. Turn off the noise. Let the clowns fight over scraps while the monetary system eats itself.

I am very close to doing an exit, sick and tired of being sick and tired of the constant bullshit. Markets, Social media, News? It is just bullshit.

Scriptforajester was a playbook to become immune to government idiocy. Now we need a new playbook on how to become immune to the algorithmic shitshow. The algorithms want something worse: your mind. They feed on your rage, your fear, your endless scroll.

We must not succumb to the algorithms. We can’t fight an algorithm. You can only exit. Walk away.

Choose offline.

The market

The markets are the greatest degeneracy in the world. Who gives a fuck if you made 8-figure bags? You’re still a degen. I used to love the markets: the greatest puzzle of them all. Finding new businesses, discovering excellent management. Could I explain the business to my kids? Simple and awesome. Now? “They will own all the data and dominate the world”. The majority of value plays are essentially bets that humanity will continue to decay. What’s next? Invest in suicide pods so my offspring can celebrate my low-cost exit?

You are what you eat. You eat shit = shit. The older I get, the more I see it’s the same with money. Build wealth through companies that rot society? That’s shit too. I’m no better. Yesterday I bought fucking Solana treasury company stock. “Buy the dip, let’s gamble.” I crave this shit too. There’s no point fighting central banks - easy money breeds speculation. Is China joining the party? They didn’t prioritize stock markets for decades, but now they do? They’ll pump the fuck out of it?

What’s the exit? Save in the world’s best money and quit active trading.

The Money Revelation - It’s just money

I did an exercise during COVID: Write down what you want and how much money you need. Pretty simple?

Nature, family, walks, good food... Wait, this doesn’t require millions? Do I need to work 12 hours a day for this? I didn’t achieve the exit I wanted from my business, but I discovered something better, a scaling-down exit. Work 1-3 hours a day with key clients only. That’s more than enough nowadays. Many entrepreneurs forget this option exists.

I love the fucking grind - it’s my biggest competitive advantage. I’m not that smart, but I can grind. Everything is also about balance. People around me think I’m crazy working so little in my “prime.” Most of them are just work addicts - I was one too. “I do this for my family.” Don’t lie to yourself. You’re just running away from responsibility. Try playing a different game: work 1-3 hours a day and actually do it for your family

Social Media & News - Dead Value

It makes me mad. Only mad, only hate. Five minutes scrolling and I’m furious. It no longer offers value. Same with the news. They’re built to make us hate each other and whore for clicks.

I’m annoying as fuck on the internet, but go out with me? I’m okay. We’re all okay in person. My parents were entrepreneurs, most of their friends were social democrats - polar opposites politically (well, 95% of Finland leans left). But they could talk, went out together, shared hobbies. Sure, they argued about issues, but the issues didn’t become the people.

Try this online? Impossible. Go eat with those same leftists in person? Totally fine. I’m already hearing stories here in Finland - divorces because “the spouse voted wrong,”. The grandparents here? They watch the news all day and hate Trump with pure passion. Finnish families are destroying themselves over American politics. What the fuck is wrong with people? They’re just too much online.

What happened? The algorithms happened. The rage machine happened. What can we do? Exit from this shit. More offline, more life.

How to do it

I recently got a Mudita phone and I love it. Yes, it has minor annoyances, but it’s improved my life tenfold. I tried limiting screen time and deleting apps from my iPhone, but it didn’t work. Simple phone = no urge to check. Nothing to check. Everything is programmed to steal our time and data. For me, the only solution is going offline.

My exit toolkit:

• Mudita phone (dumb phone that works)

• Cold Turkey blocker (getcoldturkey.com) - block the shit from your life

• Kobo e-reader (books without notifications)

• MP3 player (remember those?)

• Daily meditation (It is the hardest thing right now to just focus on your breath)

• Stoic philosophy (wars, chaos, collapse? Focus on what you control)

Yeah, the world’s on fire - wars, economic madness, societal decay. I practice Stoic shit and meditate to cope. You can’t control the world burning, but you can control whether you watch it burn through a screen all day.

Focus on what’s in your power: your attention, your time, your data.

Privacy matters more now than ever. The best protection? Don’t be there. Don’t give them the data.

Exit

When did you last listen to a whole album? Read a book without checking your phone?

The exit is simpler than you think. While they print money into oblivion, you save in Bitcoin, the only bet that humanity gets better, not worse. While they rage in comment sections, you have dinner with actual humans. While they doomscroll through wars and collapse, you meditate on your breath. While they feed the data machine, you walk in the forest.

I’m not perfect. I still bought that fucking Solana stock yesterday. I still check social media sometimes, 5 minutes here and there. I vent too much in Signal to my friends. I still crave the gambling rush. But I’m trying to get better. That’s the point. We’re all trying to get better.

This isn’t about becoming a monk or achieving some pure state of mindfulness. It’s about direction. The governments will do what they do. The central banks will print. The algorithms will rage. But you? You can exit, bit by bit.

Work 1-3 hours instead of 12. Touch grass instead of screens. Read books. Listen to albums. Try to invest in things that don’t rot society, even if you slip up sometimes. Be annoying online for 5 minutes if you must, then go be normal with real people. Fail, try again, get a little better.

The tools are here. The exit door is open. They want your time, your data, your rage, your soul. Give them less each day.

We try to get better. That’s how humans win.

More offline, more life.

Exit now.

Sources and good shit for exit:

https://getcoldturkey.com/

E-reader: https://www.kobo.com/

Mp3 player: https://www.fiio.com/echomini

Phone: https://mudita.com/products/phones/mudita-kompakt/

Books on stoic: (Links to goodread)

The practicing stoic

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

Social media: https://nostr.org/

Nost is cool, check the GM’s zap a few posts, your feed = whatever you want, no forced algorithm. My profile: primal.net/Henkipatto (I use it very little, but it is cool to check out sometimes, it doesn’t make me mad!)

I didn't hear much price talk, except from the treasury companies, which was refreshing.

