Written by Bryan Lutz, Editor at Dollarcollapse.com:
So, every Sunday morning I sit down to write a few short thoughts.
Sometimes these thoughts end up being about life, other times they are on gold, geopolitical issues affecting the markets, or the economy.
Here are three thoughts for this morning:
1. Central Bank gold buying continues to outpace US Treasuries. This is good AND bad for gold. Ferdinand Lips’ book, Gold Wars, tells us why…and the real reason you should own gold.
According to Fredinand Lips, governments have been waging a century-long war against gold.
Governments don’t like gold. That’s because they can’t control it.
And that means they can’t tax it. So they have their Central Banks buy gold so they can issue their own currency… Something they can use to tax you and your family.
So you see, gold buying is on the rise. And the overwhelming majority of buying comes from non-Western central banks (China, Russia, India, Turkey, Poland, Singapore, the CIS states) who are explicitly de-dollarizing. They’re not going to sell. They’re accumulating because they expect the dollar-based system to break, and they want to be holding the asset that has settled international debts for 5,000 years when it does. They’re making the right choice. No question about that…
Except there are risks when it comes to Central Banks buying and holding the majority of gold…
When Central Banks hold the majority of gold in the world, it can become destabilizing, fast. Buyers soon become sellers. Then…
What they buy, they can lease. The problem comes when they lump physical gold and gold loans into one line on their financial reports. Despite the fact that unencumbered physical gold stored safely in a vault is a tangible asset, it suddenly isn’t anymore… Leased gold becomes a liability. So, you don’t really know what amount they actually hold.
Then there’s the political risk. Gold reserves can silently get caught up in some international fund scheme involving the IMF without anyone ever knowing.
The whole point of gold is that it doesn’t require you to trust the other guy. You own it. It’s there…
Be the individual who owns physical gold. Hold it outside the banking system, and don’t trust anyone’s reported reserves that can’t be independently verified.
2. Here are some Defense stocks men from the Silent Generation would’ve seen coming.
If you lived through World War II (maybe your parents did), you might see this one coming.
That’s because today’s world is creating some unlikely defense stocks, and even more interest in the metals futures market.
Here’s the story:
Back in the day, World War II transformed American industry.
Many companies that had once manufactured products for the every day consumer were enlisted into the war effort.
Candy makers became ration producers.
Painters became R&D think tanks for the invention of synthetic tires.
And automakers became America’s biggest bang, bang, pew, pew producers… They made bullets.
Well, we are on the same track today. Ammo is low, and America’s Military Industrial Complex needs expanding to refill the guns. Along with guns, there’s more…
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Pentagon Approaches Automakers, Manufacturers to Boost Weapons Production
“The Trump administration wants automakers and other American manufacturers to play a larger role in weapons production, reminiscent of a practice used during World War II.
Senior defense officials have held talks about producing weapons and other military supplies with the top executives of several companies, including Mary Barra, chief executive officer of General Motors, and Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motor, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The Pentagon is interested in enlisting the companies to use their personnel and factory capacity to increase production of munitions and other equipment as the wars in Ukraine and Iran deplete stocks.”
Here’s Ford Motor Company’s stock since the deal was announced (you can see the scoop a few months into 2026):
You can imagine what else the automakers will be asked to produce in modern times.
Not only bullets but, in order to modernize America’s aging military equipment, they’ll need suicide drones, robot dogs, and whatever else the future holds. Seductive sex robots to spy on the enemy!? I’m going out on a limb here. I don’t know, but whatever machination they come up with. It will require aluminum.
Aluminum has been on the rise since nations started racing for global supremacy.
Look below, Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs gave aluminum a good boost. –v
Since April 2025, five stories have driven the price of aluminum:
- Tariffs (the catalyst)
- China’s production cap (the supply ceiling)
- Genuine deficit (the inventory drawdown)
- Energy constraints (the reason new supply can’t respond quickly in the US)
- Electrification demand (the long-term pull)
Here’s what matters:
Those factors don’t include war manufacturing, and all the modern “toys” the Department of Defense plans to build with an extra $500 Billion in budget over the next several years.
Now, zoom out a bit and look at aluminum futures on the COMEX.
It is beginning to form a nice cup. If it starts going sideways, the same way the world is moving… you know what to do.
3. The truth is that most self-made billionaire’s wealth does not last to the third generation. But the determining factor is not always entrepreneurial spirit. There is an incentive that’s missing from today’s global monetary system. Here’s what it is.
It sucks, but most self-made billionaires’ families don’t hold on to their money. It gets spent. Misallocated, and genuinely lost by the second and third generations.
Sure, the entrepreneurial spirit gets lost along with the work ethic it took to get there. That’s unfortunate to say the least.
You can easily see the gap.
This past week, Michael Arouet posted this on X show exactly that, but what the post doesn’t show is the lack of a certain incentive. An incentive that makes for more savers than spenders.
In most countries billionaires are self-made. They invent new products or services that drive progress.
In Germany, Spain, Italy, and France, most billionaires inherited their wealth. Europe has simply lost the entrepreneurial spirit that once drove innovation and prosperity. pic.twitter.com/9tSdz1swqu
— Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) April 12, 2026
The thing is, the incentive to keep that money has been lost in today’s global monetary system.
In a fiat-driven world with easy, low-cost money. It is easier than ever for the wealth of the rich to feel unlimited.
It costs billionaire’s children very little to get loans.
The Cantillon Effect increases the value of their owned assets seemingly faster than they can spend it.
And once the kids start learning about “finance” instead of learning how to make money, everything in life seems more meaningless than ever.
Sound money makes a difference.
When it is harder to get money from banks, there is more incentive to save. And for those who have wealth, there is more incentive to “watch your flock,” keep what you own, and invest in assets that hold real value over longer periods of time. In other words, time preference changes. It changes from high to low as families think more about their future (and the money that gives a person power over it).
A global monetary system based on sound money will change incentives for everything… for the better.
