Posts by Marc Nonnenkamp

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (October 1, 2021) It is so sad to see happen and to have to say, but the USA today is collapsing much like the former USSR did in 1991.  We could be about one month away from a default on the US national debt, which will likely translate into a massive deflationary collapse following the current bout with hyperinflation.  The last time something like this happened in world history was between 1923 and 1949.  In 1923, a number of countries in Central Europe experienced hyperinflation due to the burdens placed upon them by the Treaty of Versailles (1919).  These countries included Germany, Austria, the Free City of Danzig and Poland.  Hyperinflation especially devastated the middle class.  These countries did try to recover after 1923, but the deflationary collapse of 1929 (the stock market crash) totally destroyed whatever progress they had made over the 6 year period from 1923 to 1929.  The deflationary collapse of 1929 was a worldwide phenomenon which was not even totally “cured” by the massive global deficit spending due to World War Two (1939 to 1945).  In the USA, stock prices, rents and real estate prices did not recover their 1929 nominal values until 1949 – 20 years after the fact. The emerging demographic collapse (which will eventually translate into a massive deflationary economic and financial collapse) evident in the USA is by no means confined to America – it is entirely global in its scope.  A recent poll of 45,000 major global employers found that 69 percent of them now have severe problems in filling positions (jobs).  Things are so bad that they are willing to hire inexperienced people and train them, which is very costly and time-consuming.  The situation will not get better – it will only get worse…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (September 1, 2021) 80 percent of Americans now pay $10 or less per month for health insurance (evidence of a highly subsidized price) whereas some people on the other end of the financial spectrum pay thousands of Dollars per month for the same type of health insurance.  This is yet another example of socialism wrecking the economy of the USA.  Healthcare in the USA is by far the most expensive in the world, but the end product is far from being the best – health in a number of other countries is actually quite a bit better. The government first entered the healthcare industry in a very big way in the USA upon the advent of Medicare in 1963.  Up to this time, healthcare in the USA was very affordable.  Most people visited a doctor’s office upon a walk-in basis with no appointment needed.  Most people paid for services in cash, which was very reasonably priced.  Women giving birth in hospitals would often stay until they were ready to return home – there was no pressure to leave as soon as possible.  Doctors even made house calls, visiting people in their homes.  Very few people had medical insurance.  People with medical insurance included those with long term health problems or those employed by larger employers such as the government and larger companies. The “goal” of socialist government is provide “free” and “universal” healthcare.  In truth, absolutely nothing is free.  Those who have to pay the bill are the ones who suffer the most.  And when a government spends too much money, the national currency becomes worthless – something we are experiencing first hand right now.  Furthermore, the end result will not be that everyone has good healthcare.  The end result will be that nobody…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (August 1, 2021) The cost of living, the rate of price inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) can be measured many ways.  One of the more accurate methods in the recent past has been to measure prices in terms of value of gold.  Doing so gives us a much higher rate of inflation (and a far worthless fiat currency) compared to traditional methods.  If we were to measure inflation in terms of the price of Bitcoin BTC since the advent of the Bitcoin BTC white paper in 2009, the result is far more devastating.  A consumer price index has been kept for the USA at least since the year 1700, or before the USA became an independent nation – when it was still a colony of England.  The CPI had a value of 130 in the year 1700, which decreased to an all-time record low of just 63 in the year 1739 – in other words, price deflation of 37 percent in the span of 39 years.  It is amazing to consider today, but that means that fiat money actually increased in value back then.  Compared to today, that sounds like paradise. The American CPI reached an index value of 100 by the year 1770, and the last time the index had a value of 100 was the year 1899.  The CPI did indeed fluctuate in between 1770 and 1899, but the net change in that 129 year time span was nothing at all.  Once again, it is amazing to consider that the US Dollar held its value so well back then. The CPI surpassed an index value of 200 by the year 1919 (right after the end of World War One), 300 by 1951 (during the Korean War), 400 by 1968 (during the…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (July 1, 2021) The record high price for a Bitcoin BTC Internet domain name reached USD $11,020,500.00 as of June 2, 2021.  The cryptocurrency crash in effect since April 14, 2021 reduced total cryptocurrency market capitalization by 44.99 percent by July 1, 2021.  This engineered crash is serving to scare off retail investors (small investors and new investors) and add to the holdings of large investors – institutions, governments, billionaires, millionaires and whales.  Wealth is being transferred into ever fewer hands, and the global wealth gap is widening.  The middle class is disappearing, old industries / families / companies are dying out, and the fewer wealthy younger people will be heavily concentrated in high technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, the Blockchain and cryptocurrency.  The top 9 holders of cryptocurrencies own or manage 71 percent of all cryptocurrency market value worldwide.  The other factor is that Bitcoin BTC and other currencies are coming under worldwide governmental regulation.  Once this phase passes, their values will soar.  There is finally a ranking of sovereign countries likely to accept cryptocurrency as legal tender:  https://coinmarketcap.com/legal-tender-countries/. El Salvador has become the very first country to adopt Bitcoin BTC as legal tender no different from how El Salvador accepts the US Dollar.  