The Baltics are going all-in on their Maginot 2.0, planning 600 bunkers apiece along a 600-mile front — a decade-long project they admit Putin probably won’t politely wait to finish. Lithuania is upgrading from “random roadblocks” to a full three-layer defense line, proudly integrating NATO and EU muscle, because nothing says deterrence like announcing your plans on social media.

https://x.com/Lithuanian_MoD/status/1955974448999289175/photo/1

Russia has no reason to storm the Baltics unless the ‘North Atlantic Terror Organization’ practically begs it to. Moscow’s attention is elsewhere — but NATO needs its favorite villain to stay relevant. The so-called Baltic Defense Line isn’t a military necessity, it’s political theatre: a decade-long set piece designed to keep the public terrified and the alliance funded. Europe isn’t defending itself — it’s rehearsing for the war the neocons have been dreaming about.

🤵 The Macro Butler Special Service 🤵

🌐 The Fed waves its rate-cut wand, but the magic is mostly smoke — and the markets will feel the burn. 🌐

Read more here: https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/fed-rate-cuts-magic-trick-or-market

Listen to a summary of The Macro Butler Special Service newsletter via podcast on Substack; YouTube; Rumble & TikTok.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/fed-rate-cuts-magic-trick-or-market-9aa

A big shoutout to Hubbis for putting The Macro Butler in the spotlight with Why Gold, Why Now—proving once again that gold, the indestructible, non-confiscatable veteran forged for chaos and war, is still the ultimate “panic button” asset when the world gets messy.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/hubbis-why-gold-why-now

The Macro Butler just dropped by A-News Türkiye’s Diplomacy with Umar Tasleem for another round of “timeless wisdom”.

He unpacked how China, Russia, and India are busy building their own VIP trading club while Europe and the US are stuck waiting outside with the wrong dress code.

Oh, and he also tackled TikTok — apparently, it’s not just for dance challenges anymore, it’s about to become the flagbearer of the brave new multi-polar world.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/interview-with-a-news-turkiyes-diplomacy-236

The BOJ, ever the master of slow-motion drama, voted 7-2 to keep rates stuck at 0.5%, but for the first time since Ueda took office, two dissenters dared to break ranks and call for a hike — suggesting Japan may eventually flirt with the idea of normal interest rates (no rush, maybe by the next century).

In true BOJ style, they spiced things up by unveiling a “bold” plan to sell off their ¥75 trillion ($508 billion) ETF hoard — at a pace so slow it would take more than 100 years to complete. Yes, the BOJ has essentially promised to be in the market longer than most of us will be alive. Governor Ueda reassured everyone that, while none of us will be around in 2125, the BOJ will nobly keep selling — very, very carefully — to avoid upsetting Japan’s “slightly overheated” stock market, which is up 26% this fiscal year. In other words, normalization is coming… at a pace only a bonsai tree could respect.

In a nutshell, BOJ promises to “normalize” by selling its ETF mountain over the next century — because nothing says urgency like a 100-year exit plan.

🤵 The Macro Butler Weekly Digest 🤵

🌐 Trust Bonds… At Your Own Peril—because ‘risk-free’ is really just Wall Street’s favourite fairy tale… with a side of risk-y. 🌐

Read more here: https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/trust-bonds-at-your-own-peril

Listen to a summary of The Macro Butler weekly newsletter via podcast on Substack; YouTube; Rumble & TikTok.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/trust-bonds-at-your-own-peril-podcast

In eternally blue New Jersey, where Green zealotry reigns supreme, Governor Phil Murphy just signed a bill turning the dearly departed into fertilizer — literally. The state is now the 14th to legalize “human composting,” all in the name of saving space. Because nothing says climate action like turning Grandma into garden mulch.

https://legiscan.com/NJ/bill/A4085/2024

New Jersey just legalized turning people into compost — literally. Bodies are sealed in steel drums with straw and wood chips, slow-cooked for 45–60 days, and handed back as “nutrient-rich soil” for your garden. Politicians call it “eco-friendly,” funeral homes market it as carbon-guilt relief, and climate activists cheer. Strip away the green PR, though, and it’s not reverence — it’s death industrialized.

https://nypost.com/2025/09/16/us-news/new-jersey-legalizes-human-composting-as-eco-friendly-burial-alternative/

Bottom Line:

Beneath the feel-good slogans, New Jersey’s law turns death into just another climate initiative. Wrapped in words like “eco-friendly” and “gentle,” it conditions us to see human remains as fertilizer for the green agenda. In the Garden State, going green is now mandatory — even after you’re gone.

Oil Shocks, Stagflation, and Why Bonds Can't Save You

https://www.tiktok.com/@the.macro.butler/video/7552473875422989569

In the glorious Socialist Republic of France, where Malthusian Keynesians work overtime to enslave citizens into their paychecks, it’s hardly shocking that pensioners now out-earn the workers funding their retirements. With a jaw-dropping 74% replacement rate — among the highest in the OECD — and 14% of GDP poured into pensions, France has turned retirement into a state-sponsored luxury. The average French retiree collects €1,626 a month, roughly 2% more than the poor souls still working. Meanwhile, American, British, and Australian retirees politely settle for less than their workers. Naturally, rising retiree demands mean rising taxes, with workers now forced to tithe 8.55% of their income to keep the system afloat.

Vive la redistribution!

https://fortune.com/2025/09/16/france-retirees-higher-income-workers-american-pensioners-cost-of-living-crisis/

France’s pension deficit is on track to hit €15 billion by 2035 and double shortly after, but don’t worry — Paris has a plan: pretend everything’s fine until 2029, when the deficit will magically shrink to the EU’s arbitrary 3% cap. With public debt already at 5.8% of GDP and rising, the government’s “solution” is the usual: tax more, trim spending just enough to look busy, and hope no one notices that growth is being strangled. History suggests they won’t actually cut anything — just shuffle the bill from one pocket to another while the private sector pays the price.

France and much of the Western world are teetering on the edge of a fiscal cliff. Politicians, desperate to distract from a crumbling monetary system, toy with war as a convenient diversion—Macro-Leon aligning with Brussels to stoke conflict in Ukraine—while government debt goes unsold. Aging populations, plummeting birth rates, and the cost of integrating new arrivals only add to the fiscal strain. Robbing pension funds to cover expenses might seem like a “solution,” but it will erode confidence, spark civil unrest, and accelerate the EU’s financial unraveling.

Reform is overdue, but history shows governments delay until forced; in France’s case, the reckoning is inevitable—and looming.

The Macro Butler just dropped some glittery wisdom on Asharq Bloomberg TV Dubai, explaining why gold and silver will keep shining bright—at least until the next war drama hits the fan.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/interview-with-asharq-bloomberg-tv-3d3

The UK is proudly lining up with France and Japan in the G7 Sovereign Debt Olympics, and its latest 30-year gilt sale just reminded everyone why. Demand hit the weakest since 2022 — even with a tiny £1.5B auction — as pension funds lose their appetite for locking in generational pain. The DMO calls this “smart issuance strategy,” markets call it “nice try,” and 30-year yields just keep screaming, courtesy of Rachel Reeves’ fiscal fairy tales.

In a nutshell, Britain just sold 30-year debt to a half-empty room, proving even pension funds won’t buy Rachel Reeves’ fiscal fairy tale.