I most definitely enjoy your work. You are an accomplished writer with a gift of putting into words what many of us think. As I am retired, I need to look at all of my subscriptions, including Substack as, some of it is getting out of control (for me that is!).
Happy to make/meet the very reasonable monthly tab. You are the rare combo of intelligence, wisdom and that oh-so-rare sense of the absurd. Just one question if I may. Is that Earl Grey or English Breakfast in the crystal tumbler? I like both but with a bit of white added. Many thanks!
I'm a buy me a coffee guy and only subscribe to esc key because I have a little Van Helsing in me.
If you do the buy me a coffee I'll drop some but I want to thank you immensely for your work and service to all of us here that get to stand in your sunshine...
The work will continue unabated, and everyone will still see everything 😉. Emails should be send to free readers with a one day delay. I tried to balance it the best I could with the applicable tools.
Thank you for putting all of your content on substack for free. Even though I can wait 24 hours this is my favorite blog so I'm going to pay for early access. Plus the Q&A sounds like a good time.
There’s something almost disarming about the simplicity of it. A hat placed on the ground, no velvet rope, no ticket booth, no whispered promise of hidden rooms behind the curtain. Just the music playing in the open air, and the quiet suggestion that if it moves you, you can choose to give something back.
In a landscape crowded with gated gardens and paid signals dressed up as revelation, this feels closer to an old street performance. The value isn’t manufactured through scarcity, it’s proven through repetition. You show up, you play, and if the crowd gathers, you know you’ve struck something real. If they don’t, no amount of packaging will save it.
What’s interesting is that this model runs against the instincts of the current cycle. Most people, once they find attention, immediately try to capture it, contain it, monetize every inch of it. Here, the flow is left open. Information moves freely, and the monetization sits off to the side, almost secondary, like a collection plate passed quietly rather than demanded at the door.
But even that has its own gravity. The hat may start as a symbol of freedom, but once coins begin to land inside, it changes the performer just a little. Not necessarily in a corrupt way, but in a subtle awareness that the crowd is no longer just listening, they’re paying. And that awareness, over time, shapes what gets played, how often, and for whom.
Still, there’s a kind of honesty in putting the hat out in the open. No illusions, no forced urgency, no manufactured exclusivity. Just a signal: this is what I do, this is what it’s worth to me, and you can decide what it’s worth to you.
These are just a few examples. This has been going on for at least two years now. Substack made a big deal a while ago about standing up for free speech but does nothing about this. Why? Well, when you follow the money you’ll find that the same people are behind Stripe that finance Substack, so no conflict there, right? And as with anything that involves big money, you inevitably run into the usual suspects who really don’t like us drawing attention to certain subjects, no matter how egregious or glaringly obvious they are.
Don’t know about Patreon or PayPal but I suspect you’d run into the same problem if you cover certain topics.
I don’t charge anything for my substack, although the industry rate for the work I’ve done so far would run around $50K. (https://airmedia.org/tools/2025-rate-guide) I don’t need the money though. I’m more interested in promoting cultural awareness and bridging cultural boundaries as I explain on my ‘about’ page, but I do encourage people to donate to my favourite charity, Islamic Relief <https://islamic-relief.org> If, like me, you don’t really need the money and have a charity you’d like to support, you might consider directing people’s donations there. Just a thought.
"I’ve always believed this information matters. Not in a self-important way, but in the sense that understanding how the financial system actually works, who benefits, and who pays the price, shouldn’t be locked behind a permanent paywall."
Altruism is perhaps the finest character trait in the animal kingdom.
When younger I never thought much about the way the western economy was structured. It was just there, and I unconsciously operated in it believing that the playing field was level. It had to be, because our governments controlled it and the government is for everyone. Right?
I'm approaching ancient years now and realize how painfully naive I was. The economy isn't just financial plumbing silently working while your country goes about more important things. THE ECONOMY IS EVERYTHING.
How the economy works, and who pulls the strings of it, is crucial information that every person should be taught from Day One. It's critically important knowledge, because it will determine your trajectory through life until the day you die. It's been that way throughout all of history, since proto-humans organized into tribes. Empires rose and fell on their economies alone. It doesn't get more consequential than that.
The knowledge of how the economy works - the ins-and-outs of the plumbing down to the pipe and fixture level - is intentionally hidden from you. You aren't supposed to know, because if you did you would understand how tilted the playing field is against you. You would also recognize who is tilting the playing field, and how. If that happened the game would be over. You would realize that this system you've been working in your whole life is corrupt. And not just corrupt in the sense of occasional moral failures. It's corrupt to the core. Intentionally so, in order to increase the wealth of those who understand its workings at the expense of those who don't.
I greatly appreciate No1's efforts to shine a light in the dark places. There's no more important task for individuals and countries alike than to understand the economy.
If you don't understand the economy, you are essentially giving your wallet to a stranger to care for. And just as you'd expect, they will pilfer from it relentlessly.