Bitcoin will win because of the people around it. The conviction is here, but the road to winning is usually more chaotic and messy than our wildest imagination. Did anybody predict Bitcoin from 2009? Life is always more magical than the movies.

Another asset that everyone was certain would win: gold in 1979?

Gold was the ultimate safe haven after 1971, and peak FOMO hit in 1979-1980, when pension funds, large institutions, and retail investors all raced to buy. There was widespread panic that inflation would spiral out of control.

The setup was perfect for gold bulls:

• USD looked increasingly fragile

• Oil shocks throughout the 1970s

• Inflation running 10-15% by decade's end

• Geopolitical tensions exploding (Soviet-Afghan war, Iranian hostage crisis in late 1979)

• Media hyping the doom, with retail piling in last

→ Media hyping and doomering, and retail piling in last.

Well, the dollar didn't die. What happened?

Volcker's rate shock (1980-1982): Fed Funds peaked above 19% in 1981. Tight monetary policy broke inflation by the mid-1980s. The U.S. dollar strengthened, especially under Reagan.

The consequences cascaded: → A strong dollar crushed dollar-denominated commodities, including gold → No crisis = no safe-haven demand → Equities outperformed massively (S&P 500 compounded >15% annually in the '80s-'90s)

Gold became "dead money." Boom to bust.

Would Bitcoin survive a 20+ year bear market?"

So what scenarios could create Bitcoin's version of gold's lost decades?

Bearish for hard money (Solid money, people = win)

Strong Dollar, High Real Yields, Low Inflation ("Goldilocks for bonds") Story: Productivity uptick + restrained deficits → core inflation ~2%, 10-yr real yields 2-3%, dollar stays firm.

AI-Driven Disinflation Boom Story: AI + automation lower unit costs, raise margins, and anchor inflation near 1-2% while growth stays decent. PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH!

But keep an eye out: Nobody talks about how expensive AI actually is. Remember when ChatGPT launched? 10x more expensive than Google search. You still need humans inserting data, prompting, governing what comes out. Better productivity? Maybe. Maybe not.

No Crisis = No Safe-Haven Demand Story: Ukraine-Russia becomes the last major conflict for decades. Geopolitical calm.

Less Government = People Winning Story: Credible multi-year fiscal plan + confidence in fiat institutions rises + better growth mix + lower taxes.

Bearish for hard money (People = Losing)

The Gentle Strangulation KYC/CBDC requirements only increase (especially in the EU). USA rolls out new stablecoin regulations. They still control the on/off ramps, and yeah, I'd prefer stablecoins over CBDCs, but it's all "redollarization. Why do they do this? More demand for T-bills. The perfect trap.

The "cryptobros" win too → 24/7 yield for digital dollars, RWA growth, more financialization ponzi. The Bitcoin narrative loses to yielding digital dollars that "just work" for average consumers.

The 1984 Digital Gulag AI + CBDC + social credit. The only successful use case for AI right now? Surveillance.

Every transaction monitored, scored, and controlled. Bitcoin possession = thoughtcrime.

The biggest blindside for Bitcoiners?

We have a hard time imagining competent policy responses. Real growth. Smart spending cuts. Surgical capital controls. The majority is still doing just fine in the "system" (or they think they are).

Are we too optimistic that the "normies" will get it? Look what's happening in the UK. The same is coming to Europe. Russia is already there with 24/7 control through digital infrastructure. The majority of normies love the compliance - they're highly competitive at following rules.

It's incredibly hard to talk about privacy, freedom, what money actually is. Do they care enough?

The difference now? Instead of midnight arrests, it's account freezes. Instead of gulags, it's social credit scores. Instead of informants, it's algorithmic surveillance. The machinery is more elegant, more accepted, and infinitely more scalable. By the time people realize what they've lost, the game is already over.

For me, it took 9-10 years to truly "get it." Bitcoin doesn't need everybody; it just needs to survive. All I'm saying is that Bitcoin's victory will take longer than we all hope. Many more bear markets ahead. Many moments when it feels like the state has won.

But the same conviction I felt at BTCHEL will carry us through: we're building something bigger than ourselves.

Bitcoin doesn't care about our hopes or our impatience. It just keeps running - tick tock, block by block - quietly offering the exit ramp to anyone paying attention.

Stay strong and stack sats,

Sources:

Hopefully next year too!

https://btchel.com/

While Finnish families lose their homes and businesses collapse, our bright leaders are locked in passionate debates about Middle Eastern borders they'll never control, signing declarations about conflicts they'll never solve. Where were these moral crusaders for the past year while Gaza was being flattened? Suddenly they care about Palestinian children when it's politically convenient for their EU career ambitions.

This is the state in its purest form: obsessed with grandiose moral posturing on the world stage while the country they're supposed to govern crumbles beneath their feet. After all, managing a collapsing Nordic welfare state won't land you that next international bureaucracy job. Of course we want peace - but these same leaders who ignored genocide for months are now discovering principles just in time for their Brussels CV.

It’s over

Aging population, unsustainable welfare commitments, rising debt, and productivity stagnation.

It won't get any better here in Finland; get that in your head: state interventions are creating only more problems than they solve. Even the most "leftist" part of the internet, "reddit Suomi" (3), is wondering why everything is so shit here nowadays.

It's also weird to see how the statist and the leftist embrace the war and ridiculous defence spending. What kind of defence would be enough for Finland? Leftists are cheering for defence contractors and the “right” is printing money for missiles. Questioning this makes you a Putinist. The system has lost all coherence.

I went to the Army in 2005. Twenty years later, I'm still willing to die for Finland - but not for this Finland, not for politicians auctioning off our sovereignty to the highest bidder in Brussels while playing war games with our future.

Their last trick is to limit freedom of speech - making everything KYC on the internet in the name of "protecting the children." Meanwhile, actual children get raped by their imported diversity, but questioning that makes you the real threat. Then roll out CBDC to control every transaction. Total surveillance disguised as safety.

