International Man: A $20 burrito has somehow become a national political issue. Is this just another silly internet controversy, or does it reveal something important about the state of the American economy?
Doug Casey: The bottom line is that $20 just isn’t worth that much anymore. Malcolm Forbes used to joke that his idea of social change was plenty of tens and twenties. If he were alive today, he’d have to say fifties and hundreds.
If it’s a good burrito, $20 might be quite reasonable. On Sunday, I ordered a breakfast burrito at an ordinary restaurant—it was $21, although accompanied by home-fried potatoes. I wasn’t outraged. When I was a kid in the 50s, a bottle of Coke was a nickel or a dime, and any candy bar was a nickel. And if you returned the bottle, you got 2 cents back.
There was an article in the Wall Street Journal last week talking about $100 hot dogs. They’re decked out with caviar and other exotic accouterments. But it’s still a $100 hot dog on a bun. It’s the type of thing future generations will tell stories about, as we do of the Romans eating sparrows’ tongues—the signs of degenerate civilizations which have lost all sense of value.
People are blaming burrito makers, or cattle farmers, or capitalism itself, for the existence of a $20 burrito. Few blame the government or the Federal Reserve for debasing the currency.
Idiotically, they’re looking for the government to make it better when the government itself is the problem. The election of the so-called Democratic Socialist Mamdani in New York to cure the problem is a sign that the situation is hopeless.
$20 burritos are the least of our problems.
International Man: Some say today’s high prices are simply capitalism at work—the market sets the price, and consumers can choose whether to pay it. It seems something is missing from that argument?
Doug Casey: High prices are not the fault of capitalism. In a pure free market capitalist system, prices of consumer goods would fall consistently. What Boobus Americanus doesn’t understand is that we don’t live in a real capitalist system. What we have in the U.S. is better described as state capitalism, which is a “partnership” between large corporations and the government. Mussolini described it as fascism—a term he coined. But that word has lost its original meaning.
Fascism has nothing to do with jackboots, military parades, and hating Jews. It’s an economic system where the means of production are privately owned but essentially controlled by the State.
International Man: One response to the affordability crisis has been essentially: stop complaining, eat cheaper food, get roommates, and lower your expectations. Are younger Americans actually entitled—or has their standard of living genuinely deteriorated compared with previous generations?
Doug Casey: The key to financial success is to produce more than you consume and save the difference. That’s become harder in recent years, because wages have not kept up with debasement of the currency. Even worse, the money that you do save is losing value faster than ever. Saving dollars has become a losing proposition, a fool’s game.
There is no question that each generation of Americans has become softer and more entitled than the previous generation. As technology increases the amount of leisure, and debt finances a higher standard of living, moral fiber diminishes. It’s perfectly natural, however unfortunate.
Little can be done to alter major trends in a civilization. All you can do is keep yourself from being corrupted and act as a good example.
International Man: Politicians inevitably respond to affordability problems with proposals for higher minimum wages, price controls, subsidies, tax credits, or other government programs. Why do these supposed solutions make the underlying problem worse?
Doug Casey: That’s because none of those things are solutions.
To start with, politicians are inevitably the worst type of people in a society. They’re professional busybodies who get into politics because they like to manipulate other people and impose their will on them. It’s foolish to hope what amounts to a professional criminal class will solve economic problems.
The average American knows nothing about economics. And what he thinks he knows is basically Keynesian economics. He’s easily convinced that there are political solutions to economic problems.
International Man: If the government continues running huge deficits and debasing the currency, where should people position their capital to protect themselves—and potentially profit from what comes next?
Doug Casey: There is no question but that the government will continue running huge deficits. The deficits are not just huge, but growing exponentially.
Those deficits can’t be financed from domestic savings, which are approximately zero. They’re not going to be financed by selling debt to foreigners, who have come to despise the US. The deficits will, therefore, be financed by selling debt to the Federal Reserve, which pays for them by printing dollars and depositing them in the government’s accounts in commercial banks.
The dollar will continue losing value, and at an accelerating rate. Although, because of all the debt that’s being created, we might suffer a deflationary credit collapse on the way to hyperinflation.
Americans are caught between a rock and a hard place. Or, as recent watchers of “The Odyssey” may have learned, between Scylla and Charybdis.
The bright side is that while the world is caught up in a super bubble centering around AI, it’s overlooked raw materials stocks. I’m personally very invested in commodities in general, and energy and mining in particular. Many of the stocks we recommend in Contrarian Insider and Crisis Investing show current yields of between 6% and 10%. That’s good, but not nearly as important as the fact that they’re very, very underpriced and have 10 to 1 upside from here.
Editor’s Note: If the dollar continues losing purchasing power while federal deficits keep growing, the real danger is not simply that everyday life becomes more expensive. It’s what governments may do when confidence in the currency and financial system begins to crack.
History shows that during serious monetary crises, governments can change the rules quickly—restricting the movement of capital, targeting private wealth, or making it harder to protect savings once panic has already begun.
Doug has put together a free report outlining three moves to consider before a dollar crisis becomes obvious to everyone else, including ways to protect both your wealth and your financial freedom.
Click here to get it now.
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