Estimated Read Time: 8-10 minutes
In light of the recent market volatility and broader economic and political uncertainty, I have compiled a selection of past comments, interviews, and analyses from various analysts, investors, and global leaders encountered throughout our ongoing research.
This compilation reflects perspectives that align with our KFSC Investment Thesis, and our positioning in the KFSC Risk Managed Strategies. While it is not intended as investment advice, the material is both thought-provoking and, at times, controversial—often prompting deeper inquiry within our KFSCMacro Regime Model.
Many of the themes extend beyond politics and merit further examination, particularly regarding their potential impact on portfolio positioning. The commentary touches on precious metals, currency dynamics, central bank and monetary policy, inflation, and artificial intelligence, among other topics. Notably, some observations were made only weeks ago, while others date back more than a decade—underscoring the persistence of underlying economic pressures.
Although current conditions may appear unprecedented, these structural forces have been developing for years. This continuity may help explain why recent price movements across asset classes seem unusually pronounced. Viewed through a historical lens, economic change often reflects cyclical forces rather than isolated events.
For those interested, source links are provided with each quotation. I look forward to discussing your perspectives and hearing which insights resonated most with you.
Scott Bessent, Sec. of US Treasury
During an interview with activist and commentator Tucker Carlson, the current Secretary of State made very interesting statements on Gold:
“Gold historically has been a store of value. Gold can’t have a fiscal problem. Gold cannot have a gigantic budget deficit. Gold cannot have a war.” & “When I had my fund, people might have called me a gold bug.”
April, 4th, 2025
Source Link: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Breaks Down Trump's Tariff Plan and Its Impact on the Middle Class
Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel
The founder of one of the most successful hedge funds voiced “concern” in late 2025 about the rush to gold, and how gold is behaving as the safe-haven asset that the US Dollar used to be:
“We’re seeing substantial asset inflation away from the dollar, as people are looking for ways to effectively de-dollarize or de-risk their portfolios vis-à-vis US sovereign risk… As you see sovereigns around the world, the central banks around the world, as you see individual investors around the world go: 'you know what? I now view gold as a safe harbor asset in a way that the dollar used to be viewed'. That’s what’s really concerning to me.”
October 7th, 2025
Source Link: Ken Griffin Calls Flight to Gold 'Really Concerning'
Congressman Ron Paul of Texas
In 2012, then Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, testified at the House Financial Services Committee semi-annual hearing. This was several years after the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Congressman Paul, a strong critic of the Federal reserve and an avid advocate of Sound Money opened his allotted time for questioning Chairman Bernanke with the following statement:
“I guess over the last 30 or 40 years I have criticized the Fed on occasion, but the Congress deserves some criticism too. The Federal Reserve is a creature of the Congress and if we don’t know what the Fed is doing we certainly have the authority to pursue a lot more oversight which I would like to see. So, although the Fed is on the receiving end, and I think rightfully so, when you look at the record…I mean, the Fed’s been around for 99 years almost a few years before you took it over and 98% to 99% of the dollar value is gone from the 1913 dollar. That’s not a very good record. I think what we’re witnessing today is the end stages of a grand experiment, a philosophic experiment on total Fiat money. Yes of years, and they always end badly, they always return to market-based money, which is commodity money -gold and silver. But this experiment is something different than we’ve ever had before and it started in 1971, where we were given an opportunity to be the issuer of the fiat currency, and we had many benefits from that than what people realized. But it’s gone on for 40 years and people keep arguing from the other side of this argument that it’s working, it’s doing well. Yet from my viewpoint, and the viewpoint of the free market economists, all it’s doing is building a bigger and bigger bubble.”
February 29th, 2012
Source Link: Ron Paul vs. Ben Bernanke -- 2/29/12
Steve Forbes, Publisher and Businessman
Yes, even the editor-in-chief of the renowned Forbes magazine gave us a lesson on Gold and what the Gold Standard means for economies. While I include a short excerpt, it’s worth watching the full version for which I have provided the link below.
“Money is a measure of value just like scales measure weight, box measures time, rulers measure space and we all know instinctively the need for fixed weights and measures in the marketplace. The size of a gallon doesn’t change each day nor does the number of ounces in a pound, or inches in a foot…and economy works best when its currency is a reliable measure of value. For a variety of reasons gold, for thousands of years, has kept its intrinsic value better than anything else; better than silver, platinum, palladium, coconut shells or cryptocurrencies. When you see the price of gold change, it’s not its value that is changing, but rather the value of the currency it’s being priced in that is fluctuating.”