It's over for the EU and Finland.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin doesn't fix everything, but it is the first truly borderless state-resistant freedom tool. Bitcoiners also question everything. Kinda cool to see 18-25-year-olds sharing Hayek and Rothbard quotes, isn't it? Not just the old Mises professors.

We have our first Bitcoin event here in Finland (organized by a young guy—huge balls to do this in Finland). Bitcoin is also an excellent gateway drug to real economics. Finnish schools teach zero economics, and universities only preach Keynesian fairy tales about beneficial inflation and wise central planners (4).

Optimism

Yes, this will take decades. The tools we have today vs Rothbard's 18th-century liberals? Pure wizardry. We still have every tool to make ourselves immune to government idiocy: invest, start a business, save in Bitcoin, and hustle. Yes, it's getting harder with CBDC and tight capital controls coming, but you simply cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube. The tools are already out there.

It just shows how out of touch the old guard is. Who the fuck would start to use CBDC Euros? What value does it bring? What problem does it solve? All they can do now is design a digital prison. They are hopeless and out of touch.

Bitcoiners feel alive and hopeful because they backed the right horse while everyone else is still betting on the glue factory.

The old Finland/Europe is dying. Good. Let's build something better.

Sources:

(1) https://yle.fi/a/74-20175260

(2) https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/eva-suomalaiset-oikeistolaisempia-kuin-koskaan-ennen-mittaushistoriassa/9189176

(3) https://www.reddit.com/r/Suomi/

(4) https://mises.org/ go download all the books! Free! Awesome!

(5) Page 441. Quote republished in "Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty," Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought 1, no. 1 (Spring, 1965), p. 22. - "Youth" (1912) - III Download here https://mises.org/library/book/left-right-and-prospects-liberty

History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes. In the 1990s, we sacrificed entrepreneurs to save the banks. Today, we sacrifice them to feed the bureaucracy. The method changes, the victim remains the same.

More government = More entrepreneurs dying.

Why? Entrepreneurs lack calculation. How do you grow when taxes just keep rising? Or you get tax surprises like a VAT hike in 2024? Bureaucracy keeps increasing; we have nowadays even compost inspectors for average citizen, try to imagine the bureaucracy in small businesses?

Finland is heading to a system where the government decides what businesses deserve to survive. (Finland start-up scene, anyone? Who gets the subsidies).

The Death by a Thousand Cuts

Debt will grow, and bureaucracy will only increase, no matter what government we have. As a small country, we could bravely try new things. More debt, more government is simply not working. The choice is simple: trust people with responsibility and freedom, or keep feeding the bureaucratic monster until it devours everything productive.

We currently have the most “right-wing” parliament we can ever have on paper, and still, they are just fiddling with taxes. Again today, celebrating that the inheritance tax is lower, see picture below.

Am I supposed to celebrate this? As a small business entrepreneur, this feels like mockery.

Inheritance tax remains legalized theft - the most economically destructive tax on the planet. Your family builds something over generations, and the state confiscates it when you die. Pure parasitism.

• Taxes keep rising (VAT is the highest in Europe, 25.5%). Corporate tax will drop from 20% to 18%. The highest capital gains tax in Europe (34%). Property tax will rise…

• YEL pension contributions - legalized extortion. Pension companies demand contributions on imaginary salaries they invent, not your real income. One Tampere entrepreneur earning modest wages was hit with €1,600 | 0.02 BTC/month YEL demands - over half her actual salary. The message is clear: we don't care if you're profitable, we'll decide what you "should" earn and tax you accordingly. It's like paying property tax on a mansion when you live in a shed (this is coming too). Pure bureaucratic sadism disguised as “pension insurance”. (1)

• Corporate tax drops from 20% to 18% - As a small business owner, does this change anything? No. Helps big corporations. Why not take Estonia's model, where profits are taxed when you take them out of your business? Zero corporate tax on reinvested profits.

Big talk of big reforms, have you noticed anything? We were supposed to update our employment laws from the 1960s to this date, but what gives? Thank god, after COVID, I have only three people on the payroll. I used to have 14 and it was a nightmare. I did wonder in the past why the majority don’t want to “grow” and employ only themselves. This is the way in this mess.

The Golden Cage

Why bother? It's not just entrepreneurs who are suffocating - it's the workers too. The majority of my peers have been with the same employer since graduation, earning modest salaries. Why bother earning more? It doesn't really make a difference - whether it's €4k | 0.04 BTC, €8k | 0.09 BTC, or €20k | 0.22 BTC, you just work more with diminishing returns.

No wonder most of them become pro-level triathletes, marathon runners, or passionate golfers by 40+. When the system kills financial ambition, people channel their drive elsewhere. Is that wrong? Maybe not for them, but it's economic suicide for a nation.

I get it personally. My business runs better at €300k | 3.28 BTC yearly revenue than it did at over €1 million | 10.93 BTC. Less stress, fewer employees, fewer bureaucratic nightmares. The system literally punishes growth, so why grow? Why earn more?

Mises: In a free market, workers should be mobile entrepreneurs of their own labor - constantly seeking better opportunities, switching jobs, even starting businesses. That dynamism benefits everyone: workers get higher wages, companies get motivated talent, and consumers get innovation.

Here in Finland, it's the complete opposite. Then we wonder "why zero growth for 17 years?"

I know, leftists out there (97% of Finns), you think "growth isn't everything." For your own sake, it's better when the pie grows for everybody. Growth isn't just consuming more - it's doing things more effectively with less so we can have more well-being. Nature feels better too when we're efficient instead of wasteful.

But Finland has chosen comfortable stagnation over dynamic prosperity. The golden cage is comfortable - until it isn’t.

Twenty years of creeping socialism have left their mark here in Finland. This is slowly turning to shithole, just look around. Go visit your childhood neighbourhood, is it looking better or worse?

Well, anyway, I haven’t heard anything from Finnish media or my fellow economists. It's funny how they stay silent when someone actually tries to cut government spending instead of endlessly expanding it.

