Remember, Remember…
The fifth of November is Britain’s smokiest day of the year, with bonfires lit to honor a failed gunpowder plot against the government. So close yet so far!
On thousands of bonfires tonight, a little effigy will burn named Guy Fawkes. He’s the Catholic terrorist who planted 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath King James I and his government. Why do such a thing? A ban on practicing his religion. He swore an oath to light the fuse and almost did before being caught red-handed, and dragged to a torture chamber.
The establishment hung, drew, and quartered Fawkes, but his death only lit an ideological fire under what he stood for; “freedom,” or terrorism. You decide which!
Fast forward 414 years, and many investors are channeling their inner Fawkes, using today’s world leaders as their effigies. What a time this would be to blow up Congress! With impeachment looming, the current establishment’s trade war is hobbling the stock market, but ironically, it’s a trade war driven by anti-establishment in the first place! Fawkes has also been labeled a would-be Brextremist, but that’s debatable. He’d solve the impasse, that’s for sure. He’d blow right through it!
Fawkes clearly got the last laugh, as his spirit also lives on through the activist hacking group ‘Anonymous,’ and in Hong Kong, too. Rebelliously righteous protestors have been upset with the state of their sovereignty ever since the Brits moved out. Now, the Hong Kongers defy a ban against wearing Guy Fawkes vendetta masks. He’s everywhere!
Fawkes proves that even when rebellion fails, it succeeds. Uprisings can change history, shape law, politics, economics, and, if nothing else, our investment portfolios as those masks fly off the shelves. Check out our in-depth stocking picking guide for bonfire night, if you’re interested!