18 Comments
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Crixcyon's avatar

Eventually, if the US survives that long, servicing the debt will gobble up all the tax revenues. There will be no ending the debt spiral without some major revamping of the financial system. And what government clown show is capable of doing that without screwing things up even more?

Simon Gedye's avatar

This ' System ' is effectively done for right now and is beyond anyform of salvation .

The only solution ( as we are witnessing ) is to hasten it's complete demise and return to

sound money per Gold & Silver - and sound money alone

Carl L. McWilliams's avatar

Yes Simon, you are correct; "This ' System ' is effectively done for right now and is beyond any form of salvation". Any other conclusion is "hopeium" and vanity - chasing after the wind.

Carl L. McWilliams's avatar

Please be cognizant that I hold Alasdair Macleod and his writings in the highest esteem. After reading your comment I decided to forward this Google Docs link using AI and that I have been working on in the USA. It is a private work in progress.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dk-Np0xIN3xjOKALnaF1W4ZFXtitZ02Z6ubR_FfdXH8/edit?usp=sharing

Arek's avatar

They can do whatever they want to be honest and they don’t hesitate to do that. They don’t care about people.

Patrick Barron's avatar

To paraphrase Dickens:

Income one trillion a year. Outgo three trillion a year. Result—bankruptcy.

Simon Gedye's avatar

Quite Right ( as usual ) to paraphrase Dickens - or more specifically Mr Wilkins Micawber -

" Annual income twenty Pounds - annual expenditure nineteen pounds , nineteen shillings and sixpence - Result = Happiness / Annual income Twenty Pounds - Annual expenditure Twenty Pounds , nought and sixpence - Result = Misery " .

The fact that we're now counting in trillions and quadrillions only goes to show just how

corrupt and rotten ' Fractional Reserve Banking ' and its attebndant evils have alweays been

ChinArb's avatar

Alasdair, the Arithmetic is irrefutable. But the Physics is even scarier.

You ask why the 1946 deleveraging cannot be repeated. The answer lies in the Industrial Balance Sheet, not just the Financial one.

1946 vs. 2026: In 1946, the US was the Global Vendor (System B of its time). It exported goods and imported gold. It could grow out of debt because it owned the means of production. In 2026, the US is the Global Customer (System A). It imports everything and exports IOU notes. You cannot 'grow' out of debt when your GDP is 70% consumption and 0% industrial surplus.

The Death of Vendor Financing: The 'debt trap' you describe was held open for 20 years by one specific mechanism: China recycling its surplus into Treasuries. That mechanism is dead. As we track in The Great Asset Swap, the Vendor (China) has taken its $1.2T cash flow and moved into Gold and Copper. The 'Buyers Strike' isn't psychological; it's Structural. The Vendor has closed the Customer's bar tab.

The result won't just be a 'market correction'; it will be a 'Physical Liquidation' of paper claims.

$38 Trillion is just a number. The real terror is the "Liquidity Vacuum."System B (China) is sitting on the largest Record Surplus in history (+$1.2T), yet it is accelerating its exit from System A's (US) debt markets.

This is the most critical, yet ignored, macro chart of 2026. When this divergence snaps, there is only one outcome.Read the full analysis here. [https://chinarbitrageur.substack.com/p/the-great-asset-swap-when-china-stops?r=71ctq6]

SB's avatar

Art Laffer advised a previous governor of the state of Kansas, Sam Brownback (2011-2018), who subsequently nearly bankrupted the state. Be careful of using Laffer as an authoritative source. He is no honest Abe.

Gordon Groves's avatar

I just finished listening to Michael Burry lecture on all this....stocks and dollars and pension funds and social security are all going to bust....and nobody has any gold

Simon Gedye's avatar

MIchael Burry is clearly " No Schmuck " as has been evident all along

Ian Stirling's avatar

Good article Alasdair.

Thank You.

I have interests in Zambia.

The following link elucidates your reasoning in real time, on the ground policy shifts with the sub continent :

https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/zambia-becomes-the-first-african-country-to-take-mining-taxes-in-chinas-yuan/ef0t668

The 'Monro Doctrine' has been enacted by Bejing for 20 years in sub Saharan Africa mineral extraction.

JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, Vanguard & State Street have long lost the dice on this one and also the poorly thought out Russ empire asset takeover leaving only US backyard to the South for asset stripping and collateral for more dollar denominated currency printing.

Agree regarding GB pound £. We are headlong as a nation returning to an outlier province of someone else's Empire, soon to be determined, akin the Briton of 200 AD. Currently Ag et Au will be the only worthy exchange for nobles & peasants and the BOE notes suitable for latrine wipes.

Great informative articles. Keep them coming. 👏🏽

Gordon Groves's avatar

there'll be too many busted peasants to get jobs wiping latrines

Simon Gedye's avatar

I also have ' interests ' in Zambia + Tanzania and for a time also in Angola - and fully agree with everthing you've outlined here .

ALSO - Have you joined the club at ' Macleod Finance Substack ' yet ...?? . If not , then

hope you'll jump aboard sooner than later .

Ian Stirling's avatar

Yes Simon. Already signed up. I'm attempting to now step back from the trees a tad and attune to the unseen spiritual mechanics underway. Too much obvious C19 style global co-ordinations underway, for mere kack handed humans to successfully implement !!!

Arek's avatar

There is nothing more than printing money and trying to distract people with whatever scapegoat they want to pick. They will never blame themselves. In my opinion we will see an unprecedented collapse of fiat money bubble and the same people who orchestrated it they will “provide a solution” to rescue us. Like CBDC, digital ID, full control. It’s pure tyranny let’s be honest. Holding physical silver, gold is not just our insurance policy it’s our obligation to resist tyranny. They lose as across Europe they want to implement a censorship. This is a pure sign of desperation.

Simon Gedye's avatar

Right over the target on all counts ( sadly ) - rather think that the collapse of the current crooked system / Ponzi scheme is coming much faster than most people imagine - and that's amongst all of us who are awake and on the same age . God knows what the reaction of the masses who've got no idea as to what goes on , will be when the ' Titanic ' finally hits the iceberg and diappears below the waves at a rapid lick - doesn't bear thinking about ..!!