The Endgame for Fiat? Currency, Credit, and the Case for Gold

November 3, 2024 • 47 second read

I am travelling this weekend so today’s thought piece is a conversation, which Mining Network recorded last week week between veteran gold guru, Alasdair Macleod, and myself.

It’s heavyweight goldbug stuff. I hope you enjoy it.

You can watch it below, but I have also ripped the audio so you have the option to listen to that if you prefer to escape the clutch of your screens.

If you are thinking of buying gold to protect yourself in these uncertain times, I recommend The Pure Gold Company. Pricing is competitive, quality of service is high. They deliver to the UK, US, Canada and Europe or you can store your gold with them. More here.

I’ll be MCing this year’s Moneyweek Summit this coming Friday November 8th. Readers of the Flying Frisby can get a 20% discount by entering the code FRISBY20

And if you are interested in hearing more from Alasdair, he has a Substack too.

Beneath the Surface

The Endgame for Fiat? Currency, Credit, and the Case for Gold

Dominic Frisby

November 3, 2024 • 47 second read

fiat currencies gold

I am travelling this weekend so today’s thought piece is a conversation, which Mining Network recorded last week week between veteran gold guru, Alasdair Macleod, and myself.

It’s heavyweight goldbug stuff. I hope you enjoy it.

You can watch it below, but I have also ripped the audio so you have the option to listen to that if you prefer to escape the clutch of your screens.

I’ll be MCing this year’s Moneyweek Summit this coming Friday November 8th. Readers of the Flying Frisby can get a 20% discount by entering the code FRISBY20

And if you are interested in hearing more from Alasdair, he has a Substack too.

Private Credit’s Creditanstalt Moment

November 17, 2025 • Andrew Packer

The market seems to know something about private credit that we don’t. And in a big enough liquidity event for private credit, investors will have to sell off more liquid assets if they want capital.

That’s the danger private credit poses today, exactly at a time when rules are being eased to make it easier for retail investors like us to buy into this asset class.

I’m in the camp that this smells like a way to keep the party going by providing another source of liquidity – the passive investment flows from your regular 401(k) contributions. The smell takes on a sour note as this sector starts to falter.

Perhaps today’s selloff is simply a reaction to declining interest rates, the growth of private credit, and a few inevitable deals that have gone sour recently.

The Tariff Gobstopper

November 17, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

More money sloshing around in the system means daily life has gotten more expensive. Not rocket science.

We’ve all observed certain goods — TVs, laptops, the gadgets we don’t need but buy anyway — keep getting cheaper, often while getting better.

But the Big Four killers of household budgets: healthcare, housing, childcare, and education, are marching upward like a military parade.

Add Biden-era price-level stickiness and Trump-era tariffs whose full effects haven’t even landed yet, and you get the stew voters have been choking down.

Strain Hits the Credit Markets

November 17, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

Credit default swaps (CDS) are a tool that measures the cost to insure against a company’s debt.

A soaring CDS suggests that investors are demanding a higher return. The implication? That debt isn’t as safe as it may appear.

It’s also a sign that the liquidity crisis and dangers in the private credit market are starting to show up in the mega-cap companies that are raising debt to invest in AI and data centers. And if that starts a slowdown, it could mean that the stock market hits the brakes.

Peter Thiel: Capitalism Isn’t Working For Young People

November 14, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

I’m obviously very biased against socialism. I don’t think socialism has solutions to these problems. I don’t think Mamdani particularly has solutions. I don’t think you can socialize housing. If you just impose rent controls, then you probably have even less housing, and eventually, it’s even more expensive.

But to Mamdani’s credit, he at least talked about these problems. So my cop-out answer is always to say: The first step is to talk about the problems, even if you don’t know what to do about them. There’s been a failure of, let’s say, the center left-center right establishment to even talk about them.

Peter Thiel: Capitalism Isn’t Working For Young People

Private Credit’s Creditanstalt Moment

November 17, 2025 • Andrew Packer

That’s the danger private credit poses today, exactly at a time when rules are being eased to make it easier for retail investors like us to buy into this asset class.

Perhaps today’s selloff is simply a reaction to declining interest rates, the growth of private credit, and a few inevitable deals that have gone sour recently.

The Tariff Gobstopper

November 17, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

More money sloshing around in the system means daily life has gotten more expensive. Not rocket science.

We’ve all observed certain goods — TVs, laptops, the gadgets we don’t need but buy anyway — keep getting cheaper, often while getting better.

But the Big Four killers of household budgets: healthcare, housing, childcare, and education, are marching upward like a military parade.

Add Biden-era price-level stickiness and Trump-era tariffs whose full effects haven’t even landed yet, and you get the stew voters have been choking down.

Strain Hits the Credit Markets

November 17, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

Credit default swaps (CDS) are a tool that measures the cost to insure against a company’s debt.

A soaring CDS suggests that investors are demanding a higher return. The implication? That debt isn’t as safe as it may appear.

Peter Thiel: Capitalism Isn’t Working For Young People

November 14, 2025 • Addison Wiggin