America’s Trillion-Dollar Reserve

America’s soaring debt is a problem. With the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio now exceeding 120%, it is becoming imminent.

And this week’s episode of Government Shut Down theatre shows, once again, we’re politically incapable of even talking about it.

Critics argue we can’t look at America’s debt without considering its assets.

For example, the United States is the largest landholder in the country, owning over 70% of some Western states. And, thanks to gold’s surge over $3,800 per ounce this week, America’s gold reserves have now topped $1 trillion for the first time:

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The value of America’s gold holdings now exceeds $1 trillion (Source: Kobeissi Letter/X)

Of course, that gold remains unaudited in Fort Knox, the basement of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and no doubt a few other more secret places.

Even at this price, $1 trillion is a fraction of the $37 trillion on the debt side of the government ledger.

And gold’s value isn’t necessarily rising – the dollar is collapsing, practically in real-time. Year-to-date, the U.S. dollar has declined by over 10% against other currencies. In crypto, that’s just a day of volatility. In the forex market, it’s an earthquake.

All things being equal, our forecast for the gold price remains intact.

As is our forecast for a terrifying bull market. Gold is just one asset of many rising during the Trump era grand realignment of the geopolitical and global monetary systems.

We’ll concede to gold’s critics that it’s an inert metal that just sits there, generating no income. But, as such, it’s also the perfect barometer for the health of the fiat monetary system.

Judging by gold’s massive rally the past few years – and the fact that it’s outperformed the S&P 500 century-to-date, sometimes being in the right place and doing nothing is the right move.

~ Addison

P.S. Our forecast for significantly higher gold prices continues to move in the right direction. We’ll also note that even if gold reaches our price target, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to pay off the national debt.

If you have any questions for us about the market, send them our way now to: feedback@greyswanfraternity.com.

America’s soaring debt is a problem. With the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio now exceeding 120%, it is becoming imminent.

And this week’s episode of Government Shut Down theatre shows, once again, we’re politically incapable of even talking about it.

Critics argue we can’t look at America’s debt without considering its assets.

Turn Your Images On

The value of America’s gold holdings now exceeds $1 trillion (Source: Kobeissi Letter/X)

Of course, that gold remains unaudited in Fort Knox, the basement of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and no doubt a few other more secret places.

Even at this price, $1 trillion is a fraction of the $37 trillion on the debt side of the government ledger.

All things being equal, our forecast for the gold price remains intact.

As is our forecast for a terrifying bull market. Gold is just one asset of many rising during the Trump era grand realignment of the geopolitical and global monetary systems.

We’ll concede to gold’s critics that it’s an inert metal that just sits there, generating no income. But, as such, it’s also the perfect barometer for the health of the fiat monetary system.

Judging by gold’s massive rally the past few years – and the fact that it’s outperformed the S&P 500 century-to-date, sometimes being in the right place and doing nothing is the right move.

~ Addison

If you have any questions for us about the market, send them our way now to: feedback@greyswanfraternity.com.

As interest rates fell, investors swarmed into real estate, lured by yields and the illusion that home prices never fell. Wall Street’s private-label securitizers were soon packaging everything from pristine mortgages to what were effectively loans scribbled on napkins, thus turning them into bonds that glowed like gold — until you looked too closely.

For their part, the regulators and ratings agencies conveniently looked away and allowed the bubble to grow. Fannie Mae watched the frenzy from the sidelines at first.

The company’s mandate — written in law — was not to chase profits but to promote affordable housing. That is to say, to make sure that teachers, nurses, and other first-time buyers could own their own homes and unlock the American Dream.

But as Wall Street flooded the market with high-risk mortgage products, political pressure mounted. Congress demanded that Fannie “do its part” for low and moderate-income families.

SoftBank offloaded its entire $5.83 billion Nvidia stake to bankroll an even bigger gamble: tens of billions in OpenAI.

Son insists this is his next Vision Fund moment.

OpenAI’s swelling valuation doubled SoftBank’s profit last quarter. He may have sold the pickaxe factory, but he’s betting the mine still goes deeper.

Although consumer debt is at an all-time high, consumers themselves got the message during the last crisis: Pay down debt, own more assets.

That’s taken the U.S. household debt-to-asset ratio to levels last seen in the 1970s, around the time the U.S. went off the gold standard.

A 50-year mortgage doesn’t make housing cheaper. But by stretching the repayment period over time, it DOES lower the monthly payment on your principal. That lowers the percentage of your total income you’re spending on repayment. And in a strange way, it makes sense.

With a fixed rate mortgage and inflation running in the high upper digits, the real value you of your total debt goes down over time (inflation pays off your loan, as long as your income rises faster in nominal terms). Of course you pay off a lot more interest over 50 years than 30 years. And it takes a lot longer to build up equity (assuming also that house prices don’t fall).