The Lie of Progress—and What It’s Costing
“Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.” —Aldous Huxley, Author of Brave New World If you are old enough to remember the rise of the digital age, you probably recall the split: when paper photographs became pixels, when handwritten letters turned into emails and…
The Secret Life of Booms and Busts
“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 By nightfall, depositors had withdrawn $42 billion—the fastest bank run in U.S. history.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….
Is a Gold Revaluation Imminent?
“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…
The Illusion of Credit: Why the Fiat System is Crumbling
“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” —Henry Ford A New Monetary Era Begins: Born Into Fiat On this day, I was born 54 years ago—just…
After the Age of Complexity: On Simplicity, Love, and What Remains
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci Some call this the Age of AI. Others, the Age of Technology. I call it the Age of Complexity—an era in which the scaffolding of life has grown so dense that even the smallest change sends tremors through the whole structure….
How Markets Became Belief Systems
On Tesla, Charisma, and the Illusion of Value in the Age of Narrative Capital “The more a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” — George Orwell Something curious has happened to markets over the past two and a half decades: they’ve lost their…
From Farmland to Server Farms
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” — Daniel J. Boorstin Turning Inward: Noticing Things This week, I’m shifting my focus from the global to the local. I’ve temporarily muted the constant noise from the Global South, the Middle East, Europe, Russia, and…
When the World Stops Welcoming
“Nothing is permanent except change.” — Heraclitus For decades, the U.S. dollar was more than just currency—it was a passport to influence, mobility, and comfort. Since the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement cemented it as the world’s primary reserve currency, the dollar has underpinned global trade, finance, and diplomacy. Priced in…
Gold Is Quietly Replacing Treasuries
“The most powerful forces in the world are invisible—debt, energy, and belief.” — Anonymous As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the next time headlines light up with Trump versus Elon, ask yourself: what’s really going on behind the drama? It happened again just last week. Trump accused Musk of…
From Statecraft to Stagecraft: Power in the Age of Illusion
“Politics is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.” —Frank Zappa In an era of livestreamed diplomacy and viral politics, global affairs have become a theater of spectacle. Traditional diplomacy is increasingly sidelined by political theater, as leaders bypass state channels to deliver unfiltered declarations via social media. Strategic announcements…