by Michael Wilkerson | Jun 25, 2026 | Blog Articles, Economy, Finance, Inflation, Monetary System, Policy, Trump Administration, USA, War
In the Homeric epic Odyssey, the hero Odysseus navigates the storms of the “wine-dark sea,” seeking to return to his home and family after many years of war-fighting. He must first pass through a narrow strait of water, one with dangers on both sides. To...
by Michael Wilkerson | Mar 6, 2026 | Armed Forces, Blog Articles, Economy, Energy, Finance, Geopolitics, Germany, Gold, Healthcare, Historical, Inflation, Iran, Monetary System, Oil, Politics, Trump Administration, USA, War
A wartime economy is no longer a hypothetical future scenario to contemplate. It has already arrived. This week, with U.S. forces launching what the Trump administration labeled “Epic Fury” against Iran, the question is no longer whether war will affect markets and...
by Michael Wilkerson | Feb 12, 2026 | Banks, Blog Articles, China, Economy, Finance, Gold, Historical, Monetary System, Trump Administration, USA
With all the attention of late on the remarkable price moves in gold and silver, it is surprising that the question of a comprehensive audit of the U.S. government’s gold reserves, a headline issue one year ago, has been conveniently memory-holed. For a time in early...
by Michael Wilkerson | Feb 4, 2026 | Banks, Bitcoin, Blog Articles, Crypto, Economy, Finance, Geopolitics, Gold, Historical, Markets, Monetary System, Trade, Trump Administration, USA, Venezuela
Investors have been rightly impressed by gold’s remarkable run, which in dollar terms has doubled in price over the past year. This performance vastly outpaces the stock markets (which are also sitting at all-time highs) and Bitcoin (trading sideways for months), the...
by Michael Wilkerson | Dec 31, 2025 | Banks, Blog Articles, BRICS, China, Economy, Finance, Geopolitics, Gold, Inflation, Monetary System, Russia, Sanctions, Trade, Ukraine
2025 was an extraordinary year for precious metals. Gold, silver and platinum each outperformed other asset classes, including equities, Bitcoin (2024’s best performer) and even indexes tracking artificial intelligence (“AI”), one of 2025’s favorite investment themes....
by Michael Wilkerson | Mar 29, 2025 | Africa, Banks, Bitcoin, Blog Articles, CBDCs, Crypto, Finance, Inflation, Monetary System, Sanctions, Technology
It used to be that if you lived in a remote village in Africa, or for that matter, Southeast Asia, Latin America, or even behind the Berlin Wall in Eastern Europe, you had desire and need for U.S. dollars, but no easy way to access them. You couldn’t readily exchange...
by Michael Wilkerson | Dec 29, 2024 | Biden Administration, Blog Articles, CBDCs, China, Crypto, Economy, Elections, Finance, Geopolitics, Iran, Monetary System, Russia, Sanctions, Technology, Trump Administration, USA
When then Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump pivoted in 2024 from crypto-skeptic to arch crypto-advocate, he successfully won over an industry of potential voters that, for the most part, hadn’t previously been active in politics or, in many cases, even voted at...
by Michael Wilkerson | Nov 24, 2024 | Biden Administration, Blog Articles, Crypto, Economy, Elections, Monetary System, Policy, Politics, Technology, USA
Last spring, I publicly predicted that the price of Bitcoin would hit $100,000 by the end of 2024. This was quite a statement given BTC prices were then trading in a range of $40,000 to $50,000. While the path would be volatile, I predicted that “the long-term...
by Michael Wilkerson | Nov 14, 2024 | Biden Administration, Blog Articles, China, Covid-19, Crypto, Disinformation, Economy, Elections, Energy, Finance, Geopolitics, Inflation, Iran, Israel, Monetary System, Politics, Russia, Sanctions, Tariffs, Technology, Ukraine, USA, War
image credit: Getty Images Following Donald J. Trump’s election victory last week, the President-elect and his transition team have announced multiple cabinet-level and other appointments, outline both domestic and foreign policies, and set the stage for a return to...
by Michael Wilkerson | Oct 13, 2024 | Africa, Blog Articles, BRICS, CBDCs, China, Economy, Finance, Geopolitics, Monetary System, Russia, Sanctions, USA
Will the gold-backed UNIT Challenge U.S. Dollar Dominance? Later this month, Russia will host the sixteenth BRICS Summit, bringing together its member countries for Head of State level discussions on trade, monetary policy, security, and other matters. This capstone...
by Michael Wilkerson | Aug 7, 2024 | Africa, Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, China, Covid-19, Economy, Finance, Inflation, Japan, Monetary System, Politics, USA
One of the surprising things I repeatedly observed as a CEO of a public company investing in financial services in Africa was that banks there—and in many emerging markets—don’t actually lend, at least not to businesses or people. Rather than provide much needed loans...
by Michael Wilkerson | Jul 29, 2024 | Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, CBDCs, Crypto, Finance, Monetary System, Policy, Politics, USA
Image credit: The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images How the world turns. It was just over three years ago that former U.S. President Donald J. Trump called Bitcoin a scam and a threat to the U.S. dollar’s position as the world reserve currency. As...
by Michael Wilkerson | Jun 2, 2024 | Blog Articles, CBDCs, Crypto, Elections, Finance, Monetary System, Policy, Politics, Technology, USA
I had opportunity to participate last week in a private round table at Consensus 2024, the digital assets and blockchain technology conference, on the tension between CBDCs (central bank-issued digital currencies) and privacy. Under the U.S. Constitution, Americans...
