“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists”.

– Ernest Hemingway

Dear Reader,

I’m completely aware that Hemingway’s quote is overused. But guess what? Panacea is Merriam-Webster’s word of the day. You’ll just have to suffer this lead.

That’s not to say Ernest’s comment isn’t accurate. Or even more pointedly appropriate to our current time.

We concern ourselves with permanent ruin. Some of our colleagues call it a hobby.

But we know some other folks who do the same. We first met James Howard Kunstler right after he published The Long Emergency. He was talking about climate change mostly. But after speaking with him this past week, I gained a more nuanced view of his understanding. Climate change is a thing, but the long emergency is really our response to it.

The same could be said of mass shootings.

Jim’s an interesting guy. He wrote for Rolling Stone for some time. Then went out on his own. I admire him for having the temerity to choose his own path. You’ll probably agree. Take a look:

To learn about the greatest misallocation of capital in human history, click here

“It’s a hallucination du jour,” Jim tells me, “a hallucination of the moment. It’s a figment. And that’s exactly why so many people in the financial world are afraid of a real King Hell crash because they know if the bond market goes up in a vapor, our money’s going to disappear.

‘We’re going to be in the most unbelievable deflationary depression that world history ever saw because the money is just going to rush out of here into a black hole. And it will, of course, take the equity markets down with it as that occurs.”

There’s more where that came from at the link above.

Follow your bliss,

Addison Wiggin
Founder, Financial Reserve

P.S. For a while on his website, Jim was offering oil paintings of roadside signs like Mobile or McDonald’s. I tried to buy one once, but he’d sold the one I wanted. He said he was painting these “landmarks” along I-87 near where he lives outside Saratoga Springs, NY because they represent an era he thinks is heartwarming but unsustainable.

Jim offered to don his Carhart jumpsuit and go out to paint another one. I said no. But now I’m thinking maybe I should reconsider.