I started a book club in December, and I haven’t made it through on this journey.
Today, I share a few pages of it as Gold is starting to gain some strength and there is some currency volatility.
The book by Benjamin Graham and the surrounding influences are still very important and rarely discussed, so you are lucky to have me share some thoughts you may not have considered.
In the beginning, he questions his generation's value of Gold to establish and broaden the definition of what currency is and how to make more people on the planet prosperous.
Warren Buffett saw that through stock ownership, but everything “perfect” may need a challenger, or it won’t be for long.
We are seeing a lot of the built in value of AI in private hands and only now ready to be IPO
Maybe it’s not the lust of unimaginable wealth we are aiming for but a way to prevent our purchasing power from decreasing
I. The Absurd Opening: Sisyphus at the Bank of England
Central banker pushing gold up the mountain of credibility
Gold isn’t backing anything, but they keep buying it anyway
The labor is pointless, but they must imagine themselves satisfied
Setup: Man performs ritual divorced from its original meaning
II. The Stranger Observing the System
Detached narrator notices something odd about gold’s privilege
Everyone agrees gold is special, but when pressed, cannot say why
“The sun was hot. The gold was heavy. Neither fact explained the other.”
The acceptance without justification - society’s foundational absurdity
III. The Question That Should Not Be Asked
Graham asks: “Why not other commodities?”
This question is reasonable, therefore it is threatening
Society’s answer: “Because that’s how it is.”
The rebel’s burden: seeing clearly in a world that prefers fog
IV. The Myth of Monetary Stability
Pounds don’t convert to gold. Gold fluctuates like platinum. Yet gold is “different.”
The ceremony continues despite the meaning having died
Like attending a funeral for a god no one believes in anymore
But the ritual persists because stopping would require admitting the truth
V. The Condemned Man’s Lucidity
Graham sees the mechanism: Bank issues currency → buys gold → stores it → repeat
If this works for gold, it works for anything
But admitting this destroys the mystique
The executioner’s logic: we do this because we’ve always done this
VI. The Revolt: What if We Were Honest?
Commodity basket as currency backing
Not because commodities are sacred (nothing is sacred)
But because the mechanism itself could create stability
The absurd hero acts despite knowing the ultimate meaninglessness
VII. The Officials’ Panic
“What about emergencies?” they ask
Translation: What if we need to lie later?
Graham: The emergency is when lying is most dangerous
The establishment always demands the right to make exceptions
VIII. The Desert of Real Things
Gold, wheat, copper - all equally arbitrary as money
All equally real as constraints
The difference: which constraint do humans want to submit to?
In the desert, all mirages look the same until you try to drink them
IX. Waiting for the Proposal
Part 2 begins: Graham will show his work
The condemned man explains the mechanism of the guillotine
Knowing how it works doesn’t make you less condemned
But clarity is its own form of rebellion
X. The Absurd Conclusion
We can’t eliminate human judgment
We can only decide where to hide it
Graham proposes transparency
The world chooses comfortable darkness
One must imagine Graham satisfied with having asked the question
