The Chaser Report - The New Gold Rush

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

Charles debuts his newest theory that the literal Golden Age is upon us. Invest now to protect yourself from a future, or rely on the "everlasting strength" of the US dollar like a sucker. ---Order the 2025 CHASER ANNUAL: https://chasershop.com/products/the-chaser-and-the-shovel-annual-2025-preorderListen AD FREE: https://thechaserreport.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @chaserwarSpam Dom's socials: @dom_knightSend Charles voicemails: @charlesfirthEmail us: [e-mail] CEO’s Super-yacht upgrade Fund: https://chaser.com.au/support/ Send complaints to: [e-mail] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gatigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to The Chaser Report with Dom and Charles. And today we have, just to prove that we are fully back from an extended break. A breaking, well, theory from Charles's head. Yes. So, you know how they announced the new debt figures for the United States of America? No.

And they, what? I don't follow the US dead figures. Oh, okay. Well, so when Trump took over, like, in January, the US debt was something like 36 trillion US dollars. Nothing. Yeah, whatever. And they just got the revised figures and it's up to 38 trillion US dollars. I mean, that's pretty good work in, what, it was it eight months?

Yeah, yeah, nine months. So at the current rate, for reasons I don't quite understand, they're sort of saying it's a trillion dollars every 180 days. Yeah, that kind of figures, yeah. Which, look, a lot of, you know, naysays and frankly, woke, left liberal, namsie-pamsies, sort of say that this is unsustainable, and it's going to lead to a debt spiral. Well, just think how much worse it would have been but for the tariffs. Yeah, exactly. It would have been tens of trillions every day without the tariffs saving the US economy. Can we just make some money ourselves?

Here we go. So, my theory is that whereas in the past, actually, it kind of wouldn't have mattered. Yeah. Right. Because actually, the US just prints US dollars. Everyone needs to trade in US dollars because oil and exports and financial deals are all done in US dollars. I think Lou Booboos too.

I think LaBubo is also are traded in US dollars, largely. Everything is trading in US dollars. So like, even if you're in Europe and you're doing a deal between two European companies, chances are your deal is going to be. done in US dollars. And isn't the renminbi in China still pegged to the US dollar? Well, this. Because if it is, then that's all in US dollars as well. No.

So this is the thing. What they've very quietly been doing, and this is my theory, right, in China, what they've been doing is they've been very quietly coming up with a new peg. Oh, right. Is it Labooboos? It might as well be because what it is is gold, right? Oh. So they set up.

A few years ago, they set up the Shanghai gold exchange, right? And they started going, okay, well, from now on, you can trade your Rimbimbi in for gold whenever you want. Or you're gold in for Rimbabee whenever you want. Like, literally, we will start, you know, linking the price of gold to the price of Rimbabee, right? And they're just about to set up a second gold exchange in Hong Kong. Oh, hello. Doing the same thing, right? So essentially there is a new gold standard emerging that has not been around since,

well, I think actually America initially delinked itself from the gold standard. Roosevelt did it in like 1933 or something like that. But then, you know, by the 1970s, the US had completely unhooked from the gold standard. Isn't that how we got the Great Depression? No, no, no. I don't know much about economics. This is a terrible. Ah, geez.

No, Roosevelt got them out. out of the depression. By getting rid of the gold standard. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. By jumping off the gold standard. By sort of going, okay, well, let's just spend a whole of the money, dig holes, fill them up, but it'll leave people who be employed.

I actually been reading this great new book by, what's his name, Jonathan Ross Sorkin, what of his name? What's he, that, anyway, it's called 1929. It's worth catching. This is a complete sidebar, but the other day, I was reading it. And his argument is basically that one of the real phase. of the Hoover presidency, who notoriously was around during the 1929 stock market crash and then led to the Great Depression.

But his argument is that notoriously, one of the biggest mistakes that Hoover made as president, he's considered one of the worst presidents in the world, was rebranding the 1929 stock market panic and ensuing economic depression as a depression. Before then, it was never called a depression, right? It was just called a panic, right? And he went, oh, no, no, no, a panic is not appropriate for what's going on. This is terrible. Let's call it a depression.

And depression feels like it lasts forever, right? Yeah. When you're in a depression. Like moods. But that was an active decision by the president to go, let's rebrand it as a depression. And call it that. 1929 inside the greatest crash in Wall Street history, Andrew Ross Sorkin. Andrew Ross Sorkman.

And it's just worth noting that Donald Trump has taken the opposite of it. approach, because if I recall, we're in a golden age. Isn't it the case that, isn't it the case that this has been branded as a golden age? And Donald Trump may not have realized this at the time that he used the phrase, I think in his inauguration speech. But in fact, Donald Trump's return to the presidency is what has fueled the massive rise in the price of gold, which always happens at a time of massive instability and uncertainty. So Donald Trump has actually created a golden age of literal gold.

So that is partly true. So there's a rush to gold because of the uncertainty crab of Trump. There's also just the fact that China has been offloading all the U.S. treasury bonds and instead buying gold, right? So there's both demand at a state level. So I'm pretty sure it's now true that China holds more in value of gold than it does of U.S. treasury bonds. And I mean, I can kind of say if the picture of the U.S. treasury bonds is the financial might and stability of the U.S. economy is what you're buying, yeah, I think I'd be potentially looking to offload my treasury bonds.