On top of this mess, Finland is now in NATO, and defense spending has to skyrocket to 5% of GDP, which means only more taxes, more debt, and more bureaucracy.

Same poison, same insanity. When will Finnish people say this is enough?

Sadly, I don't see this happening. The majority is fine in their golden cage.

Sources and good reads:

Talking heads are lost.

https://x.com/JuhanaBrotherus/status/1938471428959178912

Inheritance tax

https://x.com/willerydman/status/1938499331633406286

YEL maddnes

https://www.yrittajat.fi/uutiset/tamperelaisyrittaja-oli-menettaa-malttinsa-lukiessaan-elakeyhtion-yel-ehdotusta-toinen-tyontekija-pitaisi-irtisanoa/ (1)

https://www.yrittajat.fi/uutiset/lopettaneiden-yritysten-maara-korkeimmillaan-30-vuoteen-alv-huojennuksen-poisto-voi-selittaa-yksinyrittajien-vahenemista/

Quitting intensifies:

https://www.suomenmaa.fi/uutiset/lopettamisaalto-jarkyttaa-yrittajia-kurittavat-nyt-todella-monet-asiat/

Argentina

Heading to the right direction?

OfWealth by Rob Marstrand

Can Argentina rediscover its glory days? (And a warning to the West.)

Read more

9 months ago · 5 likes · Robert Marstrand

https://hanshoppe.com/

The "economists" who yell and preach about this are just state puppets. The track record: 17-18 years of zero growth.

Why do the experts always get it wrong? Here in Finland, everybody is blinded by Keynesianism.

• Low interest rates

• High spending

Even those I once thought had "common sense" have become blind. They mistake subsidized sectors for "growth." So in love with the state, they ignore incentives, time preference, and basic economics.

New brave Finland - Hydrogen economy (1)

Launch event: free champagne, no customers. Taxpayers pay.

Malinvestment Musical. Subsidies shuffle capital from things consumers actually want, such as lower electricity prices. Healthcare that works? I honestly don’t even know; Finnish people have become lazy and idiotic.

The Cantillon effect from this “green stimulus” showers money on consultants and lobbyists first; the average worker gets the hangover in the form of higher power bills and grocery prices.

Only companies living on subsidies call it “the future.”

(Sometimes I wish I was an engineer so I could do shit instead of just whining like a proper economist. At least then I could build something useful instead of just talking shit. Even with my limited knowledge of physics, I understand hydrogen is an inefficient way to store electricity - the laws of thermodynamics don't care about government subsidies.)

Hurray, we love the railways (2)

NATO will bring investments to Finland - Hurray!

We must rip up perfectly good tracks so we can afford to move troops we can no longer afford.

War talk has clouded judgment: when “national security” is the slogan, cost-benefit math is treason. As Hayek warned, the road to serfdom is always paved with strategic necessity.

• What, exactly, is a "sufficient" defense for five million Finns? (Asking this here makes you a Russian Bot, though I don't like Russia or Putin.)

• Who decides when the price tag crosses from prudent to reckless?

If hatred of an external foe sets every budget line, freedom and prosperity shrink to the margins.

In other words, the track to “strategic readiness” can be the same track to serfdom -just painted NATO blue.

When an economy flat-lines for 17 years, nothing says “revival” like swapping 1,435 mm of track for 1,520 mm - and calling it growth.

Finnish economists and "liberalists" are celebrating this? (pics in the end, can't read that X much, it has become so idiotic).

New Brave Finland – Datacenter Dissonance (3)

Well, our little minister was not involved so bad, bad, and bad!

Apparently, the box is evil if it says TikTok, but awesome if the logo reads Meta or Google. Hey, all of them are shit, just producing brain rot and stealing our data.

Low temps, reliable grid, sparse population - Finland is a logical server-farm host (shithole). But let's call it what it is: a capital-intensive, low-employment utility business. Selling it as a "high-tech jobs boom" is wishful accounting. The politicians like to yell that these investments are "Billions and Billions," yes, but how much stays in Finland? Some construction jobs and a handful of cleaners? Fucking exquisite.

"Digital Red Menace!" Lohjalainen Harri panics about Chinese bytes corrupting Finnish soil. His brilliant plan? Pray the project fails "Lohjan malliin." Nothing says "economic prosperity" like hoping jobs don't materialize! Peak Finnish paradox: pray for investments and fumble them with bureaucracy or nationalist paranoia.

What cybersecurity threat do these server farms pose to Finland? Absolutely fucking none. The data doesn't care where it sits. TikTok videos don't turn into communist spies when stored in Kouvola/Lohja. Absurd and idiotic.

Yes TikTok is brainrot and stupid shit, you have to be an idiot to install that app on your phone, but it's consumer choice - if you want it then go for it, fucking idiot. Same goes for Facebook, Instagram, all that dopamine garbage.

The Datacenter Paradox: Finland needs investment but fears investors. It celebrates clean industry then hyperventilates about who owns the servers. Classic malinvestment by decree - politicians picking winners.

Datacenters can be fine investments… BUT let's be honest about the tradeoffs. All the value goes abroad. Every megawatt sent to datacenters is not available for households or actual productive industry. Basic economics: when datacenters consume 5-10% of Finland's electricity, prices rise for everyone else. Your heating bill subsidizes Facebook's server cooling. Another brilliant example of the invisible tax of political favoritism.

The Bitcoin Alternative No One Will Discuss: Here's the real irony - datacenters can't be easily switched off during peak demand, creating grid rigidity. Bitcoin mining farms, meanwhile, could be turned on/off based on grid needs, serving as perfect complementary loads for Finland's growing but inconsistent renewable energy (wind/solar). Miners would pay premium rates during excess generation and shut down during shortages - a genuine market solution! But no, can't have sound money solutions in Finland. Better to have Googles servers running 24/7 regardless of grid conditions than allow the evil Bitcoin to improve our renewable energy economics. God forbid we actually use a solution that simultaneously strengthens the grid, supports renewables, AND promotes sound money. That might accidentally lead to common sense, and we can't have that in Finland.

