“Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt.” Benjamin Franklin We left off last week in 1900 when gold officially became the only metal redeemable by the US government as money. The silver standard was gone as with it went the inflationary impulses of increased silver finds like the Comstock lode that …
Bygone Relics
“Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants – but debt is the money of slaves.”― Norm Franz, Money and Wealth in the New Millennium Today I want to talk about the greatest quarterback of all time. He played in 10 titles games while winning 7 of …
Do you know what the equivalent of Covid was in the 1840s? It was the American Indian, it was risk versus reward at America’s finest. That’s right as the more daring individuals took off from St Louis Missouri and started the long journey west across the sunlit plains, they encountered the Sioux, the Cheyenne, the …
I’ve spent much of the weekend glued to the events of the Middle East. On Saturday morning, Hamas invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip by air, land and sea. I wrote a bit about this for Looking Backwards Looking Forwards but let’s recap what happened before we try to figure out what is really happening. …
When the deepest and most liquid treasury market in the world starts bouncing around like my EKG watching Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, we might have a problem. Barron’s had a great article by Randall Forsyth talking about a new fiscal regime or what Luke Gromen has called fiscal dominance which is that the debt …
Good morning and welcome back to Bygone Relics, I’m C Thomas Printer. Let me tell you a little story that was made into one of the saddest movies of all-time. In 1930, the great Australian racehorse Phar Lap had won 7 straight races going into the Melbourne Cup. The big red horse won “the race …
“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” Henry Ford in 1922 Good morning and welcome back to Bygone Relics, I’m C Thomas Printer and the reason we talked about Fordism last …
“Two percent of the people think; three percent of people think they think, and 95 percent would rather die than think.” Henry Ford Good morning and welcome to Bygone Relics and that quote sums up why we are here. Folks, we are the ones that will have to do the thinking. Today we are going …
“Arrogance is the camouflage of insecurity.” Tim Fargo Welcome back to Bygone Relics, I’m C Thomas Printer and I suddenly remembered my Charlemagne and my Ilsa Schneider. Last week we speculated recklessly that China might be playing possum and appearing weaker than they are to lull us into a sense of comfort. I get the …
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War Good morning and welcome back to Bygone Relics, I’m C Thomas Printer and today we are going to live recklessly. It can be easy to follow the crowd, and simply repeat what others are talking about and …