Saturday, March 28 — The Week in Review
Your money, explained like I'm family.
The Debase Brief
Saturday, March 28 — The Week in Review
Written by Unc LASTE · Your money, explained like I'm family
The government shut down six weeks ago. Your cousin who works TSA hasn't been paid since. The politicians keep arguing about who's to blame while real people suffer. This is what happens when a country can't pay its bills — and we're just getting started.
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz a month ago. That skinny waterway that nobody thinks about until gas prices explode. One-fifth of the world's oil flows through there. Or used to. Now oil costs more than it has in years, and every delivery truck, every airline ticket, every plastic fork at lunch costs more because of it.
Here's what connects these two disasters: money printing. When you can't pay your bills honestly, you pay them dishonestly. The government needs money to function. They don't have it. So they'll print it. They always do.
Your grocery bill already tells you what's coming. That jump in gas prices? It flows through everything. The farmer pays more to run his tractor. The trucker pays more to haul the food. The store pays more to keep the lights on. You pay more for the same cart of groceries you bought last month.
They'll blame Iran. They'll blame the shutdown. They'll blame supply chains. But this started years ago when they decided printing money was easier than balancing budgets.
Most people watch the news and see chaos. I see a pattern. Every crisis becomes an excuse to print more money. Every time they print, your savings buy less. The oil shock just speeds up what was already happening.
Your coworkers think this ends when the government reopens. When Iran backs down. When things "get back to normal." But normal was already broken. Normal was your raise not keeping up with your rent. Normal was working harder to afford less.
The politicians will make a deal eventually. They'll reopen the government. They'll figure out the oil situation. And they'll print whatever it takes to paper over the damage. That's the real tax — not what comes out of your paycheck, but what happens to what's left.
While everyone else panics about gas prices, you should be thinking bigger. This isn't about one crisis or one shutdown. This is about a system that only knows one solution: make more money. Not earn it. Make it. Out of thin air.
Some of us saw this coming. We moved our wealth into things they can't print. Things with fixed supply. Things that get stronger when governments get weaker. Not because we're pessimists, but because we're realists.
Next week they'll announce some deal. Markets will bounce. Everyone will breathe easier. But the money printer will keep running. It has to. That's the only way this system works now.
Pay attention to what matters. Not the drama. The direction. And the direction has been the same for twenty years: your money buys less tomorrow than it does today. Plan accordingly.
Friday brings the jobs report, and with TSA workers unpaid for over a month, expect weird numbers that don't match what you're seeing. Watch how they spin it — if government workers aren't getting paychecks but still count as employed, the headline will look better than reality.
The shutdown, the war drums, the money printing — they want you watching the circus while they pick your pocket. But here's what they don't get: every crisis teaches more people to look for the exits. And once you see them, you can't unsee them.
Choose Your Lens
Same data. Your reality.
Retiree / Fixed Income
If you're living on a fixed pension or Social Security, you're watching your monthly check buy less while everything around you costs more. The government shutdown means your cost-of-living adjustment is delayed, but the price increases at the grocery store and pharmacy aren't waiting for anyone. Start having honest conversations with your kids about what's happening, they need to understand why you might need help, and more importantly, why the system that promised to take care of you is breaking down.
Small Business Owner
If you run a small business, you're watching your delivery costs eat your margins while customers complain about your prices. Every supplier wants more, every customer wants to pay less, and you're stuck in the middle trying to keep the lights on.
The smart operators are locking in prices now with their best suppliers and explaining to customers why quality costs what it costs, because next month it'll cost more.
Real Estate
You're watching mortgage applications dry up while construction costs soar, fuel surcharges on every lumber delivery, every concrete pour. The deals that made sense six months ago are underwater now, and your buyers are spooked by rates that keep climbing with no ceiling in sight.
But you also know what others don't: real assets hold their value when paper doesn't. The properties you're holding today will be worth more tomorrow, even if the path there gets ugly.
Equities / Investor
If you're watching your portfolio swing wildly while the government argues and oil prices spike, you're seeing what happens when systems break down. Your energy stocks might be up, but your tech holdings are getting crushed as costs ripple through every sector.
Start looking at companies that own real assets, pipelines, farmland, things people need when the paper games stop working. The best hedge against chaos isn't gold or bonds, it's owning pieces of businesses that matter when everything else doesn't.
Student / Young Professional
If you're finishing school or starting your career, you're watching entry-level salaries stay flat while the cost of everything else explodes. Your parents' advice about saving and budgeting doesn't work when gas costs more than your hourly wage and a studio apartment takes half your paycheck, this is the new math of starting out, and understanding it is your first advantage over everyone pretending it's still 2019.
Beginner / I'm New Here
If you're just starting to pay attention to money and politics, you're watching the perfect storm, when the government can't pay people and oil gets cut off, everything gets expensive fast. Your paycheck buys less every week, but now you know why, and knowing is the first step to protecting yourself.
Expat / Global
You're watching this mess unfold from abroad, and your dollars buy less every time you convert them. The shutdown, the oil crisis, the money printing, it all hits different when you're trying to build a life in another currency while your savings sit in a system that's coming apart.
Start thinking in local terms, local bank, local investments, local relationships. The further you get from dollar dependence, the more options you have when things get worse.