General Observations: The Finnish Decay

Finland is slowly becoming like southern Europe, where nothing gets done on time. We used to laugh at how inefficient and idiotic it is there, but it is now the same here. I got a reply from my Bank after 4-5 months of sending a message. Asking for offers? Wait 3-4 months in some cases (I had this with garbage service). Need a solid service man? Let's see if somebody is free in 2 weeks? Well, I am also becoming like this with my business; nobody even cares.

Rotting services and entertainment

Hard to imagine our restaurant industry was almost on par with Sweden and Denmark just +5 years ago. Today? How many good restaurants have quit? How many Michelin stars have we lost?

Well, how about concerts? Our biggest stadium this summer will host Iron Maiden in June and Robbie Williams in September. WTF? Even the Baltic states can attract bigger names than Finland, this is becoming total shithole in every aspect.

Why?

COVID, collapsing purchasing power, bureaucracy cancer, tax asphyxiation, war hysteria, sheepish compliance, and state dependency.

The entrepreneurial drive that once built world-leading companies has withered. Why innovate when bureaucrats decide winners? Why take risks when failure is punished extremely hard (lifelong debt prison, and shame) and success is taxed away?

The result: economic stagnation rationalized as "social stability" and "equality."

Economic literacy has collapsed. Even the economists here don't grasp the basic concepts, so how on earth could the average citizen? The scariest part is that they don't even care. They've outsourced their economic thinking to the state, the same way they've outsourced their responsibility and risk management. The blind leading the blind, straight to economic mediocrity.

The Finnish Decay: When Will We Say "Enough"?

It would be a good idea to write a book in a similar style to Lawrence Lepard's Big Print: What Happened To America And How Sound Money Will Fix It.

Make readers mad! Advocate for hard money and small government.

Problems? and What's next? Recession 1990s → Nokia Mirage → Euro‑Zone Handcuffs → GFC & The Silent Depression → Everyday Decay → Complete state dependency or get mad?

A glimmer of hope: Despite the lost decades, there's a spark in Finland's youth. They hustle and show more entrepreneurial spirit, saving habits, and investment interest than their parents.

In 1999, we were a top country in education, technology, healthcare, and debt contracted on top of that we were one of the safest places to live, we didn’t lock the bikes and even the doors…

Now look at us?

When will Finns wake up and say enough?

As Hayek warned: "A movement whose main promise is the relief from responsibility cannot but be antimoral in its effect, however lofty the ideals." We've outsourced our moral obligations to an impersonal state, weakening "both the willingness to bear responsibility and the consciousness that it is our own individual duty."

We need a hard money and personal responsibility renaissance.

Coming soon: "How Sound Money and Small Government Can Save Finland From Its Slow-Motion Suicide"

News and sources:

I recently finished reading F.A. Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" (1944). The similarities between Hayek's warnings and Finland's current course are striking. Europe and Finland are ramping up defence spending to ridiculous levels, now even talking over 5% GDP levels, which is total insanity. What would be enough for defence? We have little freedoms left here in Finland (and Europe), and in pursuit of “security,” we might lose it all. Central planners who believe they can direct an economy better than market forces are just clowns, from hydrogen to datacenter politics. What market forces have we left in Finland? I can breath freely? Soon that will be taxed too. Next we have CBDC coming up in EU.

I highly recommend reading "The Road to Serfdom." Its analysis of how good intentions lead to economic ruin remains as relevant in 2025 as it was in 1944. I feel like a total idiot for not reading it before.

Read 27 books so far this year, thx for Jack Dorsey “reading challenge” I started this in March, aim was 50 book but now we aim to 100, so fucking good to read books!

New brave Finland - Hydrogen economy (1) ://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000011199663.html

Railways (2): https://yle.fi/a/74-20161549 and https://yle.fi/a/74-20161793

Datacenters (3): https://yle.fi/a/74-20160436

Hope its not russian or Chinese? Harri (4) https://www.hs.fi/suomi/art-2000011229295.html

Gold rose over 20 times from 1971 to the peak in 1979. The top was “The death of equities. " Today, history rhymes: the dollar is losing global trust, Trump's tariffs echo past protectionism, wars reshape geopolitics, and inflation resurfaces.

At barely 7% of gold’s market cap, Bitcoin stands poised not just to mirror history, but to rewrite it, fueling the next great financial revolution.

Parallel Today

We have an extremely messy decade on going and a lot of similarities to the 1970s?

• Inflation peaked above 9% in 2022

• Institutional Milestones: Bitcoin's institutionalization via BlackRock's ETF approval in 2024 parallels gold’s institutional adoption by introducing COMEX gold futures in 1974.

• Market Environment: Both periods featured geopolitical tensions and protectionist economic policies. Today's trade disputes and supply chain disruptions mirror the trade wars and oil shocks of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

• Market Size Comparison: Bitcoin’s market cap ($1.6 trillion) remains just 7% of gold's ($22 trillion)

Gold YTD + 23.47% (From Trump winning elections + 18.35%) (November 5.11.2024, May 4th 2025)

Bitcoin YTD 2.2% (From Trump winning elections + 38.73 %) (November 5.11.2024, May 4th 2025)

S&P 500 YTD -3,67% (From Trump winning elections ‑1.66  %) (November 5.11.2024, May 4th 2025)

Nasdaq 100 YTD -4,82% (From Trump winning elections ‑0.62  %) (November 5.11.2024, May 4th 2025)

The scorecard does not lie. Soundmoney is winning. Those owning hard assets will preserve wealth; those clinging to paper might face devastating repricing. Risk happens always fast; you either own hard assets or you don't.

