Wednesday, August 20, 2014

All Fiat Currencies Are Flawed

The Canadian dollar should be one of the stronger currencies, but all currencies are flawed, and they’re flawed in the sense that by having created this zero interest rate environment, the cost of government’s borrowing money is as negligible as you can get it. So, therefore, the willingness to keep increasing deficit spending is quite significant and to keep ignoring the increasing obligations.

And I always turn to the US in which they publish every year what the present value of their future liabilities is, and every year it goes up by about $5 trillion. Well, the GDP is $17 trillion. The government has revenue of $3 trillion. They spend $4 trillion. And, they’ve got an extra $5 trillion of obligations at the end of each year. Those obligations are pushing towards $80 trillion now. And any thinking person would know that this organization that has $3 trillion in revenue cannot meet these obligations.

It’s not just the US. I’m sure it’s Japan and England and the various European countries. They all keep making promises that they know they can’t keep. And, therefore, it’s another reason not to believe in currencies, because someday they’re going to default on their promises. There’s no doubt they will default on their promises or they’ll just keep printing money, and the money that they pay to these people who have these claims will be worth very, very little, because in reality the economies can’t afford it.

- Eric Sprott via Ask the Expert