Dr. Mark Thornton predicts triple-digit silver prices and new all-time highs in 2026, driven by monetary debasement and dollar degradation once the Persian Gulf situation resolves and long-term precious metal trends resume.
Gold and silver serve as the only lifelines against government corruption, economic decay, and fiat monetary systems that enable endless government spending through monetary expansion.
Hyperinflation could form suddenly and surprise everyone as demand for dollars declines due to the petrodollar’s decline and rise of alternative currencies like Bitcoin and gold, causing dollar value to collapse.
The US dollar faces existential threat when people stop holding dollars and shift to gold or cryptocurrencies, triggering rapid price inflation across the economy.
Middle East war creates supply shocks in oil, labor, and transportation, driving higher CPI and PPI statistics that prevent the Fed from justifying rate cuts.
The war benefits Trump supporters in oil, natural gas, farming, fertilizer, real estate, banking, and tourism while hurting BRICS nations who are main importers of Persian Gulf oil and gas.
Dr. Thornton expects a stock market crisis in late 2026 due to malinvestments and overextension of credit in technology, AI, data centers, private equity, and credit sectors.
Individuals should invest in precious metals, diversify assets, stockpile essential goods like food and water, and familiarize themselves with emergency preparedness measures to survive potential hyperinflation.
Stacking goods like canned and paper products while rotating use protects against inflation similarly to precious metals investing and builds emergency preparedness capacity.
Rise of protectionism, trading blocs, and government overreach coupled with petrodollar decline signals shift toward socialist and fascist economic system as politicians attempt to consolidate power before potential collapse.
Iran now allows oil shipments through Strait of Hormuz only if payments are made in Chinese yuan instead of dollars, directly challenging the 1974 US-Saudi petrodollar deal that established dollar dominance in global oil trade.
Saudi Arabia announced it won’t use the petrodollar as the only payment method anymore, breaking from the traditional cycle of taking oil payments in dollars and recycling them into US treasuries to keep interest rates low, asset prices high, and consumer goods cheap.
China and Gulf countries are developing mBridge, an alternative payment system described as a BRICS+ gold currency basket with 40% gold backing, designed to facilitate oil trade completely outside the dollar system.
2018 launch of yuan-denominated oil futures in Shanghai created the first credible petrodollar alternative, while 2022 US sanctions on Russia forced Russia to sell oil to China and India in non-dollar currencies, accelerating the petroyuan adoption.
Gulf producers have been settling some oil sales to China in yuan since 2023, with yuan now convertible to physical gold through Shanghai gold exchange, creating an oil-for-gold settlement pathway that bypasses dollars entirely.
Saudi Arabia sells significantly more oil to China than the US (now top customer) and is expanding Shanghai gold exchange network by building a second vault in Saudi Arabia, reducing need to hold dollar reserves and treasuries while strengthening its monetary independence.
Trump’s directive for countries to secure their own oil from the Persian Gulf dismantles the post-WWII global order where the US provided security in exchange for economic growth, forcing allies to build independent military postures and navies to protect resource shipments from the Persian Gulf to Europe and East Asia.
The US deliberately ending basing agreements and fostering competition among allies will trigger the fastest reduction in American strategic power in history, comparable to the Soviet collapse at the end of the Cold War but with more global reach.
Moving from the US-led security system to individual countries maintaining their own militaries will guarantee interstate conflict over resource allocation and push former allies away from the American umbrella, creating strategic competitors for generations.
The US military must now plan for potential conflicts with former allies and reduce its global military footprint and power projection capability beyond the Western Hemisphere, marking the beginning of the greatest collapse in American strategic power.
The US Navy, despite being the most powerful at sea currently, will face challenges maintaining global presence and influence as basing agreements are ended and allied competition increases.
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