Real Nasties Lurk Behind the Dollar 'Debasement Trade’

Politics rarely mixes well with finance. Trying to allocate or hedge investment assets by divining the intentions of capricious politicians is a fool’s game. Investing money should be done dispassionately, but it can be distracting when epithets like “dollar debasement” are being flung around with abandon.

The idea of the debasement trade — effectively a markets flight into precious metals, Bitcoin and the like to reduce exposure to America’s ballooning sovereign debt and President Donald Trump’s regular policy bombshells — has taken a bit of a beating over the past few days as the prices of gold and silver (and crypto coins) have fallen.