There comes a time in every young person’s life where you have to have a sit down with your elders and discuss the facts of life.  I was fortunate enough to have a father who spoke plain English to me, meaning he rarely lied, and his words were carefully crafted to help me achieve a goal.  Now, if you don’t trust your adults, I feel for you, so grab a pen and a pad and write the important stuff down.  If you find yourself being the youngest person in your family, but the most responsible?  I envy you.  I know your kind.  You will achieve tremendous success, but possibly suffer great tragedy. 
Now, on to the rest of us…
     So, you ask: “Ok, Alex.  What are the facts of life?”  Simple.  Rule #1.  Money makes the rules.  Rule #2.  He or she with the money makes the rules.  If you have any questions about either rule, please see Rule #1.
     If some of you are feeling, why is Alex being so harsh?  My God, why is he being so cruel?  Pretend we are sitting in my office having coffee.  I am sitting behind my desk and you are sitting on a leather couch.  I look at you, eyes wide, and say, “The couch is on fire!”  You turn, see the fire on the seat next to you and instinctively jump up.
     What I am trying to tell you is that “fire” is the cost of goods.  Goods like food, goods like clothing, goods like electrical equipment, and cigarettes, and Cokes, and toilet paper, and gas.  These goods are only going to get more expensive for you and your family.  Why…?
     We are living in a very special time.   This is the second time I have said it in this issue, so please, tattoo it behind your eyelids.  
     Since the early-20th Century, the way things have always functioned is the following:  A product is made at a factory.  That product is packaged at the factory.  Shippers (trucks, planes and ships) pick up the packaged products and deliver them to wholesalers (big warehouses where these products are shelved and sold to local store owners and retailers).  Their parking lots are full of big trucks.  Wholesalers regulate local prices for all goods worldwide.  Some of you have Regional Governors, Generals, or “strongmen” where you live.  Whether their henchmen wear suits, aprons, or are armed with machine guns, they are still wholesalers.  You understand?  
     This is what we call the supply chain.
     When Covid happened, the supply chain malfunctioned.  Some people got rich, others became poor.  But everything on the supply chain is only going to get more expensive for the time being.  This is called inflation.  It is something your parents have been complaining about for almost a year.  Don’t worry about them, you can protect yourself from inflation by implementing a few “tricks” and putting money into a few “vehicles.”   
     Before you freak out about having to learn new words, chill.  Simply look at a trick as a form of protection.  Trick #1.  For the next 6 months never spend more than you earn, regardless of what your partner thinks.  If you don’t have work, please try to find it.  Trick #2.  Have total control over how much you eat and how much soda, coffee, alcohol or cigarettes you consume.  If you let it, these can take up to 20% of your weekly budget.  Maintain total control over your impulses.  This is not a request.
     What is a vehicle…?
     Simply look at a vehicle as a piggy bank under your bed.  It should not matter where you are on planet earth:  Canada, Britain, Cambodia, Seoul, or Cape Town, South Africa.  That piggy bank should return you more money than you put in.  It will give you more power as our world gets smaller… and trust me, it will get smaller.
     How this begins, is you need to open a Coinbase or a Binance Account.  If you do not have internet access, or have intermittent internet access, Dr. Hwang and his Korean partners   are planning to get to you soon.  Once you go online and open a Coinbase or a Binance Account, you will need to fund it with a Bank Account of your local currency, then you will purchase Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Litecoin, or Bitcoin Cash.  Any of these will be fine.   Even if it is only a few dollars, buy it now, please.  These “tokens” at the moment are priced very cheaply.  We will discuss “why” you bought it in the next issue.  For now, just remember that the couch is on fire and we need to put it out.
     I am not giving you financial advice.  I am giving you a warning.
     There is another storm on the horizon that I need to make you aware of.  A group of countries called the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) are going to form a new currency backed by their mutually strong petroleum reserves.  They are combining in an effort to weaken the US Dollar and the power of the United States.  How this affects you is when your country decides to join the BRICS nations, but still owes a substantial amount of money in US Dollars to the world bank… or what we in the West call the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  You see, whether your country pays its debt in US Dollars or not, that money is still owed to the IMF – who will most likely be the underwriter for the new BRICS currency.  This will put great strain on your local currency, making what you have to buy even more expensive, but you won’t have to worry, because you already bought Bitcoin and Ethereum to protect your family, right?
   At this moment the odds are stacked against you.  But you are bright young minds.  You’re not getting out, you’re just getting in.  You’re only getting started.  I have every faith     in you.  
     How does a good man live?  
     What is virtue…?  
     When should a man’s obligation to those around him exceed his obligation to himself?  These are things we will one day discuss if we can make it through this… calamity. 

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