The Emperor Has No Clothes... When People Stop Trusting the Dollar

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:03]Yay. Welcome to my favorite day of the week because I get to spend it with you and I love these live events.

[00:00:10]>> But there is something that is evolving and we've kind of talked about it in the past and I want to get into it a little bit more because most people think that the financial system is built on money, but it's not. I mean, really, what's the difference between this or that? Well, here's the monopoly money. You just won't agree to work for it. You'll agree to work for this. But frankly, there's no different. The real reality is is that the financial system is built on belief. Belief that the work will pay off. Belief that life will get better.

[00:00:48]And belief that the people in charge know what they're doing. I don't know about that. But for a long time, people actually did believe it because of the way they transitioned us from the one system to the new. And then of course, there's that old story, the emperor's new clothes, which I think fits what we're looking at here really well.

[00:01:14]Because in the story, everyone pretended that the emperor was wearing beautiful clothes because they were too afraid really to say the truth. But then of course a child spoke up and once the child said it everyone could see it and and that's the story that really we need to talk about today because every system depends on the next generation believing this sacrifice is worth it.

[00:01:46]And and frankly the moment the young stop believing in upward mobility that they can make a difference in their standard of living well then the psychological foundation of the system kind of >> cracks right. So let's just take a look at what's going on here because you know you've got the the people on the Fed the FOMC meeting minutes and they come out and says repeated supply shocks test the inflation anchor. Well, do you know who that inflation anchor or what that inflation anchor is supposed to be?

[00:02:27]>> Is it the consumer confidence?

[00:02:30]>> It is. It's the confidence and the public belief that the Federal Reserve is actually independent and can control inflation or what do they talk? They talk about fighting inflation.

[00:02:45]>> Yeah.

[00:02:46]>> But it's that belief that became the anchor for the entire financial system.

[00:02:53]If prices rose, the Fed would fix it because they would raise the prices create or raise interest rates, create deflation, and that would control the interest rate again. If the economy slowed, well, what' they do? They lowered interest rates and printed a whole lot of free money.

[00:03:13]>> Yeah.

[00:03:13]>> So, you know, the emperor looked strong like he had clothes on.

[00:03:18]>> Right.

[00:03:19]>> Right. confident, in control, but the system only worked as long as the police that the people believed collectively that the clothes were real.

[00:03:32]And as always, every belief system is eventually tested and people started asking a really dangerous question, which was, what if the people in charge are no longer in control? Yeah, >> we've seen a lot of push back on the central banks being independent and in control, but what the people were told was that inflation was transitory or temporary.

[00:04:03]But inflation proved sticky, >> right? And after all the money printing in 2020, inflation expectations ratcheted up to new higher and much more volatile expectation range. And with the higher highs and the higher lows, technically this chart could be showing us that fragile breakdown in central bank control. Can you see that trading range before 2020 on this chart? Right.

[00:04:36]This is really critical because frankly, look at that higher range. A whole lot more volatility and that massive breakout.

[00:04:48]>> Yeah. That's like a a pattern change, right? A pattern interrupt when you see that.

[00:04:53]>> Exactly. But that you don't even really need to know what that means. But what you do need to see is that there was a breakout. So is this just a temporary surge?

[00:05:05]Nope.

[00:05:06]>> Nope. Nope. It definitely isn't. I think this really is about the Federal Reserve and global central banks losing control because people stop trusting those people in charge. And once trust begins to weaken, that belief that weakens, too.

[00:05:30]So, let's take a look because I've shown you this before. public trust collapses.

[00:05:36]Look at that trust in government down to 17% from almost 80% of Americans that trusted the government in the 60s. You know, they trusted them to do the right thing. But today, what do we have? It's near the historic lows. And that's just not politics, >> right?

[00:05:59]>> That's actual legitimacy. People are starting to feel like the system no longer works for them. Shocking, >> right? Well, and again, I think it ties into how many times can people be lied to when they don't know the truth. But when the truth starts to come out, I think that also has that public confidence piece as it goes down, the trust in the government goes down, those inflation expectations spiking up. I think it all correlates to one thing which is what happens at the end of a currency's life cycle.

