“When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught to me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast to my words; keep my commandments and live.”
~ Proverbs 4: 3-4
Written by Bryan Lutz, Editor at Dollarcollapse.com:
I decided to return to sending out a few Sunday thoughts. Last year, they seemed to be more popular, and I like writing them. And many people like sharing their two cents too.
Sometimes these thoughts are on the economy, life, or hard assets.
Whatever helps, warns, or is hopeful. That’s what I’m interested in…
So, here we go.
Here are three Sunday morning thoughts for you:
1. The Most Effective Prophets Spoke to the GI Generation Like This
Yesterday, I wrote to you about the heroes of the last Fourth Turning (1920s to 1945).
They fought for stability and freedom.
And their grandchildren, the Boomers, remember the benefits of everything their grandparents worked so hard for.
Today, Boomers are the Prophets of our generation, heralding the losses of decay, destruction, and the devaluation of the dollar.
One reader replied to yesterday’s email saying:
“Thank you so much for that encouraging article this morning! Yes, I am one of the ‘Boomers”. And, Yes, I wonder where have the heroes gone? I well remember “The Greatest Generation”.
Yes, of course, the Boomer generation was taught to respect their elders. Their grandparents were the heroes of their generation.
The myth that they were something more than human had already been established.
They had sacrificed more, worked harder, and experienced the unthinkable. More than any child could have imagined.
And who did the GI generation, the heroes turn to in time of crisis?
They turned to many of the principles taught by the prophets of the “older generation.”
The first emerging heroes were the first to listen…
The first to incline their ear.
Why?
They were personal.
They re-told the stories of the past.
And they avoided public confrontation.
For example, Alfred Lansburgh who wrote ‘The Money Revelation’ spoke to his son in a series of letters.
He starts each letter with a personal note and then turns it into a lesson.
And then there was Frederick Hayek, who deferred and delayed from open debate and public criticism of John Maynard Keynes.
Instead, he lent his ways to the old saying, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”
Hayek knew the truth. Yet lived by example.
During World War II, he volunteered to watch for German Bombers in the night on the roof of Oxford. And Keynes? He provided the supportive housing for Hayek after he was displaced from his home.
2. Treasury Bond Projections are Out of Control.
The sudden rate of increase in US debt is disturbing.
Yet, it’s not like the massive influx of sovereign debt is anything new.
The United States printed 60% of the total money supply every printed from 2020 to 2023.
One of the first consequences has been a less marketable US bond.
China has been the best example. They’re dumping bonds at record rates. And then there’s the US credit rating.
Last year, Moody’s downgraded the United States’ credit outlook from stable to negative.
The Financial Trends writes:
“On Friday, Moody’s, the international credit rating agency, downgraded its outlook on the US from “stable” to “negative,” pointing to massive fiscal deficits, and a significant diminution in debt affordability as the primary reasons behind the downgrade.”
This year, the US continues to head in the same direction.
There’s about $1.9 Trillion in US Treasury Bonds set for 2024.
That’s almost a 30% increase in treasury bond issuance…
If you were to do it, you could almost stack 2021 and 2022 bonds on top of each other and it would be equal to bond issuance in 2024.
And honestly, most of those bonds are needed to facilitate government spending, and federal budget deficits.
3. Bitcoin is hard to ignore.
Bitcoin is hard to ignore for contrarians.
After every halving, there’s a slight decline in valuation for the token and corporations(BTC miners) relying on it.
For example, those businesses mining Bitcoin see their share prices decrease.
But after several months of continued Bitcoin buying, there comes a supply shortage, then prices go up.
Mark Jeftovic, our Publisher, shared what the process looked like after the last 3 halving events in the latest edition of The Bitcoin Capitalist:
Trajectory for the next 12 months looks pretty enticing, and hard to ignore…