March 17th, 2023
Source Link: Why The US Must Consider Returning To The Gold Standard
Dr. Thomas Sowell, Economist and Author
Some of you may be unfamiliar with Dr. Thomas Sowell, but he’s one of the most widely published economic historians in modern history. He’s led a renowned career in economic research and social theory in the U.S. He’s taught a Howard University, Rutgers, Cornell, UCLA, among other important academic institutions. He’s a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, which produces an online series called Uncommon Knowledge, attracting influential individuals for debate and discussion. When the interviewer, Peter Robinson, asked Dr. Sowell if he would abolish the Fed if he had the power to, this is what he responded:
“Yes…the Fed represented wonderful hopes, but we’ve had so many programs that ended in disaster. I don’t doubt that someone who is sufficiently scholarly can come up with examples of where the Federal Reserve made things better. But the question is, overall, what was it supposed to do?…not only prevent bank failures, it was supposed to prevent huge changes in the money supply, in particular, great deflations. The greatest deflation in American history occurred under the Federal Reserve System… Whether we’re on or off the Gold standard, there’s no evidence that I can see, that over this vast period of time that the Federal Reserve has existed, that things on the whole have been better.”
December 14th, 2010
Source Link: Thomas Sowell -- Basic Economics
Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank
Mrs. Lagarde, also known as “Mrs. Crisis”, has held the position of the President of the European Central bank (an equivalent position to that of Chair Jerome Powell in USA) since 2019. Prior to that, she was the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and before that the Chair of Baker & McKenzie, an international law firm based in Chicago. During a 2026 interview with Bloomberg, she stated the following on central bank independence, a topic of much debate and discussion recently among leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi (India), President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey) and U.S. President Donald J. Trump:
“I think we have to earn that independence, and I think we have to be accountable for this independence, but the independence is critically important to make sure that the decisions are as unbiased as possible and only determined by the macro-economic analysis and the anticipation of what monetary policy will do…Typically, monetary policy decisions have an impact down the road. If I hike, cut or hold, it’s not going to have an impact now, nor in six months' time, and probably not even in a year’s time. So, the passage of time is something that we have to take into account. And if in between you have an election cycle, and somebody who says ‘oh no you should do this, you should do that’, it will be completely counterproductive and countercyclical, that’s the risk. Central bankers need to have time on their side, which is why most of them have long-term mandate and make decisions that have a target in the medium term, not in the immediate short-term, because it’s not going to work.”
January 11th, 2026
Source Link: Inside Europe’s Economic Crises With Christine Lagarde | Leaders with Francine Lacqua
Gita Gopinath, IMF
Gita is a well-respected economist who serves as a Professor of Economics at Harvard University. She was chief economist in 2018 and later was promoted to first deputy managing director-second highest rank of the fund- of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2022 through 2025. She’s a self-proclaimed neo-liberal international macro-economist, who advocates for meaningful labor reforms to combat the shocks of the AI technological revolution, and at the same time, a proponent of free-market capitalism and deregulation. During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Gita talked on the topics:
On Globalization:
“I think what’s long-lasting is a complete breakdown of trust between the U.S. and Europe. That alliance was a critical part of the global economic order. And the fact that is being ruptured is very consequential… I do believe we’re never going back to the time where Europe said they could rely completely on a partnership with the U.S. on their security and an economic partnership…
What we’re seeing now, especially with this shift in terms of the relation between U.S. and Europe is something that I don’t think anybody predicted last year here in Davos. There was this sense that we could see some decoupling between the West and China. But the fact there would be a breaking up of the alliance of the West is not something that we predicted.”
On potential AI stocks “bubble”:
“The sector that did very well last year was Artificial Intelligence. That was a big boost to the global economy. I think that’s a sector where there is still a lot of fragility…if you had a dot.com bust it would wipe out $35 trillion dollars of wealth. That is many multiples of what happened during the dot.com bubble. It’s a much bigger share of current world GDP than it was, so it can be much more consequential…It is difficult for me to see how in this hyper competitive environment all of these companies could make the kinds of profits that justify their level of valuations that we’re seeing now. So, we could see corrections. That’s not a statement of the technology; I think the technology is going to be great. But whether the companies make the size of profits to justify their valuations, I still have questions on that. So, I think that is a very important risk to keep in mind. ”
February 6th, 2026
Source Link: "Everything has changed" - Gita Gopinath on the global economy in 2026
Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates
The World Economic Forum at Davos conference this year produced great sit downs in my view with relevant speakers and we truly enjoyed the recordings. Axios national security editor Dave Lawler sat down with Ray Dalio. the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge funds in the world and Dalio Family Offices. A self-proclaimed economic historian, he’s gained a lot of attention in recent years after publishing Principles: Life & Work and The Changing World Order. Some key takeaways from that conversation was when Dalio explained how asset prices are viewed through the lens of money:
“I learned that when we look at the prices of things through the lens of the value of money, they go up (prices), because the value of money goes down…So it’s very interesting to me when you see people looking at things, think about It that the currency you’re looking through…If you were in Switzerland and you’re looking at the returns of American stocks and bonds (in terms of the Swiss Franc currency), it would look very different from an American looking through a dollar lens, because the magnitude of movements. For example, last year (2025) American markets significantly underperformed foreign markets and people don’t quite realize that, and the best asset class in a sense was gold, but think of that as being the money…I learned that if there’s a depreciation in the value of money, it makes everything look like it’s going up and so on. And there’s also a stimulation that comes from that.”