by Michael Wilkerson | May 1, 2024 | Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, China, Covid-19, Economy, Finance, Geopolitics, Japan, Monetary System, Politics, USA
Last week, Japan saw its currency, the Yen, rapidly depreciate against the U.S. dollar and other world currencies to record low levels. This drew the attention of financial markets and other observers, and—in some quarters—led to panic. There was concern that Japan, a...
by Michael Wilkerson | Apr 28, 2024 | Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, Crypto, Economy, Finance, Inflation, Monetary System, Politics, USA
Various U.S. government agencies announced some surprisingly disappointing economic indicators and other news this week. The data revealed that the U.S. economy is not doing nearly as well as expected. First quarter 2024 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth came in at...
by Michael Wilkerson | Apr 17, 2024 | Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, China, Crypto, Economy, Finance, Geopolitics, Hamas, Inflation, Iran, Israel, Monetary System, Politics, Russia, Sanctions, Ukraine, USA, War
On Friday (April 12), intraday prices for gold hit an all-time high of $2,445 per ounce before closing the day at $2,360. For a normally sleepy asset, gold’s ten percent rise in three weeks is remarkable. Gold is up 14 percent year-to-date, but most of the price...
by Michael Wilkerson | Mar 28, 2024 | Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, Economy, Finance, Inflation, Monetary System, Politics, USA
Named after American economist Hyman Minsky, the idea behind a Minsky moment is that a financial markets crisis (especially in credit markets) is caused by a sudden and systemic collapse in asset prices, usually after a sustained period of speculative investment,...
by Michael Wilkerson | Mar 25, 2024 | Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, Crypto, Finance, Monetary System, Politics, Sanctions, USA
When a powerful interest holds a profitably monopoly, it will fight tooth and nail to defend it. So, it is no surprise that the Biden administration and its allies have gone on the offense against the nascent cryptocurrency industry though a coordinated effort of...
by Michael Wilkerson | Mar 20, 2024 | Biden Administration, Blog Articles, Covid-19, Economy, Energy, Finance, Inflation, Monetary System, Politics, USA
The last few days have produced a bumper crop of disappointing news on inflation. First, we saw that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew at 0.4 percent in February, the highest monthly increase since September of last year, resulting in a higher than expected 3.2...
by Michael Wilkerson | Mar 12, 2024 | Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, CBDCs, Crypto, Economy, Finance, Monetary System, Politics, USA
There have been many legitimate concerns raised about the potential tyranny and abuses that would result from the U.S. government’s issuance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). CBDCs have been rightly criticized as providing governments with a nearly perfect...
by Michael Wilkerson | Mar 8, 2024 | Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, Covid-19, Crypto, Economy, Finance, Monetary System, Politics, USA
In the ancient Roman calendar, the Ides fell around the middle of the month, specifically the 15th of each March. Made famous by Shakespeare’s dramatic reenactment, the prophetic warning “Beware the Ides of March” speaks of the day in 44 B.C. when the Roman emperor...
by Michael Wilkerson | Feb 21, 2024 | Biden Administration, Blog Articles, Economy, Finance, Inflation, Monetary System, Politics, USA
Home ownership has been a foundation of the American dream for generations. Home ownership has been an attainable aspiration that has enabled capital accumulation and wealth preservation. It has traditionally facilitated both a comfortable retirement for homeowners...
by Michael Wilkerson | Feb 1, 2024 | Biden Administration, Blog Articles, Economy, Finance, Inflation, Monetary System, Politics, USA
The last time the phrase “soft landing” was this popular on the internet was on the eve of the largest financial crisis the world has ever seen. The idea behind an economic soft landing is that the central bank (for the U.S., the Federal Reserve) is able to bring...
by Michael Wilkerson | Jan 23, 2024 | Armed Forces, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, China, Economy, Finance, Geopolitics, Inflation, Monetary System, Politics, Russia, Sanctions, USA, War
While the United States is ostensibly not at war with anyone, our government is spending taxpayers’ money as if it were. This year, the budget for the U.S. Department of Defense is $844 billion. The U.S. spends nearly three times more on defense than does China and...
by Michael Wilkerson | Dec 23, 2023 | Biden Administration, Blog Articles, Crypto, Economy, Energy, Finance, Inflation, Monetary System, Politics, USA
2023 caught the experts by surprise. Economists and market analysts alike started the year on a pessimistic note, anticipating recession, market declines, and overall weakness in the face of inflation and high interest rates. Yet the much anticipated recession never...
by Michael Wilkerson | Apr 25, 2023 | Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, Crypto, Finance, Monetary System, Politics, USA
The Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives met earlier this week to conduct an oversight hearing on the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). While many topics were covered in this marathon session, by far the most important, and the...
by Michael Wilkerson | Feb 14, 2023 | Armed Forces, Banks, Biden Administration, Blog Articles, CBDCs, Covid-19, Crypto, Finance, Inflation, Monetary System, Politics, USA
Like many governments around the world, the Biden administration seems determined to limit Americans’ monetary freedom by taxing it away, and by manipulating and controlling how they store and spend their money. Here are a few examples of how this is happening. Let’s...
by Michael Wilkerson | Apr 22, 2021 | Banks, Blog Articles, China, Monetary System, War
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is playing the long game to establish its dominance and supplant the US as global hegemon. This is not conjecture but the stated policy objective of the CCP. The application of this overarching strategic objective for China’s...