“Red pill” is so well established in the culture that few need to Google it anymore. It’s about wish versus reality, the way things appear versus the way they really are. In respect to the manosphere, it’s especially about feminism and game. In the political/economic sphere, it’s represented by what Mencius Moldbug coined “the Cathedral”: The common interests — and common narrative — of the institutions and individuals who derive benefit from the endless growth of the state.
The economic manifestations of the red pill are likewise well-known to most ROK readers. To understand the machinations of politicians, one need only ignore their words and watch what they do. Regardless of party affiliation, American politicians at the higher levels are doing what politicians have always done, which is to increase their power and net worth — via government — as much and as rapidly as feasible. It’s gotten fairly breathtaking at the federal level, with full-time lobbyists numbering in the thousands. When the Copyright Term Extension Act was enacted, one didn’t even need to hear it referred to as the Mickey Mouse Law to reasonably guess it had been pushed by corporate lobbyists like Disney.
Two Political Parties Treated As One
Since the structure of the US legal system makes the balder forms of corruption (like the classic cash under the table) hazardous, money-for-influence has taken on a more long-run, generic form. Using presidential elections as an example, favor-seeking donors just make generous campaign contributions to both the Democrat and Republican candidates. Heads the corporate donor wins, tails the corporate donor wins. There’s no prosecutable trail between donation and reward, because no one ever needed to sit down in a smoke-filled room to make the arrangement. The modern president knows that, after his term ends, he’ll have his pick of numerous lucrative “jobs” (sitting on corporate boards), speaking engagements, and sweetheart business/investment deals. From his perspective, it’s a one-party system, and as a high-level participant, there’s no question he’ll end up swimming in riches. The fact that he does things while in office that have a hugely negative effect on most citizens just doesn’t make any difference. Indeed, in the echo chamber of the Cathedral, he may be largely unaware of the damage.
Kicking the can — applying short-term patches to make it to the next election, leaving the next administration to deal with the fallout — has been raised to the level of an art form in the United States. Everyone knows that the debt and spending have reached surreal levels, so no need to bore you with numbers. What is really striking is the lack of outright…well, fear. We had a taste of it in 2008, when most every major banking-related organization had to be bailed out to prevent a total financial collapse. But here we are, five years later, with not only none of the root causes addressed, but with their having been hugely amplified…by means of the very practices which caused the wreck in the first place.
Am I preaching to the choir here? Probably. Since most men are not fortunate enough to have significant capital to deploy to benefit from the coming inflation, a common response to the above is “Tell me what I don’t already know.” But here is where I part ways with most members of the manosphere: I believe the investment vehicles that benefit from inflation are going to do better than most people expect. A lot better.
Not to put too fine a point on it, I think that they’re going to make the dot com bubble look like a hiccup, and that portfolios which seem very modest today will expand into fortunes in the fullness of time. Given that the Fed has conjured massive amounts of new dollars out of thin air, and that Congress has proven itself utterly incapable of making any meaningful reductions in spending, what else can realistically be expected to happen? Some argue that a deflationary collapse will put the kibosh on inflation, but in a fiat money system, sorry, that just doesn’t pass the smell test. The Fed can print endlessly, and Helicopter Ben has made clear his determination to do so. The elephant in the room is inflation, and the red pill most men have yet to swallow is the one that will open their eyes to the massive personal impact of owning metals and the miners.
The Shaming Of Minerals
A few of you are old enough to remember the Seventies, when inflation was a headline issue. What you may not remember is that the MSM successfully discouraged the public from fleeing into precious metals and mining stocks until the last year of that bull market. Those who quietly accumulated during the early and mid 1970’s made out like bandits but, just as today, they were successfully painted by the Cathedral as foil hat wearers.
The association was (and remains) with preppers, Christian fundamentalists, and anyone else that the TV camera could be pointed at who appeared (or could be made to appear with film editing) nutty. Such treatment lives on today in slogans like “You can’t eat gold.” But metals investors in the Seventies were riding only a mini-bull, a mere precursor to the one born some twelve years ago. This new one is occurring in the context of a worldwide inflation, one which will probably culminate in drastic changes to the global monetary system.
History says men who are in position to benefit from such an inflation will be flying high, while those who are not will be f***ed. “Positioned in” means owning both bullion and mining stocks, because another page from the historical playbook is that ownership of physical metal will eventually be outlawed, leaving the mining equities as the only (legal) game in town.
People like me, who watch the equities closely, are amazed at how much the miners have been lagging bullion lately. Not that I’m complaining; I loaded up in 2001 and so still have tremendous percentage gains. But the ratio of the gold and silver mining stock prices in relation to gold and silver bullion are on a par with the Bottom, at the turn of the millennium, when trade shows featuring the mining companies had to bus in retirees and give them free food so the exhibit hall wouldn’t look so empty. Today, the metals are still slumbering in their most recent interim downturn, the mini-bear that began in autumn of 2011.
Who Should You Listen To?
If you seek counsel from most anyone on this topic, they’ll urge you to steer clear of the sector. “The bull market is over.” Problem is, that’s been the refrain during each interim correction for the entire bull market. “Yes, in hindsight, speculators have made a killing, but it’s over. You missed it.” That isn’t Economics 101 talking, it’s the Cathedral. Pay no attention to that secular bull market behind the curtain. The fact that central banks worldwide are printing like mad will not cause a raging bull in the mining stocks. Disregard charts like this one. Move along, nothing to see here. Buy Apple and Facebook.
Barring the tiny minority of us who can be a Skittles Man, money is important, it matters a lot. Not speaking of the Porsche-and-prawns level, but just the ability to function, to be well in body and mind. Ben Bernanke has vowed to prevent deflation, which means he’s promised the US is going the route of every other country that ever tried to print its way out of a funk.
It’s my studied opinion that any man who is not educating himself on how to benefit from inflation is setting himself up – by default – to be knocked out of his chair. The great news is that the miners have become so cheap that any basket of decent companies purchased now is all but certain to experience massive percentage gains over the next two or three years. The metals themselves have been drifting sideways for eighteen months, a new record for this bull market.
I respectfully suggest you swallow the other red pill. Ignore the Cathedral narrative on metals and mining stocks and protect yourself by getting into position now, so you will have a seat at the captain’s table when the inevitable inflation makes its appearance.
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