3 Sunday Morning Thoughts – August 30 Edition

Written by Bryan Lutz, Editor at Dollarcollapse.com:

Alright, here’s what we do.

Every Sunday I share a few thoughts with you, and other subscribers at Dollar Collapse.

Sometimes we’ll talk about economics, sometimes recent events, and other times, life.

Here are three thoughts for this morning:

1. Personal saving rates for American’s are falling toward a new all-time low. Counter-intuitively, the first thing to do before a collapse, or deep economic depression is NOT to save money.

It may come as a surprise to you today, even though it’s important to save money(in the right places), but saving money shouldn’t be your first concern.

A new chart covering US personal savings rate came out this week. It doesn’t look good.

We are looking at personal savings rates close to the happy hour of a 2006-2009 when much of America was just discovering that credit is not unlimited. Now it’s the other way around. Credit has been so cheap for so long that now even a small increase in interest rates is becoming incredibly expensive.

Friend, unless we have the assets to back our desire for debt, it should be considered expensive.

That’s why paying off your credit cards and paying down your mortgage as fast as you can is the best thing you can do for yourself. Stay clear of the living off of credit cards like many people are doing today. In my opinion, pay them off. Stack some cash… and then enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet while you continue to build.

A lot of people are do the opposite, but debt… shouldn’t be fashionable unless you are incredibly wealthy, or rich.

2. After competing for critical minerals, nations will focus on the next thing becoming scarcer and more expensive than anyone is willing to admit: agricultural.

The United States, China, and let’s not forget the European Union all want critical minerals essential for their energy transition and technological advancement in the AI race.

However, there’s something else that’s definitely more important than the survival of government. Government’s are temporary, synthetic, and by nature, depend on intervention as a means to justify their existence. So, if they want people to govern… the more important commodity to consider influencing would be agriculture.

Commodity prices are at 12 year highs and still going up.

Meanwhile…..

Agricultural commodities are now at their highest level in a decade.

Yet another unintended consequence of higher energy prices.

Watch the Fed be forced to walk back its hawkish stance even as inflation continues to creep higher.

It’s not like these guys have… pic.twitter.com/uB7d8bYTO5

— Otavio (Tavi) Costa (@TaviCosta) August 23, 2026

Commodity prices are going up because the world is fracturing. Globalization is ending and the world’s major producers of certain commodities like corn, wheat, and sugar are all caught up in a world of higher gasoline prices, longer shipping routes, and protectionist policies.

The reason governments treat agriculture as a secondary issue is because the world of farming runs on diesel. And last I checked, diesel was sitting at around $100 more per barrel than crude oil. Diesel at $187. Crude oil at $87.

But crops take time, anything that can be done to increase the amount of food production, or support regional farmers would reduce dependence on global prices.

Along with fighting for oil, countries may soon find themselves fighting over food supply.

3. New Fed Chair, Kevin Warsh made the annual Jackson Hole speech this week. We got a typical response from gold. While everyone is focused on inflation, Warsh is still not addressing the elephant in the room.

Gold’s price dropped a little over $100, on Friday.

It’s mostly profit-taking and a response to more of Warsh’s “I don’t like inflation” talk, which the Fed would typically respond to buy raising interest rates. Meanwhile, Warsh still isn’t addressing the elephant in the room.

While talking tough against inflation, Warsh is letting the money supply grow at its fasted rate since COVID. Twelve to eighteen months from now, we’ll begin to feel the effects. Except by then, Warsh will have to address the inflation the Fed’s already pumped into the economy.

There is no turning back.

The Fed will be forced to tighten monetary supply and at the same time pander demand from the US Treasury for more supply. Just like a vacuum, functioning fiat monetary systems only work when the flow of money is going one way…

In the big picture, gold is going up.