53 Comments

Great post, Tim.

That the US government and the Federal Reserve work together should've become clear to everyone in 2020 when they produced trillions of dollars, in part to create stimulus checks, 90% of which weren't necessary. Some of them went to the stock market anyway.

The military help the US provides to other countries is pure genius: The US "helps" by lending money that ends up in the US when those countries buy their weapons. They create money out of thin air and boost their manufacturing, while making other nations poorer.

Finally, I want to touch on the euro. It's often seen as a sign of unified Europe. Nothing could be further from the truth. The euro created more problems for smaller countries like Greece. They can no longer produce their own currency and make debt payments. They need euros, which is the European Central Bank, an entity that Greece doesn't control.

Owning assets is the only way to build wealth nowadays. We must be financially savvy in ways our parents couldn't even have dreamt of.

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Denis, if the assets we own don't increase in value faster than the inflation and currency devaluation, do you see that as an issue?

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By all means, Tim. It's a huge issue.

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Literally stealing from the people. You could also call it a "dilution" of wealth, the result is the same.

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Spot on.

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Own guns, firewood, a farm or garden. Real estate s good too but not big and fancy—-own several small homes in a good neighborhood.

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Why guns?

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Bitcoin 🙏

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Yes, that's one of the answers to the issue but it's so complex to explain. Do you own some Jan?

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It's beautifully simple yet complex at the same time. 

I might own some 😉 I know you own some - and I support the notion that everyone should own Bitcoin. It's rare when ownership of something changes one's way of thinking about the thing and other neighboring things. Owning BTC does this with people and it's profound.

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100%. I've been screaming from the rooftops about that very subject, via about 20% of my bulletins, for the past several years. 👊

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Same here Barry

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Your work will bear fruit my friend ✨, others are slowly waking up thanks to the dedication of people like you 🙏

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May 7
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Nice try, fake Tim DEAnning 😆

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Just blocked this spammer. Hopefully he goes to jail for stealing.

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I think about this differently. Am I right? I honestly don’t know. Time will tell. Here’s my take: When the government prints money, it does so to invest. The money doesn’t sit in a savings account. It’s circulating. So the question is whether the investments pay off. If they do, then like any investment, the value created is more (perhaps significantly more) than the original investment. Sometimes the investment has a clear financial value—a good investment in cheaper and cleaner energy has the possibility of a high return. Sometimes it’s harder to measure—if Ukraine loses the war, what will that “cost?”

I’m less agitated by the notion of the government printing money and more focused on whether the investments made are good ones.

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'What will that "cost"', is that a real question?

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Most of the money printed goes to “non-investment” government spending - welfare, social security (its low key insolvent but shhhh), “green” bribes etc.

If you give a crackhead $20 bucks you sure can put it in the “workforce investment” column but I’d not expect any return.

Oh, and the only winners in all the wars we’re funding are the weapons manufacturers.

Read today’s post by el gato malo

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Like when company founders dilute themselves (which is like inflation) because their bet is that the new shares that they issue (and how they can attract new talent with those shares) will outweigh the negative consequences of their inflation (dilution).

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Interesting take Dan. Where did you learn this perspective from?

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I think this is a very misguided opinion to how inflation hurts you. To your point, if the government printed money to invest and made returns that is "good", but the only way it actually helps is if the returns made were then distributed back to you, which will never happen. If they printed $100 billion and stole money from you to send to Ukraine for a war, you never see any return, but their defense contractors at Halliburton see tremendous gains. In California, they spent $20 billion from taxes on residents trying to solve the homeless problem, and the result? Even more homeless people. I have zero confidence in the government to solve my problems with my money when I can make much better returns on my own.

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The fact that not everyone can afford to read this & understand how it is important to know due to massive money problems including family relationships losing their houses from forfeiting their mortgages tells you the despair cuts deeper that what information is available.

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This hit me hard Paulo. Is this post new information for you?

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I haven't earned 40 hour week money since 2006. I don't have money problems & I am grateful. I just don't worry myself too much about global economics because I don't need to. I bust my ass in everything I do so i am rewarded. But I don't overly concern myself of not having enough. I had an offer for $50k a project but I took on $20k less dollars as it would sufficate the project because of excess which leads to debt.

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I wonder if you're on to something Paulo...worrying about this stuff won't fix it...

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its not meant to be fixed.

