The Gold:Oil Ratio is a direct comparison of the price of one oz of gold in oil barrels. It is a great general reference point for sentiment in regards to growth vs capital preservation. The ratio has generally stayed between the range of 10 and 35. Over the past
This site has been quietly rebuilt and relaunched. Not to react to events, but to revisit timeless principles. What follows explains how to read what’s here. This site is about orientation, not prediction. Most commentary today is optimised for immediacy: what just happened, what might happen next, and how
FOFOA is a long-form, pseudonymous blog focused on gold, money, and the failure modes of modern fiat currency systems, written primarily between roughly 2008–2014. It is not a news site or investment blog in the conventional sense. It’s a theoretical framework for understanding what happens to money when
When I first started this blog in 2008 I was a silver stacker, and an enthusiastic student of all things related to the history of gold, silver, and money. Somehow I came across the FOFOA blog as well as writings of Michael Kosares, FOFOA, and A/FOA. While I don&
In 2019, In Gold We Trust (IGWT), did an interview with Friend of Friend of Another, (FOFOA). Both of these individuals, IGWT's Ronald-Peter Stoeferle, and FOFOA are heavy-weights when it comes to gold's monetary history. This interview is a fascinating insight into old world views on
James Turk recently raised an important question: are all currencies ultimately moving toward hyperinflation, and how likely is that outcome? If the long-term charts are any indication, even so-called “strong” currencies may not remain strong for much longer. They may outperform weaker currencies for a time, but that depends entirely
Recently, I found myself back at a local coin shop, exchanging inflating dollars for real money. There’s something grounding about walking into a small space where the shelves are lined with tangible wealth—coins, bullion, and pieces from around the world. It’s a reminder of what money looks
Today we’re going to look more closely at two core ideas that feature here regularly. The first is that the spot price of gold is largely irrelevant, because it has little grounding in physical reality. The second is that unless you are taking physical delivery, you do not own
There are only two ways for a business to establish and maintain a monopoly within an industry. The first is by providing a superior and cheaper product or service over the long term. Building a reputation, gaining market share, consistently delivering higher quality, and maintaining competitive margins all usually take
Editor's Note from 2025: Not only are rising rates not politically correct, but the math doesn't work without lower rates. The sheer volume of principal outstanding is almost $40T now, that's $40,000,000,000,000. Add to that high levels of household, and
Editor's Note from 2025: The gold bubble in the 70s, when Nixon removed the gold standard, was not a gold bubble. It was the USD being oversold at that time. An asset being in overbought or oversold territory does not imply there is a bubble. And because we
How can anyone reasonably know how to buy low and sell high when so many markets around the world are distorted by government intervention? Judging value becomes difficult when prices are consistently pulled out of balance. While markets are never perfectly balanced—conditions are always changing—there still needs to
