What you see here is the credit of the United States, represented by the value of a 20-year Treasury bond (TLT) versus the major alternatives to money: energy as represented by coal (KOL), agriculture (DBA), and hard money as represented by silver (SLV).

 

This picture sums up the arguments and warnings we've been giving for years. We are not going to have a crisis. We are in a crisis right now. U.S. credit is now in permanent decline, while the value of the main alternatives to the dollar – energy, food, and real money – are soaring.

 

The market is giving you a warning. Inflation is here. We are in the midst of a monetary crisis. The facts are undeniable. – Stansberry's Investment Advisory, December 2010

As Chris Weber points out in this week's DailyWealth, gold has risen for 10 consecutive years. Going all the way back to 1980, Chris never found another market with the same consistency.

While the economic outlook was seen as improving, members generally felt that the change in the outlook was not sufficient to warrant any adjustments to the asset-purchase program. Some indicated that they had a fairly high threshold for making changes to the program. (Emphasis is our own.)

In addition to rising interest rates, another "End of America" prediction is also playing out... Soaring food prices. Last November, Porter attended a secret meeting with some of the world's most powerful people (billionaire investors, government officials, and corporate CEOs) to discuss the looming food crisis. While most attendees tiptoed around the central issue, Porter dove in. He recalled his contribution to the meeting in the November 2010 issue of Stansberry's Investment Advisory...

Excuse me... I wonder if everyone here is merely trying to be polite... We are here talking about the risks to the global food supply chain because we all know food prices are rising rapidly and these price shocks are merely the beginning.

 

We all know there's a currency war underway – a currency war that began in 2008 with the collapse of Wall Street's investment banks. We all know this will, eventually, lead to a trade war. And we all know that as sure as night follows day, a currency war will lead to a trade war. We know this will have catastrophic consequences for food supplies.

 

But why hasn't anyone yet pointed to the obvious problem?

 

It terms of gold, agricultural commodities prices have fallen by about 50% over the last 10 years.

 

Obviously it's not the price of food that's the problem. It's the collapsing purchasing power of the U.S. dollar that's led us to this situation.

 

That's what's going to cause a food crisis – and an energy crisis.

 

The real question we should be discussing isn't food. It's money. And more specifically, the lack of a sound world reserve currency.