You have a true talent of explaining the complicated simply. I was trying to explain this to my mom just last night, when she was so excited about some silver that she bought last year being worth so much more now. Somehow me trying to explain the dollar slipping and us starting to lose world currency status, didn’t land nearly as concisely and yet comprehensively as what you just wrote. I’ll be sharing this with her.
Getting to this a little late (spent the last 3 days digging out from under the snowstorm).
Not to pile on the bad news, but on top the sobering events Mike talks about, there's this...
Every participant in the AI technology sector, from startups to data centers to AI model providers, is losing money on every transaction, and surviving only through continuous infusions of debt and venture capital rather than actual revenue. This has created an interconnected system where banks have loaned hundreds of billions for data centers serving unprofitable AI companies, venture capitalists are trapped holding worthless stakes with no exit strategy, and stock analysts have stopped asking basic questions about sustainability. When any single link in this chain breaks; whether an AI startup runs out of funding, a data center defaults on its loans, or venture capital dries up; the entire trillion-dollar edifice will collapse, potentially triggering a financial crisis worse than the dot-com bubble.
Insightful; this piece truly resonated, remeinding me of how important a strong core is, not just for my Pilates practise, but for global economic stability when markets are clearly signalling a shift towards tangible value over abstract promises.
Depressing and utterly predictable given our current economic and political trajectory. The current system is simply unsustainable. Thanks for posting.
One more point....what is hard about this issue is that there is a lot of confusing and bad information about this topic. Plis there are many evangelicals who want this to happen. The collapse of the dollar was a sign of the collapse of the government and a sign for the rapture. I heard in evangelical churches about the collapse of the dollar being a sign for the rapture. There is some sick shit taught in charismatic evangelical churches about topics like these.
Always find it fascinating when rare earths are discussed that my country...the one that has also been seriously threatened as recently as this past weekend is often overlooked. Yet, we feel we are on the chopping block and worthy of some consideration.
Perhaps we are left off the program because we have a competent, world renowned leader as PM to guide our tenuous relationship with our once solid ally who apparently no longer needs us and considers itself to have been our life support for a very long time.
However, this former friend, Canada, is a significant producer of silver, typically ranking among the top global producers with over 1,000 tonnes produced annually. Production is concentrated in British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Quebec, with many mines operating as polymetallic, extracting silver as a byproduct of lead, zinc, copper, and gold. New mining is being done in the Yukon Territory which has vast, until recently, untapped high-grade silver reserves. ❤️🇨🇦
This is a bit overwhelming and the solutions aren’t exactly stellar either. Thank you for putting this on the table Mike. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the theater?
My son has been telling me since late last year to buy gold or silver. I didn’t quite get it. Now I understand why. Thank you for the clear clarification.
We still have mineral wealth in the ground, just no way to refine it, I watched every single metal smelter shut down in Montana in my lifetime, we were an industrial powerhouse producing huge volumes of copper, silver and gold, lead and zinc up until the 70s.This industrial capacity was eroded away in the 70s mostly but has almost completely ended now. We exported the dirty dangerous jobs and made ourselves completely dependent on imported products. Yes it’s cleaner in most Montana towns that had smelters, but look at the cost, entire generations unable to earn a living where they were born. Completely degraded industrial capacity that would be prohibitively expensive to replace if that was even possible. But we saved the pristine environment for tourist to enjoy and eventually for some super wealthy out of state land owner to buy. Now we don’t even have operating saw mills in Montana, our wood has to be shipped out to be even milled into lumber now. We used to manage the forest in Montana which ment timber harvest which helped to prevent firestorms. We don’t even do that anymore, just saving it to burn, while the wood at Home Depot is imported from Canada. Looks like a crises of leadership for about 50 years.
You lost me at “The stock market is being held up by seven tech companies valued on the promise of what the future may - or may not - bring.”
3 Mag-7 stocks are down ~10% or more off their highs. Microsoft got crushed on poorly received guidance. Oracle is down ~50%. This isn’t irrational AI bubble territory.
Meanwhile the cap-weighted and equal-weighted S&P 500 has been hitting all time highs. Mega cap tech isn’t driving the rally, the other 493 are.
You have a true talent of explaining the complicated simply. I was trying to explain this to my mom just last night, when she was so excited about some silver that she bought last year being worth so much more now. Somehow me trying to explain the dollar slipping and us starting to lose world currency status, didn’t land nearly as concisely and yet comprehensively as what you just wrote. I’ll be sharing this with her.
