My Poker Buddies Call Me "The Annoyer"

They call me “The Annoyer.” I don't know why. I just like to point out how lame their hands are looking. For example… when we're playing a high-hand-wins game and somebody's showing low cards, I simply mention — hey, did you forget this is a high-hand game? Just a simple observation.

I usually lose. So they're always happy to see me.

And lately I can't stop noticing something else that makes no sense. Gold and silver prices falling — during high inflation. What the hell?

Everybody “knows” gold goes up with inflation. Then it doesn't and you're wondering what went wrong. Losing money on gold is like losing with a Royal Flush. It happens when wild cards are in play. Who decides the game — and how many wild cards are in play? That would be your political financial dealer. They control the game. So that Royal Flush you got might not pay off during this game. It's the best hand in poker. You hold perfection and still lose, because the game is rigged. They invent a wild card out of thin air.

Because gold doesn't track this month's grocery bill. It tracks the dollar and interest rates. When the Fed plays its wild card and cranks rates up, cash suddenly pays you again — so the shiny rock that pays nothing gets shoved aside, even while prices climb. Gold isn't fighting the price of eggs this week. It's fighting the slow-motion decline of the paper itself. You can lose with the best hand this week — that's the short game, not the long one.

That's gold during high inflation. It's the best hand in the history of money — and it still gets beaten for a while, because the system keeps wild cards in play. Gold's been money for five thousand years. The dollar's been winging it, unbacked, since 1971. I know which one I'd rather be holding when the Fed runs out of wildcards.

So watch for the wild cards. They can make your hand second best, no matter how good a hand you're holding.