01/07/2026 - Wow watch again Dr. Marc Faber & Yra Harris in May of 2025 – How Prescient!
Summary of the discussion:
The discussion argues that the post‑COVID global economy is structurally weaker than in 2018–2019, with a “two‑tier” system in which asset owners benefited from inflation in financial assets while the middle and lower classes suffer from real income stagnation, higher living costs, and much higher interest burdens on credit cards and mortgages. The speakers contend that official inflation data significantly understate true cost‑of‑living increases, liken tariffs to hidden tax hikes, and criticize current U.S. policy for squeezing households while preserving an asset bubble supported by years of artificially low rates. They see many households effectively already in recession and point to weaker indicators such as disappointing travel bookings and rising homelessness as evidence of declining real prosperity and affordability.
On policy and geopolitics, they argue that U.S. interest rates were held too low for too long, creating excessive debt at both government and household levels, and warn that cutting rates now would risk signaling that the Federal Reserve has abandoned any serious fight against inflation, potentially pushing long‑term yields higher rather than lower. Tariffs and great‑power rivalry are framed as part of a long historical pattern, with current U.S. tariff policy described as economically harmful “taxation,” while China’s Belt and Road Initiative is characterized as a politically motivated but economically constructive alternative to military intervention that improves market access and infrastructure for participating countries. They emphasize China’s long‑term strategy to bypass maritime choke points and reshape Eurasian trade routes, contrasting it with what they see as short‑term, often militarized Western approaches.
In markets, they argue that U.S. equities have likely peaked in real terms and that the dollar is overvalued on economic fundamentals, anticipating a multi‑year environment where non‑U.S. markets and select emerging economies outperform after a decade of underperformance. They highlight value opportunities in markets such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and parts of Asia (including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand), with particular interest in Asian banks, while noting that all markets remain vulnerable when U.S. equities sell off. They also describe Singapore as an increasingly important wealth‑management hub benefiting from political stability and personal safety, attracting capital from across Asia and serving as a kind of “Switzerland of Asia.”
On precious metals and portfolio construction, they maintain a constructive long‑term view on physical gold due to chronic fiscal deficits, growing debt burdens, and what they expect to be structurally higher inflation culminating in some form of systemic “reset.” However, they stress that investors are generally underweight physical gold and discuss platinum as a particularly attractive store‑of‑value candidate, arguing that platinum is historically very cheap relative to gold and may offer better upside with less downside risk, even as central banks are more likely to concentrate their reserves in gold. Overall, the conversation emphasizes risk control over return maximization, urging investors to think less about beating benchmarks and more about preserving real purchasing power in an over‑leveraged, politically fragile, and financially repressed global environment.
