Trump Speaks in "Code"

If ifs and ands were pots and pans, there'd be no need for tinkers. —Unknown

So I'm binge watching The Gilded Age, a great show on HBO Max. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it refers to the economic boom between 1865 (end of the Civil War) and the turn of the twentieth century. This historical period was distinguished by rapid industrialization, political corruption, and extreme wealth inequality, when powerful industrialists built their fortunes on the exploitation of the working class.

Gilding is the process of adhering gold leaf or powder to the surface of a common ordinary material to make it appear glamorous and expensive. Gold leaf to gilding is like the U.S. dollar to financialization. Both manufacture a false prosperity, dependent on the exploitation of people and the planet. While history books say The Gilded Age ended with the Panic of 1893, and a four-year economic depression, it actually morphed into another phase known as The Progressive Era where "progress" was normalized and taken for granted. The last 160 years of progress is still evolving.

In one scene of the show, Agnes and Ada (elderly sisters) and other family and friends are sitting around a decked-out elaborate table, in their everyday formal attire, chitchatting with each other over lunch...

"Watercolors have a champion in me," says the Reverend guest.

"Me, too," says Ada. "I just love them."

"Really, Ada? I never heard you say that...to which watercolorists do you especially favour?" asks Agnes, her sister.

"I know you mean to catch me out, but it happens that I admire the German painter Adolph Menzel," replies Ada.

"A marvelous fellow," says their Reverend guest, "He works in such a range of styles...."

One of the servers brings a bowl to Agnes, and others.

"What is this?" asks Agnes, abruptly.

"Soup," replies Ada.

"Soup! At luncheon?!"

Her son chimes in, "Wasn't it George the fourth who decreed that no gentleman drinks soup in the middle of the day?"

"This is New England Clam Chowder," says Ada. "I thought it would be a surprise."

"And so it is! How did it get on my table?" asks Agnes.

Ada replied, "I conspired with Mrs. Ballet?"

"And why was that, Aunt Ada?" said another.

"The Reverend mentioned that he was in search of an authentic bowl of chowder here in New York."

"I believe I did," said the Reverend.

"So I set our cook to the task," Ada elaborated. "We went through quite a few recipes. I hope you'll agree with our choice."

A few attendees made a comment that it was very kind of Ada to have the chowder commissioned. Her sister, Agnes, hesitant to say more, eats the soup reluctantly.

In a later scene, Agnes asks Ada if she will leave her for the Reverend, since it’s obvious to everyone they are falling love. Ada, having never been married and having lived her whole life in the shadow of her rich society-conscious sister, replies, "If ifs and ands were pots and pans, there'd be no need for tinkers."

A tinker? I had to pause the show and look it up. So a tinker was a person (like a Gypsy) in Ireland and Scotland who traveled around mending pots and pans and other metal utensils to earn a living. It was used derogatorily in gilded language to describe a clumsy profession and person. A tinker today is "a person skilled in various minor kinds of mechanical work; jack-of-all-trades" (Dictionary.com). Think "tinkering" with something in the garage.

This got me musing over words. One word or image can carry powerful meaning, not just on a conscious level, but a subconscious level too. Words are packed with energy. They connect the past to the present, and our ancestors to ourselves. Some of these words are code for things and ideas that we have forgotten. Think "govern" (rule over) and "mente" (mind), for example. Today's word "government" has a different meaning, but the idea still carries the original energy and spirit in which it was created. While the word "tinker" came with a derogatory slant, tinkers were very useful. Trump is somewhat of a tinker. He's clumsy and practical and not full of gilded fluff. And this is exactly what America needs. Like a blazing fire, he’s burning away the gilding.

With that, I have come to one conclusion from Trump's Inauguration speech and his Davos declarations. It is that he is speaking in code. Whether he is consciously doing this, or his energetic words come from a higher source, it’s all the same. "The Golden Age," for example. Golden means "made or consisting of gold"...Yes, if he can figure out a way to get ahold of gold in the ground from Canada and Greenland, then we have a chance at competing with other nations in global trade and finding our way to another type of prosperity, sooner rather than later. Apparently, he’s already started negotiating.

The same for oil, or liquid gold. Acquiring resource-rich territory is his best idea by far, and I hope he follows through with it. I’m not sure he’s correct that America is the richest country in liquid gold. To access "liquid gold" (regardless of whether we have it in the ground or not) is governed by something called EROI: Energy Return on Investment. What happens when it costs a barrel of oil to extract a barrel from the ground? In other words, when the EROI is 1:1? In An Energy and the Economy Forecast for 2025, Gail Tverberg wrote...

As the world enters 2025, the critical issue we are facing is Peak Crude Oil, relative to population...People have a misimpression regarding how world peak oil can be expected to behave. The world economy has continued to grow, but now it is beginning to move in the direction of contraction due to an inadequate supply of crude oil...Physics dictates that the economy needs to shrink in size to match its energy resources, but no country wants to be a part of this shrinkage. This indirectly leads to major changes in elected leadership and to increased interest in war-like behavior. Strangely enough, it also seems to lead to higher long-term interest rates, as well.

I do not think that anyone can make America rich in fiat by simply taxing foreign countries or making us the crypto capital of the world. The word crypto means "burial place." Based on everything I know and understand, I can make no other conclusion than he's speaking in code, saying the United States will be the burial place of fiat and the birthplace of real riches that come from the fruits of labor and the earth. This makes sense. It is very possible that crypto is the last form of fiat in partnership with the dollar. It is the greatest exponential consumer of precious limited energy, along with AI, and dependent on ever-increasing debt and exponential energy growth.

It’s easy to see what’s coming through the gilded pipes, if you dive into history and words. No tinkering is necessary. Remember, since Warren Buffet was born, the U.S. has experienced a 287.44% increase in consumers and a 241,096% increase in borrowed money, or national debt. This is not a position from which we tariff the world and get rich off of energy-guzzling digital fiat. Make no mistake, Trump is speaking in code! He’s either speaking strategically, with full knowledge of what's to come, or he’s being guided by a higher hand. Either way, I believe he will bring great change...if you want to grow muscles, you gotta do the work. There's no free lunch, no free Chinese food in the future of fiat.

Throughout history, "speaking in code" has been used as a tactic to communicate confidential information to insiders. During World Wars I and II, a group of U.S. Marines used the Navajo language to transmit secret messages that helped Allies win the war. During the Soviet Union, ordinary people had to learn how to code their written letters, since spies at the post office opened and screened mail. Even God has used codes with people. In Exodus 12: 1-13, God gave his people a code that would save them from death...each family to kill an unblemished lamb and paint some of the blood on the doorposts and on lintel. Codes are an integral part of humanity, especially during war.

Bitcoin is gilded fiat. Not hard to catch, since the logo falsely assumes the image of a physical gold coin. As the story goes, the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, presumed pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, designed the logo in 2009-2010. Why do you think he chose the image of a real gold coin to sell numerical codes? Wouldn't it have been better to use a string of numbers like 666666? In fact, his logo is probably illegal and could legitimately be taken to court by a good gold miner as false advertising...only he's a mystery man, nowhere to be found. How convenient. In fact, nobody can really be held accountable for this gilded bit. Clever!

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