That's how the system works. It isn't designed to increase wealth for everyone. It's designed to redistribute the existing wealth to those who manipulate its levers. Again, this is just as you'd expect given that our economic system wasn't created democratically by the people. It was built by financial elites down through history. And they were never about seeing their wealth diminish while everyone else gained. This is just straightforward logic, and once you see it much else becomes clear.
You'll be giving your kids a big leg-up in life by explaining this, and maybe they'll even be able to improve on it, for everyone's sake.
Thanks, No1 for sharing your knowledge freely; it's what I believe we all should be doing if we care for the wellbeing of our human tribe. I'm "out" of the FRN world, don't invest in anything but my own landscape. I can honor your efforts with fruit leather, manzanita for parrot perch or terrarium, or lumber if you're near my norCal locale.
Even if Substack tells you that it's a $5 minimum, you can create a lifetime 80% discount link so that end users pay $1 every month. I've been doing that, and it's been useful
Also I have heard from other substackers that if you pay through the substack app, Apple store takes like 30% but no such fee if paid through a browser. 🤷🏻♀️
What I mean is that if people log into Substack from a browser and not the app you will get a lot more money instead of giving it to our digital overlords who don't need it.
I am interested in your paid trading stack. I would like to hear more about your trading strategy closer to when the time comes. I used follow Robert Wendel daily alerts before he tragically died. He had expertise on following what the federal reserve was doing to inject money into the system. I haven't found a replacement for what he was doing. Thank you
I most definitely enjoy your work. You are an accomplished writer with a gift of putting into words what many of us think. As I am retired, I need to look at all of my subscriptions, including Substack as, some of it is getting out of control (for me that is!).
Thank you for what you do!
Don't worry, it won't change (much)
Thanks No1. It is good to be able to contribute sir. Your intense effort is much appreciated.
Happy to make/meet the very reasonable monthly tab. You are the rare combo of intelligence, wisdom and that oh-so-rare sense of the absurd. Just one question if I may. Is that Earl Grey or English Breakfast in the crystal tumbler? I like both but with a bit of white added. Many thanks!
Lapsang Souchong, actually. Eastern wisdom to the rescue! 😁
I'm a buy me a coffee guy and only subscribe to esc key because I have a little Van Helsing in me.
If you do the buy me a coffee I'll drop some but I want to thank you immensely for your work and service to all of us here that get to stand in your sunshine...
The work will continue unabated, and everyone will still see everything 😉. Emails should be send to free readers with a one day delay. I tried to balance it the best I could with the applicable tools.
Thank you for putting all of your content on substack for free. Even though I can wait 24 hours this is my favorite blog so I'm going to pay for early access. Plus the Q&A sounds like a good time.
Paid subscribed to all, except for the last one, pending its final release… Looking forward to all of it!!
Im happy to be able to contribute , No1 is No1
There’s something almost disarming about the simplicity of it. A hat placed on the ground, no velvet rope, no ticket booth, no whispered promise of hidden rooms behind the curtain. Just the music playing in the open air, and the quiet suggestion that if it moves you, you can choose to give something back.
In a landscape crowded with gated gardens and paid signals dressed up as revelation, this feels closer to an old street performance. The value isn’t manufactured through scarcity, it’s proven through repetition. You show up, you play, and if the crowd gathers, you know you’ve struck something real. If they don’t, no amount of packaging will save it.
What’s interesting is that this model runs against the instincts of the current cycle. Most people, once they find attention, immediately try to capture it, contain it, monetize every inch of it. Here, the flow is left open. Information moves freely, and the monetization sits off to the side, almost secondary, like a collection plate passed quietly rather than demanded at the door.
But even that has its own gravity. The hat may start as a symbol of freedom, but once coins begin to land inside, it changes the performer just a little. Not necessarily in a corrupt way, but in a subtle awareness that the crowd is no longer just listening, they’re paying. And that awareness, over time, shapes what gets played, how often, and for whom.
Still, there’s a kind of honesty in putting the hat out in the open. No illusions, no forced urgency, no manufactured exclusivity. Just a signal: this is what I do, this is what it’s worth to me, and you can decide what it’s worth to you.
Beautifully written. And indeed something I have to watch out that me still stays me.
"I’ve resisted this for a while.”
I would go on resisting. Here’s why:
https://kevinbarrett.substack.com/p/my-substack-was-demonetized-by-genocidal
also posted to Unz Review:
https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/my-substack-was-demonetized-by-genocidal-zionists-here-is-the-workaround/
https://voxday.net/2024/04/01/dancing-with-demonetization/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36967159
These are just a few examples. This has been going on for at least two years now. Substack made a big deal a while ago about standing up for free speech but does nothing about this. Why? Well, when you follow the money you’ll find that the same people are behind Stripe that finance Substack, so no conflict there, right? And as with anything that involves big money, you inevitably run into the usual suspects who really don’t like us drawing attention to certain subjects, no matter how egregious or glaringly obvious they are.
