Hello everyone, and welcome to a new kind of Rude Awakening.

My name is Sean Ring. I'll be the guy you start seeing in your inbox bright and early every trading day. I’m here to bring you a snarky take on the markets’ goings-on, shenanigans, and tomfoolery that we see every day.

I've wanted a job like this my whole life, and I'm going to do everything I can to start your day off with a big smile, a bit of entertainment, and a bit of information. Let’s call it infotainment.

I think that's what everybody needs with their cup of coffee. Sure, I'll sum up what happened yesterday.  But really, what I'm going to be talking about is the idiocy that's currently consuming the financial markets, the Federal Reserve and other central banks’ crackbrained behavior, the ludicrous greed taking place inside Wall Street banks, the list goes on…

And by the way, I don't say that lightly because I’m greedy too!

Yep, I used to have Gordon Gekko’s Wall Street speech memorized, so I don't think greed’s a bad thing. It captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.  But nowadays, greed has taken it to a whole new level.  And of course it would!  It does every time central banks print the crap out of their currencies.

So we're going to talk about all these things together. I'm going to try to guide you, not so much down a rabbit hole that no one else understands, but taking a look at the daily events, parsing them out, seeing where they fit the big picture.  And, I hope, laugh along the way as well. I think everyone's too damn serious in this business right now, and it's getting on my nerves.

I got into this business because I love banking and finance. I love the greasing of the wheels of commerce. I love being a part of an industry that is supposed to help the builders of this world actually build, the creators to create, and the doers to do. But the enablement of these creative forces has to happen through the prudent allocation of capital.

And quite frankly, that hasn't happened for a very long time.

When I teach these concepts in graduate programs, I often equate interest rates to the lights in a nightclub. When they're down, everybody looks good, but at 2:45, when they start coming up, people start realizing, "Hmm, I'm not sure I want to be dancing with this person.”

We live in a world where the lights have been off for a long time, and they’re about to get turned up. We're dancing with some fuglys, and we won’t get out because we think the party is still going long.

We need to regain control of our perspective, first and foremost, and that'll enable us to make good decisions when it comes to our investments.

It's a thrill to be here at The Rude. It's a publication that I've read for a long time. I'd like to thank my colleague, Scott Stewart, for his excellent stewardship (no pun intended) of The Rude, but things are going to be a little bit different around here from now on.

The goal here is that every day you wake up, you get a cup of coffee, you open up this email, and you have a cleansing cathartic belly laugh as you take a look at what's going on in finance.

We’ll have charts, macro, and more.  We’ll need them, as we’re in an unprecedented economic and financial situation in the developed world. Not just America, or Europe, or the UK.  China, Japan, Taiwan… they’re in a mess, too.

But remember your first obligation - especially now - is the preservation of your capital.

So, hopefully, I'll help calm down the FOMO with the bit- and shitcoins right now.. because there are a lot of shit coins out there. We'll also talk a lot about gold and silver, which may just now be upturning. We'll talk a lot about stocks because, well, let's face it, talking about stocks is fun... that's why everyone does it!

But we'll also have a look at the macro environment.

What is the lay of the land?

We know the map isn't the territory, but what is indeed the territory?

Let's try to find out together.

It's going to be a fun ride for you, I hope. It's already been a joy for me just to start. I can't wait to get going.

Talk again Monday. See you at 6am sharp.

— Sean