I mean, you know what? No, exactly. Sincerity. It's known as brand damage, isn't it? But it's bizarre, because US treasury bonds pay a little bit of interest. Gold doesn't. Gold is just like buying a fucking brick. It's like, yeah. But it goes up in value, dramatically. Yes, when in times of things. And just, when you, when you say that, it just reminded me, you know how Pettico Stello is hailed as one of the great treasuries of all times? Yes.

You know what he did with all our gold reserves? Got rid of it? Yeah, he got rid of the morgue. Put it on in the future. So just to put it in context, the current price of gold is over $5,000 per ounce or whatever it is, right? Guess how much it was when Peter Costello, economic genius sold off all of Australia's gold reserves?

Oh, I mean, probably 6,000? Pettycello would have, you know, he's made of some money. Yeah, yeah. I'm pretty sure it was something like $230.30. So if we'd done nothing but hung onto the gold. Yes. So that was the actual future fund. Yes.

Yeah, but Charles, by that logic, if only Peter Costello had bought 10 Bitcoin when Bitcoin first looked. Like, you know. No, but we had it. We had it. He didn't have to do anything. He just had to not fucking sell off our gold. But he wanted to put it into Telstra. Should we find out how much it was?

It's something as hilarious as what was the price of gold when Peter Costello. I mean, it is interesting, because I thought the whole idea of having, like, gold in Fort Knox was to prevent exactly... It was $306. He sold it off for an average of $306 per ounce, is now over $5,000 per ounce. The whole point is he sold literally as it was its lowest ever in the history of, you know, Australian civilization, right? Well, Peter Costello said at the time, as I'm quoting the ABC here, gold no longer plays a significant part in the financial system. No, exactly. Until it does again, which is exactly, so this is my theory, is that actually we're returning

to a gold standard. And what is really interesting about this return to a sort of gold standard, right, is that already companies are starting to do deals that aren't just denominated in US dollars. Oh. So the other day, was it BHP or BP? It was one of those big multinational. They're much the same thing. Whatever.

Big capital raising. the you know the CEO was asked at the press briefing so what what was the value of what was the US dollar currency proportion of this deal and the answer was 90% right 90% 90% of the deal was denominated in US dollars whereas you know I reckon you would say for those sorts of deals up until 2025 for the last 70 years 100% of all those deals are denominated in US dollars That is literally how you engage with the financial system. But already there's starting to just be a slight move away from denominating all your deals in US dollars, right? And the really interesting things is this is something that you look at like a country like Japan, right?

Yeah. And you go, remember when they're about to take over the world? Remember in late 1980s? Yeah, the whole theory was that that was the future. Yeah, the trajectory of their economy was basically, it's just unavoidable. The Japanese will end up. All the lines about Tokyo real estate versus everything else. Yeah, but the whole point is that in hindsight you go,

that it's never going to happen because they were always at the mercy of the American financial system. You know, they actually had no ability to go outside of the US financial system to do things like raise capital and export goods and do all the things that the economy does. So in some ways, America could sort of see Japan coming as this. sort of fearsome, overlord potential superpower adversary and just fuck them. Like, just literally go,

okay, well, we'll just drive down the value of our dollar versus the yen to the point where actually Japan's economy runs into the ground

for the next 20. Well, no one's going to get us using gold. We don't have any. Yeah, Australia. We sold two thirds of our gold reserves

in a day. I'm looking at now. Good on, Peter. What a genius he was. But didn't all that money get put into the, is that where the future fund cash came from? Yeah, I know, that was Telstra.

The Telstra as well. I think the gold was just like sold to prop up the 1997 budget. Oh. Yeah. I think it literally has been spent on, I don't know, probably. I mean some baby bonuses paid out from there. Yes, it would have been things like, um, and Tampa.

I reckon the whole children overboard, the, all the photoshopping jobs for cropping the photos would have been paid for out of that. I mean, I think the biggest problem. I think the biggest problem with gold, Charles, and the reason why this is all... Gold's going to crash. Because if you want something you can stash for a rainy day, this is, you know, the whole idea,

is that if the world goes bad, you have your gold bullion or whatever or your gold jewelry and you travel with it. We need stuff like that that floats. You can't... Even what's happening with the climate, gold's going to sit at the bottom of the ocean. You need some sort of...

We've got to invest in pyrestone. Or just plastic. We just need... The reserve currency can just be plastic. Yeah, the plastic standard. Yes. Because it's actually floats. Plastic money.

Australia has led the way. Actually, this is a great question. Do Australian banknotes float? Yeah, because they do. They probably do. No, they definitely do it. Because paper ones don't. Yeah. Paul Keating.

This is brilliant. Paul Keating floated the dollar. That was his whole legacy. Oh, right. Of plastic money. Okay, there you go. The Chaser Report. More news.

