Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
My Approach
This Approach Affects How I See Everything
This Study & How I Came to Do It
1) THE LONG-TERM MONEY AND DEBT CYCLE
2) THE DOMESTIC WEALTH AND POWER CYCLE
3) THE INTERNATIONAL WEALTH AND POWER CYCLE
Remember That What I Don’t Know Is Much Greater Than What I Know
How This Study Is Organized
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES
CHAPTER 1
THE BIG CYCLES IN A TINY NUTSHELL
The Countries Shown in This Study Had the Most Wealth and Power
Throughout History Wealth Was Gained by Either Making It, Taking It from Others, or Finding It in
the Ground
To See the Big Picture, You Can’t Focus on the Details
Most Everything Evolves in an Uptrend with Cycles Around It
The Shifts in Wealth and Power That Occurred Between Countries
Our Measures of Wealth and Power
The Big Cycle
Where We Are Now
Chapter 2
THE BIG CYCLE OF MONEY, CREDIT, DEBT, AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
Chapter 2: The Big Cycle of Money, Credit, Debt, and Economic Activity
The Timeless and Universal Fundamentals of Money and Credit
What is money?
The Fundamentals
The Long-Term Debt Cycle
1) It Begins with No or Low Debt and “Hard Money”
2) Then Come Claims on “Hard Money” (aka, “Notes” or “Paper Money”)
3) Then Comes Increased Debt
4) Then Come Debt Crises, Defaults, and Devaluations
5) Then Comes Fiat Money
6) Then Comes the Flight Back into Hard Money
The Long-Term Debt Cycle in Summary
The Monetary System That We Are in, from Its Beginning until Now
In Summary: How the Big Cycle of Money, Credit, Debt & Economic Activity Fits In with the Big
Domestic and International Political Cycles to Affect the World Order
Chapter 3
THE CHANGING VALUE OF MONEY
Printing and Devaluing Money Is the Easiest Way out of a Debt Crisis
All Currencies Have Been Devalued or Died
What Do They Devalue Against?
In Relation to Gold
Let’s look at these periods more closely.
In summary the basic picture is that:

The Value of Currencies in Relation to Goods and Services
The Patterns of Countries Devaluing and Losing Their Reserve Currency Status
Chapter 4
THE BIG CYCLES OF THE DUTCH AND BRITISH EMPIRES AND THEIR CURRENCIES
The Big Cycle of the Life of an Empire
1) The Last 500 Years in About 4,000 Words
The Rise & Decline of the Dutch Empire and the Dutch Guilder
The Rise & Decline of the British Empire and the British Pound
The Rise of the American Empire and the US Dollar After World War I 3
The Rise of the American Empire and the US Dollar After World War II
A Closer Look at the Rises and Declines of the Leading Empires Over the Last 500 Years
The Dutch Empire and the Dutch Guilder
The British Empire and the British Pound
1) The Pound’s Suspended Convertibility in 1946 and Its Devaluation in 1949
2) The Failed International Efforts to Support the Pound in the 1950s and 1960s and the Devaluation of
1967
Chapter 5
THE BIG CYCLES OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE DOLLAR, PART 1
The US Empire and the US Dollar
1930 to 1939/41: The Economic War
1939/41 to 1945: The Hot War
Appendix I: Some Historical Cases of Capital Wars
Appendix II: Cases of Market Closures in the World Wars
Chapter 5
THE BIG CYCLES OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE DOLLAR, PART 2
The New World Order from 1945 until Now
The Post-War Geopolitical and Military System
The Post-War Monetary and Economic Systems
The Late-1960s Weakening Fundamentals That Led to the End of the Bretton Woods Monetary System
The Inflationary and Troubled 1970s
The 1979-82 Move to Tight Money and Conservatism
The Disinflationary and Booming 1980s
1990-2008: Globalizing, Digitalizing, and Booming Financed by Debt
The 2008-20 Money-Financed Capitalist Boom Period
The Post-1945 Story in More Charts and Tables
Where the US Is in Its Big Cycle
Chapter 6
THE BIG CYCLES OF CHINA AND ITS CURRENCY
My Background
China’s Giant History in Brief
China’s Lessons and Its Ways of Operating
From 1800 until Now
The Decline from 1800 until 1949
Enter Marxism-Leninism
Phase 1, 1949 to 1976: The Mao Phase of Building the Foundation

Phase 2, 1978 to 2013: The Deng and Deng Successors Phase of Gaining Strengths Through Economic
Reforms and Opening Up Without Creating Threats to Other Countries
Since 2008: The Emergence of US-China Conflicts and the End of Globalization
Phase 3, 2012 until Now: The Xi Phase of Becoming a World Power
Chapter 7
US-CHINA RELATIONS AND WARS
The Positions the Americans and Chinese Are In
The Trade/Economic War
The Technology War
The Geopolitical War
The Capital War
The Military War
The Culture War
The War with Ourselves: The Enemy Is Us
Chapter 8
THE ARCHETYPICAL CYCLE OF INTERNAL ORDER AND DISORDER
The Cycle of Internal Order and Disorder & Where We Are in It
Chapter 8: The Archetypical Cycle of Internal Order and Disorder
Background
The Timeless and Universal Forces That Produce Changes to the Internal Order
1) The Wealth and Power Class Struggle Dynamic
2) The Balance of Power Dynamic
3) The Dynamic of Favoring Short-Term Enjoyment over Long-Term Health
4) The Failure to Learn from History
How the Circumstances That Exist and the Forces of Change Work Together to Produce Changes in
Domestic Orders—i.e., How the Machine Works
PS: A Bit of Advice5
Where do things stand now?
Chapter 9
DELVING INTO THE SIX STAGES OF THE INTERNAL CYCLE WITH A PARTICULAR FOCUS ON THE US NOW
Delving into the Six Stages of the Cycle with a Particular Focus on the US Now
Stage 5: When There Are Bad Financial Conditions and Intense Conflict
The Classic Toxic Mix
What Is the Difference between a Civil War and a Revolution?
The US Now
What Would Good Look Like?
Stage 6: When There Are Civil Wars
How Civil Wars and Revolutions Transpire
Stage 1: When the New Order Begins and the New Leadership Consolidates Power
Stage 2: When Resource-Allocation Systems and Government Bureaucracies Are Built and Refined
Stage 3: When There Is Peace and Prosperity
Stage 4: A Period of Excesses
Conclusion
Appendix: US State and City Indebtedness, Inequality, and Income Picture
Appendix: Major Empires