The Unique Property Site Blog

---

Which is the Most Secure Currency on the Planet?

I bet you'll never guess which currency that is.

Let's take last week's blog a stage further.

I'm starting from a very simple position, an absurdly obvious assumption, and something which is happening right now on a daily basis.

Politicians are employed to do a job. That job is to run the country in the best possible way. But what qualifications has the average politician for the job? Usually none whatever, so we vote for people who haven't a clue how to do the job. How stupid is that?

Running a country is more difficult than running the average company, but how many politicians have ever even done that?

What are the three most important issues before any government?

Requirement number one. Make sure the population has a reliable, consistent and cheap access to an adequate food supply.

That requirement is woefully under-achieved by every EU country and the UK. Not a single one of those countries is self-sufficient in the most basic requirement to life, namely food. Black mark number one.

Requirement number two is to make sure that the energy requirements of the country are under the control of the home country, and not subject to curtailment, price hikes, or outside threats.

Every EU country, including the UK fails miserably on that count as well as everyone must be aware especially at the moment.

The UK imports almost all its energy needs. That means it's economy is subject to threats, stops, and coercions. That's a matter of governmental dilatoriness. Especially when you realise that it is perfectly possible for the UK to be self sufficient in energy, but the idiots in charge want to play games with that essential requirement in the name of saving the planet. How is that done? By importing energy from other countries which, therefore, don't save the planet. How is that either helping the UK or indeed the planet?

It certainly ticks the scientific definition of idiocy. It hurts other countries by allegedly doing damage to the planet, and it does damage to the home country (leaves the country open to blackmail, attack, economic distortion, and pretty well anything else you want to add).

The EU also imports most of its energy needs, thus leaving the whole continent at the beck and call of others.

Requirement number three is that the home country should have a stable and honest currency.

I'm not sure that a single country can claim that honour. Or should I have said, maybe bar one. But let's leave that aside for the moment.

On the subject of finance, the UK and the EU are running unsustainable deficits, and spending money they have no hope of ever repaying.

In the essential matter of guardianship I give all the Western European governments a resounding zero in the most important issues a government should be attending to.

Those countries do generally suffer from a third problem, and that is that the populations seem oblivious to the above scenario. I can say most definitely that they won't be for very much longer.

The perceived pariah in all these categories is the president of Russia.

Isn't it odd that out of all the heads of state in the whole of Europe he is the only one delivering on all three fronts. He gets 100% success points.

Do you really want me to spell it out?

Food. Russia and Russian controlled satellites provide almost half the world's agricultural products, plenty enough to export to the idiots who are not in control even of their own breakfast tables.

Russia has more developed energy resources than the whole of the rest of Europe combined, and the rest of Europe is dependent upon that energy. Sounds to me like another 100% success.

And what about finance? In a previous article I did point out that Russia has all the cards when we look at the current state of play with regard to sanctions. I may be ahead of the game here, but I don't think it is going to be long before rather a lot of people start to catch up.  Let's look at matters this way. Russia has the means to export food. It has the means to export energy. How is anyone going to pay for those services?

Of course, you may choose not to pay and allow your populations to starve, or start fighting for food and energy. The usual way out is to pay, and pay increased prices. Who do you pay? Russia of course. How do you pay? In roubles of course. And what does that do to the value of the rouble? That question was answered last week. It's a simple matter of supply and demand. There is now a big and growing demand for roubles so the price will rise.

The corollary to that is that there will be a correspondingly smaller demand for dollars, and the law of supply and demand will no doubt impact adversely on the value of the dollar going forward.

There is one other rather important point to note at this stage.

You do know that the Russian central bank is currently tying the rouble to gold. The rouble is effectively the only hard currency on the planet. What's that going to do to its value?

I'm sure those of you who have lived in Russia, or even been there for a few weeks, will know that the cities are clean, crime free and functional. The people have a good standard of living, and life is relatively cheap there. Unless you are seeking to overthrow the government, you can live an untroubled life. And if you think life is any different in Portugal I would remind you what happened on a sunday in Barao a few years ago when the GNR backed up by the army threatened ordinary citizens with machine guns because they were calmly taking part in a traditional sunday market. I know, I was there, and somebody may remember in a letter to the local paper I quoted a GNR officer who said to me "We are here to protect the Republic not the people".

There is a day of reckoning coming, and some folks need to think seriously whether they are on the side of sense and honesty, or whether they are spoilt teenagers living on borrowed time, borrowed money, and the patience of others who are at last beginning to lose patience.

Subscribe to our email alerts on the housing markets both in the UK and abroad.