Japanese Yen: The canary in the gold mine
The global monetary system is a big blobby glob of sticky goo that somehow keeps on slugging along through endless waste and war. But stop what you’re doing and listen. Chirp, chirp, chirp…peep, peep, peep…chitter, chitter, twitter, twitter, TWEET! On April 30, Fortune published an article: Why Japan’s currency is…
Albert Einstein’s Little Secret
“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”—Albert Einstein A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon an Einstein lecture by Douglas Hofstadter. He researches how we create analogies and how they permeate our languages and creative thought processes in physics and mathematics. In his research, he found…
Balance Is Most Important
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” — Albert Einstein I have never been a balanced human being, always struggling with extremism. I exercise too much. I work too hard. I eat too healthy. I take too many supplements. I focus too intently for…
Miners Makin’ Money
“Gold—what can it not do, and undo?” – William Shakespeare I grew up in the 1970s and 80s. My dad was an environmental scientist with an obsession for gold. After he saw Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) with Henry Ford, he got himself an Indiana Jones hat, a bullwhip,…
Gold, Silver, or Bitcoin?
“No State shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”—The U.S. Constitution (Article 1: Section 10, Clause 1) Our Founding Fathers—Franklin (1706-1790), Washington (1732-1799), Adams (1735-1826), Jefferson (1743-1826), Madison (1751-1836), and Hamilton (1755-1804)—didn’t trust the States. They didn’t trust the national government either, which…
Collateral Is Not Debt
“Gold is money. Everything else is credit.” —J.P. Morgan Last week, I had the opportunity to listen to a Steve St. Angelo interview, and it occurred to me that at some point in recent history, we edited reality and formed a new story that we then mistook for truth. Steve…
I was admitted to the hospital last week
No grandma’s chicken noodle soup…no herbal teas, yoga mats, massages, workout gear…no green smoothies or turmeric shots…no vitamins or herbs…no communication…no continuity…and not much common sense. This week was the first time in my life that I’ve ever been admitted to a hospital from the Emergency Room. I’ve delivered babies…
A Healthy International Monetary System
When I lived in Italy, my colleague used to point out a town to me that didn’t use money. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the town, but it was on the way to Castiglione della Pescaia from our home in Badia a Passignano. It was quaint, small, and…
The Four Giants: Nvidia, Bitcoin, Dollar, and Gold
“If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” —Isaac Newton In February, we saw something extraordinary—the price of gold was near all-time record highs, and the gold and silver miners were more oversold than ever before in history. There’s never…
Stop Menticide Now
When I was a college student at Indiana University in Bloomington, I often went to Collins Hall for lunch. Later I learned that Collins was where lived the infamous Jim Jones who led a mass suicide of 918 people in Guyana, on November 18, 1978. At his direction, followers in…