You Fool

That was the full comment from a reader yesterday. Nothing more. No punctuation, no elaboration, just a raw shot fired into my inbox.

And you know what? It’s a fair question.

Because if you’ve been following me and reading my essays on inflation, dollar decay, and the silent theft of fiat currency, then yeah… why am I still using dollars?

Why am I not off the grid, transacting only in bitcoin, bartering for raw milk and silver coins, and digging a bunker in Uruguay?

If you read my recent essay about the $200 pizza, you already know this isn’t just theoretical. That moment hit me hard because it made inflation tangible in a way I couldn’t ignore.

Inflation isn’t some abstract force. It’s what you feel when dinner for your family suddenly costs double or even triple what it used to. And if even someone like me, who’s built wealth over decades, feels the squeeze, imagine how tight it is for everyone else.

So yes, the dollar still works for now. But it's working less and less like it used to. And that's the deeper reason this conversation matters.

The Dollar Is Sick—But Not Everything It Touches Is Dying

First, some clarity: when I say the dollar is “dying,” I don’t mean it will vanish overnight. I don’t mean we’ll wake up one morning and find all ATMs frozen and our checking accounts turned to dust. At least not instantly.

What I mean is this: the dollar is quietly, steadily losing its power to preserve value.

Not to transact. Not to function. But to store anything meaningful across time.

That doesn’t mean you should burn all your cash or ditch every asset priced in USD. It means you must know the difference between using and relying on dollars.

I still use dollars. So do you. So does everyone in this country. Because right now, dollars are the operating system of everyday life. Rent, groceries, tax bills, Amazon orders, and utilities are all denominated in green.

And not just in this country.

The dollar is still the world’s reserve currency. That means most global trade, commodities, and capital flows are priced in dollars, whether we like it or not.

For better or worse, the system still runs on green.

But I don’t trust dollars. And I don’t store value in them for longer than I have to.

That’s not a contradiction. That’s strategy.

Let’s break it down:

Not All Dollar Assets Are Created Equal

We need to separate dollar-denominated assets into two categories:

The Fragile Kind (Assets That Rot Quietly)

These are the ones that look safe but aren’t. They include:

• Long-dated U.S. Treasury bonds

• Savings accounts, CDs, and money markets beyond your emergency and liquidity buffer

• Fixed annuities or pensions with no inflation adjustment

• Dollar-heavy retirement accounts loaded with low-growth holdings

These aren’t assets. They’re liabilities in disguise. Every year you hold them, you lose purchasing power. Slowly, silently, even with official CPI numbers telling you it’s “just 3%.”

This is what I call “trust-based assets.”

They only work if you believe the people in charge will do the right thing. And they’ve proven over and over again that they won’t.

But then there’s the other kind...

The Resilient Kind (Assets That Outrun the Decay)

These are dollar-denominated, but they’re not dollar-dependent. They include:

• High-quality U.S. equities with real earnings, pricing power, and global demand

• U.S. real estate in growth corridors or supply-constrained markets

• Infrastructure and energy assets with inflation-linked cash flow

• Private equity and business ownership that captures value independent of fiat policy

• Hard assets like gold and Bitcoin

These assets may be priced in dollars, but their value isn’t tied to the dollar’s fate.

In fact, many of them outperform when fiat gets weak, because they sit atop pricing power, cash flow, and scarcity.

Let me put it plainly:

You don’t hold these assets because you believe in the dollar. You hold them because they outpace it.

That’s the difference.

So Why Do I Still Own Dollar Assets? Because They’re Winning—For Now.

Yes, I hold bitcoin. Yes, I own gold. Yes, I own real estate.

But I also own:

• U.S. stocks with strong balance sheets and global earnings

• Dividend-paying companies with contracts indexed to inflation

• Assets that generate real-world utility (energy, bandwidth, logistics, data infrastructure)

Why?

Because until the current system collapses, the best-performing assets are still priced in dollars. Our daily lives are priced in dollars.

You don’t escape the system by disappearing. You escape it by extracting more value from it than it takes from you.

That’s what I’m doing.

For example, I began sending Premium Subscribers stock and trade recommendations in early April.

Since then, we’ve sold three recommendations, all for gains. The current open recommendations are up nearly 26%, far outpacing inflation.

We’re also beating the S&P by almost 3-to-1.

These are all regular stocks you can buy in any brokerage account, and yes, they’re all priced in dollars. The difference is that these assets increase your purchasing power over time.

What “Opting Out” Actually Looks Like

There’s a myth that opting out of the dollar means going full doomsday. That you have to move to a tax haven, hold only crypto, and live in constant fear of monetary collapse.

That’s not real life.

Here’s what it actually looks like for me, and what I recommend:

Layer 1: Use Dollars—But Don’t Anchor There

• I keep enough cash for optionality and liquidity (for me, it’s 3 years of expenses)

• I transact in USD because it’s the system I live in

• But I don’t save long-term in cash

• I don’t count on dollars to hold value because I already know fiat currency will never hold value across time

Layer 2: Convert Surplus Dollars Into Hard or Productive Assets

• I stack Bitcoin (not as a trade, but as an insurance policy)

• I own physical gold (stored securely, not as jewelry)

• I buy assets that produce income and/or pricing power over time (like the recommendations in the Premium Section below)

• I buy real estate

Layer 3: Build Geographic and Structural Flexibility

• I hold real estate abroad

• I minimize exposure to long-term U.S. liabilities

• I’ve set up entities and systems that let me adapt to different outcomes

This isn’t theoretical. This is my actual net worth structure.

It won’t look exactly like this if you're starting out, but you must start somewhere.

Don’t Throw Out the Dollar, But Stop Worshipping It

If you’re reading this from a laptop in Texas, buying groceries in Miami, or investing from your Fidelity account, you’re in the system.

And that’s okay.

But what’s not okay is trusting the dollar to hold value over time like prior generations believed.

This is not the same dollar. It’s not backed by the same economics. It’s not stewarded by the same discipline. And it’s not going to behave the way it used to.

So yes, I still own dollar assets.

But I choose them how a chess player chooses pieces, based on what gives me control, flexibility, and resilience.

I don’t hold dollar cash. I hold dollar leverage.

And the second it stops outperforming? I’ll rotate out.

That’s not hypocrisy. That’s sovereignty.

Play the Game Until You Own the Board

The dollar isn’t going away tomorrow. But it is bleeding value.

You don’t need to burn your cash. You don’t need to fear your bank account. You just need to understand the game:

Use dollars to operate. Use assets to escape. Use sovereignty to win.

The dollar is still the medium. But the asset is the message.

So to the reader who wrote:

“If the dollar dead why are you using it fool.”

I say this:

Because I’m not using it like you think I am, and you shouldn’t either.

I’m not using it to save. I’m using it to escape.

And every week, more people are waking up to do the same.

Double D

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