The delusion...

Value Investing

Other stuff

Real money vs Casino chips

This is a story about a casino - a very busy casino. So successful was this casino, that most of its patrons never needed to leave. They ate at the casino's restaurants, and they slept in the casino's hotels. They even brought up their kids in the casino (they went to school there!).

Because they almost never left the casino, the patrons hardly ever used real money.  They paid their food and rent bills with the casino's "chips" (ie, the high tech plastic tokens used for gaming machines, poker tables, and all other casino services). Very convenient.

In fact, the tokens were so convenient that patron rarely cashed in their chips for real money.  So infrequent were the patron's trips to the cashier, that one day the casino decided to shut their cashier down altogether.

Well, the patrons realized that this meant that they would be trapped in the casino, as all their chips - and some patrons has amassed quite a hoard - could never be wagered or spent outside the casino.

So the patrons started heading for the exit, (which took some finding mind you - it was well hidden), as they thought that the casino would eventually go bust if it wouldn't redeem patron chips for real money, and if the casino did go bust, everyone's chips would become worthless.

Without patrons, the casino could not survive, so it had to do something to stop the exodus.  The casino played the only card that it could. It reset all the games and machines to pay out big. Some paid out as much as 20% each time you played.

It worked!  The exodus stopped, and the patrons returned to the gaming machines.  With the casino paying out so much, they wagered much more than before.

Over time, two things happened..

China sells oil in yuan

Recently, I spoke about symptoms and early warning signs of hyperinflation.

Well, the US dollar losing it's petrodollar status would be one of those...

Some quotes from: Dollar no longer primary oil currency as china begins to sell oil using yuan
For the first time since the 1970's, when Henry Kissenger forged a trade agreement with the Royal house of Saud to sell oil using only U.S. dollars, China announced its intention to bypass the dollar for global oil customers and began selling the commodity using their own currency.

Lindsey Williams: "The most significant day in the history of the American dollar, since its inception, happened on Thursday, Sept. 6. On that day, something took place that is going to affect your life, your family, your dinner table more than you can possibly imagine."

"On Thursday, Sept. 6... just a few days ago, China made the official announcement. China said on that day, our banking system is ready, all of our communication systems are ready, all of the transfer systems are ready, and as of that day, Thursday, Sept. 6, any nation in the world that wishes from this point on, to buy, sell, or trade crude oil, can do using the Chinese currency, not the American dollar.
...
This announcement by China is one of the most significant sea changes in the global economic and monetary systems
...
The ramifications of this new action are vast, and could very well be the catalyst that brings down the dollar as the global reserve currency, and change the entire landscape of how the world purchases energy.
...
"Crude oil is the standard currency of the world. Not the Yen, not the Pound, not the Dollar. More money is transferred around the world in crude oil than in any other product."
...
These duo actions by the two most powerful adversaries of the U.S. economy and empire, have now joined in to make a move to attack the primary economic stronghold that keeps America as the most powerful economic superpower. Once the majority of the world begins to bypass the dollar, and purchase oil in other currencies, then the full weight of our debt and diminished manufacturing structure will come crashing down on the American people.
...
The world changed last week, and there was nary a word spoken by Wall Street or by politicians who reveled in their own magnificence as this event took place during the party conventions. A major blow was done on Sept. 6 to the American empire, and to the power of the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency. And China, along with Russia, are now aiming to become the controllers of energy, and thus, controllers of a new petro-currency.
Interesting times indeed..

Outsmarting hyperinflation

Very few people understand inflation, and of those, only some expect a hyperinflationary scenario. Of this small crowd, some think that the best way to "win" from a hyperinflationary scenario is to buy a big expensive house with a large mortgage.  The idea is that your debt gets inflated away and you end up with a house, essentially for free.

Now, I'm not going to profess to know how hyperinflation will turn out, but I would like to present a scenario for your consideration.

Let's look at the how those with a large mortgage will fair. Let's focus on the percentage of disposable income going to mortgage repayments, and how that will change during hyperinflation.