Welcome to Fiat & Bubbles

I might as well say, "welcome to the state of the world's financial system." My name is Randolph "Randy" Burke. As an heir to a small family fortune and responsible for the financial well-being of two brothers and a sister, and their families, I've spent the greater part of my professional life managing the bulk of my family's small fortune. And I've had a wonderful fulfilling life traveling and spending many precious moments with both family and friends all over the world. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunities and gifts that being borne into privilege has bestowed upon me. And I'm humbled by the lack of wealth and the dearth opportunity that I occasionally find in my travels--- it truly breaks my heart to see mothers, fathers and their children struggle so. But the weight of my responsibilities and duties to my family, in a world of fiat money and asset bubbles so numerous that I can't even begin to count them all, has me deeply troubled by what lays ahead for the rich, for poor for privileged and for the desperate. Don't get me wrong. Things are great from my current vantage point as I write this. But things often look great from a cozy and lofty perch. And I fear that we are fast approaching the limits of what can be accomplished with fiat money, leverage and excess unproductive credit spawned by mutually complicit, irresponsible central bank monetary policy all over the globe. And from such lofty heights, the swan dive will be both tragic and spectacular for many of the "nouveau riche." I pray that I've taken the necessary steps and that I will not be one of them. And for the not so privileged, it will only get even more dire and more desperate. It keeps me up at night. The unwinding of the global asset (or credit) bubble has the potential to destabilize entire regions of the world. Poverty will spread across borders. Governments will fail and anarchy will become the norm for very wide swaths of the planet. Its a grim view; hardly a spec in the viewfinder from our current perch atop bulking mutated asset values. But its out there and it approaches. In the following months and years, I will be sharing with you some personal commentary on this evolving story that is almost sure to unravel in spectacular fashion. I will pass along ideas and observations from friends and confidants as well as other market professionals that I've grown to admire and respect for their bold and un-conflicted pursuits; including folks like Jeremy Grantham, George Soros, Marc Faber, Jim Rogers, Sir John Templeton and Warren Buffett. I hope you enjoy my posts. And most of all, I hope some of this motivates visitors to take precautions as we enter a potentially very troubling period in history. I welcome hearing from fans and dissenters alike.