We need more often to be reminded than informed.
“It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgement concerning them.” Marcus Aurelius 175 A.D.
Current events can be disturbing but without correct judgement, what do they teach us? Data requires understanding and interpretation. The headlines are useless unless you have wisdom and discernment to judge them. Some things are systemically broken and need to be reformed before a revolution takes place.
This fact is no more apparent than in the financial markets where the foundations that were, are no more. Financial markets in the United States were founded on the principle of settlement, receiving and owning what you actually purchase. In 2026 this principle no longer exists, it is a thing of the past. In a single day, many stocks trade multiples of the number of shares outstanding, much less the shares in the public float/circulation. Commodities are the canary in the coal mine revealing the foundations of the American free enterprise system have been compromised by the manipulation of price.
Nothing quite affects our judgement like the perceived value of a thing. Price influences perceived value. Therefore, you can control judgement by manipulating the price. Price, and how we judge the underlying value of a particular thing effects our ability to own, use and control said thing. This truth is apparent in how we judge everything from labor to professional services, gold, silver, oil and cryptocurrencies.
The most glaring example is the silver market. Back in the day, commodities were bought and sold with a contract. You could always exercise this proof of ownership and take possession of what the underlying contract represented. For whatever reason (to control and manipulate price, love of money…you be the judge) Wall Street invented a way to buy and sell ‘paper’ promises of ‘future’ ownership.
This ‘promise’ is the ETF you bought for diversification representing a basket of stocks…or the price of silver you see quoted on the AMERICAN exchanges. These ‘promises’ are not guarantees but a mechanism for gambling, greed, control….and fraud. If you don’t agree or understand, compare the price of a silver contract here and anywhere else in the world. The difference you see in America is the discount for gambling as opposed to actual ownership. In other words, for buying a lie that manipulates your judgement.
Two months ago, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed gambling is now the second fastest growing industry measured by GDP growth. We have become a nation willing to buy anything, if we believe there can be a profit. The lies floating around financial markets merely express the degree of control and lack of judgement in the average American investor. The mantra of ‘your’ truth and ‘my’ truth is coming home to roost in your finances and the dollar bill itself.
Here’s where I offend and lose a great deal of any interest you have shown so far. The same control and brokenness in stocks and commodities applies to Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency speculative frenzy will be remembered as another promise that never quite settled but led to the introduction of digital currencies and CBDC’s. This blockchain of events on Wall Street will be remembered as another event similar to the speculative frenzy of the great Tulip Mania in the 17th century (if you don’t know this one, take a minute to look it up). Our addiction to gambling and relative truth has a new face.
Bitcoin was developed by someone or something referred to by a PSEUDONYM (fictitious, not real)…Satoshi. ‘Satoshi’ developed bitcoin, authored the bitcoin white paper, and created and deployed bitcoin’s original reference implementation. As part of the implementation, Satoshi also devised the first blockchain database. If this sounds like a concocted event, a conspiracy theory, or just another promise of secrecy, wealth and riches, well…I’ll let you and history exercise judgement.
Cicero, the Roman statesman who lived before the time of Christ opined… “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?” Children believe in Santa Claus. Adults believe in relative truth. Some people believe the United States was founded 50 years before history records it in 1776. All kinda the same thing, depending on your judgement.
According to the Southern California Earthquake Data Center there were 321 earthquakes in the San Francisco area in a 7 day period at the end of January. As Marcus Aurelius said, it’s your judgement of these events that makes it disturbing or not. If you didn’t know this or don’t live in San Fran do you judge this to be disturbing?
What disturbs YOU in February 2026? Anything? Everything?
There is only Truth and it is only found in God, the Creator, his record of history in the Bible and in his son, Jesus the Christ. Don’t be disturbed or anxious by the events happening. Be reminded…and be wise, so your judgement is clear. Your finances and future depend on it.