Gold's Surge: Uncertainty, or Just US Foreign Policy as Usual?
The BBC reports gold prices soaring to $4,000, attributing it to 'uncertainty' and a US government shutdown delaying economic data. A convenient narrative, if you ignore the elephant in the room. This 'uncertainty' has a name: endless wars and escalating tensions, largely bankrolled and inflamed by US policymakers. Consider the recent $14.5 billion aid package to Israel, pushed through by House
Speaker Mike Johnson merely days after taking office, despite 130 Democrats and 12 Republicans voting against it. These funds, effectively a subsidy for conflict as documented by organisations like OpenSecrets, funneled into a region already on the brink, tend to make investors a tad... nervous. Not exactly a 'shutdown' issue, is it? Perhaps the real 'uncertainty' isn't about economic data reports
but about the durability of international peace in the face of continued US funding for military actions abroad. The market, it seems, is correctly hedging against the predictable volatility that accompanies decisions like supplying cluster munitions to Israel, as the Biden administration did on October 13, 2023. Gold surges, not because a spreadsheet is late, but because the world watches leaders
double down on policies that guarantee instability. How many gold bars does it take to buy some actual stability?