By Erik Wallbank - February 23, 2025
A friend texted that I was apparently correct about gold going to $3000. What he doesn't realize is that gold is on the way to $30,000. The future for gold is all over but the shouting. Gold will experience ups and downs on its way up, and likely be subject
to selloffs because it is real liquid money, but the future for gold is only bright and shiny.
As for the cryptos, bitcoin, fart-coin, TrumpCoin, anything capable of rising 30%, Monday, and correcting 30%, Tuesday, will never be recognized as a store of value. For 5000 years, gold has been, and will alone be money. And it has only just begun. Why is the United States beside the point? Because the measure is not to be tariffs, land grabs, or any art of the deal. The future will be decided by debt—and debt alone.
Is Trump beside the point? He is, but that said, he is going after institutions/graft that need wiped off the face of the republic. He's done more in a month that his predecessors did in years. But DOGE doesn't change the inevitable—at best it slows it.
Trump is extolling President McKinley, a tariff colonizer. But this is not 1897, and only marginal players will succumb Trump's bullying. Back home in the States, Americans, seeing the FBI/IRS, and their ilk, about to be made accountable, along with illegal entry into the US being stopped/reversed—go about in unquestioned exuberance for Trump. But Trump is the face of US, bald-faced imperialism. Under sneaky Obama and ineffectual Biden, US imperialism moved below the surface, but Trump puts it out in the
open. Trump is the same guy who boasted the stealing of Syria's oil. And: I'll build a wall and Mexico will pay for it. Is Trump 2.0 that same guy, but with updated rhetoric?
Trump, not knowing rules of the game, betrays geo-political ignorance. He chides a reporter for not knowing BRICS formed for a bad purpose (dethroning the dollar). Trump doesn't know who's in BRICS, and doesn't know why BRICS came into being. Trump does not see the historical significance of unipolar/multipolar. He sees the world becoming multipolar, but multipolar for Trump has a different meaning: how can he go about stripping multipolar nations of power—to restore a lost US preeminence. Trump views the world as a game of schoolyard chess where he threatens pieces incapable of defending themselves. Be you, Canada, Venezuela, Columbia, you best look out.
Trump sees the world has changed to where he can't take on Russia/China militarily, so he engages in colonizing—sphere of influence colonizing of weak players. Trump rightfully wants out of Ukraine. But Trump, an imperialist, does it by coercion and force. And with Ukraine no longer of use, he's kicking it under the bus. By that act, Trump identifies as an economic colonizer. He wants back $500B for $100/200B we put in. To be paid in rare earths, and ports, He wants 50% of future profits from oil/ gas.
He says Zelensky never should have started the war. He didn't — we did, beginning in 2014 (some of the military buildup coming under Trump). His economic colonialism will destroy Ukraine (even more than at present). This is the stuff of the Treaty of Versailles
that ended in German hyper-inflation—later giving rise to Adolph Hitler/Nazis—WW2.
It's good to see Tulsi, RFK Jr, and Patel confirmed, along with Vance upbraiding the EU as haters of free speech. But does JD's support extend to Palestinian free speech? As blame is shoveled on Zelensky, where is the atonement for the US as a major contributor to an EU climate of fear. The US took-out NordStream, destroying EU's industrial base. EU factories, w/out option, re-locate to the US, while Europeans live at subsistence levels, paying multiples for US energy—in the name of US imperialism.
Is Trump on a mission of peace? That's the $64 question. Does he want out of Ukraine, so he can pivot to Asia and China? He clearly wants to work with Russia, to break the bond between Russia/China. He says it it front—he's going to un-unite them.
Trump has the right cabinet for conducting war with China. Can't do better than Rubio/Waltz. Will Trump be successful at driving a China/Russia wedge? No chance. Trust for the US in China/Russia is zero. They take Trump at his word that he intends to make the US number 1, increasing it geographically—at their expense. Russians
and Chinese are preparing and focusing to fight a war with the US — in the near term. China sees Trump as incapable of understanding that BRICS exists to get the Global South out from under a weaponized dollar—and Trump's grand strategy: to subjugate China. They know that Trump/Rubio sees China as the biggest threat to the US — ever.
To deal with China, Ukraine has to be solved—and it has to look like a Trump win. Putin will not back-off from demands, so any solution has to incorporate a larger agreement that could include missile defense, surety from threat for Europe/Russia, ridding Russia of 2000 sanctions, and giving back to Russia, stolen FOREX reserves. Trump/Rubio say the sanctions are because of the invasion—BS and they know it. Many Russia sanctions stem from the US coup in Ukraine (2014) — when Putin made it clear that Russia would not accept subservience to the US—8 yrs prior to the invasion.
Donald Trump won the election with a mandate, but given the size of his personality, and limited geo-political acumen, brings risks to the US/world. Trump adheres to a constitutional interpretation (Unitary Executive Theory). The president, being the only Executive elected, requires broad-discretionary powers—more kingly than presidential. Presidential duty number 1 is saving the dollar, and the only way that can happen is by cost-cutting/productivity. Whatever Musk can glean will be small potatoes compared to the defense budget and entitlements. Trump's suggestion that China/Russia/US slash defense by half requires a working relationship with China/Russia. Cutting US defense spending in half leaves US defense larger than the next 6 nations — combined.
Trump demands dollar reserve currency status, necessitating trade imbalance, not in our favor. Productivity requires he take on Wall Street—not a dollar transfer to the 1%. Each year there are fewer places for critics of the Empire to travel safely. Anyone
asking open questions in the EU or British Commonwealth — goes to jail. When Trump can no longer stop history, will he allow critiques of his sacred cows? Do you have gold/silver?
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