Julian Brigden on the Coming Reset and Decline of US Exceptionalism

ReSolve Riffs returns with Julian Brigden, the president and founder of MI2 Partners, who joins the conversation as a seasoned market strategist and global macro expert. In this episode, Julian and his co-hosts Adam Butler and Richard Laterman dissect a broad range of topics—from U.S. exceptionalism and dollar dynamics to treasury market vulnerabilities and the complex interplay of global capital flows. The discussion navigates themes such as fiscal deficits, policy shifts, asset rotations, and geopolitical recalibrations that are reshaping the global financial landscape.

Topics Discussed

• U.S. exceptionalism and the reflexive cycle of capital inflows, hyper-financialization, and current account imbalances

• Policy triggers and market cycles driven by the Trump administration’s tariff measures and shifting economic narratives

• Dollar performance and its impact on global purchasing power, equity valuations, and hedging dynamics

• Structural challenges in the U.S. Treasury market, fiscal dominance, and the looming implications of elevated deficits

• Global capital flows and the divergence in behavior between sovereign investors and private market participants

• Comparative dynamics across asset classes, including equity market rotations, emerging market opportunities, and the role of commodities

• Geopolitical recalibrations driven by U.S. retrenchment from European defense commitments and the evolving Middle Eastern investments

• Divergent monetary policy challenges in key economies, especially Japan’s yield curve control and the risks of fiscal dominance