What Fuels Revolution

The 1970s saw gold ascend as a physical rebuttal to fiat’s fragility. Today, Bitcoin detonates a phoenix-like rebirth of money itself, not as a politicized tool, but as mathematically enforced law. Trade wars, hyperinflationary policy, and institutional decay are not echoes of the past; they are symptoms of a dying system. Bitcoin’s “ugly contraption” is its unforgeable scarcity, censorship-resistant rails, and apolitical architecture, which renders gold’s analog limitations obsolete. This is no bubble. Bitcoin is the apex predator eating FIAT. Programmable, immutable, and unyielding to state coercion, it transforms money from a weapon of control into a property right of the people. Gold whispered rebellion; Bitcoin executes it. The cycle closes. Fiat dies - Sound money wins.

Are the world and people ready for Austerity?

Sound money demands honest pricing. Subsidies shrivel, zombie corporates evaporate, and speculation with easy leverage blows up. Sound money rewires incentives, savers again beating speculators.

It will be extremely hard.

Decades of monetary distortion created false prosperity. Do you see prosperity around you? Is it in the room with us? Everything is just rotting.

Sound money forces honesty - malinvestments must be liquidated, savings must precede spending, and the government and the financial sector shrink to their proper roles. The bitter medicine of sound money will feel like poison to a system addicted to stimulus. But what awaits us if we refuse the cure?

The Renaissance Beyond the Reset

• The middle class rebuilds through hard work and savings rather than borrowing and living on debt.

• Capital naturally flows to productive use rather than pure speculation.

• Entrepreneurship is based on genuine value creation rather than financial engineering.

• Time preferences lengthen.

• True price discovery returns to markets (moral hazard dies).

• Innovation shifts from financial products to technological advancement.

The Price of Freedom

The question isn't whether sound money returns, but whether you're prepared for it. Freedom carries responsibility. Are you ready to live in a world where actions have consequences, where time has value, and where truth can no longer be printed away?

Bitcoin is not a cheat code to early retirement. Bitcoin is only the freedom to build honest prosperity through personal sovereignty.

No matter Bitcoin's market movements, its core value proposition remains unchanged.

Sources and good reads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227804284-the-big-print

The Big Print: What Happened To America And How Sound Money Will Fix It

Lawrence Lepard

Exceeded my expectations, always liked this dudes interviews, etc, but I thought this was just another Bitcoin book… Good read, good personal stories. Started this book after I started to write this little blog post. I highly recommend this good. This would work as a good primer.

Even Buffet yesterday 3.5.2025

ON CURRENCIES:

"Obviously we wouldn't want to be owning anything that we thought was in a currency that was really going to hell."

"There could be... Things happen in the United States that... make us want to own a lot of other currencies. I suppose if we made some very large investment [in a] European country... there might be a situation where we would do a lot of financing in their currency."

https://www.reuters.com/business/buffetts-quotes-berkshire-meeting-trade-opportunities-united-states-2025-05-03/

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/20/archives/europeans-rediscover-gold-but-longtime-holders-fear-price-collapse.html

https://ritholtz.com/1979/08/the-death-of-equities/

President Trump announced tariffs, and everybody is panic-selling. Selling leads to more selling. But let's be honest about what's happening here.

Was the market not already overvalued at Shiller P/E 35?

Lower prices are better for long-term savers. AMD was one of the hottest AI plays at +200. But at 85, it is garbage.

People are so emotional nowadays.

First, they FOMO, then they panic and act stupidly. Buy high, sell low.

The views on tariffs have been incredibly idiotic. I have not seen any good ones on this (few in the sources).

Let’s throw shit to the wall:

• It is all about major trade imbalances.

• Trump said he would announce tariffs.

• Trump likes to make deals.

• Win win deals or Lose lose deals? More of win-win deals. Pro-business?

• The USA will be a net loser in all this, but the surplus countries will lose even more.

• The reset is long overdue. The last time was the 1985 Plaza Accord.

• Plaza Accord 2.0?

The USA is the world's biggest consumer. It runs a massive deficit, eating all the overproduction from the rest of the world. But let's be clear - surplus countries didn't force America to take on debt. The USA chose this path.

• U.S.A Deficit: Buys more than it sells, loves imported goods, spends a lot, strong dollar.

• Surplus Countries: Sell cheap-made goods globally, focus on exports, weak currency, attract factories.

Which countries lose the most in this trade war? Countries that run surpluses. Countries that support their production too much.

Are tariffs the best policies on this? No. Tariffs are idiotic. ALL FUCKING GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IS IDIOTIC. Again, I'm not here to cry or whine about how idiotic the government or the suits are. The whole point from the beginning has been and will be to make oneself immune to this idiocy.

Tariffs are populist policies that raise the standard of living of the masses. This will make Americans, Japanese, Europeans, Chinese, and everybody in the world poorer on average. Production and employment patterns will be rearranged. Labor is less productive everywhere in the world. Consumers pay higher prices because of the tariffs (1)

Small business perspective and Finland.

Finland is a huge benefactor of trade with the United States, often enjoying a net gain (trade surplus) in the billions of euros each year (6-7bn).

We had COVID, war, and then loss of purchasing power and recession. Now, global trade war? It is tough to navigate. What do entrepreneurs hate the most? Extreme uncertainty. In Finland, we have had zero growth for the last 20 years; if this trade war escalates to extremes, it will be gruesome. EU/Finland has no leverage, and the only option is to bend the knee and make deals. The whole of Europe has rotten leadership. Are they willing to lose their pride and bend the knee for Trump? Make the deal fast! Supply-chain shocks, diminished demand, and potential losses… Small businesses in Finland won’t survive unpredictability very long.

We are witnessing the birth of a global safe-haven asset. Bitcoin is immune to tariffs. Adopt the Bitcoin standard and promote freedom. Bitcoin’s neutrality offers a hedge against inflation and other policy errors. Honestly, I am also surprised it has held so well during this turmoil. Well, frankly, most of the time, it has shown initial strength, but then it went to the toilet with other assets. This time, it is different. (And yes, it is down -25% from the ATH of 108k)

For me, the biggest question is, will the financial repression accelerate in Europe?