[00:06:35]>> Yeah. And that is such a good point because that's really where we are. And frankly, once that trust breaks at the top, well, people begin to feel it in everyday life. And here's what we're looking at now. Americans economic confidence drops. Shocking. They invest when they believe tomorrow will be better. They can tighten their belts when they think that tomorrow will be better. But when hope disappears, the system starts slowing down from the inside out. So Americans are becoming much more pessimistic about the economy.

[00:07:18]Confidence has fallen sharply. Look at this. from a plus 40 in 2020 to a minus 38 today. That's a huge shift. People may not understand every economic chart, but they understand this. Things feel harder.

[00:07:41]>> Yeah.

[00:07:41]>> They feel more expensive. They feel more uncertain. I mean, when you have to have people taking out loans for easy payments to feed their family, the promises don't match reality and people are starting to realize that. And when people lose confidence in the future, they start expecting things to get worse. And that's where we are right now. Today, most Americans believe that economic conditions are getting worse, shockingly, not better. That matters because economies are emotional systems. People spend when they feel hopeful. And nowhere is that feeling stronger than in the job market where more Americans now believe that it is a bad time to find a quality job, especially younger workers, for generations, people were told, "Go to school, work hard, play by these rules, and you'll move upward." That was the deal.

[00:08:53]That was the American dream. But now something really different, I'm getting chills, is really happening. The quiet part.

[00:09:03]Well, let's see. What are they saying out loud these days? I mean, you can't make this stuff up. I'm sorry. Did you >> Yeah, I saw it and I was like, that's what they would call a person.

[00:09:19]>> Uhhuh. Yeah, lower value human capital.

[00:09:23]And this is by Stan Chart CEO, a bank's CEO, a major bank.

[00:09:31]Think about that phrase for a minute, >> right?

[00:09:33]>> Not people, not families, >> not communities, human capital, an evil that they must deal with.

[00:09:44]>> Yeah. And I think you know you we've talked about it before too. What a lot of people need to realize is the hours of their life that they're giving for this corporate debt. That's all this is is corporate debt. It's it's your energy. It's your your lifespan. It's something you'll never get back. And they're going to say that it's lower value human capital opposed to higher value AI capital. I don't >> right because AI is a lot cheaper, right? AI doesn't breathe air. AI doesn't eat food. It does consume water and it does consume energy.

[00:10:25]>> But >> is this the moment that many people realize something that the system and not see them as citizens anymore?

[00:10:36]Do do you think that the system these all of these tech giants just kind of see them as costs, right? I mean, shocking. And then >> and then the children said what everyone else could finally see.

[00:10:57]The emperor has no clothes.

[00:11:02]In the old story, this is the moment that breaks that spell and suddenly everyone sees the truth where they were too afraid to admit. We're looking at these markets melting up. Yeah.

[00:11:15]>> Right. No matter what's going on, no matter what war, no matter what inflation, no matter how many protests, no matter what, we have markets that just keep marching higher, >> right? Yeah. It's it's like a part of what happens again in that currency life cycle at the very end. And I I do have a question for you too about the melting up of the market. Uh-huh.

[00:11:42]>> You know, on the global stage, the US dollar is melting up as well, much stronger against these other currencies.

[00:11:50]And when we look at the purchasing power of the dollar, we've officially dropped into 2.9 on the Fred chart.

[00:12:00]>> They went back and forth on the Fred. Do you saw the 2.9 cents? I saw it and then when I went to copy it over the weekend while I was working, it was back at.3. I don't think they want to break it down there, but you saw it and I saw it.

[00:12:15]>> Yeah, it was on there at 2.9. So, it makes and it makes me wonder too if the dollar has let's lost 97% of its purchasing power >> officially >> officially.

