Digging Deeper …
by Justin Angell
I guess with the advent of cell phones, it’s easier to make a quick phone call than it is to write a letter to the editor. One such call came to me from a longtime friend and customer who read Savannah‘s article about Theileria. According to Jerry, he says there’s only two ways to kill ticks. You either have to burn them or drown them. Jerry claims he has no problem with ticks on his cows all summer because they have access to a big pond where they spend time daily.
I admit at first this sounded a little bit out in left field, but maybe he is on to something? Is it possible that beginning before domestication, cows used the ponds and streams for parasite control rather than just to dissipate heat? This concept is interesting to me and really quite plausible mostly because that’s as good of a theory as I’ve heard since there is very little knowledge about the long-horn Asian tick and Theileria. I hope that changes soon.
Another random incident I found interesting and potentially quite significant is the September 30 European Union seizing Nexperia, a Chinese computer chip manufacturer in the Netherlands. Seizing this asset could be considered an act of war by the Chinese.
I don’t really have a fervent opinion on this. However, this could set a very dangerous precedent.
Think about the value of all the American and European assets in China! The last time something similar to this happened was after the invasion of Ukraine, the EU/Biden administration seized $300 billion of Russian capital held in United States bonds/treasuries.
Like tipping the first domino, this was the beginning of the end. Foreign central banks, private investors, sovereign wealth funds etc… have for decades been buying American debt and therefore funding deficit spending of the American government. We all know the U.S. government is printing billions/trillions of dollars just to pay bills, interest and obligations.
Unbridled printing/creating money digitally by governments is the true source of inflation.
After this incident, United States treasuries, once considered the safest investment in the world, was overnight proven to be an unreliable store of value. That kicked off the Gold Rush that we continue to see today as foreign countries both friend and foe are all dumping treasuries, and reinvesting in physical, gold and silver. Gold is signaling a trust problem not just of the dollar, but of the entire western financial system which is based on the dollar being the world, reserve currency.
Unfortunately, I believe gold and silver prices are predicting chaos in the world of economics. Even if we were all “long” gold, I’m not sure we want to live in a world with $5,000 gold.
Geez, take my soapbox away. Even though I lay out a problem without also providing the solution, I just want to emphasize to readers this is a really big issue. If I don’t shine light and explain issues as best that I can, there’s no one else that does for our people.
Finally, the last item of interest is the indictments coming out of the justice department after investigations of wrong-doing by government officials — mostly from previous administration. I know indictments are different than convictions, but indictments are also the first step on the road to conviction. Boy, I hope they put some of these SOBs in prison that did so many illegal things that hurt this country the last 10 years.
That’s all for this month. I’ll see you at the auction!