The spike in 1970s oil prices was a direct reaction to the U.S. abandoning the gold standard. Oil-producing countries were no longer being paid in gold-backed dollars, so they raised prices from $3 to $40 per barrel to compensate for the currency's rapid loss of purchasing power.

By creating a regulatory framework that requires private stablecoins to be backed 1-to-1 by U.S. Treasuries, the government can prop up demand for its ever-increasing debt. This strategy is less about embracing financial innovation and more about extending the U.S. dollar's lifespan as the global reserve currency.

The U.S. economy's ability to consume more than it produces is not due to superior productivity but to the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency. This allows the U.S. to export paper currency and import real goods, a privilege that is now at risk as the world diversifies away from the dollar.

Instead of officially defaulting on unpayable promises like Social Security, governments opt for massive inflation. This devalues the currency so severely that while citizens receive their checks, the money's purchasing power is destroyed, rendering the benefits worthless without an explicit, unpopular cut.

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.

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.

The underlying math of U.S. debt is unsustainable, but the system holds together on pure confidence. The final collapse won't be a slow leak but a sudden 'pop'—an overnight freeze when investors collectively stop believing the government can honor its debts, a point which cannot be timed.

In the face of a true systemic collapse and hyperinflation, traditional financial assets become unreliable. The most effective long-term strategy is having a plan for physical relocation to a more stable economic region, preserving not just wealth but personal safety and opportunity.

The core problem for the middle class is a direct chain reaction: national debt leads to money printing (inflation), which forces people to own assets to preserve wealth. Since only 10% of Americans own 93% of assets, the rest are left behind with devalued cash and stagnant wages.