Buffett Talk, Argentina Talk and B.S. Talk

Buffett spoke to the media at his annual shareholder meeting last week. His thoughts trigger two responses from me. One, he is consistent and secondly, he is such a hypocrite.

He was joined by his right hand man, Charlie Munger and charity buddy, Bill Gates. Together, they trolled the dangers of cryptocurrency. They all agree that it is fake money, but Buffett also thinks gold is not money. I have a serious problem with that.
The subject of bitcoins has two sides. I, too, believe it is a fake asset, but the dialogue that fiat currencies are really products for government manipulation does hold water with me. This is why I believe in gold just as our founding fathers because it is a true asset that cannot be manipulated, especially by governments.

Doug Casey said it best when discussing three choices of money. Since the US went off the gold stand, our currency is backed by faith as in we owe you nothing. The euro is fiat, but the answer to the question is, who owes me nothing? Finally, the answer to cryptocurrency is I don't know who owes me nothing.

With that said, there are nations where citizens have few choices to protect their assets. They utilize the cryptocurrency to protect themselves from inflation and government seizures. There is however, a negative side where criminals can launder money or the wealthy hide money and avoid taxes. Like almost any issue, the bitcoin is a two-sided story.

Nevertheless, there are forces that control stories so we only hear one side of the tale. Buffett is the perfect example. He famously stated that derivatives are weapons of (financial) mass destruction(WMD). What is never talked about is the reality that Buffett controls more derivatives than anyone in the world. He is lock, stock behind fiat money which is the real reason why he opposes gold. He is such a hypocrite!

If I was a citizen of Argentina, I might feel differently about cryptocurrencies. Inflation there, is running at an unbelievable 40%. Their peso fell to almost 24 to the US dollar. The central bank of the nation increased their lending rates three times last week to stem the tide, but nothing seems to work. The citizens have lost confidence and that is all that there is behind fiat money. Their black market is almost as large as their public GDP. The ministers of Argentina have asked the following for help:
1) IMF
2)World Bank
3)Inter-American Development Bank and
4)Development Bank of Latin America(CAF).
The nation already owes $10 billion each year for the next ten years from past debt. They are deep in do-doo. The sad part of all this is the US is following the same path as Argentina. Their nation is rich in natural resources, good agricultural land and once had one of the highest standards of living in the world. Now, poverty is at their door.

We reflect Argentina in many ways except we had the highest standard of living, ever and now, with annual deficits of one trillion that is added to the $21-plus trillions that we owe, who are we going to call for help, Ghostbusters?

By the way, the NAFTA talks ended and they ended the same way as the trade talks with China=
Nothing! - NADA! - Forget About It! - A big Goose Egg - Zero! - OO! - Just B.S.!