Scan the markets and it’s wealth everywhere, from stocks to real estate. The party looks like it’s raging, if you’re still thinking in dollar terms. But zoom out and switch units: the performance everyone’s boasting about suddenly looks more like a last gasp than a victory lap.
Gold’s up 45% year-to-date, just clocking $3,900/oz. Sounds bullish, right? Except when you price U.S. homes or the S&P 500 in gold, you get flat (sometimes negative) returns. It’s the same old story: debase the currency and asset prices levitate, but real wealth stagnates when measured against real collateral.
“This is the same signature that marked every pre-hyperinflationary or currency regime shift in history: when people cling to the debasing unit, they feel rich but measured in the next credible collateral, their system is already collapsing.”
Wages lag, debt explodes, policy spins, media still speaking USD. On the ground, it’s the unit-of-account decaying faster than anyone can keep up with, and the only honest scoreboard is marked in BTC.
America’s imperial carry trade is running on fumes: pull in global capital, inflate asset prices at home, and export the risk. Gold? Stagnant. Property? Collapsing in BTC. The polite commentary is done, and almost no one is positioned properly. As SightBringer affirms:
“This isn’t a normal market cycle. It’s the unit-of-account transition phase. And almost no one is positioned for it because they’re still measuring their ‘returns’ in the wrong yardstick.”