286 THE BiG DROP
regime uncertainty, today and in the
Great Depression, 179, 243
Reichsbank, in Weimar Germany, as
handmaiden of the political class, 238
repo market, carry trade on the, 111–12
reserve currency
dollar’s advent as world’s, 19–22
dollar’s slipping role as leading, 22–23
seesawing between dollar and pound
as world’s, 21
reserve position, definition of, 31
reserves. See also excess reserves
lending not constrained by limited, 54
riots, suppression of, in dystopian
future, 4
Rogers, Jim, on the gold price, 146–47
Rogoff, Ken, 100% electronic currency
proposed by, 252
Roosevelt, Frederick Delano
depression-era performance of, 242–43
dollar-devaluation plan devised by, 142
Rothschild, Nathan, on the value of
gold, 147–48
RSX (Market Vectors Russia ERF), 136
ruble. See Russia
RUSL (Direxion Daily Russia Bull 3x
Shares), 136
Russia
debt default by, 37, 174–75
derivatives indexed to performance
of securities of, 175
financial war between United States
and, 130–36, 204–205
gold acquisition by, 127, 151–53
response of, to economic adversity,
134–35
ruble collapses of, 175
speculation and investment in, 136,
253–54
support for Ukrainian rebels by, 132–33
Ukraine and sanctions against, 130–36S
sanctions policy, anti-Russian, 133–36
Saudi Arabia
agreement between United Statesand, 130
cost of oil production relative to
frackers, 88
as marginal supplier of oil, 87–88
optmization or linear programming
problem of, 88
savers
debtors enriched at expense of, 42–45
deflation’s benefits to, 65
scaling metrics, 268
Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF
(SCHD)
high ratings for, 233
hyperinflation insurance provided by,
232–34
reinvesting dividends in, 233–34
second strike capability, 131, 203–204
Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC), regulation of money market
funds by, 72
self-fulfilling prophecy, xi–xii
self-negating prophecy, regarding the
“Big Drop,” xii
self-organized criticality, physics con-
cept of, applied to finance, 181
shale-oil production. See fracking
Shlaes, Amity, on the Great Depression,
241
shock doctrine, as explanation of politi-
cal opportunism, 5–7
Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster
Capitalism (Klein), 5
shock therapy, inflation killed through,
46
shocks, forms of, 6
short positions, in the Chinese financial
sector, 75
silver coins, packaged as a Monster
Box, 219, 246
silver market, attempts to corner the,
153
silver-mining companies, nationaliza-
tion of, 247
silver, in investors’ portfolio, 246
Simply Complexity (Johnson), 245
snowpack, as metaphor for tipping
point, 35–36, 100, 183–84, 245