What is The X Project again?
And why should you care and want to be a part of it? - Article 11
I. Why this article now?
It is December 2. The X Project was only conceived and launched last month, and the first ten articles have been written and published.
Along the way, I slowly started letting a few select friends and family members know about The X Project with each new article. I asked you to check it out, I asked for your feedback, and I asked you to refer The X Project to anyone you know who might find it valuable.
THANK YOU!!!
I have spoken to most of you directly, and you have been very generous with your time and feedback. I do not know some of you as you were referred or found The X Project some other way, and I’d like to connect with you and get your feedback as well.
The first and most important thing I am trying to ascertain is if The X Project is a viable financial endeavor that can support me in doing this full-time. It definitely takes a full-time effort to deliver what I have provided thus far, and it will continue to take a full-time effort to deliver my vision. This is great because those who know me know that this is my passion and what I’ve spent my time doing since retiring from my previous position at my last company. There is nothing else I’d rather be doing!
What’s also great is that all of you have been supportive, encouraged me to continue with the effort, and thought it is possible to build this into a financially viable endeavor.
II. What’s next?
What’s not so great is that it will be challenging and take time, and there is no guarantee it will succeed. Based on the feedback I have received thus far, I am excited, motivated, and committed for the next few months, but I need to see weekly growth of paid and free subscribers. I know I need to do much to build my subscriber base. And part of what I need to do is to help you help me. And this article is designed to do just that…
III. What is The X Project about?
Most of you (so far) are new to Substack. There is a section below to help the next generation of newbies to Substack. Some of you found and clicked the “About” button, and others didn’t. For those that did not, here is what it says:
I. The X Project is knowledge and learning at the intersection of these ten topics: commodities, debt, deficits, demographics, economics, energy, geopolitics, interest rates, markets, and money.
II. The X Project is an interplay between Generation X and the Roman numeral X.
III. The X Project is a Generation X perspective on how and why so much of our lives will likely be different in the future compared to our lives up until now.
IV. The X Project wants to understand how and why the middle class that so many of us were born into has been slowly and steadily getting X’d out.
V. The X Project aims to understand why so many of Generation X (and younger generations) are challenged in meeting or exceeding the living standards of our parents.
VI. The X Project strives to educate and prepare us for what’s possible and probable in the future so we can make and advise our loved ones on the best career, investment, and other significant life decisions.
VII. The X Project targets a broader audience of people who want to know what they need to know about The X Project topics but do not have the time or the interest.
VIII. The X Project will distill, summarize, and synthesize the opinions, analyses, expectations, and forecasts of various authors, experts, consultants, and strategists related to The X Project topics.
IX. The X Project will publish ten monthly articles (and podcasts) that take approximately ten minutes to read (or listen to) so all this knowledge and information is easy to consume and digest.
X. The X Project will always try to answer why this is relevant to you and why you should care.
Another section on the bottom half of the “About” page lists ten things about me, The X Project Guy. Since most of you know me personally, I’ll save the space in this article. If you don’t know me, you can click the link here to read that section:
https://thexproject.substack.com/about
IV. Why so many questions?
The X Project aims to help you know what you need to know. To do that, it helps to think of the questions you might be asking, and that is why The X Project’s articles are divided into sections with headers asking what The X Project thinks are relevant questions. Even better would be if you, the reader, ask the questions that you want answered by commenting on the articles or sending emails directly to theXprojectGuy@gmail.com.
V. What are the BIG questions driving The X Project?
The X Project spends several dozen hours each week in the world of analysts, strategists, investment advisors, traders, hedge fund and other portfolio managers, consultants, academics, and authors who study and deal with the ten topics that The X Project investigates. In that large community, there are more questions and more debates about the answers than ever.
Here are just ten of the bigger questions:
I. Are we embarking on a secular inflationary period, returning to a disinflationary trend, or going to experience outright deflation?
II. Will there be an economic hard-landing, soft-landing, or no-landing? (referring to a deep and prolonged recession, a shallow and short recession, or avoiding a recession?)
III. Is The Fed done hiking interest rates, or are there more rate hikes to come?
IV. Have bond yields peaked and are heading lower, or will they still run higher?
V. Is the stock market going to make new all-time highs, decline significantly, do both, or just chop sideways?
VI. Is the dollar going to strengthen or weaken?
VII. Has oil demand peaked and started to decline, or will it continue to grow?
VIII. Has the supply of cheap oil peaked and started to decline, or will more cheap oil come to market?
IX. Are commodity prices going higher or lower?
X. Will the government be able to keep growing its debt and deficits, or will something have to change, and if so what?
There is no easy, one, or correct answer to any of those questions. None of those questions can be answered in one or even a couple of articles. Yet, whatever the answer ends up being to each of those questions, it will significantly impact you in some way. This is what drives The X Project.
