Nick Giambruno: Inflation – Redefining Robbery

• Palisades Gold Radio
  Tom welcomes a returning guest Nick Giambruno. Nick is Chief Analyst of The Casey Report and their premium advisory, Crisis Investing. Nick discusses meeting Doug Casey while working in banking in Lebanon. That meeting started Nick working with Casey Research on their newsletters. Doug taught him that one should travel to places that are not recommended by the media and governments. Nick differentiates money from fiat currency and where investors should hold their wealth in times of crisis. He argues that Bitcoin is a good alternative and is not unlike gold. Digital scarcity is a new invention, and the real revolution is in bitcoin, not other digital currencies. Bitcoin is unique because it isn’t controlled by banks or corporations and works as a form of digital gold. He believes bitcoin is in the process of monetization around the world. Money is not that complicated; it’s just a matter of storing value. Physical gold is politically neutral because it can’t be inflated, and it’s hard to produce. Annual supply growth is minuscule, unlike silver and platinum have considerable yearly production. Gold’s lack of supply growth is why it remains a superior form of money. El Salvador recently announced plans to hold Bitcoin in their reserves and to make it legal tender.
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  This could put bitcoin on a level playing field with the dollar. If you hold fiat, you should generally hold the US dollar as other currencies have higher risks. Inflation is historically defined as an increase in the money supply, not price. Governments are trying to redefine inflation as an increase in the price of goods. This is like redefining robbery to be “a mysterious loss of property.” The CPI is a crazy notion and analogous to letting a student grade their own paper. The US uses its dollar as an economic weapon, which is why Russia and China are steadily moving away from it. This approach is becoming very counterproductive geopolitically. Nick discusses what to watch for as a contrarian investor. Currently, he is holding liquid assets like cash, commodities, bitcoin, and gold. No one knows what the trigger will be for the next crisis, but the foundation is unstable. Interest rates are one possible area to watch for problems should the Fed start to lose control. Time Stamp References:
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  0:00 – Introduction
  0:33 – His Background
  4:26 – Crisis Money
  8:15 – Bitcoin’s Role
  9:52 – Gold Vs. Bitcoin
  12:39 – El Salvador
  14:30 – Fiat Crisis
  17:13 – CPI Index
  21:27 – Russia De-dollarizing
  23:36 – China?
  25:18 – Silver Speculation
  27:38 – Capital Controls
  30:18 – Insulating from Risk
  34:32 – Crisis Investing
  36:01 – Opportunity
  37:09 – Crisis Triggers
  38:05 – Wrap Up
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  Talking Points From This Episode
  – His background and working with Doug Casey.
  – Fiat Currency Vs. Money.
  – Why Bitcoin is digital gold.
  – Redefining inflation and why the dollar is used as a global economic weapon.

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