[00:12:28]>> So, it's worse than that. But >> if if the dollar has lost that much purchasing power, but it's so strong against these other currencies, how much purchasing power have all those other currencies lost?

[00:12:42]>> Exactly. That is such a good point and it's something that I try and show when I bring up those charts against, you know, I use XE.com, but you can use any currency converter and you just go in and you put the dollar against that currency, the spot silver contract against that currency and the spot gold contract against that currency. And 100% on the of the time, shortterm and long-term, it looks as if well quite honestly spot silver and spot gold always 100% beat out the US dollar that spot contract against that currency. But that is the point, right? They they try to lull you in and say, "Oo, the emperor has closed." Because after all, look at how strong the dollar is against the yuan or the euro or take your pick. It doesn't matter. But it's all relative, right? Exactly. And to your point, you're absolutely right. What that really is showing you is that those other currencies are even more weak. And and I wonder is that moment happening like right now, especially with younger generations.

[00:14:02]>> Yeah.

[00:14:04]>> Right. The young are no longer quietly just accepting the story and accepting the lie.

[00:14:12]I really was amazed when I saw this.

[00:14:16]Graduates actually boo commencement speech about AI.

[00:14:21]Can you believe that? Why did they do that?

[00:14:25]Because many young people no longer hear innovation.

[00:14:31]They hear replacement. Go get your degree in engineering. Learn how to write code. Yeah, that's not working out so well. They hear fewer opportunities.

[00:14:44]They hear less stability. They hear a future becoming smaller instead of larger. Uh I was born in 54.

[00:14:55]The world was my oyster. It was right after World War II. We had so much room to take on debt and to create everything that we created. But these kids that are graduating today, the numbers really kind of help explain why we have this attitude about it because look at this. These are the young college graduates and those jobs just are not there. Young worker unemployment is rising again, especially for the younger college graduates, >> right?

[00:15:33]>> Yeah. It's important because upward mobility is the foundation of the American dream and social stability here in the US.

[00:15:45]So if people if younger people believe that life will improve, they can be patient. Do you are patient because you saw the dream could come true and now you're in a better place, >> right?

[00:15:58]>> Right. Because you're here. But if they believe that that ladder to upward mobility is disappearing, history shows something really dangerous that's beginning to happen. And we are seeing it because every stable society depends on one thing and that is the next generation believing the sacrifice is worth it. You know, I mean, parents sacrifice for children, workers sacrifice for retirement, students sacrifice for opportunity.

[00:16:38]But frankly, the moment the young stop believing in upward mobility, the psychological foundation of the very system is cracking. It begins to crack. And once that belief breaks, well, change comes really fast. So what happens when people stop trusting the system, stop trusting their upward mobility? They begin looking for something outside of that system.

[00:17:15]No actually gold and silver used to be the very system >> right and historically that's silver but historically gold represents independence from governments and from central banks and from paper promises and from all of that debt. This is savings. So it's not really about investing to watch those numbers go up.

[00:17:41]Will they? Of course they will. But it's more about the currency going down.

[00:17:47]Really this is about trust or probably more accurately that loss of trust and that's everything >> that really is and that brings us back to the very beginning which frankly you know every fiat financial system survives on confidence.

[00:18:13]Every single confidence game survives on belief and every belief system collapses the moment that people see the truths.

[00:18:27]The emperor's clothes were never the real power or the real story.

[00:18:35]The belief was.

[00:18:38]So where does this leave us? Quite honestly, history shows that systems rarely collapse all at once. And ours have been collapsing actually pretty significantly since 2008. I said it then, I'll say it now. That's when the that's when the system died and they had to scramble to come up with a new digital system. And I think somewhere you've got the physical representation of Bitcoin which is supposed to look like that.

[00:19:10]>> They try real hard. They try real hard, but look, they have to have people that have confidence and trust it, and I don't personally trust it. Then they lose hope, and finally, they stop participating in the illusion.

[00:19:25]And I think that that's really where we are. That's the real danger that's facing every single fiat system. So when you say the dollar is stronger against this currency and we know that it's taking four easy payments to feed a family. Um it's not just the inflation, >> right?

