Wars. Waste. Wall Street. Welfare. “The economy doesn’t work for you — it works to extract from you.” —Michael Hudson Financialization is a word you have probably heard in economic news, but its true meaning is rarely explained. The popular media treats it as the natural growth of finance in…
The passive tipping point that could break both stocks and housing “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the fantasist pretends the sea isn’t there; the realist adjusts the sails.” —Adapted from William Arthur Ward What happens when markets stop asking, “Is this a good…
Three Forces & the 1983 Pattern That Explain It All “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” — Winston Churchill If you follow markets, you’ve probably seen the headlines: Gold down nearly 20% in two months. Bombs are falling in the Middle East. Oil is above $100 a…
How a Trip to Uruguay Changed the Way I Think About Money “Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.” —Genesis 13:2 Three weeks ago, I stepped off a plane in Montevideo and spent two weeks exploring Uruguay—endless empty beaches, rolling green hills dotted with cattle, gauchos…
Parallels Between 1929 and Today’s Financial Fragility “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933 In the final months of 1929, America looked unstoppable. Cities glowed with electric light. Streets swarmed with automobiles. Radios carried jazz, ball scores, and a steady stream of…
How a forgotten economist foresaw the crises we’re repeating today “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” — T. S. Eliot, Choruses from The Rock In 2025, global debt hovers at levels unseen since the Great Depression. Inequality has…
“In the end, money is just a belief system — and when that belief falters, people reach for what’s real.” — Ray Dalio If you’ve been following the precious-metals world lately, you’ve probably noticed a growing sense of unease — and for good reason. Gold and silver have been rising…
“It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” — Mark Twain When I was a little girl, I had big questions. Why do we have to sleep? Why do we die? Why do we need money to…
“There is no theory of the spark. Only of the combustible material.” — Charles Kindleberger In March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank insisted it was safe. By nightfall, depositors had withdrawn $42 billion—the fastest bank run in U.S. history. Another $100 billion was queued for the morning. The speed was new….
“Gold is the only coin that never depreciates.” – Thomas Bailey Aldrich With U.S. public debt now approaching $37 trillion and the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet still near $7 trillion, policymakers face fiscal constraints unseen in decades. Interest payments now consume over one-fifth of federal revenues, narrowing the government’s fiscal…
“Outstanding, sophisticated, and mesmerizing…a spiritual intrigue similar to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.” —ForeWord Reviews