I started this little adventure to write and blog; it is mainly for my amusement to cringe at my old posts and vent to the internet. Even though 99% I say is total bullshit, this is a good exercise to be prepared and maintain mental clarity. My first post is still relevant because I was lucky enough to stumble on Russel Napier's interviews. M. Pettis is always helpful in trade and China. Financial assets might not be the place to be next decade; this is a kind reminder.

Like a modern samurai, you must be prepared and know your enemy. You must study the system's patterns while remaining detached from its emotional pull. Understanding how markets move, how governments intervene, and how the masses react gives you the edge when others are blinded by panic or greed. This isn't about predicting the future - it's about being mentally equipped to navigate whatever comes.

We are constantly bombarded by news and events, and it is almost impossible to keep up. Last week was something monumental and now it is the tariffs and why bomb some huthis too. Let's say everybody is a terrorist, so the bombings are just fine.

• Use common sense.

• Less news and X, 5 min is enough, and there is no value in spending more time.

• Read books and learn more.

• Spend time with family.

• DCA to Bitcoin and other good assets.

• Live three levels below your means.

• Start obtaining residence permits…

• Critical thinking is key; nowadays, getting ahead does not take much since 95% follow the algorithm.

• Outwork, then out-wait.

Sources and good reads:

Exploring Prosperity: Challenging Pessimism in the US

Tariffs: Populism’s Price Tag

Readers asked for my take. Are tariffs a fix or a flare-up of a crumbling dollar empire…

Read more

a year ago · 3 likes · Bob Dewey

Good teenager analogy:

https://x.com/saifedean/status/1908387127907254373

(1) Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action Paperback – 1 Jun. 2015 English edition by Robert P. Murphy Link: Amazon This is an excellent book.

https://www.tftc.io/gold-scott-bessent-tariffs/

https://rumble.com/v6rnv2x-system-update-show-434.html

Back when I invested in Olvi, my sauna beers tasted just a bit better, knowing I was a part owner. Those were simpler times. By 2019, I'd sold off all my Finnish stocks and property. Today, I don’t even drink beer anymore. Yet, Nokian Panimo has genuinely captured my attention.

Buy Thesis:

📈 Breweries often come and go, but this one has stayed the course for three decades.

📈 Strong, Committed Management (From 2007-2008). This team has steered the company through shifting consumer tastes, tighter regulations, and fierce competition - proving resilience and adaptability in an incredibly hard industry.

📈 Local Brand with Non-Alcoholic Momentum. While “Keisari” beers anchor the portfolio, the company has also ventured into non-alcoholic mocktails and craft sodas. That aligns with a growing consumer shift toward healthier, low- or no-alcohol alternatives - They have the best offering here in my opinion. There is a huge opportunity here; the bigger breweries adapt slowly.

📈 This isn't some risky moonshot; it’s genuine entrepreneurship, Finnish through-and-through. They employ local people, source domestically, and proudly market their Finnish authenticity.

📈 Good margins and profitability in a harsh industry. Nokian Panimo is demonstrating a disciplined approach rarely seen in today’s market. Show me another up-and-coming brewery with consistent profitability in such a punishing sector.

📈 The IPO looks good! Owners not selling, good ownership structure. Some institutions are on board. Refreshing, even in Finland! (Look past IPOs in Finland?)

🚩 Raw material costs

🚩Competition is fierce

🚩 Dependency on "small brewery" tax advantages.

🚩 At around a €25 million market cap post-IPO, valuation sits in the low 20s.

Why the hell am I interested in a €20 million microbrewery - in arguably the toughest market on earth?

Fair question. Honestly, I just respect their products and the grit of Finnish entrepreneurship. I’m not banking on a quick buck; this is a slow burn, especially with a 20+ P/E ratio. Yeah, you could argue “just buy Carlsberg or Olvi at that valuation,” and you’d be right if you’re chasing purely metrics. But come on, look at how most people trade: bullish one day, bearish the next, buying high and panic-selling low.

Nokian Panimo is the quintessential “low time preference” play Finland needs: slow, steady growth, real profitability, and an authentic brand that stays true to its roots. You want to support Finnish production and local sourcing? This is your shot. I buy 100% local meat for my freezer - why wouldn’t I invest similarly in my drinks?

So why not embrace a little Peter Lynch spirit, toss a small stake here, and remember that genuine wealth-building thrives on patience, quality, and authenticity. It’s time to back the kind of company that keeps Finland awesome. Bought €50 worth of their beer? Maybe match it with €50 worth of the stock. If the product is trash, skip both. Simple as that.

Bonus: Know what you own.

Sources:

https://www.nordnet.fi/kampanjat/listautumisannit/nokian-panimo

Passive investing is a huge problem, but that's a rant for another day. It's certainly not normal.

The past 5-6 years have nothing to do with real investing. It has become gambling and peak idiocy. Do I seriously think I'm smarter and can pick the right stocks? Does contrarian investing always work? Why has it worked lately?

People have become slaves to algorithms, completely losing the ability to think objectively. Just a massive idiotic blob bulldozing through logic.

Even very successful people have pitched meme stocks to me - stocks already up 300-500%, without real businesses behind them. What's the upside? Seriously, what's the point? If insiders are selling, the stock has soared hundreds of percent, isn't profitable, and your info comes from Reddit or X - stop and ask yourself, are you an idiot?

The market has been about predicting where this mindless blob moves next. Sorry, I missed the train that "Rearming Europe" would become the hot narrative, making European defense stocks the next "big thing." Or German cement business. This is exorbitant. I've said it for years: the market is turning into a cryptocasino. To succeed, you have to obsessively live and breathe the next trending narrative - it requires zero skill, just madness.

Politics mirror the market’s idiocy. Mention Trump here in Finland, and people lose their minds, incapable of rational discussion or seeing the bigger picture. I've lost friendships just by suggesting peace negotiations. Finnish media pushes a singular narrative through the same old fear-mongering analysts, conveniently now riding the EU gravy train to Brussels. How ironic.

