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IMPORTANT NEWS RIGHT NOW
Take at look at this stack of papers covered in black marker:
What you're looking at are the 750 White House files President Trump quietly "redacted" behind closed doors.
But what happened next was even more peculiar…
You see, directly after deleting federal files that had been in place since Jimmy Carter was in office…
President Donald Trump wrote a $300 million check to a controversial company located in Foothill Ranch, California.
Strangely enough, he didn't utter a single word about it to the cameras. Even more fascinating, it turns out, Trump's not acting alone…
If you follow the money trail…
Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates… even an up-and-coming tech titan who the late Charlie Munger referred to as, "the new emperor of the world"… have all poured billions into the same area.
| What's Surprising |
El Salvador has 6.6 million people. More than 110,000 of them are in prison. That is 1 in every 60 residents—or roughly 1 in every 40 adults. No other country comes close.
The surge is recent. In 2021 El Salvador’s rate sat around 600 per 100,000, already high but not historic. Then, in March 2022, President Nayib Bukele declared a state of exception after a spike in gang killings. Constitutional protections were suspended. Over the next three years, security forces detained roughly 84,000 people. The rate nearly tripled.
The gap between #1 and #2 is enormous. El Salvador’s rate of 1,659 is more than double Cuba’s 794. In most global rankings, #1 and #2 are separated by a few percentage points. Here, #1 could lose half its prison population and still lead the world.
| What's Not Surprising |
The United States at #5 is the most consequential name on the list. It is the only large, wealthy democracy in the top 10. At 541 per 100,000, the US rate is nearly four times the global average and more than 10 times Japan’s. The other names in the top five—Cuba, Rwanda, Turkmenistan—are authoritarian states where incarceration often serves political control as much as criminal justice.
Latin America and the Caribbean feature prominently in the bottom half. Panama, Uruguay, the Bahamas—three of the last five slots belong to the Americas. The region carries the highest regional concentration of high-incarceration countries in the world.
High incarceration does not map neatly onto high crime. Uruguay is one of the safest countries in South America. Turkmenistan has very low reported crime. These rankings measure the willingness and capacity of a state to lock people up, not the underlying rate of offending.
| Five Numbers Worth Remembering |
1,659
Prisoners per 100,000 people in El Salvador—the highest rate ever recorded for a sovereign nation by the World Prison Brief.
110,000+
People currently incarcerated in El Salvador, a country with a total population of 6.6 million.
50×
El Salvador’s incarceration rate relative to Japan’s. Two democracies. One locks up 1,659 per 100,000; the other, 33.
541
The US rate—fifth highest in the world and by far the highest among large, wealthy democracies.
11.5M
People imprisoned worldwide, according to the latest World Prison Population List. The global average rate: 140 per 100,000.
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The Bottom Line
El Salvador’s incarceration rate has tripled in three years. It is a policy choice without modern precedent—and it sits in a chart alongside authoritarian regimes and the United States. |
IMPORTANT NEWS RIGHT NOW
Two Legends Issue Rare Buy Alert on Elon Musk Supplier
A play on "the next multi-trillion-dollar industry."
For the first time ever…
The two investment legends who picked Nvidia 10 years ago…
Are coming together to issue an urgent buy alert…
On this little-known Elon Musk supplier that’s perfectly positioned for what Nvidia’s CEO called…
Jeff Brown is a former tech executive who picked Nvidia in early 2016, before shares jumped as high as 36,000%.
Marc Chaikin is a 60-year Wall Street titan who’s worked with billionaires and hedge fund legends like Paul Tudor Jones, George Soros, and Steve Cohen.
And they both believe this could be the single biggest investment opportunity of this century.
| What to Watch |
El Salvador’s state of exception has been renewed monthly since March 2022—more than 50 times now. If it is finally allowed to lapse, the rate could begin to decline as pretrial detainees are processed or released. The next edition of the World Prison Population List is expected in late 2026. The US figure may shift depending on federal sentencing policy changes. We’ll be watching.
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