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This is a great explanation what happened since Breton woods and Nixon’s decision to get off the gold standard in 1971.

https://youtu.be/meOk6ttZbZ8?si=82kCkOlbTolvlUMC

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Thanks for sharing. Do you think money printing is bad?

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Is heroin bad?

The video shows how the price of gold is artificially depressed and details the ongoing shift of the rest of the world’s central banks towards purchasing gold and lowering the amount of USD they hold as reserve currency by selling their treasuries.

The US is sick. Unless the government spending is reigned in the death spiral will accelerate.

The lower income population will be wiped out through higher inflation (Argentina anyone?).

Buy income producing real estate or essential businesses to preserve your income stream.

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What is the definition of hard assets then? Are gold/silver even that useful if even that stuff is "fake"?

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By definition assets produce income. So precious metals are not a hedge against inflation especially since the central banks control them.

I have a commercial building producing 150k a year. Real estate is the best in the right context.

Even though the stock market is overvalued in my opinion a good mix of dividend stocks is a great addition to a healthy portfolio.

Owning bitcoin is pointless. Now with the crypto funds the big boys are in on it and can influence its price by the shear amount of money they put/pull in the crypto market. Also, how do you get income out of it? Might as well buy some gold bullion and bury it in your backyard.

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The Jared Bernstein interview was embarrassing to watch. I'm guessing you saw it in the "Finding the Money" documentary. Fantastic movie, and should be watched by anyone that cares about how our financial system actually works.

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It was a train wreck interview. What did you think of the rest of the movie?

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I loved it. But I have also been a huge fan of MMT for the past 10 years and am enrolled in the MMT masters program out of Australia. These are difficult concepts for most to grasp, especially since the mainstream has unwittingly preached the opposite for years. For example, seeing the national debt as the Treasury's liability AND the private sector's asset is not obvious for most. One of my goals is to break these ideas into more digestable writing chunks. As that develops, pretty sure I'll see you in one of your challenges.

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Hey Tim: Great, thoughtful piece. I also appreciate the emphasis on self education. Most of us don't think of our financial lives when we continue on a path of education and self-discovery. Do you have any go-to publications or reads that you rely upon to ensure you are aware of, and understand, the current, ever-changing financial markets?

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Thank you for this. I learned a lot

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Your message sounds like there was no inflation before 2008.

But yes, most people got poorer, especially in the last two years.

What's you idea of a hard asset?

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I have a question? If banks would have gone bankrupt after 2008 unless they used this print money, then borrow against debt while fiddling with the interest rates; what would you suggest they do instead?

When will buying hard assets and land as a hedge against inflation run into needs for large demographic of older people become a hurdle because of sudden capital gains? The Canadian Federaf

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Sorry, I bumped send. The Canadian government proposed new tax on property that is not your principal residence this year. The plan was set aside for one year, but raising taxes off purchase of hard assets seems to be wiping with the same hand you eat with.

Modern Monetary Theory - gimme gimmeee gimme OldFashioned swinlingd

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I agree with Katheryn Austin fitts…each state should print their own $

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Excellent post! Very insightful and disturbing at the same time. Is control of the populace the end game? Elites running the world using the financial systems to do so? The interview was beyond a train wreck. Jared was so bad that I thought he was acting the role of a buffoon, playing to the interviewer, story and camera.

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Thanks Tim, reading your regular mail feels a bit like listening to a smart friend who has my best interests at heart. About this particular piece: I always wondered why I should try to break even at the end of each month, while my gvmt just does what it bloody well likes, leaving me and my offspring to foot the bill. My wonder has slowly turned into anger.

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The federal reserve is the government. They just use the term federal reserve as a front. This has been a plan set up in 1913 when coincidentally the income tax and federal reserve were both created in conjunction. Their plan is to intentionally destroy the economy to usher in the new central bank digital currency/CBDC to give them more power over the masses. Basically putting lipstick on a big fat ugly pig

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May 11
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Ya let me get right on that clown lol

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Glad you write this. It can potentially help a lot of people.

This reminds me of a quote from my professor in my first economics class (a former banker btw):

“The government is the only entity in the world that can take a perfectly good asset like paper and make it worthless by printing on it.”

I’m startong ovet again - pretty late in the game.

My short term plan is to create cash flow income (over and above current needs) from writing online.

1) invest in income producing real estate

2) start acquiring other cash flow assets

Build up the value of my Roth and use it to buy real estate.

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Excellent write up!

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