A 100-year chart of the S&P 500 priced in gold shows a major cyclical peak was hit in late 2021, similar to 1929 and 2000. This inflection point suggests a long-term, decade-plus trend reversal favoring hard assets like gold and Bitcoin over U.S. equities.

Executive Order 6102 forced citizens to surrender gold so the government could unilaterally reprice it from $20.67 to $35/ounce a year later. This instantly devalued every dollar in existence by 41%, a move necessitated by years of money printing to counterfeit their own currency.

The US dollar reached its peak global dominance in the early 2000s. The world is now gradually shifting to a system where multiple currencies (like the euro and yuan) and neutral assets (like gold) share the role of reserve currency, marking a return to a more historically normal state.

Unlike in 1971 when the U.S. unilaterally left the gold standard, today's rally is driven by foreign central banks losing confidence in the U.S. dollar. They are actively divesting from dollars into gold, indicating a systemic shift in the global monetary order, not just a U.S. policy change.

Profitable companies act as a hedge against currency debasement. They issue long-term debt at low fixed rates, effectively shorting the currency. They then invest the proceeds into productive assets or their own stock, which tend to outperform inflation, benefiting shareholders.

Unlike Bitcoin, which sells off during liquidity crunches, gold is being bid up by sovereign nations. This divergence reflects a strategic shift by central banks away from US Treasuries following the sanctioning of Russia's reserves, viewing gold as the only true safe haven asset.

Contrary to popular belief, Vanguard's chief economist suggests that in a high-debt, low-growth future, overweighting fixed income is superior to holding gold. This assumes the Fed will maintain high real interest rates to fight inflation, making bond yields more attractive than equities, which would face a lost decade.

Alan Greenspan viewed a rising gold price as a market signal that monetary policy was too loose and interest rates were too low. Today's soaring gold price, viewed through this lens, suggests the Federal Reserve is making a significant policy error by considering rate cuts.

To navigate an era of government debt overwhelming monetary policy, investor Lynn Alden proposes a specific three-pillar portfolio. It allocates 50% to profitable equities, 20% to cash for optionality, and a significant 30% to inflation-hedging hard assets like commodities, precious metals, and Bitcoin.