The Spice and the Ledger

A barefoot meditation on tariffs, capital, and the future of the republic

Ahh, welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another barefoot finance sermon from the sunlit edge of the world. From the glorious beaches of St. Barts in the French Caribbean. Where the palm fronds whisper and island life breathes easy this Easter weekend.

And yes, it’s just me and you again. No suits, no scripts, no agenda. Just the riot of voices in my head. And today, boy are they screaming. Because caught in the warm breeze and the twilight hush, I find myself impossibly opposed to everything being said in financial media right now.

This is Barefoot Finance. I’m Hugh Hendry, The Acid Capitalist, and I’m here to tell you, they’ve got it all wrong. The policies of the Trump 2.0 administration are the most sensationally courageous economic moves in at least fifty years. Maybe more.

You want something sensational? I don’t think the Bank of Japan will hike rates again. Wait. That’s for another time, another show. No. Today I want to suggest that the death of money, my prophecy for a long time, may have been averted.

For years I’ve claimed that money dies every hundred years. The gold standard collapsed a century ago. Monetary systems expire, leave economic wreckage behind, stagnation and revolt, but the money moves on. The dollar treasury system that has ruled our world for certainly the last fifty years was dying fast. But this American administration might actually save it. Might patch it up, address its flaws, give it another half-century to run. We’ll see.

One thing though, it won’t be half as generous to asset prices as the last regime. The chance of death may be receding, but the new regime demands fundamental root and branch reform; a redistribution of the economic spoils, more Main Street, less Wall Street.

So kick back, dear friends. Chill for a while. Let me escort you to warmer climes as we try to vibe on the finer political and economic currents of the present moment.

Now, let’s play word association. What have I got?

Trump.
Lincoln.
And the war on quiet exploitation.