Linda - happy for your mom! If she has any current investment tips we’re all ears 😁
Well, that raised more than a few goose bumps!
Thanks for drawing so many strands together so comprehensibly.
Getting to this a little late (spent the last 3 days digging out from under the snowstorm).
Not to pile on the bad news, but on top the sobering events Mike talks about, there's this...
Every participant in the AI technology sector, from startups to data centers to AI model providers, is losing money on every transaction, and surviving only through continuous infusions of debt and venture capital rather than actual revenue. This has created an interconnected system where banks have loaned hundreds of billions for data centers serving unprofitable AI companies, venture capitalists are trapped holding worthless stakes with no exit strategy, and stock analysts have stopped asking basic questions about sustainability. When any single link in this chain breaks; whether an AI startup runs out of funding, a data center defaults on its loans, or venture capital dries up; the entire trillion-dollar edifice will collapse, potentially triggering a financial crisis worse than the dot-com bubble.
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Still valid 60 years on!
Update: Mr. Dylan's Hard Rain was fair warnin'
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sfXaFwSym4I
Insightful; this piece truly resonated, remeinding me of how important a strong core is, not just for my Pilates practise, but for global economic stability when markets are clearly signalling a shift towards tangible value over abstract promises.
Depressing and utterly predictable given our current economic and political trajectory. The current system is simply unsustainable. Thanks for posting.
Best analyst about this .
One more point....what is hard about this issue is that there is a lot of confusing and bad information about this topic. Plis there are many evangelicals who want this to happen. The collapse of the dollar was a sign of the collapse of the government and a sign for the rapture. I heard in evangelical churches about the collapse of the dollar being a sign for the rapture. There is some sick shit taught in charismatic evangelical churches about topics like these.
Always find it fascinating when rare earths are discussed that my country...the one that has also been seriously threatened as recently as this past weekend is often overlooked. Yet, we feel we are on the chopping block and worthy of some consideration.
Perhaps we are left off the program because we have a competent, world renowned leader as PM to guide our tenuous relationship with our once solid ally who apparently no longer needs us and considers itself to have been our life support for a very long time.
However, this former friend, Canada, is a significant producer of silver, typically ranking among the top global producers with over 1,000 tonnes produced annually. Production is concentrated in British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Quebec, with many mines operating as polymetallic, extracting silver as a byproduct of lead, zinc, copper, and gold. New mining is being done in the Yukon Territory which has vast, until recently, untapped high-grade silver reserves. ❤️🇨🇦
Cath - good info, thanks. Raises the 51st state thing to a new level tho
This is a bit overwhelming and the solutions aren’t exactly stellar either. Thank you for putting this on the table Mike. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the theater?
My son has been telling me since late last year to buy gold or silver. I didn’t quite get it. Now I understand why. Thank you for the clear clarification.
I sent him your article.
Thank you for this! Incredible food for thought.
Where are we supposed to put our investments?
We still have mineral wealth in the ground, just no way to refine it, I watched every single metal smelter shut down in Montana in my lifetime, we were an industrial powerhouse producing huge volumes of copper, silver and gold, lead and zinc up until the 70s.This industrial capacity was eroded away in the 70s mostly but has almost completely ended now. We exported the dirty dangerous jobs and made ourselves completely dependent on imported products. Yes it’s cleaner in most Montana towns that had smelters, but look at the cost, entire generations unable to earn a living where they were born. Completely degraded industrial capacity that would be prohibitively expensive to replace if that was even possible. But we saved the pristine environment for tourist to enjoy and eventually for some super wealthy out of state land owner to buy. Now we don’t even have operating saw mills in Montana, our wood has to be shipped out to be even milled into lumber now. We used to manage the forest in Montana which ment timber harvest which helped to prevent firestorms. We don’t even do that anymore, just saving it to burn, while the wood at Home Depot is imported from Canada. Looks like a crises of leadership for about 50 years.
How depressing
You lost me at “The stock market is being held up by seven tech companies valued on the promise of what the future may - or may not - bring.”
3 Mag-7 stocks are down ~10% or more off their highs. Microsoft got crushed on poorly received guidance. Oracle is down ~50%. This isn’t irrational AI bubble territory.
Meanwhile the cap-weighted and equal-weighted S&P 500 has been hitting all time highs. Mega cap tech isn’t driving the rally, the other 493 are.