World Brief with Zach McCormick

Send us Fan Mail Florida Gold Rush? Florida is set to recognize  gold and silver as currency that can be used to pay taxes.  Committee Substitute Bill 999 is making its way through the Florida legislature and, if passed would recognize gold and silver as legal tender. That means the shiny stuff could be used to pay taxes and, if a seller is willing, for common household items as well.  The bill al...

Send us Fan Mail Did Coinbase just attack the Federal Reserve?  Oh yeah. Big time. The crypto clearinghouse Coinbase just published an ad attacking the Federal Reserves policy of “printing” money while touting the benefit of Bitcoin (which has a set number of units).  It’s unclear what prompted this attack on the US central bank but it’s mostly accurate and it showed in graphic detail just how muc...

Send us Fan Mail Debt Jubilee  What if ALL debts were forgiven and everyone just  started over? It sounds crazy but it’s actually been done before - a lot - every 50 years in some cases. And it’s exactly what it sounds like - ALL debts are forgiven  (in modern terms that’s mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit cards, medical  - EVERYTHING). There are even examples of properties being GIVEN B...

Send us Fan Mail It was just announced that the FDA will be phasing out eight petroleum-based food dyes by next year. Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B are going to have their authorizations pulled in the next few weeks  while the FDA is asking for voluntary cooperation in removing Green No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1, and Blue No. 2 from the food supply.  This js something...

Send us Fan Mail Is Crypto is over-hyped? Yes. It’s just a ledger that’s distributed to lots of other users and essentially password protected. But a ledger is nothing new - you can find them chiseled onto stone tablets going back millennia.  What’s more, at least bitcoin is all public so you don’t even get true privacy from it.  But cryptography makes it secure! Maybe for now…until it’s not. Reme...

Send us Fan Mail Why does it matter who is Pope? In short?  Everyday life. The Pope -  the head of the Catholic Church-  is the spiritual leader of nearly 1.5 billion people worldwide, controls a centuries-old (mostly cash) financial network,  has final say over the massive real estate holdings (including within the City of London and elsewhere) and has  ready access to heads of state (most of who...

Send us Fan Mail Have you been eating genetically modified food without knowing it?  Could be. So-called “gene edited” (GE) foods don’t have to be labeled in more than 20 countries including the US, UK, Canada, Japan and Australia and that means, you could’ve eaten GE products without realizing.  But is that really a bad thing? Supporters of “GE foods” are quick to point out that there’s a big dif...

Send us Fan Mail Where was your luxury purse actually made?  Recent allegations suggest that many luxury brand labels such as Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vitton and others are making their products, (or most of them)  in China and not in the country listed on the tag.  To some this comes as a shock because we’re not talking about “knock offs” - these are the authentic name brand goods and some have retai...

Send us Fan Mail Is America about to step on an “Insurance foreclosure land mine”.  Seems like it. As if it wasn’t bad enough that no one can afford to buy a decent home, a new threat is looming. “ Insurance foreclosures”.  Insurance costs are skyrocketing and homeowners (who already had to stretch to pay their mortgage) can’t afford these sky high premiums so they’re simply not paying them. But h...

Send us Fan Mail Did England just take the Ukraine mineral rights deal out from under the US's nose?  Pt. 1/3

Send us Fan Mail Did England just betray US & poach the Ukraine minerals deal? Pt 2/3

Send us Fan Mail Did England just betray the US and poach the Ukraine minerals deal? Pt. 3/3

Send us Fan Mail Tariffs: Who Wins? If things go well, working class Americans who need more high-paying jobs .  For context, a tariff is a tax on things that are imported into the country.  They’re designed  to incentivize companies to build factories here in the US and make US-made goods competitive.  Right now,  nearly everything in stores is imported but it wasn’t always this way. Not long ago...

Send us Fan Mail Recent developments in cloud seeding technology suggest “yes”. The question arose because Florida (which ironically gets more rain than most), wants to ban cloud seeding and all “weather modification”. Proponents of the technology oppose the ban saying the tech is now highly advanced, harmless and even important for national security.  So what is it? Cloud seeding , (AKA Precipita...

Send us Fan Mail Yesterday President Trump announced that presidential pardons issued by former President Biden were invalid because they had been signed using an autopen. Critics immediately rejected the claim but others have pointed out that the US Constitution is silent on this subject. While this particular issue will undoubtedly cause considerable debate going forward, perhaps, the bigger que...

Send us Fan Mail US Government computers have been making money “out of thin air” and  paying out “trillions” of dollars worth of this “magic money” for who knows what. At least, that is what DOGE Chief Elon Musk reported during an appearance on SenatorTed Cruz’s podcast earlier today. While both Elon and Senator Cruz seemed shocked by this finding the reality is that the Federal Reserve has been...

Send us Fan Mail Former Bank of England (and Canada) head Mark Carney has recently been elected to lead Canada's Liberal Party and is poised to take over as PM from Justin Trudeau just after Trudeau had a spat with his finance minister Chrystia Freeland. Turns out, Freeland and Carney may friends and some are wondering whether this heralds a shift away from the tradition in high finance of st...

Send us Fan Mail So much gold has been flowing into US vaults that the Bank of England has been unable to honor physical withdrawal requests in real time (whereas before requests could be honored in as little as 2 days, depositors now have to wait as long as 8 weeks to get their hands on the shiny stuff).  What's going on here?

Send us Fan Mail Fire-hydrants run dry just as infernos engulf the Pacific Palisades and Malibu neighborhoods in North Los Angeles. This is one of the wealthiest communities on earth -- home to 'movie stars and millionaires' -- so how could this kind of worst-case-scenario happen?

Send us Fan Mail President Trump has stated he'd like to see Canada become the 51st state of the Union. Is it as far-fetched as it sounds? There is some historical context for the theory but it's a little complicated.

Send us Fan Mail Connor Gaydos, the newest and youngest CEO of Enron unveiled the company's latest product -- the "Egg" a nuclear powered micro home generator. We discuss the parody company that is the "new" Enron from the creators of the faux conspiracy "Birds aren't real". An amusing reminder for us all to use our heads and remember that not everything is...

Send us Fan Mail Trudeau announced he intended to step down but his use of a "conditional promise" suggests he may believe there is a way for him to stay on as Canadian PM.

Send us Fan Mail Ever have that creepy feeling of getting an ad on your phone for something  random that someone just talked to you about?  For years Apple denied claims that it targeted adds to people by secretly listening in on their conversations . However according to claims made in the case of Lopez v. Apple, Inc. that’s exactly what they did. Over New Years settled the claim for up to $95 Mi...

Send us Fan Mail According to Las Vegas Police, the driver of the cybertruck that went up in flames yesterday suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Several other strange connections to the NOLA attack as well.  Many unanswered questions including the biggest one - Why?

Send us Fan Mail There is a strange coincidental connection between the two electric vehicle terror attacks today -- they were both rented through the car-sharing company Turo.  The company which was founded by Andre Haddad in 2009 has been relatively unknown until the COVID era when it seems have gotten a real footing as automobile rental prices spiked.  Turo claims it only allows "trusted h...