Europe

Now the narrative is shifting to Europe. Europe is great! Or is it? Finnish politicians who once opposed collective EU debt now love it because "Russia." They're even ready to seize Russian assets.

Increasing defense spending might make sense, but funding it with debt? Even Germany, the last bastion of economic sense, is piling on debt, with Poland and the rest close behind. Hard work and tough decisions are too much effort - take on more debt!

Euro stocks might rise, but why own them? Europe lacks essential resources like raw materials, energy, oil - and frankly, competent leadership. Money won't fix structural problems.

In Finland, purchasing power has regressed 15-20 years. Are you ready for another hit?

Europe is slowly becoming more like Russia: bureaucratic, corrupt, and convinced that more central planning will magically solve everything. Good luck with that.

Maybe it's time we think less about ourselves and more about building something better for our kids. Otherwise, what are we even doing?

I've been that ant. Chasing pumps, following sugar trails left by social media hype men. For what? To be a more efficient parasite?

Is this the "Fiat Mindset" in its final form?

• Intelligence: Atrophied to cockroach-level pattern recognition.

• "Value": A spasm behind a slot machine lever.

• Success: Being first to the sugar pile - no matter the cost.

• Strategy: Sniffing the pheromones left by the ant ahead.

• Endgame: When the sugar runs out, the hive starves.

Stop. Being. An. Ant.

For me:

• Think in decades, not days.

• Stay ultra-contrarian: betting against the hive.

• Seek wisdom: not to refine the parasite, but to become a builder.

• Starve the algorithm: ration "news," podcasts, and social media to 5–15 minutes a day.

F*ck dopamine. Build. Read. Lift heavy shit. Love harder. Bet Bitcoin.

Like everyone else, I'm tempted to dive into garbage stocks and the crypto casino. But here's the truth: 95% of people will lose.

What is the upside of buying NVIDIA or Palantir now?

Risk & Reward = Shit

We live in times where the survival of the fittest means survival of the focused (1)

Kill your emotions. Panic selling and FOMO buying are for losers.

Your edge as an average Joe? Think long-term.

What am I doing now? (Build real stuff, make tomorrow better, get better, plan long-term)

• Focus on Family

• Reading books

• Meditation

• Building real business

• Forging a stronger body and mind

Look around - purchasing power keeps dropping? Simple solution? Keep stacking sats and some index funds. No gambling, no leverage - just ruthless discipline and patience.

Want to make money? Building worthless apps for zombies? Gambling on stocks? Feel good about that “hustle”?

That's what gutless losers do. Small-minded ants+ who can't think past next Thursday. Keep praying for that EU competency program to save you…

Winners win. Losers lose.

Stay disciplined. Stay focused. Stay winning.

Sources and good reads

(1) Mindful Self Dicipline

Being contrarian alone isn't a strategy. Neither is hope.

Evidence for the bottom:

• My business had a strong Q4 2024

• Record bankruptcies in Finland - why? Over-optimism and lack of adaptation

• The persistent belief in "growth next year" despite no policy changes

The Real Finnish Problem: Finland doesn't have a people problem - it has a leadership problem. Where's the growth coming from? No tax reduction, no easier investing, no simpler hiring processes. List could go on for ever.

Numbers don’t lie.

1. Housing (Espoo, prime location):

   • 2019: 400k

   • 2025: ~400k

   • Real loss with 4% inflation: -20%

2. Investment Alternatives:

   • OMXH25: +15.22% (still lost to inflation)

   • S&P500: +140% (the clear winner)

   • Bitcoin perspective: 42 BTC (2019) → 4 BTC (2025)

The Finnish Delusion:

• Believing someone else will generate growth (government/EU)

• Accepting the destruction of housing as primary store of value

• The bizarre acceptance of ever-increasing taxation

Finland remains a 10/10 for "slow living" - perfect for your 37.5h corporate bullshit grind or countryside dreams (I might set up a small chicken farm?).

Waiting for the government to create growth... The change won't come from suits in Helsinki or Brussels.

Growth comes from individuals willing to take risks, from entrepreneurs building despite the bureaucracy, from people believing in their own capability to create value.

The real bottom isn't just about numbers - it's about when enough people stop waiting for permission to create.

So yes, the bottom is in. But the recovery won't come from the top down. It will come from those who stop believing in the fairy tale of government-led growth and start believing in themselves. The question isn't "when will they fix it?" but "when will we start building?"

I've shifted from 50/50 to 70/30 on relocating elsewhere. Not because Finland lacks potential, but because it lacks belief in the power of individual initiative.

Do you believe that Finnish consumers will bounce back? Few ideas:

NoHo Partners (NOHO)

Current price 8€. 52-week range 6.9€ - 8.8€

Buy Thesis:

📈 Management that actually knows how to run profitable restaurants (rare in Finland)

📈 Strategic locations creating mini-monopolies in events

📈 Benefiting from industry consolidation - small restaurants are dying left and right. Does Finnish IQ70 consumers even celebrate this? (yes)

📈 Insiders are buying

📈 Good margin of safety, the bottom is in Finland? Consumers are already uber-doomerish.

Risks:

🚩 Debt levels are high

🚩 Liquidity is thin

Key: Believe the suits, the cucks will start to believe. The Q4 2024 result should be “encouraging” for the Finnish consumer is back narrative. When everybody yells that Finnish consumers are back, we exit this hopefully +10€ price.

Other small caps from Finland, “Finnish consumer is back narrative.” Followed by NoHo → Orthex → Lappwall (late cycle and if you genuinely believe that Finland will start growing).

It's not financial advice, obviously, for fun and comedy.

Sources and good reads:

https://mises.org/mises-wire/opposing-keynesian-illusion-spending-does-not-drive-economy

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-euro-indicators/w/2-22012025-bp

https://mises.org/library/book/how-think-about-economy-primer

My 2 sats how get just small growth?