They have been followed by Paraguay and Panama.  Every country should do this, but most national governments are leaning in the direction of launching their own CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency).  A CBDC differs from Bitcoin BTC and more than 10,732 privately-launched cryptocurrencies in that it will be controlled by a sovereign government, which more than likely will want to control how, when, where and how much its citizens will spend.  Such control is not good – it takes away individual liberty, it tends to be very inflationary by nature (example:…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (June 1, 2021) Bitcoin BTC is the oldest and biggest cryptocurrency.  Its market dominance has fallen back to just 42.3 percent of total cryptocurrency market capitalization, but it already has a very impressive rank among all global currencies:  https://coinmarketcap.com/fiat-currencies/.  The current cryptocurrency market correction since April 14, 2021 sent total market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies down by 47.12 percent by May 23, 2021, and the market has been recovering since then (down 34.93 percent since April 14, 2021).  What investor activity has this translated into?  Simply put, small retail investors and new investors have bailed out at lower prices – a very big mistake on their part.  On the other hand, large investor entities (banks, funds, governments, billionaires and whales) have been cornering what is left of the market with a voracious appetite.  As of April 7, 2021 fully 73 percent of the world’s billionaires (often referred to as the “Forbes List”) are cryptocurrency billionaires.  When one adds other high technology, nanotechnology and biotechnology billionaires to this, the proportion of high technology billionaires out of all Billionaires likely rises to an incredible 80 to 90 percent of the world’s billionaires – and this before the bulk of the hyperinflationary crash and following deflationary collapse has hit global markets.  After the dust settles, old industries, old companies, old technologies and old families will be all but gone forever.  Traditional commercial and investment banks are dying out very rapidly.  One can now deposit US Dollars into Gemini Dollars, which maintain a constant face value and which pay an annual yield of 7.40 percent – 5.92 times more than the highest paying US commercial bank deposit today, and an incredible 105 times more than the average Money Market Account. The US Federal Government under President Joe Biden…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (May 1, 2021) Bitcoin BTC hit a new record high of USD $64,979.17 on April 14, 2021.  The highest asking price for one collectible Bitcoin BTC on E-Bay stands at USD $499,999.50.  Bitcoin BTC domain name asking prices on E-Bay are as high as USD $10,834.200.00 (May 1, 2021) and as low as USD $4,000.00…………..lower prices are for “Bitcoin related” names.  None of this should be surprising.  Remember that when Bitcoin began trading upon exchanges for the general public in 2016, one Bitcoin BTC cost just USD $427.00.  We are talking about the future here – about high technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, about the Blockchain and about Artificial Intelligence (AI) – notably about eventual Artificial General Intelligence and Artificial Super Intelligence.  As the value of government fiat currency entirely disappears, the value of privately launched cryptocurrencies will soar into the universe. Change is happening rapidly – and it even seems to be accelerating as we move forward in time.  Fiat currencies all over the world are quickly losing their purchasing power, because governments everywhere have lost all responsible fiscal control.  Governments and central banks are “printing” (i.e. creating) new units of money to infinity with no end in sight.  The inevitable switch to encrypted digital electronic currency (“cryptocurrency”) is actually hastening this alarming trend.  The global pandemic has forced too many people to stay physically isolated, it has forced too many small family-owned businesses out of business entirely (small business will always be the bedrock of the global economy) and the political “answer” to this disaster is to create even more money out of thin air and to pay it to people and industries (more likely big business as opposed to small business) on a regular basis.  This is the reason why Central Bank Digital…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (April 2, 2021) Citigroup has finally admitted that Bitcoin may indeed become the new global currency of the future.  As always, large entities such as commercial banks are very late into the game.  This admission merely proves that this is already taking place right now.  The US Federal Reserve is planning an official American cryptocurrency which will eventually replace the paper fiat US Dollar (the so-called “Fedcoin” due in a few years………….too little & too late).  The USA is entering this field very late, behind many other countries – especially in Asia.  This is yet more evidence of the inflation (even hyperinflation) decimating the US Dollar and other primary global currencies such as the Euro and the Pound Sterling.  Hyperinflation has no mercy whatsoever.  Do you remember what happened to the former German Reichsmark during the time period of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933)?  During the devastating hyperinflation of 1923, one BILLION German Reichsmarks could not even purchase one pound of butter.  If this were to happen today (very likely considering what is already happening to the values between paper fiat currencies and digital electronic cryptocurrencies backed by high technology, the Blockchain & Artificial Intelligence) we will see retail prices increase by a whopping ten million fold. The first step toward “basic minimum income” in the USA (i.e. “welfare for almost everyone) were the first 3 “retail” stimulus packages in the USA under both the Trump and the Biden Administrations.  There were also at least 5 “corporate” welfare stimulus packages (i.e. subsidies for certain industries and businesses).  Starting in July 2021, something of a monthly child welfare credit will go into place.  The Blockchain is a part of this.  The great “global economic reset” is already underway.  The second step will be the “global currency…