Unfortunately, Buy Me A Coffee is not a workaround: https://stripe.partners/directory/buy-me-a-coffee
Don’t know about Patreon or PayPal but I suspect you’d run into the same problem if you cover certain topics.
I don’t charge anything for my substack, although the industry rate for the work I’ve done so far would run around $50K. (https://airmedia.org/tools/2025-rate-guide) I don’t need the money though. I’m more interested in promoting cultural awareness and bridging cultural boundaries as I explain on my ‘about’ page, but I do encourage people to donate to my favourite charity, Islamic Relief <https://islamic-relief.org> If, like me, you don’t really need the money and have a charity you’d like to support, you might consider directing people’s donations there. Just a thought.
Hats off to you Mr No1. Happy to contribute to your server and IA bills.
"I’ve always believed this information matters. Not in a self-important way, but in the sense that understanding how the financial system actually works, who benefits, and who pays the price, shouldn’t be locked behind a permanent paywall."
Altruism is perhaps the finest character trait in the animal kingdom.
When younger I never thought much about the way the western economy was structured. It was just there, and I unconsciously operated in it believing that the playing field was level. It had to be, because our governments controlled it and the government is for everyone. Right?
I'm approaching ancient years now and realize how painfully naive I was. The economy isn't just financial plumbing silently working while your country goes about more important things. THE ECONOMY IS EVERYTHING.
How the economy works, and who pulls the strings of it, is crucial information that every person should be taught from Day One. It's critically important knowledge, because it will determine your trajectory through life until the day you die. It's been that way throughout all of history, since proto-humans organized into tribes. Empires rose and fell on their economies alone. It doesn't get more consequential than that.
The knowledge of how the economy works - the ins-and-outs of the plumbing down to the pipe and fixture level - is intentionally hidden from you. You aren't supposed to know, because if you did you would understand how tilted the playing field is against you. You would also recognize who is tilting the playing field, and how. If that happened the game would be over. You would realize that this system you've been working in your whole life is corrupt. And not just corrupt in the sense of occasional moral failures. It's corrupt to the core. Intentionally so, in order to increase the wealth of those who understand its workings at the expense of those who don't.
I greatly appreciate No1's efforts to shine a light in the dark places. There's no more important task for individuals and countries alike than to understand the economy.
""How the economy works, and who pulls the strings of it, is crucial information that every person should be taught from Day One.""
That's what I do to my kids, and what I want to do here for everyone as well.
Put down my gathered knowledge, and hopefully receive some knowledge/pushback from all of you in return.
Small baby steps for a better future!!
If you don't understand the economy, you are essentially giving your wallet to a stranger to care for. And just as you'd expect, they will pilfer from it relentlessly.
That's how the system works. It isn't designed to increase wealth for everyone. It's designed to redistribute the existing wealth to those who manipulate its levers. Again, this is just as you'd expect given that our economic system wasn't created democratically by the people. It was built by financial elites down through history. And they were never about seeing their wealth diminish while everyone else gained. This is just straightforward logic, and once you see it much else becomes clear.
You'll be giving your kids a big leg-up in life by explaining this, and maybe they'll even be able to improve on it, for everyone's sake.
Thanks, No1 for sharing your knowledge freely; it's what I believe we all should be doing if we care for the wellbeing of our human tribe. I'm "out" of the FRN world, don't invest in anything but my own landscape. I can honor your efforts with fruit leather, manzanita for parrot perch or terrarium, or lumber if you're near my norCal locale.
Cheers!
Done - not least because I'm happy to see your blogs kicked up the substack rankings!
Even if Substack tells you that it's a $5 minimum, you can create a lifetime 80% discount link so that end users pay $1 every month. I've been doing that, and it's been useful
OH! Thanks for the hint! I’ll check how to do that, and if I can’t figure out, I’ll drop you a chat message.
Well, if I can do it, anyone can, lol
🤣 Yeah, I figured it out! 😉
Also I have heard from other substackers that if you pay through the substack app, Apple store takes like 30% but no such fee if paid through a browser. 🤷🏻♀️
Yeah, but substack can't do anything about that. That's Apple (& Google)...
What I mean is that if people log into Substack from a browser and not the app you will get a lot more money instead of giving it to our digital overlords who don't need it.
Some bucks fell into the hat. Was No1 there to hear them?
🤣
Did you just paraphrase the forest & the trees? Or was that a mere coincidence?
This was funny on so many levels!
I see No1 saw what I did there. No charge.
Oh boy. That last one was cringe! 😂
I am interested in your paid trading stack. I would like to hear more about your trading strategy closer to when the time comes. I used follow Robert Wendel daily alerts before he tragically died. He had expertise on following what the federal reserve was doing to inject money into the system. I haven't found a replacement for what he was doing. Thank you
My colleague here mght be of help and its free: https://boomfinanceandeconomics.wordpress.com/2026/03/28/cpi-inflation-risk-rising-opportunity-lost-taco-thursday-us-stock-market-performance-us-economy-facts-of-the-matter-the-war-is-a-threat-us-new-home-sales-and-prices-falling-hope-is-cen/