The ‘Fearless Girl’ statue by Kristen Visbal, Wall Street (NYC). (Anthony Quintano, Flickr)
Paulo Pinto
Alti Wine Exchange founding member
Dear reader,
Malcolm Gladwell says his book David and Goliath is about what happens when ordinary people confront giants. The book was an inspiration for this text – about the different Goliaths the world economy has created in the last 20 years.
Quoting Gladwell: “Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness.”
Bonds and shares make the bulk of the investment world, but alternative investments are gaining space. Within this group, fine and rare wine is a niche market. I hope you start to see my point.
Politicians and central bankers are planning the future, but the economy is impossible to predict. We know that, much because of billions of inputs from humans, each with its own ideas, knowledge, skills and ambitions.
Convention says big is good, big companies are good, but only because it makes life easier for politicians, “fixing” things by giving millions.
Individuals “discover” asset prices through free markets, but central bankers and governments are rigging them through market interventions, to “make it better”. But the irony is the economy is not even restarting, as planned.
Our monetary system subverts our democracy by creating a situation in which a few can lend money that does not exist, called credit, and then charge interest on it and taking as collateral wealth that does exist. Real wealth is then taken when credit is not paid, and this is happening now with millions of business worldwide – while at the same time each sector is effectively controlled by half a dozen companies. This is the foundation of human control by using debt to “buy votes”.
New plans ahead of societal change
Gold has made new highs against all currencies but the US dollar – yet, it’s not far off. People investing in gold are also preparing for positive societal change. Economic pain, as we are seeing now, and growing inequality will lead to greater social unrest, as we have been seeing.
It’s time to explore additional options, because civilization is not holding together: it has become too complex. It’s time to go small.
Small is not only beautiful, small is necessary. Business should have a limit on market share, in order to keep competition, innovation and growth.
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Printing money exponentially is creating inequality. The more debt we add, by printing money, the bigger the companies are made, the smaller the growth rate.
This is the result of the financialization of the economy, that has removed constrains on credit creation and, therefore, on money. Because the nature of money has changed, growth is anchored in the growth of credit and the growth of credit implies diminishing growth rates.
In order to have progress, we need to change this vicious cycle.
More important than growth is progress. And what do we need for progress? We need brains, we need savings, we need capital, we need labour, and we need freedom to do things. We need Davids to go against Goliaths.
Most of the money goes to big companies or to “connected” people. The self-employed have no access to the same benefits, no skills to earn anything else but their money, no size to have special low rates at the bank, no guarantees or collateral – apart from hard work and small margin of error.
Through that, dominance of financial control by central banks (first) and politicians (after) dictate the choices or lack of choices of the population.
That is why we need a new Central Bank of Social Security, through which people can get a minimum guaranteed income, and companies are free from the cost of pensions.
A new monetary system that can free mankind with a new banking system, in order to take control of our economic lives and livelihoods with economic growth, and free governments from being do-gooders.
We are unique individuals achieving on a unique way with our own abilities, responsible for our own choices.
What we need is to give people same opportunities, and then what they do with that opportunity is entirely up to them.
That is why you need a minimum guaranteed income promoted by a Central Bank of Social Security, so it is not another cost in the form of taxes to people willing to do things. Its fundamental reason is to create this equality of opportunities that will allow an economic system where wealth is the result of creativity, motivation and choices.
The current monetary system is an inside job from democracy where choices have been completely hijacked either financially by a small group of people providing underpriced credit or politically with rules, regulations, taxes and redistribution.
The more choices you can make, the freer you are, and the fewer choices, the less free you are.
The world needs a big “reset” based on social justice with unlimited money from Central Banks, but what we have is unlimited government supported by unlimited money – and this is the cause of the problem.
The solution to it is the Central Bank of Social Security. We need to take away the cause for the problem to seize to exist. The Covid-19 pandemic will not allow business to reopen as usual, and we are at a critical juncture, with unlimited government and unlimited money attacking your freedom of thought and attacking your money.
In the meantime, we here hold on to our strategy for the future: buying fine and rare wine at Alti Wine Exchange as a sure way of defending your money, because there is far more money in an economy that is producing fewer goods and services.