VI. How will these questions be answered?
By asking and answering many more minor questions, which will spawn more questions to be answered.
The X Project topics are all interrelated in various ways. Image a three-dimensional web of interconnectivity between those ten topics. And then imagine each of those ten topics spreading out into smaller sub-topics. Imagine a complex web of interconnectivity between them all. This is the reality of with which we are dealing, and it might look something like this:
Imagine that the strings interconnecting all these points are more extended than just the length between any two points. The X Project will start with smaller topics and ask questions that will “pull on those strings” and lead to other topics that will lead to other questions that will lead to other topics, and so on. The more we pull, the more we ask, the more we answer, the more we understand.
Moreover, many questions will have multiple and potentially opposing answers, and The X Project will aim to be balanced by providing summaries and rationales for all reasonable and popular answers
VII. What can you expect going forward?
The X Project aims to publish ten monthly articles, each broken into ten sections with a question header. And for those of you who prefer to listen instead of reading, I will record the reading aloud of each article going forward into a podcast that will be published simultaneously, as I did with the last article, #10. I am still catching up on recording some of the originally published articles.
I have committed to summarizing 20 books recently read that are highly influential in my thinking about The X Project topics and answering some of those more significant questions asked above. So far, I have summarized six of those books. Going forward, I expect (but subject to change) the articles will switch back and forth between books and other topics, which takes us toward the end of February. I will continue reading books in 2024 on The X Project topics and intend to summarize ten more influential books next year.
So, beginning in March, you should expect one monthly book summary and nine other articles. Some topics like fiscal dominance and inflation, about which I have already written, will be revisited occasionally. In addition to writing about specific issues (like Government Debt Monetization which is coming up in two articles after the next book summary article), I’d also like to write about particular people and their theses, including some investment theses for consideration and discussion with your financial advisors.
VIII. What is the difference between free and paid subscriptions?
This and all previous articles (and podcasts) thus far, along with the next several articles (and podcasts), are free and available to all subscribers and guests checking out my Substack (what’s that? See Section X below).
Sometime within the next month, I will be putting up my paywall, which means there will be a point in the article after which only paid subscribers can continue reading. Initially, I intend to restrict only the last section or two of each article to paid subscribers, and then I will move the paywall up in the article over time. I intend always to provide the first 3-4 sections of each article to free subscribers.
As for podcasts, I think I’ll be recording two versions, one for free subscribers and one for paid subscribers.
IX. How can you get a FREE paid subscription?
If you click the “share” button or the “refer a friend” button (see buttons at the bottom of this article) and use the link provided to send to your referral, and if your referral signs up for a free subscription, you will get one month of a free paid subscription. If you get three referrals to sign up for a free subscription, you will get six months of free paid subscription. And if you get five referrals to sign up for a free subscription, you will get a full year of free paid subscription. And you can keep going and stacking from there. Seven referrals get you a year and two months of free paid subscription. Nine referrals get you a year and seven months of free paid subscription. Fifteen referrals get you three full years of paid subscription.
It is that easy! Please be aggressive in referring me and you won’t have to pay! I am counting on you!!
X. What is Substack and how do I use it?
Substack is an innovative online platform that revolutionizes how written content is consumed and created. It empowers independent writers and journalists to publish newsletters and gain a dedicated readership, offering a mix of free and paid subscription models. Substack simplifies the publishing process, allowing writers to focus on their content while it handles the logistics of distribution and subscription management.
How do you sign up?
On the Website:
Visit my Substack Website: https://thexproject.substack.com
Or click the “Subscribe” button below.
Enter Email: Subscribers will be prompted to enter their email address.
Subscribe: Click the "Subscribe" button.
Create an Account: New users will be asked to create a password to set up their Substack account.
On the Mobile App:
Download the App: Get the Substack app from the App Store or Google Play.
Search for TheXProject: Use the search feature in the app to find my publication.
Subscribe and Create an Account: Similar to the website, you’ll need to subscribe and create an account using your email and password.
How do you consume content?
Via Website or App:
Read Articles: Once subscribed, you can read my articles directly on the Substack website or app.
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