at and t cellular: Ron Paul's four-letter word

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There's a reason Ron Paul kept talking about the monetary system during his presidential runs: nobody is talking about it, and it's at the root of so much that is wrong with America and the world.

And the word, of course, is fiat.

We all know the obvious problems: since fiat money can be created out of thin air in any amount, people see the value of their savings and the purchasing power of their money systematically reduced over time.

Students of the Austrian School of economics, and who understand its theory of the business cycle, know that fiat money is at the root of the destructive boom-bust pattern.

Our friend Saifedean Ammous has taken the argument much further: fiat money, he explains, gives rise to "high time preference" (i.e., less willingness to defer gratification), which in turn has destructive spillover effects on society:

Family and demographics: By encouraging high time preference, the fiat system makes the lowest time preference act of all -- namely, parenting and long-term family investment -- less attractive. Families weaken, birth rates fall, and people prioritize immediate gratification over multi-generational legacy-building.

Food: Traditional, nutrient-dense ancestral foods give way to cheap, addictive, processed "fiat food," in a process explained in detail in the book Fiat Food, written by student of Saifedean. Government-subsidized debt and distorted incentives degrade soil, favor industrial junk over real nourishment, and promote poor dietary guidelines that serve political or corporate interests rather than human health.

Architecture: The pre-fiat era produced beautiful, durable buildings meant to last centuries (again, low time preference). Fiat produces hideous, disposable, repair-prone monstrosities as developers and societies no longer value long-term legacy over quick yields. Saifedean has devoted entire lectures and chapters to this "fiat architecture" shift. (Similar logic applies at art and culture generally: art becomes less sophisticated and more ephemeral.)

Education: Centralized funding and credential inflation have turned universities into debt factories churning out politicized and worthless degrees. Real skills and market feedback are replaced by government-aligned research and accreditation games.

Science and research (including climate science): Government grants and fiat-funded academia reward alarmism, predictions of catastrophe, and calls for state intervention rather than falsifiable, market-tested truths.

Health: Tied to fiat food and distorted science, public health advice and outcomes worsen. Chronic disease rises alongside the promotion of low-quality diets and medical interventions that benefit from endless monetary expansion.

Fuels, energy, and the environment: Fiat money enables massive subsidies, misallocation, and politicized "renewable" pushes while understating fiat's own role in soil degradation and resource waste.

Geopolitics, governance, and international relations: Fiat lets governments fund endless wars, deficits, and totalitarian experiments without immediate taxpayer backlash.

This is why to my mind gold is more than a past and future medium of exchange -- it is a symbol of civilization itself.

Even at a time in history when it doesn't function as money (money is the most commonly accepted medium of exchange, says Ludwig von Mises, and of course today gold is not that), gold plays a crucial role.

It can't be created out of thin air or in limitless quantities.

No, its value doesn't always rise, and it isn't a short-term play, but that's not why I own it. Here are some specific reasons:

During major equity drawdowns (>15% on the S&P 500), gold has on average gained while stocks plunged, and it has turned positive in the majority of such episodes.
It often shines when both stocks and bonds fall together (e.g., inflationary shocks like 2022).
Gold tends to attract capital precisely when other assets are under maximum stress (recessions, wars, banking scares, or systemic uncertainty). Thus in 2008 (S&P 500 −37%), gold finished the year positive; in 2002 (S&P 500 −22%), gold rose ~25%.
It isn't guaranteed to rise every time markets fall, but its track record as a flight-to-safety asset is a consistent one. In a world of elevated geopolitical risks, debt levels, and policy uncertainty, this tail-risk insurance has real value.

I think of gold as a long-run form of monetary debasement insurance, and that's fundamentally why I have some. You don't buy fire insurance expecting your house to burn down every year; you hold it because the cost of being uninsured in a bad scenario is catastrophic.

Many of you reading this are surely nodding along, because (apart from that Saifedean material) I'm not telling you anything that's wildly new or original.

But here's the new part:

I happen to be a fan of getting paid for doing things I'm going to do anyway.

So instead of buying gold and letting it just sit there, I make that metal work for me. No lazy gold allowed around here!

I lease my gold with Monetary Metals, and I learn about a 4% annual return, paid in gold. So I benefit from gold's price appreciation, and I earn more gold ounces over time.

Sure beats letting it just sit in a vault and do nothing.

My friends Jeff Deist (you remember him as past president of the Mises Institute) and Addison Quale (whom you may have met at my Christmas parties) are the brains behind Monetary Metals, so you know it's a solid company.

You're going to own gold anyway, so be like me and have zero tolerance for lazy gold. Put it to work and earn more and more ounces:

https://www.tomwoods.com/goldyield

Tom Woods