For us friends of non-manipulable, hard assets, which are limited in their supply either by code or by nature, it is always worth taking a look at the fiat world. There, states and their political representatives, together with the banking system and their respective (often coordinated) central banks, construct a system that guarantees a hidden tax in the form of the systematic devaluation of the money in circulation that is forced into use and is emanated in the various forms of price increases (assets or goods prices).

Of course, the continuous flow of purchasing power which is well obscured by the press (greedy entrepreneurs, Putin or both in a congenial double),, draws directly from the wallets of the citizens into the state bureaucracies and into the gigantic financial holes of the government householdd of this world.

To limit the damage, we are experiencing cyclical limits on newly created credit money, which, until the big crash finale comes, is generally always growing. Hence the eternally rising real estate prices and stock market prices, which makes no sense at all in view of recessionary economies such as those in the eurozone.

But that is not the point, the central banks, banks and states have contributed with their irresponsible policies to financializing the economies of the West, to making them dependent on a stream of cheap credit. We are now seeing the liquidity cycle ignite again and the money supply in the US is growing again. Until the big bang on the markets (that will be uncontrollable by our central planners), the owners of hard assets can now look forward to a period of cork popping!