china

2024BRICSSummit1729759568
Photo from the President of Azerbaijan at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2024_BRICS_Summit_(1729759568).jpg

The BRICS’ New Unit Currency is a Good Step Forward

In 2019, I was involved in a crypto project that aimed to provide a usable basis of large-scale commerce in an environment where existing fiat currencies were failing badly. Of course, I was in support of a 100% gold system — which has always worked in the past. And, people agreed that this was a good idea “theoretically,” and “eventually.” But, the perception at the time was that there should be some kind of intermediate step. For example, if a country had a regular gold-based currency today, then the value of the currency would be fixed to gold. In other words, foreign exchange rates with the other major fiat currencies would be terribly volatile, and also, would introduce a lot Read More ›

a-collection-of-gold-and-silver-bullion-bars-stacked-in-a-se-785666344-stockpack-adobestock
A collection of gold and silver bullion bars stacked in a secure vault symbolizing wealth preservation and investment security.
Image Credit: Finn - Adobe Stock

The BRICS Need Gold Bank Accounts

The BRICS — a consortium of eleven countries, with 22 more in application stages, led by China, Russia, India and Brazil — declared in October the building of a new “gold settlement architecture as a strategic safeguard against global financial volatility.” This is a fine goal, which can take many specific forms. The quickest and easiest way (although not necessarily the “best” way) to get this done is to introduce “gold checking accounts”… Read More ›
XVBRICSSummitfamilyphotoWikimediaCommons
Public Domain image at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:XV_BRICS_Summit_family_photo.jpg

The BRICS’s New Gold Settlement Architecture Is Being Built — But Won’t Be Needed

The "BRICS" is now a consortium of ten countries, with 22 more countries in application stages, led by Russia, China and India. Events since 2022 have lit a fire under the BRICS members to establish a new global financial and currency architecture that is wholly independent of the US dollar system, which has been the main focus since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944. Read More ›
piles-of-rare-earth-elements-mined-and-refined-stockpack-ado-1150262799-stockpack-adobestock
Piles Of Rare Earth Elements Mined And Refined
Image Credit: Ruby Stock - Adobe Stock

With Sovereign Wealth Fund, Trump Seeks to Strengthen Nation

There is no greater betrayal by the U.S. government than failing to protect the safety and security of the American people. But this, in fact, was the case prior to Trump, because Washington abdicated its responsibility to protect and develop all-important rare earth elements that are critically necessary in the production of high-tech military weapons systems, like F-16, F-22 and F-35 jet fighters, drones, and AI-driven systems. Rather, the U.S. has become dependent on China. Read More ›
piles-of-refined-rare-earth-elements-from-mining-activities-894975996-stockpack-adobestock
Piles of refined rare earth elements from mining activities: mining techniques, mineral refinement, aggregation of elements, industry procedures
Image Credit: Livinskiy - Adobe Stock

How Trump Can Simultaneously Strengthen America’s Financials and Its National Security

As with the production of lithium and cobalt, which power electric vehicles, China also controls most of the global rare earth supply chain, including mining, processing, and refining. At present, the U.S. has only one operational rare earths mine. But we can't process heavy rare earths, so we send the mine's ore to China for processing. Read More ›
sample-social-media-app-interface-on-mobile-phone-showing-sh-487403475-stockpack-adobe_stock
Sample social media app interface on mobile phone showing shared video content
Image Credit: Kaspars Grinvalds - Adobe Stock

Does President Trump Have It Wrong on TikTok?

Trump is mistaken if he thinks that the restructuring of TikTok can be pulled off quickly, given the risk of residual backdoors to China that are likely baked into the system. Everyone understands that Facebook harvests data from users' devices even when they are not on the Facebook site. According to Sam Faddis, a 20-year veteran of the CIA, TikTok is four to five times more intrusive than Facebook in harvesting data from Americans who have downloaded the TikTok app. Read More ›
american-dollars-in-focus-stockpack-adobe-stock
American Dollars in Focus
Licensed via Adobe Stock

The U.S. Has No Choice but to Undertake Radical Economic Change

Burdened with $34.5 trillion in national debt that is currently growing by $1 trillion every 100 days, the U.S. economy is headed for disaster. It falls on the next administration to change that trajectory while also introducing policies that increase and broaden economic growth and wealth creation for everyone. Read More ›
Screenshot-2023-08-02-at-12.01.32-PM

“When ‘Free Trade’ Does More Harm Than Good” with Robert Lighthizer

Click here to watch the interview. For regular listeners, you know I like to take on complicated subjects, and try to make clear what’s at stake for all of us.   Thanks for reading The Bill Walton Show! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Pledge your support In this episode the Bill Walton Show we take a another deep dive into one of the most complicated and contentious areas of economic policy:  International trade.  International trade negotiations are incredibly complex multilevel games—there are negotiations not just with America’s trading partners, but with Congress, domestic constituencies, and rival factions within the executive branch.  There are sharp – almost theological – differences in how trade policy ought Read More ›

stack-of-gold-coin-on-black-background-stockpack-adobe-stock
Stack of Gold Coin on Black Background.
Stack of Gold Coin on Black Background.

The BRICs Go For Gold

After months of debate about various currency and commodity baskets, a Russia- and China-led consortium has apparently settled on using gold as the basis of a planned new international currency system separate from the US dollar and euro. Read More ›