[00:19:48]>> And and it and it's not just this debt which we've now passed 100%. I mean that's such a joke. It's not even a recession. This is so much bigger. what we have ahead of us is so much bigger than just a recession. The real danger is when the next generation no longer believes that the sacrifice is worth it and it looks like we have approach that because once belief disappears those embers close.

[00:20:20]>> Yeah.

[00:20:21]>> They disappear right with it, don't they? And that brings us back to the beginning. You know, financial systems are not built on paper. They're not built on digital dollars. They're not even built on gold. They're built on confidence. Gold does not require confidence because it is the only financial asset that runs no counterparty risk. But frankly, confidence is built on trust. And today, do you see it? That trust is really breaking. And that means is this is not just a financial moment, it's a sovereignty moment that makes it much much bigger >> because when the system becomes unstable, well people have two choices that become they can become more dependent on the system just ooh look at those numbers that stock market just keeps going up going up going it'll go to the sky.

[00:21:22]>> Yeah.

[00:21:22]>> Except that's never the way that it works.

[00:21:25]Or you can become more sovereign, more independent, which you guys know this is what we believe in at Zang International, not from fear. You don't do anything from fear, but from clarity. That's why we focus on the sound money strategies and why it's so important that you create that local community and shity in food, water, energy, security, barterility, wealth preservation, community and shelter.

[00:22:07]By surrounding yourself with a community to support that shity, you put yourself in the best possible position.

[00:22:18]Resilience. Because true wealth is not just in what you own. It's how resilient you are when the world changes around you.

[00:22:30]The emperor's power was was never the close. It was the belief. And how many times can you be lied to when you do not know the truth?

[00:22:42]And frankly, history changes the very moment when people see the truth.

[00:22:54]So we are very close, I think, to a revolution. And I'd like to be part of steering it.

[00:23:01]>> Yeah. toward redeemable gold sound money in the system so that the public has the power of the purse. Did you see recently how much money has been sent spent on these midterm elections?

[00:23:17]>> Oh no, I didn't even look at that.

[00:23:19]>> Oh my god. I think uh the most in history, don't hold me to this. I obviously don't have those numbers right in front of me, but I think that 120 million was spent on some of these um midterm elections. 120. You've got people that can't feed their family, but let's spend this on getting somebody elected that isn't going to listen to us anyway.

[00:23:42]>> We have to get more involved and take our power back. And I think that that's basically it for Is there anything else that you want to say today? Uh, no, just appreciate you and I like the I really do think that the, you know, uh, Emperor has no clothes presentation was important. You know, it's >> I'm trying to figure out how to give people the tools to explain it, how I can explain it better, because it really is my goal to translate financial noise into understandable language. We don't have to agree on anything. I really appreciate Bitcoiners coming in and people that are into this and bringing that um with you because communities are made up of a variety of people, not just one thought. That's a cult. A cult can only think in one way.

[00:24:33]>> That doesn't really serve anybody well except maybe the leaders at the top of that cult, right?

[00:24:39]>> We like diversity. We like conversation and and I love Tuesdays. I hope you like it as much as I do.

[00:24:47]>> Absolutely. Yeah. It's uh you said you have no problem people challenging what we what we're saying. Yeah. I mean, >> you know, I I think you've spent again, you've spent most your life studying currency life cycles on some level.

[00:25:00]>> And I mean, yeah, I don't know. We're just here to we're here to really our work is really simple. We're just here to take a look at people's wealth, where it's at, and how we can help people get it off of the traditional fiat ledger and into their own possession. So, >> yeah, become your own central bank.

[00:25:20]Become part of this very important growing community. And I don't know what a concept, citizens for sound money.

[00:25:30]having money that we work for that cannot be inflated away. How about not being abused anymore, >> right?

[00:25:42]>> We can do it if we come together. I know we can do it. So, wherever you are in this world, until next we meet, please be safe out there. Bye-bye.