More Than Meets The Eye

Over the weekend, I posted the following photo to my Instagram and Facebook pages that inspired me:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CacvQfAutYc/

I was quite surprised to see the amount of engagement that this photo stimulated, especially at our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/drbenkim

While many seem to share my admiration for a leader who was offered an escape to a safe place but chose instead to stay and fight with his people, there were some who were quick to be combative and state that Putin is wrongly being vilified by the media.

I find it sad and worrisome that segments of our society are quick to show outrage and walk with the mentality of trying to cancel anyone who doesn't share their views.

Similar outrage occurred when I shared my thoughts on vaccine mandates last year. While my message for the many people who asked for my opinion was that everyone should have the freedom to choose what goes into their bodies, and that I could see valid reasons for and against getting vaccinated depending on each individual's circumstances, because I didn't embrace the mainstream narrative that all of us must get vaccinated for the greater good, I was labelled a quack anti-vaxxer.  I even received a good number of personal threats from those who were outraged that I would be supportive of people who preferred to decline vaccination.  

When someone is quick to show outrage, experience indicates that it's not worth spending time to share more deeply to facilitate better mutual understanding of differing viewpoints.

Most issues are complex, and my view is that it is exceedingly difficult to identify root causes and truths that lie far deeper than what is presented through legacy media.

With respect to the photo of President Zelensky and my caption stating that I am inspired by him to do better in my own life, that's all it was. I am deeply moved and inspired by his courage and that of the people who are fighting for their freedom, and my heart is with those who are losing loved ones because of the war.

This doesn't mean that I think President Putin is evil.  My sense of Putin is that he is an incredibly intelligent person and that he wouldn't be taking the action that he is without reason and a well thought out plan.

For those who are genuinely curious about my thoughts on why Putin has entered Ukraine, here they are, independent of my admiration for Zelensky and his decision to stay to fight for his country:

To me, it's clear that Russia and China want to move away from the USD as a global reserve currency.  This makes perfect sense.  Why should they trade their hard-earned resources - commodities and products - for USD when the U.S. Central Bank continues to debase its currency to prop up fiscally unsustainable U.S. governments and corporations? When trillions of USD are printed to rescue zombie U.S. corporations and other U.S. entities, all foreign governments, corporations, and individuals lose value and purchasing power if they hold USD and use it for commerce.

In 1973, the Nixon administration made a deal with Saudi Arabia that called for all Saudi oil exports to be priced in USD, and for much of the Saudi's surplus oil profits to be invested in U.S. Treasuries and bonds i.e. U.S. debt.  This was the beginning of the "petrodollar" and the USD's status as the world reserve currency.

Russia, China, El Salvador, Panama, Brazil, and just about all other sovereign nations that don't benefit from rampant USD printing by the U.S. Central Bank would rather use a form of money that isn't so easily debased.  

In the case of Russia, my read is that their invasion of Ukraine is the first step of a plan to insist that more of their trade with foreign nations happens in a currency other than the USD - perhaps some combination of the Russian Ruble, the Chinese Yuan, Euros, Bitcoin, and maybe even something pegged to a basket of currencies plus gold.  This would be consistent with the amount of gold the Russian government has stockpiled over the past several years.

I'm no geopolitical expert, but if I had to guess, I think Russia was fully expecting sanctions for invading Ukraine, and specifically, to be excluded from the international banking rails (SWIFT).  Of course it's impossible to predict what will happen in the coming days and weeks, but it would be logical for Russia to stop supplying oil and gas to much of Europe, and when some of these countries including Germany get desperate enough to have the pipes turned back on, Russia will offer to do so but only for payment in something other than USD.  If this happens, it could be the beginning of the demise of the petrodollar and the USD's status as the global reserve currency.

Regardless of what Putin's motivations are and what the outcome is, the great tragedy is that many lives will continue to be lost. To write this off to one man being a power hungry narcissist feels like a CNN headline, lacking depth and a real understanding of what is happening.

In my view, most of the biggest problems that the world faces today stems from a broken monetary system that steals from the poor through money printing and the inflation it brings, and endlessly increases the wealth gap.  To truly fix root issues like those that are in play between Russia and Ukraine, we need to fix the monetary system. Fix the money and we fix much of the world's problems.  Every human should be able to earn a fair wage and save money without having it debased through irresponsible money printing by central banks around the world. This is why I support the Bitcoin network.

For those who wish to gain a deeper understanding of macroeconomic issues and why fixing the monetary system can solve many of our most pressing issues, I can suggest The Price of Tomorrow by Jeff Booth and The Fiat Standard by Saifedean Ammous.

For anyone wondering how any of this is relevant to a health-related newsletter, my belief is that we cannot be healthy for very long without being financially healthy.  

Sending love to all,

Ben