January 22nd, 2026
Source Link: Ray Dalio Explains the Capital War No One's Talking About
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Important Disclosures
General Disclosure:
This commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security or the provision of specific investment advice. The opinions and forecasts expressed are those of Keaney Financial Services Corp. (KFSC) as of the date of this commentary. They are subject to change at any time based on market and other conditions and may or may not come to pass. The KFSC Macro Regime Model is a proprietary tool. Its analysis is based on historical data; however, it in no way guarantees future results or provides a guarantee against loss. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Asset-Specific Risk Disclosures (Gold & Silver):
Investing in commodities, especially precious metals (including allocations via Physical gold trusts), involves increased risks, including political, economic, and currency instability, as well as rapid fluctuations, which can lead to significant volatility in an investor's holdings. Commodities may not be suitable for all investors. All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Although important, asset allocation and risk management strategies do not guarantee generating profits or shielding against losses.
Allocation & Positioning Disclosures:
This commentary is not intended as investment advice for the general public. It is specifically tailored for clients invested in the KFSC Risk Managed Strategies only and does not apply to any other investments managed by our advisors at Keaney Financial Services Corp. outside of these specific models. The portfolios are dynamic and adaptive, managed with discretion, and can change without notice. Furthermore, it is essential to understand that the KFSC Risk Managed Strategies are implemented across a spectrum of distinct models, ranging from Conservative to Aggressive. While the overarching macro themes described in this commentary inform our firm-wide outlook, the specific asset class allocations, weightings, and underlying holdings differ materially between these models, aligning with their respective risk mandates.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This material contains forward-looking statements regarding future economic conditions and market outlooks. Examples include, but are not limited to: assessments of current structural drivers; the belief that technical deleveraging events may represent technical resets rather than structural trend reversals; statements regarding the potential for fragility or "bubbles" in specific industrial sectors, including Artificial Intelligence (AI); assessments of the potential rupture or breakdown of long-standing international trust and alliances; the long-term impact of geopolitical chokepoint escalations (including Panama and the Strait of Hormuz); forecasts of future freight rates and tanker earnings; assessments of the transition to alternative fuels and their capital-intensive impacts on logistics costs; and statements regarding future strategic positioning to navigate shifts between "Crisis" and "Normalization" regimes. All statements are based on current assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements.
Research & AI Disclosure:
Our research and data may include contributions from paid non-affiliated markets, macroeconomic analysts, and economists. We have also incorporated multiple artificial intelligence (AI) platforms to assist us in researching, diagnosing, absorbing, analyzing, and illustrating data with greater efficiency. This includes analysis regarding the fragility of AI valuations and its potential share of global GDP wealth impairment. Because our management and strategies are data-research-driven, our goal is to utilize information that we believe to be accurate and validated across multiple sources, where possible. It is critical for clients to understand, however, that all data is subject to error and no amount of research or analysis can eliminate the inherent risks of investing or guarantee a specific outcome. Inclusion of perspectives from third-party global leaders does not imply direct affiliation or endorsement of their respective organizations.
Metaphorical Language & Client Analogies:
The use of metaphorical terms such as "Iron Anchor" (referring to Gold) and "High-Beta Sail" (referring to Silver) is intended for illustrative and conceptual purposes only. These analogies are part of the KFSC Investment Framework (KFSCIF), designed to help clients understand structural market dynamics, but do not constitute a guarantee of asset stability, risk mitigation, or portfolio performance. Assets described as an "anchor" may still experience significant price volatility or loss of value, and assets described as a "sail" may lead to substantial losses. These analogies should not be interpreted as a promise that your investment "ship" will remain on course or arrive at any specific financial destination.