Less often. So this is interesting. So China's essentially moving away from the... And by doing it properly, by doing the really long, long, long term thing, which will take decades to unfold right of creating a system where, you know, deals can be reliably done in Rimbimbi because actually at the end of the day, investors know that for the last decade, for the next two decades, you know, if a deal goes south, they can always just...

turn around and swap it for gold. You know, like there's a real stability. There's a real basis for what the currency is. This is so interesting. I don't know anything about this. I'm hoping that you do. And so the point is that I think this is one of, you know, so everyone's sort of going, oh yeah, but China's weak in this way, China's weak and that

way. They're all true. Like all economies are weak in certain ways. I just think we're at this tipping point where China's actually doing these really interesting, very quiet things that are actually meaning that all the mistakes that America are making. Like, I've lived for 50 years, right, Dom. And...

Hang, didn't you say it was 40? 40 years. 40 years at your recent birthday party? 40 years. And every 10, 15 years, America really fucks everything up financially. Absolutely. And monumental living, you go, well, that's got to be it for America. Because it never interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake.

And you go, no, but because America has had the US dollar and the... the US financial system. It's been true. Like, it doesn't matter how much they fuck it up. They always win in the end, right? It's just House rules, right? Whereas, as a side part. With China setting up this thing, it's not necessarily the case anymore.

So they're creating essentially economic independence from America, which is a really interesting thing. And they'll start doing deals with the BRICS country, so Brazil and Russia and India. You know, like all of them will start actually denominating their oil, denominating all capital raisings in Rimbimbi. So the interesting thing about that, too, is that the current strength of the US economy, and it has actually done pretty well, despite everything that's happened, is almost all to do with AI and the vast and completely artificial bubble, essentially, that's coming.

A Keynesian-style investment. Yes, vast amounts of money being filled into these companies. And if it doesn't deliver value, if it doesn't deliver long-term value for any of the anyone besides in video who makes all the chips, then the whole thing will collapse. If AI doesn't deliver what it's meant to. Well, we know. We know that it's not going to deliver what it's true.

Is this because we've used AI? Already we're at the point where the AI companies are basically, like the latest version of chat GPT is basically going, okay, well, we're going to, we're going to make it friendly. Like, it's just, it's basically your personal power. Like, it's just, we're going to, we're going to emotionally addict you to this product. Which in the documentary, Her, works very well as long as it Scarlett Johansson. And that's why, and that's also, I think, why Chachepa is gone, oh, fuck, we need to sort of loosen

the rules around erotica, right? So, so all these other engines had been doing erotica, and Open AI had gone, no, no, no, we're going to be the respectable enterprise version of AI that, you know, rises above that. And they've realized, oh, fuck, there's no real application for it, except, this sort of, because ChachypD is not this sort of amazing business wizard. Chad GPD is like a flawed tech bro human being. Or like a, I figure it's kind of like an 18 year old research assistant. Like, it'll do stuff for you.

Yes. But you can't be sure it's right. Yes. So. And to get a long term subscription to an 18 year old intern, you want them to be a bit erotica. Oh, God. Sorry, that was terrible. I'd be cutting that out

But look Here's the thing though But no but it's correct I keep asking myself this right Because I'm a great I'm spent my entire life Pouring more money than I should And sometimes than I had

Into new technology Just because I love it Yeah But the value of proposition of Subscribing to Chat GPT Or Gemini or any of these things Is completely unproven And I even got

This is a little tip for anyone Who's a student out there Gemini is giving away A free year's subscription to their platform to any students. I've just got, I've just turned on Gemini. And so it's quite creepily inserted itself into all of my Gmail and everything now. So, but it's still no use.

It's just not useful at all. Like, would I like, would I like, and Copilot too. Copilot's constantly wedging itself into Microsoft Word and Outlook. And it's trying to get me, do you want to write an email? No, I don't want you to write an email for me. And we haven't even talked about Apple. Yeah, they're not even in the party at all. No, no, but I turned off Apple AI and it's still, and it specifically asked me,

do you want priority notifications? And I said no. And it's still sending me priority notifications. Could to see mine at the top there. But you know why? Because it's not intelligent enough to turn itself off. Yes. But no, but what is, I mean, this might come back to be a Luddite thing if they fix it.

But I'm in the category where you would think AI would be helpful. I'm constantly interviewing people and, you know, it'd be useful to get AI to write an intro if they are any good. I'm doing a PhD. It could summarize things for me, but it's completely unreliable. Like, if I can't use AI for what I do, who can? Like, what's the use case? The only thing that I've found that AI is really good at, in all of the uses of AI

that I've tried in the past year, is at leveling podcast audio so that everyone's speaking in the conversation is the same volume. That is the only thing I use it to do on a regular basis, and frankly, it is very good at that stuff. So, Charles, can I just ask you, would you mind, can I start invoicing, uh, for the podcast in Renminbi or in gold. Can I get payment in gold for this thing, please? I think that might be not a bad idea.

Okay, we're part of the Aconiclass Network. We take, do we sell subscriptions in R&B? Because we should. We should start doing that. We should join the bandwagon. Yep. Okay. And if you have any spare gold bars, we're very happy to accept them.